Yuso Review

Yuso is an indie puzzle game created by Vertical Reach, where you must help the planets in the Solar System defeat the Yuso, to clear each area. Work your way through the Solar System, from Mercury to Neptune, to cleanse the planets atmospheres from the Yuso. These cute colourful blobs may look harmless but with each level comes a more difficult challenge, so don’t let their cuteness fool you.

Yuso has over 80 levels each containing new formations and mechanisms that will constantly challenge the player. To clear a level, the player must pop the Yuso. To do this, the Yuso must have at least one other Yuso of its colour to its vertical or horizontal plane. When popped, the Yuso will change all other normal Yuso, remaining in its perimeter, to its original colour. For example, if you pop red Yuso, all the Yuso left around it will turn red.

Yuso that are sleeping are represented by squares and must be awoken before they can be popped. To wake up a Yuso, you must pop a Yuso next to it. Sleeping Yuso will not change colour. Night caps and Bombs are two mechanisms that will affect the area around you after a certain amount of turns. Night caps will make all surrounding Yuso sleepy, whilst Bombs will either blow up or change the colour of the surrounding Yuso. For example, a blue bomb would blow up all surrounding blue Yuso, but change red, yellow and green Yuso, to blue. Players must use these abilities strategically to clear the area.

The main navigation system for the game is great. Players can easily switch between levels and planets using the main menu and inside the levels, the player can use the restart or back space buttons to reverse moves they made. The controls for the game are simple and players can choose to take advantage of the Nintendo Switch’s portability and touch screen to take the game on the go and tapping on the Yuso to pop them, or players can still dock the switch and play with a controller. When docked, the Yuso you are on will be circled by a large dotted circle so you can clearly see which one you are selecting.

Players can complete the levels of each planet in whatever order they want, so if you get stuck on a level you can just skip to the next one. Each planet requires you to complete a certain amount of levels to unlock the next, but other than this you can pick and choose which levels to complete. This creates a great sense of freedom within the game and takes away from the stress of being stuck on one specific level. However, one thing I wish the game did have, was a hint option that could be turned on for younger players, as some levels can be really challenging even for adult. Besides this, the game itself has a lot of replayability and can be enjoyed by people of all experiences and ages, even those who don’t often game.

The style of the game reflects the Pop Art era, where primary colours and simple patterns like checkers and dots are used throughout the graphics. The Yuso are red, blue, yellow and green dots that all represent an emotion; angry, happiness, bashful and sadness, respectively. Each planet is represented as a guardian, designed to show the planets’ personality in its known colours and traits. For example, Saturn’s overall colour is yellow and has a halo above its head to represent the planets ring. These design traits attract a younger audience whilst also creating a cute and fun appeal for others.

The music within the game is very light-hearted and easy to listen to, keeping the players focused on the levels. The soundtracks are reminiscent of elevator music, mixing beats from drums, keyboard, guitar and strings whilst also mixing electronic beats into it, that are continuously blended together to create a loop. Each planet has its own melody. When popping Yuso, the closer you are to finishing the area, higher pitch the popping noise is, building the suspense to completing the level.

Overall, Yuso is a great game if you are looking for something that is light-hearted and simple to play. It’s perfect for travelling and will keep you entertained and challenged. The concept of the game is simple and can be experienced by gamers of all ages, as well as people who don’t often game. The bright colours and funky music will charm users and the cute personalities of each planet will keep the player amused. The game could have additional options to help younger players more as some levels can be quite difficult but otherwise the game will entertain and challenge gamers of all ages.

REVIEW CODE: A Switch code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.