Tag: Reviews - Page 29
Review Let's Sing 2020 - Uplifting Karaoke Goodness On Your Switch
A solid music title for modern pop fans
The real initial rush and heyday of home karaoke on consoles was the PS2-era, when it seemed like a never-ending cascade of SingStar games were being released every few months to a public that seemed to practically inhale them. They were everywhere, catering to most popular genres from rock to Disney...
Review Dusk Diver - Enjoyable Combat Can't Fully Atone For The Problems Elsewhere
Interdimensional Express
JFI Games’ Dusk Diver is a Musou-style hack-and-slash affair that tells the story of Yuma, an innocent high school student thrown into the middle of an interdimensional battle between the ancient animal Gods of Kunlun. Taking place between an impressively detailed recreation of the Ximending district of Taipei and its...
Not a Jaeger bomb in sight
Override: Mech City Brawl is a game that will let you fulfil those desires of being a pilot in a Pacific Rim movie without the need to meld your mind with someone else’s. There’s something truly satisfying about crushing houses and skyscrapers as you fling grotesque monstrosities around San Francisco, or accidentally...
Atelier Rising
Atelier Ryza, the twenty-first entry in Gust’s long-running Atelier series, tells the story of Reisalin Stout, a young girl living on the quiet island of Kurken who desperately dreams of escaping on far-flung adventures alongside her childhood friends Tao and Lent. Ryza lives on a farm with her stern, overbearing parents who try at...
Review Skullgirls 2nd Encore - A Western 2D Fighter That Might Surprise You
It’s (show)time!
It’s a wonderful thing to think of almost any genre and see how well it’s represented on Nintendo Switch. Take the ever-competitive arena of modern fighting games; as the console continues to roll through its third year we’ve got full-fat ports of the biggest names in virtual hand-throwing, including Mortal Kombat 11, Street...
Review Arcade Archives VS. Castlevania - Fixes Some Sins, But The Original Remains Superior
Fangs, but no fangs
The original NES Castlevania has seen its fair share of re-releases over the years, but the same can’t be said for its alternative arcade version. VS. Castlevania was originally released for the Nintendo VS. System of arcade hardware, which for the most part offered tweaked versions of NES games designed to focus more on...
Review Beast Quest - Don't Be A Hero, Stick With The Books
Positively beastly
If you’re of a certain age, the Beast Quest books were likely a staple of your childhood. Having first launched in 2007 with Ferno the Fire Dragon, the series has been going strong for twelve years and shows no signs of slowing down. Including the first four books scheduled for publication next year, there are currently an...
Not exactly a whole new world
Movie tie-in games can be notoriously hit-or-miss in their quality. Often, the games seem to be something of an afterthought or simply advertisement fodder for the film they're based on, but every now and then, tie-ins can surprise with how well they stand on their own. Back in the day, the video game adaptations of...
Review Close To The Sun - A Poor Imitation Of BioShock That Looks Worse On Switch
Getting a bit too warm there, Icarus
It’s perhaps almost parody at this point for eager Switch fans to tweet their longing desire for a game to be released on the system. "Is it coming to Switch?" remains a near-constant reminder to the social media marketing teams that there’s an entire console fanbase that wants their shiny new game replicated...
Review Resident Evil 5 - More Action Than Horror, And All The Better For It
Boulder punching action
Resident Evil 5 is a pretty controversial game. Don’t worry, we’re not going to go into the allegations raised against the game prior to its release more than a decade ago. Instead, Resident Evil 5 is controversial in the sense that many people believe it to be the title that killed the survival-horror franchise...
Review Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD - Improved Controls Ruined By Some Odd Design Choices
Gorillas in our mitts
The Wii Remote strap was allegedly added to stop controllers slipping from sweaty palms. But could it be that someone at Nintendo had actually played Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz – a Wii launch game – and predicted a wave of fury-induced Remote tossings? Back on Wii, Monkey Ball swapped its traditional analogue stick for...
Review Vampyr - Choice-Based Adventure Worth Sinking Your Fangs Into
A vampire game that doesn’t suck
Vampyr, despite its title, isn’t really about vampires. Okay, it is to a large extent (obviously), but what it really explores is the power of temptation – for the main character, most of the people he meets (or eats), and for the player themselves. The game puts you in the pasty skin of Dr Jonathan Reid, a...
Review Luigi's Mansion 3 - Gooigi Takes Ghost Busting To The Next Level
Drop dead gorgeous
Despite being the glimmering jewel of the GameCube’s launch, Luigi’s Mansion has enjoyed relatively few sequels for such a beloved Mario spin-off. The 3DS had a pop with a well-liked sequel, and the original got a second chance on the same system with a remake. Now it’s time for a true home console follow-up with Luigi’s...
Review Dragon Quest 1, 2 & 3 Collection - Relive The Formative Years Of Japan's Favourite RPG
Once, twice, three times a JRPG
Dragon Quest, alongside Final Fantasy, has to rank as one of the most famous JRPG franchises ever. Like Square's epic series, it began life on the 8-bit Famicom (NES to you and me) and sold millions of copies in its native Japan. However, unlike Final Fantasy – which exploded in the west following the release of...
Review Doraemon Story of Seasons - A Charmingly Slow-Paced Life Sim
Wrap up with this winter warmer
The tale of Story of Seasons is a bit of a strange one. Originally conceived under the series name Harvest Moon, developer Marvelous enjoyed relative success with titles like Friends of Mineral Town, A Wonderful Life and Back to Nature. However, in 2012, the licensing of the name lapsed, and owner Natsume reclaimed...
Review Disgaea 4 Complete+ - An Often Overwhelming SRPG That Genre Veterans Will Adore
Give it a try, dood!
The Disgaea series has always been one of those in gaming that could best be described as an ‘acquired’ taste. The sheer amount of complexity and micromanaging offered up by each game is nigh peerless in the genre, and though these games are a veritable feast for those who love a nice thousand-hour grind in their RPG, it can...
Review Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers - A Slow-Paced Starting Point For Genre Newcomers
My First JRPG
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers is an RPG aimed primarily at younger players and those who perhaps haven’t dabbled in the genre before. Telling the story of Sherry, a young girl who’s whisked away on a time-travelling adventure after time itself is frozen during a New Year’s countdown in her hometown of Clocknee, it’s a...
Review AeternoBlade II - A Host Of Good Ideas Wiped Out By Shoddy Execution
Aeternoff
The central problem with AeternoBlade II is that it tries too hard to fit too many elements into its gameplay and, in doing so, ensures that pretty much nothing it attempts works as well as it should. Just like its 2014 predecessor, this is a title that squeezes in time manipulation puzzles, side-scrolling hack-and-slash action,...
Review Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition - Pokémon's Biggest Rival Is Still Worth A Look
Gotta hack 'em all
You’ve got to admire Bandai Namco for releasing a monster capturing/battling RPG just weeks before a certain selection of Pocket Monsters swarm the Nintendo Switch - but Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition offers more than enough in the way of different mechanics and content for those looking for an alternative to Game...
Review Anthill - Image & Form's Pre-Steamworld Strategy Epic Gets A Second Chance On Switch
Swarming good fun
Before finding success with the Steamworld series, Image & Form launched a little game called Anthill on mobile devices. You might not have even heard of it before now, but the studio claims it to be one of their finest games, without which they wouldn’t have had the courage to move onto the Steamworld series. They’re...
Review A Hat In Time - A Fine 3D Platformer That Was Worth The Wait On Switch
Just in time?
The classic 3D platformer has seen a bit of revival lately, reminding of us of simpler times with bright primary colours and the likes of Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, and our very own moustached plumber. We’ve already seen a few attempts at bringing back the good old times, such as Yooka-Laylee and well as re-releases of Crash...
Review Return Of The Obra Dinn - A Beautifully Crafted Detective Mystery
Absolutely Kraken
Released to critical acclaim last October, Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope’s Return of The Obra Dinn finally arrives on consoles with quite the fanfare. After finding a dedicated audience willing to get on board with a game that on paper, probably shouldn’t ever have been as popular as it was, Pope’s narrative-based...
Review Spirit Hunter: NG - A Spooky And Gripping Visual Novel
Spirited away
The Switch has become home to a vast array of horror titles over its relatively short life, including multiple entries from big-hitters such as Resident Evil to the likes of Layers of Fear and Outlast. It is in this crowded landscape that Aksys Games’ NG has been brought over to the west, under the title
Review Freedom Finger - The World's Most Offensive Shmup Is A Complete Blast
Blue Moon
Freedom Finger rather bravely describes itself as “bat$h!% crazy”. Usually, when we come across a game with such confidence in its own brand of zany comedy madness, we tend to err on the side of caution. It’s not an easy thing to pull off, especially in such a way that everyone is likely to agree. However, in actual fact, Freedom...
Review Cat Quest II - Purr-Fect Action RPG Goodness That's Ideal For Newcomers
Cat's out of the bag
The cats are back! It hasn’t been long since the first feline adventure hit the Switch, yet they’re already back with a second outing. It’s raining cats and dogs in this one, with plenty of feline and canine companions to greet you. Is it the epic feline adventure we’ve been waiting for, or a dog’s dinner? Let’s take...
Review Tangle Tower - A Superb Adventure That's Both Hilarious And Challenging
Untangle the tangle
Believe it or not, Tangle Tower is actually the third title in a series of quaint, kooky mystery games. Back in 2014, Detective Grimoire released on mobile devices, which is itself a sequel of a flash game of the same name. But if you’re worried about missing out on vital information before starting Tangle Tower, then don’t...
Review Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip - Undead, Unfunny And Unnecessary
Braindead
High Voltage Software’s Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip keeps alive the great video game tradition of absolutely terrible, overpriced movie tie-ins. With a campaign that clocks in at around about the two-hour mark, extremely basic twin-stick shooting action, bland graphics, inexplicably long loading times, rotten narrative segments...
Review Ring Fit Adventure - Fitness Fun For Everyone
Vive la resistance
What a difference a decade makes. In 2008, Nintendo released Wii Fit and was met with an interesting mixed reaction. While it became an enormous global success, shifting over 22 million copies, a percentage of Nintendo’s long-time fanbase expressed anger (rightly or wrongly) because they felt the company was seemingly abandoning...
Review Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure - You'd Have To Be Off Your Nut To Play This
Glacial disaster
Wow, there’s just no stopping Ice Age, is there? Just like The Pleistocene, 20th Century Fox’s (or Disney’s now, we guess) animated juggernaut has been relentless since the release of the first movie back in 2002, with a total of five cinematic releases, a host of short films and TV shows, and a plethora of console and online...
Review Killer Queen Black - A Multiplayer Marvel That's Easy To Pick Up But Hard To Master
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Note. This game's online multiplayer component closed down in 2022 and is therefore no longer accessible. Local multiplayer support is unaffected and still functions as designed. Finding the right balance for a multiplayer experience is always a challenge for developers. How much emphasis do you place on teamwork?...
Review Dragon Quest III: The Seeds Of Salvation - Third Time's A Charm
The light of the luminary shines bright in this re-release
When it comes to legendary JPRGs in the West, you can rattle off the usual suspects pretty easily. Final Fantasy VII, Persona 4, Chrono Trigger... you get the picture. However, Dragon Quest III is criminally overlooked. With the recent rerelease of the Erdrick Trilogy on Switch, this gi
A whole load of puff-puff
Dragon Quest II has a reputation. Not only is it the sophomore entry into the juggernaut JRPG franchise, the second of Dragon Quest’s Erdrick Trilogy, but it’s also known as one of the most difficult, unbalanced JRPGs to this day. News of its re-release on Switch is great news for series purists who want to take a...
Review BDSM: Big Drunk Satanic Massacre - Hellishly Good Fun That Needs More Polish
Raise Hell
Just one look at the logo and key artwork for BDSM: Big Drunk Satanic Massacre, and it’s clear that this isn’t a game to be taken seriously. Everything from its logo and key artwork to the way it insults you upon death is designed to elicit a chuckle. But if you’re easily offended by colourful language, innuendos, or over-the-top...
Review River City Melee Mach!! - A Retro Trip That Should Satisfy Longtime Kunio Fans
Barf once again for the Renegade master
If you have been around video games for long enough to remember the success of Renegade and Double Dragon it is also highly probable you stumbled into one of Kunio’s numerous 8-bit Famicom outings, perhaps even disguised in the West with some hit-and-miss localisation efforts like River City Ra
Review Into the Dead 2 - An Overpriced Zombie Shooter That Should Have Stayed Dead
World War $$$
Into the Dead 2 is an auto-run zombie survival game which originally launched back in 2017 on iOS and Android as a free-to-play title laden with the usual mobile microtransactions. The aim of proceedings here is to make your way through gauntlet after gauntlet of shambling, braindead zombie attackers as your player character moves...
Review Overwatch: Legendary Edition - Hardly The Best Way To Play, But Still Pretty Great
Nerf this
Once upon a time, it would’ve been a cold day in hell before we’d see a Blizzard game on a Nintendo console. The traditionally PC-centric company broke its nearly twenty-year hiatus from Nintendo when it released Diablo III last year, and after making that port a reality, tongues got wagging about what else the company could bring over...
Review Rabi-Ribi - A Merry Mix Of Metroidvania And Bullet-Hell
Hoppy, floppy mayhem
Hopping its way to the Switch following a release on PC and PlayStation platforms, Rabi-Ribi is quite possibly one of the most bonkers games we’ve played in a good while. But you know what? It’s really good. It takes the familiar Metroidvania template, blends it with the bullet-hell genre, and throws in some fantastic
Review StarBlox Inc. - Tetris And Smash Bros. Collide In This Charming, Original Puzzler
Block party
Everybody loves Tetris, right? It’s so simple that even your grandma probably knows how to play it. A timeless classic. And who doesn’t love Smash Bros.? Despite its depth, it’s another game that’s simple to pick up and play, and is still a favourite at student dorm parties everywhere. Ever wondered what it would be like to mix...
Dead men crop no farms
There are few things in life as relaxing as a farming simulator. From the likes of Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley and, well, Farming Simulator, it’s a genre that has crept into the mainstream as mellow experiences that can be tackled at your own pace. The joy of them, of course, is that feeling of accomplishment when you...
Review Little Town Hero - A Quirky, Small-Scale RPG For The Time-Poor Player
Homegrown heroism
It must be quite the daunting task for a studio best known for one of the most well known game franchises of all time to brave the ire of its considerable audience, branch out into pastures new and release a new IP. Especially when you happen to be Game Freak and that ‘well known game franchise’ just so happens to be the pop...
Review Dragon Quest - A Classic JRPG Marred By Odd Choices And Technical Issues
An oozy remake of a JPRG goo-reat
Originally released in the west as Dragon Warrior on the NES in 1986, Dragon Quest’s latest rerelease on the Switch eShop is a throwback to retro JRPG design, and features a few new tricks up its sleeve that makes it a bit more palatable for modern audiences. There are brand-new bells and whistles including a...
Mini Review Neo Cab - A Memorable, Emotional Ride
Where to?
We all know just how awkward cab rides can be. After the initial greeting, there’s always that feeling - that dread - that you’ll be spending the next goodness-knows-how-long making awful small talk until you finally make it to your destination. Neo Cab takes this idea and runs with it, placing you in the shoes of a cab driver in a...
Review Planescape: Torment & Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition - Two Very Different RPG Gems
Mouse and keyboard no longer required
Black Isle Studios’ Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale are two classic RPGs built on the same game engine that really couldn’t be more different from one another. On the one hand, you’ve got the almost completely narrative focus of Planescape, where combat is mostly an afterthought and pretty much every...
Return of the White Frost
Originally released on other platforms back in 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt arrives on Nintendo Switch over four years later, and it's somewhat surreal to hold such a gigantic game in the palm of your hands. Ported over by Saber Interactive, this is The Witcher 3 in almost all of its glory. The same brilliant base game,...
Review Baldur's Gate And Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Editions - Two RPG Classics On The Go
Bhaal of the Lights
The Switch has seen some excellent RPG action in recent months, with Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin 2 to name just two of the heavy hitters landing on the eShop in quick succession. Nintendo’s portable platform certainly feels like a perfect home for these epic adventures, with players able to dip in and out of...
Review Mable & The Wood - A Metroidvania That Sadly Fails To Excite
It’s morphin’ time!
Mable & The Wood is yet another example of a game with huge potential that’s somehow been mostly squandered thanks to poor execution. It takes the tried-and-tested idea of shape-shifting (famously utilised in games like Altered Beast and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) and runs with it, moulding its exploration...
Review Call Of Cthulhu - Oppressive Cosmic Horror That's Plagued By Problems
Don't heed the call
Focus Home Interactive’s reputation for creating daring tie-ins to lapsed license continues. This time we’re taking a peek into the unknowable with Call of Cthulhu, which is based more off of the pen-and-paper RPG of the same name than the original work written by notable author H.P. Lovecraft, who once referred to people of...
Review The Bradwell Conspiracy - More Style Than Substance
Keep your theories to yourself
It should be a day for celebration. Bradwell Electronics, a seemingly benign British conglomerate, has piqued the world’s attention with the announcement of its groundbreaking ‘Clean Water Initiative’. Gathering the greatest minds from the scientific community within the confines of its Stonehenge Museum,...
Review The Alliance Alive HD Remastered - This 3DS Classic Is Worth A Second Look On Switch
Back from the dead
Back in 2018, the 3DS was still receiving a slow, but steady trickle of new releases despite the Switch stealing the spotlight with its runaway success. Though many put away the old handheld in favour of bigger and better things, there were still plenty of excellent titles released in this period, one of them being The Alliance...
Review A Knight's Quest - A Pale Imitation Of Zelda, But At Least It Has A Sense Of Humour
Open mic Knight
Ever wondered what happens when you’re the adventurous son of a Mayor and accidentally set in motion the end of the world? Welcome to A Knight’s Quest, a charming if flawed action-adventure from Sky9 Games. You play as Rusty, a brave (if clumsy) protagonist tasked with putting right his rather substantial mistake of setting free...
