Mom Hid My Game! (Nintendo Switch) Review

By Coller Entragian 11.01.2018

Review for Mom Hid My Game! on Nintendo Switch

Been a little truant? Perhaps eating vegetables just does not seem appealing. Maybe been playing a few too many videogames? Sure, every gamer has been there at one point in their life and there is a good chance that mother-dearest felt the best punishment was to take the videogames away. It really stinks, like rotten meat, and maybe those bold enough might try to circumvent her efforts by trying to find out where she hid them. Most moms (or mums) might be so unimaginative and simply hide the games in their closet, but in Mom Hid My Game! for Nintendo Switch, some go above and beyond what most mortal kids can hope to contend with.

Mom Hid My Game! is an amusing high concept point-and-click puzzler. Each of the 50 puzzles can be completed in a couple of minutes and while most of the solutions have some simple logic to them, the best require some absurd leaps that make sense on context. The absurd scenarios that have the boy trying to get his game back are easily the main selling point given how simplistic every aspect is. From the intentionally crude, yet funny, art and the silly music/sound clips, Mom Hid My Game! has a strange Japanese pictorial instruction manual quality about it. The very dry approach to the humour is what makes it so addictive and makes the experience fly by so fast. Continuing becomes about wanting to see just how Mom will hide the game next, and she gets more diabolical and more surreal with every attempt.

Screenshot for Mom Hid My Game! on Nintendo Switch

Mom Hid My Game! was very deliberately made in its limited aesthetics, which only enhances the humour. Anyone who enjoys escape the room style puzzlers will enjoy this, but there also lies the issue of just how short it is. 50 puzzles may seem like a lot, but everything is finished in just over an hour. It feels like Mom is only scratching the surface when puzzle 49 comes around… and then it's over. This seems like there should have been at least 200 puzzles given the breakneck speed they get solved.

Controls could not be simpler and seem like they are best done with touch screens. This game has the complexity of a browser title, which is fine, but an option to use the gyroscope for pointer controls would have been welcomed. The hint system, which requires playing a mini-game of find the matching cards, also has its own amusing qualities about it, like how grandpa might end up chasing the boy in his… gimp… mask.

Anyone in the mood for a quick and amusing distraction will get quite a bit of enjoyment with Mom Hid My Game!. It is especially something great to play with children who are just discovering videogames. The lose states can be particularly funny since the illustrations have this very loose and crude doodle about them that makes them seem like the artist was slightly drunk and was rushing. This one is a bit of a hard sell for most puzzle game enthusiasts given how small the amount of content is, but in spite of that, Mom Hid My Game! proves to be a hilarious and cathartic, humble experience.

Screenshot for Mom Hid My Game! on Nintendo Switch

Cubed3 Rating

6/10

Good

There is not much to Mom Hid My Game! - the game promises everything it has to offer in its title. It ends far too quickly for it to be recommended to anyone other than small children. What it does offer, though, is some surreal puzzles and amusing sound design. The fun factor comes down to enjoying escape the room style puzzles with a silly coat of paint and not much else.