Title: Save Your Nuts
Genre: 3D, Multiplayer, Party
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, PS4 and Xbox one)
Developer|Publisher: Triple Scale Games\ HomerunPR
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £11.39 | EU 12.49 | AU $21.50 | CA $17.84 | US $14.99
Release Date: 16th April 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to HomerunPR
Save Your Nuts (or the Nut Job as I found myself calling it for some reason) is a title that certainly stands out and possibly gives you an excuse to make a funny joke. The founder and programmer of Triple Scale games got the idea for this title by watching squirrels and dogs run around in the park. I always love discovering the origins of a games’ creation. The studios goal was to create a multiplayer game that was easy to pick up and difficult to master. It’s time to sit down on the sofa and save my nuts. And also review this title.
Go for Gold Nuts
So the squirrels are tired of being oppressed by the world. So they decide to hold the Nutlympics to prove their superiority to the rest of the animal kingdom. The winner being granted the Epic Nut from the Tree of Life. You can play as a variety of animals, not just squirrels. These animals are armadillo, dog, raccoon and two unlockable animals which are easily acquired by simply playing the game and winning matches.
Each animal has its own perks such as squirrels being fast and dogs being good at digging. The strategy being to be have a mix of animals on your team not just Armadillos which is often what I did. Armadillos rock dude. You can also name your animal, customize its colour and give it a cool hat to wear. Our team totally went for the viking helmet every time. Oddly, when naming your animal the developers seemed to put most of the letters in CAPS except for j. So my animals were named jAM. Which looked a little weird when playing.
The game offers up a tutorial to help you get to grips with the controls. Jumping and attack seemed simple enough. But the game adds a block button and a lob and dig button too making the controls a little confusing to begin with, especially for my co op partner who was expecting something more simple. Controls at times also felt floaty especially when jumping. This made it hard to navigate where your animal would land like you didn’t have full control.
Party Time
Unfortunately, I didn’t have seven additional humans to play this game with. Melissa however was at hand kindly once again to give me a feel for playing with others. The game does, however, allow you to play with bots. Having the bots on hand is most welcome as it helps anyone to enjoy the game. Whether you decide to go it alone or if you just need to fill the numbers. This may also be essential if you opt to play in handheld mode. For the most part the AI behaved well in matches. You can choose from a wide range of difficulty settings for the AI depending on if you wanted more of a challenge. Of course, I can see this game being significantly more fun and wacky if your lucky to play with others. Definitely appropriate for the whole family.
Once you have prepared your team red or blue it’s time to party and face-off across one of three game modes.
Capture the Nut
The first mode is Capture the Nut. Simply grab the nut and take it back to base. Of course the opposing team is going to do all they can to take that nut off you and return it to their base. Once the nut is returned a point is scored, the first to 5 points wins. The game does support up to eight players 4 vs 4. I found the magic number to be 2 or 3 per team. 4 per team just felt too cluttered and very hard to follow at times. This felt the same across all game modes.
Level Design
The first few levels are fairly simple designs, woodland areas, back gardens etc. They don’t actually deliver the best first impression. As you win matches you unlock new levels. These are far superior from the ones you begin with. Later levels like the dungeon and pirate ship are cleverly designed. Featuring traps and items to use against your opponents. My favourite level by far is the football stadium. Since goal posts are your bases, you have more chance of throwing the ball (nuts are switched for balls) into the goal making for some epic scores.
I leaped off my sofa on many occasions in joy at my success. The strangest thing is I don’t even like football. But if its animals or cars doing it I love it. The game also attempts basket ball which seemed like a cool idea but ended up being a bit of a cluster where everyone struggled to score. Even the bot Ai seemed to have trouble getting the ball in the net. I ended up playing capture the nut on the football level more than any other mode or level in the game. I kinda wish the whole game centered around this design but with more polish. Kinda like an animal Rocket League.
Battle Mode
Battle mode gives each team member three balloons and you simply have to mash buttons on your opponent until they loose all their balloons. The balloon certainly made my Mario Kart senses tingle. While a simple idea, most battle matches were just mass brawls of running towards the opposing team mashing the attack button and hoping for the best. You loose balloons very quickly and easily and the action was very hard to follow. Unlike the other modes battle mode really doesn’t take advantage of the cleaver level design.
Thieves Mode
Thieves is similar to capture the nut but with a few extra spins on the formula. Each match starts with all 5 nuts on the level and the goal is to get all 5 nuts to your stage. However, you can also steal nuts back from your opponents base. A cool idea in principle. I had a lot of trouble stealing nuts off the opponents team. When you steal a nut back you dig for it in the base. A tiny meter appears and you need to hold the button for a while before you manage to acquire it. This process is very hard to follow especially with the frantic action going on. While your attempting to steal, your opponents can hit at you. Most of the time I just couldn’t tell if I was digging for the nut or not, making the process quite long and time wasting.
Graphics
The graphics are kinda ugly on Switch. Character models look a little jarring appearing at times more creepy than cute friendly animals. Not really notable when playing as your viewing from a top down perspective. But quite clear in the character select screen. They appeared more crisp on the PC platform on doing additional research, but another example of many where the Switch takes a hit. The level designs vary and I was surprised in the football stadium at how few animals were in the audience. Reminds me of my school days.
The Game in a Nutshell
Save Your Nuts has its heart in the right place. While all the ingredients are here for a fun multiplayer game it just feels like it needs more polish. The game doesn’t quite feel like the simple pick up and play experience it should be. Maybe with some future patches Save Your Nuts could rise above these niggles. In its current stage it’s a fun messy party game, suitable for all the family.
I love the inspiration of this game and hope it does lead the developer to success in the future.
Final Verdict: I Don’t Know
