And by impressions, I mean me playing it for 40ish minutes.
Also let me preface this by saying I live in Japan AKA the most optimum location for this. Played over Wifi with the one true gameplay method: tabletop mode.
In the last Nintendo Direct, Ubisoft announced that ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY IS COMING TO NINTENDO SWITCH HOLY SH-cloud version. Japan only. A few titles have done this, most notably Resident Evil 7 and PSO 2. I never tried Resident Evil 7, but PSO 2 ran horribly. The lag was so bad I couldn't even create a character. Maybe that's a mix of it being streamed from the cloud AND online, but either way, it made a poor impression.
Anyhoo, the Marioless Odyssey game hit Nintendo Switch today. The game is a free download, only about 44 MB, and is currently exclusive to the Japanese eShop. You get 20 minutes of free play, so there's no need to plop down cash for something that might not even run well with your connection. In true Ubisoft fashion, you still have to login with your Ubi account to play a 20 minute demo.
After doing that, you're thrown into the main menu. I went to the language options to see if there was English, and sure enough there ways. The game is completely voiced in English, and you can switch the menu and subtitles to English as well. For something they warn to only buy if you live in Japan, they sure do make it tempting for overseas players.
Needless to say, it's pretty impressive visually. Obviously resolution takes a big hit compared to Xbone and PS4, which makes the game muddy looking at times, but it is a bit mind-blowing to see something like this run on the Switch. The controls were also incredibly responsive, it honestly felt like I was playing it right off the game disc/cart. If anything I felt sometimes the camera movement was a bit too sensitive, not the laggy mess I expected. I maintained four bars throughout and never dipped. In actual gameplay I didn't notice a moment of slowdown or obvious lagging, though sometimes the cutscenes seemed a bit hitchy. Not sure if that is just the graphics rendering or a connection issue.
One interesting thing to note is that after twenty minutes it gives you the choice of kicking you to the eShop or the game launcher. If you go back to the launcher... you can play the 20 minutes again! It obviously doesn't save your progress, but it's essentially a free 20 minute timed demo. I went with the girl the first time, but the second time I picked the guy and skipped as many cutscenes as possible to maximize my actual gameplay time.
The real stickler is the pricing. If you want to buy the game, you have two options: daily play or a """""full""""" purchase. Daily play lets you essentially rent the game for about $7 a day. If you don't think you're going to beat the game in a weekend, you can just buy it at full price (which is like $75 because Japan). Did I say buy? I meant Super Rent because you can only have access to the license for two years aka three more Assassin's Creed games. I can see some people not caring about this if they beat the game in a month or two and then never touch it again, but it really does feel like a glorified rental.
Overall, I have to say I was pretty amazed at how well everything worked. Admittedly, I don't have bad internet and the server could be a mile away for all I know, but it did make me think about the feasibility of cloud gaming in the future. The prevalence of cloud gaming could only help Nintendo, since they're biggest weakness is not providing hardware that can run the top tier AAA titles. Something like this really evens the playing field, though we are realistically many years away from this being an option for how people play games, and the licensing thing definitely turns a lot of people off.
So if you're in Japan, I recommend playing the demo. If you're not in Japan, you can at least try it out for free (pick the left most option when you're at the menu) if you have a Japanese account. I doubt it will run well, but free is free.
Here's a 20 minute video from IGN showcasing the game if my 30 second gameplay clips aren't good enough for you.
Also let me preface this by saying I live in Japan AKA the most optimum location for this. Played over Wifi with the one true gameplay method: tabletop mode.
In the last Nintendo Direct, Ubisoft announced that ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY IS COMING TO NINTENDO SWITCH HOLY SH-cloud version. Japan only. A few titles have done this, most notably Resident Evil 7 and PSO 2. I never tried Resident Evil 7, but PSO 2 ran horribly. The lag was so bad I couldn't even create a character. Maybe that's a mix of it being streamed from the cloud AND online, but either way, it made a poor impression.
Anyhoo, the Marioless Odyssey game hit Nintendo Switch today. The game is a free download, only about 44 MB, and is currently exclusive to the Japanese eShop. You get 20 minutes of free play, so there's no need to plop down cash for something that might not even run well with your connection. In true Ubisoft fashion, you still have to login with your Ubi account to play a 20 minute demo.
After doing that, you're thrown into the main menu. I went to the language options to see if there was English, and sure enough there ways. The game is completely voiced in English, and you can switch the menu and subtitles to English as well. For something they warn to only buy if you live in Japan, they sure do make it tempting for overseas players.
Needless to say, it's pretty impressive visually. Obviously resolution takes a big hit compared to Xbone and PS4, which makes the game muddy looking at times, but it is a bit mind-blowing to see something like this run on the Switch. The controls were also incredibly responsive, it honestly felt like I was playing it right off the game disc/cart. If anything I felt sometimes the camera movement was a bit too sensitive, not the laggy mess I expected. I maintained four bars throughout and never dipped. In actual gameplay I didn't notice a moment of slowdown or obvious lagging, though sometimes the cutscenes seemed a bit hitchy. Not sure if that is just the graphics rendering or a connection issue.
One interesting thing to note is that after twenty minutes it gives you the choice of kicking you to the eShop or the game launcher. If you go back to the launcher... you can play the 20 minutes again! It obviously doesn't save your progress, but it's essentially a free 20 minute timed demo. I went with the girl the first time, but the second time I picked the guy and skipped as many cutscenes as possible to maximize my actual gameplay time.
The real stickler is the pricing. If you want to buy the game, you have two options: daily play or a """""full""""" purchase. Daily play lets you essentially rent the game for about $7 a day. If you don't think you're going to beat the game in a weekend, you can just buy it at full price (which is like $75 because Japan). Did I say buy? I meant Super Rent because you can only have access to the license for two years aka three more Assassin's Creed games. I can see some people not caring about this if they beat the game in a month or two and then never touch it again, but it really does feel like a glorified rental.
Overall, I have to say I was pretty amazed at how well everything worked. Admittedly, I don't have bad internet and the server could be a mile away for all I know, but it did make me think about the feasibility of cloud gaming in the future. The prevalence of cloud gaming could only help Nintendo, since they're biggest weakness is not providing hardware that can run the top tier AAA titles. Something like this really evens the playing field, though we are realistically many years away from this being an option for how people play games, and the licensing thing definitely turns a lot of people off.
So if you're in Japan, I recommend playing the demo. If you're not in Japan, you can at least try it out for free (pick the left most option when you're at the menu) if you have a Japanese account. I doubt it will run well, but free is free.
Here's a 20 minute video from IGN showcasing the game if my 30 second gameplay clips aren't good enough for you.
