Tag: Reviews - Page 4
Review Sonic Superstars - A Fine, Authentic-Feeling Return That Runs Great On Switch
Speed up, superstar
If you’d have told us that two of gaming’s most iconic rivals, Mario and Sonic, would be going head-to-head with two brand-new platformers in the space of a week, we’d have said you were probably off your rocker. What’s more, if you’d have said that Sega’s latest entry, Sonic Superstars, would turn out to provide one...
Burning rubber
Hot Wheels, man. We remember those. In the '90s almost every Saturday morning ad break featured a Hot Wheels commercial braying out superlative adjectives over thrashy rock solos. Invariably, two pearly-toothed, spiky-haired kids would grin as their miniature cars jostled for pole position, giving each other a thumbs-up after a...
Review Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition - Makes The Jump To Switch Almost Entirely Intact
"Do you hear screaming, or am I having another one of my episodes?"
A little less than ten years ago, a port of Borderlands 2 famously launched for Sony’s ailing PS Vita to middling reception. The fact that a then-current game could run at all on a portable was remarkable, but the flat visuals, crashing, and consistently sub 30 FPS performance...
Great gameplay never goes out of style
Great games are great no matter how much time has passed, and that remains true of Company of Heroes. The RTS classic that robbed us of our evenings and weekends back in 2006 has returned to the Nintendo Switch in the form of the Company of Heroes Collection and despite an updated control scheme for the...
Review Dementium: The Ward - A Safe Switch Return For A Creepy Cult Classic
Before the Lobotomy
Bringing cult classics to a more modern, updated platform can be a risky proposition. What, if anything, do you change, and what do you keep the same? When the game you happen to be porting originated on the DS, a certain degree of change is inevitable given the shift from a two-screen to a single-screen format, so naturally, a...
Review Wild Card Football (Switch) - An Ambitious Take On Gridiron Lacking A Full Deck
Missing the Playoffs
While the Nintendo Switch has never had the prominent American Football video game series, it has had some notable efforts in the Indie and retro spaces. Now we can add Wild Card Football to the mix, and it's certainly an ambitious release in comparison to its contemporaries on the system. From Saber Interactive, it follows a...
Review Fate/Samurai Remnant - Musou Evolved, With Patchy Switch Performance
Your wish is granted
For several years, it felt like if you’ve played one of Omega Force’s famed Musou action games, you’ve played them all. It seems the team took note of this souring sentiment, however, resulting in more nuanced takes on the formula in more recent titles such as Fire Emblem: Three Hopes and Persona 5 Strikers (the latter...
Review CRKD Nitro Deck For Nintendo Switch - Almost Great, But With One Major Flaw
Almost cracked it
Many companies have tried to capitalise on the problem of drifting Joy-Con sticks, and the usual tactic is to rely on Hall Effect technology, which uses magnets to get around the issue of wearing components. CRKD is the latest to tout a drift-free experience using this technology by way of the Nitro Deck, a hunk of plastic you...
Review Genki Shadowcast 2 - The Little Capture Card That Could
World's smallest capture card gets a spec bump for 2023
When we reviewed the original Genki Shadowcast back in 2021, we were a little lukewarm on it. While the appeal of a capture card the size of a USB thumb drive needs little explanation, the device was hamstrung by muddy compression and a high level of latency. It felt like a solution in search...
Review COCOON (Switch) – A Unique, Worlds-Within-Worlds Puzzler That Left Us Buzzing
Into the hive mind
2023 has swarmed us with quality games. So many that there aren’t enough hours in the day to play them all — and now, Cocoon has crept onto our screens to buzzing acclaim. Fortunately, if you’re busy as a bee, and can’t dedicate time to a marathon game, this is a nice quick one. Jeppe Carlsen, lead gameplay designer of...
The jump hasn't been smooth
The Dragon Quest series is no stranger to spin-off titles, but few are as confusing as Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai. This action RPG is based on an anime adaptation of a manga based on the world of Dragon Quest, but it is never clear who the game is designed to appeal to. The few things it does well...
Review Detective Pikachu Returns (Switch) - Drab-Looking But Fun Forensics For The Fam
Sherlock Ho-Oholmes
It's been over seven years since we got our first helping of the wise-cracking, coffee-addicted Detective Pikachu on 3DS and, in the time since, the gruff private investigator has gone on to star in his very own big-screen adaptation voiced by the one and only Ryan Reynolds. Well, excuse us, Mr Hollywood! The first Detective...
Review Horizon Chase 2 (Switch) - More Arcade Racing, With Some Bumps In The Road
Follow the speeder
Horizon Chase 2 isn't the most interesting racing game out there, but damn, if it isn't hard to put down! It may not match the high-speed hijinks of kart racers starring Mario, Crash Bandicoot, or Sonic the Hedgehog, nor does it hit the same destructive highs of Burnout or the high-fidelity, simulative thrill found in other...
Review Mineko's Night Market (Switch) – Cosy Fun With A Few Knots In The Fur
This little kitty went to market
Editor's Note: As described in the text below, a glitch towards the end of Mineko's Night Market prevented us from 100% completing the Switch review build at launch. An update for the game has reportedly fixed the issues we encountered, so while the text should be accurate for the most part, your experience may...
Review Gloomhaven (Switch) - A Cumbersome But Deep (And Hard-As-Nails) TTRPG Adaptation
No safe haven here
As anyone who plays board games (or with friends who like board games) can attest, an involved, TTRPG-style board game can be cumbersome. From in-depth rules and systems, it takes a while to get into Gloomhaven and introducing new players to its dense combat can make multiplayer challenging. But also like a dense board game,...
Review Kirby & The Amazing Mirror - Messy With Metroid Influences, Better With Buddies
Oh, Kirby, you blowhard...
This review, penned by Philip J Reed — our much-missed friend and Nintendo Life contributor — was originally published in January 2012. We're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack GBA library. We have to hand this much to
Review Rise Of The Triad: Ludicrous Edition (Switch) - Definitive, Though Undeniably Dated
Oh my Dog
The '90s was a decade-long blitz of out-there marketing campaigns, lads mags, and PlayStation; rich experimentation with the polygon and a concerted effort to push the boundaries of bad taste. Rise of The Triad, based on a modified version of ID’s Wolfenstein engine, was initially pitched as a sequel before becoming a standalone PC title...
Review EA Sports FC 24 (Switch) - The Best Football Game On Any Nintendo System, Finally
We Kanté believe they finally did it
Long-time Nintendo Life readers will be aware of the love-hate (mainly hate) relationship we’ve had with the FIFA series over the course of the Switch’s life. The first Switch entry, FIFA 18, was considered a positive start, even though it felt feature-light compared to other consoles and was clearly based...
Review Wargroove 2 (Switch) - A Must-Play Tactical RPG And A Worthy Successor To Advance Wars
Warfare has never been this cozy
2023 has been a good year for tactics games on the Switch. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot marked the return of two classic GBA games while Fire Emblem Engage brought the series's focus to its strategic roots. Chucklefish and Robotality's Wargroove 2 is the next SRPG joining the fray, and while its adorable pixel-art...
Fair dinkum, mate
Back when the 3D mascot was in its prime in the early noughties, Aussie developer Krome Studios' Ty the Tasmanian Tiger was going up against big shots like Mario, Sonic, and Crash Bandicoot thanks to the backing of third-party powerhouse Electronic Arts and, eventually, Call of Duty publisher Activision. TY would fall out of favour...
Review Disgaea 7: Vows Of The Virtueless (Switch) - Superb, Supersized Strategy RPG Is A Series Best
A vibrant and violent volume
A few years ago, Nippon Ichi produced Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, a new entry in the long-running series that aimed to shake up series conventions by introducing auto-battling and transitioning to a 3D art style. Not all the changes it brought were positively received, but fortunately, the game sold well enough to...
Pick a card, any card
These days, Monolith Soft is well known for being one of Nintendo’s finest internal teams, with the Xenoblade Chronicles games delivering some of the finest open-world JRPG goodness available. Long before the company was acquired by Nintendo, however, some of the first projects it produced were the two Baten Kaitos games,...
Review MythForce - A Decent Roguelite Buried By An Absolutely Dire Switch Port
MythFarce
With its bright, cel-shaded models and notably more tame environments, MythForce targets nostalgia for Saturday Morning cartoons from the 1980s like He-Man and Thundercats. A lot of people don't remember just how poorly a lot of those cartoons hold up, though. They have their die-hard fans, and they're fun to look back at with your tongue...
Review Trombone Champ (Switch) - A Hilarious Party Game That Blows A Big Raspberry At Perfection
Night bird
The 17th-century German rationalist philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz wrote that “Perfection is the harmony of things.” If that’s the case then our discordant parping in Trombone Champ is far from perfect – despite the multipliers received on maxing out our 'Champ' gauge. But you don’t need to achieve perfection to enjoy...
Review F-Zero 99 (Switch) - A Brilliant Battle-Royale Revival That Plays To The Series' Strengths
Got 99 problems, but F-Zero ain't one
What do you get when you take the first entry in one of Nintendo's most overlooked franchises and cram it with battle royale mechanics after nearly 20 years of dormancy? You might expect a shambling Frankenstein's monster of a game held together by nostalgia-baiting stagnancy. Instead, F-Zero 99 is a clever...
Review Mortal Kombat 1 - A Superb Fighter, But Severely Kompromised On Switch
Testing the Switch's might
NetherRealm Studios has been on a real hot streak with the Mortal Kombat franchise ever since it dropped its first game, the sublime Mortal Kombat 9, all the way back in 2011. The studio has always focused on bringing a top-notch narrative experience to the table, supported by a laundry list of single-player arcade and...
Review NBA 2K24 - A Step Back That Fumbles The Ball On Switch
Ramshaqle
Note: NBA 2K24 does not allow you to take in-game screenshots on Switch. The images throughout this review were taken from the game's page on Nintendo's website. Whenever September rolls around, you can expect a new entry in 2K's NBA series to bounce onto the court. These games aren't usually all that revolutionary, with a handful of new...
Review The Legend Of Nayuta: Boundless Trails (Switch) - A Solid Port Of This Unique PSP Spin-Off
Back on the Trails
The Trails series is known for its incredible worldbuilding through many different games, including Trails of Cold Steel, Trails from Zero, and Trails to Azure, as well as Trails in the Sky. The events of those games culminated with Trails into Reverie, which finally got
Review Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - The Teal Mask (Switch) - DLC That Offers More, But Not Enough
Matcha the mood
As a series, Pokémon is one that has held onto tradition pretty firmly. In the 25+ years since Red & Blue’s release, the fundamentals of the game haven’t really changed – you explore a world, you fight Pokémon, you catch Pokémon. Last year’s Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was the mainline series’ first big attempt to...
Review Mugen Souls Z (Switch) - Way Too Wordy, With Long Gaps Between The Fun Bits
We hope you like walls of endless text
Gaming often takes itself entirely too seriously. There aren’t enough games that embrace ridiculous, silly ideas and run with them without coming across as shallow and one-note. Mugen Souls Z half succeeds at this; its opening scene includes a spaceship transforming into a giant robot for an epic space battle...
Review Gunbrella (Switch) - Witty, Winsome Action-Platforming With A Great Hook
Rain 'n' gun
Gunbrella opens, as so many noirs do, with a murder. Our protagonist, who goes unnamed until the second act of the game, sees his house aflame while he’s on his way back from gathering mushrooms. He rushes home to a gruesome, albeit pixelated, scene: his wife dead in a shock of blood. From there, we jump right into our hero’s...
Review Super Bomberman R 2 (Switch) - A Feature-Rich Return With A Cracking New 'Castle' Mode
"Time to make a comeback!"
Those of you who picked up the Switch during its launch period in the distant early days of 2017 may remember that, believe it or not, there were other games available at launch besides Breath of the Wild. One of those games was Super Bomberman R, which at the time was the title that broke the longest dry spell (nearly a...
Review 30XX (Switch) - Excellent Mega Man X-Style Run 'N' Gunning, With A Roguelite Twist
Zero to hero
Though Capcom hasn’t necessarily abandoned the Mega Man brand as a whole, it’s indisputably reduced how often it produces new games in that celebrated franchise. For example, it’s been 19 years since the last new Mega Man X release (and let’s be real, X8 was a rough entry to end on), but that series now lives on in the efforts...
Review WrestleQuest (Switch) - A Wholesome RPG That Struggles In The Ring
Toys with dreams of wrestling greatness
If you’ve ever had the oddly specific dream of rising through the ranks of a toy-based wrestling world, then you’re in luck. WrestleQuest enters the ring with a deadly combo of late-'80s wrestling nostalgia and mid-'90s JRPG mechanics, celebrating both while not quite managing to deliver the three-count at...
Review Thunder Ray (Switch) - Imperfect But Beautiful, Bloody, 'Punch-Out!!'-Inspired Pugilism
Punching up
Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! was one of the most iconic arcade and console fixtures of the early '80s, migrating from coin-op to the NES, where it was remoulded as Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and bestowed a Rocky-esque narrative around up-and-coming challenger Little Mac. Since Super Punch Out!! and the Wii’s original entry, however, it’s...
Review Chants Of Sennaar (Switch) - Enchanting Anthro-Puzzling With A Side Of Frustration
Chants of Sennarrgh
Your character wakes up in a sarcophagus. At first blush, you seem alone as you guide your cloaked character, wandering through gorgeously rendered arches and passageways. At last, you chance upon another person. Finally! A chance to absorb some exposition about what the heck's going on. Maybe you'll even get a quest! Not quite...
Review Fae Farm (Switch) - A Thoughtful, Utterly Gorgeous Farm Sim, But Avoid The NPCs
Farming, fishing, friendship... faeries?!
Let's cut to the chase. You're here because you've most likely got a hankering for another farming-type game in your life. In fact, you've probably played most of them already, from Stardew to Harvestella, and you've most likely been burned a few times by games that didn't quite scratch the itch. Now, you're...
(rock)Steady, this is another (be)bop
When we first got our hands on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge last year, we were by no means of the impression that the game was lacking in the content department — this is, after all, what we deemed to be "the best Turtles scrolling beat 'em up ever". A little over a year later, the game's...
Review The Making Of Karateka (Switch) - A Great Start For Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series
Everybody Do The Kiba-Dachi
Digital Eclipse, following on from Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, is continuing its trend of going back to the past to rekindle the games that kicked ass. While the Cowabunga Collection was wrapped in comic book paraphernalia and finished with a lick of...
Review Rune Factory 3 Special (Switch) - The Same Great Farm Sim/RPG, Though 'Special' Is A Stretch
Another day of sun
Being a Rune Factory fan has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the past several years. After Rune Factory 4 launched in 2013, the games went on hiatus for nearly a decade, with the fate of the series itself being pretty up in the air for most of that wait. Against all odds, and after a change in development teams and rights...
Review ANONYMOUS;CODE (Switch) - A Spellbinding Sci-Fi Visual Novel In A Flashy Package
A game worth saving (and loading)
For much of the time that Science Adventure fans have known of its existence, Anonymous;Code has been more of a waiting game than, well, an actual game. First announced all the way back in 2016, this sci-fi-heavy visual novel was smacked with delay after delay until it finally saw a Japanese-exclusive release on...
It’s-a me, Poir-i-ot
The Agatha Christie Poirot games have a long and mixed history. They go right back to PC games in the early 2000s and continue through to the likes of The ABC Murders, which also made it to Switch back in 2020. Over the years, different developers and publishers have picked up the Christie brand and delivered a range of...
Rayman is raving
2017’s Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle had one of the best DLCs we’ve ever seen a game starring Mario receive. The Donkey Kong Adventure story expansion saw Donkey Kong and Rabbid Cranky team up with Rabbid Peach to take on tons of reworked enemies and tons of tight, tactical challenges. It proved Ubisoft knew how to make a...
Review Taito Milestones 2 (Switch) - A Better Selection With The Fabulous Triple-Screen Darius II
Score a point over
For the avid retro gamer, the Arcade Archives series has been one of the Switch’s greatest boons. Hamster Corporation has, to date, released 280 titles, and another 108 specific to the Neo Geo hardware, all with a commitment to emulating arcade originals at affordable prices. Taito Milestones 2 is a collection featuring 10...
Review Excitebike 64 - An Underrated Racer That Deserves To Ride With Its N64 Stablemates
Hold onto your handlebars
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. Of the sports games in the N64 era, Excitebike 64 feels left out of conversation more often than siblings such as Wave Race 64 and 1080° Snowboarding...
Review Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy (Switch) - A Series Best That Proves It Still Has The Magic
Not just another cog
Back when Trine 4 came out, it felt a bit like a hail-mary attempt to recapture the audience that was lost after the disappointment of Trine 3, and the future of the series seemed a bit up in the air. Luckily, that last title proved to be a strong return to form for the series, and after a DLC expansion (on PC) that was also...
Review Samba De Amigo: Party Central (Switch) - Sega's Cult Classic Returns In Need Of A Shake-Up
Going through the motion controls
In the Wii's heyday, some executive or other higher-up at Nintendo dove into the multitude of factors that converged to make the Wii such a resounding success. Among the factors was the idea that motion—even at a minuscule level, like flicking one's wrist—was tied to the brain's production of dopamine. Pairing...
Review Sea Of Stars (Switch) - An Instant Classic, So Much More Than A Chrono Trigger Throwback
Your wish is granted
About five years ago, a no-name studio called Sabotage wowed audiences when it put out The Messenger, a creative and innovative action platformer that quickly set itself apart from the deluge of similar retro-flavored titles releasing in the indie space. Empowered by that game’s deserved success, the team then began work on...
Review Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (Switch) - Bleeding Cool Style But Always In Jet Set's Shadow
A turf battle against nostalgia
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is an immensely conflicting outing that capitalizes on nostalgia by drawing water from the same punk-as-hell city tap as Jet Set Radio. Sometimes the cup runs over. Others, rusted pipes bleed into the water, poisoning the experience. Jet Set Radio casts a low-poly shadow over any game about street...
Review Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate (Switch) - Chess With Guns? Definitely Worth A Shot
"We will send unto them... only you"
Chess is one of the most ancient games in existence, and while we continue to eagerly await the fabled release of the completely real Chess 2, it can be fun to see how modern game makers choose to iterate on the classic design. In Shotgun King, the latest release from Headbang Club and developer Punkcake...