Latest Reviews
Dream home in a dream land
Since Disney now owns a vast selection of major pop culture properties, many of which permeate our lives on a near daily basis, it can be easy to forget the characters that make up the heart of Disney. We’re talking Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy — remember those? In recent years, such characters have...
Mini Review DoDonPachi Resurrection (Switch) - Same Great Game, Same Old Problems
Bee-rilliant, bee-witching, bee-ry annoying
Another day, another prestigious arcade shmup finds a happy new home for itself on the Switch. This may sound like we’ve skipped straight to the end of this review a few paragraphs early but as it’s been a full decade since DoDonPachi Resurrection’s English Xbox 360 release, more than that since it...
Repent? But we just pented!!
Fantastic roguelite The Binding of Isaac has been around for a decade since its original Flash incarnation. On Switch alone it’s been a thing – along with its Afterbirth+ expansion – for over four years. A big, final addition to the game with the Repentance 'expansion', then, seems a little belated. Helpfully,...
Review BloodRayne 2 ReVamped (Switch) - A Definite Improvement, But Dante Won't Lose Any Sleep
Second time's the charm
Sometimes it takes a few tries for a developer to properly execute their vision for a game. Just look at the original Metroid and then think of how it led to Super Metroid. It’s not that the original was bad, but it was a rudimentary initial take on what Yoshio Sakamoto really had in mind from the beginning. The same...
Review BloodRayne ReVamped (Switch) - A Joyless, Frustrating Port That Shows How Far We've Come
Dhampir squib
These days, it feels like every other ‘new’ game being released is a remake or a remaster of some old game. There’s value in this, however, as it’s wonderful to have great games that were previously locked to old platforms brought onto modern devices with improvements and additions. But, just because a game is retro, doesn’t...
Review Archvale (Switch) - A Bruisingly Brilliant RPG And Bullet-Hell Blend
With a dash of Zelda for good measure
It really feels like we’re in somewhat of an extended ‘bullet hell’ renaissance, doesn’t it? As soon as developers realised that the sub-genre didn’t need to be confined to linear vertically scrolling shmups, we’ve seen fresh takes that inject new life into other genres. Archvale is a mashup of a...
Mini Review Beyond A Steel Sky (Switch) - A Nostalgic Return To Adventure Gaming's Golden Age
Cat hair moustache?
The first golden age of the point-and-click adventure was brief. Just moments after Lucasfilm Games graduated from the kindergarten clunk of Maniac Mansion, The Dig was in its Spielberg-endorsed grave. That was 1987 to 1995. Everyone agrees the early '90s were where it was at – even those who wrongly preferred Sierra Online...
Review Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain (Switch) - A Fun-Filled, Budget-Friendly Party Plaything
This is big brain time
Nintendo is far from alone in its pursuit of games – or applications if you prefer – that are designed to give that cauliflower-looking organ within your skull a good thrashing, but the company has often done better with that software than most. Now we have the Big Brain Academy series (which began life on Nintendo DS in...
Review Danganronpa Decadence (Switch) - A Twisted, Vulgar, Breathtaking Package
Absolute Decadence
The Danganronpa franchise is a twisted, vulgar little thing. Rife with problematic politics, egregious erotic fanservice and some truly breathtakingly ill-judged swings at far heavier themes than it really has any right to tackle, it is in many ways a reprehensible, amoral and quite appalling series of games. And it’s bloody...
Review Clockwork Aquario (Switch) - A Short And Oh-So-Sweet Arcade Platformer Rescued From Oblivion
Definitely better late than never
Back in the early '90s Westone, best known as the creators of the Wonder Boy / Monster World series, were supposed to release a cute and colourful arcade game — Clockwork Aquario. Unfortunately for them the cutting edge polygonal thrills of Virtua Racing were busy setting the arcade world alight at the time,...
Review Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp (Switch) - Fanservice Aplenty, But A Total Grindfest
A Killing Game for your wallet
As we've established previously, Danganronpa is pretty skeevy in its narrative. Thankfully, though, it has managed to avoid bringing said skeev outside of its world, outside of the fictional space that makes it somewhat more palatable. Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp, unfortunately, rather breaks that promise. The...
A real Class act
Everything was leading up to this. Danganronpa. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. The anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School. Even the god-awful, mercifully not re-released for Switch Ultra Despair Girls. It has all lead to Danganron
Nagito you will never know, anything about my home
It’s Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and this time it’s on a tropical island. Now, being a sort of anime-ish game, you’d think that means the variously endowed female cast taking their turns to show up in swimsuits in a somewhat desperate parade of fanservice, and you’d be right! Danganronpa...
Havoc go if you think you're hard enough
The Danganronpa franchise is a twisted, vulgar little thing. Rife with problematic politics, egregious erotic fanservice and some truly breathtakingly ill-judged swings at far heavier themes than it really has any right to tackle, it is in many ways a reprehensible, amoral and quite appalling series of games...
Mini Review Real Boxing 2 (Switch) - A Pitifully Poor Punch-Out That Should Have Stayed On Phones
Fright Night
Boxing games live or die by their gameplay. You can make the visuals look as beautiful as possible, down to the rippling biceps and beads of sweat, but if the punches don’t land right, then the whole experience will suffer as a result. Unfortunately, Real Boxing 2 comes up short with both its visuals and its gameplay, delivering a...
Review Toaplan Arcade Garage (Switch) - Two Historic Shmups Archived By Arcade Port Masters M2
Easy, tiger
In recent years fans of the 2D shooter form have had to adjust their expectation of what a port can be, largely thanks to the sublime M2 ShotTriggers series. Indeed, we’ve been rather spoiled by that particular run of games. A long-established convention across gaming’s history states that console ports never quite meet the quality...
Review NASCAR Heat Ultimate Edition+ (Switch) - An Ugly, Unremarkable Racer
Racing to leave you cold
By now, Nintendo fans must be used to drawing the short straw when it comes to multi-platform games. With the Switch containing objectively weaker innards than its closest competitors, many third-party devs will need to cut a few corners in order to allow their games to run on the hybrid console. This might come in the form...
Review The Wild At Heart (Switch) - A Gorgeous, Potent Mix Of Pikmin And Luigi's Mansion
Something borrowed, something new
The Wild at Heart feels like an amalgamation of some of Nintendo’s most unique gaming mechanics. Such a statement might strike fear into your heart, and we wouldn’t blame you. After all, many attempts by third-parties to imitate Nintendo’s design traits and tricks have fallen flat thanks to poor execution or a...
Review Ruined King: A League of Legends Story (Switch) - A Brilliant Experience Beyond Its Franchise
Comfortably out of League's league
It feels like the world of Runeterra has just entered the first stages of a great expansion. After being mostly confined to the MOBA for years, things like the new Arcane show, an impending MMO, and some spinoff games are starting to bring this rich universe to audiences that aren’t reached by the main title...
Review Death's Door (Switch) - Much More Than The Sum Of Its Zelda And Soulslike Parts
Ready to play the reaper's game?
Despite all the innovation that frequently takes place in the indie space, there’s an awful lot of games that are content to just do what’s already been done. It can be easy to become jaded, then, when a lot of these copycat games turn out to be worse than their clear inspiration. After all, who wants to waste...
Review Unsighted (Switch) - A Fantastic Top-Down Metroidvania With A Warm, Vintage Feel
The final countdown
Sometimes a great idea needs time to mature. Just because a smart concept isn’t executed all that well, it doesn’t mean there isn’t an excellent game coming a sequel or two down the line. What’s incredible about Unsighted is that first-time indie dev Studio Pixel Punk has created the refined experience of a longstanding...
Mini Review Dr. Mario 64 (N64) - Diagnosis: A Bit Rubbish
One to strike from the Medical Register
There's a sort of... B-tier of Nintendo puzzlers, isn't there? Stuff like Yoshi's Cookie and Wario's Woods. We'd argue, perhaps fruitlessly, that Dr. Mario slots into this little group rather better than the truly A-grade stuff. On Switch, in particular, there's an embarrassment of puzzling riches that we'd...
Mini Review Klang 2 (Switch) - A Noisy But Satisfying Rhythm Adventure
Pitch please
There isn’t exactly an abundance of rhythm games available on the Switch (certainly not recently), so it goes without saying that Klang 2 sticks out a bit from the pack simply by catering to this oft-overlooked genre. We’re not sure why Tinimations decided to bring Klang 2 over to the Switch before its predecessor, but from what...
Review Epic Chef (Switch) - Needlessly Bloated But Perfectly Edible
Undercooked life sim
Despite what its name suggests, Epic Chef is about more than just cooking. Taking place in the city of Ambrosia, you take on the role of Zest (like lemon zest, right? Ha!), who is chucked head-first out of a ship as it comes to a stop at the city docks. After meeting a few of the local residents, he makes his way to a run-down...
Review Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl (Switch) - A Middling Pair Of Remakes
Not so shining
It’s always difficult to know just how much of a game to change when you’re remaking it, and that is certainly true when it comes to the insanely-popular Pokémon series. Go too far, and you risk alienating the audience, as was evident with the enjoyable but somewhat simplified Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee Switch remakes of the...
A chaser
The weight of expectation can be a terrible thing for a game. When you expect nothing, every moment has the potential to offer a surprise and an unanticipated feeling of discovery, and the original Toree 3D benefited from absolute zero expectations when it launched back in April. Releasing out of nowhere for a bargain basement price,...
Review Beyond Blue (Switch) - Echoes Of Endless Ocean In This Noble Effort That Never Quite Gels
More wet than deep
Imagine you dragged yourself into a boring marine biology lecture and it turned out to be an awesome rock concert about dolphins. That’s the edutainment promise and it’s more or less what E-Line Media seem to be aiming for with Beyond Blue – but with a cool video game instead of the rock concert. There’s some serious cred...
Review A Boy And His Blob (Switch) - An Experience That Has Aged Gracefully
A solid re-released remake
For anyone not in the know, A Boy and His Blob has a surprisingly deep history, going all the way back to 1989. Originally released on the NES under the title A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, it was since re-imagined for the Wii by developer WayForward, dropping the subtitle in the process. As far as reboots go...
Review Airborne Kingdom (Switch) - A City Builder Looking For The Right Balance
A city, lighter than air
If you’re someone who’s roamed the streets of Bioshock Infinite’s floating city of Columbia and found yourself wondering exactly how a city like that might actually be feasible, you’re in the right place. Airborne Kingdom is a city builder that takes to the skies, tasking you with creating your very own floating...
Wasted
Since this review was originally published, updates have reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. Unfortunately, we cannot revisit games on an individual basis, but it should be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. <related ids="151863"> It sho