Every once in a while, the lines of interactive entertainment and traditional art intersect in a very rare breed of video game. Giving us games like Okami, Limbo, Tearaway, Persona 5 and many more. Child of Light is one of them, a handcrafted magical journey, and like most games today, it gets the re-release to Nintendo’s new handheld, the Switch, in an Ultimate Edition. Like most of the games that make it to the Switch, it feels like a homecoming.

Child of Light Ultimate Edition for Nintendo Switch

What’s it about?

Princess Aurora, on the eve of Easter, falls into a deep coma, waking up in a magical dreamworld of Lemuria. With a firefly, Igniculus, as her companion, she has to find a way back to the real world, where her kingdom is in peril, with her father the Duke bedridden with grief, while the Black Queen has stolen the sun, moon, and stars from the sky.

Child of Light feels like an Enid Blyton novel come to life, except with a lot more magic. Told from the perspective of a simple side scroller, the story is entertaining, with a great pace, making you want to explore more and more of this dream world as Aurora flies around, meeting new people, finding new companions and defeating all manner of dark creatures to make her way back.

Screencap from Child Of Light  

How does it play?

While it’s a side scroller much like the Mario games, it’s also a role-playing game, with some deep turn-based combat systems like the ones seen in the Final Fantasy games. Once you get your sword and jump into battle, selecting magic or attacks with perfect timing will give you an edge over the monsters. You can cheat a little, thanks to Igniculus, by using the touchscreen to have him blind enemies or glow to heal yourself or your companions — who join and fight alongside you, as you progress through the story.

Traversal is the other half of the game and Child of Light adds the element of flight early on in the game, opening the world and its watercolour skies for you to explore to your heart’s content. There too, Igniculus plays an important role — from lighting your way in dark areas to blinding pursuing enemies enough for you to get away. The combat system is such that you will feel yourself wanting to jump into scraps with enemies and mini-bosses to get your fix. Agreed, this combination of gameplay elements is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a beautiful game to dive into.

Child of Light sports a beautiful handcrafted aesthetic, with beautiful, windswept touches. For example, Aurora’s hair moves like it would underwater as she runs across backdrops that are positively alive as well as eerie, and in the distance you can see giants roam the lands. Every frame looks like it belongs on the wall of a photo gallery, except in motion it’s bewitching.

Should you get it?

Child of Light is a ray of sunshine in this dark gloomy world of hyper-violent games that quest to push the boundaries of realism. On the Switch it feels great on the go, but it’s perfect on any console.

Dance Dance Revolution it is not, but Just Dance 2019 is entertaining enough to be brought back every year. As Ubisoft makes the game more and more universally accessible by everyone; plus every year it comes with its own set of hits that you want to shake your derrière to. Question is, should you really get it and is it worth that year-on-year upgrade when you have Just Dance Unlimited streaming service? Let’s find out.

Just Dance 2019

What’s it about?

Plain and simple, Just Dance is all about converting that living room into a dance floor and getting you to sweat on some tracks. This year’s edition features 40 hits, ranging from the catchy ‘Finesse’ by Bruno Mars and Cardi B to that earworm ‘Havana’ by Camila Cabello; as well as songs by Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Dua Lipa and many more. If you prefer something more classic, you can pay a bit more for the Just Dance Unlimited service, which lets you dance to several new and old tracks.

How does it play?

Just Dance’s art style is quite unique. Rather than going for 3D models that are motion-captured, it instead has semi-realistic dancing silhouettes that wear all sorts of colourful neon dresses that really bring the tone of the song to life. All you have to do is mimic their movements either using Playstation 4’s camera or Xbox One’s Kinect. If you don’t have those, you can use your smartphone to pair up with the motion on screen, just be careful not to break it. The Nintendo Switch gets the best deal here, with its motion-sensing controls and the docked mode.

Screencap from Just Dance 2019  

The best accuracy is usually the more expensive of the sensors, but Just Dance is all about having fun, rather than getting technical. It is a game that little boys and girls love to dance to, and Ubisoft had recognised that, and added a new kids mode. This sort of transforms the whole game, with characters wearing cute animal costumes that aim more at storytelling without the negative effects of scoring systems, aimed at letting kids have fun. However, there was a hitch there, as parents complained about the game nagging kids with micro transactions, upselling them to go for the Unlimited, which is being fixed rapidly by Ubisoft. Ideally though, they should have fixed it at the development stage and not after they got called out.

Should you get it?

That said, Just Dance is thoroughly entertaining and the 2019 edition is great for the kids mode. With an Unlimited membership increasing the lifespan of the game, Ubisoft really needs to think of more killer features to make the year-on-year investment into Just Dance game instalments worthwhile.

The writer is a tech and gaming enthusiast who hopes to one day finish his sci-fi novel