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Nintendo Switch Review

We've spent some quality time with Nintendo's new console, and this is what we think of it.

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Nintendo's journey has been an interesting series of hills and valleys, with failure never far from vindicating success. After defining the post-Atari console scene in the States, the company from Kyoto hasn't always hit the same highs, and notable missteps alongside a continually changing focus away from performance towards innovation has left Nintendo in a somewhat precarious position. The Switch needs to succeed where the Wii U failed, then, and the stakes couldn't be higher.

With that in mind, Nintendo has delivered perhaps its most innovative console to date (which, if you think about it, is saying something). The Nintendo Switch offers a lovely mix of clever features and satisfying design that's easy to use and full of potential. The unit itself, with the tablet and the matching Joy-Con controllers, has an impressive build quality; it feels like a precious piece of gear. It makes you want to use it, to take it in your hands and carry it around with you. You want to show it off to your friends. In its own way, it's a new, improved Game Boy for the 21st century.

Nintendo Switch Review

There are two chief ways in which a player can interact with the Nintendo Switch, but within them there are also several variables that can be tweaked to suit an individual situation. While sat in its cradle and attached to a HDTV via the HDMI cable included in the box, the Switch is very much a home console, however, once removed from its snug but undeniably plastic stand, the device can be transported wherever, and can be used in a number of different ways.

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Tablet gaming is nothing new, of course, but the experience is tied together here by Nintendo's biggest generational advancement, the excellent Joy-Con controllers. These thin, palm-sized devices can attach to each side of the tablet hardware, instantly transforming it into a stunning handheld. The Joy-Cons can also be used together with the Grip included with the console, then acting as a more traditional controller. Finally, you can kick out the stand on the back of the screen and then use the Joy-Cons either together or in each hand as individual controllers to play some solo Zelda, or give one Joy-Con to a friend and enjoy some easy local multiplayer. And let's not forget that it comes with a pretty sensitive touchscreen. That's plenty of options straight out of the box, and you can also buy a Pro Controller, which brings added precision and a more comfortable fit in the hand.

If the Switch is to succeed - and we hope that it does - it'll be because of its unrivalled flexibility (and let's not forget the stable of first-party IP that's the envy of Nintendo's console-making competitors). During the time we've spent with it we've become increasingly impressed with the hardware, enjoying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - a serious contender for best launch title of all time - on the TV in the living room, as well as playing in portable mode around the house, or even at our favourite coffee shop. Wherever you play, the hardware works effortlessly.

It's not a perfect console, though, and flexibility comes at cost, that being less performance. The Switch simply isn't a match for the PlayStation 4 nor the Xbox One, and that's the vanilla versions of each console and not the PS4 Pro or the enhanced Scorpio which will launch later this year. Switch was never going to have the same horsepower, granted, but there were those hoping for something comparable in terms of computing power. Simply put, that's not the case, and you're not going to buy a Switch because you want to play the latest titles in 4K. In fact, Zelda looks pretty old and grainy on a 4KTV. If, as a player of games, performance is important to you, viewed through the lens of being a console, Nintendo's latest offering may well disappoint. If, however, you consider the Switch on different terms, and instead focus on its versatility and prowess as a mobile platform, it's hard not to be impressed. Ultimately, it's a matter of perspective.

Nintendo Switch ReviewNintendo Switch Review
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Nintendo Switch ReviewNintendo Switch Review

The Switch's flexibility is facilitated by the Joy-Cons. These slide into position on either side of the screen with a surprisingly satisfying click, in a flash turning the screen into a portable console with a crisp 6.2 inch LCD touchscreen that supports 720p (the screen is perhaps a bit too glossy at times, especially when you're playing outside, and maybe Nintendo should have gone with a matte display instead). Thanks to the many features built into each part of the controller, Nintendo has given developers plenty of ways to experiment and enhance the experiences that they will create in the years ahead.

There's the hugely impressive HD Rumble feature too, which has enough definition that Nintendo decided to make 1-2-Switch mini-games just to show off how sensitive it can be. The right-hand Joy-Con has an infrared motion camera and Amiibo functionality, and both have decent gyro sensors. The left-right setup means that turning them into individual controllers can result in one player having to adapt the way they hold the left-hand Joy-Con, but it's not hard to get to used to the change.

Attaching both Joy-Cons to a Grip turns them into a semi-regular controller, and this works well for the most part, although there has been a couple of connectivity problems associated to the left one (we've experienced issues both internally here at Gamereactor, and we've read about them elsewhere). It feels light in the hand, and the shape of the controller is a little unwieldy, but it works. Another option is of course the Pro Controller, a definite upgrade that we've used quite a lot, but that comes at a steep price.

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The various control options and simplicity of design ensures that you can pluck the console from its stand, and almost instantly pick up your game where you left it on the big screen, and it's a trick that doesn't get old. Once you're gaming on the go, there's a performance dip, presumably related to power consumption. You get around three hours of battery life when playing, although it varies based on how CPU intensive the game is that you're playing, and how bright you have the screen (just press the Home button a little longer and a menu lets you adjust the brightness), but gaming on the go doesn't translate into a sub-par handheld experience. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, for example, suffered no notable performance drop when played in handheld mode, and it looks great on the small screen (there's an ongoing debate between Gamereactor editors as to whether it looks better on the big screen or viewed directly on the Switch). Perhaps the seamless experience is down to an unseen handicap in the big screen version that's designed to keep near-parity between the different versions of the game, but Zelda seems to run better on the Switch when played in handheld mode than it ever did on Wii U, which at least shows that the Switch is no slouch, even if it's not super-powered either.

Multiplayer, whether via split-screen on TV, splitting up the Joy-Cons between players, or connecting units ad-hoc, is versatile and accommodating. We've yet to fully explore the online options, however.

The UI is crisp and clear, looks very tidy, and most importantly, it's intuitive and responsive. We're still waiting on the day one update that should give us access to the eShop, the News section, social features, and so on, but aside from that everything else we've used so far is elegantly done and will be easy to navigate for the whole family (you can have individual accounts setup for you and your kids, by the way, and there's also some very useful age restriction management tools). There are, however, a few omissions, and until Nintendo gets around to giving us access to streaming services and other multimedia, the UI isn't going to feel complete.

Nintendo Switch ReviewNintendo Switch Review

If you take a break from your game it doesn't take long to wake up the console and back into it, as all it requires a single tap of A followed by a tap-tap-tapping of the same button three times, dropping you straight into the action, making it easy to select which control option you want to choose. Then, when playing a game, hitting the Home button takes you to a screen that shows all of your recent games, with the console's various menus linked by shortcuts underneath, it's various settings logically located.

What's less logical is the fact that there's no game packed-in. While we appreciate Nintendo's reasoning - they wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible - it still feels like a big miss. 1-2-Switch, which is so intrinsically linked to the console's unique hardware, would have been a perfect fit in our opinion, but failing that surely Nintendo could have ported a couple of classic games (there's one or two, after all) and shipped them on the internal storage. Even just four or five of the mini games from 1-2-Switch as an appetiser would have been better than nothing. Speaking of classic Nintendo games, part of the plan is to have a PS Plus/Xbox Gold-type subscription service where players are granted temporary access to vintage titles. We've nothing new to report on this front, as the service isn't due to launch until later in the year and we're still waiting on pricing info, but unless they massively undercut their competition, this feels like it could be a hugely underwhelming service. We won't even get to keep the games, something that's even more disappointing when framed in the context of what Microsoft and Sony are both doing and the value that they deliver to their respective audiences.

Also off in the distance is the promise of more games. The launch line-up is solid, certainly, but not spectacular. Once you remove the easily 60+ hour adventure that is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - and let's not forget that this is a game that, despite its brilliance, was originally intended for Wii U - from the equation, things start to look less convincing. We've got a few third-party titles, a couple of first-party exclusives, some indies, but the best stuff is still not here. Splatoon 2 is close, but Super Mario Odyssey isn't coming until later this year, and we're still waiting to hear more about some of the company's other big franchises.

Nintendo Switch Review

Much of the success of the Switch rests on robust third-party support, then. It'd certainly be an easier sell if we knew that the major publishers were getting behind the system and releasing Switch-optimised versions of their biggest releases, but that kind of commitment is yet to materialise. For example, EA has confirmed that FIFA is heading to the console, but there's no plans to port Mass Affect: Andromeda, arguably the publisher's biggest game of the first half of the year. If Switch is going to sit alongside PS4 and Xbox One on equal terms, it needs games of that stature.

The indie scene is certainly fertile grounds that Nintendo will look to, and they're already considering how best to exploit this wealth of development talent to their benefit. As in the early days of PlayStation 4, we expect to see lots of smaller devs rushing to get their games to market on Switch and take advantage of a relatively uncluttered shopfront and potentially lucrative share of a burgeoning market.

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If and when these games come, finding space for them might prove tricky, and it'll certainly involve upgrading the relatively meagre 32 GB internal storage, which after deducting space for the operating system leaves 25.9 GB of space for games (there's already one game that doesn't fit). Compatible MicroSD memory cards can be used with the console and aren't particularly expensive, but they're still an additional expense to factor in on top of the cost of the console. Games come on cartridges, so the lack of disk space isn't an issue from that perspective, but if you like to download games from the eShop and/or if you want to buy DLC (something that Nintendo is gradually warming up to as a business practice), it's worth bearing in mind.

Coming back to the hardware, there are design flaws in there if you start looking more closely. For example, you can't charge the tablet when using the kickstand at the back in tabletop mode. And they didn't bother to include two USB-C cables, something that would have enabled us to keep one permanently connected to the hardware stand. It's a decision that actually forces you to fiddle around and open a latch at the back so you can remove the cable, and we'd have liked a second one for charging the hardware (including the Joy-Cons) while out and about, because if you want to charge the Joy-Cons while they're attached to the Grip it's simply not possible (unless, of course, you buy a special Grip that lets you play and charge at the same time). The flexibility that we've enthused about so much does have its drawbacks.

At the end of the day, though, it's the software that will define the fortunes of the Switch, as the hardware itself is brilliant. It's certainly not the most powerful console on the market, but surprisingly enough, that's actually not so important this time around. The Switch offers something unique, being the most innovative, and the most flexible system out there. There's ingenuity in many aspects of its design, and we love the ease with which it transitions from being a competent console to a high quality handheld. This versatile piece of kit is Nintendo at its finest: unique, adventurous, and overflowing with thoughtful innovations. If it gets the third-party support that it deserves, the future will be bright.

Nintendo Switch Review


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