Game Reviews scoring 9 or 10/10
Review Detention (Switch eShop)
Best in class
Every so often, a little-known game with much smaller expectations than its AAA counterparts will come along and completely knock your socks off. Celeste managed it last month with its intricate 2D platforming, and no less than a month later, another crowning achievement has made its way onto the Nintendo eShop. Detention, from...
Review Crypt Of The NecroDancer (Switch eShop)
How low can you go?
When it first released on PC in 2015, Brace Yourself Game’s Crypt Of The NecroDancer was an unexpected delight: a personable dungeon crawler on a rhythm game base, it combined the procedurally-generated levels and relentless challenge of the roguelike genre with the beating heart of a dance game. Now that it’s out on Nintendo...
Review Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus (Switch eShop)
I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more Pac-Man
In 1980, Pac-Man took the world by storm, introducing arcade players to an entirely new kind of gameplay style. The titular pill muncher went on to become a universally recognised icon of gaming, while also spawning numerous sequels and spinoffs to the inaugural debut over the decades that...
Review SteamWorld Dig 2 (3DS eShop)
Diggin’ up a treat
Image & Form’s SteamWorld franchise has become somewhat of a household name among the Nintendo eShops as of late, with games spread across Switch, 3DS, and Wii U gathering almost nothing but praise from players and critics alike. SteamWorld Dig 2, which is perhaps unsurprisingly the sequel to the rather wonderful...
Review Membrane (Switch eShop)
Insane in the membrane
For your consideration, the common housefly (Musca Domestica). For as long as mankind began to build houses, these tiny winged insects somehow always manage to find the tiniest openings to invade the peace of our homes. The genesis of Membrane is a story about such a home invasion. With an aforementioned flying tiny pest now...
The shadow remains cast!
While Wii U has ultimately become little more than a benchmark for Nintendo Switch sales to surpass, the experimental pit stop between Wii and Nintendo’s hybrid handheld still had a handful of must-have games. Bayonetta 2 sits proudly at the top of that list, and now the bold and brazen action-adventure breaks the chains...
Review Aegis Defenders (Switch eShop)
Get a Clu
After initially being conceptualized as a graphic novel, Aegis Defenders became a KickStarter game started way back in 2014, promising a unique blend of platforming and tower defense elements. After a successful campaign and a four year development cycle, the game has finally come out, and it was worth the wait. Aegis Defenders is a blast...
A real hoot
Owlboy is a game almost 10 years in the making; surviving a variety of ups and downs over the last decade, the developers at D-Pad Studio finally felt the sweet taste of universal acclaim when it launched on PC last year. The game tells the story a mute owl called Otus, an underdog of sorts who is always looked down upon and thought to...
Review Samurai Shodown II (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Sensational samurai
With its weapon-based combat and gameplay that often rewarded patience, Samurai Shodown was a different type of fighting game, but a very good one. SNK thought they could do better however, so went away and came up with Samurai Shodown II, a game similar to its predecessor but with some additions to the lineup and gameplay...
Review Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (3DS)
You can go home again
The 3DS may be getting on these days, but it’s certainly got plenty to show for its half-dozen years on the scene, including an astoundingly impressive collection of RPGs. ATLUS has been a prolific contributor to this corner of its library, and alongside original titles such as Shin Megami Tensei IV, Persona Q, and Stella...
Review Night In The Woods (Switch eShop)
You can't go home again
Make no mistake about it, Night In The Woods will stay with you. There aren’t very many games out there that manage to leave an imprint on the people who take the time to experience them, but Infinite Fall’s emotional adventure into rural isolationism, palpable Americana and the melancholy of long lost youth does just...
Review Strikers 1945 II (Switch eShop)
Superb shmup action
Thanks to HAMSTER’s Arcade Archives and ACA Neo Geo series there are a number of retro titles available on Switch, but they’re not the only company providing games from yesteryear. Zerodiv have slowly been adding high quality titles from Psikyo’s back catalogue such as Gunbird and Zero Gunner 2. One of their first releases...
Review Pokémon Crystal (3DS eShop / GBC)
Crystal clear
Akin to Pokémon Yellow's existence to Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Crystal is the next critter-catching adventure to round-off a generation of main series, handheld Pokémon games – that being Pokémon Gold and Silver. But what could Crysta
The Magic Mountain
Starting out life as an entry for a game jam back in 2015, developer Matt Makes Games (of TowerFall fame) has brought Celeste to Nintendo Switch as a fully realised action platformer. Popularised by fellow Switch indie Super Meat Boy - which was in turn inspired by designer Matt Thorson's freeware series Jumper - Celeste on the...
Review The Last Blade (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
The king of fighters?
Kaede is fighting Yuki and weapons slash quickly as the two leap about the screen. Quick strikes from both, the action is fast as each looks to string together a series of moves to end the battle. Another day, another fight between Kaede and Yuki, but this time things are playing out differently. This time the combatants have...
Review SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition (Switch eShop)
I love it when a plan comes together
After releasing the sublime SteamWorld Dig, many expected Image & Form to go the safe route of producing a follow up that more or less built on that foundation. Though we would eventually receive SteamWorld Dig 2, the company chose to defy expectations and make SteamWorld Heist, a game which belongs to...
Review Arcade Archives VS. Super Mario Bros. (Switch eShop)
Super Mario Bros. rejigged
Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. in 1985, making a lot of people very happy due to the superb platforming action it provided and selling a lot of NES systems in the process. Numerous sequels have followed, but that first game has remained available on various machines over the years, sometimes adding things like updated...
Horrific, for all the right reasons
Some games are just a perfect match for Switch. Whether they’re designed with its portability and local multiplayer support in mind, or simply ported so well you’d think Switch was always part of the developers plan all along. Couchplay-orientated hack ‘n’ slasher Crawl comfortably fits into the latter...
Review TINY METAL (Switch eShop)
Hold me closer, Tiny Metal
It's been almost ten years since we last had an entry in Intelligent Systems' superb Advance Wars series, but don't let that depress you - we now have the next best thing in the form of Tiny Metal, the debut game from Japanese studio Area35. This is unashamedly a clone of the aforementioned Nintendo franchise and the nuts...
Truly unique
Gorogoa is not your typical video game. In fact, we’re having trouble thinking of any other games that feel and work in quite the same way as this one. Created by the one-man team of Jason Roberts, this seven year-long development project uses a beautiful, storybook-like layout to allow players to interact with elements on each page,...
Review Floor Kids (Switch eShop)
Top Rock
While the Switch has already booked an array of both dance (Just Dance 2017 and 2018) and rhythm games (like VOEZ, Deemo, and Superbeat Xonic), it’s safe to say that there’s nothing else in the system’s lineup quite like Floor Kids. In fact, this labour of love from Montreal-based duo JonJon (animator and former bboy) and Kid Koala...
Review Enter The Gungeon (Switch eShop)
Right to bear arms
Nintendo Switch received one of the finest roguelike indie games in the business earlier this year with The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+. Now it has another in Enter The Gungeon. Much like Edmund McMillen's reworked masterpiece, ETG takes the basic form of a top-down twin-stick shooter. Dodge Roll's game, however, has an...
Expanding the great adventure
Nintendo recently dropped the second DLC pack (and final part of the Expansion Pass) for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one of the most beloved games. For many it's been the addition we've been waiting for, offering new story content and a fresh dungeon in addition to the now-standard add-ons in the forms of...
Review Mutant Mudds Collection (Switch eShop)
Muddy brilliant
The Mutant Mudds series has seen its fair share of love from critics and players alike over the last few years; the wonderful Mutant Mudds won us all over when it originally released on 3DS (and then again in a deluxe version for Wii U), and then Mutant Mudds Super Challenge came along, taking everything we already knew and loved and...
Review Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch)
Is the Switch feeling it?
It seems so long ago now, but the latter half of the Wii lifespan had an overarching tale focused on localisation. Fans in the West kicked off 'Operation Rainfall' when it was clear that three intriguing Nintendo-published games would be Japan-only. Eventually they made their way to the West, and of the three titles...
Review Mantis Burn Racing (Switch eShop)
Burns brightly
Sometimes a game really suits a system. Mantis Burn Racing may have arrived last year on other platforms, but on Switch it shines, feeling like it has found its true home. Featuring all the top-down racing action of the other versions (with the complete DLC already included) it allows cross-network play with Xbox One and PC (Steam)...
Review Nintendo Presents: New Style Boutique 3 - Styling Star (3DS)
We're so style savvy
Paris. London. Milan. Kyoto? That’s right; while fashion industry hotshots and hopefuls tuned in to expos and trade shows in the Big Three, for many others, 2017’s haute couture highlight was delivered in a Nintendo Direct from the heart of Kansai: the announcement of New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star. Syn Sophia’s Style...
Review RIVE: Ultimate Edition (Switch eShop)
Bang for your buck
Two Tribes is a name that will be familiar to many a Nintendo fan after the excellent Toki Tori series, a puzzle platformer with some very light Metroidvania elements. Since producing those games, the company fell on some hard times and stated that RIVE would be its final game. The title was announced back in 2014 for the Wii...
Review Rocket League (Switch eShop)
Supersonic, acrobatic, rocket-powered
Rocket League is a shining example of how a game can organically create its own success without expensive marketing campaigns or pre-launch hype. When it launched on the PS4 as part of Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription service it came with little fanfare – the title on which it is based, Supersonic...
Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Switch)
Stay frosty
The dream that, to be fair, probably only a handful of complete weirdos ever truly had, is nevertheless now a reality: with its much-heralded release on Switch, in a DLC-complete edition, it’s now possible to play Skyrim on the toilet. Or, more likely, in bed, or on a train or plane. Or even in the toilet of a train or plane. And so...
