Latest Reviews
Mini Review Shadow Man Remastered - A Rich, Inscrutable World To Get Lost In
He's got friends on the other side
There's no sense in pretending that Shadow Man isn't a dated experience. But games like this — originally seen on PlayStation, N64, PC and Dreamcast — rather force a re-examination of the somewhat meaningless criticism "dated". Seriously, what does it mean? A change in standards, perhaps. Differing expectations...
Review Cotton Fantasy - A Joyful, Mischievous, And Incredibly Varied Shmup
Any Witch Way
When it comes to the cute-’em-up sub-genre, the characterful witch Cotton and the series to which she lends her name are effectively royalty. There are other games that have been important in defining a niche where shmups’ staple fighter craft, tanks and laser turrets are replaced with kittens, candy canes and cuddly toys, of...
Review Radirgy Swag - Legwork Needed To Enjoy This Quirky Shmup
Radio for help
Merriam-Webster defines ‘Swag’, in urban slang terms, as referring to "stylish confidence”, although the origin of the word actually comes from the Scandinavian ‘svagga’, meaning to “rock unsteadily or to lurch”. Radirgy Swag, with its unusual direction and somewhat confusing properties, probably has more in common with...
Review SNK VS. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash - An Utterly Essential Card-Battler
Now this is a Brucie bonus
It's a result we had previously only dared to hope for. When SNK Vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium dropped on Switch almost a year ago, the fruits of the two fighting game companies' all-too-brief alliance were once again deemed "potentially in play". But when the labelled "Volume 1" of the wonderful Neo Geo Pocket Color...
Mini Review Picross S7 - Holy Moly, They Only Went And Added Touch Support
THE NUMBERS, MASON! WHAT DO THEY MEAN!
If there’s one Nintendo franchise that has desperately needed a new entry in modern times, it’s Picross. Just nine months on from S6, barely five months since the SEGA-flavoured Picross S Genesis & Master System edition, and after the thrilling cliffhanger ending, we’ve been eager to see how Jupiter...
Review Pinchcliffe Grand Prix - Surprisingly Charming Licensed Kart Racing
Well, there's Norway we saw this coming
Look, we know everyone has already collected all the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix memorabilia there is to collect. We're sure that as you read this you’re sitting there in your Pinchcliffe Grand Prix pyjamas and shaking with fear at the prospect of buying another piece of Pinchcliffe merchandise, because your...
Review Astroneer - Plenty Of Genial Jank In This Addictive, Scrappy Sandbox
In space, no one can hear you scrap
The story of Astroneer is a remarkable one, and one this reviewer (hello!) has been following since the very beginning. Back in 2015, this charming little teaser trailer was released, showing a spaceman traversing lonely, low-poly alien landscapes. It wasn't fully clear what the game was, but it was instantly...
Mini Review Twelve Minutes - A Tedious Time Loop That Squanders Its Potential
"No, Samus, no!" we cried, "It's not THAT Ridley!"
It’s almost impossible to avoid comparing 12 Minutes to the classic existential horror movie, Groundhog Day. It’s the same basic premise, after all; famous actor goes into house, eats cake, gets assaulted by policeman, chokes to death, wakes up in the time loop. Okay, maybe they’re not exactly...
Mini Review Dreamscaper - A Carefully Crafted Roguelite With A Personal Touch
Don't sleep on this one
Sometimes you can just tell how much effort and care went into making a game, and a good example of this can be seen in Dreamscaper. Developed by a tiny three-person development team, it’s impressive how much has been crammed into this little roguelite from both a story and gameplay perspective. At its core Dreamscaper is...
Mini Review Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space - A Rare Bit Of Old-School Point-And-Click Craziness
Telling tall Telltale tales
Has it really been fifteen years since Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space was originally released? It still feels so contemporary. The new Sam & Max. Which is now older than Sam & Max Hit the Road was when Beyond Time and Space first launched. Aargh, skeleton, etc. Never mind, grandad! It's back now with...
Review Hollow 2 - A Sequel That Shoots Itself In The Foot
Game over, man, game over!
Sequels are supposed to be better than their predecessors. Although such a statement doesn’t always ring true (plenty will have a lot to say about which of the Metroid Prime games is their favourite) the intention behind a sequel is to learn from and improve upon previous works - that’s the theory, at least. When...
Review Dungeon Munchies - Not Without Potential, But Also Serious Early Access Issues
Undercooked
There’s a lot of debate these days about what constitutes a ‘complete’ game. Is a game complete when it launches, or does it only cross that threshold when the developer finally stops updating it? If it’s neither of those, how many updates or how much content have to be added until it is done? What about when a game is ‘content...
Is it worth the hype?
Well, here we are. Eight months after The House In Fata Morgana's release, and six months since our first diary entry of "the game better than Breath of the Wild", it's finally time to actually, finally review it. Fata Morgana is an subject of bafflement, a tantalising enigma, and a frequent point of mockery, all because its...
Review Chicory: A Colorful Tale - A Masterful Marriage Of Mechanics, Themes And Visuals
Available handheld or Chicory dickory docked
There are few things more personal than art. That is, the art produced by an artist. Obviously. Even in its most commercial, populist form — including when it’s a small part of a much larger product — the work of an individual artist is ultimately recognisable, whether from obvious sweeping traits...
Review Wytchwood - A Striking And Addictive Crafting Adventure
It's wytchcraft
Let’s start this off with just one word, shall we: crafting. There you go, now you know whether or not you’re going to enjoy Wytchwood; thanks for stopping by! In all seriousness, crafting has become such a prevalent mechanic in modern gaming, and it’s one that people rarely sit on the fence with. You either love it or you...
Review Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection - An Incomplete Compilation Of Cult Classics
Not so fantasmic
You’d struggle to find a set of games better suited to a convenient retro compilation than Valis: The Phantasm Soldier. The late '80s/early '90s platform-shooter Castlevania-ish hybrid series spans at least half a dozen formats from esoteric Japanese computers to the Mega Drive, each release — even when they’re supposed to be...
Deed-lightful
Team Ladybug has something of a reputation of turning famous licensed properties into compelling Metroidvanias. After the opening PC-exclusive freebie Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue starring series mascot Jack Frost came Touhou Luna Nights, another ‘exploration action’ title featuring the endlessly popular Gensokyo...
Review Deathsmiles I & II - A Visually Impressive Panoramic Slice Of Bullet Hell
Chips, dips, chains, whips
Originally marketed in Japan with bottles of tea labeled as “Windia’s Delicious Urine” — the ostensible excreta of Deathsmiles’ central protagonist — one has to wonder what exactly Cave’s aspirations were for this entry in their shoot-em-up canon. A 2009 bullet hell shoot-em-up (or ‘shmup’), Deathsmiles...
Review Let's Sing 2022 - Reliable Karaoke Fun That Could Do With More Variety
More reissue than brand new
There are some things in life that are so predictably reliable, any change to the equilibrium would cause catastrophic disruption. Like the changing of the seasons, the annual holidays, and EA Sports’ insistence on screwing over Switch owners, Let’s Sing continues its annual releases with another set of both new and...
Mini Review Super Impossible Road - A Slick Racer That Throws A Morph Ball Down Rainbow Road
Much more fun than Regular Possible Path
Spoilers: The road is, in fact, possible. Yes, it’s another example of flagrant false advertising and the sort of thing that gives this fine hobby an ill reputation. No, we’re joking. Of course we’re joking. It’s not impossible to traverse, it’s impossible to build. A road free-floating in space on...
Mini Review Omno - An Easygoing, Pensive Platformer With Echoes Of Journey
Omno? Om-yes!
Omno is an easy game. It’s unchallenging in every sense of the word. You already know the controls. You’ve seen this general graphical style before and can quickly read the environments. The gameplay loop is familiar: explore, platform, do a sliding-block puzzle, reach a new area. The story is simple and doesn’t dig very deep...
Review Doctor Who: The Edge Of Reality - A Fair Adventure With Serious Performance Issues
Flux, but no capacity
It seems as though the key to making a good Doctor Who game is... to not let the player take control of The Doctor. Developer Maze Theory's recent (and rather excellent) Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins was a compelling realisation of this concept, and now Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is a somewhat more traditional take on...
Review Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon - A Super Addictive, Combat-Driven Puzzler
Diggin' it
Sometimes just before his boss battle, Specter Knight will warn you, “All who play Pocket Dungeon’s deadly game will be consumed by it.” He’s certainly right. Yacht Club’s newest spin-off of its critically lauded Shovel Knight franchise is, in a word, addictive. It’s easy to look at Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon and think...
Review Paper Mario - A Well-Crafted Creation That Stands Up Beautifully
Historical document
This review originally went live in 2017, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the addition of Paper Mario to the other N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. Can we take a moment to appreciate just how gloriously wacky it is that a game like Paper Mario exists in the first place? This is an idea that followed in the...
Review Loop Hero - A Creative And Incredibly Addictive Distillation Of An RPG
You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?
When you get right down to it, almost every game consists of a very simple loop. For example, every Mario 2D platformer ultimately is nothing more than having the famed plumber jump over obstacles and run to the right. We’re rarely focused on the repetition, however, because it’s the new things that...
Review Life Is Strange: True Colors - Visual Downgrades On Switch Can't Spoil A Superb Story
I know how you feel
It’s hard to believe that we’re now on the fourth Life is Strange game in just six years (fifth if you include the short introductory installment for Life is Strange 2). That’s a lot of content within a relatively short space of time, so there’s an undeniable danger of the series running out of steam. Thankfully, however,...
Review Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX - All Monsters Go To Heaven In Tecmo's Cult Classic
Breeding virtual monsters to fight for fun and profit
Name the first classic game series that centres around collecting, training, and battling monsters against other trainers around the continent that comes into your head. No, we’re not talking about Pokémon — instead we’re looking at Monster Rancher, a series which started in 1997 on the...
Mini Review WinBack: Covert Operations - Omega Force's Overlooked And Influential Cover Shooter
WinBack, baby WinBack, that's where it's at
It’d be easy to dismiss Winback without a second thought. Developed by Omega Force — nowadays famous for the long-running Dynasty Warriors series and associated Musou spin-offs/crossovers — and released for N64 back in 1999, it’s probably the least well-known of the Switch Online service’s...
Review Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition - A Light Life Sim Worth Revisiting On Switch
Dream home in a dream land
Since Disney now owns a vast selection of major pop culture properties, many of which permeate our lives on a near daily basis, it can be easy to forget the characters that make up the heart of Disney. We’re talking Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy — remember those? In recent years, such characters have...
Mini Review DoDonPachi Resurrection - Same Great Game, Same Old Problems
Bee-rilliant, bee-witching, bee-ry annoying
Another day, another prestigious arcade shmup finds a happy new home for itself on the Switch. This may sound like we’ve skipped straight to the end of this review a few paragraphs early but as it’s been a full decade since DoDonPachi Resurrection’s English Xbox 360 release, more than that since it...
