Button City Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Button City
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:
Button City key art

My Gobabots team is doing great even without my assistance. I have been trying to only kill opposition players and we are only 3 pieces of fruit down. I abandon my murderous efforts to help out, so we gain the lead with 15 seconds on the clock. We win the game and I’m already thinking how my crew is planning on trolling the other team, supposedly the best in the tournament.

Button City is both developed and published by Subliminal. Play it on the PC using Steam but also on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series consoles, as well as older platforms from both Sony and Microsoft. The experience wants to tell a small but emotional story while re-imagining some game genres.

Fennel the Fox is the core character, a cute little creature that sees the local arcade as the best way to be part of a community. Unfortunately, the owner is ready to sell the business to the clearly marked as evil capitalist Peppermint Pepperbottom. This launches a classic "kids trying to save the rec center" storyline that works in pretty predictable ways. Don’t expect deep character work or massive twists from Button City, although there are some nice moments baked into the narrative.

Button City
Button City
Button City
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At its core, this is an adventure game. Fennel spends a lot of time moving around the various spaces that make up the town and talking to residents. When the mother wants a sandwich the character goes to the store, buys one, and then makes his way home to drop it off. When someone needs parts for a gizmo Fennel goes to the up-cycling center, solves a few very easy puzzles, and clicks on the required pieces. Everything is pretty simple. A recurring activity simply asks gamers to pick up trash strewn across the various locations. Most side-quests involve nothing more than getting an item from one character to another. Avoid them all and focus on the core quests.

The big twist is that the center of Fennel’s adventures is an arcade, which features three core games that entertain the young people of the community. The most competitive one is Gobabots, which the entire friend group engages with, and two other cabinets allow access to Prisma Beats and rEVolution Racer.

Gobabots is a stripped-down Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. Fennel and her group need to work together to gather fruit and drop it in a blender at the center of the map. The other team and neutral creeps hinder this effort. I don’t like MOBAs, but this limited version is too simple to be annoying. Playing as Pinarang, my Fennel almost always brought the most fruit to the blender. There’s almost no excitement to the matches, despite the emphasis that the story places on them.

I was hoping that the other two offerings in the arcade would be more interesting, only to be disappointed. Prima Beats is a very classic take on Dance Dance Revolution but there’s no cool twist to it or anything to make it interesting to engage with. rEVolution Racing is a drifting racing game that basically asks the player to turn hard and boost as much as possible. Again, nothing to make it original or tie it into the wider world of Button City.

The fact that there are only three games to play in the arcade is disappointing. That their mechanics are so mediocre makes this section of the game feel hollow. Why would anyone want to save this arcade? Fennel’s adventures make little sense given the underwhelming experience of Gobabots, rEvolution, and Prisma Beats.

Button City aims for 90s pixel-driven in terms of style. The characters have personality despite their relative lack of graphical detail. The world is almost charming, despite the fact that every parcel is cramped. I even like the way characters move and turn, adding some overblown dramatic tension even when it’s not actually needed. The soundtrack is in tone with the rest of the presentation but needs a few extra tracks. The lack of voice acting actually helps with the game’s atmosphere.

Button City
Button City
Button City
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The Good

  • Nice characters
  • Interesting mix of ideas
  • Hot MOBA action

The Bad

  • Limited gameplay
  • A lot of backtracking
  • By the number plot

Conclusion

I did not love the experience of playing this Subliminal title. The game is too focused on backtracking through the various areas to complete quests and side activities. Button City is, probably, a good game for younger players who might not have engaged with the genres it replicates in the arcade. Play it with a kid if you are a parent and tell them there are better versions of everything they see here out there to try and master.

But the developers are good at creating a game world that draws evokes nostalgia. Their characters are fun and whimsical, although they do need more depth. Button City is a limited video game but, if the studio focuses on its strengths, it can surely create a world where the gameplay and the world are better synchronized.

Review code provided by the publisher.

story 8
gameplay 7
concept 8
graphics 7
audio 8
multiplayer 0
final rating 7.5
Editor's review
good
 
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Button City screenshots (21 Images)

Button City key art
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