The 3D platformer was a staple of my childhood. Although its heyday has arguably passed, the genre still delivers satisfying action. Big Hops by developer Luckshot Games ($19.99, reviewed on Switch 2, also available on PC, PS5, and Switch) continues that legacy thanks to its impressive controls and well-crafted environments that evoked memories of classic 3D Mario titles. On top of that, the platformer forges its own modern indie identity, with a charming presentation and physics-driven shenanigans that deliver creative highs—and occasional lows. Still, I found Big Hops an appealing and robust Switch 2 game that shouldn't be overlooked.

Controls and Characters: A Hopping Good Time

Ever since gamers hopped around Peach's castle in Super Mario 64, precise movement controls have separated masterpiece 3D platformers from middling ones. In this regard, Big Hops wowed me in its opening seconds. I played as Hop, a young frog, and as you'd expect, he's good at jumping. Navigating Hop around the opening area is incredibly satisfying. His movements provide clear feedback, making me feel as if I could position him exactly where I wanted without fighting stiff, unresponsive controls.

(Credit: Luckshot Games/PCMag)

What helps is that, from the start, Hop has advanced, expressive movement mechanics reminiscent of a deep Mario moveset. Controlling Hop, you can roll, dive, wall-run, and charge his jump. Likewise, he can bolt over small gaps or cling and climb nearly any surface as long as he has stamina. And that tongue of his is ideal for swinging and maintaining momentum after landing, similar to the movement in Penny’s Big Breakaway. You needn't master all these techniques; in fact, I rarely engaged with the optional collectibles that tweak attributes like reduced friction when Hop slides on his belly. However, gaining a greater understanding of Hop's moves throughout the adventure was an enjoyable experience. Big Hop is a title I can't wait to see speedrunners break wide open.

Big Hops' controls quickly establish a recurring theme: The game is more sophisticated than it appears. That applies to other aspects of early gameplay, too. While the cartoon world's art style is a bit flat, it's lovingly presented, with colorful, varied locales centered around different communities. For example, I visited a cowboy town with bunny citizens and otters working on oil rigs. The characters are fully voice-acted, and they display more complex emotions than you'd expect in this cheery genre. The story builds nicely over the 10-hour adventure as the humble frog embarks on a true hero's journey. 

Stages: Lovely Levels to Leap Through

The game's level design is similarly, unexpectedly ambitious. Big Hops is split into three major zones, separated by Super Mario Galaxy-esque interludes through a twisty, gravity-shifting dark dimension. There's a general critical path to follow, but you have a fair amount of freedom within each series of sandboxes. For example, I spent time helping the bunnies in town before heading off to the next objective. I also stumbled across an optional, self-contained platforming challenge. Even mandatory quests offer choice, like fixing three broken machines in whatever order you'd like.

(Credit: Luckshot Games/PCMag)

Even Big Hops' more scripted sequences delight through their sheer inventiveness. They push the moveset to its fullest and inspire that great feeling when a platformer makes you realize you can skillfully reach areas that initially seemed out of reach. For example, I climbed to the top of an oil platform, shrewdly recharging Hops' stamina by snacking on bugs. From there, I took in the structure and the many tasks I had to complete before moving on to the new objective: sliding pipes into position with Hops' tongue. It felt like platforming in a real place, not a collection of abstract blocks.

(Credit: Luckshot Games/PCMag)

Aside from a pair of boss fights, Big Hops eschews combat, forcing the game to mine even more creativity from the platforming mechanics. The power-ups are all about letting you alter the environment to suit your hopping needs. You can drop a mushroom to spawn a bounce pad or torch obstacles with a hot pepper. There's a lot of inventiveness on display.

While certain power-ups are needed in certain scenarios, you're encouraged to dream up your own solutions, and, usually, the levels are flexible enough to make them work. You can store power-ups in your backup and use them later, even in places you aren't supposed to. It's very empowering. Because figuring out the intricacies of how and where to use each power-up takes practice, it adds to Big Hops' deceptive depth. I was impressed at how, by placing just a few sticky globs on makeshift platforms, I turned an insurmountable expanse into a cakewalk.

(Credit: Luckshot Games/PCMag)

Physics-Based Actions: A Mixed Bag

Unfortunately, the game's main engine of imagination is also its biggest downside. So much of Big Hops is driven by physics, such as the speed of your swinging affecting your landing or your jump angle impacting how a bubble bounces. This leads to annoying inconsistencies, where slight variations in otherwise similar interactions yield different results. Sometimes this means I cheesed the game with jumps that didn't seem possible. But other times, I was frustrated when I couldn't tell what separated my successful executions from my unsuccessful ones.

It’s a shame, because along with excellent platforming, Big Hops mixes gameplay with clever puzzles. You rearrange tracks for a mine cart escape, use stealth to snap photos of criminals, and dig for dinosaur teeth. But when I knew I had a puzzle solution, the last thing I wanted to contend with was a fiddly physics system randomly working against me, deciding that my mine cart didn't align with the next track exactly right, sending me to my doom. 

I'm pleased that Big Hops allows for more player expression than the relatively simplistic Astro Bot, and the physics system is a huge part of how that all works. Donkey Kong Bananza provides similar freedom, but with more polish and greater predictability. Big Hops is a great game without qualifiers, but those disappointments reminded me that it's ultimately a smaller, slightly less polished release.

I also experienced several technical issues that affected my enjoyment while playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Generally, Big Hops suffered from unstable frame rates, perhaps due to the extensive physics calculations. I had to reset the game to resolve a graphical glitch. The game also crashed several times, sometimes after I completed a large task, forcing me to redo it. I encountered these problems even after updating to the latest patch at the time of this writing.