Super UFO Fighter Review

Game: Super UFO Fighter
Genre: Action, Party
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows & macOS))
Developer|Publisher: VV-LABO | Phoenixx
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US E
Price: US $11.99 | UK £9.29 | EU € 11,99
Release Date: July 13th, 2022

Review code provided with many thanks to Stride PR.

Fun and UFOs

Super UFO Fighter is a 2D 1 vs 1 party game which can be played alone against the AI, locally with a friend or online. The game presents with a colourfully warm graphical art style that feels suitable for everyone. But when it comes to the gameplay, it does provide some quick light-hearted fun but with only one main simple mode it lacks much staying power. 

The premise is pretty cool. You are able to choose from a small assortment of characters, each of which have a unique feel to their design and how they control. After choosing who to battle against the AI or a human opponent, you then enter a 2D area where the goal is to locate a specific shiny item which is hidden in these giant balls which drop from the ceiling. Balls which suspiciously look like poke balls. The first to a set number of points wins. The graphical style is goofy and light-hearted and suitable for all ages. The soundtrack adds to the sports-like feel with air horns going off when a goal is scored creating a competitive party experience. The game also runs well in handheld and TV modes. 

Fly, Punch, Tractor Beam

Controls are very simple to pick up and play for all skill levels. Fly your ship around with the analogue stick then press one button to attack downwards. This will break the prize balls and stun your opponent temporarily if you fly above them. You press and hold a button to activate your tractor beam to pick up objects and then attempt to drop them into your goal. Items carry weight to them, so you will struggle with heavy objects adding some light tension to the experience especially when you’re having a tractor beam fight with your opponent. There are a few extra mechanics to get the upper hand over your opponent. Adding random items to your goal will raise a bar on your opponent’s side making it harder for them to score a goal.

Power-ups can occasionally be obtained from balls such as a spider web to slow your opponent down or a black hole, which kinda gobbles up at the items on the fields and throws things about. Sometimes random weird events happen like a big rocket ship will just fly across the screen smashing into anyone and anything in its way. All in all, it creates a silly but fun arcade mess. The trouble is the novelty kinda wears off pretty quickly. In the main game mode, you are able to customize some of the game’s options. Other than one additional game mode there is not a lot of variety in the gameplay. Levels all feel very similar, lacking size and variation in their design. It seems a little unusual that the game doesn’t feature some form of 4 player mode since that seems plausible. It just feels quite bare bones which is a shame as the gameplay is pretty fun.

It’s Dangerous to Fly Alone

Going at this game alone is not something I recommend. When you play against the AI you are able to select their difficulty level from five settings. But the AI feels unfairly balanced against the player. I often felt the AI ship moved faster, hit harder and just felt cheap. This was most notable in the game’s story mode which has you play through six chapters with each of the characters against AI of increasing difficulty. In the later chapters it sometimes just felt like potluck if I could score a point. Often I just seemed to get lucky when the AI accidentally messed up.

The single-player just felt like an uncomfortable slog fest despite not taking long. If you need more single player there is also an endless mode that pits you against endless AI opponents until you fail to rack up the highest win streak possible. I actually enjoyed this slightly more than the campaign but I did find myself getting a bit bored after a few rounds. Online is available but I was unable to find any games during the review process so can’t comment on its performance. 

Conclusion – Fly Me to the Moon

Super UFO Fighter is a decent pick-up and play concept that will play well for players of all skill levels. The gameplay is solid, flying around in the ships and fighting with fellow players is a hoot. But with little on offer the novelty of the experience wears off incredibly quickly. It just feels like the game could do with a bit more of everything; bigger and varied levels, more players and maybe more modes. Maybe consider purchasing this if you need a quick gaming fix with a friend when you meet at the café. But if you choose to go for this one alone, I would miss your flight. 

Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure