Latest Reviews
Mini Review PowerWash Simulator - Scrubs Up Well On Switch
Hashtag satisfying
In 1998, The Simpsons made a throwaway gag about Bart refusing to perform yard work at home for his mother, then demanding she let him join the queue for the yard work simulator at a local fairground. It’s funny because who would develop a virtual experience of a chore? Moreover, who would want to actually play it? So anyway,...
Review OddBallers - Ballsy And Chaotic Co-op Fun, Though The Online Is DOA
If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a...lawnmower?
Game Swing's OddBallers, a raucous top-down dodgeball party game, has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, having languished in various unreleased forms since it was first announced as "coming soon" a fair old while ago. Now it's suddenly dropped onto Nintendo Switch and, far from the...
Review Fashion Police Squad - A Stylish Romp That Gives 'DOOM Clones' A Fabulous Makeover
Oooh! Suits you, sir
Feel like you've played one too many dull Doom clones in your time to really be bothered trying another? Well, may we suggest you get your glad rags on and give Mopeful Games' Fashion Police Squad a whirl, it's absolutely fabulous, darling! Sashaying onto Switch in a very silly burst of colour and humour, this is a quirky...
Review Life Is Strange 2 - A Solid Switch Port For This Thrilling Second Story
Highway to hell?
Given the critical and commercial success enjoyed by Life is Strange back in 2015, creating a compelling direct sequel can’t have been easy for developer Dontnod. Yet just three years later, players were surprised with a brand new story that was every bit as emotionally affecting as the first, if not more so. It boasts a plot that...
Mini Review Trek To Yomi - Arrestingly Cinematic, But A Trek All The Same
Slog to the Nether Regions
Years in the making, Trek to Yomi is the vision of indie developer Leonard Menchiari, backed by Polish studio Flying Wild Hog and publisher Devolver Digital. Essentially a side-on slash 'em up, its hook is its spectacular aesthetic: feudal Japan and the samurai code recreated through cinematic camerawork in striking black...
Review SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake - The Best SpongeBob Platformer Yet
Across the Spongeverse
A few years ago, Purple Lamp Studios released SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, a solid revival of a 3D platforming classic from decades past. Sales for that remaster were evidently robust enough to justify development of an all-new sequel, as SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was announced a...
Review Drainus - A Spectacular, Showboating Tour De Force For Sci-Fi Shmup Fans
Drain the core
Drainus. Whether a ham-fisted portmanteau of Darius and Gradius, or relating to the game’s core mechanic, it’s a silly name any way you look at it. Japan-based developer Team Ladybug, more recently known for the rather good Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, has had the Switch shooting game hardcore waiting eight...
Mini Review Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection - A Great But Gouging, Exploitative Package
It really makes you wonder
Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection gets a lot right. It features six great titles in the series, with complete region variations and all their alternate console ports, from arcade to SG-1000, to Master System, Mega Drive, and Game Gear — 21 titles in total. It has a bevy of in-game options for finely tweaking the image...
Review GoldenEye 007 - Aged And Flawed, But Still A Masterpiece Of Game Design
Gold-tinted specs?
This review originally went live in 2011, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Highly revered by countless N64 owners, GoldenEye 007 is often credited with kick-starting the first-person shooter craze on consoles. It not only...
Review The Excavation Of Hob's Barrow - A Chiller With Echoes Of LucasArts' Point-And-Click Prime
Indy Jones bar t’at
‘Ey up, adventure fans! Are you hankering for a grave-robbing escapade reminiscent of Indiana Jones? But do you wish it were set in Yorkshire, trading jaw-dropping Incan ziggurats for drizzly moors? Well, have we got t’ game for you! The Excavation of Hob's Barrow puts your clicking finger in the shoes of one Thomasina...
Review Onion Assault - A Bold, Breezy Homage To Super Mario Bros. 2
A game with layers?
If you’ve played Bertil Hörberg’s Gunman Clive and its direct sequel on 3DS, Wii U, or Switch, then the developer’s latest effort, Onion Assault, will look immediately familiar to you. But while the former two titles were undoubtedly inspired by the Mega Man franchise, Onion Assault instead feels like an homage to...
Review A Space For The Unbound - A Beautifully Rendered, Breathtaking Adventure Game
Yes, you can pet all the cats
We began our time with Mojiken Studio’s A Space For The Unbound curled up on our sofa, cup of steaming tea close by, with winter rain softly rapping against the window. Much like reading a good book, it felt right to play this slice-of-life adventure game this way; it pulled us in immediately in with its gorgeous...
Review Persona 3 Portable - A Fine Series Entry, Though One That's Tough To Return To
"Remember you will die"
Though Persona 3 was actually the fourth mainline release in the series, the meme goes that it was really the first because Atlus just refuses to acknowledge the previous games. As a fresh start for the series, Persona 3 was eventually followed up with not one, but two ‘final’ versions that each had important new features...
Review Persona 4 Golden - A Must-Buy Classic That's Stood The Test Of Time
"Heartbreak, heartbreak, you tell me goomba"
Although Shin Megami Tensei is technically the flagship RPG franchise over at Atlus, its spin-off Persona series has made huge strides in finding mainstream appeal in recent years. While Persona 5 may have done most of the heavy lifting, Persona 4 Golden (P4G)—the enhanced re-release of the PS2...
Review Fire Emblem Engage - Relationships Get Sidelined By A Thrilling Combat-First Focus
School's out
It's been almost four years since the hugely successful Fire Emblem: Three Houses stormed onto Switch and reignited our passion for Intelligent Systems' long-running tactical RPG franchise. Here was a game that deepened the relationship and social sim aspects and captured the hearts of gamers who revelled in three separate campaign...
Review Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider - Drop-Dead Gorgeous, Neo-Retro Action Platforming
Stepping back in time
Making any video game is exceptionally hard work. But creating a retro-style experience that feels 100% authentic to the source inspiration adds a whole extra layer of difficulty. Implementing pixel art visuals and calling it a day just doesn't cut it, but what developer JoyMasher has done with Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is...
Review Lone Ruin - A No-Nonsense, Roguelike Twin-Stick Shooter
It's dangerous to go 'lone
Though it flew under a lot of radars, Cuddle Monster Games’ Hell is Other Demons was a standout platform shooter of 2019, featuring razor-sharp, ultra-tough action gameplay alongside a delicious neon aesthetic. Considering it was mostly the work of just one man by the name of Hannes Rahm, Hell is Other Demons was an...
Review Breakers Collection - Visco's Neo Geo Fighters Return In Fine Form
Give me something to break
Visco Corporation, responsible for shoot 'em up Andros Dunos (1992), was a Neo Geo stalwart, releasing 15 titles across SNK’s arcade and console hardware. One of its only forays into the fighting game arena was Breakers and its semi-sequel, Breakers Revenge. In 1996, the fighting game market was flooded. And, while it...
Mini Review Melatonin – This Is The Rhythm (Heaven) Of The Night
Beatzzz
Maybe Gloria Estefan was right, and the rhythm is, in fact, gonna get you. Melatonin certainly thinks so. This debut from indie studio Half Asleep is named for the brain hormone that helps you sleep (starting to see a pattern here). It’s a pretty pastel rhythm game where you enter an insomniac’s puzzling dreams to press or hold buttons...
Review Kaiju Wars - Silly And Surprisingly Complicated Strategy Fun
A tactics game of monstrous proportions
If you’ve ever wanted to find out if you could save the world from giant monsters rampaging across the city, you’re in luck. Kaiju Wars gives you the chance to marshal the forces of a small nation beset by a force of five kaiju, each modelled after a famous city-destroying monster from cinema history. The...
Review Sports Story - A Long-Awaited Sequel That's Sadly Not Up To Par
"The thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat!"
Back in 2017, the Switch library was still in its infancy and this relative lack of competition led to indie projects like Blossom Tales and Blaster Master Zero having far more visibility than they perhaps would in the current, more crowded marketplace. Another big early winner on the eShop was...
Review WRC Generations - Rough-Looking Rallying With Too Many Compromises
It's the end of the road
It’s only taken 11 games to figure it out, but publisher Nacon has finally realised that numbering its WRC games has perhaps started to get a little ridiculous. As such, this sequel to WRC 10 has ditched the numbering system, and goes by the more approachable title of WRC Generations. It’s an interesting time to finally...
Review The Punchuin - A Pleasant, Punchy Puzzler That's Light On Content
Fists of Furious Feathers
In a world of annual releases and mandated sequels, The Punchuin, the latest release from Shin'en (Fast RMX, The Touryst), feels like a real passion project. It's a charming love letter to puzzle game fans with an incredible amount of heart put into it. But despite that, once you start peeling back the layers, you’re left...
Review Please, Touch The Artwork - And We Saw That It Was Good, Very Good
Stijl AND substance
To know whether you'll enjoy Please, Touch The Artwork, all you need do is glance at your bookshelf. If you have any art books whatsoever sitting there, we can pretty much guarantee you'll have a great time with this delightfully entertaining, thought-provoking, and unpretentious puzzler. Likewise, if you've ever taken yourself...
Review Sail Forth - An Explorative, Seaborne Blend Of No Man's Sky And Wind Waker
Build an adorable fleet and set sail for adventure
Trim the sails and hoist anchor, because Sail Forth has launched without warning on Switch. This relaxing, laid-back exploration game drops players in an ocean filled with strange locals and even stranger characters. Those looking for realism in their sailing game will find better options out there,...
Review The Outbound Ghost - A Heartfelt But Ultimately Thin Paper Mario-Like
Pale imitation
Described by developer Condradical as "Paper Mario + Undertale" on the game's Kickstarter page, The Outbound Ghost garnered some attention with its aesthetic and gameplay along with its premise: the residents of the town of Outbound all quite suddenly died. Many of them have lingering burdens that keep them from moving onto the...
Mini Review Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Cloud - Pretty Horrific
Cloudy with no chance of fun
Note: This Cloud Version of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was tested on 100MB UW Broadband over WiFi and wired ethernet cable, along with a 5G mobile connection. The launch of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard back in 2017 was a revelation for fans of the franchise. After the lukewarm reception to Resident Evil 6 and decidedly...
Review Aka – Ponder And Wander In A Cosy Open World That Needs Some TLC
Rest and relaxation and red panda
It’s a tale as old as time: the hero defeats the enemies, then rides off into the sunset. But what happens next? In Aka, we find out. This open-world life sim comes from solo developer Cosmic Gatto, a pseudonym for a former DreamWorks animator. It follows the eponymous and adorable Aka, a red panda who is also a...
Review Aliisha: The Oblivion Of Twin Goddesses - A Co-op Puzzler That Demands Two Switches
It takes two (Switches)
At first glance, UNDERSCORE and Joy Brick's brand new puzzle adventure, Aliisha: The Oblivion of Twin Goddesses, shows plenty of promise in how it's been designed from the ground up for two players to indulge in lots of cooperative sleuthing action that makes full use of the Nintendo Switch's unique range of abilities. Here...
Review Paper Cut Mansion - Great Visuals Mask Paper-Thin Roguelite Gameplay
Doesn't stack up
Toby, it seems, is having a very bad day. He’s found himself stuck in a mansion, investigating the strange happenings within it and why he seems to be trapped in it. Paper Cut Mansion is all about uncovering the truth behind the unusual surroundings and surviving long enough to make it to the next floor. There is an attempt to...
