Panda Punch Nintendo Switch Review 6/10 "A Punching Panda Platforming Puzzler" 🐼 @whited43 @RatalaikaGames #GameDev #IndieGames

A cute platformer with simple puzzle elements, Panda Punch casts you in the role of a red panda named Zeep, who has injured his arm in an attack and then has his blacksmith father replace it with an extendable bionic fist – good.

Featuring over 50 levels of action, and a light upgrade system, Zeep must clench his metal fist, punch robots and move a serious amount of boxes in order to save the land.

The first thing that strikes you about the game is the large, pixelated visuals. It’s a great-looking game with chunky graphics that plays very smoothly. The audio is gentle and catchy as well, although it does seem somewhat stock in nature. For at least the first twenty minutes, the main theme breezes along as you batter your way through enemies, complete some pretty straightforward platforming action – and move many, many boxes over pressure switches.

From the above, you can get a decent idea of what to expect throughout Panda Punch, and whilst creating a basic, entry-level platformer can be great for first-time games for younger players or novices to the genre, it doesn’t present much of a challenge – or variety – to the rest of us.

For the first ten or so levels, my partner and I were having fun with Panda Punch, but as we moved into levels 11-20, it became clear that very little was going to change in terms of the incredibly slight incline in terms of difficulty – and by now, that looping theme was starting to grate as well.

The design of the levels combined with the entry-level accessibility of the game, and the simplicity of the setup meant that they didn’t get more challenging, just longer to complete - and when the challenge did come, it was from things like off-screen enemies, spiked difficulty in unfair enemy placement, and blind jumps/drops – by the time the game has introduced a new mechanic - such as the ability to carry boxes - it feels like a bit of a trudge.

Panda Punch is a fun and breezy game for the first half hour or so, but it just takes too long to change things up in all departments - visuals, audio and gameplay.