[Review] PopSlinger - Nintendo Switch

Developed and Published By: Funky Can Creative
Categories: Shooter
Release Date: 01.26.22

You ever just play a game and it’s incredibly obvious that the people who made it grew up watching Toonami and playing lots of videogames? Yeah, that’s PopSlinger. And for that I absolutely love this game.

You play as the young, spunky Ria Carbon. She has a gun that shoots soda and she’s fighting the Corazones, who are people who’ve been corrupted as deep as their hearts by an evil presence from another dimension. She’s assisted by Gin, a previous Popslinger. The way the game has her function is almost like a Stand from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

PopSlinger is a bit of a run and gun. You go into a part of the city as a stage, then go through waves of enemies, usually some jelly looking creatures, then fight a boss at the end. You’ll notice enemies of three colors, red, blue, and yellow. You can just kill whatever, whenever, but don’t do that. Make combos of those colored enemies in a row. Three of this color, three of that color. Not only does it change the music, of which is dynamic to change constantly, but it lets Gin give you help. This can be with them giving you a barrier or making you have a double shot, laying a turret, or even healing! Getting hit will ruin your combo, so be sure to pay attention and dodge roll to get away from oncoming danger. One issue I do occasionally have is that with this game having that 2D/3D plane, it can be a tad difficult to line up your shots. Not to mention, the camera is a bit too zoomed in at times, which makes the experience claustrophobic.

After you get through the standard enemies, you’ll face a boss fight with one of those poor corrupted souls. The boss fights are definitely a step up in challenge, and man does it sting when you die to a boss fight and lose the high score you were trying to get. Before each boss fight though, if you’ve ever played or watched anything with a transformation sequence, it’ll be rather familiar. Hearing HENSHIN occasionally just put a smile on my face. Defeating a boss not only raises your HP, but then gives you a new soda flavor to fight with. Cola makes one mean canon. Later stages have shields on enemies that require a specific soda too.

PopSlinger is overflowing with personality. From it’s art style, which has a bit of a retro overlaw or the colorful cast, who might I add are all voiced. The music is full of headboppers too. If there’s one thing I’ll have living in the back of my head, it’s the music.

If this game is anything like real soda, it’s probably not wise you have too much of it, but I really enjoyed my time with PopSlinger, and the game’s grading system definitely made me want to keep playing the game to try and do better and better. And maybe not die against some of those trickier boss fights.