Thanks to the unique capabilities of the Joy-Con controllers, Friv2Online Studio website is one of the best consoles for companies and parties with a huge number of similar games. In addition to the annual Just Dance and several titles about the world-favorite mustachioed plumber and his friends, Nintendo decided to remember one of the first games of the platform and released its sequel called 1-2-Switch - as far as this word is generally applicable to this genre.
WHAT IS EVERYBODY 1-2-SWITCH!
Everybody 1-2-Switch! - the ideological successor of 1-2-Switch, released at the start of sales of the console and designed to become a kind of "technology demonstrator", showing gamers the capabilities of new controllers. On the whole, she succeeded, but not without a fair amount of strangeness - what is the mere friv mini-game of milking cows for speed.
The new game retains the general principle of its predecessor, which is characteristic, in principle, for all friv games of this genre in general - these are competitions in mini-games. True, now there are as many as 44 of them, not 28. In addition to joycons, with which up to eight people can play, you can use smartphones - in this mode, support for up to HUNDREDS of players is declared. Smartphones are connected via a QR code, everything is fast and intuitive.
In Everybody 1-2-Switch! The main emphasis is on team play. Players are divided into 2 teams and compete in mini-games together. Three variants of the competition are available - "Blitz" up to three wins, "Standard" up to five, and "Marathon" up to seven. The game time is also indicated (20, 40 and 60 minutes, respectively), but this value is indicative and depends on how the game will proceed.
At the start of each session, which is simply called a "party", you can choose the difficulty and rules for calculating bonus points, as well as adjust the set of games, abandoning the noisy and too moving ones. Next, the rules are explained to us and the “roulette wheel” is launched to select the next friv mini-game.
Mini-games can be conditionally divided into active and intellectual. In the first, we swing joysticks, competing in reaction, rhythm, speed, arranging small sports and even fights with imaginary swords. Secondly, we answer questions for speed or collect bingo cards.
There are also rather non-trivial examples, for example, shooting specified colors using a smartphone camera or searching for a joycon in a room, when a searching player can send signals from his controller to a hidden joycon, making it vibrate.
The game pleases with bright multi-color pictures, an abundance of explanatory videos, as well as excellent soundtrack. By the way, sound here becomes one of the most important elements of the game, directly related to game mechanics - in some mini-games we need, for example, to perform actions on sound or recognize animals and musical instruments.
But the animation here is at least. In many friv games, everything is as conditional and schematic as possible, and the player can only be content with changing static pictures. On the other hand, this is understandable - the main action here takes place on our side of the screen.
By the way, if you haven't guessed yet - in Everybody 1-2-Switch! as expected, single player and handheld mode are not supported. The party requires a minimum of two players and a tabletop or stationary console location.
WHAT DID YOU LIKE
Enough mini-games. Variety is the key to any party game, so there can't be too many mini-games. Limited packs get boring too quickly, but 44 mini-games in Everybody 1-2-Switch! will allow you to have fun for a very long time. By the way, mini-games open gradually, and already open ones can be launched separately from a special menu.
Unleashing the potential of the Switch. Everybody 1-2-Switch!, like the first game in the series, perfectly demonstrates the capabilities of the console. The game not only forces you to press the buttons, but also uses gyroscopes, HD Rumble and other features of the Joy-Con controllers.
Full localization with voice acting. The friv game is perfectly localized with full voice acting in Russian. In the heat of excitement, it is especially important to receive information in the language in which you think.
intellectual component. Unlike the first part, a quiz mode has appeared here, where players need to answer questions. Sometimes they are elementary and require mostly a quick answer, and sometimes they make you think - how many, for example, will say offhand which face on the dice is opposite the four?
The quiz is available as a mini-game with three questions, and in a separate mode with nine. Moreover, in the spirit of the famous Jackbox, players can create questions on their own - this is very great for contests at some family celebrations, where you can compose questions about some important dates or events. It's a nice touch - Nintendo has shown some concern for privacy, and you can't even take screenshots when answering user questions.
A large number of players. If when using joy-cons the Switch does not have the technical ability to connect more than eight players, then smartphones allow you to bypass this limitation and cover literally any party - as we all understand, 100 players is a huge margin, almost unattainable at a real house party.
WHAT DID NOT LIKE
Excessive psychedelic picture. Of course, the madness of WarioWare: Get It Together with its Atlantean underarm shaves and giant toilet bowls is far from here, but the anthropomorphic leading horse, flashy colors and sometimes strange clothes of actors explaining the movements, as if they came out of a fashion show - the kind of thing from which you you are unlikely to wear it in real life - they will still keep you in good shape.
Long explanations of the rules. On the one hand, this is good - the friv game literally chews the rules for every potential newcomer. On the other hand, in the presence of a certain experience, these explanations bring down the excitement and look drawn out, and you can’t turn them off anywhere.
Departure from the competitive principle. No matter how well you play, Everybody 1-2-Switch! always gives a chance to the underdogs in the form of a "card of luck" mechanic - the underdog team between mini-games can draw a card and instantly tie the score on wins without winning a single game. Of course, many will object that this is “not a bug, but a feature”, shifting the focus from competition to recreation, but in my opinion, such functionality should be at least optional.
WORTH TAKING?
The answer to this question is exactly the same as with any other party game. If you like this pastime - Everybody 1-2-Switch! It will perfectly complement the collection and diversify your leisure time, especially if you are not afraid of a slight note of madness and psychedelia. And it is also perfect for those who want to actively move around, revealing the full potential of joycons.