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Review: Nex Playground
As I’m coming up on a full year of “ownership,” and with it being more topical this holiday season (e.g. 2nd best-selling console this past Black Friday), let’s talk about the Nex Playground.
Essentially, the Nex is a motion-controlled game console with an all-in-one subscription model. Think Kinnect or Wii Sports, minus the controllers. For $250 retail price, you get the Nex cube, a remote, and permanent access to five party-style games. The “real” experience requires a further purchase of a 12-month Play Pass for $89, or the 3-month Play Pass for an usurious $49. At the time of this writing, there are bundles on Amazon that include the Nex and a 12-month pass for as low as $288.
Is it worth it?
Well… do you have kids as of yet unsullied by Fortnite, Minecraft, and/or Youtube? Then: probably.
I’ll go into more detail on the games below, but it is important to reiterate that the Nex is a motion-controlled device. Not all the games require you to be standing, squatting, and/or jumping, but you will nevertheless be using your arms 100% of the time at a minimum. Even if you or your kids are physically active, this is not something you will likely be playing for 1-2 hours at a time. If your immediate thought after reading that was “well, no one should be sitting/playing videogames for that long anyway,” then, yeah, the Nex is probably for you.
Base Games
Without the Play Pass, you are limited to these five games:
- Fruit Ninja
- Whac-a-Mole
- Go Keeper
- Party Fowl
- Starri
The first three are basically “arcade” style games that may or may not amuse you or children for a length of time. Party Fowl is a sort of goofy Mario Party knock-off filled with 90-second minigames. An example would be squatting to empty a helicopter bucket full of water onto gingerbread men running around on fire. Or shaking up virtual pop bottles and spraying them at the other person.
One of the killer apps for the Nex system though is Starri. This is a rhythm game akin to a VR-less Beat Saber, or perhaps an arms-based Dance Dance Revolution. There is an eclectic mix of songs, including several ones from Imagine Dragons, some Lady Gaga, Sia, and other contemporary artists. Last year, there were also a large amount of K-pop, but many of those rotated out; there still are a lot of anime songs. Regardless, Starri feels like a full-fledged game, with each song having three difficulty levels, in-game cosmetic unlocks, two different hand “game styles,” and so on.
Of all the games available, Starri stands out as something an adult could play solo and enjoy long-term.
Play Pass Games
Tumbo Bots is one of the best-designed games on the system, hands down (or up). Basically, it’s a 1v1 battle game where you try to score points by hitting the red button on the other player’s head, and/or collecting coins if they’re available on the map. There’s also a soccer mode. What makes it fun are how your arms controls the legs of the bots, which requires you to swing them wildly about. QWOP-style, in order to move and jump. There is a large variety of maps and characters, and Little Man has gotten quite good at beating me even if I don’t totally sandbag my play (… but I still sandbag a bit).
Doodle Heads is another favorite, to a slightly lesser degree. It’s kind of a Galaga-style game if children drew all the sprites, but it does feature four different heroes and six bosses across 12 levels. Just be prepared to be waving your hands above your head the entire time, as that is how you shoot.
…and that’s primarily it.
In reality, there are 40 other games within the Play Pass, but not all of them are especially good. Or fun. For example, there is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Mayhem, which is essentially a side-scrolling Temple Run. Does anyone remember Temple Run? Basically where you’re in a fixed perspective going along a track while avoiding obstacles? Little Man played TMNT for like an hour one day, but I doubt he ever goes back. And there are three more licensed games in exactly that same style: Miraculous Ladybug: Paris Dash; Care Bears: Rainbow Ride; Candy Land: Sugar Sprint. A waste, IMO.
The other licensed content isn’t as bad. Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, and Cookie Monster have all went different directions. The problem I have with many of these other ones though is what I consider missteps with the property. For example, the Kung Fu Panda game is about training by hitting logs, chopping wood planks, and so on. Good. All of this gameplay is only available after long, unnecessary (and unskippable) exposition by knockoff voice actors. Very bad.
This is actually a more general weakness with many of the games wherein there are a lot of clunky menus and “plot” when you just want to be throwing hands and legs as soon as possible. Or when there are menus upon menus for games for which the core audience may not be able to read yet. I’m looking at you, Cookie Monster.
Final Thoughts
Whether a Nex is a good addition to your home comes down to your projected use-case.
If you are buying a Nex because “it’s cheaper than a Switch 2,” then you’re probably in a for a bad time. The current Amazon sale price of $288 includes a year of the Play Pass, which is good value… compared to the standard price of $250 + $89. But even on sale, the best-case scenario – in which your kids are totally happy playing with just the Nex – is that you’re still on the hook for another $89 Year 2. That’s now $377. Still technically cheaper, but they pretty much got you stuck.
And, really, what are the odds that your kids aren’t going to what to play Mario Kart (etc)?
If instead you treat the Nex as (slightly) guilt-free form of screentime exercise for the kids, and potentially for the whole family? That’s another story. Obviously you can do comparable movement things with Switch Sports and the like, but it may mitigate drama to have an entirely separate ecosystem wherein Minecraft, Mario Kart, or whatever else isn’t staring them in the face. Indeed, in our house, we don’t really even call the Nex “videogames” – it’s just something we do when the weather is too bad to go outside and we need to burn some energy.
In An Age 
Entry Point
Apr 6
Posted by Azuriel
I am flabbergasted how any of us beat videogames as kids.
Little Man has been playing a lot of videogames with me lately, with some mix of modern and retro titles. The struggle is finding what I would consider a good entry point to the medium. Back in the day, we obviously had no choice in the matter – “you get what you get, and don’t throw a fit.” I personally started on the NES with Super Mario Bros and eventually Super Mario Bros 3, but I always remembered how much better Super Mario World felt once the SNES came out. So, having tandem-completed Super Mario Odyssey (twice!), I thought that handing over the controller (or specifically the RG35XXSP) to Little Man and letting him play Super Mario World solo would be a good idea.
Spoiler: it was not.
Even when I took over to help him out of a particularly hard part, I came to realize how much of Super Mario World consisted entirely of hard spots. It is also difficult to fully appreciate how bizarre the concept of holding down the run button 100% of the time is in a platformer. Seriously, just try playing any non-3D Mario game without running. It’s painful. And yet… why build it that way in the first place?
Anyway, I backed off of Mario platformers and introduced him to Kirby instead. Specifically, Kirby Super Star for the SNES. This ended up being a much better entry point, for several reasons. First, Kirby has an HP bar, which means you can take multiple hits from enemies while you learn their attack patterns. Second, Kirby can float, which eases you into platforming elements. Third, you can create an AI companion any time you have a power, which immensely helps you with bosses and surviving the level in general. There were still some tricky bits to the game, but the “training wheels” helped Little Man build confidence and develop controller-based skills.
Once Kirby was exhausted, we moved back to Super Mario Wonder on the Switch. There is a lot to like how Nintendo designed co-op in Wonder. When one player dies, they come back as a ghost that can float around for 5 seconds, reviving if they touch the surviving player. Later on though, there are some levels in which being revived will result in you immediately dying again, and “giving up” simply means draining both players of any extra lives. At that point, I had Little Man play solo and try a given level 3-4 times before he could tag out. It took a while, and I ended up playing the final parts of the game entirely myself, but we beat Wonder a few weeks ago.
The next game I wanted him to try playing was Super Mario 64. “It’s got platforming, but you don’t die in one hit. Should be fine.” Spoiler: it was not fine. In fact, it was one of the most disillusioning experiences I’ve had in quite some time. I remember spending a lot of time with Mario 64. I remember fully completing the game with 120 stars. I remember it being a great game.
What I apparently didn’t remember is the godawful camera. Like, legitimately bad. Even I had issues walking inside the castle, camera gyrating wildly while Mario starts drunkenly spinning in circles. Did the novelty of three dimensions paper over the terrible-feeling controls and camera? I let Little Man play for a bit, and then helped him get a few of the Stars to unlock other levels. I went into the Snow level and then tried the slide race… five (5) times. Never even made it past the first turn. WTF, mate.
Maybe it’s the official Nintendo emulator, maybe it’s the joy-cons, maybe the N64 claw controller was better at that specific task, maybe I’m just older and/or used to other (better) control schemes. Regardless… it just feels bad. It’s one thing to know you can’t go home again, but it’s another driving there anyway only to be surprised at the smoking ruins of your remembered youth.
Of course, there are games from that era and before that do hold up. I have no doubt that Super Mario World will make another appearance once Little Man is a bit older and has more platforming skills under his belt. And once he can read at an appropriate level, there are some classic RPGs that I would love to introduce him to. That said… yikes. I purchased Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 recently as a sort of Odyssey replacement (plus I never played them), and I’m starting to sweat. Surely this won’t be another Mario 64 moment… will it? And what do kids even start playing these days?
[Fake Edit] It’s been a while since I drafted this post, but we have since beat Mario Galaxy and are on the tail-end of Galaxy 2. Thankfully, it was not as bad as Mario 64… but it’s still a bit rough. For one thing: holy nausea, Batman! I cannot remember the last game that made me motion sick from its inherent design, but Galaxy’s whole schtick of running across little planetoids has not landed well.
That said, Little Man has made some significant progress in terms of timing and problem-solving in a 3D space. There are some aspects he Nopes right out of immediately – usually having to do with countdown timers and such, which is totally understandable – but there have been a few times where he has completed a full level by himself. Can’t wait to see if I can get him into the Zelda series next.
Posted in Commentary
4 Comments
Tags: Entry Level, Little Man, Super Mario Bros Odyssey, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Switch, You Can't Go Home Again