At times, Switch Galaxy Ultra can be exhilarating. As you speed between barriers, dodging left and right to the sound of electronic music, you can feel the pressure building and your hands tightening around the Dualshock 4. However, these moments, where the game is excellent, are few and far between, sparsely populating a slow and dull game.

Switch Galaxy Ultra exists in a universe where interplanetary travel consists of flying your spaceships on rails, dodging barriers, broken tracks and other ships. This is a universe where the makers of Temple Run were tasked with designing this method of travel, whilst never making it quite as fun as their popular mobile series.

When you have a good run and built up a good speed, it is challenging and every obstacle you overcome feels like a small victory. The controls, whilst are simply moving left and right, are tight and allow you to meander through gaps in your path giving those daredevil players room to show off their skills. Twitching your way through a barrage of obstacles is excellent fun, but these moments are unfortunately intermittent. For most of the levels, the obstacles are placed before you in predictable patterns and you are often left with ample room to manoeuvre your way through them without concentrating to hard.

 

At low speeds, there is very little challenge and gaining the high speeds you want feels a chore. Fail to evade an obstacle, such as a barrier or another ship, your speed takes a knock and suddenly you are thrown back into the chore of building your speed again. You have to earn the fun in Switch Galaxy Ultra and it will be hastily taken away if you don’t follow the rules.

 

Missions at the beginning of the game allow you to master the game pretty quickly, easing you in with short, simple tasks. However, you master the incredibly difficult technique of moving left and right much quicker than game wants you too and you are way ahead of the difficulty curve for the entire game. The first half of the game could have been cut out entirely and the game would have been better for it by being that bit more challenging from the off. New barriers and obstacles are placed before you every few missions but they never offer anything new and are easily overcome.

 

Whilst the story is utterly forgettable, it is presented as a comic book, with every few missions unlocking a bit more. The art style is cool, but is let down by the story. The game itself looks really nice and is never boring to look at. Colours dash across your field of vision and obstacles are bright, fluorescent walls of light that attract your gaze as they pop up on screen. The electronic drum and bass music in the background, whilst quite jarring when moving slowly, absorbs you into a trance of concentration when you manage to hit those tops speeds and adds to the frenetic twitching of soaring past obstacles. It suddenly becomes your soundtrack on this little adventure.

 

Long gaming sessions are not advised when playing Switch Galaxy Ultra, but 20 minute experiences are really cool. The gameplay starts slow but once you get further into the game, fast and panicky fun will meet you at some point and the game looks lovely. It may not be a great game, but at times, it can be excellent.