Developer: Level-5

Level-5 Publisher: Nintendo

Nintendo Release Date: 14/02/2020

14/02/2020 Price: $49.99 / £39.99

$49.99 / £39.99 Review code provided by Nintendo

Intro

I have always known Level-5 for their family friendly and quirky role-playing games. When I heard Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold was about to grace the Switch, I was intrigued. Now that I’ve spent some time with the game, I’m eager to share my impressions. Watch my video review to see if Snack World is a tasty morsel or if it’s rotten to the core.

Video Review

Sit Back for a Good Read and a Snack

For those who would rather read my thoughts than hear them, read on for my written review.

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold puts you in the shoes of a self named protagonist who, of course, has amnesia. You awaken to find yourself outside the gates of Tutti-Frutti. It doesn’t take long for the narrow minded king and his ego centric daughter, Princess Melonia to employ you. Perhaps they feel you owe them for taking you in. At any rate, you’ll apply your dungeon delving skills to help satisfy the whimsical urges of the princess, which change from minute to minute.

After plodding along in typical role-playing story arcs, you eventually learn of a diabolic plot by none other than the titan of industry, Sultan Vinegar. Flashbacks come to your avatar unveiling destruction and travesties carried out by the Sultan. Knowing the evil influence he has, it’s not hard to desire revenge. My name is Benito Lasagna, you burned my village, prepare to fry!

The story in Snack World isn’t groundbreaking by any means. In fact, it’s as cookie cutter as they come. What separates this tale from the multitude of other Role-playing games is the humor. Evident from the start of the game, the writing has every intention of poking fun at itself and other RPGs. They constantly break the fourth wall and humor is sprinkled throughout. They even make fun of how there was no budget to provide full voice acting. A feature which was already noticeably lacking, then accentuated by the cast. It was refreshing to hear wise cracks from fallen foes but you seldom get more than one liners from any character.

Who’s Achin’ for Bacon?

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold is first and foremost an action rpg. Though Dungeon Crawl is in the title, and yes you technically walk through dungeons, it’s not a nomenclature I would use as DRPGs are a different breed. In Snack World you can only take on one quest at a time. The days of stacking up ten side quests to clear in one outing is over. This is more of a one at a time situation. Everything in Snack World is geared toward quick playthroughs and jumping right in to the action.

Most of the areas are snack sized and you’ll be able to clear quickly. The pre-boss dungeons are randomly generated and take a bit longer to get through. Die by the boss and you’ll have to slog your way through again. Defeat only punishes you by loss of your time. If you die in the dungeon, you will keep any items, cash or snacks you find and experience gained.

Speaking of snacks, after defeating an enemy you have a chance to take a photo of them with your mobile device. Doing so allows you to use that monster, person, or robot… ok, i’ll just call them snacks. You can use that snack to assist in battle. You’ll eventually be able to assign three snacks to follow you in dungeons. They act on their own, just not to their best capability. Occasionally shirking combat or not rescuing you up when you’re KO d.

In addition you can set six pocket snacks. A pocket snack allows you to transform into it for a set amount of time which is cool to play as many different characters. It was addictive collecting various enemies and testing out party combinations. It’s important to note, that the snacks you take into battle and your gear play a huge roll in your success. Bosses ten levels lower could trounce me because I insisted on using my favorite Snack, weapon or armor. Dungeons will punish you if you’re ill prepared.

We should Taco bout it

One unique aspect in Snack World is how they justify your hero lugging around a slew of heavy weapons. They call them Jaras. Jaras are essentially weapons, tonics or shields shrunken down to fit on your keychain. You can easily swap between weapons and the game will automatically pick the best one to vanquish the foe your are currently targeting.

As Snack World is a Action RPG you have your standard attack and heavy attack. In addition you have a gauge which charges for a special attack. I found the aiming system to be hit or miss. Especially when trying to use your special attack on a boss. There’s no range indicator and locking on to an enemy is irrelevant. Nine times out of ten, by the time I activated the special, the boss would already have moved to the other side of the map. It’s like they designed the boss battles to make your character exercise since they rarely stay put. My other frustration was in the camera angles. You don’t get free reign to position the camera which made exploring and combat occasionally confusing and tedious.

One of my favorite aspects to a good RPG is customization. I dare say it’s a guilty pleasure of mine to change outfits of my character often. Luckily for the makeover enthusiast there’s a fair amount of customization from the loot you find. You can strengthen weapons and craft outfits. There’s a lot of variety in what you can wear. Your clothes are all determined by three characteristics. The Brand name, color, and Style. Every day (in the real world) there are set requirements based on those three characteristics. If you match your wardrobe accordingly, you’ll increase your chances for rare item drops.

Muffin to see here

The art style in Snack World is very cute and colorful. It has an anime cartoonish vibe which fits right in with the tone of the writing. There’s a lot of variety in the locales and characters. The music is likewise vibrant and upbeat with a catchy tunes and unique songs. Early on you’ll meet a boss who sings about taking his load to the toilet. My kids loved that scene. The sound effects are well done, and as pointed out earlier, the one liners from the enemies are as creative as their names.

I didn’t run into any technical issues. Snack World performed tastfully both in docked mode and handheld mode. Snack World does not feature couch co-op on a single console. Multiplayer is available but you will need an online subscription or a friend with their own copy to connect for local play.

Final Thoughts

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold is a well imagined Action RPG for this generation. It’s infused with humor and caters to the time-budget gamer. Though the cutesy graphics make it look like a walk in the park, it can be difficult at times and the bosses will keep you on your toes. Snack World is slightly held back by stiff camera angles and occasional aiming issues. With loads of post game content, it’s well worth the price.

Pros

Bite Size Play Times

Consumable Cast

Well Prepared Writing

Cons

Acidic Aiming

Curdled Camera Angles

Verdict

Snack world: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold is a satisfying entree to add to your Switch smorgasbord.

4/5

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