Latest Reviews
Review In Progress Palia (Switch) - Is It Worth Playing At Launch?
A promising new sprout
Two years ago, a new developer called Singularity 6—comprised of various ex-Riot, Sony, and Blizzard staff—announced Palia, a “Massively Multiplayer Community Sim” that would aim to bring together the best parts of Stardew Valley and World of Warcraft. Since then, the title has been in early access on PC, and even...
Mini Review Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator (Switch) - A Potent Brew, But An Unrefined Port
Double, double, toil and trouble…
Looking as if it’s been torn straight out of an alchemist’s journal, Potion Craft is a gorgeous simulation game that’s sure to appeal to the mystically inclined, although — oddly — it feels like a bad fit on Switch. Arriving on Nintendo's console one year after its PC and Xbox launch, it puts you in the...
Review Dodonpachi DaiOuJou Blissful Death Re:Incarnation (Switch) - Poetic Bullet-Hell Perfection
Get Hyper
Cave, a shoot-'em-up developer assembled from the ashes of Toaplan, was preparing to fold in 2001. The arcade scene was moving in new directions, relying on increasingly ostentatious Taikan cabinets to compete with the emerging technology of home consoles. For Cave, the 2D shoot 'em up, no matter how unerringly creative, was struggling to...
Review Outer Wilds (Switch) - A Sublime Spacewalk That Stutters Can't Spoil
Loop-the-loop
What’s the meaning of life? Are we alone in the universe? How do you know if the fridge light goes off after you close the door? It’s questions like this that have driven humankind to explore the planet, the cosmos, and ourselves. And the kitchen. This irresistible drive of curiosity and the addictive high of discovery are what...
That's why they call it the blues
What is The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero? That was probably the question on most players’ lips after the Expansion Pass for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was revealed. Part one, The Teal Mask, was just an appetizer, taking players to a new land in Kitakami and introducing new characters who might just end up being...
Review Born Of Bread (Switch) - An Enjoyable, If Underbaked, Paper Mario Homage
Ma(rio) baker
It’s been rough out there for Paper Mario fans. Over the past several entries Nintendo has tested new ideas that haven’t come together anywhere near as well as the original games did, and there's good reason for the joy surrounding the return of Thousand-Year Door in 2024. Some indie developers, however, have tried to recapture the...
Review Turok 3: Shadow Of Oblivion (Switch) - A Quality Restoration Missing Its Multiplayer
A feather in your cap
Turok first appeared in 1954 in Dell Comics, an American publisher notable for World War II-themed fiction and Warner Brothers licenses. Back then, Turok, dubbed Son of Stone, was indeed a dinosaur hunter, using wit and muscle to overcome a clashing of the species. In 1992, Valiant Comics rebooted Turok with more of a sci-fi...
Review 1080° Snowboarding - Effortlessly Cool Shredding That Demands Perfection
Shreddin’ the gnar
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, 1080° Snowboarding was Nintendo's attempt to bring the snowboarding experience to its home...
Mini Review Batman: Arkham Knight (Switch) - One Of The Worst Ports We've Ever Played
Chicks dig the car
The final game in the Batman: Arkham Trilogy is Batman: Arkham Knight, which launched on the PS4 in 2015. This entry expands further upon its predecessor, Arkham City, taking a game which was already plenty big enough thank you and adding a little more of everything. Although the series' combat has seen some more refinement here,...
Mini Review Batman: Arkham City (Switch) - The Best Port Of The Trilogy
P.N. Guin? Wait a minute... the Penguin!
With Batman: Arkham City, the second game in the Batman: Arkham Trilogy, Rocksteady finally allowed players to freely soar above the streets of Gotham, providing the full Batman experience that we didn't quite get with its predecessor. The Switch port provides the biggest positive shock of the package with...
Mini Review Batman: Arkham Asylum (Switch) - A No-Frills Port Of A Superhero Classic
Gotham's Finest
2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum laid the foundations for Rocksteady's incredible trilogy, introducing us to the series' iconic combat, which combines slick parries, dodges, blocks and countermoves into a stylish and super-fun combo-based system that makes you feel like the Dark Knight at his most badass. Add in a novel detective mode...
Review Batman: Arkham Trilogy (Switch) - Two Solid Ports, One Technical Disaster
Hand me the bug repellent bat-spray, Robin
When it comes to superhero games, Rocksteady Studios served us up a trio of the very best examples of the genre with its superlative Batman: Arkham Trilogy. Whether you prefer the smaller scale and comparative intimacy of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the vast open world of Arkham City or the Batmobile-powered...
Review Jet Force Gemini - Another Rare N64 Gem, Flawed But Fun
Start wins
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. The Nintendo 64 and Rare go together like Banjo and Kazooie. The developer was behind several of the stellar titles found on the system, many of which were...
Gotta scout 'em all
While Pokémon has long been the undisputed king of the monster-catching RPG niche, there have always been other releases that have offered up their own distinct take on that unique brand of recruitment gameplay. Megami Tensei, for example, pioneered the concept with ‘Demon Negotiation’ in 1987 and Dragon Quest took a crack...
Review A Highland Song (Switch) - A Beautiful Climb That Doesn't Quite Reach Inkle's Peak
Take the high road AND the low road
Scotland. The final frontier. At least, as far as games go. Despite many games being made in and about the glorious north, very few actually represent its natural wonder without also featuring an embarrassing stereotype of haggis-eating, ginger-bearded, tartan-clad men, and/or clobbering the English (although we...
Review Football Manager 2024 Touch (Switch) - An Impressive Sim With Some Real Pep
Not quite Ten Hag out of Ten though
Football Manager is an obsession for a rather large demographic each year, the sort of game that is nibbling away at the back of your mind when you're supposed to work, do taxes, or just be a grown-up. For some of us the obsession dates back to its Championship Manager days in the early/mid-1990s, and the core of...
Review The Last Faith (Switch) - A Moody, If Stuttery, Blasphemous-Style Soulslike
Cutting open some Cold Ones with the boys
While the world continues to wait in vain for Konami to release another 2D Castlevania, plenty of indie game developers have stepped up to try filling the gap with their own take on the famed formula. Some of these games have almost copied the gameplay beat for beat, such as in Timespinner or Chasm, while...
Review SteamWorld Build (Switch) - A Brilliantly Realised Melding Of Sim Genres
Choo-choo choose me
We live in a blinking lovely time right now. Gone is the notion that genres like real-time strategy (RTS) and management sims can’t be controlled with a standard controller, and we have the likes of Two Point Campus and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition on Switch to prove it. Joining that field is SteamWorld Build, the...
Review ASTLIBRA Revision (Switch) - Flawed, But One Of 2023's Most Intriguing Action RPGs
Worth the wait
Sometimes good things come to those who wait, and few things embody this concept better than ASTLIBRA Revision, the final release of a game that’s been developed by one man for over 15 years. KEIZO, a humble Japanese salaryman, started work on Astlibra because he felt there weren’t enough 2D action RPG games that filled the niche...
Review The Walking Dead: Destinies (Switch) - One Of The Worst Games Of The Year
Integrity Gone Bye
There’s a moment during a particularly grueling fourth-season episode of The Walking Dead in which our protagonist, Rick Grimes, is appealing to the humanity of a man holding a samurai sword against a kind, gentle farmer’s throat. Getting more desperate by the second, he says “We can still come back, we’re not too far...
Review Irem Collection Volume 1 (Switch) - Three Great Games, But One Slim Package
After image
Founded in 1974, Irem, then known as IPM Co. Ltd, began as a distributor and assembler of arcade machines for general stores and other small independent businesses. It wasn’t until 1978 that the relabelled company released its own software. Despite being shoot-'em-up focused, the Irem Collection Volume 1 sidesteps R-Type, the obvious...
Review Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection (Switch) - A Fair Flock, But Far From 'Classic'
Tyrannosaurus Rekt?
Whilst there's absolutely no doubt as to the continued popularity of the Jurassic Park/World franchise in 2023, the Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection from Limited Run Games, which features a total of seven titles from the 8- and 16-bit eras exclusively, is a bit of a lacklustre offering for eager dino fans, one that focuses...
Review Bluey: The Videogame (Switch) - Captures The Look, But Not The Family Magic
Oh biscuits!
Given Bluey’s meteoric rise since the show's television debut in 2018, it seemed inevitable that a video game adaptation would eventually make its way into the hands of eager fans worldwide. Thanks to developer Artax Games and publisher Outright, that adaptation is now here, with Bluey: The Videogame letting you directly control each...
Review In Stars And Time (Switch) - A Tricky, Story-Driven RPG With Echoes Of EarthBound
Let’s do the Time Warp again…
If we had to choose two words to describe In Stars and Time, we’d pick 'beautiful' and 'strange'. This story-driven RPG is ideal for fans of titles like Undertale and EarthBound. Don’t take that comparison to mean that it is identical to these games, though — it’s still its own experience. Right off the...
Review Worldless (Switch) - A Dreamy Metroidvania With Challenging Turn-Based Combat
You're a star
Worldless opens with a battle of opposing stars; they cascade towards each other in what seems like an endless battle. From that epic scene-setter, we follow the journey of one such celestial body, who gains sentience and treks across an alien landscape to find…purpose? The central mystery at the heart of this gorgeous platformer...
Review Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass - A Great Big Track Pack For Switch's Best Racer
Double-Dashed
It was a long time coming, but the ambitious Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC expansion is finally complete, roughly 20 months after the launch of the first wave. Available as a separate purchase or as part of the Switch Online + Expansion Pack service, this DLC contains an additional 48 tracks, eight new playable...
Review Spirittea (Switch) – A Relaxing Life Sim That Blends Spirited Away And Stardew
Afterlife sim
There’s no shortage of games where you have to cleanse a town of ghosts. But do those games let you cleanse the ghosts themselves? Spirittea does. Canadian solo developer Cheesemaster brings us this Japanese- and Korean-inspired afterlife sim. It’s a brew of Spirited Away, Stardew Valley, and other things that mostly goes down...
Review Super Mario RPG (Switch) - A Timeless Classic Returns In A Remake Done Right
It's-an-RPG!
On paper, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a game that probably shouldn’t exist. It brought together Nintendo’s platforming icon with RPG giant Square in a way that seemed impossible, imbuing the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom (and beyond) with bucketloads of personality beyond the hops, jumps, and yelps they were...
Review Astral Ascent (Switch) - Probably The Best Roguelite Since Hades
There's always room for one more good one
In 2019, a small French studio called Hibernian Workshop released a game called Dark Devotion, a promising 2D soulslike that was met with mixed reviews, but managed to garner a passionate fanbase. A couple of years later, the team returned with a Kickstarter pitch for a new roguelite called Astral Ascent,...
Review Persona 5 Tactica (Switch) - Thrillingly Varied Turn-Based Strategy With Joker And Co.
As refreshing as a river in a dry land
Never let it be said that Atlus is one to let its star franchises go untapped. It’s now been seven years since the Phantom Thieves were first introduced in Persona 5, and since then we’ve gotten an enhanced re-release of that game, a dungeon crawler, a rhythm game, a musou, an anime, a manga, and several...