After waiting for a few weeks, I finally recieved the Switch bundle that I ordered off of GameStop. With it I also recieved Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Breath of the Wild. I've had at least a few hours to enjoy each game, and have a general impression of the console, and now here is my review of all of it.
The Switch felt very weird taking it out of the box. It's a small tablet with a decent weight to it, but the console itself is probably the most boring part. The biggest shock for me was the joycons. I guess I just never realized based on images alone how tiny the buttons were. The ABXY array is even smaller than the 3DS was, and the thumb sticks were just the same, easily being covered up by my thumb and having a very short range of movement. Using the joycons together as a controller, well in short, it felt like an OUYA controller. Classy and confortable, like Nintendo is known for, with strange controls. But I didnt let that stop me, I decided that I would probably just get use it and I moved onto the games. Loading up the system was fast and easy, and only required a few small updates. The only downside I could see was the Joycon battery life. If you are playing in TV mode and your Joycons are running low on battery, the only way to charge them is with the separately sold charging grip (which I dont have) or to connect them to the Switch console itself and go portable.
Splatoon 2 was the game I was most excited for, so naturally I booted it up first. Having played Splatoon all the way up until I got a Switch, all I can say is that the sequel is not friendly to returning players. I was use to having the giant Gamepad as a controller, but now using the Joycons, it almost felt a bit cramped. Not to mention a few unnecessary changes to the control scheme. The jump button which was previously mapped to X is now mapped to B. They did this to have the jump button closest to the thumb stick, but its just an awkward transition. The X button now opens the map, meaning I frequently end up opening the map by accident when I meant to jump. The motion controls also did not help much in handheld mode. I frequently had to shift the Switch far up or far down to realign it. And the small screen was a bit awkward to play on, but the pixel density did at least make it look nice while playing. Another thing to note is the stages. Splatoon wasnt too big on stage detail due to limited power, but the sequel is packed to the brim, almost to the point where its a bad thing. Splatoon stages felt open and free, always capturing the feel of an outside environment. But Splatoon 2 almost feels artificial, like everything is closed in, and inside. I wouldnt say it makes me claustrophobic, just odd. But I suppose thats the main point, your character in Splatoon 2 is meant to be new, just starting off, and even as a vivid Splatoon player, Splatoon 2 does a great job pulling that off. I feel completely immersed in the world they built around this game.
Breath of the Wild, I havent been active in too much, but it does amaze me how great the scale is of this world and how free-form everything feels. Unfortunately I dont have an opinion on it yet. I do love the gameplay though, and I can tell Im going to have a lot of fun with it.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe however delived exactly what I wanted and fixed every problem I had with the original. If you always led the race, you would get 90% coins as items, now there is a lot more variety. I can now play my favorite Mario Kart game at home, or on the go, and it really is a breath of fresh air to finally be able to step away from Mario Kart 7's broken mechanics. Not to mention battle mode is back and better than ever. My only issue is the placement of the + and - buttons. It feels unnatural to reach for the + to pause the game. Needless to say, I am impressed with how well this game came out. Im usually not one for remasters, but I have to make an exception here. Of any Wii U game, this one deserved a port.
