On June 8 it was released for Switch and 3DS Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido. The key to this puzzle-game signed by Nintendo and Indieszero, as the title suggests, is sushi, the stereotype par excellence of Japanese food. If you are a lover of this raw fish dish, this game will surely not disappoint you: the gameplay is simple and intuitive but still well structured and dynamic, anime style designs are enjoyable and fun, and the story is arguably one of the most exuberant ever. Plus, you'll find tons of information on dozens of types of sushi in a mini-encyclopedia full of mouth-watering illustrations. So, you are curious to know more about Sushi Striker? Let's go find out the details together.
THE WARS OF THE SUSHI
As we said, the plot of Sushi Striker is one of the most absurd you can come across: the land in which this adventure is set has been torn apart by a war for control of sushi, the finest food in the world; after the victory of the Empire this delicacy became accessible to few, however the rebels of the Republic do not give up again and they want to make this dish accessible to everyone again. Right here begins the journey of Musashi (if it is a boy or a girl you will choose it), who thanks to a series of fortuitous events will ally with Jinrai and the other sushi spirits to help the Resistance to defeat the Empire once per all.
The adventure consists of a series of "all you can eat" battles where you will have to eat all the sushi possible and then throw the empty plates at the opponent, who will almost always be a henchman of the Empire. At these levels, dialogues and film sequences in English and subtitled in Spanish alternate: the real flaw, in this case, is the lack of another audio option, as the dubbing is not the best. In any case, we can say that the narration in this game is not a fundamental element, in fact it serves as a pretext to guide the player between the various levels: battles allow Musashi and the sushi spirits to gain experience, level and sometimes unlock new dishes. From time to time, however, you will be able to get some objects to set before the clashes that will provide you with different types of bonuses: to give a couple of examples, among the gadgets there are the wheels, which modify the speed of the sushi belts, and the belt black, which halves Musashi's health but allows for much higher scores. However, the game is not as simple as it may seem ...
THE WAY OF THE SUSHIDO
The mechanics of the fights of Sushi Striker, as we said before, they are quite simple and intuitive: each of the two challengers has at their disposal three sliding belts full of sushi plus a central one in common. The goal is to connect as many plates with the same color as possible up to a maximum of twenty in seven seconds. Musashi will eat all the sushi collected and then place the empty plates on a table from which they will then be thrown, manually or automatically, against the opponent, who will suffer damage: once he has lost all life points, you will have won. Of course, the more plates you stack the stronger the combos will be, whose power, however, is also determined by other factors such as the connected dishes and the equipped sushi spirits. You can team up to three spirits at a time, plus two reserve spirits who will not actively take part in the battle but will gain experience points at the end of the battle. Always remember that these nice friends are the key to winning, in fact each spirit of sushi has a particular ability: some allow you to regain health, others to inflict more damage on the opponent or cause him major disadvantages. Using these skills is very simple, in fact just load the relative bar with the aforementioned combos.
Although the game may be easy at first, as you progress through the adventure you can clearly see that this title is more structured and articulated than it appears: As you progress through the levels, more and more complicated rules and variants are added to the basic mechanics described above. This is how Sushi Striker combines the frenzy of action with noteworthy tactical complexity and the whole thing would make it a long-lived and perfect title for multiplayer fun, were it not for. some defects that unfortunately cannot be ignored. From the start it is easy to see how complicated and imprecise it is to select the dishes with the controllers and how much easier it is to use the touch screen. However, this does not solve the problem, in fact the screen does not seem to be sensitive enough, which is particularly noticeable when trying to slide your finger quickly between the fast conveyor belts. Although you can adapt quickly to these "faulty" systems, however, there is a tendency to abandon any strategy and end up playing completely randomly. It is therefore clear that Sushi Striker was designed to be played with the stylus on the lower screen of the 3DS and not on the Switch, where the game unfortunately loses something and, in the worst cases, can be frustrating, showing how luck becomes more important than skill. of the player. Finally, it must also be said that, although the graphic style is colorful, pleasant and fun, it remains a decidedly low-cost production more suitable for a smartphone app than a video game.
