Latest Reviews
"We have Persona 4 at home"
Welcome to Atlus, Switch fans, the company that really doesn’t want you to play any mainline Persona games, but does want you to play their canon sequels. Last year, we got Persona 5 Strikers, a surprisingly great Warriors-style follow up to the seminal Persona 5. This year, we’re getting Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, a...
Review F-Zero X - The Best The Series Has To Offer
X gonna give it to ya
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the release of F-Zero X on Switch, available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack N64 library. The original F-Zero on the Super Nintendo really blew gamers away with its stunning use of Mode 7 visuals, colourful graphics,...
Review Young Souls (Switch) - One Of The Best Beat 'Em Ups On Switch, Despite Hiccups
The Young Souls of brawlers
Nearly four years ago, The Arcade Crew and 1P2P revealed Young Souls, a promising new entry in the oft-overlooked beat ‘em up genre. Then in 2021, the game launched as a Stadia exclusive and… well, we all know how that went. Unsurprisingly, the studio soon set about porting the release to other platforms, and it’s...
Review Aztech Forgotten Gods (Switch) - Stylish But Compromised By Its Combat And Camera
An az-technical disappointment
Considering its instantly recognisable iconography, the Mesoamerican Aztec culture is one that has rarely featured in video games. We’ve seen games like Aztec: Empire, sure, but there are a lot more examples tied to periods like the Second World War, the American Revolution, and Ancient Rome, to name but a few...
Review Triangle Strategy (Switch) - Square Enix Plots A Total Tactical Triumph
Royal Rumble
When we previewed Triangle Strategy's opening hours just a few weeks ago we came away suitably impressed by its slick mix of choice-driven narrative, detailed world-building and satisfyingly strategic combat action. It's a setup that immediately engaged us, introducing a strong cast of characters, embroiling us in some fascinating Game...
Review Chocobo GP (Switch) - A Surprising Mario Kart 8 Alternative For Final Fantasy Fans
Tweet Racer
Note. Since this review was published, the game has changed quite a bit as Square Enix removed the Lite version and Mythrill shop microtransactions. While the base karting gameplay remains the same, please be aware that the experience described in the text below may differ in some respects from the game as it stands today. Square Enix...
Review Taito Milestones (Switch) - An Oddly Meagre Collection Of Coin-Op Classics
A muted celebration of an important developer
A small "Powered by Arcade Archives" message sits in the corner of Taito Milestones' dual-purpose title/game select screen, a subdued seal of quality there to let players know the emulation within is of the same standard we've come to expect from Hamster's prolific series, with all the usual features...
Review The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Magnificent, Unique, And Worth Revisiting
Okay, campers, rise and shine
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the release of Majora's Mask on Switch, available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack N64 library. The Zelda games have a lot of fans and there's also been plenty of opportunities over the years to revisit...
Review Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Dream (Switch) - Another Intoxicating Blend
Dare to dream
Before Ryza came onto the scene and changed up the Atelier game, many would agree that the previous darling of the series was Atelier Sophie. Evidently, Gust thought so too, as it decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series not with the inevitable conclusion of the Secret trilogy, but with a rather unexpected sequel...
Review Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection (Switch) - Ageing Classics And Glitches Galore
Ah, Desmond
One of the Nintendo Switch’s biggest supporters from the begining has been Ubisoft. Games like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition, and Starlink: Battle for Atlas show the developer's commitment and how its partnership with Nintendo has blossomed over the years. However, it wasn’t until relatively...
Review Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece For Cloud (Switch) - A Great Series That Deserves Better
Not like this
Note: For more details on the games in this cloud version package, check out our individual reviews for Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re:Mind. For an overview of the Integrum Masterpiece collection of all those games, read on.
Review Kingdom Hearts III + Re:Mind - Cloud Version (Switch) - Shot Through The Heart
Re:Mind us not to buy this
And so we come to the end – for now – of Tetsuya Nomura’s iconic and in-no-way-confusing Kingdom Hearts series. Additionally, then, this is the end of our excursion into the nebulous Cloud; pun extremely intended. Yet, of course, for all the shade we throw at the concept of Cloud Versions and the myriad flaws they...
Review FAR: Changing Tides (Switch) - Mindblowing Moments Of Scale, Detail, And Discovery
Sail away, sail away, sail away
As game fans, we all believe deeply in going from left to right. If we waste a whole day gaming, and feel like we’ve got nothing done, no one can deny we did at least go from left to right. And if a game’s story is limp and can’t find any import for its platform contrivances, it can at least fall back on the old...
Mini Review Raging Blasters (Switch) - Another Fantastic Shmup We'd Love To See In The West
Compile killer
It’s just as well one can never have too many shoot-'em-ups, because, no bones about it, Raging Blasters is absolutely fantastic. A Japan-only release on Switch (though available on Steam) that's magically entirely in English from top to bottom, this is the kind of indie-gaming labour of love that deserves a great lungful of...
Review Ocean's Heart (Switch) - Charming 2D Zelda-Like With Obvious Nods To Minish Cap
The Legend of Talia: The Wind Wannabee
When someone talks about spiritual successors in the video game industry, a few names immediately come to mind. Stardew Valley, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and Yooka-Laylee all aimed to bring back genres synonymous with long dormant franchises. If a spiritual successor exists to bring back something...
It's not just your connection that'll Drop
And so it goes on. With Square Enix uploading all of the past Kingdom Hearts games to The Cloud, naturally the enthusiastically-titled Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue has arrived – another compilation, this time bringing one full game, one four-hour teaser for Kingdom Hearts III and another...
Review Voice Of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden (Switch) - A Fine Follow-Up To Yoko Taro's Cosy Card RPG
Fast and fabulous
Well, that was fast, wasn’t it? Not even four months ago, Square Enix released Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars, which proved itself to be an enjoyable, relaxing, and interesting take on a classic JRPG from creative director Yoko Taro and his team. The title subtly hinted at the possibility that there would be more entries...
Review River City Girls Zero (Switch) - An Authentic, Endearing 16-Bit Brawler Romp
Hit and run
The first entry in the convoluted Kunio-kun saga, localised in 1986 as Renegade, is considered the progenitor of the scrolling beat-em-up. While later efforts would evolve its arena-based model into the classic belt-scrolling format we know today, it was Technos that established the genre’s significant hallmarks: damsels in distress,...
We put Cloud in your cloud
We begged for this, you know. We begged on our damn, dirty knees for Kingdom Hearts to come to Switch. Not Melody of Memory, that's a half-measure. We wanted the full shebang, 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix. And now we've got it... in the most cursed form possible, a Cloud Version. Don't worry, we're not going to spend the whole review...
Review Monark (Switch) - A Solid SRPG From Veteran Shin Megami Tensei And Persona Devs
Freud would be proud
Not even a year ago, FuRyu revealed a curious new game called Monark that was heavily marketed as being the lovechild of several ex-Atlus staff who were instrumental in the early days of the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. Monark has certainly managed to deliver on that promise, as this is a title that retains the dark...
Mini Review Grapple Dog (Switch) - A Cracking GBA-Style Platformer, With Echoes Of Go! Go! Beckham!
"What's Updog?" finally has a coherent answer
A long time ago in 2002, long before many of you were even born, there was an obscure little Game Boy Advance platform game developed by Denki based on the football man David Beckham. It was called Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island and, quite frankly, it was magnificent. Why are we bringing up...
Review Sol Cresta (Switch) - PlatinumGames' Intriguing Shmup Doesn't Do Enough To Stand Out
Ready, aim, formation change
Platinum Games, best known for the Bayonetta series, is an odd fit for a sequel to an '80s shoot-em-up that started life as a Galaxian hack. Moon Cresta, by Nichibitsu, introduced a ‘docking’ system that would power up the craft after four alien attack waves. It was a novel idea at the time, and landed well with...
Review Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires (Switch) - A Disappointing, Dialled-Back Downgrade
Under Siege
Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series has followed much the same rhythm of releases since way back in the early noughties, with each mainline entry in the franchise since 2003's Dynasty Warriors 4 followed by both an Xtreme and Empires spin-off, the latter of which adds a little bit of strategic tinkering to the usual Musou mix. It's...
Review EarthBound Beginnings - A Charming Curio That Mother Fans Will Cherish
Everybody's gotta start somewhere
This review originally went live in 2015, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of EarthBound Beginnings in the Nintendo Switch Online NES library. If you were an early adopter of EarthBound fanaticism in the West, you likely caught wind of a previous title made for the Famicom. Translated...
Review PowerSlave Exhumed (Switch) - An Old-School FPS That's Absolutely Worth Digging Up
We're not doing an Iron Maiden reference. Way too obvious.
Not content with finally getting seminal Build engine classic Blood back on digital storefronts (Switch port, please!), as well as the first two Turoks, Doom 64, Quake and Shadow Man, Nightdive Studios have finally got Ancient Egyptian FPS Powerslave (known in the UK as Exhumed) out of its...
Review GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon (Switch) - A Dead Ringer From Konami That Struggles To Succeed
Packed with potential — and not much else
It takes mere moments to notice that GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon, the welcome revival of Konami's Famicom-exclusive action/RPG hybrid GetsuFumaDen, is the once-respected publisher's uncomfortably close take on Dead Cells' excellent 'action roguelite' gameplay. There's the opening room containing a visual...
Review EarthBound - A Quirky, Cosmic Adventure Bound To Warm Your Heart
Mother!
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of Earthbound in the Nintendo Switch Online Super NES library. Fuzzy pickles! Back in 1995, this second instalment of Shigesato Itoi's much-loved Mother series (as it's known in Japan) only received a western release in North America, where...
Review Infernax (Switch) - A Great, Gory Throwback That's More Ninja Gaiden Than Castlevania
Bloody. Good. Game.
We'd be lying like filthy, filthy little devils if we claimed that there was any shortage of Castlevania-alikes on the Switch. The likes of Odallus, Aggelos and most prominently the Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon duology are all right there on the eShop to cater for starved fans of Konami's apparently-defunct series - not to...
Review EGGLIA Rebirth (Switch) - Legend Of Mana Creators Deliver An RPG Worth Cracking Open
A cracking good time
Dedicated Nintendo fans may be familiar with the studio Brownie Brown, which was started by ex-Square staff members with credits on the Mana series and has titles like Fantasy Life and Mother 3 to its name. In 2013, Nintendo restructured Brownie Brown into a support studio, which led to its founder Shinichi Kameoka exiting and...
Review Maglam Lord (Switch) - Great Characters And Writing, But Grindy, Repetitive Combat
Raising a little hell in search of love
It is a long tradition in JRPGs to have the main character attempt to kill the gods that rule over them, but very rarely does this happen in the opening moments of the game. This is the case for Maglam Lord, which has now landed in the West. In Maglam Lord, players take control of a demon lord with the...