38. Snipperclips Plus (Switch)
Like most people, when the Switch launched in 2017 I was hyper focused on pretty much one game and one game alone; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, despite Breath of the Wild being the reason I got a Switch at launch, my eyes were open to the other launch titles in an attempt to extract even more value out of my new console purchase. Funny enough, the one other game that stood out to me was Snipperclips.
I rarely ever buy digital games, and at the time, Snipperclips was a digital only game on the eShop. My wife and I bought it, played it for a bit, but unfortunately the call of Breath of the Wild was too strong and neither of us would pick the game back up for years. With it approaching a decade since the Switch came out, Snipperclips did receive a slightly upgraded version in the form of Snipperclips Plus, which I recently picked up a physical copy. My wife and I decided to co-op the game once more, this time with the intent of finishing it. Snipperclips is undeniably a unique, fun little puzzle game, however its charms do begin to wear thin the longer you play it.
The basic premise of Snipperclips is you and a friend (or friends) control a rectangular box with a cartoonish face and work together to cut sections out of one another to accomplish tasks. The result is a mix of a puzzle and creative game wrapped into one package. The game is compromised of a series of many mini challenges which will have you do things like you and the other player cutting each other into specific shapes, turning yourself into a platform or scoop to transport an object from point A to B, or turning a gear by making yourself into a shape that can turn it. There are certainly a pretty impressive variety of challenges in Snipperclips, with new ones popping up the further into the game you get.
Unfortunately, I feel like the nuances between challenges starts to grow a little stale by the time you reach the second or third world. Not only that, but the margin for error in some challenges becomes so small that the game just becomes tedious and annoying. On top of that, many challenges and levels in Snipperclips boil down to haphazardly throwing something against a wall and seeing what sticks; it's often way easier to randomly cut your partner and see if they're able to turn a gear or guide an object rather than think it through methodically, which only seems to work a fraction of the time anyways when playing the game like this. The end result was a game I began to feel fairly bored from the longer I played, despite really enjoying it when I started.
Beyond the good and bad that define Snipperclips' gameplay, this game has an indefinable charm and cuteness to it. When you and the other player(s) are snipping each other's characters, the characters will snicker and make funny noises as you're doing this. On top of that, you can be an asshole and cut the other characters up to the point where they auto regenerate. It's a fun little distraction and something my wife and I frequently found each other doing, particularly at the end of a challenge. There is also a cute, almost Yoshi-like OST that plays during this game that fits well with Snipperclips' overall aesthetic. Speaking of the game's overall aesthetic, the graphics in Snipperclips are intentionally simple, while also being colorful and charming at the same time. This does unfortunately lend itself to the game feeling a bit dull and repetitive the longer you play it, but at least from an artistic standpoint, it all mostly works.
Even though I didn't necessarily get the mileage out of Snipperclips I maybe hopes to get, especially after purchasing the game twice, I still enjoy playing this game with my wife. We definitely laughed a decent amount and also had to put our heads together to figure out many of the game's more difficult challenges. While this game isn't going to blow anyone's socks off or be a game you'll remember as an all time great on the Switch, it's still a pretty fun co-op game that you and a friend will almost undoubtedly enjoy playing together. (5/25/26) [32/50]
