Game Reviews scoring 5/10
Review Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder (Switch) - Stunning Visuals Can't Disguise Its Shortcomings
We're on the highway to Hell
Taking a trip to Hell has never looked quite so good as in Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder. The stunning visuals are enough to pull you in, while the card mechanics take seconds to learn yet provide a constant challenge. There are a lot of solid points to Nadir, but technical shortcomings and some bizarre design decisions...
Mini Review Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection (Switch) - A Great But Gouging, Exploitative Package
It really makes you wonder
Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection gets a lot right. It features six great titles in the series, with complete region variations and all their alternate console ports, from arcade to SG-1000, to Master System, Mega Drive, and Game Gear — 21 titles in total. It has a bevy of in-game options for finely tweaking the image...
Review WRC Generations (Switch) - Rough-Looking Rallying With Too Many Compromises
It's the end of the road
It’s only taken 11 games to figure it out, but publisher Nacon has finally realised that numbering its WRC games has perhaps started to get a little ridiculous. As such, this sequel to WRC 10 has ditched the numbering system, and goes by the more approachable title of WRC Generations. It’s an interesting time to finally...
Review The Outbound Ghost (Switch) - A Heartfelt But Ultimately Thin Paper Mario-Like
Pale imitation
Described by developer Condradical as "Paper Mario + Undertale" on the game's Kickstarter page, The Outbound Ghost garnered some attention with its aesthetic and gameplay along with its premise: the residents of the town of Outbound all quite suddenly died. Many of them have lingering burdens that keep them from moving onto the...
Review Aliisha: The Oblivion Of Twin Goddesses (Switch) - A Co-op Puzzler That Demands Two Switches
It takes two (Switches)
At first glance, UNDERSCORE and Joy Brick's brand new puzzle adventure, Aliisha: The Oblivion of Twin Goddesses, shows plenty of promise in how it's been designed from the ground up for two players to indulge in lots of cooperative sleuthing action that makes full use of the Nintendo Switch's unique range of abilities. Here...
Review Paper Cut Mansion (Switch) - Great Visuals Mask Paper-Thin Roguelite Gameplay
Doesn't stack up
Toby, it seems, is having a very bad day. He’s found himself stuck in a mansion, investigating the strange happenings within it and why he seems to be trapped in it. Paper Cut Mansion is all about uncovering the truth behind the unusual surroundings and surviving long enough to make it to the next floor. There is an attempt to...
Review Front Mission 1st: Remake (Switch) - Impressive Visuals, But A Slog On The Battlefield
Best pray to the RNG gods
As the saying goes, war never changes, but this is only partly true of the Front Mission series, which puts players in control of a group of wanzer pilots as they try to outmanoeuvre the opposing side. The first game in the series has seen a whole host of remakes and releases, with the latest, Front Mission 1st: Remake,...
Mini Review Save Room (Switch) - RE4 'Inventory Tetris' Writ Large, Though Not Large Enough
Packing heat
Ever thought inventory management in 2005’s Resident Evil 4 is like a game in its own right? Well, in the internet age, everything happens eventually, so here's that game. In Save Room from Fractal Projects, you have a limited and specifically shaped inventory space on the left and a load of guns and stuff on the right. Simply slot...
Review Aeterna Noctis (Switch) - An Ambitious Metroidvania That Doesn't Quite Hit The Mark
Hollow-like
Coming from Spanish studio Aeternum Game Studios, Aeterna Noctis first launched on PlayStation 5 last year, and has now made its way to Switch. Luckily — barring load times — the conversion to Nintendo’s hybrid wonder is solid, with a stable frame rate. Aeterna Noctis is a Metroidvania clearly inspired by the greats of the genre...
Review Oddworld: Soulstorm (Switch) - Ol' Abe Still Intrigues, But He's Shackled To The Past
Still stuck in the '90s
The Oddworld series has never quite evolved past its late 1990s roots; the grimy puzzle-platformer was a unique take on the genre for its time, yet hasn’t really made a mark with the handful of releases and ports since its debut. A shame, as Oddworld, with its Mudokon slaves, the half-mechanical Sligs, and industrialist...
Review Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway (Switch) - Slams The Series Into Reverse
"No sir, I don't like it"
Usually when a licensed karting game is released, it’s a one-and-done affair. Cram a load of well-known characters into tiny cars, fling them around a bunch of courses, collect the money and punt them out the door. In that sense, you’ve got to give credit to developer Bamtang and publisher GameMill for holding firm and...
In need of a re-remaster
When a studio looks to remaster an older title from its repertoire, the absolute minimum expectation is that the new version looks and perhaps plays better than the original, making the most of modern hardware and, where appropriate, integrating new features to align with modern gameplay sensibilities. Granted, the results...
Review Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris (Switch) - One For Forgiving SAO Fans Only
This link takes a long time to get started
Anime fans around the world will be familiar with Sword Art Online. The light novels and the sprawling media empire that they spawned follow the exploits of Kirito as he stumbles from being trapped in one online video game to another. Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is the latest game to follow...
Review Hokko Life (Switch) - An Animal Crossing-Like That Lacks Charm And Originality
Horsing about on island life
In recent times, life sims and 'wholesome' gaming have taken almost every platform by storm, and now developer Wonderscope Games presents Hokko Life, a colourful community simulator encouraging you to take life at your own pace. This intriguing animal-filled life sim echoes one of Nintendo's most popular titles but...
Review Airoheart (Switch) - Adequate Adventuring For Link To The Past Obsessives
"We have 2D Zelda at home"
It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that is indeed the case, then Airoheart is one of the most sycophantic releases on the Switch today. There's certainly no shortage of 'Zelda-likes' available on the console, but this is a game that stretches the term “inspired by” to its absolute...
Review Dusk Diver 2 (Switch) - An Anime Hack 'N' Slash That Misses The Mark
Livin' La Viada Loca
After launching on PC earlier this year, JFI Games’ Dusk Diver 2 has made its way to consoles three years after the original game. While Dusk Diver was seen as a solid foundation, it lacked in several departments. Sadly, while Dusk Diver 2 makes some steps in the right direction, it comes with a host of its own problems that...
Review Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 (Switch) - An RPG Classic That Time Hasn't Been Too Kind To
Old, but gold?
Back in the early 2000’s, the Dark Alliance subseries of the Baldur’s Gate franchise was created as a means of bringing the Baldur’s Gate experience to console players. Either due to hardware limitations or a simple lack of audience interest at the time, the computer RPG design of traditional Baldur’s Gate wouldn’t work for...
Review Bright Memory: Infinite (Switch) - A Chaotic, Crysis-Style FPS, But Messy And Very Short
Micro-Crysis
Everyone has that movie, album or game that despite how objectively flawed it is, you can’t help but love it. Sure, something like Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny isn’t by any means a masterpiece, but that didn’t stop us from watching it countless times. Bright Memory: Infinite fits into that guilty pleasure camp so well. We...
Review XEL (Switch) - Promising Zelda-Style Sci-Fi Adventuring That Falls Short On Switch
Taking the Zelda formula into space
Zelda games have laid out a comfortable roadmap for developers to follow when making action-adventure games, and there's no shortage of Zelda-likes to enjoy on Switch and elsewhere. Tiny Roar evidently took heavy notes from Nintendo’s storied franchise when putting together XEL, which takes cues from both...
Review Zero Tolerance Collection (Switch) - A Significant 16-Bit FPS That's Hard To Take These Days
Virtual neutrality
Thanks to ray casting, an early form of graphics processing that allowed the rendering of a 2D map as a pseudo-3D environment, Zero Tolerance, a true First-Person Shooter, arrived on Sega’s Mega Drive in 1994. What makes Zero Tolerance Collection significant — particularly for fans of the original — is its boast of...
Review Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition (Switch) - A Cyberpunk Classic, Compromised On Switch
Zoom and enhance… Yuck! Zoom out!
Cyberpunk is an inherently old-fashioned genre. Its iconic works draw on futuristic ideas that have either become unremarkable, like essential spheres of life based on tech owned by megalomaniacal corporations, or been superseded, like an obsession with cybernetic enhancements instead of codified social status...
Mini Review Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition (Switch) - Tough To Recommend At Launch
Cyberflunk
The final entry in Harebrained Schemes' delightful Shadowrun Trilogy sees players thrust into the shadowy underworld of 2056 Hong Kong in a game that doesn't take many risks, sticking closely to the formula of Shadowrun: Dragonfall, whilst serving up another intriguing slice of cyberpunk/fantasy action that's packed full of strong writing...
Mini Review Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (Switch) - A Cracking Game That Deserves Better
Cyberjunk
Originally released as the first slice of DLC expansion sweetness for 2013's Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall sees players return to an all-new adventure with a brand new set of protagonists taking to the deadly streets of near-future Berlin, where a botched data theft has left one of your team dead as a legendary dragon, the...
Review Shadowrun Returns (Switch) - A Fine Game Scuppered By A Poor Switch Port
Cyberjank
Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Returns first released back in 2013 after a successful Kickstarter campaign that saw its intriguing cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world drop onto PC and mobile devices, indeed we first played through this one and its superior sequel on our phones and they were an absolute delight. Set in the same universe as the...
Review Shadowrun Trilogy (Switch) - A Fantastic Trio Utterly Let Down By Shoddy Ports
Run down
Harebrained Schemes' superlative Shadowrun Trilogy first released back in 2013 after a successful Kickstarter campaign that saw its intriguing cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world drop onto PC and mobile devices. Set in the same universe as the long-running Shadowrun tabletop RPG series, this is a trio of games that take place in a delightfully...
A mixed intro to the world of Suikoden's spiritual successor
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a spiritual successor to the legendary Suikoden series of Japanese role-playing games, blew past its funding goals on Kickstarter two years ago, raising a whopping 4.5 million USD and shattering all its stretch goals in the process. It’s safe to say...
Review Bugsnax (Switch) - A Charming Idea That Struggles In Execution
To snack or not to snack
Ever since Bugsnax was announced for PlayStation systems back in 2020, the game has grabbed people’s attention like few others. With plenty of merchandise and its catchy theme song, it seemed as though the googly-eyed strawberries were everywhere despite being Sony-exclusive at the time. Now, a year and a half later, the...
Review Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Switch) - Shallow And Short, But Passable Starfiller
"It's not a story the Jedi would tell you..."
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Disney had yet to purchase the Star Wars IP and George Lucas was still somewhat involved in its ongoing success. One of the last major initiatives before the Disney purchase was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a multimedia project that aimed to bridge the two...
Review Touken Ranbu Warriors (Switch) - A 'My First Musou' That Adds Little To The Formula
The way of the Warriors
At first blush, Koei Tecmo’s Touken Ranbu Warriors appears to be something of a "My First Dynasty Warriors", or a "Diet" Musou. It’s based on DMM’s (popular in Japan) free-to-play browser-based collectable card game, targeted at Japanese women — specifically a subculture of otaku known as “katana women” – ladies...
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.
