There’s a weird sort of effect where when you see a promo for a game you envision a certain type of play, and when the style doesn’t fit your concept it can be disappointing. When I first saw the news for The Otterman Empire I envisioned a sort of jetpack-driven shooter adventure with plenty of cute but challenging enemies to take on. Well, it really isn’t that, it is instead ideally a multiplayer game where you and friends will take each other in a variety of scenarios, some more geared towards straight shooting and others with a bit of a more strategic bent. Playing solo you can manage, and you’ll be able to unlock new characters and cosmetics, but the main event is group play. Unfortunately, whether it’s the controls that can feel a little unresponsive (the double-tap to roll requires a very fast tap, surprisingly so against the norm) or just what feels like a lack of chemistry in the big picture of the gameplay it just never quite feels like it comes together to be compelling. To its credit there really aren’t games of this kind that would make for competition on the eShop, but unless you’re truly looking for this sort of experience (and maybe playing as a family since that could diminish the expectations for something more exciting) it probably won’t satisfy.