May2019
Review Resident Evil 0 - A Prequel That Old-School Fans Should Reinvestigate
Training day
Capping off the trio of games from Capcom's survival horror series to drop simultaneously on the eShop, Resident Evil 0 is a prequel to the seminal original and something of a black sheep in the family. First developed for Nintendo 64 before shifting to GameCube, it launched in 2002 just after REmake and, standing in direct comparison,...
Review Resident Evil - A Great Version Of A Classic Which Stubbornly Refuses To Get With The Times
REvisit the survival horror
The original Resident Evil is a strange creature. Despite being tinkered with various times and receiving a substantial facelift, the core game seems unnaturally resistant to modification and remains resolutely of its time. It’s somewhat fitting that the fundamental mechanics refuse to be fiddled with, and each...
Review Resident Evil 4 - An Ageing Masterpiece Which Deserves More Care And Attention
Whaddayasellin’?
What a lovely position for the Switch to be in, hmm? The eShop is bulging with quality games – ported, brand new, indie, AAA – and every week there’s a fresh delivery. It says something that one of the very best video games of all time is slipping out on a Tuesday as a digital-only release. And Resident Evil 4 still is one...
April2019
Review Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - Monster Hunter Meets Darks Souls
Hardcore Pawn
While Capcom actually has a firmer grounding the world of RPGs than we give it credit for – Breath of Fire, anyone? – the company's name doesn't instantly spring to mind when discussing the genre; that's what made the release of Dragon's Dogma in 2012 such an unusual event. Following hot on the heels of FromSoftware's...
Review Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy - An Especially Fine Courtroom Drama
I am (still) the law!
Visual novels can be very hit-and-miss at times. Without the right story and dialogue married to the correct balance of interactivity from the player, they can too often descend into dull melodramas where player agency is reduced to skipping through an endless stream of cutscenes. So when the very first Ace Attorney confidently...
January2019
Review Onimusha: Warlords - A Classic Action Title Gets Resharpened For Switch
Way of the blade
While Capcom is busy remaking the Resident Evil series’ first and most memorable entries, one of its lesser-known (or perhaps less commonly recalled) series is also getting the revival treatment. Sure, it's more of a HD rez-up than a full-blown recreation, but Onimusha: Warlords is a faithful port of a PS2 classic that benefits...
October2018
Review Mega Man 11 - A Glorious Return To Form For One Of Gaming's Greatest Heroes
Return of the king
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Mega Man in action. 2010’s retro revival Mega Man 10 was the last time the Blue Bomber received a new release, with Capcom being seemingly hesitant to give the character a spotlight after the very public departure of Keiji Inafune, the iconic designer of the robotic hero. Since the...
September2018
Review Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle - Nirvana For Side-Scrolling Fighter Fans
Coins not required
While it can't take credit for creating the genre, Capcom is arguably one of the most important companies ever to work in the realm of side-scrolling beat 'em ups. Entries like Renegade, Double Dragon and Golden Axe may have established the template of the humble 'belt scroller', but it was Capcom's seminal 1989 effort Final Fight...
August2018
Review Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch)
Let the hunt begin, again!
Everything changed for Capcom’s Monster Hunter series in January 2018, which saw the successful release of Monster Hunter: World on the PlayStation 4. Not only did the series change platforms from Nintendo’s family to that of Sony’s (a reversal of the situation that took place only a few years beforehand, when it...
Review Okami HD (Switch eShop)
They're good dogs, Brent
Nowadays, Platinum Games is one of the most respected names in gaming when it comes to action titles, but long before the studio was founded, many of its staff members were part of a Capcom subsidiary called Clover Studio. Clover made its name on producing interesting new IP instead of sequels, and its magnum opus was the...
July2018
Review Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 (Switch eShop)
It really should've ended at X5
The first five Mega Man X games, while slightly uneven, made for a mostly consistent experience, as they were all envisioned and planned by Keiji Inafune, one of the most influential figures to work with the series. Inafune only intended for there to be five games in the Mega Man X series, but the financial success of...
Review Mega Man X Legacy Collection (Switch eShop)
Xcellent
After releasing six games in the classic Mega Man franchise, Capcom had a working formula for the Blue Bomber down to a science, but things were getting rather tired. Mega Man needed something more than a charge shot or a slide move to mix up the gameplay, but that core loop of action platforming and fighting robot masters didn’t need to...
May2018
Review Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (Switch)
Handsome fighters never lose battles
Street Fighter may have been surpassed by the likes of Resident Evil and Monster Hunter in Capcom's enviable stable of IP, but for gamers of a certain age, the merest mention of the name itself is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention. In the early '90s, Street Fighter was...
Review Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (Switch eShop)
'Meh'ga Man
After Capcom released the initial Mega Man Legacy Collection, it seemed likely that the company would eventually release the rest of the series in another collection. Sure enough, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 came to pass, and while it mostly does the same things its predecessor did, the experimental and varying nature of the games...
Review Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch eShop)
A legacy to be proud of
Until recently, it seemed that Capcom wasn’t all too interested in the Mega Man series, which understandably upset a lot of fans who grew up alongside the Blue Bomber. Though Mega Man has starred in a lot of games, it’s the original NES releases that arguably stand as the most iconic, which makes Mega Man Legacy...
December2017
Review Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (3DS eShop)
Quality sustained!
It's not entirely fair to say that the 3DS is on its last legs, but with the success of Switch and Nintendo's recent mobile push, it's no secret that the dedicated handheld is entering its twilight years. Rather than ignoring the 3DS and slowly pushing it out of the public eye and relevancy, Nintendo instead seems to be...
November2017
Review Resident Evil Revelations Collection (Switch)
Split personalities
Like one of its famously implacable boss creatures, the Resident Evil series keeps mutating into new shapes. It also has the uncanny habit of getting back up again when you think it's done and dusted. Which brings us to Resident Evil Revelations Collection, a loose splicing together of two well-regarded franchise spin-offs...
Review Resident Evil Revelations (Switch eShop)
The former Nintendo exclusive gets reanimated for Switch
Like one of its famously implacable boss creatures, the Resident Evil series keeps mutating into new shapes. It also has the uncanny habit of getting back up again when you think it's done and dusted. The first Resident Evil Revelations was made for the Nintendo 3DS and released back in 2012,...
Review Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Switch eShop)
A geniune revelation?
Like one of its famously implacable boss creatures, the Resident Evil series keeps mutating into new shapes. It also has the uncanny habit of getting back up again when you think it's done and dusted. Resident Evil Revelations 2 was a cross-generational console game that launched a few years after the 3DS original. It remains...
September2017
Review Monster Hunter Stories (3DS)
Pocket Monsters
Capcom’s Monster Hunter series has become something of a runaway success since its 2004 debut on the PlayStation 2, reaching millions of players on various platforms, and spawning an explosion of similar games in the ‘Hunter’ mold. Action RPGs with a focus on multiplayer teamwork and lengthy battles against massive monsters,...
May2017
Review Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (Switch)
"Now I will find a better challenge!"
Like Tetris, Doom and Minecraft., Street Fighter II is one of those games which will forever have a special place in the history of video games. Upon its initial launch in 1992 it captured the hearts and minds of an entire generation of players, triggering a genre explosion which would last for the remainder of...
September2016
Review Final Fight 3 (New 3DS / SNES)
Metro City rampage
It was a mistake to come back to Metro City, Guy realised. With the Mad Gear gang defeated he'd hoped for a pleasant day where he could catch up with people, but instead he finds himself in a tricky situation. Stood in the Mayor's office, he's trying desperately not to comment on Haggar's ridiculous ponytail. He can't take it any...
Review Final Fight 2 (New 3DS / SNES)
Samey sequel (sans selling point)
When Final Fight arrived on the SNES it had problems. The port of the side-scrolling beat 'em up classic looked reasonably close to the arcade title, but it cut out the industrial area, the two-player option and playable character Guy as well. A second attempt was made with Final Fight Guy that saw the Bushin ninja...
Review Mega Man X3 (New 3DS / SNES)
Flawed finale
It was 1995 or 1996 (depending on where you lived) and for the third year running Capcom released a Mega Man X game on the SNES. Further games in the series would follow but whilst X's 1-6 would arrive on the GameCube in Mega Man X Collection, Mega Man X3 would be the last in the series for the SNES and now presumably the New Nintendo...
Review Mega Man X2 (New 3DS / SNES)
Extra X
Thanks to 16-bit visual loveliness and some new moves, the first Mega Man X stood out from the many 8-bit Mega Man games that had popped up on the NES and Game Boy. Released the following year, this sequel may lack the freshness of that first title, but Mega Man X2 still provides the expected action-platforming fun, backed by some great...
