Overview – developed and published by SleepTeam, Bulanci: Extremely Aggressive Pillows is a multiplayer party shooter, where players will take control of sentient pillows in an all-out war. Take the action to the big screen or on the go, with solo or multiplayer shooting action only needing one system. This title is available for the Nintendo Switch and Steam, with a link to each version of the game available at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank SleepTeam for providing the copy of Bulanci: Extremely Aggressive Pillows that was used for this piece, via the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. There is little in terms of a plot for this release as it is a party game, so I will be going straight into discussing the gameplay for this release. I will be referring to this title as simply Bulanci for brevity. Please note that there may be differences between the Switch version and the release on steam, so I will only be focusing on the console version that is available.
Gameplay – Bulanci is a relatively simple multiplayer party game, where players take the role of sentient pillows that are engaged in an all-out pillow fight. There are three game modes available for the player, with deathmatch (and team deathmatch), capture the flag and the single player Elite Training. In deathmatch and team deathmatch the objective is to score as many points as possible, players will gain points for kills but lose points if they are killed or suffer friendly fire.
During capture the flag, the players are split into two teams, with the objective being to get the opposing flag and bring it back to the team base. If the flag carrier is killed, then it can be picked up, if the owner team picks it up they can return it, if the opponent picks it up they can still score. There is also friendly fire in this mode, which can lead to some tense and frustrating moments where multiple combatants are in one area.
The last mode is the Elite Training Mode, where a single player challenges A.I. bots in a 5 minutes battle to get the highest score possible. This is a way that players can practice, improving their skills in a standard set format alongside a local leaderboard making it a challenge. Across all of the modes, there are 4 different map themes, with the ability to select variants in the deathmatch and capture the flag modes, but only the standard 4 are available in training.
During battles, the player can move in the four basic directions, left, right, up and down, with no option for diagonal movement. Then it comes to firing weapons, which can only be fired in the direction the player faces, going in a straight line with the standard pistol. Speaking of the pistol, all players start with the pistol which has 5 shots and a long reload rate. Then we have the special weapons that can be picked up which spawn on the stage.
The special weapons that can appear are the spread shot gun, automatic machine gun, rocket launcher and proximity mines. Each of these weapons functions differently, with the standard bullets dealing damage to the target that it makes contact with, whereas the explosives deals radius damage. The different weapons add to the chaotic nature of the game, as they spawn quite often and once they are used the player goes back to the pistol.
The last thing to talk about is the basic customization system. The player has access to 16 different pillows, which can be customized with a few different options. There are several accessories that can be applied to a pillow, along with colors and patterns that can be added to give the pillows some personality. Players can also change the name of the pillow to personalize it as well as adjusting the voice of that specific character.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to move onto the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – the controls are very basic with the four way directional movement, alongside the simple button inputs. The movement in general works well enough, but the button to enable strafing and walking backwards doesn’t seem to work at times. In multiplayer, there is the option for up to 8 players, using a pro controller or single Joy-Con to play the game. generally, the game is fairly comfortable to play with controls that can be picked up by everyone.
Difficulty – there are no difficulty options with this game, as it is a party shooter the challenge comes from random weapon drops that occur. The difficulty of A.I. opponents can also be affected by the stage that is selected, as the different maps will have elevated areas which can be tough but the A.I. can see all. The inability to alter the difficulty of the CPU controlled characters can be a pain, but that adds to the chaos that can occur.
Presentation – the visual style is fairly simple with all of the maps being a single screen, with colorful assets that work well for the game setting. The only issue with the graphical presentation of the game is the way it can impact visibility, as it uses an angled camera, it can be tough to judge depth at times. There is zero lag that occurs during play, which is good as there can be 12 characters on screen. The sound is simple, with music and sound effects that work well for the game.
Final Thoughts – This title is quite simple and as a party title it works well, but it is unfortunate that the game lacks some of the features present in the Steam release. However, for a budget release on the Nintendo Switch there is a lot of content on offer for players to enjoy, even if the game is currently lacking online multiplayer. While the base game is free on Steam, all of the additional content in the Switch version is sold separately as DLC.
I think that this game is for those that enjoy party games and have regular meet ups with friends, game nights with family or just want something to have some fun with the kids. As a single player experience, it does feel a little lacking with the reliance on bots and the limited gameplay modes that are present. But it does scratch that twitch gaming itch, especially if you want something that can be played for 10 minutes then put down.
In the end, I give Bulanci: Extremely Aggressive Pillows a final score of 3.5/5. This is an enjoyable party shooter for a modest price, with plenty of content available for a low barrier of entry at the cost of online multiplayer and some hiccups in terms of design. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version of the game is below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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