Game Reviews scoring 8/10
Mini Review OkunoKA Madness (Switch) - A Fine Rival To Super Meat Boy
A meaty alternative
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, chances are you’ll be quite familiar with Super Meat Boy, even if you haven’t necessarily played it. Renowned for its slick controls and brutally difficult gameplay, it was one of the most prominent games to be released on the Xbox Live Arcade back in 2010, and...
It's hip to be square
When you’ve made a game that pays homage to early polygonal racing games and you want to release it on the Switch, you’d better be certain it’s a good one. After all, considering the Switch has actual Virtua Racing on it, when you come at the king, you best not miss. The upstarts with the sheer gall to step onto the...
Review Spiritfarer (Switch) - A Striking Yet Benignly Haunting Gem With Big Ideas
Super-gatory
It's not exactly rare for a game to be about delivering folks to their deaths – usually via high-calibre ammunition – but it's certainly something new to see a game about ensuring a peaceful, fulfilling end of life. That's what Spiritfarer is, and it's certainly a unique thing; an instantly striking, benignly haunting little gem...
Review King Of Fighters R-2 (Switch) - A Pocket-Sized Fighter That Still Packs A Punch
Calm down, Star Wars nerds
The Neo Geo Pocket Color is one of the most underrated systems in video game history. Released just a few months after the Game Boy Color, its 16-bit innards meant its games looked significantly better than those on Nintendo’s handheld, and its clicky control stick was a delight too. Ultimately, though, the system was a...
Hammerwatch on steroids
Back in 2017, Hammerwatch released on Switch, and we thought it was pretty darn good. It delivered accessible combat and progression that anybody could jump into whilst also catering to those who were after a bit more of a challenge. Heroes of Hammerwatch is set in the same universe, and sees you scale the Forsaken Spire,...
Review Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection (Switch) - A Strong Lineup Of Brilliant Fighters
Seven Samurai
Although these days most gamers would associate SNK with the King of Fighters or Fatal Fury series, there’s still a sizeable following for the third major string in its fighting game bow, Samurai Shodown. Focusing more on weapons-based combat and less on having all the W’s in its title, the Samurai Shodown series is much loved for...
Review Carrion (Switch) - A Shockingly Violent Metroidvania Where You're The End Boss
Carrion screaming
We haven't played a lot of games that made us feel like a monster. A real predator. The measured and ultimately law-abiding stealth of the Batman: Arkham series had its power-fantasy moments, but nothing that made us sit back and think for a minute about what we've done. Enter Carrion. Taking control of an amorphous,...
Review Crysis Remastered (Switch) - A Technical Miracle And One Of The Best Shooters On Switch
Switch Mode Engaged
Of all the big-name ports that have arrived on Switch thus far, there's something about Crysis that makes it feel a little extra special. Here is a game that absolutely beasted even the most high-end PCs when it released back in November of 2007 with its GPU-melting graphics – light-years ahead of everything else at the time...
Review Creaks (Switch) - A Masterfully Told Dark Fairytale Packed With Clever Puzzles
Finely oiled
Amanita Design has made quite a name for itself producing distinctive, visually alluring and extremely intuitive point-and-click adventure-puzzlers for PC and mobile. Across the likes of Botanicula, Samorost and Machinarium there's an evident shared love for the absurd and a predilection for charming wordless narratives. Now, the Czech...
Mini Review Monster Prom: XXL (Switch) - A Silly, Knockabout Experience That's Perfect For Parties
John Hughes' worst nightmare
While going back to school is certainly not a desirable concept, it would certainly hold more appeal to find it populated by literal monsters, rather than the lousy figurative ones who made school life so difficult. Thankfully, Monster Prom: XXL offers a welcome opportunity to right those wrongs and ask a fantasy...
Review Dex (Switch) - A Compelling Cyberpunk Mash-Up
Augment your Switch with this cracking cyberpunk chronicle
Gaming and cyberpunk go hand in cybernetically-augmented hand. Like dystopian peanut butter and electric jelly. Our beloved medium has always been well-served with the genre, from Megami Tensei to Shadowrun to Deus Ex all the way up to the forthcoming Cyberpunk 2077. While it's not
Review Panzer Paladin (Switch) - A Joyfully Unpretentious And Exuberant Action Title
Battling mythical creatures? That's a paladin
Big. That's probably the best word to describe Tribute's latest action platformer. Big and chunky. Everything's bold, brash and refreshingly straightforward. Of course, there's no shortage of pixel-heavy games on the Switch, but there are few that feel quite so immediate and responsive. Joymasher's...
Review Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (Switch) - A Rare Gem In The 40K Video Games Catalogue
In the grim darkness of 2020, there are still good games
Bulwark Studios' Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus throws players into the great big metal shoes of Magos Dominus Faustinus, chief commanding Tech-Priest aboard the monolithic Ark Mechanicus, who's just discovered a mysterious signal emanating from deep within the bowels of the planet Silva...
Review CrossCode (Switch) - The Zelda-Like RPG You Never Knew You Wanted
A Role Playing Game Game
A little over five years ago, a new studio named Radical Fish Games unveiled its dream concept for a new game. Called CrossCode, it promised to merge the RPG trappings and graphical style of '90s SNES RPGs with the world and puzzle design of the Zelda series. An ambitious goal, to say the least, and one that approximately...
You'll be creasing with laughter
The Paper Mario series has seen more ups and downs over the years than the lid of Picasso’s pencil case, with Nintendo and developer Intelligent Systems trying their best to nail the formula again. A large number of Paper Mario fans believe GameCube title Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the best game in the...
A classic Castlevania by any other name
During the 2015 Kickstarter campaign for Castlevania spiritual successor Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, one of the reward tiers promised a retro-styled prequel minigame. Nobody really knew what to expect at the time, but three years later it resulted in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. Developed by Inti...
Old friends, new console
Nearly two decades ago, the Nintendo fanbase was graced with Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, the first entry in the series for the Game Boy Advance. Offering up a low-key and easily accessible gateway into the farm sim genre, it quickly garnered a following and earned itself the reputation of being one of the better...
Mini Review Kuso (Switch) - An Accessible Yet Challenging eShop Gem
The least appropriately-named game of all time?
The sheer purity of kuso is almost disconcerting. A simple 2D platformer with no major traversal mechanics besides running and jumping, it's quite a difficult sell to the seasoned platform veteran. You have the ability to drop checkpoints instantly (a little like Ori and the Blind Forest), which means...
Mini Review Superliminal (Switch) - A Mind-Bending Visual Puzzler With A Powerful Message
Well seasoned perspective
Ever since Valve’s iconic puzzler Portal launched back in 2007, we’ve seen a number of developers put their own spin on the genre, including ChromaGun, The Witness, and The Talos Principle. Superliminal is one of the more successful efforts; a mind-bending jaunt into a mysterious facility that turns out
Mini Review The Almost Gone (Switch) - An Abstract Experience You Won't Be Able To Put Down
When life flashes before your eyes
The Almost Gone is a point-and-click puzzle game in which you investigate a variety of different locations presented as miniature dioramas. The story plays out as you piece together clues and examine objects, and it’s one that doesn’t shy away from tough subjects, such as alcoholism. It’s an abstract...
Review Urban Flow (Switch) - An Accessible And Absorbing Traffic Toy Box
We like traffic lights
Traffic is stressful. A game about directing traffic should be stressful. Urban Flow isn't. If anything, it's quite a zen experience; more so with each additional player you bring into the game. It's a game that anyone can play, with a premise that can be explained to anyone in a matter of seconds. This is a tremendous...
Get it locked in
Taking inspiration from the likes of Eighting's Soukyugurentai and Taiti's 'Storm' series of shooters, Missile Dancer is a vertically-scrolling shmup with simple yet addictive mechanics; holding down your shot button causes a targeting circle to expand around your craft, and any enemies caught in this circle will be considered...
Class Act
Nihon Falcom’s long-running The Legend of Heroes series finally hits Nintendo Switch in this third entry in the epic Trails of Cold Steel story arc, a direct sequel to Trails of Cold Steel II that takes place less than two years after the Erebonian Civil War portrayed in both that game and its epic predecessor. This is an enormous,...
Review Colt Canyon (Switch) - A Twin-Stick Roguelike With Razor-Sharp Gameplay
A Fistful of Bullets
Twin-stick shooters generally have a lot in common with one another. Most of the time, they’ll throw an absurd amount of enemies in your direction, and it’s often an exercise in basic survival against the odds, with bullets flying in every direction possible. Colt Canyon certainly displays aspects of this, but it’s an...
Mini Review Jump Rope Challenge (Switch) - A Noble Attempt To Get Switch Owners Active
Jump up in lockdown
Reviewing and putting a score on a free game that’s been created in a limited environment with the sole purpose of helping the public improve their physical well being during a global pandemic is… well, it’s a tough one. Do you critically analyse it and pick apart its faults and limitations? Or do you simply view it for...
Review Pokémon Sword & Shield - The Isle of Armor (Switch) - A New Wild Area Worthy Of Your Interest
Fits the base game to a TT
Whenever a series attempts DLC for the first time, you’re sure to find a select few individuals pining for the olden days when you got a whole game in a single package – conveniently forgetting the fact that Street Fighter II had no less than seven different iterations – but if a game sells well and there’s enough...
Review Ruiner (Switch) - An Exceptionally Stylish, Brutal And Bloody Top-Down Shooter
Get them, Puppy!
Originally released back in September of 2017, Reikon Games' Ruiner is an ultra-stylish, ultra-violent isometric action affair than flings its players unceremoniously into the role of a nameless, faceless cyborg assassin on the trail of his missing brother in the future metropolis of Rengkok. This is Hotline Miami filtered through...
Review Project Warlock (Switch) - A Fantastic Tribute To The Very Best '90s FPS Classics
Retro Witchcraft
Originally released on PC back in October of 2018 and the brainchild of high school student Jakub Cislo – who saw his game through several early iterations before putting together the small team that make up Buckshot Software in order to get things polished to the standard we see here – Project Warlock is very obviously a true...
Review Borderlands Legendary Collection (Switch) - A Triple-Helping Of Classic FPS Action
Three tickets to the gun show
It's safe to say you've probably already played Borderlands in some form. The open-world looter-shooter franchise has made an appearance on pretty much every console since the original game released in 2009. This isn't even the series' first appearance on a portable system – Borderlands 2 saw release on the...
Review The Outer Worlds (Switch) - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
Halcyon Days
Obsidian's The Outer Worlds was very well received when it originally launched back in October of 2019; it's a satirical and darkly humorous RPG that takes the first-person Fallout experience and blasts it into orbit. However, as much as it has in common with the Fallout games, it's also very much its own distinct affair; a remarkably...
