Game Reviews scoring 9 or 10/10
Review BALL X PIT (Switch) - Ballsy, Beautifully Balanced, Mercilessly Addictive
Bouncing off the walls
Here comes a ball – a great big wrecking ball, ready to smash down the headquarters of productivity that might otherwise control your life. Kenny Sun Studios’ Ball x Pit is a mercilessly addictive mix of, well, a lot of stuff. First, take a big dollop of Vampire Survivors and a healthy scoop of Breakout – then just mix...
Review Absolum (Switch) - Evolves Arcade, RPG & Roguelike Formats Into Something Fresh & Exciting
Absolumtly fantastic
Absolum is the brainchild of Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, and Supamonks, collaborators largely responsible for bringing about the renaissance of the scrolling beat 'em up with Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Dotemu’s first original IP, Absolum is a 'rogue 'em up' inspired by Capcom’s...
Mini Review The Touryst: Deluxe (Switch 2) - An Upgrade To First Class For The Return Trip
Has it all gone Pete Tong?
It feels like absolutely ages ago that I first reviewed The Touryst on Switch, and returning to it so far down the line, and on the Switch 2 no less, I've been excited to see just how it's held up in the six years since I last took a vacation. Seriously, though. I was bowled over back in the day, giving Shin'en's...
Mini Review Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch) - The Stars Align Again In This Cosmic Sequel
More is more
How do you follow up a game like Mario Galaxy? Well, with its direct sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Nintendo refined and expanded upon the original’s outrageous gravity-based gameplay. The result is one of the finest 3D platformers of all time; one that constantly pushes you down surprising and thrilling new paths. After its exclusion...
Mini Review Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) - Still A Stellar Achievement
Defying gravity
Super Mario Galaxy is one of those games that doesn’t need a whole lot of work done to update it for modern platforms. It’s a sublime experience with timeless gameplay and visuals that still look magical to this very day. So booting it up on Switch or Switch 2, you might be hard-pressed to find anything ‘new’ here...
Review Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch) - Still Out Of This World
Luma-nescent
I have to admit, prior to this review, it’s been a while since I played either Super Mario Galaxy or Galaxy 2. I dabbled a bit in the first entry in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, but I spent the majority of my time there playing Mario Sunshine (still my ‘favourite’ of the 3D entries – blame nostalgia, I guess) before getting...
Review Klonoa: Empire Of Dreams (GBA) - One Of The System's Best Still Plays Like A Dream
Wahoo!
This review was originally published in May 2014. We're updating and republishing it in honour of the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Classics GBA lineup. Starting life on the PlayStation in 1997, at a time when Super Mario 64 had just brought the gaming world triple-jumping headlong into the era of 3D platforming, Namco's...
Review Hades 2 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition - A Bewitching Sequel That's A Spell Off Perfect
Time's (not) up
“Can time not be stopped?” That’s the question Hades II asks you every time you clear a run. The stakes are bigger in Supergiant Games’ first-ever sequel: This is no longer just about family drama, it’s about a dysfunctional family defending all they have against the clutches of the Titan of Time. It’s a story of tragedy,...
A dark night for Onion Knight fans?
Final Fantasy Tactics is probably, all things considered, my favourite Final Fantasy. As someone who isn't really a huge video game lore person at the best of times, as in I forget most of it because my brain needs the storage space for memories of food, in my eyes it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the...
Review Hollow Knight: Silksong - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition - Woven To Brutal Perfection
Pain and pleasure
Hollow Knight: Silksong didn’t need to do much; it just needed to be 'more Hollow Knight'. That’s a huge task in itself; a slightly bigger, slightly better version of an already amazing, genre-defining game. But it’s clear that, after seven years of refining and perfecting and toiling, Team Cherry wanted more than just 'more...
Once more, with gear-mouth feeling!
Recently, I was back reading over my original Kirby and the Forgotten Land review to get a quick reminder of how I found the base game when it released in 2022 (what is time?) and, yeah, it seems I fairly enjoyed that one, now that I've rebooted my brain a little bit. I jest, of course, I fully remember the...
Review Roadwarden (Switch) - A Fascinating And Quite Special Text-Based RPG
And I'll take the low road
Cast your minds back, if you're still able, to the year of our lord 2022 and the release of Moral Anxiety Studio's tremendous Roadwarden. Yes, you know the one, that PC game you may not have played but certainly heard plenty about, as it garnered a whole bunch of Very Nice Reviews™. And here, to be blunt, is another for...
Chibi-or-not-Chibi
This review was originally published in November 2009. We're updating and republishing it in honour of the game's arrival on Switch 2 as part of the Nintendo Classics GameCube lineup. Meet the Sandersons, your atypical, dysfunctional American family. Mr. Sanderson is an out-of-work engineer-cum-manchild who liv
Review UFO 50 (Switch) - A Wondrous Smorgasbord Of Retro Delights
I want to believe
While playing UFO 50 for this review, I visited an exhibition at London’s Science Museum: Power Up – a hands-on tour of the last five decades of video games. There, in an expansive, dark basement, an orange-illuminated wall of computers and consoles took me right through the 1980s. I sampled such delicacies as a flickery...
Review Heretic + Hexen (Switch) - Two FPS Cult Classics Masterfully Revamped
Faith revived
I’m really beginning to wonder just how Nightdive Studios manages to fit in so many awesome projects. Last year, we had no less than five major releases from the team, including The Thing: Remastered, DOOM + DOOM II, and Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster, and it’s clearly looking to achieve a similar degree of prolificacy in 2025. So...
Mini Review Apex Legends (Switch 2) - A Giant Leap Over The Tragic Switch 1 Version
Pitch perfect pings and performance, pals
I love Apex Legends. I feel like I have to remind myself of that sometimes, as I'm so bored off my face with shooters in general, and don't really play online competitively anymore. I just can't be bothered with the stress and/or real emotion of it all. However, Apex Legends, once I get over myself and turn...
The motion-controlled air hockey will be televised!
I wasn't expecting to give Super Mario Party Jamboree a big juicy 9/10 when I sat down to play it for its initial release on Switch. Not by a long shot, truth be told. And returning to the game for this Super Mario Party Jamboree - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV edition (that's the last...
Review Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2) - Absolutely Smashing, But Can It Beat Mario Odyssey?
Big DK energy
Even though it confirmed my suspicions, the reveal that Donkey Kong Bananza was coming to us from the team behind Super Mario Odyssey couldn't help but strike a little bit of fear into my heart. We know that the group within Nintendo EPD is a talented bunch, but how was I ever going to be able to fully throw myself into another 3D...
Sow much fun
When I reviewed Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for Switch before its release, I said the newest entry was a "must-play for Rune Factory fans and would be well-enjoyed by newcomers to the series as well". Now, having played the game on Switch 2, I can safely say that Guardians of Azuma is still an inventive twist on a beloved series,...
Sci-finery
What comes to mind when you think about BioShock? The remarkable sense of place? The Plasmids? The creepy atmosphere and unsettling enemies? The audio logs? Whatever it may be, chances are that it probably cropped up first in the 1999 sci-fi horror FPS System Shock 2. Written and designed by Ken Levine, who would go on to lead the...
The best life
I absolutely adored the original Fantasy Life on the 3DS, and thankfully, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has proven to be a worthy successor, sinking its claws into me all over again. Kate Gray reviewed the Switch 1 version and said, “It's beautiful, it's robust, it's got multiplayer, it's got three fully-fleshed-out areas...
Review Split Fiction (Switch 2) - Peerless, Visually Stunning Co-op Adventure With Boundless Variety
Co-authored
In many ways, Split Fiction feels like the culmination of everything Hazelight Studios has accomplished in the co-op space. The journey began with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, a charming fantasy that required solo players to coordinate both thumbs to control two characters simultaneously. The studio then progressed to A Way Out, a...
Review Mario Kart World (Switch 2) - The Perfect Introduction To A New Console Generation
Highway to Shell
True story: Not long before Switch 2 launched, I passed my driving test in America. A new Mario Kart game perhaps isn't the best game to start after getting a licence in a different country, nor do I recommend taking lessons from a game that puts a cow in the driver's seat, but that's besides the point. Driving around Mario Kart...
Review No Man's Sky - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition - Hello Games' Classic Without Cuts Or Concessions
Atlas(t)
When was the first time you played No Man's Sky? For me, it was right back at its initial launch in 2016, a launch that, for reasons that have been recounted ad nauseam by now, left me fairly miffed overall. Here was a game that was very obviously a huge task for its small (and, as it turned out, phenomenally determined) dev team, a game...
Come on and join the Kohga
It felt weird coming back to Tears of the Kingdom, one of my favourite gaming experiences evz, so soon after I had wrapped it up for the first time. Time has sped by unfathomably quickly, and I wasn't sure whether a performance boost and an additional mobile app would be enough to let the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition get its...
Review The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube) - A Timeless Treasure
Cel-da? Is...is that you?
In honour of the game's arrival on Switch 2 as part of the Nintendo Classics GameCube lineup, here's our new retro review of one of Link's most memorable adventures... If I were to put together a list of my favourite pre-Switch-era Zelda games, those that came before the
Review Yakuza 0: Director's Cut (Switch 2) - A Series Highlight That's Never Looked Or Played Better
I'll be damned, the punk kid's finally turned into a true yakuza
Yakuza 0 was the first Yakuza game — after many, many attempts on my part — that finally and fully opened my eyes to the magic of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's long-running (and entirely bats**t) franchise. This was the one that finally did me in. And from the moment its incredible...
Review Fast Fusion (Switch 2) - The Most Accomplished Entry Yet, And A Visual Showcase
Fuuuuusion, haah!
Some of my favourite memories from the Switch 1 came from those opening few weeks following the launch in March 2017. Like everyone else, I was utterly glued to Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but I also poured a huge amount of time into Shin’en Multimedia’s Fast RMX. It was the game to showcase what the console was capable of in...
Review Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition (Switch 2) - A Superb Port Of An Incredible RPG
Here comes the choom-choom train
It’s more often than not these days that a game released in an underwhelming state is left abandoned in a pool of its own minor updates. On occasion, though, we have a redemption arc like that belonging to 2020's Cyberpunk 2077. Originally released in a state that was barely functional and riddled with more bugs...
Review Pipistrello And The Cursed Yoyo (Switch) - A Masterclass In Retro, Zelda-Style Game Design
Check out this next trick
Though the latest 3D Zelda releases have unmistakably taken the already popular series to all-new heights, there are still some fans who miss the ‘old’ way Nintendo used to design its popular green-hatted protagonist’s adventures. Such fans will want to pay attention to Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo from...
