Review: Mika And The Witch's Mountain (Switch) - A Cute Ghibli-Inspired Tale That Doesn't Deliver

"Flying used to be fun until I started doing it for a living".

Kiki’s Delivery Service is a movie all about growing up. The night Kiki leaves home to complete a year of witch training, she excitedly overstuffs her bag, makes herself a broomstick that’s too small for her, and crashes into a couple of trees during her flight. She doesn’t have a speciality or skill, and upon arriving in the town of Koriko, she causes a ruckus by stopping traffic. Yet this all serves to set up Kiki’s growth, and the pain of becoming an adolescent and – eventually – an adult. She finds her place in the world, living above a bakery, delivering goods on her broomstick, and overcomes her fears to become the best version of herself.

Kiki is the heart of Studio Ghibli’s 1989 coming-of-age story, and it’s her brashness, positivity, and determination that has clearly rubbed off on Mika, the star of Chibig’s latest game, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain. There’s no greater influence here than the aforementioned movie; the premise of playing a witch delivery game with cel-shaded visuals and sprawling seas inspired by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was enough to smash through its Kickstarter goal. Yet, two years after the potion was brewed, we’re left with a game that has flashes of the heart of the Studio Ghibli classic, but is sadly completely forgettable in almost every single respect.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com