Two Point Campus, analysis for Nintendo Switch

The studio recently Two Point presented a new edition of its management video games, in this case a University Campus where you manage the craziest races, the Two Point Campus.

This time we have decided to test the version of the game for switch which allows you to play this game in a more casual way.

Story and Gameplay

The story is the same as the Two Point Hospital. In the story mode we will have to refloat different universities and we will do it by achieving objectives. If we get a star, the level is already considered as completed and more will be unlocked on the map. At the beginning with each University we will unlock a new degree, so each one will have its own situation or problem to solve. Some of the degrees that can be studied are: chivalry, sorcery, accounting of jokes…

Before starting the new course, they will ask you to have a series of requirements available, you can also start it without them, but the students will complain and when they reach the limit they will abandon the course, which will reduce your income and leave you at a loss. There is no “lost game” situation, in fact you can lose money to infinity, but if you stay in the red you will no longer be able to hire or make any improvements on campus, so there is no point in continuing to play.

Anyone who has ever played a management game of this style knows that there are a series of things that you have to have ready before starting, in this case they will be a teacher, an administrator, a janitor, a classroom, a bathroom and a residence .

There are three metrics we will need to monitor to keep our campus afloat, money, grades, and student morale. As in all these types of games, it is important to control our spending, but we must also make sure that they do not suspend and abandon or that they do not leave due to boredom.

In the first point we must control not to contract more than what we earn. In addition to the registration fees, which in the end are only entered at the beginning of the course, we can increase our monthly income by selling food or drinks or organizing events.

For students to be happy it is important to have a leisure room, we can also organize events in different rooms, such as the leisure room, the student association or the classrooms that will considerably improve their mood.

We will improve the grades with the private classes. Going into the student management menu we can see the grades and mood of each student and the only action we can carry out on them is to send them to private classes, with which they will be able to improve their grades. For private classes we will need a private class room and a teacher of the subject in question. The ideal is to have several classrooms and several teachers, especially when we have many students with poor grades.

The course lasts from August to July and when it ends they will show us the key data of the course, income obtained, approved, average grade… once the course is over we can continue playing to prepare for next year but time will not run until we start the course. At no time can we advance or pause the game, which is sometimes a bit boring, especially when we need to get paid to continue playing or when we need to build to generate more income.

In addition to managing the money, we must also control the kudos points that the game will give us as we achieve goals, with them we can unlock different objects. These points are earned by completing quests or earning badges. But there is also a third point system here, the degree system with which we can improve the degrees we work with, increasing the number of students per course or adding new degrees to the campus, for example.

Graphics and OST

Two Point follows the same cartoon aesthetic for its Two Point Campus franchise. In addition, the characters are customizable, we can change their clothing and include themed costumes depending on the time we are in. We can also customize some objects such as beds or plants.

The BSO of the Two Point Campus is the same as that of the Hospital, it is a radio-type musical thread that changes the music on its own and inserts audio announcements.

Sandbox, play your way

If what you like is to play free, without pressure to unlock maps and lead a single campus to success, you have the sandbox mode to improve your university to infinity and adapt your complications to your liking. In this mode we can choose different scenarios, first we will choose the University in which we want to play, each one will have a different situation and specific problems to overcome, for example in Piazza Lanatra it is a gastronomic university in which we will have to serve quality food and focus on studies of this type.

As we change universities we will see how many plots are available, which will help us get an idea of ​​how much we can expand our campus. Once the university has been chosen, we can choose the mode in which we want to play: standard, which is the most balanced mode in terms of objectives and starting situation; creative mode in which you have more money and degree points to create at your leisure, it is easier to get money and you have all the elements unlocked, you do not have to get kudos to have everything; the challenge mode is the most difficult, you start with the minimum of money and degree points it becomes difficult to get degree points and you have to unlock objects and degree options; Lastly, you have a personalized mode, adjustable to what you most want at that moment.

You can choose the cash you start with, the kudos, get an income multiplier and a fixed monthly payment. You can also choose the location of the campus with the temperature and the degree points. It is also adjustable the construction modes and if you want to play with objectives or requests.

We can have up to 20 fields active in the sandbox and thus choose which one we want to play.

challenge mode

October they carried out an update in which they added the challenge mode with two challenges: “The Siege of Noblestead” and “A horror of college” are Halloween-themed events. In the first you have to protect Noblestead University from a mob and you have to survive two years to overcome the challenge, in the second we play at Chachindor University the heads of all the students have turned into pumpkins so their socks have dropped to the minimum, it will be necessary to improve the average grade to be able to overcome the challenge.

Conclusions

After a brief period of adaptation, I have become comfortable playing a resource management game like Two Point Campus on the Nintendo Switch. I have missed not knowing very well where the wind comes from at each level, that is, money management is quite random and not very detailed, there will be months in which you earn more or less by making practically no change.

As for the controls, it becomes difficult to decorate on the Switch and adjust the furniture to the desired positions. I have not been able to find a way to pause the time during the game although it does not seem to be something very critical when starting certain aspects of the campus, personally when I notice some lack in the management, I like to pause the game and to tune it up or speed it up when I have everything ready and I’m just waiting to accomplish some goal, in Two Point Campus for Nintendo Switch you will have to play in one go without pauses or time accelerations available.

Despite everything, very comfortable to play lying on the sofa while watching some undemanding series or on the way during a trip.