Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is a Platformer released on Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Fans of the series were frustrated by this release, as this gameplay bears little resemblance to the series it is derived from, and in fact aside from Chibi-Robo himself, there’s little about this game that resembles the prior games in the franchise.

With one of the franchise’s charms being how small Chibi-Robo is compared to the contemporary human world around him, it’s a bit inexplicable that the world this game presents players with looks so very generic. You will occasionally see objects in the background that will remind you that Chibi is supposed to be small, but mainly you’ll be walking through stages comprised of generic-looking blocks.

The game’s 3D visuals are largely unimpressive, save for Chibi himself, as well as occasional real-world objects you’ll sometimes find and collect, much like the Pikmin games. These visuals are backed by an energetic but forgettable soundtrack, and cutesy noises characters make when speaking in the game. Not terrible, but very disposable.

The core gameplay here is decent Platforming fare, with players using their character’s plug-in cord as a whip and grappling hook. There’s nothing truly extraordinary here, but this could have been a solid little Platformer. Unfortunately, the more you play this game, the more its problems become apparent, and the more this feels like a joyless slog.

The pacing here is atrocious. The actual gameplay is aways being interrupted, either by pointless in-game cutscenes, inane chatter from various other characters, or Chibi himself taking a moment to do a little dance when he manages some minor accomplishment. Game progression is just bizarre, having players randomly select the next level they’ll play rather than taking them in order, and forcing players to replay levels if this random selection lands on a level you’ve already played. Who thought this would be a good idea? Collecting real-world items (namely, snacks) has characters babbling about those items with gushing compliments, making the game feel eerily like an advertisement… What’s truly baffling is that these issues are all unforced errors. None of these problems had to be in this game, but they were added in unnecessarily, seemingly just to make this game harder to enjoy.

There is a decent game buried under all of the problems here. Not a great game, but a decent one. Unfortunately, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash can’t even manage to achieve that level of competence, thanks to the countless inexplicable design choices that make this a tedious, frustrating slog. Not only is this not the game Chibi-Robo fans wanted, it’s not a game Platforming fans will appreciate either. And when it’s on a platform absolutely filled with great Platformers, why would you bother playing this one when it seems to be intentionally trying to make the experience less fun?

tl;dr – Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is a Platformer where players use a cord like a whip or a grappling hook. The core gameplay is decent, but the presentation is painfully generic, and this game keeps presenting players with absurd design choices that slow the pace to a crawl and make everything unnecessarily tedious and frustrating. This is not a game for Chibi-Robo fans or for Platformer fans… which means it’s not really a game for anyone.

Grade: D+

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