Latest Reviews
Mini Review Astro Aqua Kitty - A Visually Sumptuous Shmup Sequel
Fur-miliar shoot-em-up gameplay
Astro Aqua Kitty is the direct sequel to the enjoyable arcade shoot-em-up Aqua Kitty UDX, featuring immediately familiar gameplay and mechanics, albeit presented in a far more ambitious package. Where Aqua Kitty UDX had your feisty felines battling underwater creatures in small, looping spaces, Astro Aqua Kitty breaks...
Review Poison Control - Entertaining To A Point, But Lacking Where It Counts
To Hell and back
Sometimes the only way to get to Heaven is to go to Hell. At least, that’s the case in Poison Control, the newest game from Nippon Ichi Software to make it to western shores. This single-player action-RPG/shooter has a lot of charm and characters with real personality, though they are a bit cliché at points. Poison Control...
Review TY the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue HD - An Enjoyably Old-School Aussie Romp
Da doo rang rang rang, da doo rang rang
We have to admit, it’s been something of a surprise to us that Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, of all franchises, has sustained the limelight for so very long. That the series made it to six (six!!) games was a shock in the first place – three main GameCube entries, a fourth game for PC and two excellent GBA...
Review Moorhuhn Kart 2 - A Poultry Offering
Needs to offer moor than this
Metroid Prime Trilogy? Garbage. Super Mario Galaxy 2? Forget it. There’s only one Switch remaster this world needed, and that’s Moorhuhn Kart 2. And when we say “this world”, we clearly mean Bizarro World, where cats chase dogs, cows milk humans and seventeen-year-old PC racing games get ported to Switch for...
Review Cozy Grove - A Great-Looking But Flawed Animal Crossing-Alike, With Ghosts
Animal Crossing over to the other side
Back in the Wii and DS era, Nintendo tried something new: telling its players to take breaks. We're no strangers to the Animal Crossing all-nighter, and it seemed like Nintendo was finally starting to worry about our health, but very few people actually heeded the gentle warning. You're not our mum, Nintendo...
Review RetroMania Wrestling - A Faithful But Limited NostalgiaFest
Here comes the plain
The search for a truly wonderful wrestling game on Switch has been one fraught with disappointments, and one that’s still yet to result in an absolute gem. WWE 2K18 was such a shocking, glitch-riddled port that 2K Sports declined to bring the 2019 and 2020 offerings to Nintendo’s console. Its arcade-style spin-off WWE 2K...
Review PAC-MAN 99 - The BR Formula Freshens Up Another Timeless Classic
Waka waka eh eh
The crusade to make all of gaming's tentpole titles into battle royales continues and following Tetris and Super Mario Bros., what classic game is more iconic than PAC-MAN? Perhaps we should have seen this one coming. What makes the "99" series ingenious is it takes the foundation of games that have proven their timelessness over...
Mini Review Moon Raider - Cute Visuals Mask A Mediocre Metroidvania
Lara Croft goes ‘Jason X’
Another day, another attempt to replicate the Metroidvania titles of yore. Moon Raider is an attractive, yet wholly unremarkable game with barely a sliver of originality. Taking place on, well, the moon, you take on the role of Ava, whose mother has fallen ill. In a brief, rather poorly constructed introductory cutscene...
Review Star Wars: Republic Commando - Not An Elegant Weapon, But Still A Blast
Super Troopers
A long time ago...well, in 2005, LucasArts took a bit of a risk and threw us all a curveball with a Star Wars offering that eschewed Jedis and lightsabers, the Force, epic dogfights and much of the fantastical heroics that fans expect from the series, in favour of a dark and gritty tactical take on everyone's favourite space opera...
Review Genesis Noir - This Indie Gem Deserves A Better Switch Port
Shouldn't that be Mega Drive Noir?
The Switch is a truly marvellous machine. The first ever hybrid console, it's the handheld capability of the system that makes it so irresistible. Its versatility and convenience are such that even when a game is technically better on the more powerful home consoles, we'll often wait for the Switch version just to...
Review Arcade Archives Haunted Castle - The Worst Castlevania? Quite Possibly
Sucks to be you
Back in the early '90s, Castlevania was mostly known for being a console series, with three entries on the NES, three on the Game Boy, and four total across the 16-bit platforms (assuming, of course, you consider the PC Engine to be a true 16-bit system). But early in the series’ life, Konami released an arcade game, known as...
Mini Review Densha de Go! Hashiro Yamanote Line - Yes, You Just Drive A Train
Come on, baby, do the locomotion
The eShop trailer for Densha de Go!! Hashirou Yamanote Sen (“Go by train! Drive the Yamanote line”) is just a guy singing “Densha de Go!” repeatedly while trains drive. For series fans, nothing else need be said. But let’s fill in the blanks. Densha de Go! is a Japanese train driving series that started in...
Review Doshin The Giant - A Chilled-Out Cult Classic That's Still Fresh In 2021
Sorry America
God simulators were a big deal back in the day, but it has to be said that in recent years they’ve not been as prevalent. That's not about to change with this game either, because Doshin the Giant is a GameCube game from the space year 2002 exclusively released everywhere except the US. As this rare and oft-forgotten game reaches its...
Review Bladed Fury - A Pretty Yet Bland Hack-And-Slash Platformer That Lacks An Edge
Muramessy: The Demon Blade
NEXT Studios' Bladed Fury is a side-scrolling hack 'n slash platformer set in the Warring States period of ancient Chinese history, an era characterized by endless warfare and high political drama that's been nicely infused here with a hefty dose of mythology and the supernatural. This is a game with a few good ideas up...
Review BIG-Bobby-Car - The Big Race - Chugs A Bit, But Fine For A First Little Runabout
Life in plastic, it's fantastic(ally average)
We’ve seen some odd licensed karting games in our time but the BIG Bobby Car is certainly one of the most left-field ones we’ve come across, even though it does make sense when you think about it. For those not in the know, the BIG Bobby Car is a plastic ride-on car for young children that’s been...
Review Tales from the Borderlands - A Story Worth Telling That Thrives On Switch
I will name my first born, Loader Bot
The tragic demise of Telltale Games really is quite a bitter pill to swallow when you take a step back to fully consider the brilliance of its multi-award winning back catalogue of choice-based adventure games. From The Wolf Among Us to Batman: The Enemy Within, The Walking Dead to Guardians of the Galaxy, this...
Review Narita Boy - Pay Homage To The '80s In This Marvellous Metroidvania
A digital utopia
It’s 2021, yet it somehow still feels like we’re in the 1980s. We’re at a point in time where those who were born or grew up in the ‘80s are now expressing their love for the decade through the arts, resulting in cultural behemoths like Stranger Things and Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. Unfortunately, nostalgia has often...
Review Balan Wonderworld - A Charmless, Confusing Fossil From The Creators Of Sonic
A relic of another age
Balan Wonderworld is a strange game. Mascot platformers were all the rage around the turn of the century, but that fad has long since died off. Yet here comes a brand-new seemingly high budget entry in the genre that feels straight out of 2001 (not in a good way) and it’s produced by Square Enix no less. Unfortunately, Balan...
Review Renzo Racer - An Abysmal Mario Kart Clone That Should Be Avoided At All Costs
With Renzo like this, who needs enemies
When you first see Renzo Racers’ main menu, it’s clear that it makes no bones about the fact it’s taking on Mario Kart. The game’s logo is a shameless imitation of Mario Kart 8's, right down to the light blue ‘RR’ design that looks suspiciously like the 8. The problem is, by the time you’ve...
Review Root Film - A Surprisingly Grown-Up Visual Novel
A murder mystery through a different lens
Like any good story, it starts with a death. We don’t know why someone is laying on the street or why people are taking pictures of them with their phones, but the world is dark and getting darker until it all fades to black. Root Film starts out grim and a little bit frightening, but the shock soon fades...
Review Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol.1 - SNK's Handheld Classics Come To Switch
Bigger, Badder, Better
You’ve got to wonder what on earth SNK is thinking, sometimes. Releasing six individual Neo Geo Pocket Color titles on the Switch eShop was a fine idea, and Samurai Shodown! 2, The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny, SNK Gals' Fighters, SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium,
Review Stubbs The Zombie In Rebel Without A Pulse - A "Cult Classic" That Has Aged Like Milk
Stub it out
It would probably be the most clichéd thing in the world to make this observation, but Stubbs the Zombie In Rebel Without a Pulse is something of a zombie itself; a game that wouldn’t die, despite widespread apathy. It has something of a reputation as a “cult” hit, but we’re not entirely sure that’s justified. The main selling...
Review Story of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town - Enjoyable, But Unremarkable
Is POOT a fart in the wind, or a glorious trumpet?
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town might not bear the Harvest Moon title that would identify it as a continuation of the beloved series, but that's all down to copyright, Japanese-to-English translation, and a schism between XSEED and Natsume. It's not very interesting, so to summarise: Story...
Review Overcooked! All You Can Eat - Stuff Your Face With This Awesome Multiplayer Marvel
Seconds, please
Team17 has just released Overcooked! All You Can Eat, which pulls together the two Overcooked! games as well as all of the related DLC. By the same token, we've compiled this mega-review which covers all of the content. Enjoy! Overcooked: Special Edition: Part of the draw and charm of the Nintendo Switch is the increased focus that...
Review Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville Complete Edition - Dig For Victory
A bountiful harvest
It’s been a long and weird road for the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. What began as a simplistic and quirky tower defence title eventually led to the creation of a surprisingly high-quality shooter spin-off series. The latest release in this series, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville, originally saw its debut on other...
Mini Review Later Alligator - A Big Goof Of A Game That'll Make You Smile Like A Crocodile
Snappy comedy in a bite-sized package
What do you get when you mix Professor Layton with Adventure Time? The comparison doesn't even begin to do it justice, but that's vaguely what to expect from the brilliant Later Alligator, brought to you by the brains and pens that made Baman Piderman (as well as a couple of episodes of the aforementioned
Review Monster Hunter Rise - A New Apex For Capcom's Beastly Franchise
A new Nintendo Switch classic has risen
This encounter felt fated. Written in the stars. Ever since the Nintendo Switch was revealed in late 2016, one pervasive thought has been: “How great is Monster Hunter going to be?” While we saw the release of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate in 2018, it was just a port of the 3DS title that was...
Review Sea Of Solitude: The Director's Cut - Fun While It Lasts, Which Isn't Long
Sea by name, C by nature
There are simply not enough games where you get to ride around in a boat. It was the best part of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, formed the pulse-pounding backbone of Hydro Thunder, and it’s everyone’s favourite bit in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Cars, planes and humans are cool and all, but boats? They really...
Review A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism - Switch Tracks With This Complex Business Sim
You'll be chuffed to bits
Choo! Choooo! All aboard! Land ahoy! Now, we’re not train experts but we know a good game when we see one – and A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism signals (pun intended) the first-class return (intended again) of a unique management sim on the Switch (again) platform (yep). Coupling (that’s five) railway construction with...
Review Beach Buggy Racing 2: Island Adventure - A Surprisingly Decent Alternative To Mario Kart
We didn't "sea" this coming
In case you haven't noticed over the past few years, the Switch has become home to a wide variety of karting games, and the vast majority of them are a bit rubbish. For every Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, there’s a Hello Kitty Kruisers, Garfield Kart Furious Racing or
