Switch Game Reviews
Review FIA European Truck Racing Championship - Driven Off The Road By Performance Issues
Rig-amortis
It stands to reason that if you weld four wheels and an engine onto something, there’s probably bound to be someone who wants to race said thing around a track like a maniac. Because that’s the only reason we can imagine why there’s a real-life professional racing league for big rigs and trucks. It’s clearly a big deal for many...
Review Redeemer: Enhanced Edition - Bloody And Brutal Action That's Been Poorly Ported To Switch
Monk-ey business
Redeemer: Enhanced Edition is the Ronseal of top-down beat-’em-ups. With no frills, bells or whistles, it does exactly what it says on the tin/box/eShop description. You’re a former soldier living in a remote monastery. And when some bad dudes attack your temple and kill your fellow monks, it’s up to you to embrace your old...
Review Caladrius Blaze - A Mechanically Competent Shmup With Gratuitous Presentation
Behold the power of the "Shame Break"
Caladrius Blaze is new to the Switch, but didn’t just pop up overnight. The top-down shooter launched as plain old Caladrius on Xbox 360 in Japan in 2013, before progressing through arcade, PS3, PS4 and Windows on the way to Switch. Looking further back, it’s descended from 1990s Japanese arcade favourite...
Duck and cover
There’s a point early on in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden when you realise this is something rather special. It’s when you’re methodically picking off a set of marauders patrolling a ruined settlement with a squad consisting of a wise-cracking anthropomorphic mallard (in a top hat, naturally) and his disgruntled warthog...
Review Raiden V: Director's Cut - Bullet Hell On A Budget Both Veterans And Noobs Can Appreciate
Purple homing laser destruction for the whole family
It is hard to believe that Seibu Kaihatsu’s legendary Raiden shmup series graced Nintendo platforms a single time on Super Nintendo, twenty-seven years ago. But do all good things come to those who wait? We find out as Moss and UFO interactive grace the Switch with the 'Director's Cut' of Raiden...
Review Wolfenstein: Youngblood - Brilliant Co-Op Carnage That's Overshadowed By Its Forerunners
The wicked sisters
The modern incarnation of Wolfenstein has always been a wicked world to inhabit; a deliciously bloody alt-history full of technologically-advanced Nazis, giant mechanical dogs and the kind of well-fleshed out villains who creep right off the screen. Always driven by a compelling and purposefully shocking story beats, the murderous...
Review Kill la Kill: IF - An Underwhelming Arena Fighter That's Only For Fans Of The Anime
IF only it was good
When a popular anime receives a video game adaptation, more often than not it's some form of arena fighter. On Switch alone, we've already seen the likes of My Hero One's Justice, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and more transform hit anime licenses into enjoyable spectacle fighters. With a sea of...
Review Fire Emblem: Three Houses - The Zenith Of A Legendary SRPG Series
House party
Fire Emblem has been through quite a rollercoaster journey on its path to success. After an initial debut on the Famicom in 1990 with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, the series remained a niche exclusive of the Land of the Rising Sun for thirteen years until it made its way westward, spurred on by the appearance of...
Review Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order - Arcade Brawling Is Back, Baby
Hero syndrome
For years - ten of them, to be exact - the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games have retreated into the kind of obscurity only wistful nostalgia can occasionally dispel. They weren’t particularly outstanding games, but they were packed full of characters, lore, and storylines pulled straight out of Marvel’s vast archive. This was back...
Review God Eater 3 - A Great Port Of A Fine Monster Hunter Alternative
Aragami killer
While simply describing God Eater 3 as a Monster Hunter clone might be a little disingenuous, it does comfortably sum up the core tenets of its gameplay. Much like Capcom’s seminal slaying series, you’ll explore pre-defined areas and face off against monsters of varying sizes. You’ll hack off body parts and use the resources you...
Review Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle - An Expansion With Real Depth And Some Odd Decisions
Giant killer
With a distinct lack of Spider-Man games on Nintendo Switch (we can’t help but look longingly at Insomniac’s stellar PS4 exclusive from last year and quietly weep), it fell to the most unlikely of sources to bring city-swinging and verticality to the console: Attack on Titan 2. The original base game has a few issues (check out our...
Review Terraria - A Fine Switch Port That’s Missing One Key Ingredient
A decent port of a legendary game
If there’s one game in the world that has been cloned to death, it’s Mojang’s seminal sandbox block-builder, Minecraft. Most of the ‘me-too’ versions of it have been content with simply offering a vastly inferior experience that seldom adds much, if any, interesting new content to the tried and true...
Review Dragon Quest Builders 2 - Beating Minecraft At Its Own Game
Building a new legacy
Though the Minecraft formula has been iterated on to hell and back, Square Enix managed to offer up an interesting take on the sandbox classic with Dragon Quest Builders. All the blocky aesthetics and open-ended crafting were present and accounted for, but these things were all couched within a wider narrative arc that included...
Review Senran Kagura: Peach Ball - A Shiny Casing Full Of Used Pinball Machine Parts
Pinball X jiggle
In the annals of video game history there have been a great many iterations of the classic arcade game of pinball, whether traditional 'realistic' recreations of tables or fresh digital spins on the genre. Pokémon Pinball, for example, built on the foundation of Kirby’s Pinball Land and added an addictive ‘catch ‘em all’...
Review Psyvariar Delta - A Classic Shooter That Will Leave You Buzzing
The definitive (psy)variation
The original Psyvariar was released nearly two decades ago, developed by Success Corporation (of Cotton fame) and taking full advantage of Taito’s G-NET arcade board to effortlessly shift around simple polygonal models and hundreds of bullets on screen; any freeze frame taken could have passed as an impressionist...
Review Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered - Blowing Things Up Never Gets Old
Guerrillas in the mist
When the original Red Faction dropped in 2001, it was kind of a big deal. Sure, it wasn’t the best first-person shooter we’d ever played, but its destruction physics really were something else. Corridor shooters could often be stifling and claustrophobic affairs, but Red Faction just pointed a grenade launcher at the walls...
The ultimate sacrifice?
Since this review was originally published patches have reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. While we unfortunately cannot revisit games on an individual basis, it should still be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. The product of one of the...
Review World End Syndrome - A High School Summer Holiday Murder Mystery Love-In
The world ends with you
Ah, young love! Fixing eyes in freshman class… Inventing excuses to meet your crush… Daring to hope they like you back… Collecting and cataloguing candid photos of every girl you know… World End Syndrome successfully bottles the bristling potential of the summers of youth: before school’s back, perhaps you’ll...
Review Super Mario Maker 2 - The Last 2D Mario Game You'll Ever Need
Build your own adventure
If there was one game designed with the Wii U Gamepad in mind right from the very start and used it to its fullest potential, it was ZombiU. If there were two games that did that, it would be ZombiU and Super Mario Maker. Everything about the feel of the game and the interface screamed that this is a title that is best...
Review Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled - A Karting Treat For Fans And Newcomers Alike
It’s got loads in it (literally)
Although it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a Mario Kart 9 any time soon, the Switch is starting to grow its own roster of licensed karting games in a way not seen since the GameCube days. Just last month we got Team Sonic Racing, for example, and even though the likes of Nickelodeon Kart Racers and Hello...
Review Super Neptunia RPG - An Easygoing Take On A Cult JRPG Series
The Console War rages on
For those that haven’t stumbled across this side-scrolling RPG series, the Neptunia games have been knocking around since 2010. Originally created by Compile Heart, Idea Factory and various other Japanese studios since, the adventures of chirpy goddess Neptune and the ongoing Console War have been a PlayStation console...
Review Collection of Mana - Expensive, But Ultimately Worth Every Penny
It's Mana from Heaven
While Square's Seiken Densetsu series continues to this very day, it's the two SNES / Super Famicom outings on which the franchise arguably built its enviable reputation. Seiken Densetsu 2 – better known in the west as Secret of Mana – is one of the finest RPGs ever made, while its sequel has only been held back from global...
Nothing hollow about this one
Sword Art Online has been around for quite a while now; what started in 2002 as a simple light novel series has gone on to span a multimedia franchise including several books, manga adaptations, video games, movies, and – yes – an impending live-action Netflix series. It was only a matter of time before the...
Review Battle Worlds: Kronos - A Hex-Based Tactical Title That's Tough As Old Boots
When worlds collide
“Battle Worlds: Kronos is a hard game,” reads an ominous opening message. “But if you can’t beat it, that’s not because it is too hard.” That warning might sound a little cocky, but there’s truth to it, too. Because beneath its wonky CGI cutscenes and well-worn sci-fi setting lies a turn-based strategy game that...
Review PixARK - A True Survival Horror, And Not In A Good Way
Let this one go extinct
In 2009, the gaming industry was forever changed when a humble indie game called Minecraft was first made available to the public, introducing the world to a new genre of sandbox gaming that would go on to be cloned and mimicked to death in the ensuing decade. One of the most recent offshoots of this concept is PixARK, a...
Review Cricket 19 - Performance Woes Can't Dampen This Decent Sports Sim
Bowled over
While cricket may have spawned a few video game duds over the years, we’ve also been treated to some of the best sports sims ever made. Super International Cricket set the standard early on with some fine form on SNES, Brian Lara Cricket on PlayStation rounded off ’90s era crease battling with style and Ashes Cricket proved a decent...
Review TT Isle Of Man - The Safest Way To Experience The World's Deadliest Motorsport Race
Mad Manx
In the motorsport racing calendar, few courses hold quite as much infamy as the Isle of Man TT. Described as "38 miles of terror" by one Sports Illustrated reporter in 2003, the time trial course has been running on and off since 1907 and sees superbikes racing past front doors and around country lanes at breakneck speeds. It’s one of the...
Review Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa - A Laughably Limp Attempt At Titillation
A big booby
You are a new transfer student to Fujisawa Academy, an unseen blank avatar with no particular name or gender beyond the one you choose for yourself at the start of the game. Like a bad teen fan fiction, your entire personality can easily be summed up as "sarcastic and horny", while your sole skill of note is the ability to force people...
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...
Review Crystal Crisis - A Falling Block Puzzler That Fits Perfectly On Switch
But can it run Crystal Crisis?
Everyone has dabbled in some form of a falling block puzzle game at some point in their life. For most people, it’s probably some form of Tetris. For others, it may be Dr. Mario, or Puyo Puyo, maybe even Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Years upon years of formula tweaking and innovative twists on the simple...