Strikey Sisters Demo

Played on: Nintendo Switch

A simple twist on a classic concept, with plenty of content in the demo

Stuffed

This is how demos should be: stuffed full of levels! An experience like Yellow Fins — just two, very short levels — can make a demo counter-productive, but this one feels more like they’ve given away too much! It’s a slight concern, actually — my research tells me the full map is only about twice as big as what’s here.

Good fun

But what’s here, first and foremost, is really good fun. It’s essentially a cross between a brick-breaker and a casual shoot-em-up, but it turns out that’s a combination that really works. You are the bat, swiping your sword to deflect the ball at various angles, collecting power-ups from defeated enemies, and coins from blocks. Clear all the blocks, wipe out the remaining enemies, and move on.

Action

The individual levels are well-designed but, to be honest, this is the kind of game where each play-through is more about the mechanics of the game than the setting. In the same way that football is fun to watch game after game, despite the setup of the pitch rarely changing, Strikey Sisters is more about the action than the levels. And it’s the behaviour of the enemies that really help make it engaging.

SNES

Graphically, it could’ve been released for the SNES 25 years ago, but that’s no bad thing at all. There’s a strong Zelda vibe, and the standard enemies are just as well designed as those in Link to the Past, for example. And I loved the self-described “cheesy 90s voice acting” which is just on the calmer side of the annoyance line.

Very likely

Strikey Sisters is great fun to pick up and play just a couple of levels at a time. I’m not sure how much long-term gameplay there is here, but it’s a title that regularly goes on sale, so I’m very likely to pick it up at a reduced price in the near future.