G-Switch 3 mixes a murky neon lime backdrop with a clearly-defined track. Part of how the game achieves that feeling is down to its presentation. If you’re in the market for something that relentlessly tests your twitch reflexes and keeps you wired while you play, then G-Switch 3 is for you. G-Switch 3 is confident in its concept and execution it knows its platforming is tight and compelling enough to reward basic skill and reflexes rather than needing to constantly distract the player with needless baubles. Many games would struggle to get away with such a minimalistic control scheme, especially in the age of feature-rich sandbox titles with huge amounts to see and do. You read that right: there is literally only one button in G-Switch 3, and it’s not even used for jumping. Players are constantly running on a set of tracks, with several concurrent tracks running alongside them pressing the space bar allows switching between the two tracks, which is the primary way of dodging obstacles and avoiding death. Like the previous two titles in the series, G-Switch 3 is a 2D platformer with extremely light puzzle elements and a healthy dollop of auto-running thrown in for good measure. G-Switch 3 comes to us from Portuguese indie developer Serius Games, whose previous titles include two prior G-Switch instalments and Hyper Tunnel among others. The game is nominally a platformer, but like our earlier examples it doesn’t have a jump button instead, players must navigate the game’s world entirely by using a gravity-switching mechanic (the G-Switch of the title). G-Switch 3 is refreshingly light on narrative context you are a person who either likes to run a lot or is being forced to do so in an effort to escape some nebulous authority or pursuer, and run you must. Into this venerated landscape comes G-Switch 3, an awesome game on Poki cast in the mould of VVVVVV and sharing some mechanics with that game. One could reasonably argue that it’s pointless to do so, but experimentation is the spice of life, and the removal of jumping has led to wonderful games like VVVVVV, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Toki Tori 2. What happens, then, when we remove that ability? What happens when we create a platformer in which it’s impossible for the player to jump? Well, we’d need to replace jumping with an equally satisfying and useful mechanic something that still allows us to get past the many obstacles in our way and performs the basic functions for which jumping is normally used. It’s not an overstatement to say that jumping is a crucial part of gaming history. Ever since the original Donkey Kong back in 1981, gamers have been surmounting obstacles by effortlessly leaping over them, leaving barrels tumbling into the aether and enemies looking on helplessly as gravity is constantly defied by the heroic protagonist du jour. It’s difficult to imagine the gaming landscape without the humble jump.
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