[Review] Suika Game – Nintendo Switch

Developed and Published By: Aladdin X
Category: Puzzle
Release Date: 10.20.23
Price: $2.99

Suika Game is the newest video game to take the world by storm. I haven’t even heard of the game until two weeks ago when I saw someone playing it on YouTube, the game just seemed to appear. I wasn’t too excited about it but after seeing more people talk about it, I finally gave it a chance since it’s ridiculously cheap and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

What is Suika Game? At its core it’s basically a cross between Tetris and 2048. You’re given a jar and you drop fruit into it. When two of the same fruit touch, they merge into a bigger fruit, with watermelon being the biggest and baddest of the 11 total fruit. Your primary goal is to make your way to watermelon but once you’ve accomplished that, you will keep playing to achieve the highest score that you can manage. Once the fruit in the jar extend past the top, it’s game over.

During your first few attempts, Suika Game will be quite addicting as you fight for that high score but personally, I think the best aspect of the game is the way it looks and sounds. When you’re first booting up the game, you’re met with music that you just want to dance to and the designs of all the fruit are simple adorable. If you don’t care much for those aspects and are only playing for the puzzle, the game will have you covered. Figuring out where to drop each piece of fruit while considering what fruit is next while working with a really good physics engine will entice any puzzle enjoyer.

It’s also a friendly experience for any level of gamer because of how easy it is to learn. Within a few minutes of beginning the game, you’ll have the game entirely figured out. The only thing you’ll have to worry about are the physics, which may take some time to master.

The physics won’t always be kind to you and that’s a good thing because it gives the game a certain amount of unpredictability that makes each attempt unique. You can wedge a fruit under another fruit and it will cause the other fruit to slowly push everything for 10 seconds. This is great if you know where the fruit needs to go and can figure out a way to get there. Or the physics can cause a chain reaction that you weren’t even thinking was possible and save your game.

But this can also be your downfall because the fruit will roll, bounce, and slide all over the place. This can put the two fruit you need to touch too far away or even sandwich them on opposite sides of other fruit. I had one game where the sudden increase in size of the new fruit launched a cherry so hard that it went out of bounds and immediately ended the game. Little physics things like this can drastically alter your gameplay experience.

Suika Game is nothing more than a game for hunting high scores. If you get the watermelon and a really high score on your first attempt, you might not feel motivated to play anymore if you don’t feel like you can get an even better score. However most people will love the thrill of continuously trying to get a better score and using a mix of planning and luck to get them there. But even with both sides, it’s not a game with a crazy amount of replayability. When I finally made it to watermelon, I only played two more times to see if I could get a higher score before calling quits.

The average player might only get two or three hours out of Suika Game but considering the game is only $2.99, that’s an amazing amount of value. If you only play three of four games and get watermelon, you’d have most likely gotten your money’s worth between the gameplay, music, and charm.

4/5