Game: YouTubers Life 2
Genre: Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also available for Steam (Windows, macOS), PS4, and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: UPLAY Online | Raiser Games
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Everyone
Price: US $39.99 | UK £34.99 | EU € 37,00
Release Date: October 19th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to Press Engine.
If you have ever wanted to be a YouTube star and live off of the money made from posting videos, this game is the sim for you. Play as a successful YouTuber and collect likes, comments, and subscribers to build the best life possible in YouTubers Life 2.
The Story
The basic story of YouTubers Life 2 starts off with a young gamer completing a difficult video game challenge. The screen clears and you have a message from Xavier, a man that wants you to move to New Tube city and start a career as a YouTuber. Players move to the social media-run city and complete challenges to make cryptocurrency to spend on house upgrades, food, clothing, and video games.
Upgrade Homes
As in most sims, players can upgrade their homes, their consoles, games, looks, and more with the in-game money called Coins. You can also fall in love; neighbors will ask for favors and players can upgrade their relationship with each by taking photos and delivering packages. Once you get to be close enough friends, you can propose, get married, and even divorce later on.
In the first year, players will help to shut down a video game scam, visit a massive gaming convention being held in the city, and gain followers and friends in their new hometown. There is a lot to do every day, so much so that players will find it hard to complete everything they might want to before the clock strikes midnight.
The Gameplay
The gameplay in YouTubers Life 2 is fairly standard for most simulation titles; players have the option to interact, walk or ride around the city, take videos and photos, take on extra jobs for cash, edit videos for their channel, play dress-up, and romance the citizens of New Tube city.
There’s nothing new here, but the game does have all of the features one would expect of this type of game. It’s easy to pick up, and it utilizes the Switch’s controllers well. There’s a fairly detailed map of the city, options to live in three locations around town, a variety of restaurants to visit, and tons of clothing shops and gaming stores.
Vlogging
One of the unique aspects of this title is the filming of videos for YouTube. The player can Vlog, live stream, do gameplay videos, and upload photos of themselves around town. Depending on the location and what’s going on there, players will get hashtags associated with their videos and photos. Popular hashtags will help them to gain more followers and money.
Videos are recorded by selecting from a range of reaction cards. For example, the start of a video will open with players choosing from shyly saying hi to the viewers or being enthusiastic. Each of these will appeal to different kinds of audience members, allowing players to vary which cards they pick into order to appeal to the largest group of people
Once a video is recorded, you head to your computer to do a little editing, putting the parts of the video together and adding hashtags, a title, and an appealing thumbnail. Once the video is uploaded, players will receive likes, dislikes, viewers, and coins from the video for about an in-game day. The more popular the video, the more of each of these you will earn.
The Pros of YouTubers Life 2
As a game designed for children, I wasn’t expecting much from this title, being an adult, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s the type of sim that keeps you busy, giving you easy-to-complete tasks to give you that hit of serotonin. The game has a surprising amount of character; players can choose what kind of Vlogger they want to be and can tailor their homes and channels to match.
Customize
YouTubers Life 2 gives players a massive amount of choice. There are loads of different looks, haircuts, hair colors, skin colors, places to live, clothing, foods, jobs, videos to record, romance options, and things to do. The game is a lot bigger than I thought it would be upon first glance, and the stuff to do in it is fairly interesting. And just as you start to get a little bored with whatever the game is telling you to do, it seems to switch it up and give players a tutorial for something new to do.
The look of the game is very appealing for all audiences; it’s colorful and cartoonish with beautifully modeled NPCs and landscape. The map is large but easy to memorize, and the interactable characters all seem to be good fun. The videos are actually fun to record, and the editing and posting are also neat little additions to the game.
While YouTubers Life 2 isn’t breaking any barriers, the title is certainly worth checking out if you or your children enjoy sim-type games that focus on tech, games, and new trends.
The Cons of YouTubers Life 2
YouTubers Life 2 is not without its issues, however. The main issue I have with the title is how much time you spend waiting. I think I saw the loading screen almost as much as any other screen while playing. It takes an incredible amount of time to load on the Switch. Had I the choice, I would have asked for this game on the PlayStation or PC as the better computing power of these platforms would have benefitted the title greatly.
Hashtag system
Along that same vein, the game was jittery and crunchy at times when moving through the world at a run or on a scooter. While YouTubers Life 2 seems like a great title for the Switch given its target audience and look, it just doesn’t run great on the console.
Another issue I had was with the hashtag system. There are basically two types of errands a player can run. Delivering packages or taking photos with a specific hashtag. Since there is no mention of where certain hashtags might be found around the city, it was a little hard to find what I was looking for several times.
While there was a lot of hand-holding in the beginning of the game. The tutorials aren’t as straightforward as I would like. For example, the robot friend that follows you from place to place will let you know the hottest hashtag of the day. One day, it said that #Dancing was number one and I should record a dancing video. However, there was no indication of where to head to record such a video.
Niggles
There were also some smaller, more nitpicky things that I didn’t like about this game. The music is extremely repetitive. I think I muted the game after the first hour or so. I was already tired of the same five-minute tracks being looped over and over. Also, considering the sheer amount of time I was staring at the loading screen, there was not a single helpful hint to be found on it. It seemed like a waste of a loading screen to me!
Conclusion
The foundation of YouTubers Life 2 is pretty surprisingly solid. However, there are some issues that made the overall experience less enjoyable for me. I really regret that this title was not better tailored for the power level of the Switch console; considering how smoothly some other big titles like Animal Crossing can play on it, it was a big letdown.
That being said, the game was fun and worth playing. It had quite a lot to do and is definitely worth the price tag.
Final Verdict: I Like it.
