Propped up by the success of the Gears of War series, the third-person cover shooter absolutely became a thing for at least a little while. Their popularity has seemed to recede quite a bit in this generation, but at the time it was hot there were a number of efforts to bring that style of experience to other platforms. IRONFALL Invasion was one such title, and oddly enough the 3DS happened to be the target for it. It apparently made enough of an impression then that someone decided to dust it off, give it a little rejuvenation, and release it on the Switch, but whether or not it will be well received by current gamers may be another matter.

Now, I’ve admittedly never played any cover shooters that have impressed me much, so I may be an overly harsh critic, but Invasion really struggled to grab me. Its first sin was also one that tends to leave me cold, and that was a lack of direction on some critical basics of the controls and play. Sure, it didn’t take much to figure out how to get into cover, aim, and shoot, but as I was trying to avoid getting shot I found the reload which obviously has a skill component to it aggravating. I knew that the goal was to hit some button at the right time to get the most out of the reload, but it took several tries to figure out that it took tapping the shoot button itself again, essentially the last thing I would have assumed. Just in general I was struck by the game’s assumption that people would just walk in understanding everything inherently, and that’s something I find to be sloppy in general.

The thing is, getting into the other areas of the game and general play I’d say that the sloppiness appears to be the rule rather than the exception. While the more sparse and pretty dead environments may have been necessary on the 3DS, on the Switch they contribute to the experience feeling underwhelming. Calling the story pretty generic and uninspiring would also be an understatement, it feels like a stock set of beats and dialogue that could be mistaken for belonging in any number of other titles as well. Finally, the fact that your movement and capabilities also feel stiff and lacking in variety is also likely tied to its 3DS roots, but that doesn’t make them any easier to forgive, especially if you don’t have a nostalgic tie to the game already. 

I’ll at least give the game credit for being pretty novel on the system. There simply aren’t other titles that immediately come to mind with this specific style of play to point to or contrast with. In that regard, if you’re really thirsting for some cover shooting action you may be more inclined to settle for what you can get. Similarly, if you had this on 3DS and feel a pull to experience it once more, that’s great and it could be a perfectly legitimate reason to pick it up. If you’re neither of those things though, and you’re contemplating whether to pick it up, I’d argue that outside of its specific flavor as a plus there are simply many far more accomplished shooters on the system worth playing first.