Switch clicks in the hands, but on paper, it's in trouble
On the screen
On the Joycons
Software
Hybrid Nature
Summation
Full article here
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-switch-clicks-in-the-hands-but-on-paper-its-in-trouble
On the screen
Unlike its bizarre predecessor, the Wii U, the appeal of this feature isn't hard to understand or to communicate. And it's a very desirable gadget, too. The console itself, when removed from its plain-to-the-point-of-ugly dock, is beautiful. It's very slim but luxuriously large, and the screen is intensely bright and sharp; its 1280x720 resolution is more than adequate for its size. The image is vibrant and clear - if anything, Zelda displays more crisply here than on the TV.
On the Joycons
A word, too about those detachable Joy-Con controllers. They are delightful. Yes, they are very small, though that didn't give me any problems. (I have slim but long-fingered hands.) I didn't try detaching them from or reattaching them to the Switch, but I did play several games that used them as freestanding controllers, and was surprised to find I loved them. They are capable motion controllers. They are bristling with buttons - not just the twin triggers on the top, but two more along the edge that are hidden when clipped into the Switch. Ergonomically, they feel much more natural than you'd expect, and in fact there's something very pleasing about the way they fit, dinkily, into your hands.
Software
Very little about the way Switch is coming to market feels right. Software is the initial, glaring issue. It is a depressingly familiar situation for Nintendo fans: a thin smattering of very minor offerings from third-parties, some of them painfully late in the day (such as Skyrim, not due until autumn), which barely papers the cracks between the releases from Nintendo's own studios - studios that are being stretched pretty thin themselves. Switch's UK launch line-up of just five games must be the slimmest ever, and the star, Zelda, will also be available on Wii U. Super Mario Odyssey's end-of-year release is soon enough on paper, but right now it feels a lifetime away.
Hybrid Nature
The above price comparison brings us to another uncomfortable truth, however. Nintendo is marketing Switch as a home console you can take with you, presumably to underline the fact that it provides a console-quality gaming experience on the move, which it inarguably does. But that pits it directly against PS4 and Xbox One, which are both cheaper and manifestly more capable. Experienced as a pure home console, Switch feels underpowered and outdated - a minor advance on Wii U, which was underpowered in its own day.
It is perhaps better to think of Switch as the ultimate luxury handheld, with a huge screen, bags of power, TV-out and support for local multiplayer on one unit. Or, perhaps, as a quirky alternative to those junior tablets, custom-designed for a great gaming experience. That seems like a fairer and more advantageous comparison, but it's a much tougher and muddier message to sell.
Summation
It's a scattershot selection, but it is important to note that launch software is never truly representative of what a games machine will be. You tend to get a mix of quick rehashes, quirky experiments and glimpsed possibilities, and that's what we saw today. And you can have absolute faith that by the end of this year and into next, Nintendo's insanely talented development teams will discover just how to make this machine sing. (Super Mario Odyssey looks really weird, I have to admit, but it's being made by the geniuses at Tokyo EAD, so like I say - have faith.)...
I hope I'm wrong. Switch is a fascinating console - fun, innovative, unique, attractively designed, technically impressive in its own way, with a magical party trick and a compelling pitch. It deserves a better fate than the desperate, last-ditch mission Nintendo appears to be sending it on.
Full article here
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-switch-clicks-in-the-hands-but-on-paper-its-in-trouble