Poison Control Switch Review – Heaven and Hell

NIS America are back with another release, and this one’s a little bit different from their usual JRPG releases, though. Poison Control is an anime style, third-person shooter game (yes, you read that right) that sees you saving trapped spirits – or manifestations of spirits – from their own torment and despair. Leading them from hell to their rightful place in heaven, or simply saving them from a dark place in their lives.

Was this a trip to heaven? Or will it leave you feeling like you have gone to hell and back? Let’s find out!

Poison Control doesn’t exactly have one of the easiest stories to follow. The game begins with you waking up in a version of hell, and you’re immediately attacked by a Klesha – a demon of sorts. For reasons unknown, instead of killing you, this Klesha merges with your body, binding its own to yours. The being you now share your body with is known as Poisonette. Poisonette presents a plan to you – help her recover her memories and get her to heaven, releasing you from hell along the way. How you do this is by helping lost souls recover their memories, battling enemies in their own dimension of hell.

Poison Control is a third-person shooter, but not in the way you imagine. Shooting isn’t really the main thing that takes your time in this game. I found it to be more interacting with characters and exploring than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, the shooting is a big part of the game and the experience since there is no other combat to use. It’s just not what I would think of when I thought of this game.

The game can begin to feel quite repetitive due to each level being very similar in its approach. They all follow the same pattern: brief backstory into the person you’re ‘rescuing’, kill some monsters, erase some of the poison mire whilst finding item chests, and collecting memories. There are situations where the main objective will differ. This can be having to completely erase the poisons mires or killing a certain monster.

What I did enjoy though is the way the levels differ in respect to the person you’re ‘saving’. For example, on one level a person had recently lost their pet dog, and so all the enemies were dog-like. This helps to break away from the repetitive gameplay… a little.

The interactions between the characters are quite enjoyable though, especially between yourself and Poisonette. You will often have conversations with her that require you to choose an answer. In doing so, you will add some experience points to an attribute: Synergy, Empathy, Insight, Toxicity, and Trust. Leveling these up will unlock skills for you to use and increases (or decreases) your bond with Poisonette.

Combat in Poison Control is very simple. There’s no dodge button, no cover mechanics – just basic shooting. You’re able to lock on, and it’s worth pointing out that your character has a Mega Man-type gun attached to their arm, which is pretty cool.

Between levels, you will have the option to customise your weapons and load-outs. Your main weapon, known as a Toxicant, has infinite ammo that needs to recharge after several uses. You then have a side weapon known as a Delicant, which has a much greater ammo capacity. You also have the option of using a special attack that is a pretty heavy hitter and helpful in many situations.

An interesting mechanic in Poison Control is erasing the poison mires. Each level has a mass of what are known as mires located on the floor in various areas. Standing in these mires will slowly deplete your health so it’s a good idea to get rid of these as soon as you can. Doing so is simple. With a simple press of a button, you will pass control over to Poisonette and you then have a short amount of time to move, erasing any mire in your way. When finished, you will bounce back to where you started. Doing this has many bonuses such as speeding up your weapons recharge time, stunning enemies and simply escaping an enemies grasp.

You will notice that Poison Control shares some similarities with the Persona series in the art style and in-your-face headings. It’s something I targeted straight away, and this is something that originally made the game appeal to me. Obviously, these are two very different games, but graphics-wise, maybe not.

I especially love just how bright and colourful Poison Control is. At no point in the game does it look bland or boring, and that’s just what I like. It’s one of the stand-out parts of the game. Character and enemy design is good, but I just wish the mission select screen had a little more to offer.

Overall, Poison Control is a fun and interesting take on a third-person shooter. I can’t say I have ever played anything quite like this before, and I’m not sure I’ll ever play anything like it again. It has just really cool mechanics and is an easy pick-up-and-play game. I’m just not so sure if it is worth the asking price, but that’s for you to decide.

Poison Control Review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Release Date: April 16th, 2021
Price: $39.99, £35.99
Game Size: 2068MB