Elevator… to the Moon!
Turbo Champion’s Edition for the Nintendo Switch Review

Reviewed by:  @micramanic for
@AnyDayReviews
Platform:          Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 15/03/2019
Price:                 £12.19/$14.99
Developed/Published by: Roccat Game Studio GMBH/Arcade Distillery

Originally developed as a VR title, Arcade Distillery brings the cult hit to Nintendo Switch. Described as – and I quote – an “old-school-point-and-click-narrative-
puzzle-escape-room style sci-fi adventure” (phew!) It does everything is says on the box.

You play as a space cadet in the first person and take your orders from the President of the World. Complete with a comedic Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, you’ll be grinning from ear to ear – I know I was. Prepare yourself to be bombarded by cheesy one-liners, cutting quips and lots and lots of pop references.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rebuild a destroyed and dilapidated space elevator that was destined for the moon. This is solely where the game is played from. Doug-Slater Roccmeier (Arnie) will guide you, step-by-step through the process to get the elevator up and running again.

There are just four main missions to play through and each one plays out like chapters in a book. The bulk of the game is a point-and-click adventure. You’ll be tasked with finding particular items for each scenario to progress through the story.

Controls are kept as simple as possible here. You can either play with standard controls in handheld mode, or split Joy-Con’s in docked mode. Though each control scheme is fully customisable, due to the simplicity of the controls they are very intuitive. Move your character with the left stick, look around with the right stick and interact with objects with ZR and R.
Those that play only with the Switch Pro Controller can rejoice, as this game supports that too, though I never tried it.

Visually it is kept simple and clean.
Opting for a low poly, low (if any) texture, cel-shaded style with a colourful palette, the objects and environment really pop.
This helps with framerates too as I never noticed any performance issues, either in docked, or handheld mode.

Aside from the 80’s/90’s style aesthetic, the sound also has that throw-back feel to it.
Whilst you can technically play the game with just ambience and sound effects, you can collect cassettes to play in your
Boom box.
Each cassette represents a different genre of music from that era and are very high quality.

I was able to complete the game in a single sitting (2-3 hours) which is to be expected from a VR title. There are some that will question this, especially with a £12.19/$14.99 price point. That being said I did enjoy the game from start to hilarious finish.

Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of replayability. Aside from sticking with Roccmeier, you can choose to side with the snarky AI overlord, both with hilarious consequences.

Ever wanted to bat a bat? This game has you covered. You’ll get to choose one of many bat battering bats (oh boy).
Ranging from Baseball bats, Cricket bats, Golf clubs and everything in between.
Play through a handful of levels in an arcade cabinet called Bat Batty Bats!

Whilst most of the puzzles are kept relatively simple, some may get a little stuck from time to time. Fortunately there is a hint system in place that shows you points if interest.

Overall I had a blast playing it. Everything felt satisfying to play, also I’m a sucker for a great Arnie impression.

Highly Recommended

Did you like this review? Please check out some of my other reviews for RICO and  The Princess Guide! Do you enjoy our content? Please consider donating to our Ko-Fi! Thanks!

Game provided by Arcade Distillery