Game Reviews scoring 9 or 10/10
Review Rogue Legacy (Switch) - Generations Of Challenge Packaged Up In An Irresistible Roguelike
A legacy to look up to
Though the Castlevania series has had a rather inconsistent and confusing run over the years, the one thing tying it all together is the famed Belmont clan, with a member of the family showing up in just about every game released in the series so far. That age-old battle between the forces of good and evil has spawned all...
Review Transistor (Switch) - A Towering Achievement That Comes Highly Recommended On Switch
Process this
Supergiant Games made its name when it released Bastion in 2011, producing an unforgettable RPG with a strong art direction and compelling story that would go on to become an indie classic in later years. It was a tall order, then, for the studio to follow that act with something that could raise the quality bar again; it’s tough...
Review Dark Souls: Remastered (Switch) - Perfect Portable Punishment
Git gud on the go
The Nintendo Switch has played host to countless ports in the relatively brief 18 months it’s been on the market, but every so often one comes along that brings with it all the prestige and reverence that made it such a touchstone elsewhere. Last year, that game was arguably The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a port that was made all...
Review Mark Of The Ninja: Remastered (Switch) - A Stellar Stealth Hit That's Better Than Ever
Hello darkness, my old friend
In 2012, Klei Entertainment (which would later go on to produce Don’t Starve) debuted Mark of the Ninja on the Xbox Live Arcade, introducing a bold 2D take on the stealth genre. Boasting gorgeous hand-drawn visuals and tight, open-ended gameplay, this new platformer quickly developed a reputation for its quality,...
Review Starlink: Battle For Atlas (Switch) - A Shining Example Of Open-World Star Fox Done Right
Ubisoft’s new odyssey will have a Mass Effect
It takes guts to try and revive a dormant genre, especially one that burned bright in the zeitgeist before extinguishing itself just as fast. Activision and Harmonix tried such a feat with Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 back in 2015, but their hopes of a resurgent rhythm-action craze never found the...
Review Dragon Ball FighterZ (Switch) - A Stunning Switch Port That Will Leave You Breathless
What you Super Saiyan?
Nine months after release on competing platforms, Dragon Ball FighterZ has finally made its way to Switch. Back in January, when our sister site Push Square reviewed the original release, they gave it a glowing 9/10 score, and for good reason. Even by PlayStation 4 standards, FighterZ is breathtaking. So, how does one of...
Review Mega Man 11 (Switch) - A Glorious Return To Form For One Of Gaming's Greatest Heroes
Return of the king
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Mega Man in action. 2010’s retro revival Mega Man 10 was the last time the Blue Bomber received a new release, with Capcom being seemingly hesitant to give the character a spotlight after the very public departure of Keiji Inafune, the iconic designer of the robotic hero. Since the...
Review TowerFall (Switch) - This Couch Co-Op Classic Is Perfectly Suited To Nintendo Switch
Towering over the competition
Back in 2012, the gaming world was taken by storm by the announcement of the OUYA, a crowdfunded attempt at creating a major console platform geared specifically towards indies. Though we could easily write a thesis on all the reasons why the OUYA ended up being an enormous failure, the hardware did have some saving...
Review Armello (Switch) - Anthropomorphic Antics In A Lush Board Game World
Crowning glory
Board games have long remained a physical alternative to the digital delights of video games, with their multi-coloured dice, cardboard pieces and overly-complicated rules, but the news that much-loved classics such as Carcassonne and Pandemic are Switch-bound means we're finally seeing the mediums united once and for all. However,...
Faster than greased lightning
In 1975, a Hungarian psychologist named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try pronouncing that one out loud) coined the term 'flow', referring to a state of mind in which one becomes so enchanted or focused on something that all sense of space and time outside of that focus point essentially seems to disappear. The state of flow...
Review Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle (Switch) - Nirvana For Side-Scrolling Fighter Fans
Coins not required
While it can't take credit for creating the genre, Capcom is arguably one of the most important companies ever to work in the realm of side-scrolling beat 'em ups. Entries like Renegade, Double Dragon and Golden Axe may have established the template of the humble 'belt scroller', but it was Capcom's seminal 1989 effort Final Fight...
Review Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country (Switch) - So Much More Than Just DLC
Golden time
By the time Xenoblade Chronicles 2 launched in December 2017, Switch fans were near exhausted with content. Less than a year into its launch, Nintendo’s burgeoning new hardware had the best Zelda yet, the return of its most-lauded Mario Kart, the glorious multiplayer action of Splatoon 2
Review Undertale (Switch) - A Postmodern RPG Classic That Every Fan Of The Genre Should Play
"Aren't you happy?"
RPGs have been around for nearly as long as the modern gaming industry has, and though genre standards are constantly being raised through the generations, there tends to be a homogenous sameness that many RPGs inevitably fall victim into. Octopath Traveler, for example, is a fantastic game, but it’s about as firmly traditional...
Review NBA 2K19 (Switch) - Effortlessly The Best Basketball Sim On Nintendo Switch
Court is in session
It’s no coincidence that this NBA 2K19’s MyCareer story is called ‘The Way Back’. Following on from the issues that dogged last year’s entry on every platform - namely the heavy-reliance on microtransactions and glacial pace of progression for those not willing to sink extra money into it - developer Visual Concepts is...
Review Bastion (Switch) - A Captivating Indie Gem That Hasn't Been Dulled By The Passage Of Time
You've done good, Kid
The debate over whether or not video games should be considered an artform will likely never reach a firm conclusion, but that doesn’t stop developers from trying to show how a game can be something more meaningful and touching than mere disposable entertainment. Enter Bastion, the debut release from Supergiant Games, which...
Review Gone Home (Switch) - A Peerless Masterclass In Interactive Storytelling Comes To Switch
Family values
We’re all happy at how well Nintendo Switch is performing - not just because we’re obvious Ninty fans, but because such success has opened the door to a much wider and diverse range of titles than any other platform in the Big N’s history. So it’s fitting that something as niche and avant-garde as the 'walking simulator' is...
The beginning of the end
It’s almost frightening to think it’s been almost six and a half years since Telltale first brought The Walking Dead to life in a new and exciting interpretation; the game that finally took its choice-driven narrative template and made those consequences truly consequential in a world where a single decision could...
Review Planet Alpha (Switch) - A Truly Mesmerising Puzzle-Platformer That You Should Download Now
An odyssey to another world
There are so many games out there that wear their inspirations proudly, pinned to their breast like a badge of the highest honour. For some, it ends up showing just how lacking their imitation ultimately is (take Fall of Light: Darkest Edition’s love for Dark Souls, for instance), but for a select few that obvious love...
Review Into The Breach (Switch) - The Turn-Based Pacific Rim Simulator You've Always Wanted
Right at home on Switch
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life.” That nugget of wisdom comes not from Confucius or Machiavelli, but from Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Jean-Luc Picard. It’s difficult to think of a game that exemplifies this sentiment better than Into The Breach. This...
Review Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition (Switch eShop)
A modern classic, updated
Two years on from its original release, Hyper Light Drifter might not feel quite as unique in both its art style and the relentless difficulty of its combat - especially in the company of Dead Cells and so many other pixel art indies - but that doesn’t mean this acclaimed hack ‘n’ slash odyssey has lost any of its...
Review The Messenger (Switch eShop)
Go, ninja, go!
Twenty-five years ago, a bright-eyed elementary school student whiled away time in class doodling crude pictures of ninjas in his notebook, completely unaware that such pictures would grow into a lifelong passion project. Indeed, The Messenger is the culmination of decades of daydreaming and prototyping, slowly being refined down into...
Review Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch)
Let the hunt begin, again!
Everything changed for Capcom’s Monster Hunter series in January 2018, which saw the successful release of Monster Hunter: World on the PlayStation 4. Not only did the series change platforms from Nintendo’s family to that of Sony’s (a reversal of the situation that took place only a few years beforehand, when it...
Review Bad North (Switch eShop)
Heathen chemistry
If the recent releases of Jotun: Valhalla Edition and The Banner Saga Trilogy have taught us anything, it’s this: the Vikings make for the most bloodthirsty of heroes. But what if the tables were turned, and it was you defending against the reaving Norsemen? The sound of a ghostly war horn roaring in the distance. Longships...
Review Okami HD (Switch eShop)
They're good dogs, Brent
Nowadays, Platinum Games is one of the most respected names in gaming when it comes to action titles, but long before the studio was founded, many of its staff members were part of a Capcom subsidiary called Clover Studio. Clover made its name on producing interesting new IP instead of sequels, and its magnum opus was the...
Review Flipping Death (Switch)
Grave concerns
Penny might not consider herself a goth, but the fact she dresses up as a demon and works at a funeral parlour has the rest of Flatwood Peaks thinking otherwise. When her over-the-top antics get her fired, she reacts just like any other person would - and drives to a local cemetery to hang out in a crypt with her boyfriend. You know,...
"...and with strange aeons, even death may die"
When it comes to genres that the indie scene is absolutely enamoured with, few would rank higher than the roguelike and Metroidvania genres. It’d be easy to dismiss Dead Cells, then, as low-effort pandering to a current industry trend, another forgettable release in a marketplace rife with better...
Review Iconoclasts (Switch eShop)
Praise be
Though it may not initially seem so, video game production is an extremely demanding task, requiring equal amounts of ambition, creativity, and attention to detail to produce something memorable - and that’s not even accounting for the long shadow cast by countless other games that have garnered mass acclaim and popularity. The act of...
The golden touch
After five years, a new WarioWare is finally upon us. Well, mostly new, anyway. Warioware Gold is a mashup of some of the best microgames the series has had to offer, along with a few new ones. Most 'best of' collections include a creator's hits; those tracks you can't help but play over and over, despite knowing every single beat...
Review Hand of Fate 2 (Switch eShop)
All hands on deck
We’ve seen plenty of genres successfully spliced together during Nintendo Switch’s lifetime - including the exploration and fisticuffs of Pato Box and the RPG/base-building magic of Dragon Quest Builders - but nothing quite like Defiant Development’s long-awaited sequel. Fusing the basic premise of a deck-building card game...
Review Mega Man X Legacy Collection (Switch eShop)
Xcellent
After releasing six games in the classic Mega Man franchise, Capcom had a working formula for the Blue Bomber down to a science, but things were getting rather tired. Mega Man needed something more than a charge shot or a slide move to mix up the gameplay, but that core loop of action platforming and fighting robot masters didn’t need to...
