Mini Island Challenge Bundle

Genre: Compilation / Action

Players: 1

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Review:

Mini Island Challenge Bundle, released on Nintendo Switch in 2020, is a Compilation of the games Red Island, Snow Island, Mini Island, and Mini Island: Night, all previously released on PC in 2019 except the final game in that list, which came out in 2020. While these games may bear different names, they are more or less the same thing – these are boss rush-style Action games that players take on using a machine gun, a dash evade, a few smoke grenades and a flash bomb, making use of these to survive to the end.

All four games in this package are visually identical, save for each one using a different color scheme. These visuals are backed by a decent synthesized soundtrack that alternates between some really nice placid music during calm moments in-between battles, and more fast-paced music during the action. It’s nothing truly remarkable, but it works well for what’s on offer here.

The gameplay here is fairly simple. You can fire a stream of bullets, you can dash, and you can use a limited number of grenades or a special move, and that’s it. No jumping, no special weapons, nothing like that. Dodging automatically evades most, but not all, forms of attack. Players must succeed in combat by knowing when to properly use each of these moves, and must also watch enemies to understand their attack patterns.

Enemy attacks are forecast by markers showing their area of effect, making them mostly pretty easy to dodge if you react quickly enough, so much of the time taking out enemies is a matter of knowing when you have a brief moment to stop and attack. Some enemies require a bit more finesse, but this pattern of dodge-attack-dodge-attack is what the majority of the game boils down to.

I’ll note that I say “game” and not “games”, because the four games here look and play nearly identically. The only difference is in the types of enemies you fight and the color of the visuals. Unfortunately, this homogeny seeps into the gameplay as well. The lack of variety in your abilities, and the lack of interesting upgrades really makes this experience repetitive before too long. Oh, you do get Roguelike-style upgrades after each fight, only… well, they’re all just stat boosts. Do you upgrade your health, shield, energy, or attack? That sorta’ thing.

I think that Mini Island Challenge Bundle has a decent enough foundation – the intense action here is well balanced out by giving players an advance warning when an attack is headed their way, at least most of the time. However, while that core action may be good, it doesn’t make up for how simple and repetitive this game is. Players may enjoy this fast-paced action in brief spurts, but it’s not a game you’ll want to stick with for long.

tl;dr – Mini Island Challenge Bundle is a Compilation of four games… that really just feels like one game with four different skins. In any case, this is a selection of four boss rush-style Action games, and while the core action here is decent, it’s also somewhat shallow and lacking variety. The result is a game you might enjoy for a little while, but not one you’re likely to play for very long.

Grade: C

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