Latest Reviews
Review Subnautica + Subnautica Below Zero Double Pack - An Accomplished Double Dive
What Lies Beneath
One of the very best survival titles currently available on any platform, Subnautica is a hugely immersive underwater epic that combines survival, crafting, open world exploration and an intriguing narrative to truly spectacular effect. It's one of our all-time favourite games and so, when we heard that both the original and it's...
Review Raiden IV x Mikado Remix - Another Astoundingly Good Shmup For Switch
Mix it up
Back in the late eighties when 2D shooting games were a dominant form rather than a somewhat niche genre, a particular kind of shmup became very popular indeed. While the likes of Capcom’s 1942 certainly set the groundwork, the success of Toaplan’s separate 1987 arcade releases Twin Cobra and Flying Shark made hard-nosed, unembellished...
Review Before I Forget - A Poignant Portrayal Of Dementia
Full of colour and emotion
It's not often that a game with a high profile tackles a particularly difficult and emotive illness, though when they get it right they're rightly lauded for bringing these topics into the gaming medium. Before I Forget earned attention and headlines - with some notable award nominations - for its portrayal of dementia,...
Review SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off - A Bit Undercooked
We do this for forty years, and then we die
Though not always deserved, mobile games have long since obtained a reputation for being rather shallow and money-grubbing affairs. And though the mobile space actually accounts for the lion’s share of the profits raked in by the game industry year over year, this monetary growth is seen by many to come...
Review Skate City - Lacks Real Challenge, But Good For Board-Based Vibing
Lords of Dogtown?
If you've been hankering for a little 2D side-scrolling skateboard action but Roll7's OlliOlli series is just a bit too hardcore for your liking, Agens and Room 8's Skate City might just be right up your vert ramp. There's no precisely timed landing of tricks required here, no sweaty palms, complex combos or finger-twisting...
Review Castaway Paradise - "Like Animal Crossing" Indeed, Minus The Good Bits
Shell shockingly bad
If you told someone that you were a huge fan of gourmet homecooked meals, you'd be well within your rights to boot them off the nearest cliff if they came to your next party with a lasagne dish full of wet cat food. Likewise, if a game bills itself with the actual tagline "It's Like Animal Crossing!" and then attempts to meet...
Review R-Type Final 2 - Shmup Royalty Returns In An Authentic, If Flawed, Revival
The final curtain?
Almost two decades have passed since the last entry in the mainline R-Type series. That makes the arrival of R-Type Final 2 a genuinely exciting prospect — particularly for shooting game devotees. Firing up Granzella’s latest for the first time really does feel like a meaningful moment for the form. An icon has returned,...
Review The Longing - Tedious By Design, And Incredibly Successful At It
For a minute there, I lost myself
There’s a section of the acclaimed Windows adventure game The Neverhood entitled “The Hall of Records”. It’s essentially a (very) long gag – screen after screen of rooms, full to the brim with quite bizarre text. It takes what feels like hours to make it through with main character Klaymen’s agonisingly...
Review Shantae - A Dated Dance That Completes The Set On Switch
It doesn't cost hundreds to play it anymore!
Though Shantae has gone on to become an indie gaming icon, her origins were much dicier. The original Shantae was potentially planned as a SNES or PC release before it finally settled on the Game Boy Color. Production went well, but the game required an expensive cartridge which caused many publishers to...
Review New Pokémon Snap - The Best-Looking Pokémon Game Yet, And A Joyous Revival
Lental clarity
It's been 22 years since the original Pokémon Snap and with each passing console generation fans had never given up hope for a possible sequel. Why is that? It wasn't a long game, it didn't have that many levels, only had a small pool of Pokémon and the base gameplay was simply about taking pictures. On paper, Pokémon Snap sounds...
Review Rain on Your Parade - A Refreshingly Brief But Saccharine Shower
Cloud strife
Rain On Your Parade wants very much to be the next Untitled Goose Game. It so desperately needs to be that quirky breakout hit, the virtual talk of the water cooler, the “have you seen that cloud game?” game, spawn of a trillion thinkpieces. To be fair, it’s a strong concept. You take control of a rain cloud and, er, rain on...
Review There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension - Don't Let The Title Fool You
Follow the white rabbit
What are you doing here? We assume you’ve clicked a link under the assumption that you’re going to find a review of a game, but as you can quite clearly see from the title, there is no game. So we’d like to apologise for wasting your time here, and we’ll catch you on the next one! Okay, we’re joking - obviously. We...
Best in class
Much like Koei’s Atelier series, Nihon Falcom’s Legend of Heroes games are some of the best RPGs that you’ve never played. Engrossing storytelling is one of the cornerstones of the RPG genre, and no other series exemplifies this as well as the Legend of Heroes. The story began with Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes way back in...
Review Battle Axe - A Battling Throwback That Doesn't Land All Its Hits
Lord have Mercia
Veteran pixel artist Henk Nieborg's old-school throwback, Battle Axe, seeks to replicate the classic top-down hack and slash action of arcade classics such as Gauntlet, Knights of the Round and Golden Axe. With Nieborg himself on graphical duties and legendary composer Manami Matsumae (Mega Man, Final Fight, Shovel Knight) providing...
Mini Review Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - Witty Zelda-Inspired Top-Down Tax Avoidance
Vegan-friendly
No one likes paying taxes. Unfortunately, it’s something we all have to do and wilfully committing tax evasion is not something we would ever encourage anyone to do. Isn’t it wonderful, then, that you can evade as much tax as you like in Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, an action-RPG from developer Snoozy Kazoo. It may well be one...
Review The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark - A Welcome Return To Twin Lakes
It is happening again
Sequels generally need to accomplish two things: they need to be bigger and better than their predecessors. Okay, if we’re being picky, they don’t necessarily need to be bigger, as such, but certainly better. Released back in 2017, The Darkside Detective was a surprise hit, boasting gorgeous pixelated visuals, a stellar...
Review Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack - A Nicely Crafted RPG Marathon
Baby, you've got a stew going!
Practically speaking, the Atelier series is probably among the best collection of RPGs that you’ve never played. This low-key and generally bubbly franchise seems like it hasn’t quite managed to shatter that ‘glass ceiling’ into mainstream appeal, but that hasn’t stopped Gust from lovingly improving upon the...
Mini Review Picross S6 - A Bold New Direction? A Fresh Take? Eat Your Picross, Son
Here we go again!
Let’s get one thing out of the way upfront: Picross S6 is just more Picross. No unique bells or whistles, no interesting gameplay hooks or gimmicks to make this sequel ‘different’, no bold new direction for the franchise. It is simply a new collection of almost 500(!) puzzles for you to solve, all of which are completed in...
Review Smelter - Strong Mega Man X-Style Platforming Forged With Extract Of ActRaiser
Would you Adam and Eve it!?
Now you’re talking. Indie games have been imitating classics of the past for years and years now, and it’s about time that one of them had the cajones to take a run at the seminal ActRaiser, Quintet’s 1990 genre-melding masterpiece. To be fair, SolSeraph had a crack at combining top-down elements with platforming,...
Review SaGa Frontier Remastered - A Cracking Update Of An Infuriating Cult Classic
Only For The Hardcore Frontier Raver
SaGa Frontier, Square Enix’s idiosyncratic JRPG classic, arrives on Nintendo Switch in a lovingly crafted remaster that gives long-time fans plenty to get excited about whilst fully retaining the ability to absolutely infuriate and bewilder anyone who isn’t au fait with its many, many eccentricities. This is...
Mini Review Toree 3D - Low Poly, Pint-Sized Platforming For Pennies
Nostalgic 3D platforming? Balan Wonderworld, take note
Say what you like about fancy level design and clever mechanics that turn everything you know about the genre on its head, but when it comes to 3D platformers there's really only one reason we return to our favourites again and again: throwing Mario around a course feels fun on an instinctual,...
Mini Review Angry Golf - Novelty Arcade Golfing That Lives Up To Its Name
Triple-bogey
Angry Golf is perhaps the most apt title for a video game ever. This isn’t because the main character has a permanently furrowed brow, but rather for how the game makes you feel while you’re playing it. It’s one of the most poorly designed, unfinished games we've played on the Switch, and the golf gameplay feels like it’s almost...
Mini Review Kingdom of Arcadia - A Pleasant Little Not-Quite-Metroidvania
Metroidvania-lite
Kingdom of Arcadia’s premise should be familiar to everyone who loves gaming. Admit it, we’ve all imagined being sucked into one of our favourite gaming worlds at one point or another. That’s exactly what happens to Sam, a normal boy who is suddenly pulled inside his father’s arcade cabinet. Now stuck inside the Kingdom of...
Mini Review Future Aero Racing S Ultra - Clever Ideas, But FAR From A New F-Zero
We want to WipEout its music from our memory, too
It’s not exactly the best time for fans of futuristic racing. With no new F-Zero on the horizon and the WipEout series seemingly dead, too, fans have to turn to the independent scene in the hope that something almost as good will do the trick. The Switch has a couple of decent options already...
Review Stitchy in Tooki Trouble - Pretty But Painfully Average DKC-Inspired Platforming
Sure to cause a straw man argument
A scarecrow is a creation built to deceive. A visual signifier of something greater. A simulacrum intended to impress, but when approached, the illusion shatters. Conveniently, Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is much the same. At first glance, it’s a rather attractive pillaging of Donkey Kong Country Returns, borrowing...
Review FEZ - A Mind And World-Bending Puzzle Platformer That Deserves A Second Look
Like an oblong in a rhombus, like a cube within a cube
One of the original indie darlings in the eyes of many, FEZ is a game steeped in a whole bucket’s worth of history and intrigue. Nine years after its initial release and no sign of a sequel (as promised by its creator before getting abruptly cancelled), can FEZ still dazzle the new generation...
Review Godstrike - A Frustrating Time Mechanic Scuppers This Twin Stick Shooter
Not quite god-tier
A little over a year ago, a new bullet hell game called Profane released on the eShop and was swept away almost immediately in the constant stream of other new titles. Due to disputes with the publisher, Overpowered Team decided to have the game taken off the eShop a few months later, while it worked on re-releasing a new version...
Mini Review Astro Aqua Kitty - A Visually Sumptuous Shmup Sequel
Fur-miliar shoot-em-up gameplay
Astro Aqua Kitty is the direct sequel to the enjoyable arcade shoot-em-up Aqua Kitty UDX, featuring immediately familiar gameplay and mechanics, albeit presented in a far more ambitious package. Where Aqua Kitty UDX had your feisty felines battling underwater creatures in small, looping spaces, Astro Aqua Kitty breaks...
Review Poison Control - Entertaining To A Point, But Lacking Where It Counts
To Hell and back
Sometimes the only way to get to Heaven is to go to Hell. At least, that’s the case in Poison Control, the newest game from Nippon Ichi Software to make it to western shores. This single-player action-RPG/shooter has a lot of charm and characters with real personality, though they are a bit cliché at points. Poison Control...
Review TY the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue HD - An Enjoyably Old-School Aussie Romp
Da doo rang rang rang, da doo rang rang
We have to admit, it’s been something of a surprise to us that Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, of all franchises, has sustained the limelight for so very long. That the series made it to six (six!!) games was a shock in the first place – three main GameCube entries, a fourth game for PC and two excellent GBA...
