Hookbots is Multiplayer party beat-em-up on the Nintendo Switch. You’ll fight as 12 different robots using your main weapon (which is a retractable hook) to swing from ceilings and smash your foes into submission. You can go head to head with 4 friends in multiplayer battles, fight your way through the solo campaign or even build your own bot in the bot creator. But did the game get its hooks in me? Find out as I review Hookbots on the Nintendo Switch!

To note, a code was supplied by the game’s developers for review

There are a few modes to play in Hookbots that cater for a solo gamer and for a party of friends with up to 4 players.

Let’s go over each mode briefly:

Solo Play

Solo play has 3 main options. The first one is a tutorial, which gives you the basics in combat and movement. It’s a useful tool for new players to learn the game’s mechanics before jumping into any of the other modes.

Then you’ve got the challenge mode. In this mode you have multiple different challenges that might see you defeating a certain number of enemies or trying to reach a goal. These challenges can be helpful as they act like a tutorial. It’s a sort of ‘learning by doing’ teaching mechanic that I like. It made me learn how to navigate areas with my hook shot and use my combat abilities more effectively against tougher enemies. It’s a nice little inclusion, which will help you prepare for main campaign.

The Campaign see’s you picking a character and progressing through different matches. One thing the campaign isn’t is boring; there’s a lot here to get your hooks into and lots of different modes available. Once you’ve unlocked a new mode from the “chop shop”, it will become available in the solo campaign. The modes are varied, one minute you’ll be fighting with a team against a massive robot and next minute you’ll be playing a volleyball match using your hooks to repel a ball over a net. I liked the mix up of modes as it kept my attention fully on the game.

An Easy Mode that wasn’t Easy!

My only gripe with the campaign is that the difficulty is not balanced. There is an option to choose your difficulty settings. However in my opinion, every level I chose felt pretty much the same. I played normal, got to the end boss and found the difficulty increased rapidly.

I had defeated the first two bosses easily. The third on the other hand was almost impossible! It had both close range and projectile attacks and no matter what I did I couldn’t defeat him! Therefore, I put the difficulty down to easy, but to my dismay, he didn’t get any easier! For me, this boss just felt like a roadblock in my progression, and the fact that he was still annoying in easy mode has put a slight blemish on what is otherwise an enjoyable experience.

Quick Play

I really liked quick play as it’s a great mode to play for just a few minutes- letting you get straight into a match

Plus, there’s so much unlockable content in Hookbots. It encourages players to try different modes as constantly playing any mode will unlock new things to tinker around with.

Party mode

Party mode is your one stop shop to multiplayer heaven, with everything unlocked from other modes added too. You can change modes freely here, and edit modifiers to create your own unique matches. Play with stocks or try your hook skills in a game of football/hookball. I’ve played a good few hours with my friends in party mode and it was a complete blast. Minutes quickly turned into hours and the extra incentive that kept us playing was the ability to unlock more stuff to play around with. Hookbots is good when playing alone but is great when playing with friends!

However those friends will all have to be local as there’s no online multiplayer on offer. It’s a shame because if there was online multiplayer, I think Hookbots would be my definitive party beat-em-up on Switch.

Bot factory

Upon unlocking the Bot Factory you’ll have access to character customization options. Every character and skin you unlock through the “chop shop” unlockable screen will be come available within this mode. Which is great because it lets you create your own robo hero with different character parts such as: head, arms, body, legs, hook and a special ability. Again, creating your own character drives you to want to play the game more. It made me want to get as many unlocks as possible because I wanted my Bot to look as cool as possible.

Levels Galore

Levels in Hookbots are designed perfectly, this is because they offer so much verticality I always had a blast using my hook shot. The movement in the game feels so good because of the level design. It was great to swing from ring-to-ceiling-to-floor, never staying in the same place for long and attacking decisively to get the upper hand in combat.

However be warned, many levels have their own unique hazards that come into play during a match. For example, in ‘Scrap Yard’ there is a massive machine walking around in the background. Therefore, if you’re fighting at the edge of the platform the machine will be alerted and fire a massive giga laser into the foreground, destroying anyone that is unfortunate enough to be in the way. Furthermore, other levels have hazards such as strong winds, massive anchors crashing into the stage or platforms being submerged into larva. I liked the hazards because they kept matches hectic and gave me sweaty palms!

Scrap Metal

Every attack that you land on your opposition causes them to lose parts from their body, making them easier to kill. I thought this was a great way to tell the player how weak their opponent was. It’s also cool though because you can recover some health if you pick up your opponent’s scrap. You have to be fast! Otherwise, you’ll take too much damage, spring a leak and be heading to scrap heap!

Visuals and Sound

Everything looks really well made in Hookbots. Your characters are zipping around the screen at a mile a minute and in my opinion, they never looked blurred or distorted. In addition, character designs are distinctive, making the characters look unique, even if their play styles don’t differ that much. As do the levels, which are bright and colourful with plenty of things to look at if you can take your eye off the fast paced gameplay. Music is also pretty good with different tunes and sound effects that all sound punchy.





Presentation as whole is really well done and I’d say it’s one of the best looking multiplayer party-beat-em-ups that I have played on the switch.

Issues

The only technical issues I had with Hookbots was a buggy credit screen, weirdly. It started and then got stuck in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and required a hard reset.

In addition, whilst I enjoyed the variety in solo campaign some of the modes can become tedious to complete, especially if you’re not very good at them. There’s no way to skip the modes you might not like. So it could be a grind to get through levels I didn’t like.

Off the Hook!

Hookbots is a chaotic and intense party game meaning there’s never a dull moment when playing with friends. Multiplayer is a lot of fun and getting a few friends around can turn into an all nighter as there are so many options and modifiers to play around with. Plus, the unlockable content in the game reminds me of games from my youth, before micro transactions were a thing. It adds that little extra incentive to keep playing as every session could unlock new content that keeps the party going.

In my opinion playing with friends is the best way to play Hookbots. There is plenty of solo content to get your hooks into, but it was so much more fun flying around the screen and attacking my friends when they weren’t looking. My one criticism is that there is no online multiplayer. It would be a perfect addition to this epic party game and I hope the developers think about adding it in the future!

Therefore, I give Hookbots by Tree Interactive my rating of

What did you think of Leigh’s Hoobots review on the Nintendo Switch. Did it get you hooked? Let us know what your favourite party games are on the Nintendo Switch and if you’ll be picking up Hoobots. Hit me up on Twitter or come and join the SIF Discord community!

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