Swapdoodle

Genre: Art Application / Communication Application

Players: 1, Local Wireless Functionality

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS

Swapdoodle is a free-to-play Art Application and Communication Application released in 2016 for Nintendo 3DS that allows players to exchange multi-frame 3D sketches. This Application is the follow-up to Swapnote, which in turn was the successor to the original DS built-in software Pictochat, although it functions a bit differently.

Swapdoodle’s functionality differs from Swapnote in multiple ways. This software doesn’t have the ability to share photos and sound recordings like Swapnote does. However, in place of those features is the ability to create drawings in multiple colors, the ability to directly message specific friends (though only locally using StreetPass), as well as other nice features like an undo button and even small “art lessons” where layers can trace over drawings of various characters to learn how to draw them.

While the loss of the ability to exchange photos and sound recordings is unfortunate, I would argue that what has been gained here is far greater than what’s been lost. It’s nice to be able to trade sketches directly, and small features like multi-color sketches and the undo button may seem minor, but they make a huge difference. In addition, while it’s not extensive, having even a small art lesson here is a wonderful addition that really adds a lot to this package.

However, all of this comes with a bit of a dark side. See, while Swapdoodle is a free-to-play application, a great deal of its functionality is locked behind microtransactions. Without spending money, players will be able to use three colors, save up to 300 sketches, and have a small handful of lessons. Unlocking more of each of these (as well as additional features) requires dropping money. Sadly, you can’t just focus on the features you specifically want either, as each DLC pack contains a little of everything. Want a full color palette to work with? Then you’ll need to download all of the DLC. Want to get all of the art tutorials? Same deal.

This might not be so terrible, except the combined costs of all of this DLC is over $90.That’s outright absurd, especially when some of the features locked away include the ability to store more notes, something that is an artificial restraint added into this software just to pressure you into spending more money.

Despite how predatory the microtransactions here are, I would still say it’s worth it for 3DS owners to download Swapdoodle – even what’s free is still pretty useful, arguably even more than Flipnote, which didn’t have such microtransactions. Just be aware that this game is going to try to push you to spend a lot of money in sleazy ways.

tl;dr – Swapdoodle is a free-to-play Art Application and Communication Application. This is the successor to Swapnote, and in many ways it is an improved and expanded version of that software. However, be warned that this software locks many of its features behind microtransactions, and is surprisingly sleazy about pushing players to pay for things they really should be allowed to access freely. Still, despite this disgusting cash grab, even the free features here are decent, making this software well worth getting.

Grade: C+

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