Switch Game Reviews
Review Yomawari: The Long Night Collection - Fear And Frustration In Equal Measure
Alone in the dark
Horror of the simplest form is often the scariest. The danger that lurks unseen. The shifting darkness that stirs only in the corner of the eye. A distant scream or a whisper that’s impossibly close. It’s this ideal that’s helped games of a terrifying persuasion extend their roots among the small budgets and remits of the...
Review NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 - Microtransactions Can't Sink This Enjoyable B-Ball Romp
Court battle
Once upon a time, back when console games were bound to cartridges and chunky boxes, basketball games weren’t just about simulation. Sure, we had the likes of NBA Showdown and NBA Live doing their best to recreate the magic of b-ball on your Mega Drive or SNES (and to great success, too), but there was one series we all played, even...
Review LEGO DC Super-Villains - Proof That It's Good To Be Bad
Embrace your darker side
For the last 23 years, TT Games has been making all manner of games full of studs, bricks and other Danish building blocks. The LEGO series, in its many forms, has hardly been a bastion of consistent innovation but has always offered a fun and safe place for some light platforming and basic combat. LEGO DC Super-Villains...
Review Dark Souls: Remastered - Perfect Portable Punishment
Git gud on the go
The Nintendo Switch has played host to countless ports in the relatively brief 18 months it’s been on the market, but every so often one comes along that brings with it all the prestige and reverence that made it such a touchstone elsewhere. Last year, that game was arguably The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a port that was made all...
Review Warriors Orochi 4 - A Boisterous But Samey Sequel That Won't Win Over Naysayers
They did the Musou Mash
Developer Omega Force’s hack and slash Warriors games have become a genre in themselves with a fiercely dedicated following and more spin-offs than you’ve had hot dinners. Versions with famous properties – including One Piece, Gundam and Dragon Quest, to name a few – have helped widen the audience but Nintendo gamers...
Review Starlink: Battle For Atlas - A Shining Example Of Open World Star Fox Done Right
Ubisoft’s new odyssey will have a Mass Effect
It takes guts to try and revive a dormant genre, especially one that burned bright in the zeitgeist before extinguishing itself just as fast. Activision and Harmonix tried such a feat with Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 back in 2015, but their hopes of a resurgent rhythm-action craze never found the...
Review The World Ends With You: Final Remix - A Stylish Reimagining Of The DS Cult Classic
That power is yet unknown
Nintendo certainly transformed the gaming landscape when it launched the Nintendo DS line of systems, offering up a distinct two-screen experience that had seldom been attempted before in hardware. Though there were plenty of first-party releases through the years that did a great job of showing off the dual-screen concept,...
Review Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - Owltimate Edition - Still A Real Hoot Five Years On
Sister act
Five years on from its original release on Wii U, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is doing the fashionable thing and making the jump to Nintendo Switch. Now with a fancy new Owltimate Edition tagline and some extra content, this 2.5D platformer is looking to bring its creative brand of leaping and running to another generation of Nintendo...
Review Super Mario Party - The Life And Soul Of The Party Once More
It's back again, and about time too
To say that the Mario Party series has had a turbulent history would be an understatement; what started out as the palm-breaking king of all party video games has lost a great deal of its reputation in recent years due to a number of less-than-stellar design decisions. Super Mario Party presents itself as a return...
Review Disgaea 1 Complete - The Best Way To Rediscover This Turn-Based Tactical Triumph
Aye Aye Dood!
Shortly after Switch’s launch, Disgaea 5 Complete brought the tactical RPG series’ unique brand of colour, combos and comically excessive levelling-up to the console. A year and a half later it’s joined by an HD remaster of the game that kicked things off fifteen years ago, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness – now rechristened Disgaea 1...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube773k Watch on YouTube Review Dragon Ball FighterZ - A Stunning Switch Port That Will Leave You Breathless
What you Super Saiyan?
Nine months after release on competing platforms, Dragon Ball FighterZ has finally made its way to Switch. Back in January, when our sister site Push Square reviewed the original release, they gave it a glowing 9/10 score, and for good reason. Even by PlayStation 4 standards, FighterZ is breathtaking. So, how does one of...
Review Mega Man 11 - A Glorious Return To Form For One Of Gaming's Greatest Heroes
Return of the king
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Mega Man in action. 2010’s retro revival Mega Man 10 was the last time the Blue Bomber received a new release, with Capcom being seemingly hesitant to give the character a spotlight after the very public departure of Keiji Inafune, the iconic designer of the robotic hero. Since the...
Review Banner Saga Trilogy (Switch)
A banner day
As hinted by the title, Banner Saga Trilogy is an epic Viking story where every choice you make directly impacts how your journey unfolds. It combines strategic turn-based combat with gripping text-based decision-making to draw you into a fictional world inspired by Norse mythology and filled with rich lore, as well as plenty of...
Review FIFA 19 - The Best Soccer Game On Switch, But It's Hard Not To Feel Short-Changed
Here we go Higuain
Last year, EA Sports reignited its relationship with Nintendo by bringing a FIFA game to one of its home consoles for the first time in half a decade. FIFA 18 delivered a solid football experience on Switch, causing us to confidently declare it “the best Nintendo FIFA ever”. This wasn’t exactly difficult to achieve, though...
Review This Is The Police 2 - An Uncompromising Look At Law Enforcement That Often Misses The Mark
Police brutality
New Sharpwood sheriff Lilly Reed is way out of her depth. She's conscientious and competent, but far too meek to corral the motley crew of misogynistic knuckleheads that make up her police force. Sheriff Reed soon makes the fateful decision to enrol the assistance of one Jack Boyd, the corrupt cop you controlled in the first This Is...
Review Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse - An Old-School Point-And-Click Adventure In Every Sense
Puzzlingly pedestrian
The Switch isn’t short of superb narrative adventures. From Night in the Woods to Thimbleweed Park, via Oxenfree and Gone Home, the platform’s got fans of loquacious conversation and perplexing puzzles pretty well covered. Now, into this mix, comes another blast from the recent past (something the Switch sees a lot of, of...
Review Scribblenauts Mega Pack - Two Amazing Games That Are Worth Revisiting On Switch
Word play
It’s safe to say the Scribblenauts franchise hasn’t had the best of starts on Nintendo Switch. Despite all the charm and charisma in the world, the lifeless Scribblenauts: Showdown somehow took all those likeable qualities, boiled them down to their bare mechanics and packaged them up as a boring party game. Would that be it for...
Review Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country - So Much More Than Just DLC
Golden time
By the time Xenoblade Chronicles 2 launched in December 2017, Switch fans were near exhausted with content. Less than a year into its launch, Nintendo’s burgeoning new hardware had the best Zelda yet, the return of its most-lauded Mario Kart, the glorious multiplayer action of Splatoon 2
Review Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 03: Vehicle Kit - Death By Cardboard Or The Best Labo Kit Yet?
You'll need to be a master builder for sure
The first two Nintendo Labo kits offered two very different takes on what was – and still is – a groundbreaking concept. The Variety Kit allowed you to create a whole host of gadgets each backed by their own interactive experiences, while the Robot Kit had a sharper focus and arguably presented a more...
Review NBA 2K19 - Effortlessly The Best Basketball Sim On Nintendo Switch
Court is in session
It’s no coincidence that this NBA 2K19’s MyCareer story is called ‘The Way Back’. Following on from the issues that dogged last year’s entry on every platform - namely the heavy-reliance on microtransactions and glacial pace of progression for those not willing to sink extra money into it - developer Visual Concepts is...
Review Labyrinth Of Refrain: Coven Of Dusk - A Dungeon-Crawling RPG That's Not For Kids
Puppet power
The classic dungeon-crawling RPG has been around for a long time. From the Ultima games right through to the Wizardry series, we’ve been treated to a genre that’s remained very niche, but still incredibly compelling when in the hands of the right developer. So when Nippon Ichi - the Japanese studio most commonly known for...
Review Valkyria Chronicles 4 - A Sublime Strategy Experience On Switch
At ease, soldier
Suffice to say, the release history of Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles series has been uneven, both in terms of quality and availability. After the original game — which is due to arrive on Switch later this year —successfully kicked the series off on home consoles, the sequel only saw a release on PSP, while the third game (also...
Review SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy - A Sexy Street Fighter That's Perfect For Beginners
Girls aloud
Rest assured, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy knows exactly what kind of game it is. Which is handy considering it’s being released in 2018, where any sort of game with this much of onus on unrealistic cup sizes and objectification is likely to have the social media mobs banging at the door, pitchforks in hand. Thankfully, it’s a game...
Review Victor Vran: Overkill Edition - The Perfect Diablo III Appetiser On Switch
ARPG overkill
Diablo III is coming to Switch this December. We all know this. You could spend the next few months gawping into space, imagining how great it'll be to play Blizzard's seminal ARPG on the go. Or, you could snap out of your stupor and get warming up those looting muscles with a highly creditable alternative. Victor Vran: Overkill...
A fresh lick of paint
de Blob 2 is not only the second game of its series, but also the second port of the franchise to arrive on Switch; de Blob – the predecessor – made its way to Nintendo’s latest console just a couple of months ago. The first Switch port brought the original 2008 Wii game to a brand new audience with a shiny lick of...
Review Little Dragons Café (Switch)
Lovable Characters, lengthy Load Times
For some time now, the Nintendo Switch has been sorely lacking in the life simulation game department. Of course, there’s Stardew Valley – easily one of the greatest titles to grace the console – but the obvious absence of instalments in the “relaxation” genre has left many fans feeling disenchanted...
Review God Wars: The Complete Legend (Switch)
Strategy? Tactics? Stractics!
As we await next year’s ‘proper’ Fire Emblem entry on Switch, strategy and tactics fans have several alternatives in that nebula of sub-genres to tide them over. Between games like Mercenaries Saga Chronicles, Disgaea 5 Complete and The Banner Saga trilogy (or even Mario + Rabbids
Review Blade Strangers (Switch)
Beginner's Fight Club
When it comes to the world of virtual fisticuffs, few genres offers as much nuance and space for creativity and flair as the 2D fighter. It was here that fighting games were born after all, and as the years have passed this two-dimensional melting pot has refused to cease bubbling. Instead, it’s evolved into something far...
Review Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch)
Let the hunt begin, again!
Everything changed for Capcom’s Monster Hunter series in January 2018, which saw the successful release of Monster Hunter: World on the PlayStation 4. Not only did the series change platforms from Nintendo’s family to that of Sony’s (a reversal of the situation that took place only a few years beforehand, when it...
Identity crisis
From beginning to end, State of Mind is a game of polarising contrasts. It has an intriguing sci-fi setting, but a story that tries to make one too many social commentaries and ends up muddled as a result. It uses low-poly character models, but boasts some of the most impressive environmental textures and lighting we’ve ever seen...