Little Triangle (Nintendo Switch) Review

Like the Donkey Kong Country series, hidden areas can be found abundantly throughout each level of Little Triangle and most are easy enough to find. Finding hidden locations is a third of the way to attaining the highest scored rank for the level, but it is also important to free hostages trapped in the hidden areas and also collect all the diamonds in a stage. Diamonds are used as an in-game currency in areas and are often littered around the world, like bananas or coins are in the DK or Mario series. Three-star ranking a level really doesn't bear any importance other than personal achievement, so the player can just breeze past this if the challenge isn't really needed.

The story does feel underwhelming and short, with only three worlds and approximately 10 stages in each, meaning it can all be finished in one sitting. Little Triangle's brevity is somewhat met with challenging platforming that can lead to frustrating difficulty spikes, and somewhat unfair obstacles that are seemingly in play to add to the longevity. The difficulty is somewhat remedied by abundant checkpoints and unlimited lives but there are times where it can feel like the game throws up a near impossible platforming section, which can be difficult to navigate with a Joy-Con, meaning that the Pro Controller is the preferred method to play.

Don't let the cartoony graphics fool you - this can be very tough, particularly when in 'Hardcore' mode. Levels are also littered with various 'triangle' corpses and bones, with a few resistance-styled graffiti messages written in the background, driving home more of a serious tone. In general, the graphics run at a silky smooth rate, with no real drop in frames or fidelity, but the soundtrack on a loop can sometimes get pretty repetitive, especially as there are only a handful of tracks in the game itself. The tracks that are there do at least establish the ambience pretty well, and at times it feels like the music has been inspired by movies such as Despicable Me or Minions. It is just a shame that there aren't more tracks throughout.

The other modes are a boss rush style challenge, and a few 'arcade' style levels that are randomly generated. However, multiplayer is a joy to play as up to four people can play locally - but can only be played locally and with no CPU. The multiplayer arenas operate in a closed environment where people use weapons to mow each other down. It is a wonder why none of these combat elements were used in the story mode but, nonetheless, the multiplayer is a good short-term distraction.