Latest Reviews
Review The Wild At Heart (Switch) - A Gorgeous, Potent Mix Of Pikmin And Luigi's Mansion
Something borrowed, something new
The Wild at Heart feels like an amalgamation of some of Nintendo’s most unique gaming mechanics. Such a statement might strike fear into your heart, and we wouldn’t blame you. After all, many attempts by third-parties to imitate Nintendo’s design traits and tricks have fallen flat thanks to poor execution or a...
Review Ruined King: A League of Legends Story (Switch) - A Brilliant Experience Beyond Its Franchise
Comfortably out of League's league
It feels like the world of Runeterra has just entered the first stages of a great expansion. After being mostly confined to the MOBA for years, things like the new Arcane show, an impending MMO, and some spinoff games are starting to bring this rich universe to audiences that aren’t reached by the main title...
Review Death's Door (Switch) - Much More Than The Sum Of Its Zelda And Soulslike Parts
Ready to play the reaper's game?
Despite all the innovation that frequently takes place in the indie space, there’s an awful lot of games that are content to just do what’s already been done. It can be easy to become jaded, then, when a lot of these copycat games turn out to be worse than their clear inspiration. After all, who wants to waste...
Review Unsighted (Switch) - A Fantastic Top-Down Metroidvania With A Warm, Vintage Feel
The final countdown
Sometimes a great idea needs time to mature. Just because a smart concept isn’t executed all that well, it doesn’t mean there isn’t an excellent game coming a sequel or two down the line. What’s incredible about Unsighted is that first-time indie dev Studio Pixel Punk has created the refined experience of a longstanding...
Mini Review Dr. Mario 64 (N64) - Diagnosis: A Bit Rubbish
One to strike from the Medical Register
There's a sort of... B-tier of Nintendo puzzlers, isn't there? Stuff like Yoshi's Cookie and Wario's Woods. We'd argue, perhaps fruitlessly, that Dr. Mario slots into this little group rather better than the truly A-grade stuff. On Switch, in particular, there's an embarrassment of puzzling riches that we'd...
Mini Review Klang 2 (Switch) - A Noisy But Satisfying Rhythm Adventure
Pitch please
There isn’t exactly an abundance of rhythm games available on the Switch (certainly not recently), so it goes without saying that Klang 2 sticks out a bit from the pack simply by catering to this oft-overlooked genre. We’re not sure why Tinimations decided to bring Klang 2 over to the Switch before its predecessor, but from what...
Review Epic Chef (Switch) - Needlessly Bloated But Perfectly Edible
Undercooked life sim
Despite what its name suggests, Epic Chef is about more than just cooking. Taking place in the city of Ambrosia, you take on the role of Zest (like lemon zest, right? Ha!), who is chucked head-first out of a ship as it comes to a stop at the city docks. After meeting a few of the local residents, he makes his way to a run-down...
Review Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl (Switch) - A Middling Pair Of Remakes
Not so shining
It’s always difficult to know just how much of a game to change when you’re remaking it, and that is certainly true when it comes to the insanely-popular Pokémon series. Go too far, and you risk alienating the audience, as was evident with the enjoyable but somewhat simplified Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee Switch remakes of the...
A chaser
The weight of expectation can be a terrible thing for a game. When you expect nothing, every moment has the potential to offer a surprise and an unanticipated feeling of discovery, and the original Toree 3D benefited from absolute zero expectations when it launched back in April. Releasing out of nowhere for a bargain basement price,...
Review Beyond Blue (Switch) - Echoes Of Endless Ocean In This Noble Effort That Never Quite Gels
More wet than deep
Imagine you dragged yourself into a boring marine biology lecture and it turned out to be an awesome rock concert about dolphins. That’s the edutainment promise and it’s more or less what E-Line Media seem to be aiming for with Beyond Blue – but with a cool video game instead of the rock concert. There’s some serious cred...
Review A Boy And His Blob (Switch) - An Experience That Has Aged Gracefully
A solid re-released remake
For anyone not in the know, A Boy and His Blob has a surprisingly deep history, going all the way back to 1989. Originally released on the NES under the title A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, it was since re-imagined for the Wii by developer WayForward, dropping the subtitle in the process. As far as reboots go...
Review Airborne Kingdom (Switch) - A City Builder Looking For The Right Balance
A city, lighter than air
If you’re someone who’s roamed the streets of Bioshock Infinite’s floating city of Columbia and found yourself wondering exactly how a city like that might actually be feasible, you’re in the right place. Airborne Kingdom is a city builder that takes to the skies, tasking you with creating your very own floating...
Wasted
Since this review was originally published, updates have reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. Unfortunately, we cannot revisit games on an individual basis, but it should be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. <related ids="151863"> It sho
Review Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise DLC (Switch) - A Slice Of Designer Heaven
The 3DS spin-off concept finds its true home
Back when Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer was released on 3DS it was considered by some to be a slightly strange beast. It was enjoyable and charming enough, but its main issue was that it was a tough sell as a standalone retail game. Once you took the plunge it was a lovely time, but the...
Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time
The Star Wars universe has always been far richer and more interesting than just the small slice shown off in the massively popular films, although most of this expanded lore has since been ‘decanonized’ shortly after Disney acquired the IP. One of the most notable parts of this legacy content was...
Mini Review Heaven's Machine (Switch) - Short, But Unfortunately Not Sweet
A bullet hellish experience
Heaven's Machine is the first of Super Rare Games’ ‘Super Rare Shorts’ series; brand new indie games only released on the Switch in physical form and only available to buy during a short open preorder window. It's certainly an unusual idea but, unfortunately, this is probably not the start they were hoping for...
Review My Singing Monsters Playground (Switch) - A Fun, Minigame-Only Alternative To Mario Party
Monster Mayhem
Party games feel right at home on the Switch, don’t they? With the recent launch of games like Mario Party Superstars and Fisti-Fluffs, it feels like there’s always something new to play within the multiplayer genre. Tossing its hat into the ring, My Singing Monsters Playground shares much of the same DNA as Nintendo’s own Mario...
Review Unpacking (Switch) - An Emotive Experience, Beautifully Packaged On Switch
Living in a box
Videogames: pure escapism. Enact extreme, often immoral, experiences that you would never dare explore in real life: steal a car, murder hundreds of people, grow a moustache and stamp turtles to death. But Unpacking ups the ante: how would it feel to keep your cutlery in the second drawer down? Yes, a journey into the mind of a...
Mini Review Gynoug (Switch) - Switch Takes Another Fine Shmup Under Its Wing
Flappy bird[man]
It’s obvious from the moment you start Gynoug that this is another release from the same team that recently re-gifted the world Gleylancer, presenting players as it does with the same options using the same interface, just with a different Mega Drive shmup running underneath it all. This is great. As we mentioned in our other...
Review Blue Reflection: Second Light (Switch) - A Stunning-Looking Anime Adventure
Back-to-school days have never been this weird
There are few joys in life greater than a good mystery, but a mystery surrounding cute anime girls? That is even better. Blue Reflection: Second Light is the sequel to 2017’s Blue Reflection from developer Gust and publisher Koei Tecmo. This game sees a fresh cast of characters thrust into a new...
Mini Review Tunche (Switch) - A Quality Beat 'Em Up That'll Make You Fight Through Its Flaws
Ninja (side) scroll
Are you looking for a fight, mate? Are you looking for a fight? Sounds like the threatening enquiry of a ne'er-do-well, but it’s the height of decorum compared to the typical inhabitant of a scrolling beat 'em up. Tunche is no different, as its assorted jungle pests don’t stop to ask how you feel about being licked, whomped,...
Review Voice Of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars (Switch) - Yoko Taro Deals An Impressive Card-Based RPG
A royal flush
Especially in more recent years, the eccentric Yoko Taro of Nier fame has made quite a name for himself as a game designer simply without an equal. Any project he works on is sure to be interesting and experimental in certain ways, and this trend has continued with his latest release: Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. Though this...
Mini Review TOEM (Switch) - A Relaxing, Snap-Happy Delight
Capture the moment
Toem is a charming photography game that’s full of great moments, a lot of heart, and clever puzzles. You’ll travel around the black and white world, encountering interesting characters, all set in diorama-style levels that are begging you to explore them. By solving their problems with your trusty camera, you’ll earn stamps...
Mini Review Circa Infinity (Switch) - Concentrated Concentricity Is Confoundingly Circular
Be there or be square
For centuries, the circle has left indelible marks on our culture: Wagner’s Ring cycle; Dante’s Inferno; Pythagoras’ Theorem; Domino’s Pizza. And now Kenny Sun’s Circa Infinity arrives on Switch to distract us from all of them – except maybe the pizza. Fresh on console, this puzzle/action indie platformer hit PC in...
Review Just Dance 2022 (Switch) - Still Fun, But Feels More Like An Ad Than A Game
Love Story?
Ubisoft's Just Dance returns once again to give us our annual dose of disco boogie action, and there's absolutely zero surprises in Just Dance 2022 if you've ever played an entry in this series before. There's a fairly solid bit of dance fun to be had with this one, but it's also overwhelmingly familiar stuff that takes every opportunity...
Yawn of the Dead?
Saber Interactive's World War Z is the very definition of a bland, middle-of-the-road game that takes very obvious inspiration from much better titles – in this case the Left 4 Dead series – and serves up a rather lazy rehash, excelling at nothing in particular while still providing a reasonably breezy good time, so long as...
Review Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch) - The Best Entry Yet In This Dark, Engrossing RPG Series
A HEE-HOme run
Shin Megami Tensei V has been a long time coming. The last mainline entry in the series was released over eight years ago for the 3DS, while the last home console entry was another ten years before that. Moreover, Shin Megami Tensei V was one of the first games ever revealed for the Switch, mere months after the console itself was...
Review Demon Turf (Switch) - A Tight, Stylish 3D Platformer With Plenty Of 'Tude
Off the hook
If there’s one thing gamers constantly crave, it’s a decent 3D platformer. Though the genre has seen its fair share of all-time classics, it’s safe to say its popularity waned as shooters and action-RPGs ascended through the 2000s. Indeed, unless a 3D platformer comes bearing the name ‘Mario’, ‘Crash’, or ‘Spyro’,...
Review Pikmin Bloom - Pokémon GO's Sister Title Is A Glorious, Glorified Pedometer
These blooms were made for walkin'
While fans of Nintendo's delightful Real-Time Strategy series patiently await the long-rumoured next mainline entry, Niantic has served up a new mobile Pikmin experience to while away the time, an application that looks suspiciously similar to the company's previous project involving Nintendo (or a Nintendo-aligned...
Review Blazing Rangers (NES) - A New NES Game In 2021? Youbetcha, And It's A Good 'Un
Toasty!
Gaming is not short of NES-like experiences these days; titles filled with 8-bit-style blocky pixels, beepy music, and some controllable character for you to take from the left side of the screen to the right. These games tend to chase the past from a comfortable distance, the harsh technical restrictions of almost 40 years ago something to...