Orebody: Binder’s Tale from Nami Tentou and Orebody Inc. is a sci-fi retro-styled 2D run and gun on Switch. Check our Orebody: Binder’s Tale review!
Orebody: Binder’s Tale from Nami Tentou and Orebody Inc. is a sci-fi retro-styled 2D run and gun on Switch. You’ll be exploring the titular planet, known as Orebody due to its rich underground resources, as Binder, a blue robot that was found by Fargle. Fargle is an old tinkerer who is seen as a wandering kook by most. After working hard on fixing up Binder into a proper condition, the two set off on a journey. Unfortunately, the robotic Flood invaded from the skies, killing Fargle in the process. It’s now up to Binder to defeat the Fold and put a stop to their evil plans before it’s too late.
Orebody: Binder’s Tale can be played in two different difficulty settings: Novice and Advanced. Novice will start you off with 8 lives in total, making it a good option for those of you who don’t have as much experience with 2D run and gun action games. Advanced will only give you 3 lives in total, so you’ll need to pay attention to your actions because every mistake will directly impact your odds of succeeding on your adventure. You can also play a Boss Rush Mode to take on all bosses in the game in a row. The last option is the Music Box, where you can check the music for Orebody.
Binder can only take one hit before being destroyed, which is why every extra life counts! The good news is that you can obtain one extra life for your total for every 30 enemies that you defeat. Be sure to keep an eye out for the item canisters at each stage. Shoot them so that you can collect the weapon upgrades they carry so that you can take on the evil Flood! You start with a Standard Blaster attack but can obtain other weapons such as the Boomerang Edge, which will come back after being thrown, or the Laser, which unleashes a quick but deadly attack.
You’ll control Binder with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, jumping with the A, Y, ZL, or ZR buttons and attacking with the B, X, L, or R buttons. You can obtain additional abilities by defeating bosses. There’s a ground dash that will make Binder move over a short distance, the always useful double jump, an air dash for your platforming entertainment, and even a hacking ability so that you can gain access to some of the terminals you’ll run into.
As a bonus, you’ll also get to play puzzle game Orebody: Sand Ripples at no extra cost. For this one, you’ll have to help the sand squid fill up all of the mining holes to protect the Sand Sea Solorus from the greedy and evil SolarSeed, who are up to no good. The gameplay for this one is simple and to the point since you’ll control the sand squid with the left analog stick or the D-Pas as you push all blocks on the screen into the holes so that you can then get to the exit.
On the upper right corner of the screen, you’ll be able to see how many boxes you need to push into the mining holes so that you can then climb into the exit that will take you to the next stage. Some levels will have a key that you need to collect to be able to open up a lock that will keep you from completing the level. Other stages will also ask you to collect a series of crystals in the area before you can finally activate the exit.
This Sokoban-style bite-sized experience has 22 levels to offer. That means that, based on your experience with games in the genre, you could end up completing this bonus game in around an hour or so. If you make a mistake while pushing a block, you can always press the B or X buttons to go back one step. If you think you’ve made one too many mistakes and there’s no way to fix things, you can always select to restart the level. You can also press the L and R buttons at the same time to open a special menu from which you can save your progress so that you can carry on at another time.
Since the game got a physical release on a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) cartridge from Premium Edition, we’re also getting a digital game manual that pays homage to the golden era of gaming. Along with some story information, instructions on how to play the game and how to control main character Binder, as well as a look at the many enemies and bosses you’ll have to defeat, there’s also some extra information on the areas you’ll visit, a memo section, one page of concept art for Binder, as well as the game’s credits for its physical release. There’s also a section with digital art to check out.
Orebody: Binder’s Tale is an old-school type of run and gun action platform on Nintendo Switch. While the game doesn’t feel NES hard most of the time, there are some trickier segments that might give you 1980s flashbacks. There’s also some old-fashioned NES-style slowdown during some of the more hectic moments. Orebody: Binder’s Tale is out on Nintendo Switch at a $9.99 price.
Disclaimer
This Orebody: Binder’s Tale review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Nami Tentou.
