[Review] NEW Joe & Mac - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Mr. Nutz Studio
Published By: Microids
Categories: Platformer
Release Date: 11.24.22

I cannot even measure my disappointment with New Joe and Max Caveman Ninja. I like the older games, but something about this one just doesn’t seem right to me. At all. Microids has released great reboots and platformers lately and the Asterix game by Mr. Nutz Studio looked good, so what’s going on here?

Lets start off with what I like. I actually like how the game looks. Well, somewhat. I don’t think any of the characters are that pleasant to look at, but the dinosaurs and other creatures all look great. The animation of everything is great. I love the whole hit animations of the enemies or Joe and Mac when they’re attacked. It is a pleasant looking game if you’re a fan of the whole HD art that a lot of remakes have now if they’re not 3D. I like it a whole lot.

That’s about it unfortunately. Ok, where do I begin? New Joe and Mac is unbelievably punishing. To an extent where it isn’t fun. Have you ever played Wonder Boy? There’s a similarity outside of both being games about Cavemen trying to get their girls back. You’re under a strict timer, that being your hunger. It’ll slowly drain and you’ll need to get food to refill it. Getting hit will drain it A LOT. So lets say you whiff an attack, WHOOPS, YOU’RE GONNA GET HIT AND LOSE MAJORITY OF YOUR LIFE WITH NO WAY TO REFILL IT ENOUGH. This comes from none of your attacks feeling that good to use. So on ground you can aim up, but when jumping you cannot. There’s two kinds of jumps, but it was inconsistent. Attacks feel week, and you can charge them, but make sure not to hold it too long or you’ll waste both your life and get dizzy, leaving you open for attacks. The console versions of the original had the sense to realize that the depleting health was kind of a bad idea, so maybe include a mode like that in an update.

If you die at all, you’ll redo the entire stage, with any new weapons you picked up like sharp teeth, boomerangs, electricity, etc… will all be gone. If you die enough, you will game over. It’s frustrating and considering you don’t really continue, you don’t feel like you’re going to get any better if you can’t replay a level outside of the first endlessly. I get that arcade games were hard, but those also had continues granted you were willing to spend money. If there is one plus side, it’s that stages are short. Please please please put continues in. Please.

There’s an Extend Mode in addition to the classic Arcade mode. I’m not too sure exactly what it is. The stages are definitely longer. On the eShop page it says there’s even more modes including a training mode? I can’t find them, my options are literally Arcade, Extend, and then a single option of being for languages. At least there’s co-op.

This is kind of a miserable experience right now. I can see what it’s trying. I know if it has a few fixes I’ll enjoy it more. But right now, it’s not very fun and it seems like it’s $29.99 price tag is a tad ridiculous. Wait a bit before you buy this, it’ll be on sale eventually and will (hopefully) have patches to make it a better experience.