Floating Island Games is bringing its terrain bending title Cloudbase Prime to Nintendo Switch and we got a chance to secure a review copy earlier to try it out. The game was originally released on PC back in 2017 and now the game is finally available on Nintendo Switch allowing players to experience its brilliant terrain bending first-person shooter mechanics. This is our review of the Nintendo Switch version of Cloudbase Prime in which we bend some terrain and launch some robots in the air for some air shooting practice.
Cloudbase Prime is considered as an FPS with platforming mechanics by most of the people but I like to call it a platformer with FPS mechanics. This is because I was able to clear levels without firing a single shot. The game really allows you to do that as you move around using the terrain to your advantage. Cloudbase Prime is played as a first-person shooter as you explore different levels based around a gas giant mining facility. Cloudbase Prime is really a unique blend of different mechanics and it executes them exceptionally well although the controls take some time getting used to.
The gameplay of Cloudbase Prime involves terrain management and shooting. You use the terrain management in your favor to reach certain areas and eliminate enemies as well. This is an extremely powerful tool in your hand. Your right hand is used to control the terrain while the left-hand shoots at enemies. You have two weapons in the game one is your shooter hand while the other one is the terrain. You can lift the enemies high in the air and throw them off the map to eliminate them as well. For special powers and ammo, you must have fuel which is only obtained from killing enemies after you’ve launched them in the air.
This gives you a great incentive for launching enemies in the air. Launched enemies are also helpless however you can only launch those enemies which are located on the ground. Flying enemies or mini-bosses cannot be launched in the air which occupies more than one hex. The ground in Cloudbase Prime is designed in the shape of hex so every surface that you step on is actually a small hex. You can lift this up and down according to your need. You can use your power to lift or lower the hexes to give yourself a boost or even block enemies or their projectiles. The possibilities are endless.
Apart from your left arm’s weapon, this terrain modifier is your ultimate weapon and you will be using this as your primary weapon as well as your main movement mechanic. To cater to all this moving around and camera rotation, the Nintendo Switch version comes with three dedicated keys that quickly jump to ground, forward and sky view. Although they sound convenient, I did not find them very helpful in the game. Most of the times I ended up facing the wrong direction after launching myself. For me, manual control of the camera was the best because just launching is not the only part you need to execute.
There are different post-launch mechanics that you can use in the game as well. These include the glider and the boost. Both of them are only available after you launch yourself in the air. The glider slows you down and is one of my favorite mechanics in the game. It allows you a great view and time to plan your next move. You can also lift and shoot at enemies ahead while staying in the air and by the time you land, the area is clear of enemies. The boost is great for reaching areas farther ahead which are not possible with the simple launch. These post-launch mechanics are extremely helpful and you will love using them and exploiting them to absolutely own the robot enemies of the game.
Apart from your basic terrain modifying power and your shooter which has different ammo types as well, you also find and equip different powers for your suit. These powers are hidden in different levels and you must find them in order to unlock them. You can manage them back at your hub as well since you can use only one power at a single time. These powers require fuel which is the only resource that you have to collect in the game. Similar to these powers, you can also find special ammo with additional status effects in the world such as the Incendiary ammo. Each ammo type comes with its own unique ways of killing the enemies.
Cloudbase Prime has different worlds for you to explore and each world comes with its own unique levels and challenges. The terrain changes drastically in each world but the main concept of the gameplay remains the same in each world. Each of these worlds come with their own unique levels. The most common level is the base level where you have to find and collect Fixbots. These Fixbots fix the exit of each level and once you find all of them in a level, you unlock the supercharged mode which enhances the damage of your weapons and also makes your terrain management ability more brutal. At this point, you are free to explore the level or simply head back to the game. For me, this is the most fun part as you have ultimate terrain bending powers and super damaging weapons.
Apart from these base levels, you also get some challenging levels such as the Camp levels where you have to reach a target while navigating extremely challenging terrain or complete different fun challenges such as launching a certain number of enemies at the same time and more. Collecting the fixbots unlock more levels for you but before you can move to the next world, you have to deal with the world’s boss first. These boss fights are not too challenging but I found them really fun and a good diversion from the normal levels. You have to use everything in your power to defeat these bosses. You also come across some tougher enemies in normal levels which I call mini-bosses. They are not as tougher as the full bosses but certainly require more beating than normal enemies.
Lucky for you, death is not that punishing in Cloudbase Prime which is one of the reasons why playing it is so much accessible. The game does not want you to become perfect by punishing every time you fall down. When I say fall down, you will fall down a lot as you move around bending the terrain, launching yourself in the air, boosting around and while fighting enemies in the air and forgetting whether there is land beneath your feet or not. If you fall down or your health reaches zero, you simply respawn back. The load times are minimal so you do not feel much. During boss fights, if you fall down or die, you have to begin from the start because it would have been pretty unfair for us players if there was no penalty at least in the boss fights.
If you prefer chasing highscores, after you complete the base level, you also unlock a Score Attack where your main goal is to set the highest score in the levels. This is a great way of extending your gameplay time and adding a bit of a challenge to the otherwise pretty simple game. I finished the game in a maximum of three sittings for my review however since the game offers a decent amount of content including achievements, you can expect Cloudbase Prime to take a good amount of your time if you prefer completion of games to 100%.
There are no fancy visuals involved here but the level design is brilliant and I really liked the catchy soundtrack of the game. It works perfectly with the setting of the game. Overall, I really liked playing Cloudbase Prime on my Nintendo Switch Lite. The controls took me some time to get used to but once I did, I was having a great time, launching the enemies in the sky, shooting targets, and moving around while in Supercharged mode. It offers a great deal of fun and offers a diverse amount of levels and game modes to explore with a catchy soundtrack. There are no visual hiccups on Nintendo Switch as well such as frame drops or glitches. The game runs exceptionally well even on Lite.
Final Verdict:
Cloudbase Prime is a great platformer that adds a brand new gameplay mechanic into the mix. The ability to move the terrain at your will and use that to your advantage is a brilliant mechanic and it really gives you the advantage in the game. With all this terrain moving here and there, you can reach areas that may seem out of reach and even out of initial view. Plenty of game modes and fun boss modes ensure that you return back for more. The gameplay is more suited to playing with a controller rather than handheld mode but with a little bit of practice, you can get used to playing it in handheld mode as well. If you like platformers and particularly first-person platformers which also combine decent shooting mechanics and epic boss battles, Cloudbase Prime is a really good game to try out especially when it allows you to modify the terrain as well.
Final Score: 9.5/10
