Switch Game Reviews
Review Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (Switch) - Fun, But Only In Short Doses
Titled Zangoose Game
When it comes to Pokémon spin-offs, the Mystery Dungeon series is probably the lengthiest. For every short-lived game like Pokémon Dash or Pokkén Tournament, there’s a Mystery Dungeon title offering potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay. Of course, whether you’d actually want to play one of them for hundreds of hours...
Review Rune Factory 4 Special (Switch) - The Definitive Version Of A Series Classic
"You're always welcome here"
The Harvest Moon series made quite a name for itself when it first released on the SNES in 1996, trading the typical combat-centric trappings of an RPG in favour of a much more laid-back and slower-paced focused on farming. Many sequels would follow in the coming years, and on the tenth anniversary, Marvelous produced an...
Review Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (Switch) - A Superb Selection Of Retro Classics
A legacy to be proud of
Those of you familiar with the backstory of the ongoing development of the Mega Man X series may be aware that Zero – the sabre-wielding, long-haired secondary protagonist – was, in fact, the original design Keiji Inafune wanted to use for Mega Man. That idea got shot down because of how different Zero looks from the...
Review Metro Redux (Switch) - A Compelling Pair Of Amazing Horror Shooters
Apocalypse Now
Metro Redux unites a comprehensively overhauled Metro 2033 and its sequel Metro: Last Light in an excellent first-person survival horror package that's stuffed to the mutated gills with genuinely creepy stealth gameplay and a gripping story that sees protagonist Artyom make his way through the mutant-infested Metro deep beneath...
Review Samurai Shodown (Switch) - This Blade Is Still As Sharp As Ever
Another 'victoly' for SNK
When Street Fighter II arrived in arcades in the early '90s and turned the one-on-one fighter into the genre of choice for millions of players, it predictably caused a deluge of copycat clones to flood the market, each offering a slightly different take on the concept. Few of these could hold a candle to Capcom's effort,...
Review Two Point Hospital (Switch) - Arguably The Best Version Of An Acclaimed Modern Classic
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
Harkening back to the “good old days” of Theme Hospital from Bullfrog in the '90s, Two Point Hospital wraps the same irreverent humour into a modern game that introduces a whole new generation to the joys of medicine. This is a game about managing expectations. Patients expect to be treated and...
Review Code: Realize Guardian Of Rebirth (Switch) - A Steampunk Visual Novel With A Literary Twist
Steampunk Hunks
Code: Realize Guardian of Rebirth is an Otome visual novel originally released for the PlayStation Vita back in 2015 that sees you assume the role of Cardia, a mysterious young lady with a serious case of amnesia who's been shut off from the world and is living her life in a strange abandoned mansion at the behest of her elusive...
Cores of War
Darksiders Genesis continues the series' penchant for switching up its central gameplay style and influences, this time settling on a Diablo-esque camera angle for its hack-and-slash antics. At first glance, it may seem far removed from the third-person romps that make up the rest of the franchise, but, rest assured, once you jump in...
Review Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate (Switch) - An Iterative Update For Hardcore Fans Only
Quantity over quality?
Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is here, and it brings with it a host of additions to the vanilla version of the game, adding some much-needed replayability via a brand new Infinity mode, seven new characters, tweaked gameplay mechanics, a slightly refined UI and beefed-up story. It's all pretty much as you'd expect if you're a fan...
Review Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha (Switch) - Great Games Shamed By Horrendous Input Lag
Delayed reaction
At face value, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is an excellent proposition – a collection of some of the most beloved shmups and arguably the best titles Psikyo ever produced. At the humble price of $39.99, the new owner of the Psikyo properties, City Connection, is offering four must own shmup titles and two solid STG at an average...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube773k Watch on YouTube Review Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl (Switch) – Gold - Endearing RPG Action With Bags Of Character
It's nacho typical RPG
When you think about it logically, we shouldn’t have been surprised by Snack World. After all, when a game’s developed by the legendary Level-5 and has already enjoyed a hugely popular anime series and toy line in Japan, it really should have been on plenty of gamers’ wishlists. Despite this, it’s fair to say that...
Review Monster Energy Supercross (Switch) - The Official Videogame 3 - Mucky Madness On Two Wheels
Scrubbed up
Italian developer Milestone might not have the pedigree of Polyphony Digital or Codemasters – at least, not yet – but the racing specialist has always seen the value in porting many of its games to handheld platforms. Just being able to play the original MXGP – albeit in its ‘Compact’ form – on PS Vita, years before Switch...
Review Ash Of Gods: Redemption (Switch) - A Gorgeous Turn-Based RPG Failure
Scammer Saga
Ash of Gods: Redemption wants to be The Banner Saga so bad it hurts. Everything about AurumDust's turn-based RPG is influenced massively by Stoic's superlative dark fantasy effort, and that's fine. It's got the exact same animation style, dark and brooding story, life-or-death decisions to be made, branching narrative, RPG elements,...
Manage your expectations
“Football is more and more like a game of chess,” Alex Ferguson once said in a 2009 interview. “In chess, if you lose your concentration for a second you’re dead.” Obviously he was speaking metaphorically – chess-based fatalities are extremely rare – but his point is an important one: when it’s played to a...
Review Darius Cozmic Collection (Switch) - Swimming With The Fishes
M2 works its magic once more
Editor's note: This review is for the Japanese version of Darius Cozmic Collection. The game has since been released in the west in two versions: Darius Cozmic Collection Console and Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade. Close your eyes. Now think about “classic shmups.” What titles immediately spring to mind? Gradius
Review Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (Switch) - A Pitch-Perfect, Feel-Good JRPG
A perfectly Chrom-ulent port
The number of big Wii U exclusives that have still yet to receive Switch ports is well into single figures now, with Nintendo seemingly all too happy to continue queuing up its back catalogue and giving each title another chance at success (rightly so, in our opinion). Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is the latest game to get...
A Gundam 40th anniversary party, SD style
It takes a certain type of western gamer to be a Mobile Suit Gundam fan. You probably got hooked into mecha anime and spent your youth glaring at import gaming magazines, making lists of Gundam games you would either never play, or end up doing so decades after their original release after some brave fans...
Review Blacksad: Under The Skin (Switch) - Technical Woes Make This A Tough Case To Crack
Feline rough
Detective games can be an unpredictable sort. Their quality often comes down to A) how engaging the core mystery is, and B) how well its mechanics blend with the traditional features of their chosen genre. At their collective best, Telltale and LucasArts really nailed this delicate balance, but some of the recent Frogwares Sherlock...
Review Dr Kawashima's Brain Training For Nintendo Switch (Switch) - Not Quite As Smart 14 Years On
Doctor Why
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the original Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (or Brain Age, if you’re based in North America). Even though these days many credit the Wii with bringing gaming to non-gamers via the likes of Wii Sports, it’s crucial to remember that Brain Training was doing it first, shifting countless DS...
Review ESP Ra.De. Psi (Switch) - The Best Shmup On Nintendo Switch, Period
M2 ShotTriggers' Switch debut is a thing of beauty
Before we begin our review of ESP Ra.De. Psi, M2 ShotTriggers' latest triumph, here's a little history for those who may not be intimately familiar with ESP Ra.De. and its place within the pantheon of shooting games. In 1998, the blossoming shmup developing studio, CAVE, just finished delighting and...
Review LastFight (Switch) - A Weak Clone Of Capcom's Legendary 'Power Stone'
Power Nap
Piranaking's LastFight attempts to recapture the crazy multiplayer chaos of Capcom's classic Power Stone series, lifting its signature chaotic gameplay wholesale and transplanting it into the world of cult comic book Lastman. All of the most recognisable elements of Power Stone – small 3D fighting arenas, numerous objects and weapons...
Review Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - An Unforgivably Sloppy Port Of A Genre Classic
Nights into screams
Imagine if you bumped into an old friend you hadn’t seen in 17 years. You spent ages with them back in the day and over time you just drifted apart, but now you’re finally face-to-face with them again and you realised you’re delighted to see them after all this time. Now imagine if you and your newly-reunited chum went out...
Ship Shape
Back in May this year, we reviewed Assassin's Creed III Remastered for Switch and didn't have a great deal good to say about it. It's been patched since – and plays a considerably better game for it – but upon release, it was pretty much a buggy, blurry shambles with a stuttering framerate and a pretty big disappointment for...
Review Farming Simulator 20 - Fine Farming With Some Serious Simulation
Keep farm and carry on
While reviews of any sort can only ever be subjective, sometimes writers have to don a different 'hat', so to speak. Games often have particular tempos or ways of doing things that may not marry with your mindset at the time, with other work and deadlines looming. Farming Simulator 20 requires a very particular hat – a...
Review Decay Of Logos - An Epic Mess Of A Game, Despite The Lengthy Delay On Switch
Soulless
Originally planned for release back in August on Switch, Decay of Logos was delayed by its developers in order to fix some issues with the game on Nintendo's platform. We played this original version back at the time and found it seriously lacking, suffering from a crushing number of gameplay bugs, some terribly muddy graphics and a dire...
Mini Review Zumba Burn it Up! - Ring Fit Adventure Too Crazy For You? Try This Instead
Rhythmic calorie counting
Out of all of the family-centric games introduced during the lifetime of the absurdly popular Nintendo Wii, only a handful have seemingly thrived and continued into the present day. Perhaps the most prevalent is the Just Dance franchise, which releases every year like clockwork, but the Zumba series is just about hanging by...
Review Narcos: Rise Of The Cartels - An XCOM-Style Outing That Doesn't Live Up To The Show
Plata o plomo?
Remember when licensed games used to be all the rage? A generation ago, practically every film worth its salt had a tie-in video game, and while there were the occasional good ones – GoldenEye 007 anyone? – for the most part, they were a cheap and forgettable way to boost your Gamerscore while simultaneously filling up the shelves...
Review Disney Tsum Tusm Festival - A Colourful Party Game That Isn't As Fun As It Looks
Less 'Heigh Ho', more 'hey ho'
Like the toys themselves, Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is a mutated mess that is both adorable and yet utterly bewildering. On the face of it, this is a collection of mini-games populated by stylised versions of your favourite Disney characters, yet it doesn’t quite live up to that promise. This is in part down to its...
Review Raging Loop - A Gorgeous Visual Novel Cursed With Pacing Problems
Kill or be killed
If you’ve ever had a friend excitedly praise whatever TV series they’re currently watching only to have them, almost apologetically, say “it starts off really slow but gets really good about 12 episodes/chapters in” then you’ll have a really good idea of what it’s like to play Raging Loop. Initially, Raging Loop’s...
Review Hello Kitty Kruisers - If Your Age Is In The Double Digits, This Is Best Avoided
So easy an actual cat could play it
It’s odd what passes for rare these days. Take Hello KItty Kruisers, for example; released physically on the Wii U in limited numbers, it can be bought on the Wii U eShop for a mere ten bucks and yet the boxed version regularly sells to collectors for upwards of $60 online. Thankfully, the game has now...