The Otterman Empire Review

"The Otter Battles"

Campaign

July 4, 2020 at 3:34pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a casual party game where you pick from a large roster of characters and then go battle it out. It’s a great option for the younger audience out there, with two primary modes for playing. The first is a campaign sort of option. This area is split into eight areas, with each containing three missions. Those three missions all take place on the same level, but there are variations since the density of enemies increases.

Each mission has a goal, and how well you do towards those objectives determines your score. I’m not a fan of games that lock progression based on star earning, but here I don’t think it’s too hard to obtain the various stages. Now with those missions, I did find it a tad confusing to find out exactly what I was supposed to do to get a better score. I was given a clear idea of what the objective was, it just didn’t give much of an indicator if I was doing things right. I feel that might make it harder for the target audience to understand what exactly they’re doing.

I did like that this mode supported cooperative splitscreen though, that’s good. The other part of this game is based around local splitscreen multiplayer that’s competitive in nature. It’s disappointing that this is limited to local play only, since the potential for it was very much there. Online play would have been really nice to have, as I would have thoroughly enjoyed that. It’s good for those wanting that local experience, at the same time the style of the game was ripe for some fun casual online competitive action. I personally think a free to play multiplayer spin-off might be a very good idea for this one.

Gameplay

This is mostly a shooter, but a light one at that. I say that in the aspect that it’s more fun, with seemingly water based attacks. There are level pick-ups such as what I consider food to fill health, and streams to slip into in order to recharge. You’ll then be able to gracefully soar around using neat mechanics of a boost or a quick side twirl. It handled fairly well, and had some good conflict based blasting. There are a range of enemies to deal with, some more passive in nature than others.

They were somewhat simplistic, and repetitive however. The objectives are varied, there are a good quantity of them present too. They also feel spread out when it comes to the story missions as well. I liked the visual style, I thought they nailed the aesthetics. The characters look great, and there are a large selection of them. They each have unique attack options and specials to use while playing.

You can also customize them in many ways, and that was very impressive. I think they did an excellent job with that aspect of play. In general, this is visually a fine time being vibrant in its color use. The audio was generally fine too, I did notice some hiccups there though randomly at times. I do think this could have used a bit more polish, it does seem to have the occasional performance issue here or there. It really isn’t too detrimental, but something to mention I suppose.

The Conclusion

The Otterman Empire is a generally enjoyable experience that’s great for the younger audience, featuring a fine selection of mission content and some really fun competitive multiplayer. I would have liked a few more story based levels to work through, as it did come across as slightly repetitive.

They do mix it up, but not a whole lot since you’re working through the same area multiple times. It was an interesting setup lore wise, and it gets the job done. I think this shines in regards to the multiplayer aspect, it’s just a shame you can’t face off against others online.

I would have also liked some bot options here too. That would have been a nice filler for the multiplayer aspect locally. I think there’s a niche audience for this one. It is enjoyable, has its moments and fits in well for the younger ones out there.

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The Otterman Empire Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Sherimedia

Rating Overall: 6.5