Doesn’t everybody just love crane games? For me, this is my favorite kind of carnival game, although I don’t know what to do with all these plushies. Luckily Part Time UFO got you covered. Making the original concept of a crane game more fun and less frustrating about it not working properly. Crane games will cost you 2 bucks for a few tries, while Part Time UFO got you covered for more time spend for only as little as 9 buck.
Part Time UFO was a surprise game to be announced and released onto Nintendo Switch last week. But man this game is really good fun and has the Nintendo charm we know and love. Part Time UFO is developed by HAL Laboratory. This developer might sound familiar, they are most famous for their work on the Kirby and Mother/Earthbound franchises but have a plethora of games under their belt. Part Time UFO was originally released as a mobile game back in late 2017. Speaking of sound. The tune of the game will be stuck in your head all day after playing.
Jobski, the lovely UFO fella
In Part Time UFO you play as Jobski, a little UFO who has come to earth to find work to do. The game starts off with you helping out a farmer with loading crates on his truck. He will give you a magazine with a bunch of, you wouldn’t guess, part-time jobs for him to do. The part-time jobs are the stages/levels for you to clear.
Part Time UFO plays like a crane game with objectives and quirky levels. But unlike a carnival crane game, the crane actually grips properly. The game controllers with a single button to lower the crane and then pressing the button again to release the item. As you would expect, the game is physics-based. This concept may not sound very appealing but the interesting part is in the aesthetics and objective system.
Each job has a specific theme; from you fishing up fish onto a boat to working in a museum and so on. No job is too crazy for our little UFO friend. The jobs are packed with a lot of humor and quirkiness and have nice details in the background. If you look at the background closely, you will see Qbby, the protagonist of the BoxBoy! franchise, which is also a game by HAL Laboratory.
More gameplay than you think
Besides the main objective that needs to be completed, there are 3 extra objectives. These are represented by icons that give a clue to how to complete them. One of these objectives is often completing the level in a certain time. But the other objectives have you completing the level properly by for instance stacking-up cheerleaders properly. The last one is a wild card and could be anything that is related to the clue. I think this adds a nice element of exploration to each level that wouldn’t be there if it was shown what to do exactly.
Beat the level with all the objectives and a harder version of the stage will be unlocked. The main goal will be made harder by for instance adding more cheerleaders to stack-up.
An achievement system is also in place called Feats of Glory. Completing 4 of these achievements in a square will unlock a funny little animation and even a few new outfits.
But what is the point?
But the achievements aren’t the main goal. The goal of working your jobs is of course to earn money. The money is spent in the clothing shop. Dress up Jobski as a bee, a ninja, or even a real looking UFO. Each clothing item has its own properties. The hard hat makes you fly more sturdy for instance. The properties are displayed before buying the clothes but also after at the catwalk. Here you can also change to previously bought clothing. By pressing the shoulder buttons Jobski will perform a cute little animation that is related to the costume it’s wearing.
There is also a mode called the Tower of Infinity with tasks you with stacking blocks in a tower as high as possible without letting it fall over. There is also a mode unlocked after beating the game but I want to keep some secrets for you to discover. Besides a single-player mode, there is also a coop mode included. Work together or not to complete the levels. This is good to play even with a not so experienced gamer to get the hang of things.
Conclusion
The game feels like a premium game that screams Nintendo, while only costing as little as 9 buck. With its cute charm, reminiscent of Kirby, aesthetic, and quirkiness to it all it is a blast to play. This coupled with the different modes, difficulties, objectives, and achievement to complete plus the fact that it can be played Co-Op this is definitely a game you should be picking up
