Not a title that I’ll admit I knew anything about, hence the lack of news article for it, but Bob Will Help landed in my inbox for a once over or two, so what better way to convey that evaluation with some words?
Let’s cut to the chase: if we’re judging this on appearances, it doesn’t bode well. There’s nothing that particularly jumps out about the game other than Bob aimlessly wandering around with his hands in the air (waving them like he, quite frankly, doesn’t care).
A game from Gagonfe and published by No Gravity Games, this originally came out on Steam last year, which is appropriate, given the indie roots, but does it find itself a home on the Nintendo Switch?
Bob Help Them Switch Review
First of all, this isn’t a Starview Valley clone. Just because you may have seen a few screenshots, you might have thought that this was a farming sim, or comparable to Forager even, but Bob Help Them is much more straightforward.
The clue is in the title, and like Bob, you help your fellow neighbours with literal fetch quests. You won’t know what to do unless you speak to them, so swallow your pride and go mingle with Farmer Brown, and find out he needs some eggs, or Monterey Jack needs some trees cut down.
That’s more or less all there is to the game, and it would probably translate well to mobile. In handheld mode, you have your testing grounds. But if there’s no farming elements or crafting, what’s the point? Time.
Bob Help Them is a timer-based game, so you have to complete your tasks before the timer runs out, but more importantly, do that as swiftly as possible as the faster you do it, the better rating you get.
Rate My Assistance
Using a three-star system, where three is the best, you have to multi-task and solve the community’s problems. I feel for Bob, I do. Not only does he carry out the most monotonous of jobs for his fellow hooman, but someone’s glued his hands to his head. Or maybe that was him.
As you progress, the demands increase, and you’re tasked with combinations. This time you might have to source raw materials or ingredients then cook them for the common folk. Bob is very much like his namesake Bob The Builder, only his catchphrase is “Sure, I’ll do it”.
There’s no metadiscourse here, everything you see on the surface is pretty much the game, and it’s pretty barebones. I won’t lie, I was a bit dismissive of it, mainly because Bob irritated me with his people-pleasing and orang-utan impressions.
But that timer element is the catnip here. In the beginning, I was about to hand the controls over to my kids as it was really easy with an abundance of time. Could I bear with this for another 30+ missions? It was a walk in the park.
Someone, Please Help Bob
That cockiness soon evaporated as the base times were getting hefty deductions and doing a level as fast as you can to stay in the game rather than for more stars.
Though the Nintendo Switch doesn’t have the trophy systems of its competitors, there’s still an incentive to ace a level, and that initial thought of having a breeze with the game was corrected with a fairly decent challenge.
But that’s all there is to Bob Help Them. You’ll see everything in the first few minutes, and then it’s a question of whether you’re going to want to stick it out and beat your times or see it through as to whether Bob does help them all.
I was reluctant about giving a score on this as it’s quite a short review for a relatively short game. I didn’t dislike the game at all, but it didn’t really have enough wow factor for me to keep playing. That said, if it weren’t for the number of titles on my plate, it would get more attention, and it deserves it if you’re into indie titles.
Bob Help Them Review Summary
Short and sweet, like good ‘ol Bob, Bob Help Them is a fun indie title. As it’s neither unique nor generic, it doesn’t really bellow out when it comes to picking a new title. That said, when you start playing it, it’s addictive in a good way and offers enough challenge to keep you going. Please, help Bob. All purchases go towards removing the glue from his scalp. (That may or may not be a lie).
