As a rule of thumb, it’s a good thing when developers and publishers bring older games onto modern hardware. We’re used to the bigger budget games being remade and remastered endlessly at this point, but it’s even better when it’s the more obscure games that are saved from disappearing and giving players a chance to discover them for the first time. On the other hand, there are games like IronFall Invasion, which offer so little that nothing would have been lost if it had disappeared and therefore the effort to bring it to modern hardware comes across as pure cynicism. I can’t see anyone enjoying this any better the second time around.
For those who aren’t deep into the most obscure end of the 3DS console, IronFall Invasion was an eShop download that Nintendo itself supported into release, presumably because the visual engine is reasonably detailed and complex. Back when it was on the 3DS if you squinted you could pretend that you were playing a portable Gears of War, which is what IronFall Invasion is totally indebted to.
But here’s the thing – this was always a game that was a better tech demo than an actual game. The developer behind it, VD-dev, specialised in doing some technical wizardry to push consoles beyond what they should have been capable of. The team really made a name for itself with the GBA by producing full 3D games on a console that was otherwise almost totally dominated by 2D, SNES-style experiences. IronFall was much the same. It looked like it shouldn’t have been possible on the 3DS, and for that reason, it caught attention before people had a chance to see how shallow it was in action.
On the Switch, however, IronFall Invasion isn’t particularly exciting or inspiring. This is a console that has had The Witcher 3 squeezed into it. A cheap knock-off of Gears of War isn’t going to do anything for anyone, and that’s a big problem when that’s the game’s one and only ace up the sleeve.
So what is IronFall Invasion? It’s a game about aliens invading Earth and the heroes that stand against them. Seriously, that’s it. In execution it’s a cover-based shooter that’s let down by worthless enemy AI and utterly uninspired level design. It’s also a game where VD-Dev just tried to throw every best practice “cool” thing they could from the other games that were floating around at the time. Consequently, there’s little real effort in creating environments that move from one to another seamlessly – your hero will leave a warehouse environment, walk down a corridor and emerge in a literal forest, for just one example – and while these levels offer the requisite places to take cover to combat the enemies, they’re so sterile in execution that they’re painful to play through and experience.
Then, to borrow from my review of the 3DS original: “With no hint of irony IronFall Invasion spins a generic “patriots repelling the invading aliens,” narrative that has been done a million times before and relies on a nationalistic hatred of the other to connect with the player. There are narratives that have reworked this concept in clever ways and even deconstructed and criticised the attitudes lying behind them. Games like Spec Ops: The Line, to use the classic example, or even Mass Effect if you want to look at the theme at a galactic scale. But IronFall clearly had no interest in being intelligent. This too would be fine if the game was entertaining to play, but sadly this is where the hardware limitations come in to slam the final nail into the coffin.”
Fortunately, this time around you don’t need to rely on a tiny little nub to act as the second control stick, as you did with the 3DS. The Switch obviously has two control sticks, so IronFall plays like a stock-standard entry in its genre. Aiming is a little unrefined, though, and the gunplay isn’t particularly satisfying. If the AI were smarter this would be a problem, but being saved by poor AI is hardly a compliment to drop into an accolades trailer.
There is a multiplayer mode too, but I haven’t managed to be online at the same time as a single other player yet, which tells you everything you need to know about how well the online community is going to go with this one. If you’ve got some friends you can con into buying this then you can get some totally generic shooter matches going, but frankly, you’d be better off loading up Perfect Dark or GoldenEye on the N64 Nintendo Online app. The one new addition over the 3DS original is a Survival Mode (at least, I don’t remember there being a Survival Mode on the 3DS), but if the idea of gunning down endless hordes of enemies in this game seems like fun to you then I’d suggest you’ve got too much time on your hands.
I don’t like being particularly cruel in reviews, but IronFall Invasion never needed to leave the 3DS. It was bad enough there thanks to its totally worthless storytelling and generic, bland gameplay. With the Switch it doesn’t even have the distinction of being one of the more technically impressive tech demos on the console. It truly has nothing going for it.
