Game Reviews scoring 8, 9 or 10/10
Review Balatro (Switch) - Devilishly Compelling Cardplay, And A Clear GOTY Contender
A full house
Editor's note: Following the publication of this review, it has come to light that the game has been removed from European Switch eShops following a ratings change from 3+ to 18+ which, according to publisher Playstack, came "without any advance warning". You can read the publisher's statement in our story above. Until this ratings...
Review Penny's Big Breakaway (Switch) - A Furiously Fast & Fun Platformer With Sega Spirit
A Penny for your thoughts
It’s now been nearly seven years (yes, really) since the release of Sonic Mania, which indisputably marked a high point for Sega’s troubled blue mascot. Much of the game's success could be attributed to the team of passionate and talented fans (led by Christian Whitehead) that came together to develop it, but rather...
Review Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (Switch) - Another Must-Play From Nightdive
Rebels' gun
Following its stellar remaster work on the likes of Quake, Quake II, and the Turok series, Nightdive Studios is back with another glimpse into the world of retro first-person shooters. This time, we’re heading into the Star Wars universe with Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster, an intriguing game in more ways than one. On the one hand, it...
Review Pentiment (Switch) - Obsidian's Medieval Murder Mystery Is Portable Perfection
Renaissance, man
Listen. We've already reviewed Obsidian's superlative Pentiment over on our sister site Pure Xbox, where we gave it an excellent 9/10 score. However, now that we've been given the opportunity to return to 16th-century Bavaria all over again in this fantastic Switch port, we daresay it's better — worthy of a slight amendment to...
Sweet little mystery dungeon
It’s nearly guaranteed that during any online discussion about a game of the ‘rogue’ genre, at least one sweaty person will eagerly emerge from the woodwork to say, “Well, ackshually, this game is a roguelite, not a roguelike.” Eyerolls aside, the distinction isn’t without merit, though ‘pure’ roguelikes...
Review Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! (Switch) - Game Freak's 3DS Gem Is Still A Prize Pony
Yay or neigh?
When the 3DS eShop closed back in March 2023, we were sad for a number of reasons. We were sad at the thought of losing the wonderful Virtual Console library. Sad at the prospect of never seeing the little orange bag mascot again. Sad at the understanding that we'd soon be returning to the silent eShop of the Switch without a...
Review Piczle Cross: Story Of Seasons (Switch) - Dependable Puzzlin' With A Faint Farm-Sim Flavour
A bountiful harvest
Fans of Nintendo’s long-running Picross series are well aware that there’s no shortage of nonogram puzzlers on the Switch, with developer Jupiter and the Big N’s franchise alone accounting for over a dozen games and counting so far. Even so, there’s an addictive simplicity to the core concept that ensures that further...
Review Splatoon 3: Side Order - An Addictive Roguelite Just Shy Of Excellence
Starter for Eight
Splatoon 3’s Side Order has been dangling just out of reach since it was revealed in 2023, but Wave 2 of the DLC has finally landed for Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass owners. Nearly five years after the release of Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion, Agent Eight’s story continues in the drab and colourless world of the Memverse, but is it...
Review Blast Corps - An Absurd, Exhilarating, Explosive Gem From Rare's N64 Days
Time to get moving
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Long before the massive mainstream appeal of video games that exists today, successful developers were surprisingly free from the shackles of big...
Review qomp 2 (Switch) - The Spiritual Successor That Pong Deserves
Ping-Pong
When Atari first announced qomp2 as a reimagining of the arcade classic Pong, we must admit to feeling somewhat sceptical of the similarities. Yet after completing all 30 levels in the Graphite Lab-developed puzzler, we’re convinced that it is very much the spiritual successor that Pong deserves. It’s a game that only increased its...
Review Inkulinati (Switch) - Inky & Entertaining Turn-Based Battles, With Butt Trumpets
Die bard
When you’re going off to battle, you want to bring your best and strongest warriors with you. In most games, these fighters come in the form of muscle-bound, gun-toting avatars of destruction. In Yaza Games' Inkulinati, your champions are the odd animals that litter the pages of medieval manuscripts, led across the battlefield by the hand...
Review Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered (Switch) - The Best Way To Rediscover A Gaming Idol
When old becomes new
Not many game franchises manage to ascend to the status of ‘iconic’, but Tomb Raider is undoubtedly one of them. Despite the original trilogy being released for multiple platforms, Lara Croft quickly became synonymous with the PS1, standing toe-to-toe with Crash Bandicoot as one of the console’s mascots. Since then, of...
Review Eastward: Octopia (Switch) - A Great Farm Sim Expansion That Edges Out The Base Game
Another great Octo Expansion
A few years ago, a cute new action-adventure game called Eastward released on most platforms, blending some appealing EarthBound-esque visuals with a narrative-driven game loop that’s vaguely reminiscent of the older Zelda games. We really enjoyed it, despite its flaws, and it seems that developer Pixpil had some more...
Review Alisa Developer's Cut (Switch) - An Excellent RE Homage That Nails The '90s Vibe
Hey, doll
Some of the best retro-style games are almost indistinguishable from the real deal; games that could have been buried in a time capsule in the ‘80s or ‘90s, long forgotten before being unearthed, completely intact, in the modern day. It’s tough to pull off, though we can say with absolute confidence that Alisa Developer’s Cut is...
Mini Review Party Hard (Switch) - A Stealthy Soirée Slasher That's As Dark As It Is Fun
A gory gathering
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Despite the deeply grim premise of...
Review Bahnsen Knights (Switch) - Perhaps The Best Yet Of The Brilliant 'Pixel Pulps'
Demons on the road
Within seconds of starting Bahnsen Knights, the third in LCB Game Studio's ‘Pixel Pulps’ series of games, we found ourselves inspired. We turned the lights down low, put on some headphones and, with the clear aim of savouring every moment, held the Switch’s OLED screen so close to our face that we became fully immersed in...
Review UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes (Switch) - A Deep, Addictive Anime Fighter
EXS to impress
Japanese developer Frenchbread's phenomenal anime fighter, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late, impressed the heck out of us when it dropped in its final revised form on Switch back in 2020. Nabbing a 9/10 score in our review, it quickly became one of those very special games that we just straight-up refuse to ever delete off our SD cards...
Review Hitman: Blood Money - Reprisal (Switch) - Small But Potent QoL Additions Keep 47 Spry
Fibre-wired
Before IO Interactive blew everyone’s socks off with the sublime World of Assassination Trilogy, Hitman: Blood Money was widely considered to be the crown jewel of the stealth franchise. In fact, many consider Blood Money to be the progenitor of World of Assassination; a game that thrives on freedom of choice, offering up a total of 14...
Review The Legend Of Steel Empire (Switch) - A Classic Steampunk Shmup Gets A Lick Of Paint
Full steam ahead!
We believe it quite impossible to be a shoot-'em-up lover and not have stumbled upon HOT-B’s cult classic Steel Empire, the 1992 Mega Drive-exclusive horizontal shmup that mesmerised players with incredible steampunk aesthetics, an epic soundtrack, and a stiff challenge. Far from forgotten, there have been in the past two...
Mini Review Lil' Guardsman (Switch) - A Disarming Fusion Of Classic LucasArts And 'Papers, Please'
Sale of the sentry
When a game cites as inspiration Papers, Please and classic Lucasarts point-and-clicks, it’s hard not to be curious, if a little cautious in your optimism. That’s exactly where Toronto-founded developer Hilltop Studios is coming from with Lil’ Guardsman – and it's come up with something pretty great. The game starts with...
Does Apollo justice
After the success of the original three Ace Attorney games, series creator Shu Takumi was ready to end Phoenix Wright's story. But the world wasn't done with these surprisingly intriguing lawyer games, and so he had to figure out how to make a new game without re-treading old ground. Thus, Apollo Justice, pointy-haired greenhorn...
Review Golden Sun: The Lost Age - More Of The Same, Which Is No Bad Thing
The return of the prodigal sun
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's Game Boy Advance library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Back in 2001 (2002 in Europe) some players were left feeling short-changed when Golden Sun reached its abrupt ending...
Review Golden Sun - A Radiant RPG, Once It Gets Going
Magic hands make light work
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's Game Boy Advance library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Golden Sun expands on proven genre archetypes to deliver an experience that both pays tribute to and refines the classic...
Review Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown (Switch) - Slick, Stylish, And 2024's First Must-Play
The original Fresh Prince returns
Way back in 1989, Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia represented one of the first and best examples of what's become known as the 'cinematic platformer'. It's a traditionally challenging genre, one that combines strong art, fun storylines, and fluidly animated protagonists to bring us adventures that test...
Mini Review Chico And The Magic Orchards DX (Switch) - A Cracking Callback To GB Zeldas
In a nutshell
Though retro-styled games are all the rage among indies these days, it's rarer to come across something that could have been released on the hardware it references. Chico and the Magic Orchards DX expertly blends old-school design philosophies and aesthetics with some slight modern touches to make for a compelling and enjoyable little...
Review Dodonpachi DaiOuJou Blissful Death Re:Incarnation (Switch) - Poetic Bullet-Hell Perfection
Get Hyper
Cave, a shoot-'em-up developer assembled from the ashes of Toaplan, was preparing to fold in 2001. The arcade scene was moving in new directions, relying on increasingly ostentatious Taikan cabinets to compete with the emerging technology of home consoles. For Cave, the 2D shoot 'em up, no matter how unerringly creative, was struggling to...
Review Outer Wilds (Switch) - A Sublime Spacewalk That Stutters Can't Spoil
Loop-the-loop
What’s the meaning of life? Are we alone in the universe? How do you know if the fridge light goes off after you close the door? It’s questions like this that have driven humankind to explore the planet, the cosmos, and ourselves. And the kitchen. This irresistible drive of curiosity and the addictive high of discovery are what...
Mini Review Batman: Arkham City (Switch) - The Best Port Of The Trilogy
P.N. Guin? Wait a minute... the Penguin!
With Batman: Arkham City, the second game in the Batman: Arkham Trilogy, Rocksteady finally allowed players to freely soar above the streets of Gotham, providing the full Batman experience that we didn't quite get with its predecessor. The Switch port provides the biggest positive shock of the package with...
Mini Review Batman: Arkham Asylum (Switch) - A No-Frills Port Of A Superhero Classic
Gotham's Finest
2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum laid the foundations for Rocksteady's incredible trilogy, introducing us to the series' iconic combat, which combines slick parries, dodges, blocks and countermoves into a stylish and super-fun combo-based system that makes you feel like the Dark Knight at his most badass. Add in a novel detective mode...
Review Football Manager 2024 Touch (Switch) - An Impressive Sim With Some Real Pep
Not quite Ten Hag out of Ten though
Football Manager is an obsession for a rather large demographic each year, the sort of game that is nibbling away at the back of your mind when you're supposed to work, do taxes, or just be a grown-up. For some of us the obsession dates back to its Championship Manager days in the early/mid-1990s, and the core of...
