Positives:
- Cute, charming design that's pretty vibrant and colorful.
- There's clearly a good amount of heart (and even humor) to the writing here.
- The concept of this being a stage play is also pretty adorable.
- Costumes add heavily to the overall charm.
- Gameplay features a nice bit of variation overall.
- A game that's easy enough for pretty much anyone to get into.
Negatives:
- Some abilities, like the detective, are pretty weak.
- As a whole, the game is pretty bland, and it feels longer than it is because the levels themselves drag a bit.
- Why do the loading times feel so long?
- When it comes to the visuals and performance, this was a lot more unpolished than I was expecting.
Consensus: It's...cute? Yeah, that's a lot of what I can really say here. "Princess Peach: Showtime!" is a game that's heavily carried by its cute aesthetic and overall charm, because the gameplay is not extremely engaging. I'm not one to complain about games being "easy" (in fact, I often advocate for difficulty options in games), but this one almost feels *too* simple, as if it's something I can only really picture appealing to an audience that's either very young or largely inexperienced with video games. While I think it's a fun, laid-back kind of game, it does lose its luster after a while, and that's a shame. It's most certainly not a bad game, but I was definitely expecting a bit more out of this. But hey, it's something solid to play on your Switch while you wait for Nintendo's next console, and that might be enough for some people.
Final rating: 6 out of 10 "Decent"