Latest Reviews
Review MotoGP 20 - Tremendous Two-Wheeled Racing Action On Your Switch
Hello, Moto
With over 25 years of experience in the racing game development scene, it’s safe to say Italian studio Milestone has cemented its place as one of its most prevalent developers. Outside of the official F1 and WRC games, it’s established a foothold in almost every facet of modern motorsport and while double-A budgets haven’t always...
Review Picross S4 - More Of The Same, But That's Fine
The strongest entry yet
The Picross series has become a rather expected staple of Nintendo’s digital release schedule by now. Every few months, you can reasonably expect another mainline entry or spin-off to show up, and you more or less know exactly what that next new entry will be offering: a substantial new set of nonagram puzzles for you to...
Review Billion Road - Like Pokémon Meets Monopoly, But Not As Cool As It Sounds
Does it deserve to Monopolise your time?
In a world where Switch owners already have access to both a serviceable version of Monopoly and Pokémon Sword and Shield, do we really need a game that combines the two? For most people, the answer is "probably not". But that's got nothing to do with Billion Road's concept, and everything to do with its...
Review Trials of Mana - Old And New Combine To Create A Fine RPG Adventure
A potent blend
It seems that Square’s cult favourite Mana series has been enjoying something of a renaissance of late, and the latest product of this resurgence is a new remake of Trials of Mana. Seiken Densetsu 3 – as it’s known in Japan – never saw a release in the west when it first debuted in the ’90s, and only got introduced to...
Mini Review Later Daters - A Poignant Dating Sim That's Over Far Too Quickly
A short-lived romance
Later Daters argues that it's never too late to find love. From developer Bloom Digital Media, you take on the role of an ageing pensioner settling into life at Ye Olde Retirement Community, where the prospect of romance fills the air. The game plays out as a visual novel, presenting you with a vast array of choices and...
Mini Review Anodyne - A Unique Zelda-Style Adventure That Keeps You Guessing
High-rule
We recently asked if there were any Switch games we'd missed which you thought were worthy of a review. Anodyne was one of the most-requested games, so there we are! Anodyne may at first glance look like just another retro dungeon crawler; a Legend of Zelda tribute act designed to scratch a particular old-school itch, however, getting to...
Review Totally Reliable Delivery Service - Return To Sender
FedEx-cruciatingly bad
We’re quite sure game devs don’t go out of their way to make a bad game. Normally, a game’s quality – or lack thereof in many cases – is a direct result of budgetary limitations, time restrictions, unexpected bugs, and many, many more variables. It really feels, though, that We’re Five Games are playing some kind...
Review Overcooked 2: Gourmet Edition - The Perfect Recipe For Multiplayer Fun
A full course meal
After nearly two years of regular post-launch support, it seems that Team17 and Ghost Town Games are finally ‘finished’ with Overcooked 2. The developers have provided some excellent additions in the time since launch, and all of it is now being tied together with the aptly named Overcooked 2: Gourmet Edition. For the purposes...
Mini Review Songbird Symphony - Platforming And Music Take Flight Together
Cheep thrills
We recently asked if there were any Switch games we'd missed which you thought were worthy of a review. Songbird Symphony was one of the most-requested games. Songbird Symphony is an indie rhythm-action platformer by three-person team Joysteak Studios. You play as Birb, an adopted chick in search of its birth paren
Mini Review Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche - A Surprisingly Fun Shooter
You want fries with that?
Boasting what is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous titles ever, Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche actually started life as an April Fool’s joke back in 2013. Skip ahead seven years, and it’s now an actual, tangible game; a really good one at that. It’s a shoot-em-up at heart, but its gameplay is also...
Mini Review Chapeau - Multiplayer Fun Ruined By Awkward Controls And Limited Scope
If you want to get ahead, get a hat
Chapeau is quite possibly one of the most bizarre multiplayer games we’ve played in a good while. Pitting up to four opponents against one another, you take control of a sentient hat, with the aim of the game being to ‘tag’ as many humans as possible by leaping onto their heads. It’s a chaotic game that...
Review Gunbrick: Reloaded - A Painfully Tedious Puzzler Which Isn't Worth The Effort
Square goes
Following the formerly-exclusive (and really rather good) Bomb Chicken, developer Nitrome has returned with a whole new puzzle-platformer in Gunbrick: Reloaded. Well, we say "new", but that "Reloaded" in the title should really cue you in that we're dealing with the redux of an existing game, here – and if it didn't, one look at the...
Mini Review Snakeybus - All Aboard For Some Undemanding But Enjoyable Action
A lengthy bus journey
As vehicular nomenclature goes, 'Snakeybus' is just about as apt as 'Boaty McBoatface'. Your primary means of locomotion in Snakeybus is a bus that's well and truly snake-like. It's a snakey-bus. Not that it eats mice or hisses at you or anything. Rather, your physics-defying vehicle stretches out to improbable, city-enveloping...
Review In Other Waters - A Chilled-Out Journey Of Discovery Quite Unlike Any Other On Switch
A real treasure of the deep
In Other Waters is not an easy sell. A game where you explore the vast expanse of an alien sea? Sounds awesome, right? Something like 2016's Abzu, or the Wii's Endless Ocean series would be perfect for the Switch. Imagine that sense of freedom, the spectacle of magnificent aquatic creature drifting past you in such an...
Review Curious Expedition - A Return To The Punishing Origins Of Table-Top RPG Gaming
Call of the wild
It can be easy to fall into a certain rhythm with modern RPGs, especially after series such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy more or less codified a sort of ‘blueprint’ that players come to expect. However, RPGs in general vastly predate this blueprint, having received their start in a more social setting via tabletop games...
Review Cooking Mama: Cookstar - Definitely Needed More Time In The Oven
Undercooked
It’s been rather fascinating to follow the slowly unfolding trainwreck of Cooking Mama: Cookstar over the past week or so. What began as an innocuous and unassuming new release in a beloved series has quickly grabbed headlines after its mysterious and sudden disappearance from storefronts. Conspiracy theories around copyright...
Mini Review Ty the Tasmanian Tiger HD - A Competent Remaster That Lacks Bite
The real tiger king?
Two of the biggest trends in gaming right now are developers making use of Kickstarter campaigns and studios bringing back their classic, nostalgia-inducing properties. TY the Tasmanian Tiger HD is a product of both of these trends. Originally released in 2002 for GameCube, Xbox and PS2, TY the Tasmanian Tiger is a 3D mascot...
Mini Review HyperParasite - Proof That It's Fun To Be Bad
Host with the most
We’ve seen quite a lot of rogue-lite games in the past few years, but HyperParasite is quite a unique one. Taking place within a typical cyberpunk cityscape, an alien parasite has invaded the planet and is looking to leech onto every unfortunate soul that happens to get in its way. The twist here is that you get to play as the...
Review Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories - A Totally Unique Experience Marred By Technical Problems
I feel the earth move under my feet
Let’s get one thing out of the way immediately. It’s by far the least interesting thing about Granzella’s Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories, the revival of a PlayStation 3 title originally set to come out in 2011, but your reaction to it will likely be the biggest factor in terms of whether or not you’re...
Review Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition - A Gorgeous Love Letter To JRPGs Which Just Falls Short
Ara Fell, not awful
There's a comforting familiarity to Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition that lends the whole game a veneer of nostalgia. That's not just in terms of its debt to classic JRPGs – which, naturally, it has in spades – but also in its character writing, which conjures up memories of old-school webcomics, fanfiction and English-translated...
Mini Review Wandersong - This One Can Really Hold A Tune
Pitch perfect
We recently asked if there were any Switch games we'd missed which you thought were worthy of a review. Wandersong was one of the most-requested games, so there we are! They say that music heals the soul, but can it actually save the entire universe? Wandersong seems to think so. You take on the role of a passionate bard who uses his...
Review Shinsekai: Into The Depths - A Watery Twist On The Metroidvania Format
Unsplashy adventure with hidden depths
We shouldn't be surprised any longer when a mobile-to-Switch port turns out to be decent. There are far too many examples to list here, but just recently both Exit The Gungeon and Oddmar have acquitted themselves admirably. Even so, we're as surprised as you are to note that the latest must-have Metroidvania...
Review One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 - Exactly What You'd Expect, No More, No Less
Maybe the real treasure is the friends we made along the way
The One Piece franchise is truly something to behold. Nearly a thousand episodes of the anime have been produced and the manga – which has been running since 1997 – has nearly a billion copies in circulation. Despite series creator Eiichiro Oda’s initial wish for it to run for only...
Review Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - Back To School
A mature student
Years ago, when the Star Wars franchise wasn’t under the world-dominating scrutiny of the House of Mouse, developers were farming out all games like no one’s business. And while that did mean we were ‘treated’ to the likes of Star Wars: Demolition and Kinect Star Wars, it also meant the long-defunct LucasArts produced some...
Review Zombie Army Trilogy - Undead Action From The Team Behind Sniper Elite
Schlock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
It's 1945, World War Two is drawing to a rather bloody close and everybody's favourite angry auntie Adolf Hitler has just been informed that it's not looking great for him and his goose-stepping grunts. Being the level-headed Fuhrer that he is, little Adolf reacts to this news by immediately killing the...
Review One Step From Eden - A Mega Man Battle Network Spiritual Successor With Brutal Difficulty
The rockin'est, rock-steady beat of madness
One Step From Eden makes absolutely no secret of its cribbing from Capcom's late, occasionally great Mega Man Battle Network series. It essentially lifts the ingenious battle system from the GBA cult classic wholesale, makes a series of tweaks and additions, then sets you to work. There's no gallivanting...
Review Good Job! - This Laugh-Riot Feels Like 2020's Answer To Untitled Goose Game
Promoted to ‘essential’
We’ve all been in a job that we didn’t like very much. Heck, a lot of people – this writer included – have had jobs that they’ve actively hated, filled with menial tasks that make time grind to an absolute halt. Given the current world climate, chances are you’re safe and sound in your own home (and if you do...
Review Operencia: The Stolen Sun - A Rich And Satisfying Dungeon Crawler
Dungeon Master
Zen Studios' Operencia: The Stolen Sun doesn't really get off to the brightest of starts on Nintendo Switch. Opening with a prologue that sees you assume control of King Attila and his wife Reka as they attempt to close a portal between their land and the underworld, things kick off here with a ten-minute introduction that highlights...
Mini Review Mekorama - It May Look Like Captain Toad, But Don’t Let That Fool You
Dior-iffic
Mekorama looks a lot like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. There’s no getting around this, but in the same way that Metroid Prime looks a lot like other FPS titles, it doesn’t quite play the same. In fact, Mekorama is played entirely on the Switch’s touch screen (or with an on-screen cursor, if you wish), and feels completely...
Review Gigantosaurus: The Game - Yet Another Poor Licensed Tie-In
A gigantic mess
Licensed games continue to be incredibly hit and miss. There are certainly examples of titles that have got it right, such as South Park: The Stick of Truth and its sequel, but sadly there are countless other games that just simply feel like shameless cash grabs, relying solely on the popularity of the property over compelling...
