LadiesGamers Alto Collection

The Alto Collection Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: The Alto Collection
Genre: Arcade, Sports
System: Nintendo Switch (also on mobile, PC, Xbox one and PS4)
Developer|Publisher: Team Alto | Snowman
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £7.89 | EU €9,99 | US $9.99
Release Date:  November 26th 2020

Review code provided with many thanks to Snowman

Mobile Origins

The Alto games began their life on the mobile platform. They are from the endless runner genre, a genre which became overpopulated pretty quickly on the mobile platform. But the Alto games managed to stand out from the crowd with it’s beautiful art style, simple addictive gameplay and plenty of lamas to catch. This collection brings together Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey in a single package ready for a new audience to enjoy on Nintendo Switch.

LadiesGamers Alto Collection
Two for one nice price

Two Endless Runners

In Alto’s Adventure you play as a young chap called Alto who appears to be on a mission to collect all the escaping lamas. In Alto’s Odyssey you explore a desert landscape, no lamas need catching so I guess this is Alto’s holiday game. Both games essentially play the same with the exception of their environmental differences.

You descend the mountain on your snowboard and embark on a endless quest for Lamas as well as a high score. The game has only one control, a press of the ‘a’ button to jump. If you hold it down Alto will rotate into a backflip. The success of this will be determined by pressing and holding the jump button down at the right time. If you land a successful backflip you gain a temporary boost and invulnerability which you can use to break through rocks further increasing your score. As well as this you can grind on buildings and ropes, jump across chasms and speed away from the odd elder who you accidentally wake up. Its a simple premise but its easy to pick up and play for those short gaming sessions. Some runs may last mere seconds but when the cards are rights runs can last minutes and the more you explore the more you get to enjoy Alto’s beautiful score and graphics.

LadiesGamers Alto Collection
Heading through the forest in a rainstorm

A Zen Experience

Alto’s graphics are beautiful, using only a simple colour pallet, you will enjoy a gorgeous snow landscape in Alto’s Adventure and a Desert landscape in Alto’s Odyssey. As you continue to play each game you will experience day and night cycles and even weather changes like the odd rainstorm. There’s nothing quite like snowboarding down a mountain and seeing the sunrise over the background. Accompanying this is a beautiful piano-based score putting you in a relaxing mood even if you do end up falling down a chasm or tripping over a rock now and then. The latter of which can sometimes be sneakily hidden in the environment. The game does also offer a Zen mode in each game removing all difficulty and just lets you enjoy the slopes and music for as long as you fancy.

LadiesGamers Alto Collection
Nothing like some night time boarding

Tick off the Objectives

The incentive to keep playing are various mini objectives to accomplish with each attempt you make. Such as collecting a set number of lamas, doing a number of backflips, travelling a set distance and many more. These missions come in sets of three and you need to finish all three to level up. As you level up you eventually unlock new characters with different perks. During each playthrough you can also collect coins to spend on various upgrades in the shop some permanent like increasing the duration power-ups last, whilst others are single-use for example saving you from a crash.

The main niggle I have with the game is that it requires a lot of grinding to unlock anything. You need to collect hundreds often thousands of coins to unlock a single item in the shop. When completing objectives  I found myself stuck on a single objective for several playthroughs preventing a level up opportunity and therefore progress. Its also a shame any progress doesn’t carry over to later objectives. When you level up you have to restart missions from the start regardless if you made any progress in these categories on previous levels.

LadiesGamers Alto Collection
A beautiful sunrise

Not to be a Lama

Finally, progress is totally separate between the two games with no carry-over. Makes sense since the environments and missions are different but does add to the grind. None of this deters the game from being an enjoyable experience. Just seems unfortunate to take so long to see a new character. This may be a design carried over from its mobile roots. These games are best enjoyed in small bursts on the train or waiting for a appointment. While I overall sunk several hours into both games each session lasted under an hour easily. A pick-up and play title ideal for the handheld. The game does, however, look beautiful on a TV though.

LadiesGamers Alto Collection
Maybe the Lama won’t see me if I hide behind this tree

Conclusion

The Alto Collection is a lovely set of Zen games with simple controls and beautiful music and graphics to enjoy as you adventure down the mountains again and again. Grinding issues aside this is easily a game to return to if you just want that quick gaming fix. Plus this is one of the few games I can think of that gives a bit of love to Lamas so its all good.

Final Verdict: I Like It A LotI like it a lot!

 

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