Beginning with a poignant opening that sets the stage for the crisis at hand, Lil Gator Game promptly drops you into one of the most unique and disarming of games in recent memory. One in which the frivolity of youth is gazed at through more than nostalgia, but a hint of sadness for a time that can never come again. It’s a game that can speak to anyone whose childhood imagination gave birth to adventures of legend, in which you’re back garden and a toy sword became the endless plains of another world. Lil Gator Game, you see, is a game about the unfettered imagination of youth, about childhood and the freedom it entailed. It’s also about the realisation that, at some point, we all have to do some growing up.
Lil Gator Game starts off with an opening showing Lil Gator and his sister engaged in their last day of play before she goes off to college. It’s a moment meant to display the close bond between the two siblings and their understanding of gaming systems that they incorporate into their playtime. Then we’ve whisked away a couple of years down the line when Big Sis is back from college. During an outing to a park, Lil Gator only wants his sister to play with him as she did before before she heads back to college and grown-up things. “Grown-up things”, as Lil Gator says, have no place in playtime.
Unfortunately, the cusp of adulthood has grabbed Big Sis and she spends all her time trying to complete important assignments, leaving Lil Gator and his friends to their own devices. Devising the most brilliant plan to show Big Sis just what she’s missing, Lil Gator ropes his friends into creating the ultimate live-action roleplaying experience across the park, of which he is the hero. Big Sis will be so impressed, she’ll have no choice but to join in! Alas, Lil Gator has his work cut out for him.
Set across two islands, Lil Gator throws you into the ultimate childhood roleplaying experience. Your friends are your quest-givers, the NPC’s that point you in which direction to go. The island park and all of its mountains and hills, your world to explore and overcome while enemies hide across the landscape in the form of cardboard cut-outs, some held aloft by balloons while makeshift treasure chests are hidden away in hard-to-reach locations. It’s an environment rife with exploration opportunities.
Lil Gator’s game doesn’t just rope in his friends, but their friends as well, along with various other kids who’ve heard about the game and decided they’d like to bring their own mark to the table. So Lil Gator ends up being about more than just impressing an older sibling, but also about the joy of making new friends and what can be accomplished through a singular goal.
The game questing is the highlight of the Lil Gator experience. The game features some truly stellar writing and quirky characters that steal the show, prompting a variety of different interactions that prompt both laugh-out-loud moments and quieter, more contemplative ones. Whether you’re solving the problems between two “ninjas” or engaging one of the cool kids in a hilarious courtroom case, Lil Gator’s writing and characters kept me entertained throughout the experience. So much so that scouring every inch of the islands for them became an important goal.
Mechanically, Lil Gator takes its gameplay elements from Breath of The Wild. You can climb structures with a stamina meter that depletes all too quickly, slide around on your shield and glide from high structures. There’s a basic combat system at play, though you don’t have anything that fights back, but those cardboard monsters aren’t going to smash themselves! The mechanics though are filtered through a child’s lens of course. The stamina meter is super forgiving and the environment is designed to get you around with ease even if you don’t choose to upgrade the meter by finding more stamina bracelets. Your shield is a pot lid now repurposed for your glory and your glider are some kids T-Shirt.
Torn-up paper and cardboard comprise the game’s currency and creation system. You can buy items with the paper, or craft new items from them, some of which have noticeable effects on your movement and attack animations. My favourite is the ninja headband that, as its description states, lets you run like a weirdo, just like a specific Ninja-themed anime. Watching the kids customise the playground around them, from see-saws to castles, is a delight as well and the best use of your resources.
Lil Gators dilemmas are ones that we all can understand, and that speak to each of us about a time in our lives that, in hindsight, we were all too quick to grow out of. And for many, it’s about a time of simpler, maybe even better days. It’s this hook that stays with you throughout the game’s relatively short run time, even when its mechanics don’t evolve any further beyond those first hours. It doesn’t hurt either that Lil Gator manages to tell a complete, charming and utterly compelling story, replete with surprising character growth for our little hero that most full-featured big-budget games fumble the ball with. It’s a charming, addictive journey back to childhood that I can easily recommend to everyone.
Grab your copy here https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Lil-Gator-Game-2305152.html
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