As Smartphones have evolved, so too have the games designed to leverage their touch screens. Among these, The Room, originally released in 2012, distinguished itself. Now, six years later, Team 17 has delivered a port for the Nintendo Switch.
The Room presents a narrative framework, though its intricacies are not essential to this review. The core gameplay revolves around solving a series of intricate puzzles, each advancing the story.
The original mobile version utilized familiar touch controls: double-tapping to zoom in and pinching to zoom out. The portable mode on the Nintendo Switch retains this functionality. This iteration benefits from enhanced graphical and audio fidelity, offering a noticeable improvement over the iOS and Android versions.
In console (docked) mode, The Room employs a distinct control scheme, yielding both positive and negative results. Utilizing the right Joy-Con controller as a pointer, players manipulate objects on screen by physically moving their hand and arm to rotate, pull, and manipulate mechanisms. This functions adequately in principle.
A special lens allows you to see details that you otherwise would not see.
However, extended gameplay can lead to arm fatigue. Furthermore, the precision required for zooming can be problematic. The zoom function necessitates pixel-perfect alignment, and even slight deviations can result in unintended targets, leading to frustration. On numerous occasions, zooming proved unresponsive, compelling players to seek hints – effectively, a form of assistance – to confirm they were indeed on the correct path, hampered only by technical limitations. Despite these control quirks, the experience of playing on a large TV screen offers a compelling visual upgrade over the handheld mode.
While the game offers a relatively concise experience, its modest price point renders it a worthwhile investment. Players are unlikely to become permanently stalled, thanks to the availability of in-game hints. Should these prove insufficient, resources such as Youtube provide supplementary assistance.
The control and zoom-related issues, coupled with the game’s brevity, temper the final score. Nevertheless, The Room remains a recommended title for enthusiasts of puzzle games.
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