Video Game Review: Very Very Valet

Developer: Toyful Games

Publisher: Nighthawk Interactive

Genre: Party

Nintendo Switch

Silly cooperative party games are quite common ever since the fantastic Overcooked delivered a nearly perfect experience. While they vary in polish, the majority of these games are fun experiences, and it’s nice to have a lot of couch co-op options following a generation that only prioritized online play. Very Very Valet is the latest game to borrow the Overcooked formula, and this time players will be parking cars (or try to).

Like its peers in the genre, Very Very Valet comes with a simple premise. Players are valets, and they need to park and retrieves cars for clients. It sounds more mundane than it is since players will need to coordinate their movements and work together to overcome time limits and bizarre courses. They will also need to overcome some of the rockiest controls out there. Seriously, driving these cars can feel impossible sometimes.

It’s hard to tell if the rough controls are intentional or not. On one hand, the loose steering can lead to some hilarious results when combined with the bizarre stages. On the other, this can be an incredibly frustrating experience, especially since bad collisions and other negative results will happen due to the controls. It can feel like it’s not at all the player’s fault, which certainly hurts how easy it is to enjoy Very Very Valet. Similar games encourage both casual play and high scores, and Very Very Valet feels like it wants to give players that same experience. Unfortunately, having mistakes happen that are out of the player’s control makes it difficult to want to be precise throughout.

All of this isn’t saying that Very Very Valet can’t be a fun game. When played as a cooperative game that no one really takes seriously, it’s actually a blast. With four people, players can enjoy the chaos while also shooting for the best scores possible. The 20+ stages are all fantastically designed, offering players many new hazards and other mechanics that keep the experience feeling fresh. Unlike other games in the genre, Very Very Valet actually works as a single-player game. It’s not nearly as fun as playing with friends, but it’s at least possible and isn’t a bore to play through.

The visuals of Very Very Valet are fun, with a weird muppet style mixed with wacky worlds. The graphics themselves aren’t the cleanest things out there, but this isn’t really the type of game that players look for 4K experiences in. The music and sound effects are as outlandish as you would expect too. Overall, the aesthetic of Very Very Valet is quite fun, even if it doesn’t look superb.