Switch Game Reviews
Review Moving Out 2 (Switch) - More Creative Couch-Throwing From Your Favourite F.A.R.T.s
#VanLife
Moving Out built a solid foundation with its barmy physics and multiplayer teamwork. While the original co-op moving sim had huge potential, like an empty house awaiting its owner’s belongings, a renovation was clearly in order for players to truly feel at home. Fortunately, SMG’s sequel has stepped up the Packmore property ladder, its...
Hell Wing
M2’s garage doors are open for business again, continuing to pay homage, and in fastidious attention to detail, to the shoot 'em ups of yesteryear. Zero Fire, a portmanteau of collected titles Zero Wing (1989) and Hellfire (1989) represents Toaplan during the height of its glorious arcade tenure. Although released just four months...
Review Disney Illusion Island (Switch) - Mickey Mouse's Metroidvania Is Magical
Hot dog!
Back in the days of the Sega Genesis, Disney games like Castle of Illusion and World of Illusion offered some of the best platforming action you could get your hands on that didn’t involve a very fast blue mammal. However, the Illusion series never continued beyond that console generation, and though Disney Illusion Island is technically...
Review Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons (Switch) - Likeable, But Lacks Its Peers' Punch
Streetlight people
When violence is the core vice of most video games, and in the case of Mortal Kombat, viscerally so, it’s worth exploring how it translates to sensory player feedback. Double Dragon Gaiden works well in terms of negotiating increasingly difficult enemy gangs with creative use of your expanding moveset, but, while the series'...
Review Pikmin 4 (Switch) - Relaxed, Refined Real-Time Strategy, Ready To Crack The Mainstream
Dandori glory
Nintendo’s Pikmin franchise, as favourably as it’s always been received by the gaming media, and as much as it has a very passionate fanbase, has never quite managed to establish a proper foothold in what could be considered the mainstream gaming space. The original Pikmin adventure arrived perfectly formed on GameCube, serving up...
Review Everybody 1-2-Switch! - Family-Friendly Fun That Lacks Longevity
Horace the Horse is no prized pony
Many of us will have seen the meme format that goes "If I had a nickel for every time [X happened], I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?". It's a phrase that we could apply to a wide range of gaming scenarios, but having played Everybody 1-2-Switch!, the successor...
Review The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie (Switch) - A Refreshing Entry In The Kiseki Series
"Thought is the labour of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure"
Movement is such an integral part of the Trails/Kiseki series – both in a literal and figurative sense. The focus on transportation, walking, and familiarising yourself with the geography and inhabitants of Zemuria is paired with moments of political navigation, those who refuse to...
Review Akai Katana Shin (Switch) - One Of CAVE’s Very Best Horizontal Bullet Hells
Live by the sword
Update: Now that the game is available on North American and European Switch eShops, we're republishing this review of the import version from February 2023. CAVE Co. Ltd, the pioneering, god-tier arcade developer that reignited the shooting game genre in the '90s, has a portfolio to die for. After 17 years of cast-iron quality...
So mysteriful
Following up on the Danganronpa series was always going to be a tricky proposition. With its deceptively simple 'Killing Game' premise, its huge cast of eclectic characters, and its often overwhelmingly macabre atmosphere, it’s no wonder Spike Chunsoft’s visual novel franchise became such a hit with players worldwide. Naturally,...
Review AEW: Fight Forever (Switch) - The Spirit Of WWF No Mercy Lives On In The Ring
Penta plays
Ask any long-time grappling fan what the best wrestling video game of all time is, and they’ll give you one of two answers, both published by THQ: WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, developed by Yuke’s (which is incorrect) and WWF No Mercy, developed by AKI (correct). For decades no wrestling game has touched No Mercy when it comes...
Review Sonic Origins Plus (Switch) - Not Bad, But Sonic Still Deserves Better
Here we go again...
About this time last year, Sega released Sonic Origins—a compilation release that aimed to collate the first four (five if we count Sonic & Knuckles as a totally separate game) Mega Drive/Genesis Sonic games in one ultimate package with a bunch of extras thrown in. Though it wasn’t without its issues, Sega more or less...
Review Story Of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (Switch) - Slow, Old-Fashioned Yet Fulfilling Farming
A Wonderful Life, or A Terrible Remake?
What is the value of a remake? That's something we found ourselves asking as we played Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, a remake of the 2003 Harvest Moon game on GameCube, and a surprising addition to Marvelous/XSEED's catalogue of games. Should a remake of a game bring it up to today's standards, with...
Review Loop8: Summer Of Gods (Switch) - Feels More Like A Laborious Summer Job
Let’s get to know each other, over and over again
There are plenty of roguelike games on Nintendo Switch, but Loop8: Summer of Gods takes an interesting twist to the formula: a classic turn-based Japanese RPG that has roguelike elements. More specifically, the game is similar to something like Persona. However, Loop8 implements neither Persona’s...
Review Farming Simulator 23: Nintendo Switch Edition - Freedom With Fickle Forklift Physics
Farmhands-off
Being a farmer is a big job. You’ve got to water your fields, rotate your crops, and keep an eye on the market prices to make sure you’re able to pull a decent profit. If you’ve ever dreamed of trying your hand at this noble profession but don’t have hundreds of acres of land to play with, Farming Simulator 23: Nintendo Switch...
The sky's the limit
There’s something magical about the first time you dive from the Sky to the Surface in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That one moment feels like a complete distillation of what made Breath of the Wild feel so special to so many – the freedom, the thrill, and the scope are all captured perfectly as you careen to...
Review Teslagrad 2 (Switch) - A Fine Follow-Up That Leaves You Wanting More
Lighting strikes twice
When the original Teslagrad released in 2013, the indie game scene was in a very different place. Long before modern Indie Worlds and Nindie Showcases and games from small developers put out by billion-dollar publishers, indie games still felt very much independent. The original game — recently re-released in Remastered form...
Review Bramble: The Mountain King (Switch) - Solid Puzzle Platforming In A Horrid Nordic Mythscape
Step aside, Hansel and Gretel
A young boy named Olle treks through dark woods after his missing sister. At first, nothing seems awry, yet he soon comes upon pinecones arranged in strange formations. Not long after, a massive shadow flits overhead. In the distance, obscured by the moonlight slanting through the trees, a massive, insidious shape...
Review Minecraft Legends (Switch) - A Jankier, Less-Fun Pikmin, And A Massive Disappointment
Not quite legendary
Few games have had more cultural impact than Minecraft, but it seems that Mojang has struggled to recapture anywhere near the same success in its efforts to expand the IP beyond its sandbox origins. Minecraft: Story Mode was a decent, if uninspiring Telltale game, while Minecraft Dungeons proved to be a solid, but unexceptional...
Review Trinity Trigger (Switch) - A Blast From The Past For Secret Of Mana Fans
Pull my (Trinity) Trigger
Fans of '90s JRPGs, particularly those released for the SNES, will have been watching Trinity Trigger closely. The game boasts a veritable dream team from some of the best JRPGs of the past 30 years, including those who worked on Xenoblade Chronicles, Octopath Traveler, and, of course, Secret of Mana. There is a lot for...
Review Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp (Switch) - A Pair Of Strategy Gems Delightfully Reimagined
Black Hole Sun
After two lengthy delays to its original release date of December 2021 — a combination of last-minute fine-tuning and "recent world events" (aka Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine) — Wayforward's Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is finally here. This pair of Game Boy Advance classics have stood the time incredibly well...
Review Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Switch) - A Rock-Solid Compilation
Jack in!! Mega Man, Execute!
In the early 2000s, an ancient and long-forgotten era when Capcom regularly released new Mega Man games, the company decided to produce not one, but two mainline Mega Man series on the popular Game Boy Advance. Mega Man Zero would continue the gameplay and storyline that the previous action platforming franchises were...
Review GrimGrimoire OnceMore (Switch) - Magical Quality Of Life Additions Refine Repetitive RTS
Time is an unending circle
Learning magic is full of danger. One day you’re just getting your head around the basics of summoning different creatures and the next you’re stuck in an inexplicable time loop to prevent a trapped Archmage from reclaiming an artifact of unimaginable power. At least, that’s the way things go in GrimGrimoire OnceMore...
Review MLB The Show 23 - A Solid Inning On Switch With A Stellar Storylines Mode
Whiffs and Dingers
For the second year running, SIE San Diego's MLB The Show franchise lands on Nintendo Switch and, this time around, history takes centre stage with a new Storylines mode giving players the opportunity to learn about some of the all-time great baseballers from the Negro Leagues. It’s undoubtedly the highlight of an outing that...
Review Blade Assault (Switch) - A Competent 2D Roguelite In Desperate Need Of Sharpening
To be blunt
It must be tough being a developer in the roguelite space these days. The absolute explosion of popularity this genre has enjoyed over the past several years has led to an impressive number of innovative new titles that find cool ways to create new play experiences or reinterpret old ones, but competition has never been higher and the...
Going out on a thigh note
Gust's long-running Atelier series has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years. Its various recent appearances on Switch in particular display a steely determination on the part of the Japanese developer to step up with its JRPG franchise and make a concerted effort to rub shoulders with the big guns. In Atelier...
Cel of the century
Foolish is the person who looks at a tie-in game aimed mainly at younger players and instantly dismisses it as a load of old bums. Of course, most of the time they’re completely right – we still have occasional nightmares of that time we played Hotel for Dogs on the Wii – but every now and then a licensed game will go above...
Review Bayonetta Origins: Cereza And The Lost Demon (Switch) - A Placid Prequel For Platinum's Star
A Kind of Magic
If you happened to read our Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon preview a few weeks back you'll know that after the first five chapters of the game, we were pretty excited to continue our adventures through PlatinumGames' bewitching spin-off from the main Bayonetta series. We were impressed with its mix of gameplay mechanics...
Review Mato Anomalies (Switch) - Ambitious Detective RPG Is Overstuffed And Unengaging
Shanghai Surprise?
Arrowiz, the Shanghai-based development team behind 2021's Hermitage: Strange Case Files, returns to Nintendo Switch with a determined attempt to replicate the general rhythm and vibe of Atlus' all-conquering Persona series in the form of Mato Anomalies. This is an RPG that throws a whole bunch of ideas and gameplay mechanics at...
Review Session: Skate Sim - A Valiant Attempt That Doesn't Quite Land On Switch
A grind
What instantly springs to mind when you consider skateboarding video games? If it’s effortlessly pulling off super cool tricks, grinding rails at high speed, doing flashy spins off the top of huge vert ramps and putting together sick combos for rad scores, then you may need to pump the brakes on that board of yours a little before deciding...
Review The Legend Of Heroes: Trails To Azure (Switch) - Crossbell's Conclusion Is A Cracking RPG
Blue-sky thinking
The release of the Crossbell Saga in English has been a long time coming for fans of the Trails series. And with The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero’s cracking debut last September, the wait for Trails to Azure has had us salivating. And finally, the missing gap in the series has been filled, and the conclusion of the...