Balancelot Switch Review – This Time for Sure
Balancelot, developed by AnvilBird Interactive and Ratalaika Games, is a physics-based 2D platformer. What is a physics-based platformer and how does is differ from a standard or precision platformer, though?
To sum them up, a standard platformer is generally a game in which the player controls a character and has to navigate the world mostly by jumping on platforms. Where a precision platformer differs is with the difficulty, essentially requiring pixel perfect jumps to proceed. Now a physics-based platformer contains these base elements, but where it differs is of course the physics.
A standard or precision platformer normally means move left, right, and jump. Naturally, different games will add their own spin (including spin jumps for Mario and others). Physics-based platformers generally play with the idea of incorporating real world physics into the game, which means not only are you moving left and jumping, but you’re moving left, jumping and trying to pull right so you don’t flip over and crash.
There is a rich history of physics-based platformers being, both addictive and rage-inducingly difficult. Balancelot continues this tradition and might be one of the hardest games I’ve ever played. A few other games that I would say fit well with Balancelot, and came to mind while playing, include Happy Wheels, Guts and Glory, and even games like QWOP and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.
The basic concept of the game is that your character (you can select from a boy or girl to control), must wield their lance and ride their unicycle to prove their merit and move from squiredom to knighthood. To do so, they will need to go from one place to another, with some checkpoints along the way. Seems simple enough, right?
Well, it is simple. But, that doesn’t translate to easy. The first level alone (which acts as a tutorial) took me over 19 minutes and 95 deaths. And when I say over, I mean those are the stats I saw at the end, all the time and deaths before the first checkpoint don’t count toward it, so it was likely a solid 3 to 4 minutes more and a dozen or so deaths higher.
Why is it so tough? Well, much like doing an extended grind or manual in Tony Hawks Pro-Skater, the longer you move the harder it is to keep control of your unicycle. You move using the ZL and ZR triggers, and balance using the left stick, which kind of gives you a little bit of patting your head while rubbing your stomach co-ordination issues. Moving slightly in either direction can cause you to slip, fall, and have to go back to the last checkpoint at any moment. And unlike say Guts and Glory, you can’t really rest, straighten up, and prepare for the next challenge, because most of the time even if you do nothing, you’ll fall flat on your face. I lost track of how many times I immediately died after respawning.
The one sort of saving grace is your lance, however, it’s more of a double-edged sword at times. While the lance can be used to stop you from falling over, it also has a habit of getting stuck while you’re making a jump, causing you to flip over and crash or just miss the jump and fall down a chasm instead.
In most games, if you’re forced to replay a section over and over, you eventually begin to master the earlier parts until you can get through to the end. However, in a game like Balancelot I found myself failing repeatedly at every conceivable area. Even if I made a jump 20 times, I’d suddenly begin to fail it for the next 20 as the physics add a real random element that is hard to contend with. I could approach it the same way and match up my input as close as possible and get wildly different results just because the lance fell a little further than last time.
The long and short of the game is that Balancelot has a nice medieval paper drawing art style, a fun little premise, and the ability to make me want to throw my Switch through a window. If you’re a masochist, then give it a shot. If you’re a sadist, give it to a friend. If you like a chill casual game, give it a miss.
Balancelot Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: AnvilBird Interactive
Release Date: Jan 22, 2021
Price: $7.99, £7.99, €7,99
Game Size: 171 MB
Art style is nice
Challenge is there for those that want it
Deceptive amount of content (because of amount of replay required)
Immediately difficult
Not good for casual players
Controls are simple but hard to use
Randomness makes some deaths feel cheap
