Ministry of Broadcast Rapid Review
Fast Facts
Title: Ministry of Broadcast
Developer: Ministry of Broadcast Studios
Publisher: Hitcents
Website: https://ministryofbroadcast.com/
Genre: Adventure, Action, Platformer, Puzzle
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 16
Release Date: 30/04/2020
Price: £13.49 – Rapid Reviews was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.
Ministry of Broadcast is developed by Ministry of Broadcast Studios, and it is a game that is set in Orwell 1984 like setting. The Developers were inspired by classic platforming game the Prince of Persia for its style. You play as the star of a reality TV show, where your daily task is to go through arenas day by day to put on a good show and finish the season where you will get a prize. This game released on PC earlier this year and has recently been released on the switch that is the copy I will be reviewing.
The star of the reality tv show is Orange who wants to go to the other side of the wall with his family. The location and primary setting of Ministry of Broadcast are at what you can describe as a military camp that is on the edge of a giant wall. Chapters are split into days. Each comes with a new challenge, and story elements are intertwined before, during and after each. Orange’s day usually goes like this wake-up head to the next area, tackle puzzles and jumps while being filmed. At the end of the day, it usually ends with conversations with other characters in the game, and then he goes to sleep. It’s a simple formulaic way of progression; still, I wished the game mixed it up at times.
Orange has relationships with people, although it doesn’t really delve into anything more than a few lines, so I ended up not caring about choices made in the game. For example, there is an apparent political aspect in the game but is almost dropped immediately and then brought back at the end. It seems like the common theme of the story is to bring something up lightly, touch upon it and then either drop it or bring it back later on in the game.
The game plays like an old school platformer you initially walk and have to hold one of the triggers to run, and you can jump while running. To get to a higher level, you must run and jump in transition, or stop and jump above. In fact, one thing that I want to highlight are the controls; they kind of brought things down for me. I’m used to difficulty in platformers. People that know me, know I love Megaman and relish the challenge that the games bring. I understand that the Developers wanted to bring a style that harks back to the original Prince of Persia and Pitfall. However, I feel it’s not the right choice or implemented well.
I mentioned the Megaman games are notoriously hard, but the one thing that shines with them is the control of the character. They aren’t exactly like for like platform games; however, with Ministry of Broadcast, I wanted to throw my controller out of the window at times. At first, I thought “hey maybe it’s because I’m playing on the Joy-Cons and handheld mode”, but no it was the same docked while using the Switch Pro controller and my 8BitDo SN30 Pro+ gamepad.
It felt clunky and non-responsive, and there were times I was mashing the d-pad to make Orange jump onto a platform right behind him. This definitely is a mark against the game. The checkpointing in this game just adds to frustration at times. Sometimes it’s okay, short from area to area, other times it is ruthless in what feels like half a level. With that said, I did find the puzzles quite inventive but not too difficult.
Artstyle in the game, however, is fantastic pixel art that looks clean and sharp. The snow effect in the game stands out and doesn’t interfere with the visuals when it does appear. I could leave the game on the title screen and leave it as a beautiful background. With this being an atmospheric game at times the music is used correctly. It sets the tone of the situation.
I do want to note that while I do have some grievances with aspects of this game, it does look like the Developers are aware of the problems it has. They are planning to release a patch to relieve some of these issues. There will be a choice of difficulty for the story, and easy mode will be an option. It will help the player focus on the narrative by making the experience with platforming and puzzles less stringent. The patch will also have 12 additional languages options added, load times reduced, and chapter screens to notify change of chapter.
Minor bug fixes are also on the agenda (there weren’t many; however, there was one glaring one with water that needs to be addressed). Finally, there will be adjustments to the gameplay such as new and amended animations that are most definitely required. Sometimes it would look like the character is jumping in midair. This made jumps and timings very frustrating on certain levels of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed the art style and the story aspects of the game, but I feel like I’m missing something with it. I understand the message the game is conveying; however, I would have liked more meat in between. Hopefully, the patch fleshes it out and makes the game control more smoothly.
Rapid Reviews Rating
You can purchase Ministry of Broadcast from the Nintendo eShop on the following link, https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Ministry-of-Broadcast-1752657.html
