Developer: Space Mace

Publisher: Graffiti Games

Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)

Category: Action, Platformer & Puzzle

Release Date: October 11, 2018 (EU & NA)

Party games are becoming a main genre on the Nintendo Switch, thanks to their pick-up-and-play nature. They oftentimes pit friends against one another, but what if there was a game that allowed you to work together in perfect harmony to achieve a common goal. Joggernauts, from developer Space Mace, does a fantastic job at providing a common goal and providing a fun, yet chaotic time. Joggernauts will truly test the mettle of your friendship because throughout a playthough there will be a lot of reasons to yell at each other whilst still enjoying your time playing. More than anything, you’ll learn to communicate with your friends better and still have a good time.

Joggernauts main means of fun, lies in its simplicity. Up to three additional friends free run through a platforming level with various obstacles that match each of your player colors. You must work together to switch the leader of the pack to match the color of the obstacle to ensure you can get through safely. If you hit it a life is lost and if all lives are lost you start from the very beginning of the level again.

Thankfully, the premise is simple enough as there are only two buttons you need to worry about, which are switching and jumping. The free running isn’t impossibly fast either, and if there is one thing you learn about Joggernauts it’s that communication with your teammates will make or break your success. There are 20+ levels to take part in which isn’t a large amount, but they all featured different challenges. Some offered platforms where you had to activate platforms and others involved cute posts to break down. The more challenging stages involved having to switch at specific times in order to not fall through gaps.

Once you get the hang of the switching mechanic and how to communicate more effectively with your teammates, levels will go more smoothly, however, don’t be disappointed by failure as it will happen frequently. While at time Joggernauts can feel frustrating, it only felt that way because each level is so clearly laid out. It’s really your own skill levels and twitchy fingers that will let you down.

There are additional objectives that can be completed in each stage, including attempting to collect trophies while traversing each stage which can unlock additional skins and costumes for your characters. A frustration I encountered while playing was when switching while jumping with a character sometimes caused me to lose my character’s momentum and caused me to fall to my doom. You really do have to pay attention the whole time and once you start to die the cycle can quickly spiral out of control if you don’t fix what’s going on.

Before playing a level, there are a variety of characters you can choose from and they are all cute and unique to play as, and the alien worlds are colorful and vibrant when you’re not yelling at your friends to “switch!”. The music was appropriately upbeat and energizing, even though this will probably be the most infuriating yet rewarding game of follow-the-leader you’ll ever play. You’ll learn quickly that simply shouting “switch” or “change your color” doesn’t do too much unless you understand what that actually means to you and the rest of your team. Joggernauts rewards good communication and having faith in your teammates.

Conclusion:

Overall, Joggernauts is best played as a party multiplayer title but is also fun in its single-player offering. The gameplay is simple, yet fun and the graphics and music have an irresistible charm to them. There is not much content and some of the later levels can become severely frustrating, but Joggernauts is recommended for those wanting something along the lines of Overcooked.