Author Profile
- Username
- Jon_Mundy
- Articles
- 93 (93 reviews)
- First Article
- Tue 21st, November 2017
- Avg. Review Score
- 6.7
Review Witcheye - A Fun Platformer That Sadly Can't Shake Off Its Smartphone Origins
Magic eye
There's some kind of witchcraft going on with Witcheye, and we're not just talking about the title character. Here's a 2D platformer that doesn't involve any jumping whatsoever. Spooky. At the outset of the game, you take control of a witch who turns herself into a free-flying eyeball – because witches – in order to chase down a...
Review Helheim Hassle - A Limb-Lobbing Viking Puzzle-Platformer That's Worth Sticking With
Put your body through hell
Bjørn Hammerparty is a 14-year-old boy who could fairly claim to have been born in completely the wrong time and place. The typical Viking pursuits of fighting and drinking really aren't his horn of mead, and he'd much rather find a quiet corner to relax in. And so it is that after finding himself the unfortunate victim...
Review Creaks - A Masterfully Told Dark Fairytale Packed With Clever Puzzles
Finely oiled
Amanita Design has made quite a name for itself producing distinctive, visually alluring and extremely intuitive point-and-click adventure-puzzlers for PC and mobile. Across the likes of Botanicula, Samorost and Machinarium there's an evident shared love for the absurd and a predilection for charming wordless narratives. Now, the Czech...
Mini Review Rez Plz - Not Quite A Game To Die For
In need of a jolt
Searching for a dose of that old The Lost Vikings magic on your Nintendo Switch? We'd love to push Rez Plz forward as a blood-soaked candidate, but unfortunately there are just too many sore points for our liking. In this co-op puzzle-platformer, you'll find yourself guiding a pair of wizard twins through a SNES-era fantasy world...
Review Infini - A Clever Spatial Puzzler That Looks Like No Other Game You've Played
To Infini and beyond
There's a mind-boggling degree of variety out there on the eShop right now, with multiple genres and virtually all tastes catered for in one way or another. But there isn't much out there that's downright weird. Or nothing that even approaches Infini, in any case. The world of games is a pretty conservative place when you...
Review Yes, Your Grace - A Curious Mix Of Kingdom Management And Medieval Adventure
Red weddings and royal whodunnits
Modern European royalty has things easy. Without any form of meaningful power to wield, all they have to deal with is intra-family bickering and the odd scandal. The regal protagonist of Yes, Your Grace has to deal with all this, plus a kingdom on the brink of bankruptcy, starvation, and a drug epidemic. Oh, and...
Mini Review Super Toy Cars 2 - A Cute Racer Saddled With Technical And Balancing Problems
Diminutive returns
Racing around everyday domestic environments in dinky toy cars isn't a fresh concept for Switch owners. Not only have we already had the original Super Toy Cars, but Table Top Racing: World Tour - Nitro Edition, too. Super Toy Cars 2 doesn't exactly have novelty on its side, then. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an awful lot else...
Mini Review Indiecalypse - A Deeply Unpleasant Game About Games
That joke isn't funny any more
Humour is highly subjective, so we're quite willing to concede that you might – might – find Indiecalypse hilarious. We only wish we could say that you'll find it fun to play with the same level of confidence. This bawdy adventure sees you taking control of three nerds as they bid to make a video game. It's a...
Mini Review Fly Punch Boom! - A Fantastically Frantic Fighter That Barely Gives You Time To Think
Superpowered Smash Bros.
You're not ready for Fly Punch Boom. No really, you're not. You might think you were born to play a game that essentially throws you into an anime royal rumble, but neither your eyes nor your reactions are up to the task. Not yet. It's going to take time to acclimatise to Fly Punch Boom's level of madcap hyper-kinetic...
Review PONG Quest - A Slapdash Attempt At Resurrecting A Gaming Classic
Same old back and forth
When it landed in arcades in 1972, Pong wasn't the first video game ever made – but Atari certainly based it on the game that was. There's a strong argument to be made that Pong needs a modern revamp more than any other gaming classic. But not like this. Not like PONG Quest. It's far from unusual to splice RPG elements...
Review Lonely Mountains: Downhill - A Freewheeling Downhill Delight
King of the hill
Lonely Mountains: Downhill might sound like the name of a lost chapter from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, but it's even more magical than that. It's... a mountain biking game. Now, you might not think that sounds particularly magical, and we'd be tempted to agree with you. Except that we've played Lonely Mountains: Downhill rather a...
Review Super Pixel Racers - Top-Down Racing Action That's Worth A Spin
Easy left, easy right
Mario Kart has taught us to expect a close-up, over-the-shoulder view of our arcade racers, but it didn't always used to be this way. Back in the NES days, the likes of R.C. Pro-Am and Super Off-Road offered a birds-eye view of the action. It's this old-school racing spirit that developer 21c. Ducks seeks to evoke with Super...
Review Billion Road - Like Pokémon Meets Monopoly, But Not As Cool As It Sounds
Does it deserve to Monopolise your time?
In a world where Switch owners already have access to both a serviceable version of Monopoly and Pokémon Sword and Shield, do we really need a game that combines the two? For most people, the answer is "probably not". But that's got nothing to do with Billion Road's concept, and everything to do with its...
Mini Review Snakeybus - All Aboard For Some Undemanding But Enjoyable Action
A lengthy bus journey
As vehicular nomenclature goes, 'Snakeybus' is just about as apt as 'Boaty McBoatface'. Your primary means of locomotion in Snakeybus is a bus that's well and truly snake-like. It's a snakey-bus. Not that it eats mice or hisses at you or anything. Rather, your physics-defying vehicle stretches out to improbable, city-enveloping...
Review Shinsekai: Into The Depths - A Watery Twist On The Metroidvania Format
Unsplashy adventure with hidden depths
We shouldn't be surprised any longer when a mobile-to-Switch port turns out to be decent. There are far too many examples to list here, but just recently both Exit The Gungeon and Oddmar have acquitted themselves admirably. Even so, we're as surprised as you are to note that the latest must-have Metroidvania...
Review Exit The Gungeon - Fine-Tuned Action That's Less Compelling Than Its Forerunner
Beating a hasty retreat
Having created one of the finest indie roguelikes of recent years in Enter The Gungeon, some might have wondered how developer Dodge Roll would follow it up. The answer, of course, is to Exit The Gungeon. This is no direct sequel, but rather more of an extended epilogue. Having faced and killed their past, our four...
Review Neon City Riders - There's Little Substance Under That Retro-Tinged Veneer
Retrograde step
Nostalgia is as potent a force in modern video games as it is in cinema, TV and music. We all appreciate a dose of something warm and familiar in these scary times. But the trouble with such rose-tinted glasses is that they can often obscure a litany of flaws and a critical lack of imagination. Such is the case with Neon City Riders...
Mini Review Stela - A Pretty Platform-Puzzler That Badly Wants To Be Inside
Caught in Limbo
If Stela is wholly successful at anything, it's as a tribute to Inside. It follows Playdead's immersive platform-puzzler template to a quite remarkable degree, while its shortcomings only enhance the reputation of the 2018 eShop release. Are you someone who thought Inside was merely a generic 2D platformer with pretty window dressing...
Review Overpass - A Slow-And-Steady Racer That Strays Off The Beaten Track
Muddy textures
The active ingredient of pretty much every racing game that you care to mention, from Out Run to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, is speed. Overpass might require you to get to the finishing line in the shortest time possible, but it's almost wholly lacking in that S-factor. It sounds perverse, but in order to make suitably rapid progress here...
Mini Review Oddmar - An Acclaimed Mobile Platformer That Just About Holds Its Own On Switch
Inspector Norse
When Oddmar hit iOS and Android in 2018, it prompted many to proclaim its beautiful cartoon graphics and tight 2D platformer gameplay worthy of the Nintendo Switch itself. Now that Oddmar has hit the Nintendo eShop, we have a chance to put those lofty claims to the test. Do you know what? Those people were right, at least for the...
Mini Review One Finger Death Punch 2 - A Brutally Rhythmic Brawler
Devastating left-right combo
For all of the hard work, physical preparation, and learned technique that goes into high-level combat sport, it's all about two basic things: hitting and not getting hit. It's an appropriate analogy with which to start a review of One Finger Death Punch 2, where an increasingly elaborate fighting game plays out through...
Review Vitamin Connection - A Charmingly Unique Co-Op Experience, When It Works
Co-op cure-'em-up is a mostly sweet pill to swallow
It might sound like a health supplement conference, but Vitamin Connection turns out to be one of the zestiest Switch exclusives of the year so far – which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when you consider that the developer behind it, WayForward, is responsible for the joyful Shantae...
Mini Review Tilt Pack - An Accessible Yet Shallow Arena Brawler
Smash Bros. stripped to its bones
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is undeniably brilliant, but there's a fundamental disconnect at the heart of it. Despite its bright, inviting presentation, the series has traded its knock-about couch co-op appeal for an increasingly technical fighting system and reams of esoteric fan service. Don't agree? Start a game...
Review Among the Sleep: Enhanced Edition - Has Some Growing Up To Do
Creepy crawling
If games like Firewatch and Gone Home typify what has come to be known as the 'walking simulator,' then Among the Sleep is more of a 'tottering simulator'. You could take that as a reference to its implausibly youthful protagonist, but it just as easily applies to the game's uneven tone and shaky gameplay. You could probably describe...
