Part-Time UFO (2020) [Switch]

I want to believe.

-X-Files

“Is it a UFO that works part-time or is it only a UFO part of the time?” Honestly, this question my wife put to me kept me up later than it should have, long into the night. Coincidentally, so did the game, Part-Time UFO.

For some reason, it stood out to me as the game I had to have after the recent Nintendo Shadow Direct. Not Bravely Default 2 or the new upcoming Story of Seasons, which I regarded as visually unappealing, or even the demo for Age of Calamity, part of a strain of games I haven’t played before. It helped that Part-Time UFO was cheap and released immediately, but beyond that, I had to ask myself what made this simple little title stick out from other perfectly good titles, leaving me with an irresistible feeling that I couldn’t pass it up.

BE YOUR OWN BOSS

That feeling was immediately rewarded upon downloading Part-Time UFO, which kicks off your employment picking up oranges for a farmer. They’re scattered across the ground and you basically fly around, dropping a claw like a crane game from your cute flying saucer tush, tossing the errant fruit into the back of a pickup truck.

Yeah, if you’re one of those gamers that needs a wide cast of teenage characters with multicolored hair banding together to go on a globetrotting quest to eventually beat some kind of magical god, then you should probably get off here. All of Part-Time UFO’s story is right there in the title. You play as Jobski looking for work, that’s it. You’re looking at a game (not a visual novel or RPG) that excels by doing one thing really well: stacking physics.

KIRBY VIBES

HAL Laboratory ought to tip you off in that regard. You’re looking at a game that’s less a mobile fling (although you can play it on mobile) and more a throwback to the Game Boy Advance era. The adorable Kirby-esque pixelated graphics cement that comparison.

The Kirby flavor continues from the overall look of the game through to the main character itself. We all know that the best Kirby copy ability in Kirby’s Adventure, the golden late-gen classic, was the UFO ability. It combined the ultimate firepower of the Laser ability with supreme aerial dominance, dialing Kirby’s flight skills up to eleven. You can’t tell me the look of the Kirby UFO didn’t influence the part-time worker taking center stage in this game.

And if not Kirby, then this whimsical, visually humorous game may also put you in mind of another classic, Katamari Damacy. Sure, you’re not collecting stuff to blow up and turn into stars but you are commanding a vessel from beyond the stars to collect stuff to get paid.

A KNACK FOR STACKS

Anyway, stacking…

In Part-Time UFO, you’re presented with various jobs that require you do menial tasks such as putting away the toys, building a Grecian temple, picking up human beings and arranging them into complex pyramids… you know, normal everyday stuff. The game is built around a fairly believable sense of gravity, if not always weight. I’m unsure how much a tiny flying saucer can lift, but you will at least feel burdened down when attempting to hoist a marble colonnade into position.

As you play through the game, jobs beget jobs. Secondary difficulty unlocks, pushing you to perform at your absolute best. The jobs themselves play like mini-games, each with a single fundamental goal, such as fishing, although they also come with three sub-goals you can attempt for additional money. These can take the form of completing the job before the timer runs out or, in the case of fishing, catching that pesky jumping squid.

BLOWING YOUR PAYCHECK

But what are you going to do with all that money? Well, spend it, of course. Money is meant to be spent. Buy my financial advice book.

You can purchase new costumes for Jobski from a shop. These aren’t always merely cosmetic. Some of them come with special abilities. I commend the ninja suit to you. Not only does a ninja UFO look amazing, but it also dramatically increases your speed.

THE DAILY GRIND

Why do I gravitate toward games like farming sims or Part-Time UFO in which you essentially just do work? Games are work, that’s the realization I’ve come to. The sooner you acknowledge that, the easier time you may have with the mundane tasks most games present to you. Here, the entire game is essentially just mundane tasks. Except you’re a UFO. And that’s enough of a twist to make it fun.

Plus you get to build an infinite tower of random stuff in one of the mini-games. Sold!

The 8-bit Review

 Visuals: 8/10

So many smaller games are attempting an ugly, bland, 3D chibi look with assets that look like they were mass-printed out of a sweatshop. Looking at you, upcoming Story of Seasons game. With Part-Time UFO, everything is positively infused with good humor and personality. Sure, the indie scene has been doing 16-bit art for decades now, but I insist that this is one of the better examples of throwback visuals, right down to a very GBA-ish color palette.

 Audio: 7/10

Another Kirby reference is appropriate here. The music in Part-Time UFO possesses an unabashedly sunny disposition, lighthearted and upbeat. It riffs on a simple melody that may repeat a little too often, bordering the repetitive, but omg if that isn’t just the cutest widdle voice singing in the background. I think it’s singing the title.

 Gameplay: 7/10

It’s all about the simple, addicting gameplay! “Just one more round!” As mentioned, the sense of weight and gravity seems mostly believable, more polished than not. Clever and creative jobs keep things interesting and there are plenty of unlockables, too, although it can also feel disjointed and episodic, and without a story to connect the gameplay together, some players may be left uninterested.

 Multiplayer: 9/10

I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t mention the two-player co-op mode. Couch co-op, of course. In some instances, the co-op completely changes the way a job is done. And the first time we played it, we said “too bad we’re not streaming”! It’s a delight both to watch and attempt for yourself as the game quickly devolves from two people planning their architecture to crumbling, falling, chaotic disaster. We were a pile of flesh and laughter in mere minutes.

 Accessibility: 9/10

My wife and my 5-year-old had no problem understanding the basics of Part-Time UFO and playing the game themselves. With a little bit of practice, you can become a professional. This is thanks also to the earliest stages that ease you into the game nicely, providing simple challenges and simple rewards.

 Challenge: 6/10

The game also gets kind of tough pretty quick. I had a really hard time with the first museum stage where you have to stack up a knocked-over totem pole. The infinite tower mini-game was also pretty brutal, demanding you stack your items up to a height of 20m, then 35m, and finally 50m. Stop giving me houseplants!

 Uniqueness: 6/10

Stacking mechanics aren’t new in the action-puzzle games arena. However, a Hal Labs bit of spit polish and Kirby references are novel enough to be worth something.

Personal: 8/10

I’ve probably played more Part-Time UFO in the past few days than I should have, but hey, at least I’m getting work done. This has taken the spot of my new addiction after burning out on Hades. The devs at HAL hit it out of the park again. It’s better than Star Allies, I’ll tell you that! Maybe the best thing that could be said about any game is: “I think I’ll go play more right now.”

Aggregated Score: 7.5

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.