The Nintendo Switch proved itself over and over again to be an amazing co-op system. Thanks to the Joy-Con, you can easily transform your solo session into multiplayer madness. It’s not hard to find multiplayer games on the system so in order to succeed in the genre, you’ll need to come with something different. Enter B.Ark, a multiplayer shmup with adorable graphics. Is this one you need to play? Let’s find out!
B.Ark
Bio-interstellar Ark is about a bunny, puppy, bear, and cat walking into space ships to save the galaxy from the Dark Tide. Each character has its own characteristics and different attacks, focussing on different special attacks. If you want to survive the waves of enemies coming at you, you better work as a team in order to survive. Don’t be mistaken by the game’s cute looks, underneath all the adorable lies a rather intense shmup that will need some skill in order to survive. The biggest advantage of playing together as a team is the fact that you can pick up a downed player and make him respawn a bit faster to take down the evil forces once and for all. It’s a rather basic shmup but thanks to the co-op elements it’s certainly a fun game to play together with some friends, just don’t expect any miracles here.
Like many other games in the genre, B.Ark is a bit too straightforward and doesn’t really push beyond dodging and attacking wave after wave of enemies to conclude in a boss battle. The levels themselves are based on planets but never rise above the average. It’s fun and a bit chaotic but it’s something we’ve all seen before. That being said, playing together with your friends while helping each other out with insane super attacks is pretty fun, sadly the game isn’t that much fun while playing alone.
On your own
When I first started playing this game, I tried it on my own to see what kind of game it actually was. Sadly, the experience for the solo gamer isn’t that good as it really changes the meta of the gameplay a lot. If you’re playing with friends, you can always count on each other to take down the enemies and to respawn a bit more often. On your own, the game can become pretty intense and rather difficult to complete. Even during the first levels, I struggled to survive on the normal difficulty level. Luckily the game supports several levels of difficulties to make it a bit easier to survive but I never could shake the feeling that the game isn’t meant to be played on your own. If you’re looking for a shmup to enjoy on your own, there are plenty of other options in the eShop, this clearly isn’t the game you’re looking for.
Conclusion:
B.Ark is a rather classic and straightforward shmup that’s fun to play together with friends and is best ignored if you want to play it on your own. It’s nothing special but delivers classic fun for a group of friends.