Common Sense Media Review
By Chad Sapieha , based on child development research. How do we rate?
Office-themed puzzler rewards creative and logical thinking.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
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Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Good Job!
Parent and Kid Reviews
What’s It About?
GOOD JOB! is set in an office run by a CEO who lets his child run wild through the building while trying to be helpful. He (or she) takes on tasks such as fetching equipment, fixing the internet, and mopping up bathroom spills. But he's also a whirlwind of chaos, frequently bumping into and destroying furniture, messing up files, and disrupting other workers trying to do their jobs. Each task is framed as a puzzle with obstacles that must be overcome. For example, fetching people to attend an important meeting might involve opening electronically activated and motion-detecting doors and finding chairs for each attendee to sit in as you drag them to the board room. Novel solutions are typically available for most tasks, allowing players to come up with their own ways of doing things. You'll be scored based on how fast you accomplish the task and on how little damage you manage to do to the office while performing it. You can replay each puzzle as many times as you like -- to get a better score or simply to go back to search for any missed collectibles -- by walking to and entering the area of the building in which it is set. A co-op mode allows pairs of players to take on tasks together.
Is It Any Good?
This quirky puzzler defies easy comparison. Good Job! draws players in with a simple yet alluring presentation composed of brightly colored objects and stick figures viewed from a raised isometric perspective, then grabs attention with an unexpected level of interactivity. Players can move just about anything by grabbing it or just bumping into it. You need to be careful not to be too destructive or distracting, though. Simply nudging a table won't adversely impact your score, but get a little rougher, and you'll start to break stuff and annoy people, resulting in a worse grade at the end of the puzzle. Restraining yourself can be hard, though. The game's physics allow for all sorts of impish shenanigans, like using a power cord stretched taught across a hallway to create a slingshot-like band that can launch cabinets and chairs across the office. Experimenting to see what the game will allow you to do is half the fun.
Indeed, the freedom given to get things done your own way can be gratifying. Unlike many puzzle games, which force players to identify very specific solutions, much of what you do in Good Job! is up to you. You don't have to follow a set path or go about things a certain way -- you can instead create your own solution. Your way of accomplishing a task may not be the most efficient or least disruptive means available, but coming up with a novel solve can prove much more satisfying and rewarding than simply working out how to do something the way the designers want us to. It's often funnier, too. There's plenty of opportunity here for players to make themselves laugh as they bumble their way through the office and discover new things they never knew they could do. Good Job! is a bit eccentric, but puzzle lovers with a sense of humor and a creative streak should be well served.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. Good Job! allows players to freely explore the office and progress at their own pace. How many puzzles do you typically take on in a single play session?
If someone is paying you to do a job, your responsibility is to do that job as well as you can. What sort of behavior should lead to reprimands or dismissal from a job?
Game Details
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Nintendo of America
- Release date: March 26, 2020
- Genre: Puzzle
- ESRB rating: E for Mild Fantasy Violence
- Last updated: March 31, 2020
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