Catastronauts Review

One of the many things we love about the Switch is how it’s lent itself so well to great co-op gaming. From Snipperclips to Overcooked, it’s been the first time in a long while that a console has placed such great emphasis on gathering friends around a console or in front of the TV. Catastronauts is but another entry into the Switch’s co-op game catalogue.

In Catastronauts, each player must dash across a spaceship to fire guns towards rival ships – the guns take time to recharge when fired, and thus it’s a to and fro-like mechanic as you’re best served keeping on the move rather than waiting next to one gun exclusively.

All the while, you have to go on the defensive – weapons can overheat and combust, while enemy attacks can carve holes in your ship. As a result, you’ll need to run and pick up a fire extinguisher and other tools in order to bring down the temperature or to patch things up. Leave things fall into ruin for too long and you’ll be starting over.

You don’t actually see the opposing ship on the screen during the gameplay, leaving you to focus entirely on the interior of your ship in as clear a view as possible. You do get to see the enemy’s health bar, however, so you’ll always have an indication as to how much offence is required to finish a level successfully. The game’s top-down viewpoint is quite reminiscent of the one that we saw in the Overcooked games, so players familiar with those two culinary games will see a degree of familiarity here.

With emphasis placed on the co-op gameplay, it’s a shame to say that the experience is pretty weak when played on your own. As soon as the third level, single players will find themselves getting overawed by the blazes tearing through their ships, and there simply is not time available to fix all of the broken machinery, close up the cracks and still get in some offence towards the enemy ship all at the same time.

You have to press one button to switch from team member to team member, and then have the slight of hand and brainpower in order to coordinate getting items only available in one zone (in some levels the characters have their own separate pens within which to operate, and you’ll have to place items on a teleporter to shift them between pens). It can all get far too fiddly for the poor lone player.

The trick, of course, is to strike the perfect blend between ensuring that your ship is fixed swiftly and remembering not to neglect the dishing out of attacks in return. It’s considerably better when played with up to three friends locally – as long as your friends are doing their best, of course.