Easy as 1….2….3?
Nuclien is the first game that I’ve played on the Nintendo Switch that I’ve only been able to play in handheld mode. It’s a game that is played via the Nintendo Switch’s touch screen feature. It requires good hand-eye co-ordination which at the best of times, I sometimes lack! It’s also a game where you’re going to need to know numbers. However, with all that, I really enjoyed my time with Nuclien, even if my reaction times are slower than required!
There is a very little story in Nuclien. Basically, you are a piece of DNA known as the DNA Architect. You are given the task of collecting all of the different DNA and sequencing them all together. You basically have to form the origin of absolutely everything, so no pressure alright!
Right from the outset and in the first world you are getting to task with Nuclien’s gameplay mechanics. As the numbers appear on the screen, you need to press the number before the time runs out. Pretty simple right? Yes, in the first few levels yes. Then the time you have to press quickly evaporates and you have to react quicker to each number coming on the screen. You are warned if the levels are hard or even harder before you get started, as it’s a warning well worth giving! In World One’s very later levels, you have to be super quick. I couldn’t do it time and time again, and it took me a good 30 or so attempts, trying different ways too such as using two hands. Basically, there isn’t a favored approach really, you just have to fast which trust me, is much harder than it sounds!
The whole premise sounds simple, just basically tap a number and that’s it. Nuclien doesn’t let you get off that lightly, as you’ll find out in the later worlds. There will be other tasks that are given to you. For example. you’ll sometimes have to press the numbers from high to low, or low to high. You’ll have to do them in order and sometimes there will be multiple numbers on the screen. To give an example, you’ll have to press all of the 9’s on the screen before you can get to the 8’s and so on. It still sounds pretty simple but when you are on a timer, the pressure definitely gets to you.
The numbers can also get represented in different shapes too, as you’ll be waiting for certain numbers to come up. Thankfully on the most part however, the game does stick to a trusting sequence, so the difficulty spike doesn’t get too high resulting in very frustrating rage-quits. Don’t get me wrong, this game can become very frustrating as it is, but thankfully, Springloaded didn’t take it to the next extreme. To help you on your way, there is an in-game shop where you can get Time Bonuses or Knowledge Bonuses. These are brought with in-game currency with can be earned by completing levels and can massively help you in the harder levels.
I do wish that there was an online aspect in Nuclien. I’d have loved for there to be online leaderboards for you to see how well you are really doing, but I’m hoping that could come in a future update. This definitely would make things way more competitive, as you and your friends compete against each other to find out who has the quickest reaction times etc. It definitely would add more to the games’ longevity.
A Nintendo Switch Review Code was provided by Springloaded Games.
