Timothy vs The Aliens Switch Review – Super Genius!

Wild Sphere has put together a rather ambitious title being such a small team, and it only came to our attention rather recently. Timothy vs The Aliens caught my eye for a couple reasons, particularly its unique setting and art style, and I was overjoyed to be contacted by the team for an indie game review upon our news segment. This is a really cool title with some great ideas, but it does fall short in a few areas.

So is Timothy a super genius, as he claims to be, or does he need to go back to school and get educated? Let’s find out!

Timothy vs The Aliens is quite literally the title. You play as Timothy, a young man who was abducted by aliens at a young age and given a special power that allows him to move at super-speed (Basically the same as Dead Eye in Red Dead Redemption), and he has made full use of this ability over years to establish himself as a top gangster in his town. His building is even named after him with a marque TIMOTHY lit up by dozens of bulbs.

Well, Timothy failed to hear that the aliens would be back to take over the world and eat all the humans, so when the aliens do return, Timothy changes from bad guy to good guy and decides it is time to kick these aliens back to outer space.

It is a really fun setting, and although there is no voice acting, the soundtrack, aesthetic, and overall presentation is spectacular! Character models are a nice mix of cartoony and realism, and the location the game takes place is really well designed. The story, although to-the-point and rather simple to follow, is an entertaining and original one that keeps attention from start to finish, but that finish does comes a bit sooner than expected.

The game is a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter similar to games like Gears of War. However, I found the controls and aiming to be a bit off. As someone who frequents these types of shooters, I kept finding myself shooting slightly to the right of the target, and I wonder if that is due to the thin-lining of the reticle or just a simple oversight. Either way, this didn’t feel quite right.

Thankfully the game is not too difficult and save points are rather generous. On top of that, dying does not punish you harshly at all, as you keep all of your money, guns, and ammunition upon restart. Cash is littered all over the place in the game, though, so collecting enough to buy new guns, keys, and bullets will rarely-to-never be a problem.

As this is also a platformer, jumping in the game does feel quite nice, and some of the more complicated jumping areas are saved by the fact that Timothy is capable of grabbing ledges. He doesn’t always grab on, so starting over and trying again may get annoying at times, but overall, this is a solid 3D platformer.

Enemies are awesomely designed, as the aliens are the only things on screen that are rendered in full color, so spotting them is pretty easy and evading them is as simple as moving and shooting in a circular motion. Not the most challenging shooter, especially with the Dead Eye-like ability, but it is fun action nonetheless.

The guns are all quite effective, too, but once you get your hands on the Tommy gun, it is hard to lean on anything else (Sorry, poor pistol). Even the shotgun, due to its slow reload, takes a back seat, so investing in Tommy gun ammo is the way to go.

Some of the storyline quests are a bit annoying, as there are a couple times you are forced to do some timed platforming that does not really communicate well exactly what you need to do, and I found the timer to a bit unnecessary actually.

Driving is also something you unlock when you purchase the master key to all cars in town from the sewer-located shop owner Luciano, but the driving mechanics are honestly so rough that I preferred to run around instead. Driving also does not collect the cash around town, so walking and running is preferable in just about every way, which makes the lone driving mission a pain.

One last gameplay detail is the hotdog vendor sitting outside of the manhole cover that leads to Luciano’s store. After you talk to him, he asks you to help save his hotdog stand by collecting all 65 hotdogs spread throughout the town. It is a nice little side quest, but it is not necessary for anything major.

Overall, Timothy vs The Aliens is a pretty solid indie title with a lot of promise for future sequels. It does have some areas that need some refining, particularly the shooting and the driving, but I genuinely enjoyed every minute I played. Loading times are a little long, but the details in the game are spectacular and the graphics are really good, which makes this quite forgivable.

It is not a very long game nor does it have a lot of replay value, but it is a solid experience from beginning to end with some fun characters, a unique and original story, and a pretty cool open world to explore. I definitely recommend the title if you are looking for a nice weekend story to play through, but if you are on the fence, this is definitely something worth wishlisting to grab later at a discounted price.

Oh, and in case you were not aware, Timothy is a super genius. He only reminded me a dozen times during the game.

Timothy vs. The Aliens Review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: Wild Sphere
Release Date: July 22, 2021
Price: $14.99, £13.49, €14,99
Game Size: 1.4 GB