Flip Wars (or Battle Sports Mekuru as it’s known in Japan) essentially borrows elements from Orthello (Reversi), Bomberman, and Splatoon to create a new concept of ‘battle sport’. On paper, it may seem like a very bizarre combination, but in practice it turns out to be a fairly neat new concept, for a fairly reasonable price.

Does Flip Wars have what it takes to win over that that Ā£9 pocket money, or is it not even worth flipping off? Find out in our review, after the break!

Flip Wars
NintendoĀ Switch
Developed by Over Fence
Published by Nintendo
Released: 6th July 2017 (EU) Q3 2017 (NA)
Review copy provided by Nintendo

As I mentioned earlier, Flip Wars is like a combination of the games Orthello, Bomberman, and Splatton. The main mechanic of the game is to essentially flip over tiles to your colour by hip dropping them. Hip dropping a tile will flip tiles in four directions around you, and it will even knock out your opponents if they are in your trajectory.

It’s a fairly simple concept to grasp, and it transfers very well in play. In fact, it’s quite fun to play too, especially with three other people. At first, it may seem like a very watered down party game, and to an extent that is true (more about that later), but there is a bit of strategy involved in the game. When you flip over tiles, an item may appear that will most definitely aid you. Some of them increase your flipping range, some will increase your moving speed, and there is also one for temporary invincibility. Additionally, while on your own coloured tiles, your movement speed will increase, but the exact opposite will happen on your rival’s tiles. This will make it easy to sneak up on an opponent by making a path of your own colour.

There are also a few gimmicks present in some of the stages. One type of stage is set on a lagoon of sorts. At set intervals, a wave will pass by, and staying on the ground when it comes will cause your player to become dizzy momentarily. Another type of stage has lightning strikes on random tiles at set intervals, which has an effect much like the tidal waves. Each of the three stages also have four variants. One is just the regular stage, another has a switch in the middle that flips and shocks the surrounding tiles, another has a rotating beam cannon in the middle that flips tiles on mass, and the final variant has more obstacles or is a smaller stage altogether.

If fighting for turf isn’t quite your thing, then you can also participate in two additional modes, Knock Out, and Life Battle. Knock Out has you trying to deal the most knock outs to your rival players, al while trying to be locked out the least. Life Battle is essentially a survival mode. You get a set number of lives, and once you’ve been knocked out that many times, you’re eliminated.

Other than playing on one console, you also have the option to play over the internet, where you are matched randomly in a match. This is good and all if you want to quickly enter a battle with other people, though it would be nice to get a few more options, such as playing with friends online.

Although the gameplay is pretty solid, my main issue with the game is it’s lack of content I know Flip Wars will only set you back by about nine quid, but it still feels very much incomplete or like one of those mobile games you may play just a handful of times. This is especially apparent when certain options are greyed out stating they are coming soon, such as Online Rankings, Achievements, and Local Area Play. Saying that however, the official listing on Nintendo’s website does say that, much like Splatoon and ARMS, Flip Wars will be receiving future updates with brand new content. If a few more stage types and one or two new gameplay modes are added, Flip Wars will definitely be the perfect cheap multiplayer game for the Nintendo Switch.

Overall, Flip Wars is a great and affordable multiplayer game for the Switch that has some very solid gameplay. It’s just unfortunate that the fact that it feels almost like an incomplete game, which is a bit too light on content, really lets it down. Hopefully, once Over Fence releases free updates for Flip Wars, the game should feel more enjoyable, and something I will go back to for parties.

For now, I wouldn’t say to rush out and download Flip Wars, I would personally wait to see what updates roll out for the game. However, if you are looking for a decent enough multiplayer game you keep you occupied for a good couple hours with some mates, then by all means we’d recommend Flip Wars.

Final Rating – 3 out of 5

Flip Wars is out now for the Nintendo Switch in Europe, and is scheduled to be released in North America later in the year.

Leon Fletcher

I am a huge Nintendo fan, hence why NintyBuzz exists. I especially love all things Zelda and Metroid. NintyBuzz was started by me back in the Summer of 2014, it started out mainly as a hobby, though the site has gradually grown, and I hope it grows for many years to come!