Game Soup (PC) Review

Upon beginning a 'run,' a word will briefly flash in the centre of the screen, and then you'll be given a handful of seconds to do what you are supposed to. Some examples? 'Rescue' requires guiding a slightly familiar plumber to jump towards the princess in distress, 'Shoot' has you shooting at a bunch of space invaders, while in 'Catch' one must throw a coloured ball at a Pokem... err, a cute animal to catch it.

Yes, similar to WarioWare Inc., the title that probably inspired Game Soup, this is a collection of mini-games that are simple in execution, but also require quick fingers and wits. Also, and again similar to that old Nintendo classic, the theme of each mini-game is essentially a "parody" of a specific videogame, or a videogame genre, with some examples of franchises the were used being Mario, Sonic, Zelda, Doom, Tetris, and many more.

Those who have experienced a WarioWare title before, are probably salivating at this right now, but, sadly, they probably shouldn't. Is Game Soup bad? Certainly not. It's just that it's something released in 2019, and is actually inferior to its much older spiritual predecessor. To begin with, there aren't many mini-games on offer. Anyone who would try to create a WarioWare should definitely avoid having less than 100 mini-games, and Game Soup is way below that limit, with only 46...

The next issue is the lack of content. WarioWare Inc. had a simplistic campaign mode, but at least it had a campaign mode, whereas this has a typical run of 25 mini-games (which get faster as you get closer to the final one), with a boss battle at the end, and two additional modes: one being the marathon mode, the second being one where the speed is turned to 11 from the very beginning. Even the audio-visuals feel kind of poor, with just one "theme" used (delicious-looking soups, by the way), and with an overall design that's good, just not good enough.

The main flaw at hand, however, is probably the lack of, "finesse," if you will, in regards to how some mini-games control or "communicate" their rules. This, of course, isn't a control-intense, or complex kind of title, so that won't create any major problems, yet losing a life just because 'Pseudo-Link' failed to pick up an item, or because the player couldn't even understand what went wrong, or which button should be pressed and when, sort of shows that this should spend a few more months in the oven - or the stove, this being a soup and all (heh, funny).