Animal Rivals: Nintendo Switch Edition

Genre: Party Game

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Animal Rivals is a Party game that includes 4 minigames for up to four players to play, with players taking the role of one of numerous anthropomorphized animals in this contest.

There are 4 games here – Collector, Runner, Catcher, and Destroyer.

Of the 4 games, Catcher is probably the best. This one plays like a 2D platformer where all players are trying to gather the most orbs being shot out of cannons. Depending on the stage, there are power-ups or explosive bombs, and while it’s nothing too deep, I could see a group of friends having some fun with this one.

Next up is Runner, which is a 3D platformer that plays like an obstacle course where you’re trying to be the first to a finish line. The platforming here isn’t very well-crafted and isn’t especially fun, but doesn’t do anything outright egregious either. It’s just “meh”.

Then there’s Destroyer, which has players running around destroying boxes matching their assigned color. This one just seemed pointless, since you usually only have one box of your color at a given time, so there’s very little in the way of decision-making. It’s just going to wherever you need to at any given moment. Boring.

Finally, Collector has you going back and forth between an area where items appear, and your goal, which shows you the item you’re supposed to be snagging. The gameplay in this one wasn’t too clear, didn’t seem to control very well, and just plain wasn’t fun.

So all in all, you have one game that’s decent, one game that’s middling, one game that’s boring, and one game that’s just plain bad. Not a very good assortment.

On top of this, the game’s graphics are just plain ugly. Everything seems like borrowed assets, and the character designs themselves are repulsively ugly. Animations are stiff, music is bad… there just isn’t much in the way of a saving grace here.

In the end, Animal Rivals is a Party Game collection where almost all of the games are duds, and it’s ugly to boot. Don’t bother.

tl;dr – Animal Rivals is a Party game with a collection of 4 minigames… but only one of those is even worth playing, and only as a minor distraction, at that. Plus, the game is really ugly to look at. Avoid this one.

Grade: D

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