This took longer than expect…

Unbox: Newbie’s Adventure – Nintendo Switch – Released: 10/12/17 – $29.99

Short Review (Review copy provided by Developer)

This took way longer than expected…. because this game is massive. I didn’t think it would be big, considering it is an indie title but this game reminds me of old 3D collectathons with their massive worlds. If you loved playing Banjo Kazooie or Super Mario 64 this game would be right up your alley. The game stars you, a new GPS box that has to prove that he is the next best thing. It is your job to go around the island, solve other boxes’ problems and defeat bosses. This game is collectathon….. I’m not sure when this became a negative term for games but I really enjoy them. Every minute I spent on the island it was either looking for golden tapes, collecting stamps from completing missions, and just enjoying what the world has to offer. I also love that when ever you start a mission it will start you off in the beginning of an area. Even though the game will pan to where you need to go it will warp you to that location so you don’t have to travel as far. If you are looking forward to Yooka Laylee I would say this is a great game to pick up. This is also a great game to see how the Yooka Laylee could perform as well.

Now for the issues… First the game is really ugly while undocked… It isn’t as ugly while playing docked but undocked you will see in the long review has major downsides. I wouldn’t say this is a deal breaker since I love being able to take such a big game on the go. The other problem just like the other console version is frame rate dips which sadly just seems to plague all the console releases as far as I know. This can be sometimes an issue but I never found it to be the point of being unplayable. I believe the worst time I had was when I was scaling a radio tower and a dip in frame rate caused me to fall off the tower instead of laying on a hanging platform. Unbox crashed on me once while in the second world but it never happened again and I couldn’t repeat what I did to make it happen again. The game takes a very long time to load for some reason not sure why but once you are in the game unless you are travelling to another area or backing out of the world you won’t see the long load times.

Another point that must be mentioned is being a box. On paper it sounds like a great idea but being a box comes some weird physics. I found myself jumping and rolling right off due to landing on a corner or edge of a box. This can be good or bad depending on how much time you put into the game or if you want to rush through it. I found that being a box was enjoyable for the most part but can understand why someone might not feel the same way. The rolling feels great with the HD Rumble since each time you touch the ground it rumbling just slight and when you fall from a great height it feels like how you think it would.

Very nice icon there 😀

Story

You are the new box on the block and cutting edges. To prove you are the best you will rid the Newbie’s world of the Wild Cards. The Wild Cards are a group of boxes that seek to stop you and take over the world. They play dirty with tricks in their boxes with rocket launchers that if connected will make you fly into the air and drop you and just pushing you around if you get too close. As Newbie you have to collect Stamps by doing missions to take on the Wild Card boss and clear the area of Wild Cards. That pretty much is the story you just need to prove you are the best new box money can buy and since you are the best you help everyone in the area from collecting items, winning races, and taking off Wild Cards.

Gameplay

The game plays just like any other open world collectathon but the twist is you are a box. The box has some weird physics certainly when building up speed while going in one direction. It is possible to rocket yourself across an area if you time your jumps correctly. The point of the game is to collect stamps to then be able to take on “Wild Card” bosses and you can collect 200 gold tapes in each world. Collecting stamps is pretty easy due to being able to use a “Find me” system. You can use the down button to open up a menu that will point you to the direction of the mission and who to tale to. At first I thought this was a pain since I don’t want the game to hand hold me through the adventure. Once I noticed how big worlds were I loved it since I could easily point myself in the right direction instead of talking to the hundreds of NPCs in an area. The bosses are a bit of a wash since they are really easy to beat but this game was clearly aimed for children.

This loading screen all the time….

Personal Experience

I really enjoy playing this game and hopefully they patch things out quickly. The game is truly massive and I love games that are this big and force me to look outside of the box…. I really like looking for golden tapes since they are everywhere. The game does have its downsides but I can overlook them because I can take it on the go. It isn’t the prettiest looking game but good enough for me. Many people I feel will be turned down by how low the draw distance is and overall how it looks but it does have a solid game under it.

Final Thoughts

I would say if this game came out a few months ago go for it but with Super Mario Odyssey so close to release I would say wait for a price drop. If this game came out in the summer I could have easily used this game for a 100 hour review. I really enjoyed playing it but it is hard to recommend due to timing. If you want something easy and straight forward to hold you off buy it then. It doesn’t help that the physical release isn’t anytime soon and you would have to go digital. This is a huge game at 3GB but it matches how big the game truly is.

UPDATE: 5/30/18

I would give this game a 8 out of 10!

Trailer:

End Credits

This one too forever! I loved playing this game but here and there it gave me issues and I waited on a AMA to ask a few questions. That is all for today since I am currently sick trying to finish writing this 😦 I will be full force by the end of the week since I have been video recording myself and going to start playing Tiny Barbarian for my first Let’s Play series.

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