League of Evil is an action game where you, as a bionic super-agent, take on the mission to defeat the League of Evil. This basically means killing the evil scientist at the end of each level with a punch to the head!
In terms of the audio here there is nothing truly memorable. There are a bunch of chiptunes which fit the game really well. The sound effects are ok and suit this type of game.
The visuals will not blow you away here; they are nice and simple. They look 8-bit and it’s good that there are some variations to the themes but other than a slight colour change the levels look very samey after a while. The hazards all look fine and you can definitely tell where not to go! I love the little character designs throughout and have to say the developer has done a great job there. The game looks great in both handheld and in docked mode.
The gameplay is very simple. You have to reach the scientist to kick his head off which, I might add, is very satisfying. As the protagonist you can double jump and jump side to side from walls. You can also jump from a wall and then use your second jump to jump again. The controls are tight and feel a lot better than playing on my phone (where I also own this game).
One of my biggest annoyances on this game is the way the character bounces off the wall making me seek the opposite wall when all I want to do is jump upwards. It just didn’t feel natural and I felt the same way about the original. When I bought it back in 2011 for my mobile device it was the same then as it is now in terms of gameplay. It’s a game you can play in nice, short bursts and I remember it fondly for its fun and addictive ‘just one more go’ nature. However, one of the key differences between playing it on a mobile or tablet is not having to use the touch screen which I was never fond of. So it’s great that I can finally use some physical buttons to play the game which feels much better to me.
There are 140 levels and 6 themes spread over 4 worlds on the Switch version. Some of the levels are longer and some are incredibly short. The aim is always the same – to reach the end and kill the Evil scientist. If you complete the level quickly you will get 3 stars so this is great for speed runners. You can also take a small detour to pick up the briefcases laid out on each level to show off how great you are but this will not get you anything extra and, if anything, will stop you getting 3 stars. My suggestion is for you to complete each level twice; once to get 3 stars as you need speed and then another to get the brief case or vice versa. The briefcases are often placed in really annoying, hard to reach locations so be prepared to die…a lot!
You will have to manoeuvre your way through a number of hazards and kill different types of enemies who have all sorts of weapons to take you down as you progress. At first it will just be a soldier carrying a small gun and you will have to dodge the bullet fired at you. Later on, you will have missile launchers fired at you. There are no bosses in this game which I found disappointing. I think that would have made the game a lot more interesting and broken up the repetitiveness of it. For me, the game just lacks a little in variety. You kind of know what you are going to get and there is not going to be much that will surprise you here; I am not sure that even with the level editor that will change too much.
The basic level editor allows you to upload your own creations to the Switch server which is cool. It will be good to see some levels made by players, when the game becomes available, to see what devilish type of levels people are going to conjure up. The level editor is a breeze to use and you can create your own level in minutes. Truth be told though, I just like to play the levels rather than design them but, for those of you who like to build things, this is a fun addition to the game.
Even though you can potentially play this for free on a mobile device right now, there is still value to be found in the Switch version. This will suit those of you who consider yourselves hardcode gamers as I am sure you will want to perfect each level by picking up the briefcase and completing the level in blistering time to get those 3 stars but, as mentioned above, you will need to complete most levels twice to do this. For those of you who are casual gamers just looking for a short burst of fun to complete a few levels at a time, there is something here for you also as there is no requirement to pick up the hard to reach briefcase or even to complete the level quickly. Take your time and complete each level as slowly or as quickly as you like. It will take a good amount of time to complete this game and to perfect it depending on your skill level!
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