Go Vacation Switch | Review

Go Vacation is a cross between a party game and an adventure game. You and up to three friends traverse four differently themed resorts looking for clothing, photo opportunities, and the minigames. The entire game is compatible with up to four players, including the option to use a Joy-Con on its side.

The multiplayer is something I want to touch on immediately. The eShop page for the game says it has online for up to 4 players, but no online functionality exists in the game. There are rumors that an update will come later that adds online, however it isn't in the game currently, and I can't state factually if there ever will be. And yes, this is clearly false advertising.

Pros:

-Go Vacation isn't a standard party game. Most party games are simply minigame compilations, but Go Vacation allows four players to explore environments together. This is also how minigames are unlocked, as you need to find them in the level in order to play them. Once you find the minigame you are able to use a simple menu to select the game you want to play.

-The graphics are nice. As this is a port/remake of a Wii game, I was afraid the game would look overly dated. While the game isn't mind-blowingly gorgeous, it looks good. It also helps that the Wii version looked borderline HD as it was.

-The controls were altered. Nearly everything you can do in the game now allows (and defaults to) button controls. The Wii version relied heavily on the Wii Remote's motion capabilities, and the Switch version allows you to use the original control scheme, but it also allows a new much more reliable control scheme.

-The framerate is quite stable. I haven't tested it thoroughly, but the framerate appears to stay at a consistent 30 FPS in 2 player mode. This is really only noteworthy because the Wii version experiences some heavily framerate issues with more than one player.

Cons:

-Not everything was remade. As far as I can tell, dancing was removed in the Switch version of the game. There are also some other omissions, but most are very minor. I personally loved the dance minigame, so it's removal was quite disappointing.

-The music selection is incredibly repetitive. Most minigames use the same exact background song, and the resorts tend to either not have any music or rely on repeating the same few songs several times.

-Many of the minigames aren't fun. Some would argue that the dancing minigame wasn't fun, so my idea of fun isn't valid, but I found that most minigames simply aren't worth playing. They're often slow or otherwise awkward. There's also no extra modes for getting random minigames. You are given a list to choose a minigame from, and that's it.

-It's just Go Vacation. It's not like it was marketed as "Go Vacation 2" or anything, but the fact that seven years after the original was released, they chose to bump up the textures, add a couple of minor features, and sell the game again just rubs me the wrong way a little bit. Which leads to my final issue.

-The price. Go Vacation costs $50. At least Switch games tend to drop in price with age, because that is a criminal price for the game. I would jump in at $30, and absolutely at $25. It's also important to note that local multiplayer (using multiple Switch consoles, not splitscreen) requires each player to have the game. $100 for two players is not worth it.

CONTROLLER REVIEW:

Go Vacation is compatible with the Pro Controller and Joy-Con controllers. GameCube controllers work, but taking pictures is impossible and the stunts you can do are severely limited.

Overall Opinion:

Go Vacation was a fun game for the Wii. And at its core it's a fun game on the Switch. it is far too old to be worth that price, especially considering they cut some content. I also don't appreciate them lying about online multiplayer.

I would only recommend the Switch version to someone who really doesn't want to play the game at a lower resolution or doesn't have a Wii, as the Wii version is cheaper, and has more content that's worth playing.

Where you can buy Go Vacation:

Physical: https://amzn.to/2LP4NVb
Digital: https://amzn.to/2OqiZC7
Or follow my recommendation and go for the Wii version: https://amzn.to/2AnG3hU