Chip and Charge

Genre: Sports (Tennis)

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in 2D Indie Bundle, along with 25 other games.)

Chip and Charge is a Tennis game released in 2024 on Xbox one and Nintendo Switch. This game uses a physics-based system to determine where your shots get hit.

Okay, that thing I just said? That was me reeeeeally reaching to try to find something to say about this game that isn’t negative. But let this serve (ha) as an example of how “physics-based” does not equate to “good”, because how this works out in reality is that your timing and positioning determines where your shots aim, which ultimately results in you having virtually zero practical control over the aiming of your shots.

Beyond this, Chip and Charge is a pretty basic, bland game of Tennis. There are no other buttons, no stamina system or way to charge up your shots, no way to dash or dive to hit a ball that’s out of reach, nothing to make things interesting. The closest you’ll get are three game modes – normal, a faster version of normal, and a mode that turns the ball into a bomb which just means that you can’t let the ball bounce even once.

The 2D pixel art visuals with thick black outlines of characters are actually pretty adorable here, especially the way the game moves your legs around like you’re some sort of insect. This is backed by pretty unmemorable synthesized music, and one very memorable, very prominent issue that will distract you the entire time you’re playing the game – after you get past the first logo or two starting up the game, this game will turn on the rumble feature on your controller and not turn it off until you shut off the game.

Between Chip and Charge’s distracting rumble, lack of features, and inability to properly aim, I cannot possibly recommend this to anyone. You have plenty of better options for Tennis games on Nintendo Switch, play one of those instead.

tl;dr – Chip and Charge is a Tennis game with odd physics that make aiming your shots nearly impossible, a lack of features or gameplay variety, and an issue where your controller will not stop rumbling while the game is running. In short, don’t bother with this unfinished mess.

Grade: D-

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