October2023

November2022

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January2022

  • Review Hollow 2 (Switch) - A Sequel That Shoots Itself In The Foot

    Game over, man, game over!

    Sequels are supposed to be better than their predecessors. Although such a statement doesn’t always ring true (plenty will have a lot to say about which of the Metroid Prime games is their favourite) the intention behind a sequel is to learn from and improve upon previous works - that’s the theory, at least. When...

October2020

  • Review Green Hell - A Brutal And Rewarding Open-World Survival Sim

    Welcome to the Jungle

    If you're a fan of relentlessly brutal open-world survival sims that fling you sans ceremony into a dangerous wilderness full of death and danger, then Creepy Jar's Green Hell might just be right up your street. Here is a survival effort that sticks admirably to its core conceit, never once allowing you an unearned foothold in...

March2020

  • Review Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Doesn’t Quite Nail The Landing

    In-flight entertainment

    Since this review was originally published, an update has reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. While we unfortunately cannot revisit games on an individual basis, it should still be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. When Nintendo revealed...

February2020

July2019

June2019

May2019

March2019

August2018

  • Review Realpolitiks (Switch eShop)

    Diplomatic impunity

    If the recent successes of Element and Bad North have taught us anything, it’s that the deep mechanical function of strategy games doesn't often work well when ported wholesale to a new platform. When you’re porting such a title, you really need to keep in mind the technical restraints of a console - and especially the...

July2018

  • Review NoReload Heroes (Switch eShop)

    We could be heroes, indeed

    NoReload Heroes is like one of those microwave meals you get from a discount store. On the surface, this title appears to be a tasty treat to get stuck into, but after a couple of mouthfuls of the DIY fast food, it’s a dish that becomes a bit of a slog to chew through. This isn’t to say this game doesn’t have some...

  • Review Star Story: The Horizon Escape (Switch eShop)

    Live. Die. Repeat.

    "NO FREE-TO-PLAY! NO LOOTBOXES! NO GRINDING!" proclaims the eShop trailer. Developer EvilCoGames boldly assures players that Star Story: The Horizon Escape contains "ONLY FUN!" While it’s amusing to throw tired conventions and unpopular trends under the bus, ‘fun’ is a vague descriptor. What’s fun about this turn-based...

May2018

  • Review Goetia (Switch eShop)

    Tree house of horrors

    For Abigail Blackwood, all is not as it seems. As the deceased former resident of a desolate town, you will be revisiting and exploring a once tranquil mansion and township on a quest to recall memories from nearly 40 years ago to figure out just what happened to you after you fell out of a window and were inexplicably brought...

  • Review Timberman VS (Switch eShop)

    Timber!

    Timberman VS is Digital Melody's Switch enhancement of its free-to-play arcade title first released on Android and iOS devices in 2014 (and eventually ported across to Steam in 2015). If the name wasn't already enough of an indication, it's a game about chopping trees as fast as you can until your hands hurt. Given its mobile roots, the...

February2018

  • Review Hollow (Switch eShop)

    Queasy does it

    Hollow is a difficult game to play. We don't mean that in the sense that it requires great skill to complete, or that its dark sci-fi horror world is especially harrowing. Those would both be valid, even praiseworthy qualities. No, Hollow is difficult to play in mostly all the wrong ways.  The game is perhaps best described as a...

  • Review Frederic 2: Evil Strikes Back (Switch eShop)

    Auto tuned

    Piano-playing, musically-dueling Polish composer Frédéric Chopin is back again, with a sequel to his stylish piano game Resurrection Of Music, by developer Forever Entertainment. This time, subtitled Evil Strikes Back, our heroic maestro's duty is to rescue his precious Muses from a new, sinister and enigmatic threat (weirdly...

  • Review Qbik (Switch eShop)

    It’s a block-eat-block world out there

    The hybrid design of Nintendo Switch makes it the ideal system for all types of games. As illustrated by previous releases on the platform, there are certain games catering to prolonged couch sessions while other titles have been providing audiences with shorter bursts of fun better suited to the daily...

  • Review Millie (Switch eShop)

    Don’t byte more than you can chew

    Jumping ship from the mobile market to Nintendo Switch, Forever Entertainment’s Millie promises to be a, “joyful, casual puzzle game that will tease both your wits and your memory,” but it forgot to mention another quality needed to properly enjoy this one: patience. Tread on your 100 legs lightly…. Equal...

December2017

November2017

  • Review Sparkle 2 EVO (Switch eShop)

    Falling off a DNA ladder

    In a shocking turn of events, arcade-styled games starring evolutionary entities searching through petri dish detritus for food are not in fact a dime a dozen. Sparkle 2 EVO is a game by which you experience a world not unlike what you’d find under a microscope in biology class, in order to climb the chain of...

October2017

  • Review Violett (Switch eShop)

    Through the Looking Glass

    Point-and-click adventure games are in an interesting spot these days. There’s definitely an audience for them, but it seems that developers go out of their way to make them only cater to that specific crowd. Those who don’t have an affinity for finding hidden messages in game manuals or using an inventory item on every...

August2014

  • Review Frederic: Resurrection of Music (Wii U eShop)

    A decomposing composer, recomposed

    Public domain is often seen as the place cheap music games go to die, but it does not have to be this way. There is a lot of great music from the past that remains untapped; a multitude of virtuosos from previous centuries whose works can appeal within the context of a game. All that’s needed is the right...