Pato Box Reviews
While its adventure mode-style exploration could do with a little more meat on its bones, we all know why we're here - the Punch-Out!!-style bosses. The exploration sections fail to do the eye-catching visual style (and the story) much justice, but those brilliant big bads more than make up for it. Sprinkle in an '80s-style synth soundtrack that wouldn't feel out of place in Hotline Miami and you've got a rough-yet-ready new contender on the Switch eShop.
Pato Box is one of the most unique titles I've played in some time. It has its share of problems, with an unorthodox style that might not be to everyone's taste, but feels destined to acquire a cult following. Though quite flawed, it still has the ability to get the heart pounding, and sounds damn good while doing so. Pato Box fails to score a knockout, but it's an exciting bout, and I'm certainly up for a rematch.
Pato Box attempts to do something different with the Punch-Out!! formula, and succeeds in weaving a story through the boxing matches and light puzzle solving. With a unique visual style and silly tone, this entertaining oddity certainly stands out from the crowd. However, some fights can feel a touch unfair, especially with poor checkpointing, and with very limited content, this probably won't last you too long.
If you're looking for a different indie right now in the PC market, Pato Box is not only a game about a boxer with a duck head, but a really enjoyable and unique title, despite the feeling of being too simple.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Pato Box takes the Punch-Out!! fighting style and gives it a Madworld aesthetic, resulting in an unexpectedly wonderful combination. The 3D sections aren't the most exciting, but the boss fights more than make up for that. Pato Box offers an intense challenge that will put your gaming skills to the test, but also potentially frustrate you at the same time.
Pato Box combines the classic Punch-Out!! fighting mechanic with a noir story, a black and white comic world, and a great soundtrack with a beady-eyed, anthropomorphic boxing duck. The game has a few flaws but accomplishes exactly what it intends to in taking a classic video game genre to new heights and would be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys Punch-Out!!, a new indie game, or cartoonish anthropomorphic ducks in general.
A great visual style makes Pato Box stand out from the crowd, as does the duck/boxer protagonist. If you're up for a challenge, with a game that requires you to master the rhythm of each boss fight, then Pato Box will be a champion for you.
However, the lack of checkpointing and overly long exploration segments are a one-two punch of frustration. Some floors of Deathflock HQ seem impenetrable and while the boss fights are the star of the show, even they aren't without problems. The concept isn't beyond saving, and it's still possible to have a good time, but too often Pato Box just left me incredibly frustrated.
The team at Bromio did a great job at giving us a game that pays homage to Punch-Out!! while also standing out on its own.
A great stylized game with a fun and ridiculous plot. You get to be a buff boxing duck who destroys things, what more do you need to know? I definitely recommend this game, especially if you're a fan of the kind of weird.
Pato Box is a flawed experience but still fun. If you can live with the sometimes-uneven presentation, then the adventure segments will prove to be an exercise in tedium, especially with the small roster of enemies to fight. Then again, those fights bring back so many memories of the games it tries to emulate that you'll be willing to put up with walking around and doing odd jobs in between. Pato Box isn't exactly the spiritual successor to arcade boxing that many were hoping for, but it's worth a look.
Putting a score to a game like Pato Box is painful as parts are worthy of the highest possible score, namely the boss fights that are some of the best seen in ages and truly capture, and even enhance the source of inspiration. However, there needed to be more of those to create a better difficulty curve and less filler content in-between. The story of a game like this does not need to make sense, but the content put into it needs to.
Overall, Pato Box is a solid effort from Mexican indie Bromio, and a welcome addition to the Nintendo Switch library. It pays homage to the Punch-Out!! series while doing its own thing with a very interesting art style that reminded me of MadWorld on Nintendo Wii, which is definitely a good thing since that's a great looking game on Nintendo's “two generations ago” console! Your mileage with Pato Box might vary depending on how on board you are with having to finish a level before being able to take on a boss fight, but if you give this one a chance hopefully you're going to appreciate what Bromio has done on Nintendo's hybrid console.
Pato Box is far from being a perfect experience and it is clear that it lacks polish in some areas. Fortunately, Bromio did a lot of things right so Pato Box stands as a fun and enjoyable twist to the Punch-Out!! formula.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Pato Box is an excellent boxing game. Challenging battles and great narrative. The stages of platforms to my liking slow down and are superfluous in the game, but they do not tarnish the general set enough that fans of boxing games like Punch-Out do not enjoy it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Pato Box is a visually stunning game with excellent presentation and music throughout, and it does an excellent job of aping the feel of a Punch-Out!! fight.
If you’re a massive Punch-Out fan who enjoys the thrill of figuring out your opponent’s moves and taking them out there’s no question Pato Box is for you. Every bout is unique, varied, challenging… and some could even say brutal. Timing and recognizing each fighter’s various tells is essential to victory. The touch of getting your meter back once you’re at critical health, if you can avoid taking a hit for a few seconds, is essential and really what saves package as a whole. If you’ve been looking for something that’s both challenging and very different from just about anything in the Switch’s line-up Pato Box absolutely delivers a knock-out punch.
Overall, if you are a fan of Punch Out!! or nostalgic for that sort of arcade experience then look no further than Pato Box. It’s weird, wonderful and looks as whacky as it plays. The adventure mode is a hugely welcome surprise despite a couple of rough points and a questionable frame rate. Pato Box delivered the unexpected and gave you something you didn’t know you actually wanted until they gave it to you. The standard fighting is of course up to scratch and more polished than the adventuring and the fact you can just concentrate on that if you want to is welcome. It delivers fun and challenge in equal measure. It looks and sounds fantastic too which makes it into a very solid, quirky package.
It’s far from a perfect game, and the filler sections in between predictably never live up to the actual fights themselves. Yet, in spite of all this, Mexican developer Bromio has managed to make decent use out of the Punch-Out!! formula to craft something unique enough to separate itself from other clones that came before it.