Review Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) - A New Apex For Capcom's Beastly Franchise
A new Nintendo Switch classic has risen
This encounter felt fated. Written in the stars. Ever since the Nintendo Switch was revealed in late 2016, one pervasive thought has been: “How great is Monster Hunter going to be?” While we saw the release of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate in 2018, it was just a port of the 3DS title that was...
Feature The Bloodthirsty History Of Monster Hunter, From Sony PlayStation To Nintendo Switch
In the hunt for knowledge? You've come to the right place
Monster Hunter is Capcom’s second-best-selling video game franchise. It’s bigger than Street Fighter, it’s bigger than Devil May Cry, and it’s bigger than Mega Man. However, it could be argued that Monster Hunter has had a rocky road leading up to the monumental success of Monster...
Preview Monster Hunter Rise Feels Like A Glorious Homecoming For The Series, Not A Side-Story
Our impressions of the new demo
Monster Hunter has gone mainstream. With 2018’s Monster Hunter: World, Capcom finally managed to get the storied franchise to break through to become a smash-hit internationally, selling over 21 million cumulative sales (including Iceborne) as of the time of writing. But, the series has traditionally been positioned...
Feature NES Creator Masayuki Uemura On Building The Console That Made Nintendo A Household Name
"Back then, we didn’t know if it was going to be popular or not"
There's no denying that the NES – or Famicom as it was known in its native Japan – is one of the most important pieces of video game hardware ever made. Not only did it turn Nintendo from an outsider player to industry leader, it laid down the foundations of an industry which...
Mini Review STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace (Switch) - 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...
Mini Review STEINS;GATE 0 (Switch) - A Classy Follow-Up For Veterans Of The Original Visual Novel
A timey-wimey sequel
Let’s not beat around the bush, Steins;Gate is a very well acclaimed visual novel, and this follow-up, Steins;Gate 0 is a worthy entry into the main series. Adopting the same format, world and style as the original Steins;Gate, those looking for a lengthy time-twisting visual novel will not be disappointed. The story takes...
Bloodcurdlingly inconsistent
If you thought the '90s action flick Face/Off had an identity crisis, wait until you meet Corpse Party: Blood Drive. Part visual novel, part survival horror, Blood Drive is the third game in the Corpse Party series and features the surviving cast of the prior two games. While the original Corpse Party – originally...
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 (Switch) - 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 Dragon Quest III: The Seeds Of Salvation (Switch) - 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 g
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 Dragon Quest (Switch) - 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...
Review Call Of Cthulhu (Switch) - 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...
Revisiting a visual novel trendsetter
Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World might not be a catchy title for a Japanese visual novel, but this remake of the beloved PC-98 classic is an important watershed for the genre as a whole. Originally released in 1996, Yu-No tells the tale of Takuya, revealing the nature of his father’s...
Review Rebel Cops (Switch) - A Bland Setting Gives Way To Challenging Tactical Action
Cop this for turn-based tactics on the go
Developer Weappy Studio has enjoyed some notoriety as the developer of This is the Police, and now it's firing right into its own spinoff, Rebel Cops. Set in 1994, Rebel Cops is centred around a rogue faction of ex-police officers who are sick of the system and seeing their town overrun by mobsters, and...
