Locomotion Review ( Nintendo Switch )

Review code used, with many thanks to Polyfox

Originally released in May 2019 on Steam by developers Polyfox, Locomotion is a cute steamy railway puzzle game. Let’s jump onboard and find out what Locomotion offers in way of puzzle’s, whoo whoo all aboard!

The Train is Leaving the Station

Your on the hunt for your precious gold bars that the Aliens have stolen from you and of course you want your gold back. The only way to do that is to chase the aliens into space to get it back. The narrative unfolds in a story of loss, revenge and of course, unidentified flying objects. The story is quite interesting and humorous the whole way through the game.

locomotion LadiesGamers — Don’t touch my gold

Clicky Clack Goes the Train on the Track

Locomotion is set in little diorama-like level’s (similar to Captain Toad Treasure Tracker) in which you can twist and turn the camera around, giving you a full view of the puzzle area. Your job is to guide the train to the exit and along the way collect your missing gold.

You control the train directly, you can move forward and backward, click intersections to change rail direction, pick up carts and push them around. You can connect them to either end of the locomotive and push carts on to pressure plates. Most of the carts have magnets that attract other carts and there are those that push carts away. You’ll have to negotiate crumbling blocks, whirling fans and magnets and figure out the interesting track switching mechanic to get the train to the exit.

Mind the Doors

Most puzzles have simple solutions but the answer doesn’t always stand out, especially as the game progresses. But I never felt frustrated with the puzzles in Locomotion, after a little bit of head scratching and some thought the puzzles are easily solved in the end. And beating each level sure does feel rewarding and gives you a sense of achievement.

The puzzles get more challenging as you move through the levels and you do find yourself planning a few steps ahead to work out how to get the train to the exit. If you get stuck and can’t find the solution to the puzzle a press of the minus button resets the puzzle back to the start.

The difficultly curve is just right with new elements being introduced gradually and with an explanation of how to use each new element so that they don’t overwhelm the player. The train itself travels at the perfect speed, neither too fast or too slow and is very easy to control along the tracks.

Visuals and Controls

There are four worlds to travel through in the search for your missing gold. From a desert environment to a snowy environment where the little train slips on the ice. In all there are 52 levels to choo choo your way through, enough to keep any puzzler happy.

Each of the four worlds has its own rendition of the game’s music which is a wild west theme of bluegrass and county music. The sound effects are good and tie in with the theme and setting of the game.

Conclusion

Locomotion is a very well crafted puzzle game. Packed full with humour and it’s very enjoyable to solve puzzles that really do leave you with a sense of accomplishment upon completing them.

You can see the love developers Polyfox have put into their game as you play through it and they should be proud they have made such a cute, enjoyable experience for the player.

Locomotion is priced very reasonably in the eShop and I see no reason whatsoever not to roll this super entertaining puzzle game on to your Nintendo Switch to let of some steam with Locomotion.

That leaves me only one thing to say, my score for Locomotion is…. a choo choo fantastic…

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up