Good Job!

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen)

.

Review:

Good Job! is a family-friendly character-based Puzzle game released on Nintendo Switch in 2020 where players take the role of the idiot son of the owner of a big company tasked with taking care of various odd tasks throughout the company’s building, with the joke behind the game being that no matter how much you screw things up as you complete tasks, you still have the ultimate job security because of who your daddy is.

The presentation here is simple but effective, with environments presented in a simple 3D style with bright colors, and characters represented by cartoony black silhouettes akin to what you see on a restroom door. This simple style works very well for this game, not only making everything visually clear and easy to parse, but also fitting well with the office setting, almost as if it’s an office manual come to life, albeit with far more color than any office manual I’ve encountered. This is paired with music that I’d compare to elevator music which, again, seems pretty fitting for the sort of sanitized office setting depicted here.

Of course, into this sanitized setting walks the player, and it’s surprisingly difficult not to be a little ball of chaotic destruction, wreaking havoc anywhere you go. The controls here are a little on the loose side, meaning that it’s easy to accidentally bump into an object and cause destruction, or inadvertently swing an object you’re lugging around a bit too wide and slam it into something. You’re kinda’ set up to fail in this regard – the offices you’re moving through tend to be extremely cluttered, and while players can go through the busy work of moving each and every obstruction individually, it’s not really worth the effort – you’re graded based on how long you take, and while how much stuff you destroy is also a factor, the game is really generous with this.

As a result, you’ll plow through the office creating plenty of destruction as you perform simple tasks like moving and setting up a projector, or collecting a group of missing workers and returning them to a meeting room.

This starts out fairly straightforward, but before long this game’s tasks reveal them to be puzzles, often with open-ended solutions. The game doesn’t so much care how you accomplish tasks as long as you accomplish them. Do you power up a door so you can get equipment through it, or just bust the door down? You’ll incur a penalty for the damage, but it’s not that much of a penalty, soooo… okay, no more door!

The game does a good job gradually introducing elements, too, such as plugs that must be stretched to outlets, forklifts and cranes players must use to move heavy objects, and other various objects and pieces of machinery to interact with. The game doesn’t ever hand-hold you through how to use this stuff either – you’re trusted to more or less figure it out on your own, but to the game’s credit it’s rarely difficult to figure this out. “Hm… I need to move workers, but they won’t budge. But I can move them if they’re in a chair… I wonder what will happen if I slam a chair into one of them…” Often this sort of thinking is rewarded by the game, and it’s an absolute delight when you try something to see if it will work and it does.

Already, this was an excellent little Puzzle game, but the game takes things a step further by allowing players to play the entire game in co-op, which works brilliantly – an extra set of hands can help to clear tasks more quickly, but you’ll also be on the hook for any extra damage they cause, and there will be times when you’ll want to coordinate your actions. The game also cleverly integrates split-screen in a way that joins up the split screens when players are close enough. Overall, this makes for a marvelous co-op experience, and its accessibility makes it one of the better co-op games on the Nintendo Switch.

I really only have a few minor complaints about this game. First, while the loose controls do make for some amusement, I must admit that the perfectionist in me grates at how difficult they make it to try to avoid damage. The walking speed in the game is also a bit slow for my tastes. Also, given the simple visuals, I have to mention the load times, which aren’t horrible, but given the simplicity of the graphics it’s a bit disappointing that there are load times at all.

All things considered though, Good Job! is a fantastic little Puzzle game that’s very accessible, rewards creative thinking, has a great sense of humor, and provides players with an outstanding co-op mode. If you’re looking for a great character-based Puzzle game to share with a friend, you’d do well to give this game a try.

tl;dr – Good Job! Is a family-friendly Puzzle game that has players solving puzzles that involve them performing tasks in an office (and usually causing plenty of damage in the process). It’s a clever Puzzle game with some wonderful open-ended Puzzle design and some excellent co-op play. Don’t miss it!

Grade: B+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}