In multiplayer party game Cake Bash, you play as a delicious baked good in competition with three others for the attention of the next customer coming to your bakery.
To become the most attractive cake on the shelf, you must compete in a series of mini-games. After each game, contestants are awarded chocolate coins depending on how well you perform. You can then spend those chocolate coins on toppings that combine to make you as tasty as possible.
You start off by building your character. There are a number of different types of cake you can decide to be and you can customise them with a variety of colour options. As you play through more of the game, you unlock more of these choices. Every single option is absolutely adorable, with a little smiley face and stick-man arms.
You can play against your friends locally or online, or against bots programmed into the game. The bots are decently challenging to play against, so you’ll have plenty of fun even without other people around. They make for good enough opponents that you can quickly pick up the skills you need for each game.
The cake bashes are randomised, so you never know what you’re going to play next. There is a really good variety when it comes to types of games included and they all fit the central theme of delicious treats. In some games, you throw as many fruits as you can onto a tart. In one, you smash fortune cookies. In some, you run around the stage trying to collect as many sweets as you can and stick them to your cakey body.
The controls are simple. You run around, pick things them, throw things and punch things. If you hold down the attack button, you can throw an extra hard punch that will knock someone over for a moment. There is a good balance between battle style games and skill-based games, so players who lean towards different types of gaming will all find something to excel at.
The instructions for each game are presented clearly before each cake bash. They’re all really easy to pick up, but difficult enough that you’ll have to put the work in to master them.
The mini-games are further diversified by the selection of stages available to you. Before each game, you are presented with a choice of two possible stages and players vote for which they would prefer.
New stages, toppings and mini-games are all unlocked the more you play. The inventory helpfully tracks how much you have left to reveal.
Cake Bash is an incredibly cute game, with adorable designs and beautifully fluid animation. The juxtaposition of cupcakes with such charming faces bashing the cream out of each other is genuinely hilarious. The mini-games are great fun, with plenty of variety so the gameplay doesn’t get stale. You do have the option to just play your favourites on repeat as much as you like. As far as party games go, it’s definitely unique and is equally well suited to family gatherings or drunken all-nighters.
Review: Cake Bash (Nintendo Switch)
Great
Cake Bash is a great little party game with a lovely variety of mini-games, adorable playable characters and beautiful animation.