Cosmic Defenders

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Cosmic Defenders is an Arcade-style game where players take the role of one of four elemental planetary defenders fending off an invasion of an alien horde. This game was released on Nintendo Switch in 2020.

The visuals in this game use flat, colorful, cartoony visuals to depict the action, with an energetic but forgettable soundtrack backing it up. There’s nothing especially noteworthy about the presentation beyond its colorful nature, but it works well enough for the game, I suppose.

The gameplay has players moving their character around one or multiple planets, hopping back and forth between them, fending off aliens using different attacks. It’s a decent enough gimmick, and I’ve seen a few other games of this sort before. However, Cosmic Defenders has a bit of a problem that trips it up.

That problem is he controls – this game can’t seem to decide if it should have controls relative to the character, or relative to the planet. Moving your character to a spot on the planet requires pushing the control stick as if you were pointing to that spot from the planet’s center. Unfortunately, players are often required to orient their character or have them dodge, which feels unnatural and results in players seeming to wrestle with movement in this game.

As a result, Cosmic Defenders is a game with some potential as a fun time-waster, but its awkward controls make it hard to recommend. For the inexpensive price of $5 it may be tempting to try, but this isn’t a game I feel is likely to keep you engaged for long.

tl;dr – Cosmic Defenders is an Arcade-style game that has you moving a character around a planet or planets, fending off alien attacks. It’s a game that works on a decent but well-established formula, but it’s harmed by counter-intuitive controls. The result is a game that’s not without its charms, but isn’t likely to keep you entertained for long.

Grade: C-

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