{"id":196327,"date":"2017-03-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/review-nintendo-switch\/"},"modified":"2017-03-01T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T13:00:00","slug":"review-nintendo-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/review-nintendo-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Nintendo Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nintendo is still reeling from the Wii U, so its mission statement is a bit muddled right now. Is the Switch a replacement for the 3DS? Nintendo said it wasn’t for the Wii U, but then discontinued it mere weeks later. Let’s face it, the Switch is a massive gamble. It’s not as powerful as other consoles on the market, but it’s basically a Vita and mini-PS4 meshed into one, with a little Nintendo magic sprinkled on top.<\/p>
Isolated from the hype I’ve tested out the system in the comfort of my own home for the past week. Although it isn’t as explosive and as game-changing as a lot of you think it is, I’ve been enjoying the simple freedom it provides — I just hope developers continue to tap into that with a steady stream of games.<\/p>
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Look, feel, and setup<\/strong><\/p> With its descriptive on-screen tutorial, it took me around 15 minutes, all told, to setup my Switch — and that includes creating a new Mii from scratch.<\/p> It’s crazy how muted this thing is as it’s completely innocuous on my TV stand, almost like it doesn’t exist (some guests didn’t even notice it until I told them I had one). The actual docking station (which is somehow $90 separately<\/a>) is so basic — it’s a flimsy plastic box with cords for three USB (one internally and two on the side), an AC Adapter (the big kind, pictured above), and HDMI out. While I thought that I was going to have to write at length about the finer points of hooking this system up, it really is that easy.<\/p> It helps that right now, there isn’t a whole lot for me to do on it. There’s no eShop at the moment, for instance, or online connectivity of any kind. When the update does<\/em> actually hit, there still won’t be much to do outside of game-related activities. It won’t have a browser at launch (or possibly ever), nor will it have any media channels like YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, or Hulu. No Bluetooth headset support might be a problem for some of you out there, and is a big missed opportunity from Nintendo to double-down on online multiplayer support.<\/p> For me, that’s totally fine. I have a ton of devices that can do that already, most of which are portable, and some even have a better screen than the Switch. But keep in mind that the share functionality is also limited to just screenshots — so streaming activity is still going to be limited to those who have capture cards or equipment for it. It’s not something I care about, but it seems like a missed opportunity for Nintendo given how big streaming is, and how easy it is to do it on Xbox One and PS4.<\/p> SanDisk provided us with a 200GB microSDXC card to test out on the Switch to expand its 25.9 GB of usable storage (thank God game carts don’t take up any space<\/a>), but the system update that enables said microSD cards was not live at the time of this writing (go figure). We’ll be sure to cover how smooth the upgrade goes when we have access to the day-one update. As a note, it took me a little while to find where the card even goes — it’s right under the kickstand<\/a> on the back of the tablet!<\/p> <\/iframe><\/p> UI<\/strong><\/p> I miss the fun, whimsical music from the Wii and Wii U, but again, the idea here is no clutter. Menus move from option to option (news, eShop, album, controllers, settings, sleep mode) instantly, even if said choices are sparse. Several settings aren’t even available while hooked up to the TV (like brightness or airplane mode), and out of the box, it only sports a black or a white homescreen theme. It might be the cleanest OS I’ve tested, and I’m including the 3DS.<\/p> That’s due in part to how responsive the controllers (Joy-Con) are. By sliding them into the Switch tablet itself they’ll instantly be recognized (and “snap” into place with that trademark sound), and sliding them off and re-configuring them into a solo controller (with the included Joy-Con Grip<\/a>) or as two separate remotes for multiplayer is as easy as sliding them into the Grip or turning them on their side respectively. You might not be able to fine-tune the console to your liking, but you aren’t going to be fighting it either — with one possible exception.<\/p>