The Labo House is an exercise in showing off how the IR Camera on the right Switch JoyCon works.  You make a house and put the right JoyCon in the chimney, so the camera is basically in a dark room.  Then you can insert little tools you make into the windows of the house, and they have reflective stickers on them that signal the camera to do different things.  Place the Switch screen in the side of the house to view the action.

Here is a picture of the house and the three main tools you use.  The only problem with the house is that when you put the screen in, it gets a little side heavy and will tip over.  So that’s why the house is laying flat in this picture.  The three tools pictured are a button, a key, and a crank.  A fourth tool, not shown, is a cable, which is just two blocks with a string attached.

When you fire up the house game, you’ll view a room in the house on the screen, and then a little critter will pop in that you can interact with and play games with.  This little critter is pretty weird.  He has eyes inside his mouth, for instance.  Place different tools in the holes on the bottom and sides of the house to do different things with the critter.  We’ll go over all of them now.

When you put the button block on the side of the house, you can switch from day to night by pressing the button.  When you put in the crank button on the side, a mobile will pop out and when you turn it, it’ll revolve and play music, putting the critter to sleep like a baby.  And when you put the key button on the side, a faucet will appear.  Turn it on and flood the room with water, forcing the critter in an inner tube.  No you can’t drown him.

When you put the key block on the bottom, a gumball machine will pop out.  Turn it to dispense jelly beans which you can feed to your critter.  Putting the crank block on the bottom will make a fan appear and you can blow the critter around.  And finally, the button block will make Nintendo’s classic Ultra Hand grabber appear.  Press the button and the grabber will pull down a shade and when it pops up, the scenery in the house will change.  The Ultra Hand cameo made me think that Nintendo had some missed opportunities to put other classic characters and references into their Labo toys.  Like for the house, wouldn’t an Animal Crossing themed motif be perfect?

And finally, when you put the cable blocks in the holes, portals will appear like, well, Portal, and the critter and any foods will fall through them and come out the other side.  After trying all the buttons, I first thought, “That was it?  That’s pretty disappointing.”  But then I read you can combine the buttons in different holes to do even more things!  So we’ll go over those now.

Put the button block and the crank block on the side windows to play a hamster wheel running game.  By winning these games, you can earn food that you can feed to your critter.  Depending on what food you give it, it’ll change color and appearance.  In fact, if you put the button block on the side and the crank block on the bottom, you can view a dressing room and see which foods do what to the critter.

And if you put the crank block on the side and the button block on the bottom, you can play a jump rope game but it’s hard since you have to turn the crank and press the button at the same time!  And by putting the button block on the side and the crank block on the bottom, you can play a balloon game where your critter floats on a balloon, and you must tilt the house to steer it past spikes.  Go as high as you can without popping!

Put the key block on the side and the button block on the bottom to play a bowling game.  Push the button to send the critter rolling, and tilt the screen to aim it for the pins.  And you can play a mine cart game by putting the button and key blocks on the sides.  If you put the crank block and key blocks on the sides, you can microwave food and turn it into cupcakes for the critter to eat to change even more.

If you put the key block on the side and the crank block on the bottom, you can turn a barrel to aim and shoot at prizes (food).  Put he crank block on the side and the key on the bottom and the whole room turns underwater and you can play a water ring toss game, but it’s pretty hard!  And finally, if you put all the blocks in at the same time, you can view a gallery of all the rooms, food, and games you’ve viewed.  So yeah, the combos really expand what you can do with the Labo House.  Later!  –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews