Cyber Hook

Genre: First-Person Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

Cyber Hook is a First-Person Platformer, released on PC in 2020 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2021, that has players speed-running through obstacle course-style levels while propelling themselves from platform to platform using a grappling hook.

The gameplay in Cyber Hook is all about speed and mobility, and it does both of these things extraordinarily well. Even simply jogging gives a great feeling of speed as players gradually get faster, but what really drives this experience home is swinging around with a grappling hook.

Simply put, never has grappling gameplay ever been this satisfying save for in only the best Spider-Man games. The game’s exaggerated physics make it a truly joyful experience to latch on to a platform and use it to propel you upward or forward. In any other Platformer, falling off of a platform would mean a lost life and a need to restart. Here, it’s an opportunity to latch onto the bottom of the platform and swing yourself onto a new trajectory. In fact, sometimes, the best way to gain altitude is to drop underneath a platform so you can rubber-band your way upwards.

For a game with movement this satisfying, a lot of credit need to go to the controls, which are not only well-crafted and highly responsive, but they also make extremely good use of the Nintendo’s gyroscopic motion controls. You can opt to turn those controls off, but after trying the game without the gyroscopic motion controls, I quickly found myself turning them back on – the ability to use motion controls to subtly-influence your aiming mid-jump so you could properly aim your hook at the next grapple point was so invaluable that playing without motion controls in this game didn’t just feel like playing with a handicap, it felt like playing with a severed appendage. I cannot imagine playing this game any other way (save for perhaps playing it in VR).

While Cyber Hook has a story, it’s light on that story, and keeps the focus largely on its Arcade-style speedrunning-friendly gameplay. You’re not here to explore or learn about this world, you’re here to use your abilities to get to the exit of each level as inhumanly quickly as possible. This makes is a great game to play in short sessions where you’re just trying to beat your best time, or for long play sessions where… you’re just trying to beat your best time.

While I absolutely love the gameplay here, and think the Nintendo Switch is an ideal platform for that gameplay, but at the same time, this game suffers somewhat for being on Nintendo Switch. That is because the framerates in this game absolutely suffer. Sadly, I can’t measure just how bad they get, but when things in this game start to get really fast and intense, this game absolutely chugs. It never gets so bad as to be unplayable, but it’s still pretty rough.

Oddly, this is despite this game’s graphical simplicity – Cyber Hook uses a visual style similar to movies like Tron, representing its world as simple neon-colored geometrical shapes. This really shouldn’t be a game that performs as poorly as it does. At the very least, this simple presentation works well for the game’s focus on intense, fast-paced gameplay, and backing that presentation is a very nice, fitting techno-esque soundtrack – have a listen to the Title Theme for a good example of what to expect here.

To sum up the entire experience, when Cyber Hook is at its best, it creates a an absolutely thrilling experience that’s virtually unparalleled on the Nintendo Switch – the feeling of speed and maneuverability creates a feeling of mastery that is a sheer joy, and that feeling of mastery is empowered by excellent use of gyroscopic motion controls that truly make this game shine on the Nintendo Switch… but the flipside of that is that the Nintendo Switch drags this game down with its horrible framerates, and while this game is still a joy to play on the Nintendo Switch, it feels compromised in ways that make it a lesser experience.

One can’t help but wonder how this game would perform on a more powerful version of the Nintendo Switch’s hardware, if it existed. Alternately, you could say that this game’s developers could have done a better job optimizing this game’s performance on Nintendo Switch. In either case, this is still a phenomenal experience, but it feels like an experience that could have been even better. Still, if you’re looking for a game that makes you feel like an outstanding high-speed acrobat, this is definitely a game you’ll want to play.

tl;dr – Cyber Hook is a First-Person Platformer that has players speeding through levels and performing amazing acrobatic feats using a grappling hook. It is an absolute joy to run, jump, and move around in this game, a joy that is absolutely enhanced by the expert use of gyroscopic motion controls. However, the game suffers from nasty framerates at time that drag down the otherwise sublime experience. If you’re looking for a game to partake in great acrobatic feats, this is still going to be a must-have game for you, just be aware that the Nintendo Switch version of the game comes with both advantages and disadvantages.

Grade: B+

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Platformer

.

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

^{This month’s sponsors are MB, Andy Miller, Johannes, u/RamboFox, Exlene, Eli Goodman, Ilya Zverev, Stov, Connor Armstrong, and K.H. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}