Among the Nintendo Switch launch titles is a surprisingly little gem from SFB Games called Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!. The premise seems simple from the outside. There are multiple game modes, all consisting of one to four people controlling characters made of paper who happen have the unique ability to cut portions out of one another. This mechanic is used to solve puzzles. Hopefully cooperatively, though it is possible to play alone. (You should under no circumstances play Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! alone.) What’s important is that this charming game is quite possibly the best way to show off a Nintendo Switch to friends and encourage them to play.
In Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!’s most important mode, you go through three worlds with another player and complete 45 puzzles. These fall across a variety of categories. Some will require you to chop pieces off of Clip and Snip to fill in shapes. A variation on this will have a piece of paper on the screen and require the characters to cut away at it to make it the right shape, which first requires you to again cut away at each other. Some puzzles involve getting an item from one place to another, either by directly interacting with it or indirectly moving and altering your characters to make things happen. There’s a nice variety here, with most of the puzzles encouraging you to think creatively about solutions. You won’t ever do two of the same sorts of puzzles in a row unless you purposely set out with that intention.
The common thread across all challenges is communication. You need to constantly speak to your partner in Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!. You need to talk about how you’re going to cut each other and get the right sizes and shapes. You have to work out exact timing for some puzzles, perhaps where you’re trying to get an egg to a nest. Buttons need to be pressed, gears turned, and all sorts of other actions that help you clear the multiple puzzles on each page. A certain amount, usually five, must be cleared in each block to unlock more, at which point you complete a star puzzle to unlock more standard puzzles.
The four player cooperative Party experience is unfortunately much shorter in Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! But, in a way, this is rather appropriate. This can be a more hectic experience, since you’re working in pairs together on many of these objectives, but also working as a group with the other two players on a greater goal. You need to be aware of what your duo is attempting to do, communicating ideas and concepts, while also keeping track of what the other two people are accomplishing.
Perhaps the biggest surprise, at least to me, is how entertaining the competitive multiplayer is in Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! Confusing? Sometimes. But altogether, quite pleasant. You can play a basketball game, though the teams aren’t very clearly defined aside from the Snip and Clip characters appearing on the scoreboard. There’s a hockey game, where you have a better idea of who is working together due to starting position. Finally, there’s the free-for-all blitz where all four characters each get three lives and need to be the last person standing. You try to race after other players and cut away at them until they disappear. A paper-restoring piece can even randomly appear. This last mode is essentially an outlet for all those times you wanted to cut into the other players in the cooperative puzzle levels for not doing what you were asking them to.
The thing about Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! is that the game perfectly offers this compact and engaging experience that makes good use of the Switch, its controllers, and its local multiplayer mission. The cooperative campaign is great, especially with someone you can work well with. The four player missions are equally entertaining. Even the competitive multiplayer minigames are fun. It’ll all around delightful.
Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! is available for the Nintendo Switch.
Published: Mar 9, 2017 12:00 pm