[Review] Afterpulse - Nintendo Switch

Developed and Published By: Digital Legends
Categories: Mobile, Shooter
Release Date: 03.30.21

I’ll always rally for more mobile games of quality to get ported to the Switch. I’d much rather have an easy way to use buttons with some of these games, especially the more active games. Afterpulse is one of those games. However, I have a handful of issues with it…

Lets get to what I like about Afterpulse. It looks, runs, and plays quite well. In terms of mobile games, Afterpulse is really fantastic. On the Switch, this all still applies. With buttons giving more convenient and accurate actions, it’s a step above in that regard. Shooting felt snappy, and not to toot my own horn, but I was consistently doing incredibly well whenever I’d play a match. Though I have to imagine this is because Afterpulse has cross-platform multiplayer. This is to say I’d be playing games against people playing on their phone, giving me a mechanical advantage.

Much like any normal mobile game, there’s an obscene amount of content. You have eight stages, my favorite of which being a motel. Lots and lots, and lots of guns and cosmetic items. If you’re a gun nut, you’re probably going to really enjoy collecting everything, especially the ones with unique paintjobs. Consider this a gacha for guns. With currency and parts, you can even make your guns stronger and stronger, even boosting their rarity level.

This is where issues come up. Afterpulse is a mobile game. It has lootboxes. Even if you spend for example 1500 of the premium currency to get a set for items of the game’s current season, you’re not guaranteed items you want. The game also has a progression system like a mobile game. Stamina that goes down each game, levels that reward you currency and refill stamina. I’d have very little issue with this if the game was free. It’s not, it’s a $20 game. Yes, Switch players who bought the game get access to a decent number of loot boxes of rarer items including a guaranteed weapon as well as boosters. But this all should be optional. If I’m paying upfront, remove stamina. The idea that a player can drop $20 before even starting the game and then not be able to play it if they get to a point where they no longer level up quickly is ridiculous.

I think Afterpulse is fun, but I can’t get over the fact that you’re forced to pay for what is essentially a booster set before playing on Switch. I’d be much more favorable if this was optional and was just set as an ultra edition instead. I was bothered initially by the fact the game requires you to make an account to play, especially because it wouldn’t send the confirmation PIN so I could play for days, but considering I could, if I wanted to transfer my build and play on my phone was nice.