Tag: Reviews - Page 10
Review Pac-Man World Re-Pac (Switch) - Perfectly Passable PS1 Platforming
"I'm a mad Pac-Man, livin' in a leveled world..."
By the late '90s, the golden age of the arcade was a dim and distant memory, and with it the ubiquitous Pac-Man fever of the early '80s. Not ones to let the yellow puck thing fall by the wayside, Namco moved to reinvigorate its video game icon by having him star in a 3D platformer, which were all the...
Pizza dude's got 30 seconds
For gamers who weren't yet born in the 1980s, it may be surprising to learn that Konami’s pedigree was once second only to Nintendo’s first-party output. Undyingly creative and highly quality-driven, the innovative glow that earmarked their arcade years was never truly rekindled post-1994. Hot on the heels of...
Review Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3 (Switch) - Another Pair Of Lesser-Known RPG Gems
Another two RPG classics to dive into, dood!
The Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volumes 1 and Volume 2 each brought a different pair of games to Switch. The third volume brings a PlayStation classic to modern consoles as well as the Western debut of an obscure but well-loved game in the NIS stable. Die-hard tactical RPG fans might have heard of La...
Review I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (Switch) - Beautiful, Generous, And Too Nice For Its Own Good
Personal space
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, the latest game from indie publisher Finji, developed by Northway Games, is a nice game. It looks nice, sounds nice, features nice characters being nice to one another, and is so nice to the player that you’ll breeze right through it – for better or worse. This is a game where the sheer word count and...
Review Cursed To Golf (Switch) - A Spooky Roguelike That's More Than Up To Par
"You're not being the ball, Danny"
Halloween might still be a couple months away, but Chuhai Labs has seen fit to kick off the spooky season early with its latest release, Cursed to Golf. Starring a person who basically escapes from hell using nothing but their god-tier golf skills, it’s certainly a memorable adventure and we’re happy to say...
Review Islets (Switch) - A Wholesome, Hand-Painted Metroidvania That's Stunning To Look At
A tale of the small but mighty
Kyle Thompson, the creator of Sheepo, is back with another weird yet wonderful addition to the Metroidvania genre. Islets is a gorgeously hand-painted story of connection and adventure through a world quite literally torn apart. Taking on the role of a self-doubting mouse whose dream is to reconnect to the world and...
Review Dusk Diver 2 (Switch) - An Anime Hack 'N' Slash That Misses The Mark
Livin' La Viada Loca
After launching on PC earlier this year, JFI Games’ Dusk Diver 2 has made its way to consoles three years after the original game. While Dusk Diver was seen as a solid foundation, it lacked in several departments. Sadly, while Dusk Diver 2 makes some steps in the right direction, it comes with a host of its own problems that...
Review Wave Race 64 - A Thrilling Racer That's Still Deeply Impressive
Splash wave
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Wave Race was not a well-known series prior to its arrival on the Nintendo 64. Actually, it wasn't a series at all, but rather a single release: a top-down racer on...
Review Kirby's Dream Buffet (Switch) - A Delicious Spread To Put You In The Party Mood
Waddle Dee-licious
What do you get when you take a generous helping of Fall Guys, add a pinch of Super Monkey Ball and then mix in a lovely big dollop of Kirby? Well, a great big dream buffet, that's what. Kirby's Dream Buffet is a bright and breezy party game that sees a whole field full of Kirby characters roll at speed down sweet treat-laden...
Review Cult Of The Lamb (Switch) - Animal Crossing Goes Bad In This Satisfyingly Stressful Sim
"Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"
Devolver Digital has always had an eye for some delightfully odd gaming experiences. Play as an ape escaping its captors while freeform jazz blasts in the background. Rob pretentious rich people as a con man in 18th century France. Eviscerate houses full of goons as a drug-addicted ninja with PTSD. The latest in...
Late bloomer
In the first year of the Switch’s life, it was relatively common to see massive indie success stories from developers who managed to get their game on the eShop before the veritable torrent of new game releases — many of them excellent — flooded the store on a weekly basis. One of these titles was Blossom Tales, a cute action game...
Review Thymesia - Cloud Version (Switch) - A Soulslike That Shows Some Promise, Just Not On Switch
Does Hermes deliver?
Note: This Cloud Version of Thymesia was tested on 100Mb Superfast Broadband using both a 5G WIFI and wired LAN connection. The Kingdom of Hermes has fallen into an age of calamity. In a world where the use of powerful alchemy was once widespread and welcomed, things have gone terribly wrong. The now blood-soaked streets are...
Review RPG Time: The Legend Of Wright (Switch) - A Flawed But Enchantingly Homemade Adventure
It's time for adventure!
After nine long years in development, developer DeskWorks has created what can only be described as a perfect embodiment of when imagination takes over with RPG Time: The Legend Of Wright. Spilling colour, nostalgia, and a little bit of childlike glee onto the pages of a notebook, this is a heartwarming tale of two friends...
The NeverEnding Story
If “Kureshin × Bokunatsu” a) makes sense and b) sounds appealing to you, and if c) you haven’t already bought this game in the year since it was released in Japan, then we can keep this review nice and tight: buy this game! For those not residing in that modest nub of the Venn diagram, let’s see if you’ve moved there...
Review Arcade Paradise (Switch) - An Addictive Arcade Management Sim That Proves Laundry Can Be Fun
Not a wash out
Have you ever wanted to turn your local laundromat into an arcade? For the three of you that have, boy do we have a game to recommend you. Created by Nosebleed Interactive, the same developer behind the well-received Vostok Inc., Arcade Paradise puts you in the role of Ashley, an inheritor to a run-down laundromat called King Wash...
Review Mega Man Battle & Fighters (Switch) - A Surprise Neo Geo Package Of Blue Bomber Beat 'Em Ups
Lost in translation
Mega Man: The Power Battle was a 1995 arcade release followed by a sequel, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. Both are one-on-one fighting games, and they retain the series hallmark of obtaining enemy skills for tactical use. Controlling either Mega Man, Proto Man or Bass (and Duo for the sequel) imagine Mega Man minus the...
Review Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 (Switch) - An RPG Classic That Time Hasn't Been Too Kind To
Old, but gold?
Back in the early 2000’s, the Dark Alliance subseries of the Baldur’s Gate franchise was created as a means of bringing the Baldur’s Gate experience to console players. Either due to hardware limitations or a simple lack of audience interest at the time, the computer RPG design of traditional Baldur’s Gate wouldn’t work for...
Review Strange Horticulture (Switch) - An Odd Occult Puzzler That Blossoms Into A Fantastic Mystery
It’s a grower
Strange Horticulture takes on some big challenges. It’s a carefully authored story that wants to be driven by interaction, and it’s a single-scene play space that wants to create immersion in a whole world. It’s such a tricky line to walk between structured gameplay that’s interactive but dry and a carefully managed story...
A stumbling sophomore outing
After the launch of Wave 1 of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Course Pass, everyone and their nan turned their attention towards Wave 2; specifically, when on earth it would be coming out. Excitment reached fever pitch (just check out the comments section of any Mario Kart Tour related content if you don't believe us!), so...
Review Digimon Survive (Switch) - This Champion Visual Novel Proves The Wait Has Been Worth It
DigiDestined for greatness
The long wait for Digimon Survive is finally over, with players at last able to dive into this unusual entry in the series. Fans expecting the usual fare from a Digimon game might be understandably disappointed, but for those with an appetite for visual novels and tactical RPG combat, there is plenty to get your teeth sunk...
Review Frogun (Switch) - A Charming Platformer That Doesn't Croak Its N64 Inspirations
It’s time to hop into action
At a time when game developers are consistently striving to create something photorealistic and fully immersive, we begin to lose touch with the games that kept us up at night as kids. Luckily Molegato, the developer of Frogun, kept this in mind as this crisp, retro-style puzzle platformer came to fruition. The story...
Review Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 (Switch) - Another Cracking Mega Man Zero-Alike
Capturing lightning in a bottle again
Way back in 2014, Inti Creates—of Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX fame—made waves in the action platforming space when it released Azure Striker Gunvolt, a clear successor to its previous work on the Blue Bomber. Though that initial release was kinda similar to older Mega Man games, this franchise has evolved...
Review Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch) - An Epic, Emotionally-Charged Masterpiece
From Here to Eternity
The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 key art promises a hell of a lot. You know the shot, that jaw-dropping vista with its deep blue skies and lush green fields, this time joined by an impossible rock formation looming large on the horizon as the silhouettes of a band of heroes you've yet to meet look on. It's an image that exudes the...
Review Omori (Switch) - An Emotional, EarthBound-Inspired RPG That's Not Afraid To Shock
"Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here."
It’s been a long journey for Omori — the first video game from OMOCAT — on its way to the land of Nintendo. After a successful Kickstarter campaign all the way back in 2014, the game was originally slated for release on the 3DS, though this was later cancelled as development wore on and...
Mini Review Redout 2 (Switch) - A Fast-Paced Blend Of F-Zero And Simulation Racing
Big Red
Futuristic racing games haven’t had the easiest go of things over the years. It’s been ten years since the last new Wipeout game, and the newest F-Zero entry, F-Zero Climax, is almost old enough to buy a pint. Luckily, independent developers have been carrying that torch a bit in recent years, with games like Fast RMX filling the void...
Review Coromon (Switch) - A Charming Pokémon-Style Quest To Catch All Of 'Em
That's the line, right?
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Coromon is the greatest love letter ever written. It makes no secret that it has been inspired by classic Pokémon titles, particularly those from the Game Boy Advance era. It stops just short of being a direct imitation of those games but was clearly created to cater to fans...
Review Live A Live (Switch) - A Brilliantly Faithful Remake Of A Unique And Influential JRPG
Living our best lives
Early on in Square Enix’s remake of Live A Live, it’s plain to see the influences the game had on Chrono Trigger. From spanning multiple timelines to the inventive area of effect skills, and right down to the simple, sometimes deep story, director Takashi Tokita clearly used 1994’s Live A Live as a springboard for his...
Review Bright Memory: Infinite (Switch) - A Chaotic, Crysis-Style FPS, But Messy And Very Short
Micro-Crysis
Everyone has that movie, album or game that despite how objectively flawed it is, you can’t help but love it. Sure, something like Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny isn’t by any means a masterpiece, but that didn’t stop us from watching it countless times. Bright Memory: Infinite fits into that guilty pleasure camp so well. We...
Review Pokémon Puzzle League - A Thrilling Puzzler And A Heavy Nostalgia Hit
Panel de Pokémon
This review originally went live in 2008, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. For those who have dabbled with Puzzle League, this is obvious information, but please bear with us. Tetris Attack, the SNES game, was a westernized version of...
Review XEL (Switch) - Promising Zelda-Style Sci-Fi Adventuring That Falls Short On Switch
Taking the Zelda formula into space
Zelda games have laid out a comfortable roadmap for developers to follow when making action-adventure games, and there's no shortage of Zelda-likes to enjoy on Switch and elsewhere. Tiny Roar evidently took heavy notes from Nintendo’s storied franchise when putting together XEL, which takes cues from both...
Review Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium (Switch) - Captures That Arcade Magic In A Quality Package
Insert coin
Since there’s little 'wrong' with Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, what’s right with it will depend on the sensibilities and interests of the player. The second of Capcom’s superbly curated compilations following on from Capcom Arcade Stadium, its 32 arcade titles (one of which is free) now feature a greater emphasis on action and...
Review Spidersaurs (Switch) - A Love Letter To Contra And A Fun Ride While It Lasts
Contrasaur
WayForward Technologies has made a name for itself as one of the best developers out there when it comes to retro-flavoured projects, from their excellent beat-em-ups like Double Dragon Neon and River City Girls to Metroidvanias like The Mummy Demastered and its signature Shantae series. The studio excels at that throwbac
Review Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (Switch) - A Classic Platforming Pair Worth Catching Again
Dream a little dream of me
The fifth console generation represented arguably the greatest shift in game design the industry has ever seen, as developers all over the world wrestled with how to transition 2D tenets into the 3D realm. There was lots of experimentation, and while platformers like Super Mario 64 and Spyro dived head-first into the new...
Review Rabbids: Party Of Legends (Switch) - A Polished Party Game Journeys To The West
A party of mythological proportions
The Rabbids have come a long way since their first appearance in the Rayman series back in 2006. Since then, they’ve featured in numerous party games, all starring the titular little bundles of chaos. Rabbids: Party of Legends, previously a China-exclusive release, now comes to the West to help tide fans over...
Review Time On Frog Island (Switch) - Charming Zelda-Style Trading With Animal Crossing Island Vibes
A 'tad' simple
Time on Frog Island is like a playable fever dream in the best of ways. It places you in the role of the captain of a little sailboat who finds himself marooned on a strange island populated by a frog society. His only hope of getting off the island is by successfully mingling with the frogs and getting them to help him with the...
Review F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch (Switch) - Frustratingly Close To Metroidvania Greatness
And here comes a giant fist!
Let’s get it out of the way. FIST: Forged in Shadow Torch on the Nintendo Switch is a frustrating game. Not in the sense that it’s difficult, but rather that it is so frustratingly close to being something great and doesn't quite make it. Like doing a pole vault and you crack your ankle on the pole. There’s a lot...
Review Little Noah: Scion Of Paradise (Switch) - A Fun, Formulaic Roguelite In The Dead Cells Vein
Size isn't everything
Cygames may be known for its success in the mobile space with titles like Granblue Fantasy, Shadowverse, and Dragalia Lost (with which the developer partnered with Nintendo) but the company seems like it has an interest in translating these IPs into more traditional console games. Last year’s excellent Shadowverse: Champion's...
Review Zero Tolerance Collection (Switch) - A Significant 16-Bit FPS That's Hard To Take These Days
Virtual neutrality
Thanks to ray casting, an early form of graphics processing that allowed the rendering of a 2D map as a pseudo-3D environment, Zero Tolerance, a true First-Person Shooter, arrived on Sega’s Mega Drive in 1994. What makes Zero Tolerance Collection significant — particularly for fans of the original — is its boast of...
Review Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition (Switch) - A Cyberpunk Classic, Compromised On Switch
Zoom and enhance… Yuck! Zoom out!
Cyberpunk is an inherently old-fashioned genre. Its iconic works draw on futuristic ideas that have either become unremarkable, like essential spheres of life based on tech owned by megalomaniacal corporations, or been superseded, like an obsession with cybernetic enhancements instead of codified social status...
Review Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course (Switch) - Short, Sweet, And Utterly Essential
You'd be a mug to ignore it
There’s a section near the end of one of the new stages in Cuphead’s DLC that made us shout a four-letter word at the screen extremely loudly, and that word wasn’t ‘cups’. Being the level-headed types we are, it’s very rare for a game to make us resort to such outbursts, but there we were, bellowing the sort...
Review Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (Switch) - A Deliciously Difficult, Must-Have Expansion
An expansion with bite
Monster Hunter Rise has proven to be a welcome continuation of the IP's global growth in popularity, following the breakout mainstream success of 2018's Monster Hunter: World and its Iceborne expansion on non-Nintendo platforms. Rise itself brought some interesting evolutions from World, retaining more of the quirky charm we...
Wright 'em up
We didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into when we agreed to review Yurukill: The Calumniation Games. On one hand, Yurukill fronts as a murder-mystery adventure similar to Danganronpa or – if you squint hard enough – Phoenix Wright. On the other, Yurukil
Review Gamedec (Switch) - A Gripping, Gritty Cyberpunk Detective Adventure
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel..."
It’s interesting to consider how the role-playing genre has grown over the years, changing expectations around what somebody can expect from one. These days, an RPG usually consists of a relatively big fantasy or sci-fi world, a deep narrative, and a combat system...
Review Portal: Companion Collection (Switch) - A Nintendo Debut For Two All-Time Greats
This was a triumph ♫
When it was announced that Portal and Portal 2 would be making their way to the Nintendo Switch as part of the Portal: Companion Collection, fans collectively choked on their cakes. Two of the best puzzle games of all time on the go, you say? Yes, please! Naturally, when certain games get ported to Nintendo’s hybrid system,...
Review Wreckfest (Switch) - An Absolute Banger (In A Good Way)
Wreck and ruin
On paper, Wreckfest is one of those games that should never really be possible on the Switch, at least not in a sufficiently playable state. When it came to PS4 and Xbox One in 2019, even though it was widely praised, many noted that it suffered from some technical issues and extremely long loading times. Surely if you’re bringing a...
Review Roller Champions (Switch) - Passable F2P Action, But Barebones And Sorely Lacking On Switch
Rocket... Beague???
Everybody has to have their own, right? Once a breakout game becomes a huge sensation, everyone scrambles to have their own version. PUBG did it for Battle Royales and Overwatch for Hero Shooters; these are a dime a dozen now, with series like Call of Duty and Resident Evil having their own takes of varying quality (or sometimes,...
Review Pokémon Snap - Photo Fun That's Over Too Soon
Candid Camera + Pocket Monster
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. There are moments during Pokémon Snap where — upon finding a hidden path — the game ditches the first-person perspective to show your...
Review Sonic Origins (Switch) - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
COPE
One particularly bright spot in Sonic's recent history was the release of Sonic Mania. One part sequel and one part reimagining of the 2D classics, that retro revival proved to be one of the best-rated and best-selling Sonic projects in recent years. In the (frankly baffling) absence of a true follow-up to Sonic Mania, Sega has instead opted to...
Review Steve Jackson's Sorcery! (Switch) - One Of Switch's Very Best Narrative Games
Steve Jackson will remember that
Way back in the day, long before video games were any good, the cool new narrative mechanic was Choose Your Own Adventure books. Wildly popular back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, the CYOA genre died off sharpish with the invention of point-and-click games, text adventures, and video games with vast, sprawling...
Review AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative (Switch) - Another Very Fine Murder Mystery
An AI in your Eyeball
It is hard to beat a good murder mystery. The classic battle of wits between the detective and killer makes for perfect tension and AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative takes advantage of this established formula to give players a fun mystery with plenty of twists and turns, keeping them engaged through the closing...
