Ziggy the Chaser Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Ziggy the Chaser
Genre: Action, Arcade
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on PC)
Developer|Publisher: Pepe Soft Kladovo | Ultimate Games
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: US $7.99| UK £7.19 | EU €7,99
Release Date: January 26th, 2020

Review code used with many thanks to Ultimate Games.

Get the Crystals

Ziggy the Chaser opens with a toucan telling you the tale of a thousand crystals going missing, thanks to an evil goblin. It’s up to you to collect them all and return peace to the animal realm. Since I went into this game blind I was expecting the game to morph into some sort of cute platformer. Instead what I ended up discovering is that Ziggy the Chaser is a family-friendly experience a lot like Pac Man, only lacking the simplicity and arcade charm. 

You play as an elephant and your job is to run around various Aztec-themed levels collecting all the crystals and then finding the exit. The controls are fine but the hit detection of the crystals is pretty poor. This might be because of the 3D view it gives you of the map. Often I felt I had walked over a crystal to collect it, only to see it still present on the map. The entire map is not viewable on screen, so you need to explore to find the crystals. Luckily when you are close to finishing, a large arrow points you in the direction of the last few crystals if you’re stuck finding them. 

Watch Out for Traps

Your mission won’t be so simple; there are various baddie crocodiles and tigers running around to stop you, as well as a variety of traps. You can collect power-ups around the map to assist you in your quest. The most useful is the shield, which you can activate when ready and it will protect you against all hazards. You can also stack these if you find multiple shields around the map.

There is also a freeze and speed power-up which do as expected. There is also a power-up that turns the enemies blue and you are then able to eat them if you can catch them—seems strangely familiar. The enemy AI is not particularly clever; they will pursue you if you’re close, but they have a tendency to get stuck in the environment and even get destroyed, which sometimes I guess is unintentionally handy.  

If you die, you start the level right from the start, which seems a bad design choice. Giving the player extra chances would have given more incentive to continue, but with long levels I found myself wanting to step away and take a break from the experience.

You can also be killed by very cheap game design. On one level you use teleporters to transport to new areas, but awaiting behind some of these teleporters are plants which zap electricity at you (not as fun as it sounds). Unless you go in with a equipped shield, you have no chance to avoid death and a restart all the way from the beginning. 

Graphically, A Mixed Bag

Graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. The animals themselves are kinda ugly. On the loading screen you see the elephant and the crocodile but their pupils look like they are both possessed or have cataracts. Level design looks pretty; maps are composed of Aztec designs and deserts. It’s probably the game’s best feature, but the environments are repeated and reused across the game’s 24 levels on offer.

The game lacks any incentive for replay. It lacks that fast and addictive arcade feel to try and do better. It doesn’t even time you or keep track of a score on each level. It did make me really want to play Pac Man again. So I did. 

Pack Up Your Trunk

Ziggy the Chaser is a game that is a bit like Pac Man if it had ugly 3D character models and gameplay that feels slower and lacking the additive feel of an arcade title. There is room here for a better experience but what is on offer feels a little too plain to recommend fully.

Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure