Super World War - Switch Review

Oh no! The president of the world is missing, the world has gone mad, and now the six kingdoms of the world and their comical leaders are vying for power! And you know what that means – it’s time for War. That is the simple premise of the aptly named Super World War from indie developer Zero Games Studios, a cartoonish, turn-based strategy game for the Switch. Let’s see how the battles play out…

The Good

As you can perhaps tell from the description and artwork, Super World War is by design a very silly game. The writing and characters lean into the irreverent and stupid with an occasional satirical edge. Fortunately it commits to the bit and generally succeeds in being funny. To give you an idea, the broad caricatures of the commanders you will control include King Capitulet – a cowardly, stupid, becrowned monarch – and Pope Man – a pope-themed superhero (or possibly a superhero-themed pope; it's not especially clear). It is a very lighthearted approach to war, accentuated by the tabletop background of the battles, and all the better for it.

The game underneath this exterior is a much more straight-laced affair. If you’ve ever played an Advance Wars or Wargroove, you’ll recognise the basic formula: move units around a grid-based map, capture towns, build more units and direct them into battles with opposition units, the outcomes of which you’ll see in a zoomed-in splitscreen view. This basic structure has proved in other games that it works well, and so it does here. Super World War also adds a few of its own nuances: for example, the grids are hexagonal, ambushes can be better planned and set up, and the zoomed-in battle animations are fittingly over the top, all spurting blood and exploding limbs.

You will also get plenty of comically sized bang for your buck with this game – for a ~$20 game there is a lengthy (40 mission) campaign mode, free mode and up to 4-player multiplayer with suitably designed maps, so if you find yourself enjoying it, you’ll be able to play for a long, long time.

TL;DR

• Solid, Advance Wars-esque gameplay
• Generally pretty funny
• A lot of content in the game

The Bad

While the blood spatter and character portraits have certainly had some attention lavished on them, the remainder of the art and graphics is a little rough around the edges. The tabletop vibe is charming, but it doesn’t help the relatively basic assets and animations. It’s nothing game-ruining, but it certainly could be nicer.

With all games of this style, there is an issue with keeping the pace up – lots of units to move, lots of turns to take, and so on. Not only does the feel of Super World War land on the slower end of the spectrum (even on fast mode), but it also starts to feel repetitive more quickly than other examples of the genre. All of this means that even on the smaller maps, the game starts to drag just a little the more you play. It’s certainly one for quick bursts of gameplay rather than hours-long sessions.

TL;DR

• A slow pace leads to a repetitive feel
• Not the prettiest or best-sounding game

Final Score: 7/10

Super World War is a good, but not great, turn-based strategy game. It ticks all the gameplay boxes and covers it all in an amusingly silly layer, but some rough edges and repetitive gameplay hold it back. Fans of this specific genre will have fun, but others may wish to find better examples.

Thank you for checking out our Super World War Switch review, thank you to Zero Games Studios for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
• Bel Cubitt
• Bobby Jack
• Jack Caven
• Nintendo Maniacs
• RedHero