Review: Art Sqool (Nintendo Switch)

I’ll cut to the chase and say that Art Sqool is one poor title. It lacks an identity, claiming to meld “Study, Education, Platformer, Simulation” genres, but accomplishing none with success.

Within the first three minutes, this title froze and forced me to reset my Nintendo Switch. One of the best compliments I can give Art Sqool is that this was the only glitch.

You play a budding artist, completing assignments from your professor/faculty advisor. This title brags about “neural network,” “art-trained A.I.,” with “high-tech capabilities to objectively grade your work.” It sounds promising but ends up embarrassing. Most of the time, you can draw any scribble and get a passing grade. It feels pointless and very unfulfilling.

Should you care more than the game and decide to attempt to draw genuinely, handheld mode is pretty much a must. You can take on assignments like “Draw an animal eating another animal.,” “Write a message to your great great great great grandparents.,” “Draw something that costs $34.42,” or “Don’t draw anything.”

Aesthetically this game looks like early CGA colors accompanied by a soundtrack that’s warped vinyl meets squealing hearing aid battery. Is it unique? Sure. Is it good? Like the rest of Art Sqool, no.

The game has an eShop prompt on the main menu. For an extra $2.99, you can buy all the brushes and colors. The game starts you with a scant supply, despite supposedly judging you (arbitrarily) on color use, linework, and so on. This entire game isn’t worth $2.99, let alone this pointless DLC. The only entertainment I had in the game was exploring the campus and finding these things.

Art Sqool fails as both an “art school simulator” and a video game. There’s nothing educational here, and its gameplay is the equivalent of scribbles I might’ve drawn as a toddler. Judged solely as a bizarre piece of interactive art well out of the ordinary, it might pass by the skin of its teeth, but quality is undoubtedly lacking here. I expect better on the Nintendo Switch.

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