Junkster Switch 2 Review
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of games that require a huge investment of time, and sometimes I just want a short and sweet adventure. So when Josh assigned me Junkster, I jumped at the chance to take on a platformer that didn’t demand so much of my time. So What’s it like? Line up your collectibles, take the comics out of their protective slips, and get ready for adventure as we review Junkster on Nintendo Switch 2
Junkster is a 3D platformer by Indie developer Stormcloud Games. It starts with an alien opening a Comic Book that shows issue 1 of the adventures of UM-13. And you get to play as UM-13 – a Bender-style orange robot trying to repair his spaceship using only his trusty robo-wrench. With a refreshing cell-shading art style and the cool comic book concept being further built upon with floating tutorials, I can already tell I’m in for a fresh new game to play. Completing the tutorial, you are working through a set of individual comic books with a collectible on the cover. I might be showing my age here, but the nostalgia was intense!
Entering the station basics level, things seem calm at first with soft pink fields of brush-like flowers… only to discover those are electric tentacles set on murderising you. You quickly learn to play the floor is lava and that the initial platform tutorial was far more practical than originally imagined. Throughout the game 3 objectives become clear. You need to collect cogs, collect a sticker packet per level (if you can find it) and collect a ship part or collectible per level.
Building blocks and cog collections are easy to obtain simply by walking through them, and taking out bad guys is also quick with a melee attack from your robo-wrench. Although the comic book attack description was a really nice touch that tickled my fancy after I landed my first critical hit. After the quick tutorial levels, you move on to learning new concepts, such as building a robot to keep you safe from the death grass. Editing that robot to create higher platforms and learning about electrical circuitry for opening doors. There is a lot of figuring out how to configure platforms from a base to reach higher areas. There is the added challenge of platform building, with some bases only allowing for a limited number of “blocks” you can add.
Junkster is a series of puzzle games that you have to figure out to open a portal to return to your alien and the next level. You come across puzzles like attaching guns to your robot legs to clear bad aliens, which is particularly satisfying. At one stage, the only way to continue was by putting down a jump platform on one activation block with your suit on it, then activating the electricity to send your suit flying. This provided amusing solutions to the limitations of the gear you are provided. And working out how to get your non-jumping suit to the top of a platform to activate another giant mech was also a tough but cool concept to figure out.
As you complete every level, you receive an artifact, which is a collectible for your alien reader. I think the alien and I might be kindred spirits because its serious pursuit of real life minis really appealed to my soul. Each return to the alien screen adds a figurine to your diorama. In a cute addition, you can switch to the left to view your diorama, pick each figurine up and play with it, turning on lights or sounds which really call back to the simplicity of a childhood I’d almost forgotten. Switching to the right, you can view each comic book edition and see the progress you made.
Moving through the levels is enjoyable, and the logic puzzles are tough enough to require some planning, but not so tough that they make you rage quit or search for a guide. On level 6, I unleashed my inner 12-year-old boy when I accidentally created what we’ve affectionately named the Dill-dozer. In my honest defence, my brain went I need to protect my body, put blades on the side, ok, now I need a blade at the front to protect myself when walking forward… and this is what the product of that was. I couldn’t help but laugh, and I must admit, it really was the most efficient way to travel through the killer carpet. Since then, I’ve seen the promo shots on the Nintendo store and had a chuckle to myself that they put the long shaft sideways like a proper adult.
As you progress, the puzzles get slightly more complex. I found myself navigating platforms, putting together dodgy metal links to traverse a level or sometimes even implementing a similar strategy to create a link between switches when you had a solitary switch to share amongst 3 ports. Level 11 brought about building platforms within the confines of a white outline to reach a high point on the other side of the building. You have to be able to assemble a huge structure. Push a button and hope it gets to the highest point you need without breaking. I could almost feel the cobwebs being shaken off my tired old brain as I remembered I had one that I could use. I am not a completionist, but I did find myself figuring out a puzzle, obtaining the artifact, looking at my cogs collected, seeing I was only slightly short and turning around to go find them. This was also the case with the sticker collecting; I’d often catch myself thinking that level was pretty open, where the heck was the comic book, and I’d go hunting. There is no pressure to 100% complete the game, but it was satisfying when it was so obtainable.
Later on, there are timed platforms, moving platforms, lava and bosses to beat. The bosses all essentially followed the same pattern: dodge the attack, hit the boss, dodge the attack, kill the mobs, hit the boss and repeat, which was very reminiscent of Mario, but there was still something enjoyable about it. Possibly the sound effects or the rageless wins. Levels are bright, refreshing and an interesting take on what an alien world would look like. For the clearly cartoon art style, I did find myself pausing when I realised how close a moon was and how the sun had squiggly waves rather than the usual beams or flat colour increases I’m used to. The cell shading is crisp, and the comic book final attacks had me smiling as they seamlessly pop up.
Throughout my playthrough of Junkster, I only encountered one software crash on level 1. After a quick reset, it was all fixed, and it didn’t happen again. There is a tiny bit of shaking on the alien screen shadows, and sometimes animations cut out as they cross each other or different mechanics, but overall, I was so entranced with figuring out if my solution had worked that I barely noticed. With 20 levels, I thought Junkster would be a fairly quick game to complete, but as I traversed each level, I realised what a substantial game it was, taking me 9-10hours to complete. It doesn’t get bogged down in detail, but I really liked that. It’s here for a good time, not a long time, and I think that’s what makes it brilliant. You collect everything you need, have some laughs, solve some puzzles, but at the end of the day, you aren’t stuck in an exhausting slog of a game.
At $14.95 AUD, Junkster is an absolute steal, and I highly recommend picking yourself up a copy. You get nostalgia, problem-solving and plenty of hours of entertainment.
What’s it like? Junkster is like Mario Sunshine with a building mechanic similar to Tears of the Kingdom.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this doesn’t influence my score
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