Switch eShop, Switch Game Reviews scoring 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6/10
Review Horizon Chase 2 (Switch) - More Arcade Racing, With Some Bumps In The Road
Follow the speeder
Horizon Chase 2 isn't the most interesting racing game out there, but damn, if it isn't hard to put down! It may not match the high-speed hijinks of kart racers starring Mario, Crash Bandicoot, or Sonic the Hedgehog, nor does it hit the same destructive highs of Burnout or the high-fidelity, simulative thrill found in other...
God Forgives… I Don’t
There’s going out on a limb and then there’s blind faith, and while the Bud & Terence games fall into the latter of the two, they are at least a labour of love. If you don’t know — and there’s a good chance you don’t — Bud Spencer and Terence Hill were a movie duo popularised in the '60s and '70s for their...
Review MythForce - A Decent Roguelite Buried By An Absolutely Dire Switch Port
MythFarce
With its bright, cel-shaded models and notably more tame environments, MythForce targets nostalgia for Saturday Morning cartoons from the 1980s like He-Man and Thundercats. A lot of people don't remember just how poorly a lot of those cartoons hold up, though. They have their die-hard fans, and they're fun to look back at with your tongue...
Review Mortal Kombat 1 - A Superb Fighter, But Severely Kompromised On Switch
Testing the Switch's might
NetherRealm Studios has been on a real hot streak with the Mortal Kombat franchise ever since it dropped its first game, the sublime Mortal Kombat 9, all the way back in 2011. The studio has always focused on bringing a top-notch narrative experience to the table, supported by a laundry list of single-player arcade and...
Review NBA 2K24 - A Step Back That Fumbles The Ball On Switch
Ramshaqle
Note: NBA 2K24 does not allow you to take in-game screenshots on Switch. The images throughout this review were taken from the game's page on Nintendo's website. Whenever September rolls around, you can expect a new entry in 2K's NBA series to bounce onto the court. These games aren't usually all that revolutionary, with a handful of new...
Review Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - The Teal Mask (Switch) - DLC That Offers More, But Not Enough
Matcha the mood
As a series, Pokémon is one that has held onto tradition pretty firmly. In the 25+ years since Red & Blue’s release, the fundamentals of the game haven’t really changed – you explore a world, you fight Pokémon, you catch Pokémon. Last year’s Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was the mainline series’ first big attempt to...
Review Mugen Souls Z (Switch) - Way Too Wordy, With Long Gaps Between The Fun Bits
We hope you like walls of endless text
Gaming often takes itself entirely too seriously. There aren’t enough games that embrace ridiculous, silly ideas and run with them without coming across as shallow and one-note. Mugen Souls Z half succeeds at this; its opening scene includes a spaceship transforming into a giant robot for an epic space battle...
Review WrestleQuest (Switch) - A Wholesome RPG That Struggles In The Ring
Toys with dreams of wrestling greatness
If you’ve ever had the oddly specific dream of rising through the ranks of a toy-based wrestling world, then you’re in luck. WrestleQuest enters the ring with a deadly combo of late-'80s wrestling nostalgia and mid-'90s JRPG mechanics, celebrating both while not quite managing to deliver the three-count at...
It’s-a me, Poir-i-ot
The Agatha Christie Poirot games have a long and mixed history. They go right back to PC games in the early 2000s and continue through to the likes of The ABC Murders, which also made it to Switch back in 2020. Over the years, different developers and publishers have picked up the Christie brand and delivered a range of...
Rayman is raving
2017’s Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle had one of the best DLCs we’ve ever seen a game starring Mario receive. The Donkey Kong Adventure story expansion saw Donkey Kong and Rabbid Cranky team up with Rabbid Peach to take on tons of reworked enemies and tons of tight, tactical challenges. It proved Ubisoft knew how to make a...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube769k Watch on YouTube Review Samba De Amigo: Party Central (Switch) - Sega's Cult Classic Returns In Need Of A Shake-Up
Going through the motion controls
In the Wii's heyday, some executive or other higher-up at Nintendo dove into the multitude of factors that converged to make the Wii such a resounding success. Among the factors was the idea that motion—even at a minuscule level, like flicking one's wrist—was tied to the brain's production of dopamine. Pairing...
Mini Review Xtreme Sports - A Switch Return For Some Gnarly But Limited GBC Minigames
California dreaming
2D sports titles have had their place since Konami’s Track & Field rattled arcade screws loose with its fiercely competitive button rapping. WayForward’s Xtreme Sports draws influence from California Games, a summery seaside boardwalk of hip events and addictive tap-a-thons. You have two characters to choose from, dude or...
Mini Review Flutter Away (Switch) - An Ephemeral Indie With A Dash Of Pokémon Snap
Flutter bye
Over the past few years, there’s been a rise in ‘cozy’ games popping up in the indie space, offering an alternative to the typically achievement-based design of pretty much everything else. While these games do require a different mindset due to their generally short nature and simplistic gameplay, there’s something to be said...
Review Legend Bowl (Switch) - Shows A Love Of Football But Falls Short Of A First Down
A game of inches
While the Nintendo Switch doesn't get graced with all of the major sports titles, or occasionally gets extremely underwhelming / feature-lite versions, it's not lacking for smaller indie takes that are full of heart. The little system has a lot of little sports games, and one that shows plenty of ambition is the latest take on...
Mini Review Crime O'Clock (Switch) - 'Where's Wally' With A Temporal Twist, Clever But Repetitive
Playing for time
Crime O’Clock is a stylish-looking, screen-searching detective game that was featured in Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase back in April. The latest game from Milan-based development team Bad Seed, it promises to blend time travel with crime solving across large, densely populated hand-drawn maps. A hidden object game with a...
Review Everybody 1-2-Switch! - Family-Friendly Fun That Lacks Longevity
Horace the Horse is no prized pony
Many of us will have seen the meme format that goes "If I had a nickel for every time [X happened], I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?". It's a phrase that we could apply to a wide range of gaming scenarios, but having played Everybody 1-2-Switch!, the successor...
Review Everdream Valley (Switch) – A Cute Yet Clunky Farm Sim That Tries To Till Differently
Things that go ‘baa’ in the night
Farming games are well-tilled territory. It’s near-impossible to play a new one without comparing it to the many predecessors on Switch. Everdream Valley knows this, and uses it to both its benefit and detriment. Released on PC and PlayStation last month from newbie developer Mooneaters and publisher Untold...
Review Sonic Origins Plus (Switch) - Not Bad, But Sonic Still Deserves Better
Here we go again...
About this time last year, Sega released Sonic Origins—a compilation release that aimed to collate the first four (five if we count Sonic & Knuckles as a totally separate game) Mega Drive/Genesis Sonic games in one ultimate package with a bunch of extras thrown in. Though it wasn’t without its issues, Sega more or less...
Review Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope: The Last Spark Hunter (Switch) - Fun But Safe DLC Lacks Spark
Not enough reason to spend more time with Rabbids
To the surprise of pretty much everyone, the original Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle became one of the best tactics games on the Nintendo Switch. We loved its tight, puzzle-like missions and vibrant world that somehow presented Ubisoft’s Rabbids as less-than-annoying – even, dare we say,...
Review Fall Of Porcupine (Switch) – A Prickly Hospital Game That Needed A Little More Care
A test of patients
The past few years have reminded us that many countries’ healthcare systems are not in good shape. Even so, it’s hard to appreciate the challenges that healthcare workers face if you’re not one. Fall of Porcupine aims to do this in an approachable way by putting players in the scrubs of 2D animal doctors. Unfortunately, the...
Review Dr. Fetus' Mean Meat Machine (Switch) - A Bit Of A Grind
Punishin' Puyo-like puzzlin'
Super Meat Boy changed the game when it released in 2010, as one of the first ‘big’ indie hits of the decade and one of the creators of a subgenre of hard platformers. One would think that such a legendary release would spawn a broader franchise, yet it never got a proper sequel, and Meat Boy only recently received...
Mini Review Skautfold: Usurper (Switch) - Doesn't Live Up To Its Castlevania-Inspired Key Art
We have Castlevania at home
If nothing else, you’ve got to give the Skautfold franchise credit for being unafraid to mix things up. After Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity introduced the series as a retro-style survival horror, its sequels went on to span the Metroidvania, shooter, and RPG genres. Skautfold: Usurper, the latest release in the series...
Mini Review Hatsune Miku - The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes (Switch) - Fragments Indeed
Turquoise tragedy
Hatsune Miku fans have been fairly well served on Switch, with the excellent Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix giving Vocaloid devotees a generous helping of over 100 super cool tracks to dig into in one of our favourite rhythm games on Nintendo's console. Seriously, listen to the absolutely nonsensical pop masterpiece 'PoPiPo'...
Review Loop8: Summer Of Gods (Switch) - Feels More Like A Laborious Summer Job
Let’s get to know each other, over and over again
There are plenty of roguelike games on Nintendo Switch, but Loop8: Summer of Gods takes an interesting twist to the formula: a classic turn-based Japanese RPG that has roguelike elements. More specifically, the game is similar to something like Persona. However, Loop8 implements neither Persona’s...
Review Farming Simulator 23: Nintendo Switch Edition - Freedom With Fickle Forklift Physics
Farmhands-off
Being a farmer is a big job. You’ve got to water your fields, rotate your crops, and keep an eye on the market prices to make sure you’re able to pull a decent profit. If you’ve ever dreamed of trying your hand at this noble profession but don’t have hundreds of acres of land to play with, Farming Simulator 23: Nintendo Switch...
Review LEGO 2K Drive (Switch) - A Fun, Colourful Racer But Not Quite Open-World Mario Kart
Follow the yellow brick road
The trouble with kart racers on Nintendo Switch is, well, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It's the best one, and it's not close. The challenge for developers, then, is not to create clones, but instead to diversify. LEGO 2K Drive makes a valiant effort to set itself apart, making great use of its titular licence to provide players...
Positively shocking
Confusion abounds with this one. This isn’t the same Shockman that was originally released for the TurboGrafx-16 back in 1991, which was a localisation of Japan's Shubibinman 2. This, Cyber Citizen Shockman, is a new 2023 translation of the original Shubibinman game from 1989; and frankly, that’s the most special thing about...
Review Bat Boy (Switch) - 'Mega Man With A Baseball Bat' Is Fun, But Not Quite A Home Run
Shohei Ohtani meets Rockman
There’s something refreshing about playing a Mega Man-like action platformer in 2023. Instead of expansive open worlds to explore, you get a handful of themed stages to leap through. There’s no deep narrative or lore to invest in, yet the colourful cast of bad guys and allies draws you in all the same with their fun...
Review Molly Medusa: Queen Of Spit (Switch) - A Frustrating, Wind Waker-Inspired Throwback
Didn't float our trireme
Molinike is in a bit of a pickle. All she wanted was to learn how to be the best sculptor ever, but instead, she’s got snakes in her hair and turns everyone who gets close to her to stone. Molly Medusa: Queen of Spit starts with a fun concept but it strains against its own ambition in almost every direction. Coming from...
Review Super Dungeon Maker (Switch) - A Promising 'Zelda Maker' That Needs More Time In The Oven
Prematurely hatched
Ever since Nintendo gave players the tools to develop their own levels with Super Mario Maker, there’s been talk about the Big N expanding the concept to other franchises, especially Zelda. This was allegedly discussed at greater length behind the scenes and eventually led to the addition of the Chamber Dungeons concept in the...