Graceful Explosion Machine

 Switch
Graceful Explosion Machine Image
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77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 85 Ratings

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  • Summary: Skillfully pilot the Graceful Explosion Machine, a fighter ship armed with a ludicrously overpowered quad-weapon array! Lost in deep space, you'll shoot, dash and combo your way through jewel-hued alien worlds, fighting crystalline enemies to find a way home. The GEM fighter is the mostSkillfully pilot the Graceful Explosion Machine, a fighter ship armed with a ludicrously overpowered quad-weapon array! Lost in deep space, you'll shoot, dash and combo your way through jewel-hued alien worlds, fighting crystalline enemies to find a way home. The GEM fighter is the most advanced single pilot fighter in the galaxy, offering precise controls, nimble movement, and devastating firepower. [Nintendo.com]… Expand
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Graceful Explosion Machine - Nintendo Switch Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. GamingTrend
    Apr 10, 2017
    90
    Graceful Explosion Machine is the perfect arcade style shooter, and one of the best Switch games available right now. Its fluid, addictive gameplay and flashy yet minimal visuals pair well with a variety of challenging enemies, and it’s great for sessions lasting for a few minutes or a couple hours.
  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Jun 23, 2017
    85
    For what Graceful Explosion Machine aspires to be – that is, a stylish high score-focused shoot-'em-up – it excels in spades. [Issue #28 – July/August 2017, p. 21]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Switch Player
    Apr 18, 2017
    82
    Graceful Explosion Machine is arguably the go-to arcade game that every Switch owner should definitely consider buying. It mixes pleasing visuals with great gameplay to make it one of the best arcade shooters I've played. You can beat the four worlds in around four hours, but you will find yourself playing these over and over again as you chase down those high scores!
  4. Post Arcade (National Post)
    Apr 6, 2017
    80
    Will the lack of punishing difficulty turn away the genre’s more hard-core fans? I doubt it. The prestige they crave can be had via leaderboards. By the end I was scoring a D on pretty much every set of levels, with low marks for style, time, hits taken, and lives used. These are the sorts of things genre devotees can master and brag about and hold over the heads of we lesser shmuppers...More serious players might, however, take some issue with the overall simplicity of design.
  5. IGN
    Apr 10, 2017
    80
    Graceful Explosion Machine builds an intense, addictive shoot-em-up around a satisfying weapon-juggling system and smart enemies. The Switch’s HD Rumble adds a unique feeling to every explosion in this colorful shooter, and earning a good spot on the leaderboard is an intense challenge thanks to dense swarms of enemies. But even when a pesky foe slapped down my scoring run, I always had the urge to jump back into these crowded corridors and try again.
  6. Meristation
    May 12, 2017
    75
    Wonderful Explosion Machine brings the Nintendo Switch back to the good old days of Defender. Colorful environments and tight gameplay make for a great debut for the Shoot em Up genre in a machine more than suitable for the classics. It just doesn't match the outstanding quality of certain shooters available today, but it´s a solid game after all.
  7. GamesRadar+
    Apr 6, 2017
    60
    Graceful Explosion Machine is the gaming equivalent of empty calories. It's pretty to look at, super smooth, and has some interesting weapons, but there's no real hook to keep you sustained beyond the act of moving around and blowing up aliens.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 27
  3. Negative: 3 out of 27
  1. RedrexXx
    Apr 11, 2017
    10
    Super cute and cool addictive game. Love the HD rumble feature and since I'm a perfectionist, I'm always trying to reach that A score! PerfectSuper cute and cool addictive game. Love the HD rumble feature and since I'm a perfectionist, I'm always trying to reach that A score! Perfect for a handle console. For the price I HIGHLY recommend it.… Expand
  2. Shadowsoal
    Apr 22, 2017
    10
    Game looks great, ignore the 1 score review.
    Disgruntle co worker, perhaps?
    Perhaps a jealous fellow pupil... When all ither reviews are 7    Game looks great, ignore the 1 score review.
    Disgruntle co worker, perhaps?
    Perhaps a jealous fellow pupil...
    When all ither reviews are 7 or more and there's one review with a 1 score and a novel saying just why they thinks... you know something's not quite right. Hopefully this will go some way to normalising the score.    … Expand
  4. chepecarlos
    Apr 16, 2017
    9
    It is great to be able to take it and play in short sessions, is perfect for Nintendo Switch, very addictive and is a good challenge, highlyIt is great to be able to take it and play in short sessions, is perfect for Nintendo Switch, very addictive and is a good challenge, highly recommended for travel… Expand
  5. dinkydarko
    Apr 21, 2017
    9
    This is a very well thought out game, with a surprising amount of depth.

    The point of this game is not to worry about the enemy AI, or why    This is a very well thought out game, with a surprising amount of depth.

    The point of this game is not to worry about the enemy AI, or why your blaster has a cool down, or why you can't dash through bullets.. The point is to dance around the enemy, smashing them with style, upping your combo bonus. Using the right weapon at the right time, dashing just when you need to, avoiding certain death.

    This is the same experience of games like Sonic, where you complete something that looks impossible, avoiding spikes or enemies, collecting all the rings and just making the jump. It's a type of euphoria. Constantly being on the edge of your seat, about to lose control, but pulling through against all the odds.    … Expand
  6. crashmstr
    Apr 26, 2017
    8
    Fun space shooter reminiscent of the arcade classic Defender. Additional weapon types and new enemy types as you progress add to theFun space shooter reminiscent of the arcade classic Defender. Additional weapon types and new enemy types as you progress add to the enjoyment. One of my favorites currently to fill time.… Expand
  7. SuitonSwitch
    Apr 15, 2018
    8
    Simple & casual arcade style, colorful and handles well & gets exponentially harder. I found it a bit repetitive playing for a long stretchSimple & casual arcade style, colorful and handles well & gets exponentially harder. I found it a bit repetitive playing for a long stretch but was fun to zone out to. worth picking up on sale. 6-10hrs to finish… Expand
  8. hypernewbie
    Apr 8, 2017
    1
    High school game designer finds a unity programmer and a very good artist.

    Game design is extremely poor. Too much unnecessary resource    High school game designer finds a unity programmer and a very good artist.

    Game design is extremely poor. Too much unnecessary resource management that doesn't really add much, mechanics are not that coherent, and I swear the entire game's AI uses the following one line of code:
    vec3 findNextMovementPos(vec3 player) {
    return rotate2D(normalize(this->pos - player) * randrange(10, 20)), randrange(-0.3, 0.3));
    }
    I serious cannot find a non-stationary enemy that doesn't use that movement. Stanford AI course. Behaviour trees. Learn it.

    AI blandness aside, the biggest problem here is very incoherent game mechanics, which is very bad game design. Examples:

    1. Why does blaster have a cooldown? What purpose does it possibly serve other than just slow down gameplay?

    2. Why does player have to actually go pick up energy crystals? Why does energy crystals disappear so fast? If the player has to go pick up energy crystals, then why design literally EVERY enemy in the game to not facilitate that in a interesting way? The only way to reliably go pick up crystals fast is energy shield and probably dash out. That is a one trick move, one and only option players can take, which is bland and boring.

    3. If dash and mobility is a core mechanic, then why do they not work on environment hazards or bullets? If you're going to make dashing not work on bullets, then there needs to be a good way to play around that limitation. Examples of adding mechanics so players can play around that limitation is telegraphing of shots (nope, not in the game), clear visual distinction of shots (nope, not in the game) and/or directly affecting the shots (only possible with energy shield). I would telegraph shooting enemies + make bullets more visible + make laser weapon also kill bullets.

    4. If left / right horizontal shooting is a main mechanic, then why does LITERALLY every single enemy in the game move in a zigzag line towards you? This creates no interesting interactions whatsoever. I would add enemies that do vertical things (shoot lazers but only up/ down), enemies that only do left/right stuff...etc to make interesting use of the left/right horizontal only shooting mechanic.

    5. If the game mechanics revolve around not getting hit even once, then why are missiles so freaking unreliable??? I fire missiles in general direction of stuff and hope 1 (one) (ONE) of the enemies doesn't seep through or I have to mash the energy shield button ASAP and hope things work out. Not very coherent mechanic.

    And many many more examples of completely incoherent mechanics.

    Art and music are amazing. Give whoever worked on that a thumbs up. Could go into detail about how I think art and music are amazing, but going to eave the negative details here instead in the hopes of being constructive. Please imagine I wrote 2000 more words about the good points of this game, ie. presentation art and music. Too bad as a player I'm playing the gameplay, im not playing the sound or visual assets.    … Expand

See all 27 User Reviews

Trailers

Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Best Switch Game of 2017
56
#56 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
43
#43 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017