Category: Nintendo News

Skipmore’s charming Legend of Zelda/Ys retro mash-up did some good service for 3DS owners in the past and it’s once again being brought to the spotlight thanks to a compilation of both titles (and a couple of extra ones) in this new Fairune Collection. Are these brain-teasing adventures worth taking once again? Let’s give them a ‘Fairune’ assessment…

Fairune is the first chapter in the series, and an ideal introduction to the core mechanics – an overworld made up of single-screen areas, and once you get the Sword of Hope, classic Ys-style combat ensues where you only need to bump into enemies to attack them. While you are free to explore the land in any order you deem fit, the game design cleverly steers you in the right direction by using different level enemies to nudge you onto the right path. Don’t worry if you get stuck, the Ancient Codex (a magic, talking book) will not only tell you what enemies you should be fighting at your current level, but also blabber about all sorts of hints to solve the various item puzzles needed to progress. You will probably solve this charming adventure in under a few hours.

While on the 3DS, the fact that the game kept its mobile 4:3 resolution wasn’t much of a problem, on Switch the action only takes place on the left side of the screen with the other half is used for the map and item selection. There was probably no way around this issue, but when playing on a big screen TV, it feels a waste to use such a small portion of the screen for the actual playfield.

Fairune 2 is the second entry in the series, and it’s the biggest offering yet. The core concepts of combat and puzzle solving make a welcome return, but this time you have a vastly expanded overworld (and underworld) to explore. This one hits the spot on pretty much everything you could hope for a sequel and it will the one you will spend most of your time on.

Unlike the first game, here you get nearly all the screen real estate you could need to enjoy the pixelated land of Fairune, and it certainly is a very welcomed visual upgrade for those playing in docked mode. However, we do find ourselves frequently roaming the land in hope of finding that elusive ‘Eureka!’ moment that enables us to progress further. Thankfully, this is the only real minus point we find in this expanded sequel.

Fairune Origin is the third layer of this multi-tiered cake, but it’s also the smallest. So small, in fact, that the overworld is made of just 12 interconnected single screen areas. Size is, however, unimportant because you will truly learn to appreciate the ‘less is more’ game design philosophy, with some truly neat and rewarding puzzle solving emerging from such a small playground. It’s true that once you know exactly what to do, you can complete this one in around six minutes, but your first playthrough is a very rewarding experience.

Finally, we come to the cherry on top of the proverbial cake: Fairune Blast! This is unavailable when you first start your adventures, with three locks shut tight above the game icon. As you might have already figured out, you’ll be able to remove each lock by successfully completing each aforementioned Fairune adventure. Up to this point you have been flexing your brain to solve puzzles, but this one is a rather radical departure because it’s time to test your hand-eye coordination. Fairune Blast is a vertical scrolling shmup of the cute variety! Simply pick one of three different coloured fairies and blast your way to the top on what could easily pass as a game of the TwinBee franchise. An outstanding original reward for dedicated players of this package.

The game’s aesthetics deliver charming 8-bit style sprites and tiles that successfully manage to be distinct enough to be both pleasing and functional. The music is lovely, pure chiptune that could be playing straight out of a proper NES. Veteran 3DS players will notice a few enhancements on a few choice melodies here and there that, thankfully, do not break the faux nostalgic illusion this whole package blissfully delivers. Speed-runners rejoice: worldwide leader-boards will keep track of your best times playing through the adventure games and your Fairune Blast high-scores.

Conclusion

Fairune Collection is a deliciously big slice of brain-teasing RPG fun with a sprinkle of shmup action on top. None of the games will require a huge amount of time to complete, solving many of its puzzles feels truly rewarding and both graphics and sound will take you back to a simpler time in this industry. If you were a fan of the original outings, you will certainly like this ‘upgrade’ but if you are venturing into the realm of Fairune for the first time, heads up: you might have just discovered the perfect lazy summer afternoon game of the year.

Splatoon 2 and, to an extent, De Blob, have a lot to answer for. It seems that so many developers are attempting to ape the style that comes from splashes of paint spilling from a protagonist or vehicle. There’s a lot to be said for the visual style; bright colours bursting from a screen are always eye-catching and it speaks to the inner child in us all because everyone enjoys making a mess. There’s something satisfying in watching as a splash of vibrant pigment dashes outwards, being overlapped by other hues.

InkSplosion gets to the root of that desire by leaving contrails of colour on an otherwise drab world. The arenas for this top-down shooter are stark, bold lines of black and white. You pilot a small craft that has no backstory and whose only job is to kill the enemies that appear. Each enemy type fires differing projectiles in an attempt to destroy you and halt your progress, while leaving behind a colour. It could be a bullet that homes in on you in a spiral leaving a blue trail, or perhaps a fast-moving shot that bleeds red onto the floor. There’s no doubting, this is a lovely looking game.

There is no plot-driven reason for the combat though, InkSplosion is an arcade shooter in the most traditional fashion – movement is on the left stick, aiming on the right. Although, there are a few modern aspects thrown in; firing comes from the right shoulder buttons, the left is dedicated to slowing down time. Here is where the game takes on an interesting slant. Across the top of the screen is a life bar, as is traditional, should it empty the game ends. However, should you want to slow down time to dodge bullets or avoid enemies, that same bar will slowly deplete.

This becomes a nice tactical element that asks you how they want to survive. In the normal starting mode, there are levels which present you with four enemies – clear them and the level ends. There’s also a random weapon, such as a shotgun, normal bullets, a distance gun (which works like the normal but has more range) and a laser. This latter weapon is easily the strongest as it passes through enemies to hit others behind and has unlimited range, too. The random aspect of which weapon you use is nice, but with only a few options it doesn’t affect the gameplay that much.

Using the slow down here isn’t really needed – the bullets fly and the colours distract, but much of the carnage on-screen can be avoided. If you do take a hit, some of your health will be replenished some as the level ends. It is easy to die quickly, should you get overwhelmed, but jumping back in is as easy as pressing the ‘A’ button.

Aside from the enemies, there are also hazards to avoid. A moving line will blink on and off in a pattern – breaking the line will cause damage, though when it switches off it can be passed with no issue. Sometimes the line will border the screen, it could also appear as if clock hands rotating round or it may split the playing field in two, even four. These only appear in the normal mode and the later unlocked hard mode.

In the arena mode, those hazards are removed and now you have to defend against waves of enemies – though they still only appear in groups of four. The movement of the ship is sluggish but is something you get used to and the aiming is fine, though it varies from weapon to weapon. As an arcade shooter InkSplosion looks lovely and feels as it should, but it has no longevity. The developer has chosen to include an achievement system within the game and they range over scoring a certain amount of points in normal mode or killing a number of enemy ships in arena. It took 34 minutes to unlock every single achievement. Once this was done, the only impetus to continue playing was to beat high scores.

This would be fine if the game offered enough variation elsewhere, however, there are only a handful of enemy ships and they all look rather bland and with just these three modes to play, InkSplosion soon becomes tiring. No amount of pretty visuals which look like a calamity in a Dulux warehouse can cover a shallow experience. There are no customisation options, there’s nothing to unlock – you can’t even change the colour of the paint your bullets leave behind. It’s yellow, by the way.

Conclusion

InkSplosion could have been so much more, but it’s ultimately let down by a sheer lack of variety (and a frustrating lack of replay value once you’ve swiftly bagged all of its in-game achievements). As a top-down shooter it’s certainly competent, but it’s unlikely you’ll hang around for long with so many other fuller packages on offer on the Switch eShop.