[Review] SYNTHETIK: Ultimate- Nintendo Switch

Developed and Published By: Flow Fire Games
Categories: Twinstick Shooter
Release Date: 12.16.20

Perhaps the best way to describe Synthetik is chunky. You know, as in the way shooting has weight to it and it just makes enemies feel chunky and good to kill? Though, maybe that’s a bad term since there are so many robots.

A rather swift twin stick shooter, but also a hint of RPG. This sounds a bit typical, and it is, but I at no point felt like the game pushed me or roadblocked to gain levels. It goes to say that the game is rather open in how you play it. From a healthy number of classes to decide what you’ll excel at, my choice being the Riot Guard. Each class has their own levels to give unique perks as well. If you honestly want to, you can play the game however regardless of class, but picking a specific class makes those playstyles just a bit smoother.

The obscene number of guns and items to use. I almost never saw the same gun outside of the defaults, which you can fix after leveling up so much, but I enjoyed this aspect as it made every playthrough rather fresh. Say you get this great shotgun in one run, you get really far, and then die. The next run you probably won’t find that shotgun, but might find a cool rifle that shoots off bullets that have a delayed, focused explosion. You might have to shake up a strategy with that, but maybe that stronger, more focused gun might do better than the wide spread of the shotgun. One little quirk the game has with it’s guns is an active reload system. Empty magazine? Just drop it and reload, timing it all right can make everything smooth and quick to get back to shooting. Guns can also jam too, leaving you to mash buttons to unjam it, but it also fully reloads your gun after the fact.

Stages are all randomized, but they all seem samey at the same time. Different colored floors, the same enemies, the same set of traps, just all arranged differently. Is that an issue though? If I’m having lots of fun, is it an issue or just a nitpick? That’s subjective at the end of the day.

Something I like is that death is only a small obstacle. Points of research, experience, money earned, it all doesn’t just disappear once you lose. There’s a massive glossary to view for things you’ve collected as well, which I’ve only seen a fraction of. There’s plenty of reason to replay the game on top of the options it hands you. While the game itself never forces you to grind to enjoy it, you’re gonna be playing quite a bit to unlock everything, though I unlocked a decent chunk of content only by playing a few hours.

Despite having an issue with the stages being samey, I don’t have much issue with the general art style. It feels as militaristic and robotic as it should. The music has that feel too, but I love it. It really got me pumped and focused when getting into intense shoot outs or fighting a boss.

While parts of it might be a tad generic, SYNTHETIK was a blast to play. It’s a difficult, but not too demanding game, with lots to do instead of hiding a lack of content behind said difficulty.