Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido Review (Switch)
Thanks to the devastating Sushi Struggles, sushi has been banned from public consumption. Musashi, who lost her parents to the war, joins the Sushi Liberation Force to bring the wonderful taste of sushi to all, but it means battling on the front lines.
Sushi Striker is light on narrative but heavy on character interaction, and it excels at being a fun game with humourous dialogue to propel you along. You travel to various regions to take down its leader and their goons, and in doing so you’ll win them over and partner up with more Sushi Sprites – these are magical creatures who give you buffs in battle.
You can pick between a male and female character, who are both named Musashi, and although their story is the same, their personalities are clearly different and they don’t feel like carbon copies of each other. They’re each voiced too which helps to further separate them from one another. Sushi Striker is a colourful game with equally as colourful characters to match, but what else would you expect from a game with such a silly premise? Thankfully, it doesn’t hold back and proves to be great, charming fun.
Similar to puzzle games such as Bejeweled and Disney Emoji Blitz, Sushi Striker sees you connecting plates of the same colour together on a constantly moving conveyor belt but instead of ranking up a high score, you’re building large stacks of plate to throw a your enemy to chip away at their stamina – their health – bar. You can have five stacks at a time to throw but you’ll be constantly creating more and once you have too many, your last stack will automatically be thrown. This helps to maintain the game’s fast pace.
You don’t only have normal plates to attack with though as you’ll have a trusty team of three Sushi Sprites, each with their own unique ability such as adding electricity to dishes or turning dishes into healing items, at hand. Whilst it might be tempting to use these as soon as they’re available, they’re best used in conjunction with other Sushi Sprites. The greater their level, the more stamina and strength Musashi will have.
Using one that allows you to stack many plates together quickly can be followed up with one that adds a damage buff to your dishes to inflict more damage than they would alone. Missions can get pretty hard, and being familiar with a variety of your Sushi Sprites is a great help. There’s online and local multiplayer alongside dozens and dozens of single player missions – some of which are hidden – to keep you busy!
As expected of a game called Sushi Striker, there’s lots of yummy-looking sushi to feast your eyes on but there’s also an abundance of bright colours and humourous reactions and characters, and it’s hard not to feel happy and become absorbed in the game when you’re playing. It’s addicting as it is, but the game packs in so much flavour that it’s fitting of sharing it’s name with one of the world’s best foods.
The soundtrack fits the theme of the game and is upbeat and catchy, but what I really enjoy is the sound effects and voices in battle. They’re full of personality and an utter joy to listen to, and they never grated on me despite my extensive time with the game.
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido hasn’t released to amazing sales in Japan and it’s a shame because it’s such an entertaining game. It might seem like a hard swallow at full price and at first glance, but there’s an incredible amount of depth and content that you won’t regret the buy. I’ll be returning to Sushi Striker again because I love its creative wonder, and I think you will too. Try the demo out, at the very least.
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