Tag: Reviews - Page 27
Review Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath - Despite Its Rough Edges, This Is Still Worth A Look
Hunting outlaws in backwater towns never felt so odd
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath originally released for the Xbox in January 2005. Fifteen years on, we now have a Nintendo Switch version that feels like a fresh and interesting look at the Oddworld franchise, and one that’s aged extremely well. Not only has the game ported nicely to the console,...
Review SEGA AGES Shinobi - A True Arcade Classic Comes To Switch
Ninja skills
Arguably one of the most eagerly-awaited entries in M2’s acclaimed Sega Ages series, Sega’s classic ninja side-scroller Shinobi has pounced from the trees like a sneaky ninja to finally hit the Switch in its glorious arcade form. However, is one of Sega’s most beloved games still as awesome as we remember it? We're about to find...
Review Puzzle & Dragons Gold - Sadly, Not Everything That Glitters Is Gold
An unfortunate misstep in a beloved series
The Puzzle & Dragons series has been a juggernaut in the mobile gaming space for close to a decade now, due in no small part to its distinctly satisfying blend of RPG elements with match-3 puzzle action. Even today, the series still routinely pulls grosses well into the billions, which has naturally led...
Mini Review Lydia - One Of The Most Emotionally Impactful Games On Switch
Some monsters can’t be seen
Lydia is a powerful game. It’s the kind of experience that, while very short, will make you stop and think about its story long after the end credits roll. It’s tense, funny, and heartbreaking all in one go, and with the option to purchase additional DLC in support of the Finnish A-Clinic Foundation, its underlying...
Review Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times - Passable Fantasy Role-Playing Action
Dungeon brawling
The Warhammer licence has spawned countless games over the years – from surprisingly decent shooters to god-awful tactical offerings, and everything in between – but it’s when developers attempt to emulate the tabletop gaming that things can get really interesting. The original 1995 version of Warhammer Quest was recreated in...
Review 198X - A Fabulous, If Fleeting, Celebration Of Arcade Gaming's Golden Era
Short, but definitely sweet
There's no denying that for many people, video games offer a means to escape the hum-drum of their daily lives and enter a world that promises plenty of excitement, as well as a stern challenge. For the young protagonist of 198X – known only as 'The Kid' – there's something more than that; video games are how he deals...
Review Hypercharge: Unboxed - Lighthearted FPS Action That Mixes Toy Story With Small Soldiers
Small and deadly
The Switch’s ever-expanding library of games is slowly but surely bringing more and more FPS titles into the fold. Juggernauts like Overwatch and Alien: Isolation rule the roost, but there’s definitely a conspicuous gap in the market for a true co-op FPS game, and that’s where Hypercharge: Unboxed comes in. Channeling the...
Review To The Moon - A Powerful Interactive Story You Really Need To Experience
Memories are made of this
Kan Gao's To The Moon is a game whose genesis was, according to Gao, the illness of his grandfather and how that event led him to consider that, when his time came, he might end up regretting decisions he'd made throughout his life. It's a consideration we'll surely all have at some point or another about a situation that...
Review AO Tennis 2 - A Decent Tennis Sim Ruined By Woeful Performance On Switch
Cue a backhanded compliment
Despite the fact that there are now officially more games on the Switch eShop than there are people living on the planet (citation needed), it’s fair to say tennis fans have severely limited options when it comes to games on the system. Sure, Mario Tennis Aces is great and all, but those looking for a more serious...
Review Super Crush KO - The Only Issue With This Superb Side-Scrolling Brawler Is Longevity
Cat lovers, unite!
Vertex Pop, developer of Graceful Explosion Machine, is back - and it has shifted from 2D shooter to a brawler with impressive results. If you’re a pet owner, you’ll know the very unique bond you have with your animal. They’re your best friend, your pride and joy, and you’d do anything for them – just look at John Wick...
Review Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore - A Pitch-Perfect, Feel-Good JRPG
A perfectly Chrom-ulent port
The number of big Wii U exclusives that have still yet to receive Switch ports is well into single figures now, with Nintendo seemingly all too happy to continue queuing up its back catalogue and giving each title another chance at success (rightly so, in our opinion). Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is the latest game to get...
Review Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX - A Fine End To A Fine JRPG Trilogy
Dawn to dusk
The third and final part of the Dusk trilogy of Atelier games, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk DX is another generous helping of light JRPG action with the series' trademark deep alchemy system at its core. Telling the story of two very different young alchemists, Shallotte and Shallistera, it sees you choose from one of these...
Dusk to Dusk
The second game in the Dusk trilogy, Atelier Escha and Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX continues to take part in the same universe as Atelier Ayesha, with some returning characters popping up here and there – but, for the most part, this is very much its own tale and one that, unfortunately, gets off to quite a stilted start. The...
Review Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX - A Great Introduction To The Series
Witch Time
Hot on the heels of November's Switch release of the excellent Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout, Koei Tecmo treats fans of this long-running JRPG franchise to re-releases of the Dusk trilogy, presented in DX editions which incorporate the extra content and changes found in the "Plus" versions of the games found on PS...
Mini Review Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters - Plays Like Smash Bros. After A Few Too Many Drinks
You wanna take this outside?
Fighting games are generally known for their slick, precise gameplay. Even something like Super Smash Bros., well known for its accessibility, boasts a remarkable level of depth, perfect for competitive play. Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters doesn’t quite match up (in fact, it really doesn’t), but its bizarre, physics-based...
Mini Review Gigantic Army - A Cybernator Homage That's Almost Over Before It Starts
Rocky robot
If you are a hardcore shooting game fan, three-man "dōjin" developer Astro Port might ring a bell. This small team has a clear love for the genre and have produced several shooters based on classics from the 16-bit generation over the past decade. It was a bit of a surprise to see an “old friend” pop up on both Switch eShop and in...
Review SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays - Brilliant Strategy RPG Action Bursting With Content
A Gundam 40th anniversary party, SD style
It takes a certain type of western gamer to be a Mobile Suit Gundam fan. You probably got hooked into mecha anime and spent your youth glaring at import gaming magazines, making lists of Gundam games you would either never play, or end up doing so decades after their original release after some brave fans...
Review Princess Maker – Faery Tales Come True - A Lazy Update Of An Often Boring Life Sim
Tangled
Princess Maker - Faery Tales Come True, otherwise known as Princess Maker 3, was first released all the way back in January 1997. A simulation/management game, it sees you take the role of parent to a ten-year-old fairy whose been transported into the body – and complicated social life – of a human. Over the course of eight years it's up...
Review Blacksad: Under The Skin - Technical Woes Make This A Tough Case To Crack
Feline rough
Detective games can be an unpredictable sort. Their quality often comes down to A) how engaging the core mystery is, and B) how well its mechanics blend with the traditional features of their chosen genre. At their collective best, Telltale and LucasArts really nailed this delicate balance, but some of the recent Frogwares Sherlock...
Review Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch - Not Quite As Smart 14 Years On
Doctor Why
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the original Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (or Brain Age, if you’re based in North America). Even though these days many credit the Wii with bringing gaming to non-gamers via the likes of Wii Sports, it’s crucial to remember that Brain Training was doing it first, shifting countless DS...
Review Princess Maker Go!Go! Princess - A Painfully Dull Spin On A Cult Series
Princess Maker No!No!
CFK's Princess Maker Go!Go! Princess takes the premise of the Princess Maker series – to guide a young fairy-turned-human through her formative years by planning all of her social interactions, classes, work and leisure time in order to make her into the best princess she can be – and turns it into a board game. Instead of...
Mini Review Ultimate Racing 2D - Accessible Action Which Sadly Isn't Much Fun
Stuck on cruise control
Top-down racers, whilst never boasting the same level of depth as their 3D counterparts, are reliably accessible. They tend to put a playful spin on what is otherwise an often daunting gameplay experience for newcomers, allowing almost anyone to dive right in immediately. Ultimate Racing 2D succeeds in this respect, boasting...
Review ESP Ra.De. Psi - The Best Shmup On Nintendo Switch, Period
M2 ShotTriggers' Switch debut is a thing of beauty
Before we begin our review of ESP Ra.De. Psi, M2 ShotTriggers' latest triumph, here's a little history for those who may not be intimately familiar with ESP Ra.De. and its place within the pantheon of shooting games. In 1998, the blossoming shmup developing studio, CAVE, just finished delighting and...
Review LastFight - A Weak Clone Of Capcom's Legendary Power Stone
Power Nap
Piranaking's LastFight attempts to recapture the crazy multiplayer chaos of Capcom's classic Power Stone series, lifting its signature chaotic gameplay wholesale and transplanting it into the world of cult comic book Lastman. All of the most recognisable elements of Power Stone – small 3D fighting arenas, numerous objects and weapons...
Mini Review Rush Rally 3 - A Cheap And Cheerful Rally Racer
Kicking up dirt
Rush Rally 3 is a pleasant surprise. Mobile racers that promise ‘console-quality’ graphics and performance rarely deliver on such lofty promises, but in this case, developer BrownMonster mostly pulls it off. It’s a solid rally game that delivers surprisingly authentic 60FPS gameplay and throws in a boatload of modes and...
Review Ashen - A Welcome Spin On The Dark Souls Formula
Ashes to ashes
Originally released back in December of 2018, Ashen takes the extremely well-worn "Souls" formula and transfers it to an enchanting, beautifully stylised world where you assume the role of a nameless, faceless hero charged with restoring the heart of the Ashen, a great bird God whom, when resurrected, will spell the end of an age of...
Review Tick Tock: A Tale For Two - An Enjoyable Two-Player Adventure That's Over Too Soon
To me, to you
The ability to play with friends is undoubtedly vital to the overall appeal and longevity of games in this day and age. Games like Splatoon and Overcooked rely almost solely on multiplayer, and even Super Mario Odyssey lets you bring in an additional player to help you out (although its effectiveness, in this case, is questionable)...
Mini Review STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace - A Typical Dating Sim With Series Trimmings
Just another Switch Dating Sim?
The Steins;Gate series is famous for several things: having a time-bending narrative, a dark world and engaging characters presented in a non-linear traditional visual novel format. It’s safe to say that it's a far cry from the deluge of other visual novels present on the Nintendo eShop, so is Steins;Gate: My...
Review Dauntless - A Monster Hunter Rival Which Suffers From Tech Issues On Switch
Join the hunt, for free
Back in 2004, Capcom released the first title in the Monster Hunter series for the PlayStation 2, kicking off a long and successful franchise while also creating something of a new RPG sub-genre. Since then, Capcom’s series has remained the undisputed king of this sub-genre, but many other players have arrived in recent...
Review Football Manager 2020 Touch - A Great Soccer Sim, But The Old Problems Remain
We've had it up De Gea with these controls
It’s fair to say that so far, Football Manager on Switch has been a bit like the Arsenal squad this season: there’s clearly some top quality in there but for some reason, it just doesn’t come together and work in a cohesive, seamless manner. That’s mainly because the Switch versions of Football...
Review Demon's Tilt - A Worthy Successor To Devil's Crush
Pinball wizard
Pinball games have been a part of video gaming practically since the beginning, and many consider mechanical pinball machines to be the precursor to the immersive interactive entertainment we enjoy today. Despite the sheer volume of digital pinball titles, it's striking that one name crops up with surprising regularity whenever you...
Review Gensou SkyDrift - A Mechanically Sound Mario Kart Clone That's Lacking In Longevity
Drive me home, please
If you aren’t familiar with the Touhou Project, it’s a series of ‘bullet hell’ shoot ‘em ups developed by Team Shanghai Alice, which actually consists of a single person who uses the nickname ZUN. Since his first release in 1997, ZUN has made a whopping 17 Touhou shooters, all of which enjoy a cult following for their...
Review Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger - A Classy Wild West Shooter Which Deserves A Second Shot At Fame
Red Dead Resurrection
In the days of the Old West, cowboys and outlaws often had their stories told in dime novels. Radio was still decades away and word of mouth spread slowly, so from the 1860s to the early 1900s, these cheap books printed on pulp paper were the main reason the likes of Buffalo Bill, Jesse James and Billy the Kid gained wide...
Review The Talos Principle: Deluxe Edition - Still A Fine First-Person Puzzler Five Years On
We must believe in free will - we have no choice
In the beginning, there was light. The Talos Principle opens with a peaceful looking, beautifully serene and gentle flight above the clouds - though all is not as it seems. Onscreen text informs us that a program is loading - and it's here that the game's robotic protagonist awakens, in a seemingly...
Review Big Pharma - Save The World By Curing One Cold At A Time
Make millions of dollars without a single side effect
Before playing Big Pharma we thought that drug companies were heartless corporations that preyed on the sick to make as much cold hard cash as they could. Having now run a few drug corporations ourselves, we still think that they’re heartless and prey on the sick, but now we're obsessed with...
Review Trover Saves The Universe - You Don't Have To Love Rick & Morty, But It Helps
Glued to your seats
Fresh from the studios of Squanch Games and the brainchild of Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, Trover Saves the Universe has made a somewhat surprising appearance on the Nintendo Switch. Does it capture everything that made Rick & Morty so hilarious? Do you need a high IQ to understand this game? Let’s see, shall...
Review Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - An Unforgivably Sloppy Port Of A Genre Classic
Nights into screams
Imagine if you bumped into an old friend you hadn’t seen in 17 years. You spent ages with them back in the day and over time you just drifted apart, but now you’re finally face-to-face with them again and you realised you’re delighted to see them after all this time. Now imagine if you and your newly-reunited chum went out...
Mini Review Heroland - A Fun Twist On The RPG Genre Which Loses Its Novelty Too Quickly
See you on Monday. Bring a sword
Video games really are magical. In a mundane world, they’re a wonderful form of escapism where anyone and everyone can be a hero. This is particularly true in the legendary resort known as Heroland, where folks from all walks of life are encouraged to visit and live out their best hero life. Except, you’re not...
Mini Review Arcade Archives In The Hunt - One Of The Most Unique Shmups You'll Ever Play
Don't call it sub-par
You could almost be forgiven for mistaking almost any given screenshot of In the Hunt for one of the submarine sections in the much more popular Metal Slug series. They're extremely similar visually, for a very good reason – Irem's cult favourite sub-'em-up was developed by the same team who went on to form Nazca and make the...
Review Groove Coaster Wai Wai Party!!!! - Unashamedly Japanese Rhythm Action Brilliance
P-A-R-T-Wai? Because we gotta
The Switch has become the go-to system for all manner of genres, and rhythm action is no different. You can’t move for rhythm games on the system, and even if you could, you would have to move to some sort of beat, because that’s the rule now. Groove Coaster: Wai Wai Party!!!! is the umpteenth example to make its...
Review Jamestown+ - Yet Another Fine Addition To The Switch's Shmup Stable
If you've got it, vaunt it
Originally released back in 2011 as Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony, Final Form Games' superlative shmup received almost unanimous praise as a slick and stylish shooter with engaging – and easy to understand – core mechanics. Playable in both solo and four-player local co-op, Jamestown+ is a beautiful,...
Mini Review Five Nights at Freddy's 4 - A Surprisingly Scary Return To Form
Freddy comes home
Everyone can relate to that feeling of being a young child and hiding under the covers out of fear of the imaginary monsters under your bed or somewhere in the house. It’s that paradoxical feeling of both power and vulnerability that made such experiences so memorable; you were ‘safe’ as long as you were under the covers, but...
Mini Review Riverbond - An Undemanding But Pleasant Couch Co-op Hack And Slasher
An unbreakable voxel bond
Riverbond is perhaps one of the most easy-going, simplistic games you’re likely to play this year. Taking place within a beautiful voxel world, you’ll embark on a number of missions set within eight different environments ranging from idyllic sea resorts to dark, dingy caves. The gameplay is a typical hack ‘n’ slash...
Review Shovel Knight Showdown - A Smash Bros. Challenger That's Perfect For Switch Parties
Have at you!
After completing its record-breaking Kickstarter run for Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games had its work cut out in terms of keeping the promises it made with stretch goals. The much-lauded three additional campaigns were what drew the most reaction from press and fans, but one other mode was announced which didn’t seem to grab nearly as...
Review Shovel Knight: King Of Cards - A Worthy Swan Song To A Legendary Platforming Series
The closing chapter of five years of shovelry
Nearly seven years ago, Yacht Club Games launched the Kickstarter for Shovel Knight, thus beginning the long journey towards building one of the most recognizable characters in the indie gaming space. After a record-breaking response from the community, not only did the game receive the funding it...
Review Deathtrap Dungeon Trilogy - A Somewhat Drab Retelling Of A Classic Series
Fighting (Fantasy) words
For readers of a certain age – to which this writer is very much a member – adventure gamebooks were the best. Splicing the agency of roleplay with the narrative depth of a fantasy novel, these souped-up ‘choose your own adventure’ novels took readers on all manner of dark and daring quests that could easily end...
Review Pine - An Ambitious Zelda Pretender That Fails To Find Its Feet On Switch
Pine; (verb) to languish, decline or weaken
Initially, we thought Pine was going to be a very pleasant surprise. It definitely doesn't bode well from the outset when the initial load takes just under three minutes. In situations like that, you can't help but wonder if the game has crashed. But no, patience was a virtue and in the time it took to fry...
Review Simulacra - An Interesting Horror Title That Doesn't Quite Hit The Mark
Tik Tok, you’re dead
What would you do if a mobile phone belonging to someone else was left on your doorstep? Chances are (in this day and age) the device is protected with face ID, fingerprint ID or a password and/or pin, so naturally any self-respecting citizen would turn it in to the police. But in Simulacra, an unusual glitch allows you to...
Ship Shape
Back in May this year, we reviewed Assassin's Creed III Remastered for Switch and didn't have a great deal good to say about it. It's been patched since – and plays a considerably better game for it – but upon release, it was pretty much a buggy, blurry shambles with a stuttering framerate and a pretty big disappointment for...
Review SuperEpic: The Entertainment War - A Metroidvania Built On Satirical Humour And Minigames
A free-to-play a day keeps your money away
The gameplay and progression in SuperEpic might feel familiar to begin with, but what starts out as a simple Metroidvania quickly becomes much more. Themes from throughout the history of games are used to tell a story with very real and extremely worrying implications; that big-name developers are just out...