UFO 50 Review: Indie Nostalgia Arrives on the Switch 2
As an older player, you might think that I have a penchant for retro games. But I don’t do it. I grew up when just playing any video game was exciting, even if the game itself was bad. UFO 50 changes that. First for the first time last year on PC and recently worn on Switch and Switch 2 on August 7, the single independent title Flippt the script with a collection of 50 “retro” games that never existed.
UFO 50 is a collection of retro fictitious games designed to seem to have come out in the Apple II, Amiga and Nes era, but built with modern gameplay ideas. Unlike the Pixel-Art Indies like Stardew Valley or Dave the Diver, these games only stick two buttons and a D-Pad, which makes the design of the old-fashioned old man more authentic.
And precisely because of this, UFO 50 is not for everyone. To take advantage of this game, you must really dig, for lack of a better term, the game. It may seem pretentious from a critic, but the collection is both a tribute to an important era of video games and a reimagination that weaves in modern concepts and ideas.
Even if UFO 50 made its debut on PC last year, he feels at his home on the Switch and Switch 2. The Switch has long been a paradise for independent games, and the collection of the developer Mosmouth fits perfectly in this tradition. Its 50 titles are excellent collection and play experiences – you can eliminate a race or level in a few minutes, making it an ideal game at “Toilet time”. More importantly, however, these games shine on a small screen, giving you this comfortable and retro sensation to curl up on the sofa with the type of Magic Olde Magic games used.
How many games are there?
As its name suggests, UFO 50 packs 50 games (plus a secret supplement). Each title is unique, although some share mechanisms, and some are directly connected. The collection is formulated as a game catalog for a fictional system, the LX console, created by the equally fictitious UFO Soft. In reality, the developer Mossmouth – the studio led by the creator of Spelunky Derek Yu – “found” this catalog in an abandoned warehouse and published it for modern consoles, weaving dozens of incompatible games in a network of cohesive and cohesive.
On the game selection screen, you can dive deeper into each of the 50 titles. All would have been developed in the mid -1980s, representing various points in the studio chronology, with inspirations ranging from films and newspaper articles to a worker pet.
Yes, it’s a tower defense game that seems to have been on the NES.
The 50 games cover popular genres at the time – platforms, races and various puzzle games – but everyone comes with a little torsion.
There are games like Bushido Ball that look like classic retro titles. This one, for example, plays a bit like the Windjammers Neo-Geo game-only with Samurai. Fist Hell is a final combat style beat with zombies, where enemies are scheduled to exploit certain angles, making it a particularly difficult challenge.
Then there are titles that take modern genres and give them a complete retro makeover. Rock On Island is a tower defense game with cave men and dinosaurs, so faithful to the old school of the old school that she could pass like an obscure release abroad that has never struck in the United States. Night Manor is a punctual adventure in the vein of Shadowgate or not invited, but with additional prosecution sequences and hiding machine mechanisms.
Although a lot of UFO games 50 are solid, a few are not well led to me, and some fall into the genres that I don’t even like with modern graphics. Camouflage is a furtive style game that looks more like a giant puzzle, while Mooncat changes usual platform commands in a way that is simply confusing.
Watch out for the Killer in Night Manor.
UFO = unique, fascinating and original
It is difficult to say how the exceptional UFO 50 is. Will it be my favorite game of all time or even the game of the year? Probably not. But I like the way the games tickled my brain by mixing the aesthetics of my childhood games with smart twists and turns.
He struck the nostalgia that my brain sucks while nourishing the part of me that wants something new – and the catalog of 50 games in depth. Some sessions lasted only 10 to 15 minutes, while others have extended for hours. This is the kind of collection that I can pick up in a year and dive right away, but it also has this traction that makes me want to play every time I have free time.
Some people will not get the call, and that’s good. It is easy to be deactivated by retro graphics, simple controls or rudimentary stories. However, if you have already wondered what attracts you to video games – hook that makes you play the very idea of playing itself – UFO 50 is the kind of game that allows you to explore this. For Switch 2 owners looking for something to fill the gap during a lull, UFO 50 is difficult to beat at only $ 25.
