Black Future ‘88 Review for Nintendo Switch

Black Future ‘88, by Good Shepherd Entertainment and independent developer SuperScarySnakes, takes place in a post-apocalyptic world—from our past – the year 1988, to be exact. Nuclear bombs rained down on earth, so time stands still in the year 1988, and the only measurement of time that is important anymore is how many MINUTES someone has left to live. I mean, just how sick of a concept is that? The game opens up with 80’s style music, and as someone who grew up with parents who loved the 80’s, it kind of triggered some nostalgia in me, too. Married with incredible synth music, Black Future ‘88 comes bursting out the gate with incredible graphics, story introduction, and music to boot. The second the game boots up on your switch, you truly feel like you have been transported to another world.

When Black Future ‘88 opens up, you are given a few instructions on how to control your character, and you are thrust into the action by being told you have 18 minutes to get past all your enemies and kill the boss, who is throwing bombs down at you and taunting you all the same. The game is a 2D action shooter with some rogue like elements, and you are given a train to move from level to level, climbing up the levels usually to reach the boss. The gameplay is incredibly fast paced, and the movement very quick. Personally, being a little unfamiliar to the genre and not having the fastest reflexes when it came to this sort of thing, I died a lot! The enemies are constantly moving, and there really are no safe places to duck and cover for safety. Sometimes, when you kill one enemy, even more of them pop up. Alarms go off and the lights get switched off. The map is constantly changing and evolving, and the music is always bumping. The action never ceases. And the enemies aren’t stupid either! They can see you, even in some cases when you can’t see them! And they will shoot at you and let me tell you they do not stop. I really admire the developer’s ability to constantly keep the action moving forward—and the clock ticking down does nothing to settle your nerves. You are filled with adrenaline your whole way through.

You are given a jump/double jump, a flash ability that allows you to quickly escape and flash through walls, and an assortment of weapons to use to help you in your endeavor, and that is all. All these abilities are upgradable, through buffs and curses. You are given the choice between two different characters at the beginning of the game, with three more being added as you progress, which gives you plenty of playstyle options. Each of these characters has their advantages and disadvantages. I personally am a “spray-and-spray” kind of girl, so I chose Seagrist as she has the higher ammo max. I found myself running out of ammo a lot, so she helped me out in that department. The control layout feels very good, as shooting can be controlled with your right joystick. I have never experienced this in a game before, so being able to easily flick my finger in the direction I wanted to shoot added to the fast paced nature of the game, and overall made motion even more fluid.

Overall, I really enjoyed Black Future ‘88’s crisp and quick gameplay (even though I was admittedly not very good at it). I also enjoyed the music, graphics, and the story behind the game. I think that it’s a fantastic game. One of the only problems that I noticed that wasn’t that fantastic was some frame rate drops, especially during loading screens. However, I can’t say definitively if this is a problem that is exclusive to me or is a problem across other Nintendo Switch consoles. The other issues I had were due to frustrations of not being that great at the game. I think that through practice, I will be able to fully enjoy the movement that Black Future ‘88 offers. It really feels like one of those games that when you get good at, you really, really love to sit down and play. Overall, fantastic game with great game play and music. Definitely worth picking up for your Nintendo Switch. Great job, SUPERSCARYSNAKES!

Check Out the Black Future ‘88 Launch Trailer:

For more info, visit www.BlackFuture88.com.

Anya Chudov

I am a senior studying History at the University of Michigan. I've been playing video games since I was very young and around age 16 I had become entirely obsessed with the medium. I hope to one day work in the industry in any way I can.

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