Car Quest

I originally got Car Quest for a few cents alongside a few other massively-discounted Switch titles just for the fun of trying them all out with a friend. This game was the only one we played for more than five minutes that day. Maybe it was the smooth gameplay, the nostalgic PS2 vibes, or the addictive simplicity of the objectives, but I was hooked. With a backlog like mine, I normally don't give non-mainstream indie games a second thought, so this title is definitely something special in my eyes.

Car Quest feels a lot like a PS2-era 3d platformer if your player character was a little car rather than a costumed anthropomorphic animal. The structure is somewhat similar to that of Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie, where you travel from a small-but-expanding overworld to unique self-contained levels where the bulk of the game takes place. However, Car Quest forgoes the standard of scattering enemies throughout the levels in order to keep the players' focus on the puzzles. The game is pretty straightforward in explaining what it expects of you, and it never gets too difficult. This may put off some challenge-seekers, but I found it to be a delightfully mellow experience. Up until the post-game, that is. After finishing the game's story, you are given the task to explore the overworld and previous levels in order to obtain all of a specific collectible. Doing so results in a short cutscene, but I found the hunt to be too tedious for the small reward.

This was easily one of the best investments I made on the eShop so far, providing me hours of fun for under a dollar. I don't think it has much incentive to revisit it after completing the story, so I don't think that I will be booting it up again anytime soon. However, it was great the first time through, and if you see it on sale, it would probably be wise to pick it up!

The game is available for Switch here (as of 12/22/20): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/car-quest-switch/

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