The first Nintendo Switch Partner Direct of the year had one game in it that had me doing a double take. Did I really just see dinosaurs in an urban setting and packaged as a survival horror? Is Dino Crisis back? Are we getting a decent Resident Evil-like game, but with dinosaurs instead of zombies? Sign. Me. Up.
And that’s what I did, when I saw the opportunity to review this. I was fixing for a scratch to that itch that had been building up for years, and the long claws of a Velociraptor are exactly what Dr Alan Grant prescribed!
But if Tokyo Scramble actually fulfilled those expectations, that’s what you’ll have to find out…
ℹ️ Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 | Review code provided by PR/publisher. This review is the personal opinion of the writer.
| Developer | Adglobe |
| Publisher | Binary Haze Interactive |
Things I liked!
- Roltraptor | The pun only works in Dutch, because escatraptor just doesn’t have the same ring to it. But just like promised in the trailer during the Nintendo Switch Partner Direct, you can trap a raptor on an escalator. It’s hilarious and I love that this exists in a game. What I don’t love is that this quickly becomes a gimmick that’s recycled multiple times in the same level. It’s like this was the entire elevator pitch for the game and they doubled down on it.
Mixed & disliked!
- Full of Bugs and Issues | Well, I ran out of positive things to say rather quickly, didn’t I? People who’ve been following my writing know I’m generally positive about most games, so they’ll know what a rare instance this is. But Tokyo Scramble was just such a slog to play. Remember that escalator gimmick? Of course you do, it’s the only thing I’ve mentioned so far, and just like experience in the game, you’re confronted with it multiple times in the same minute. Outside of tiring repetition, it also doesn’t work as intended. You see, it’s designed to lure the nearest enemy to it and remove it from your path. Only 2 out of 3 times, an enemy from further away will try to get to it instead an lock you out of being able to complete the level. They also tend to get stuck in the scenery quite often.
- Stealth is bad for my health | What I didn’t realise from the trailer, is that Tokyo Scramble is a stealth game. The entire game, you are sneaking around and using technological tricks to distract enemies while you try to get from A to Z. Only, the poor camera angle combined with the terrible level design makes it almost impossible to not get caught the first few times. You have no idea where to go, and it’s hard to estimate the range of vision of certain enemies. Once you’re spotted, you can still use a flash to temporarily stun some of the enemies, but without knowing where to escape to. I’ve even found that just sprinting diagonally through the level from the very start is the best course of action. Hilariously, this will result in beating the level in record time half of the attempts, or you’ll have the lay of the land for your next run.
- The main character‘s mobility | You might be tricked into thinking you’re playing as a young 20-something girl. You’re wrong. If the in game heart-rate is any indication, you’re playing as an obese octogenarian. If you sprint for a few seconds, Anne’s heart rate will go up to 160-170 and then your speed comes to a literal crawl. Scratch that. I’ve seen toddlers who haven’t learned how to crawl yet move faster than our exhausted protagonist.
- The people around her | You’ll get messages from Anne’s friends on your phone/smartwatch. Apparently, these prehistoric creatures are attacking all across Japan. But that doesn’t stop them from bringing up their own teenage drama at every possible moment. I rolled my eyes so hard, I’m still seeing the back of my skull.
- It looks bad | This is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive for probably no other reason than the fact that would help them get into a Nintendo showcase and I think the big N might already be regretting this, because it’s earned the non-desired title of worst exclusive release on the platform. It’s not like there wasn’t a decent attempt at character models, as they look decent from afar, but once you get closer to them, you see the designs could use some extra love and that the levels are repeated often in backgrounds and assets.
- It’s just not fun | The worst offence a game can put into the world, is not being any fun. And that’s what I realised playing Tokyo Scramble for half an hour. I then forced myself to play for quite a bit longer than I wished I did and still didn’t find a redeeming feature. There are 22 levels, and I beat 7 or 8 of them before I figured out I could be doing better things with my life, than spending it like this:
How long did I play the review before publishing? 2 hours too many
How long to beat the story? 6 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | I don’t think anyone will love this game…
CONCLUSION
Score: 27/100
Tokyo Scramble proves that putting dinosaurs in a game does not automatically make it good. You still need things like level design, controls, and fun. Right now, the only thing that’s extinct here… is my patience.
Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
