A concept as old as gaming itself (nearly). Mighty Switch Force! Hose It Down! is a puzzler that will surely get your brain working. But for those of you who don’t have time for puzzle games, you REALLY won’t have time for this. Also do not play this before you go to sleep or it will still be playing behind your eyelids as you struggle to commence slumbering.
Platform Used For Mighty Switch Force Hose It Down Review: iPad 2
Developer: WayForward Technologies, Inc.
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 
Take control of the pixelated bombshell, Officer Patricia “Patty” Wagon (see what they did there?) and save Tangent City from a fate of infinitely burning but not spreading inferno. Patty belongs to the Planet Land’s Fire Brigade and is decked out in a very futuristic yet impractical suit of fire fighting equipment. It’s her job to douse the flames and evacuate any “Hooligan Sisters” who are still trapped inside these burning buildings, however there is a complete lack of danger and urgency in these missions.
How Does it Play?
Gameplay comes in the form of a ‘line-up-the-pipe’ style of play. You must drag and tap the pieces of pipe at your disposal in order for Patty to squirt her semi-automatic water cannon through mud blocks and ultimately onto any flames that are bluffing to burn the building or it’s inhabitants down.
Mighty Switch Force Hose It Down (or MSFHID) uses a recipe that’s been tried and tested many a time over the years, and for those of us who thoroughly enjoy the brain bending challenge of lining up pieces of separated pipe for something to travel through seamlessly, you’re gonna love it.
There are currently 25 puzzles accessible which unlock systematically after each previous level is completed. You are also cursed with having a timer hanging over your head. Each level sets you with a time to beat in order to earn a star, but when you see how long it takes you to work out what goes where in order to douse every fire successfully, you’ll see how mundane it is to even bother earning these stars. The purpose of the stars also seems to be unattainable. Perhaps in future updates we will see a reason for these stars existence.
If you don’t think 25 levels is enough then feel free to fork out some cash to unlock a further 25 levels to further frustrate yourself with. That being said, kudos to WayForward Technologies for not using some kind of ‘stamina metre’ to restrict your playing.
Levels will become progressively harder, providing you with less pipes, more obstructions, annoying “Hooligan Sisters” to distract you and get in your way, different types of pipes and more. MSFHID definitely delivers in terms of challenge and graphics but apart from that it lacks in originality.
Aesthetic Charm
An example of what the cut scene graphics are like.
The graphics are very pleasing to the eye however so you won’t be complaining about that. Patty and the “Hooligan Sisters” all seem to have just enough bounce in their animations to act as a very subtle distraction, but eventually you’ll have to start ignoring the pixelated jiggling and focus on the goal at hand!
I also quite like the soundtrack by Jake “Virt” Kaufman. It provides quite a wonderful reminiscence of 32 bit games and their soundtracks but the constant nagging voice of Patty informing you that the rooms are indeed quite high in temperature gets old fast.
Some kind of story tries to squeeze it’s way in as well in the form of animated cut scenes. You will find yourself tapping the screen quite vigorously in an effort to move beyond these meaningless drawings faster. I must say that the gameplay graphics far outshine the cut scene drawings so I wonder why WayForward Technologies didn’t just stick with the pixels all throughout.
Final Thoughts
All in all Mighty Switch Force! Hose It Down! is nowhere near the worst puzzler I’ve ever played. In fact it does provide quite a bit of gameplay and entertainment, but the lack of originality and the small amount of levels does bring it down quite a bit. As a game I’d say it’s major draw card is the graphics and animations.
Puzzle fans rejoice (for a short amount of time) but everyone else, give it a go and see what you think.
Score
3 stars – entertaining but frustrating.
Pluses:
- Incredibly challenging.
- Pixelated graphics are really quite attractive.
Minuses:
- Will drive you insane.
- Slightly annoying controls.
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