Game Review #293: Type:Rider (Nintendo Switch)

Reviewer: Bradford E. (The Waffinator)

Developer: Novelab

Publisher: ARTE Experience

Category: Puzzle, Platformer, Adventure, Educational

Release Date: 4.25.19

Price (at time of review): $2.99

Buy Type:Rider in the Nintendo Switch eShop here.

Overview

On April 25th, 2019 ARTE Experience and Novelab launched 3 games on the Nintendo Switch: Vandals, Homo Machina, and the one we are going to cover in this review, Type:Rider. I have played 2 of the 3 thus far and I’m really enjoying them. The first one is Vandals (which you can find here) and the second one is Type:Rider. Even though it doesn’t advertise itself on the eShop as an educational game, I feel it adds a good amount of education for those interested in the history of typography (the style and appearance or printed matter). But if you just want a quick puzzle style platformer to pick up and play on the go, it’s that too.

Type:Rider offers 10 different worlds based on different types of Typography. Take Gothic for example; there is a whole world with a couple mini levels all themed around Gothic lettering. To fully complete each level you must get each letter from A-Z and a symbol, usually the & symbol. I mean you don’t really need to gain each letter and character to move on to the next Typography world, but if you are a completionist (person who likes to fully complete everything) then yes you do need to find all the letters and characters.

(The one after Z - the dot - is the symbol, but I failed to get it therefore you don’t get to see what it is)

You play as two dots, although to me they resemble a colon which would make sense being that the whole game is based off typography, but you can call them whatever floats your boat. Each world has mini levels that flow together very smoothly. In fact it doesn’t even feel like they are mini levels, but rather one nicely flowing level with little to no loading time. All the levels start off fairly easy but there are puzzles and things that will try to stop you and slow you down, like falling off the stage or running into a thorn patch. So as easy as it looks there are some puzzles to it that will slow you down a bit and make you think adding some challenging value to the overall experience.

Each world is set up like a book dedicated to that specific typography that you are about to play and explore. Each book is uniquely designed to resemble that style of writing.

Controls

The controls to the game are very simplistic and user friendly. You use the left thumbstick to control the movement of the colon (two dots), X to reset if you get stuck (sends you back to a checkpoint), and A to jump. Like I said, very simplistic and basic making it easy for anyone to pick up this game and play. The puzzle difficulty will vary with age, but for the most part the game is enjoyable for everyone.

Audio/Visuals

Type:Rider is the typical 2D side scroller when it comes to platformers, but the backgrounds and the layouts of the levels are very artistic and enjoyable to look at. Each stage/level is themed to be whatever type of typography you are trying to learn about. Every stage offers a very dynamic song that matches the stylistic theme of the typography. For example when you are playing the Clarendon book the music is very much like a Western. You hear the wind howling and tumbleweeds rolling. The Pixel Stage (probably my favorite one) is all based off of computer typography and video games so the whole stage sounds like PC or video games. Not current gen video games but like 1980’s early PC computer games. There is even one puzzle that is based off of brick breaker games.

Wrapping Up

Overall Type:Rider was not a game that I thought I would find intriguing and entertaining and yet I did. The game is easily enjoyable for a variety of players, especially the ones who like me like to learn new things. I have always been into writing but never found myself intrigued by the history of letters and where they came from until now. The only thing about this game is once you complete it, I don’t find much replay value in it especially once you get all the in-game achievements for it. So, it is a quick and good play for $3 but I don’t see much to do with it once it is beat. I would recommend this game for those like me who have a hectic work schedule that takes away from gaming time and like to be able to add more games to the “games I have beaten” list.