Latest Reviews
Mini Review Ayo The Clown (Switch) - A Breezy Platformer That Yoshi Fans Will Enjoy
We all float down here
Ayo the Clown is something of a rarity; a pure 2.5D platform game set across bite sized linear stages. It owes a lot of its core gameplay ideas to classic Mario titles — and quite explicitly takes inspiration from various entries in the Yoshi series — with cute character design, levels that promote exploration and...
Review PICROSS S GENESIS & Master System Edition (Switch) - Picross X SEGA Could Have Been More
SAY-GUH
It’s rather impressive how much mileage Nintendo and Jupiter Corporation have managed to get out of the Picross franchise. The beloved number puzzle series has been going for a couple decades now, while the core gameplay all along the way has remained almost completely stagnant. Though the ‘main’ games have been entertaining enough in...
Review Skydrift Infinity (Switch) - Arcade-Style Sky Racing That's Short But Sweet
Just good fun, plane and simple
One of the most irritating things anyone can say online is: “Nobody asked for this.” It’s a cocky, unfairly harsh way of shutting down any new game that isn’t on a person’s own specific wishlist, and not only is it generally disrespectful, it can also be totally meaningless. After all, a game doesn’t have...
Mini Review Trigger Witch (Switch) - Guns And Witchcraft Of A Different Type
Fly me to the moon
Ever found yourself wishing that games like The Legend of Zelda featured a boatload of badass guns in addition to its staple Master Sword? Well, no, neither have we, if we're being honest. But there's clearly a market for such a game, as eastasiasoft's Trigger Witch proves. Part adventure RPG, part twin-stick shooter, this...
Mini Review Unbound: Worlds Apart (Switch) - All The Portals You Need
Is this cake a lie..?
Portals have always been cool, right? Valve's own genre-defining Portal remains to this day one of the greatest FPS games of all time, and we're sure even the most firm critic of the MCU can't watch the Endgame portal scene without feeling just a little bit emotional. Unbound: Worlds Apart makes smart use of portals as a...
Review Pokemon Unite (Switch) - Pokémon Divides In Free-To-Start MOBA
Fun, in the right circumstances
Since the original release of Pokémon Red and Blue on the Game Boy, The Pokémon Company has consistently tried to take its successful monster-collecting RPG through many different iterations, genres, and applications. Pokémon has taken forays into genres such as digital/physical card games, the Mystery Dungeon...
Review Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch) - A Masterful Conclusion To The Trilogy
What a blast
Few could’ve guessed that a Blaster Master reimagining would’ve been one of the standout releases of the Switch launch window line-up, yet Blaster Master Zero proved to be a potently enjoyable take on the retro classic. Then, a couple of years later, Inti Creates opted to follow it up with an all-new sequel that built upon the ideas...
Review Risk System (Switch) - A Smart And Gutsy Shmup
Do a barrel roll
Shoot-'em-up players are well known for enjoying a good graze. After all, who doesn't? Cows do, for example. But the important distinction between the bovine graze and the shmupper's graze is that the former involves feeding on grass while the latter refers to moving your craft close to bullets and other danger in order to accrue...
Review Samurai Warriors 5 (Switch) - Fast And Flashy Musou On Switch
Musou People Gonna Die?
Koei Tecmo's Samurai Warriors finally returns after a seven year hiatus with a soft reboot that takes the long-running saga back to its roots, focusing on a brash young Nobunaga Oda's unwavering determination to unify Japan whilst zeroing in on his relationship with Mitsuhide Akechi. Samurai Warriors 5 is a slick and stylish...
Review NEO: The World Ends With You (Switch) - A Striking Return To The Streets Of Shibuya
The rhythm is calling you back
For the past 13 years, fans of the Nintendo DS cult classic, The World Ends With You have been practically begging Square Enix to whip up a new entry in the world of the original. The vibes of that first venture are flavour-rich, boasting a bouncy and energetic soundtrack, a loveable cast of characters, and a combat...
Ryunosuke rises from the ashes
The last time we saw Phoenix Wright and friends, the stars of the Ace Attorney franchise, they were in a made-up country called Khura'in. Spirit of Justice came out for 3DS in 2016, and was relatively divisive — a lot of critics ranked it highly, but others found issue with its "wishy-washy" mechanics and its heavy...
Death to Heavenly Peter!
The very first moment you lay eyes on The Procession To Calvary you'll probably be reminded of the iconic British comedy series Monty Python, thanks to the use of cut-up, pre-existing classical artwork. However, while this is a huge part of the game's visual appeal, its sense of humour is actually more unique than that, and...
Cleaning up the streets
Back when belt-scrolling brawlers were the arcade genre of choice for millions of players worldwide, Capcom's output was considered by many to be the gold standard. Titles like Final Fight and Alien Vs. Predator pulled in an astonishing amount of revenue during this period, but the company didn't have the genre all to itself;...
Review Cris Tales (Switch) - A Gorgeous Indie JRPG That Does Just Enough To Stand Out
The time is now
Time travel has long been a concept that JRPGs have loved playing with. Titles like Chrono Trigger and Radiant Historia oriented their stories around time-hopping misadventures, while games like Bravely Default and Grandia have found fresh and interesting ways to involve time manipulation in the flow of combat. Cris Tales—the...
Review Cotton Reboot! (Switch) - The Wonderfully Playable "Cute 'Em Up" Is Resurrected For Switch
Bullets and Broomsticks
Witches and shoot 'em ups have proven to be an enduring alchemy for gaming’s prevailing niche, with the likes of Magical Chase, Gunbird, Deathsmiles and Trouble Witches casting a spell of bullet patterns over several generations of gamer. Success Corp. released Magical Night Dreams Cotton in 1991. One of the earliest...
Review Out Of Line (Switch) - A Gorgeous Puzzle-Platformer That Doesn't Quite Pay Off
A game stuck in limbo
Out of Line really could have been so much more. Developed by Nerd Monkeys, it’s a puzzle platformer that feels like a riff on earlier modern classics such as PlayDead’s Limbo and Inside; it’s a linear experience that features action set-pieces and copious puzzles to drive its narrative, but never really capitalises on...
Review The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (Switch) - A Remaster That Truly Soars
A Legend Reborn
Returning to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword some ten whole years down the line from its original release, you may be expecting, as we certainly were, to be greeted by a core game that's unavoidably, naturally, beginning to show its age in some regards. It stands to reason, this is an entry in Nintendo's storied franchise that's...
Review Boomerang X (Switch) - Frantic First-Person Action That'll Keep You Coming Back
Ninja glidin’
Boomerangs are cool, right? Over the last few decades, we’ve seen a number of bonkers-looking video game weapons such as Cloud Strife’s Buster Sword, Samus’ hand cannon, and even Mario’s very own F.L.U.D.D device. But when it comes to real-life weapons, nothing quite screams cool like a deadly, razor sharp boomerang. It’s a...
Review Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (Switch) - A Fine Action-RPG With Performance Issues On Switch
Ysy like Sunday morning
It’s been a little over three years since we last saw a new entry in the Ys (rhymes with “geese”) franchise, when Lacrimosa of Dana broke the nearly twenty-year period where new entries skipped Nitnendo consoles. We absolutely loved that release, and now that Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is out, we can confidently say that it...
Review Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin (Switch) - A Franchise Riding High
An ideal introduction to the series
Monster Hunter is a series with a longstanding tradition of being impenetrable to casual first-time players, with systems layered upon systems and tricky combat. In the mainline series Monster Hunter: World provided a multi-platform mainstream breakthrough, while on Switch the recent Monster Hunter Rise followed...
Review Sky: Children Of The Light (Switch) - An Experience That Soars On Switch
A mobile marvel
When Sky: Children of the Light (or just ‘Sky’ in-game) launched back in 2019 on iOS, it was met with well-deserved critical acclaim. Some were dismayed that the follow-up to the iconic adventure title Journey would be shackled to the mobile world, but after laying eyes on the gorgeous visuals, simplistic gameplay, and inspired...
Review Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Ghoul Patrol (Switch) - A Classic That Deserves Better
Zombie. Zombie. Zombie. Compilation.
Well, this has been a long time coming. Lucasarts’ beloved top-down ghoul-‘em-up Zombies Ate My Neighbors has finally come to Switch, missing in action since its release on the Wii Virtual Console back in 2009. And this time it’s brought its follow-up, the somewhat-maligned Ghoul Patrol, in a...
Review Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! (Switch) - A Cute And Absolutely Horrifying Dating Sim
Thus with a kiss I die
You've probably heard of Doki Doki Literature Club. The anime dating simulator achieved massive popularity largely through word of mouth, and the Switch version — which this review is about, obviously — comes almost four years after its debut, which means you've either already played it, or you've heard about it and not...
Review Worms Rumble (Switch) - Fun Traversal, But A Limited Battle Royale Spin-Off
War has changed
If you’ve ever played a Worms game, chances are you know more or less how it works by now. Two or more teams wage war within the confines of a 2D destructible arena, each taking turns to make their move in a strategic battle of wits and firepower. It’s a formula that, despite some missteps here and there, simply works. So when...
Review Destroy All Humans! (Switch) - Ray Guns And Probes Abound In This Silly, Simplistic Remake
Alien Resurrection?
Black Forest Games' remake of 2005's Destroy All Humans! issues a warning to players upon launching into its campaign for the very first time. The overall experience, it says, has been upgraded but the content, the story, words and images, remain the same and may be shocking to modern human brains. It's an honest acknowledgement...
Review Mushihimesama (Switch) - A Cave Classic With The Right Kind Of Bugs
A bug's life
Arcade shoot-em-ups in the 1980s may have started out as largely science fiction, but there have long been efforts in the genre to differentiate games with unique themes. One of the most interesting of these is Cave’s Mushihimesama (“Bug Princess”), which takes place in a world filled with enormous insects. It was initially...
That’s the spirit
Just how many Metroidvanias is too many? It really feels at this point like the Switch is being completely overloaded with titles from the genre, but if we continue to receive quality experiences like Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, then that’s a-okay with us! Despite its odd title (which is also a blatant nod to the...
Review Disgaea 6: Defiance Of Destiny (Switch) - A Series High Point, Just Not For Performance
Zed's dead, dood. Zed's dead.
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny feels like an oddly topical title for Nippon Ichi Software. About two years ago, the company effectively ran out of money following a catastrophic mobile game launch, and it certainly appeared for a while that Nippon Ichi was going to go under. Somehow, the publisher managed to weather the...
Mini Review DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods - Part One (Switch) - Rip, Tear, Repeat
Ah Hell, here we go again
It’s been eight months since the first expansion DLC for Doom Eternal launched on other systems and now it’s finally here on Switch. If that feels like a long time, consider that the main game took nine months to come to Switch: if anything, things are getting better! Sort of. The Ancient Gods Part One is a standalone...
Review Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch) - A Solid Swing, But Par For The Course
Don't worry, not a fore out of ten
Camelot is a studio that has, for many years, dutifully churned out mascot sports games for Nintendo. Players often go back to the retro days when pinpointing the company's best efforts, though if you go by most recent form — Mario Tennis Aces — the studio is still doing good work. After serving up court-based...