Switch Game Reviews
Review Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway (Switch) - Slams The Series Into Reverse
"No sir, I don't like it"
Usually when a licensed karting game is released, it’s a one-and-done affair. Cram a load of well-known characters into tiny cars, fling them around a bunch of courses, collect the money and punt them out the door. In that sense, you’ve got to give credit to developer Bamtang and publisher GameMill for holding firm and...
Chomping at the bit
The craze now coined as “bronyism” — a heavily documented My Little Pony fandom that took root in 2010 — turned out to be more about inclusion than it did the show (Friendship is Magic) itself. Despite our attempts to get into it based on recommendations, we found its adult appeal largely overvalued. It acted as a conduit...
We promise the Rabbids’ antics aren’t too annoying
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle came about like a fever dream in 2017. Nintendo lending Ubisoft its poster child franchise? A Rabbid dressing up as Princess Peach? Mario wielding a gun? Madness. More surprising still, it turned out to be a ridiculously good strategy game – one of the best on...
Review Persona 5 Royal (Switch) - Finally On Switch, This Is The Very Definition Of Essential
Looking cool, Joker!
Well, all you lovely people, it finally happened. After literally years of pretending like it wasn’t sure there would be an audience, Atlus has brought Persona 5 to the Switch. And though this belated port hasn’t brought with it any major new upgrades or changes, we’re pleased to report that Persona 5 Royal is every bit as...
Review Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (Switch) - A Ragtag But Competent Co-op Adventure
Jankom Pog abides
It's been a long road getting from there to here. Star Trek fans might have a whole new constellation of shows to enjoy (or complain about amirite), but when it comes to video games the range of available options has been decidedly slimmer, especially on Nintendo systems. In fact, Star Trek: Conquest on Wii was the last time the...
Review LEGO Bricktales (Switch) - A Refreshingly Creative Yet Awkward Build
Everything could be awesome
Though the late '90s and early '00s saw a variety of Lego video games released across all genres, the launch of LEGO Star Wars kicked off a 30+ game run of co-op action platformers based around myriad popular IP that’s still going strong today. It’s a formula that’s worked well and evolved somewhat over the years,...
Review No Man's Sky (Switch) - Right Up There With The Very Best Switch Ports
Galaxy Quest
This article was originally published as an in-progress review without a score prior to the arrival of the 4.0 Waypoint update, which brought a raft of new features in the days after launch. It has now been updated with our impressions of Waypoint and awarded an overall score. It's been a long old road for Hello Games' No Man's Sky...
Review NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition (Switch) - A Modern Classic Shines On Switch
NieR-ly perfect
NieR:Automata is perhaps a story of the power of word of mouth. A sequel in an IP with a devoted but modest following by Square Enix standards, it became a notable sales success over time as initial fans convinced neutrals that something special had arrived. Director Yoko Taro was also clever in his approach to storytelling - playing...
Review FIFA 23 (Switch) - The Final Whistle Blows On A Legacy Of Disappointment
Don't waste your Sterling on this
If you’ve been keeping tabs on EA’s hugely popular football franchise, you’ll have heard that FIFA 23 marks the end of an era. As the final game to carry the FIFA licence before EA parts ways with its partner of 30 years, most multiformat sites have been discussing FIFA 23’s importance as the finale of a...
Review Potion Permit (Switch) - A Great-Looking Life Sim That Eschews Both Farmwork And Challenge
Double, double, toil and trouble
Coming from developer MassHive Media, Potion Permit is a sweet little social sim-meets-adventure RPG. However, unlike the majority of life simulators currently dominating the eShop, Potion Permit presents no crops to cultivate and no farm animals to tend to, and instead relies on medicinal foraging to help those...
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Review Let's Sing ABBA (Switch) - La Question C'est Voulez-Vous
ABBA-go hero
Let's start with a question: Why are you here? Of all the many games launching in the latter third of 2022, this is perhaps the most dependably, dryly predictable in form and function: a Let's Sing game featuring songs by Abba. Sure, you might be curious about the playlist or the various modes in this particular entry of the...
Mini Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition (Switch) - And Another One!
The Neverending Story
Yes, that's right, it's another slightly different version of the game that point blank refuses to crawl into a corner and die. Rejoice! The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition has sneaked its way onto the Switch eShop, giving players the option to purchase a full version or, if you already own Skyrim, a less expensive...
Review Let's Build A Zoo (Switch) - A Creative, Cartoonish Tycoon Sim With A Sinister Twist
Create new and exciting affronts to the natural order
We’ve all walked around a zoo and wondered just how hard it could be to run one. After all, you just need to get the animals in one place and keep them from escaping, right? However, if the plethora of zoo management sims on the market is anything to go by, there is a lot more to it. While many...
Review Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris (Switch) - One For Forgiving SAO Fans Only
This link takes a long time to get started
Anime fans around the world will be familiar with Sword Art Online. The light novels and the sprawling media empire that they spawned follow the exploits of Kirito as he stumbles from being trapped in one online video game to another. Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is the latest game to follow...
Review Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival (Switch) - A Solid Entry That Marches To A Familiar Beat
The same old song and dance
More than twenty years after its initial inception, chances are you know by now whether or not the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise is for you. Featuring rhythmic gameplay via four methods of control (buttons, touch screen, motion controls, or the drum accessory itself), the new entry from Bandai Namco — Taiko no Tatsujin:...
Review Hokko Life (Switch) - An Animal Crossing-Like That Lacks Charm And Originality
Horsing about on island life
In recent times, life sims and 'wholesome' gaming have taken almost every platform by storm, and now developer Wonderscope Games presents Hokko Life, a colourful community simulator encouraging you to take life at your own pace. This intriguing animal-filled life sim echoes one of Nintendo's most popular titles but...
Review Airoheart (Switch) - Adequate Adventuring For Link To The Past Obsessives
"We have 2D Zelda at home"
It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that is indeed the case, then Airoheart is one of the most sycophantic releases on the Switch today. There's certainly no shortage of 'Zelda-likes' available on the console, but this is a game that stretches the term “inspired by” to its absolute...
Review The DioField Chronicle (Switch) - A Solid Tactical RPG That Falls Short Of Its Ambitions
It was I, DioField!
Published by Square Enix and developed with assistance from Lancarse, The DioField Chronicle looks and feels like most tactical RPGs out on the Switch in many ways, but with everything just slightly tweaked. The characters are all undeniably stylised, but never quite as much as Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The politics are front...
It's more than zero
We don't blame you if you’re intimidated by Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails series. This massive saga is now up to its twelfth mainline game in Japan, with the West falling behind at an alarming rate. However, one piece of the puzzle has been missing for years – Crossbell. After years of begging, fans are finally...
Review NBA 2K23 (Switch) - Michael Jordan Challenge Is A Slam Dunk In Another Solid Switch Port
A 'Magic' season for Switch b-ball
It's once again reached that time of year when another entry in the NBA 2K franchise slam-dunks onto our consoles. Yes, it's sometimes difficult to muster much excitement for these annual instalments, and it's easy to dismiss them as just another incremental update that looks and plays almost identically to the...
Review Temtem (Switch) - An Innovative Pokémon-Like, With Depth And Grind In Equal Measure
Into Temtemtion
At the beginning of our Temtem adventure, we had every intention to review the Pokémon-inspired massively multiplayer game based on its own merit, steering clear of comparisons between the two as best we could. Developer Crema never shied away from where Temtem’s blueprints came from during its successful Kickstarter campaign and...
Review Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness (Switch) - Makes You Work For The Good Stuff
Insert obligatory Nietzshe quote here
Made in Abyss feels like an anime/manga ripe for a game adaptation, especially given its almost Happy Tree Friends-esque combination of cute visuals with incredibly disturbing violence. We finally got that adaptation in the laboriously named Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness, which manages to be...
Review Splatoon 3 (Switch) - The Pinnacle Of The Series And Switch's Slickest Shooter
Peak squid performance
When the original Splatoon launched on the Wii U back in 2015, it was pretty groundbreaking. Nintendo making an online shooter? It sounded like a recipe for confusion, but as they so often do, Nintendo took a formula that had been refined to the point of parody and decided that it would be fun to be able to swim in bullets...
What a beautiful Duwang!
Anime games are in a weird spot. During the late '90s to mid-2000s we would get varied games like Berserk: Guts’ Rage, and Arc System Works’ Fist of the North Star. Aside from Dragon Ball — which in the last few years has gotten an RPG, 2D fighter, and even a Dead By Daylight clone — most anime series are relegated...
Mini Review LEGO Brawls (Switch) - Disappointingly Basic Brick Battles That Stutter On Switch
All minifigures, except the price
Originally released back in September of 2019 on Apple Arcade, Lego Brawls is a Super Smash Bros. style fighting game that sees you jump into eight-player action as one of over 200 unlockable Lego minifigures. You'll battle it out here across a slew of Lego-themed arenas in free-for-all fights or cooperative...
Review Pac-Man World Re-Pac (Switch) - Perfectly Passable PS1 Platforming
"I'm a mad Pac-Man, livin' in a leveled world..."
By the late '90s, the golden age of the arcade was a dim and distant memory, and with it the ubiquitous Pac-Man fever of the early '80s. Not ones to let the yellow puck thing fall by the wayside, Namco moved to reinvigorate its video game icon by having him star in a 3D platformer, which were all the...
Pizza dude's got 30 seconds
For gamers who weren't yet born in the 1980s, it may be surprising to learn that Konami’s pedigree was once second only to Nintendo’s first-party output. Undyingly creative and highly quality-driven, the innovative glow that earmarked their arcade years was never truly rekindled post-1994. Hot on the heels of...
Review Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3 (Switch) - Another Pair Of Lesser-Known RPG Gems
Another two RPG classics to dive into, dood!
The Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volumes 1 and Volume 2 each brought a different pair of games to Switch. The third volume brings a PlayStation classic to modern consoles as well as the Western debut of an obscure but well-loved game in the NIS stable. Die-hard tactical RPG fans might have heard of La...
Review Dusk Diver 2 (Switch) - An Anime Hack 'N' Slash That Misses The Mark
Livin' La Viada Loca
After launching on PC earlier this year, JFI Games’ Dusk Diver 2 has made its way to consoles three years after the original game. While Dusk Diver was seen as a solid foundation, it lacked in several departments. Sadly, while Dusk Diver 2 makes some steps in the right direction, it comes with a host of its own problems that...
The NeverEnding Story
If “Kureshin × Bokunatsu” a) makes sense and b) sounds appealing to you, and if c) you haven’t already bought this game in the year since it was released in Japan, then we can keep this review nice and tight: buy this game! For those not residing in that modest nub of the Venn diagram, let’s see if you’ve moved there...
