Game Reviews scoring 8, 9 or 10/10
Soul survivor
The blood-soaked jewels in the crown of a storied cult franchise, Soul Reaver and its sequel were praised on release for original gameplay and stellar visuals. Gorgeous gothic fantasies, co-written and directed by industry luminary Amy Hennig, they followed the exploits of vampire lord Kain’s fallen lieutenant, Raziel. These games...
"I don't want to get off Mr Sawyer's Wild Ride"
The king of theme park management sims is here. It’s not some godawful spin-off that bears the name but none of the fun, it’s not the great-but-not-as-good-as-the-first-two RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, this is the first and second games in the series stitched together and bundled with some modern...
Mini Review Inops (Switch) - A Cute & Creative Puzzle-Platformer
Inops-rative
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Note. This game has, unfortunately, been...
Review Nine Sols (Switch) - An Intense Metroidvania That's Still A Treat On Switch
Sublime Switch combat
Scroll through the eShop any week, and under the new releases section, you are bound to find a Metroidvania, if not several. The genre is packed with so many games that few manage to break out. However, Red Candle Games' Nine Sols did manage to make a name for itself earlier this year on PC, and now that it has come to Switch,...
Review Loco Motive (Switch) - A Stunning Whodunnit With Impeccable LucasArts Vibes
Murder on the Point-and-Click Express
It's a story you've probably heard before: there's a detective, a rich, old heiress with an amended will, and an assembled group of people all hoping to benefit from it. And then, as these stories usually do, it ends in murder. On a train! But don't be fooled by the plentiful Agatha Christie-isms: this work of...
Keeping the Flame burning
A couple of years ago, a little puzzle game came to the Switch eShop called Dungeons of Dreadrock, which smartly mixed the vibe of 1980s first-person adventure games with simple puzzle mechanics. Though Dungeons of Dreadrock was enjoyable enough as a standalone experience, it was recently revealed that there will be a...
Mini Review Carpathian Night Starring Bela Lugosi (Switch) - Nails That Classic Castlevania Feel
Dead good
Going into Carpathian Night Starring Bela Lugosi, there was an undeniable fear that this would be a cheap, throwaway knock-off of Konami’s Castlevania series; one that we’d rinse in a single sitting before casting it aside for the real deal. Instead, we were treated to an incredibly well-crafted game that can easily stand toe-to-toe...
Review Stray (Switch) – A Brilliant Game Lands On Its Feet With A Solid Switch Port
Feline fine
Nintendo Switch players have been waiting a while to get their hands on 2022’s Stray, the critically acclaimed puzzle-platforming adventure from developer BlueTwelve Studio and one-time PlayStation console exclusive that lets you explore an A.I.-populated cyberpunk world through the perspective of an adorable feline protagonist. While...
Time to rewrite history
Running a budding kingdom is hard, but it is made even more difficult by being surrounded on all sides by a host of potential enemies, all vying for land, resources, and power. Few video games have managed to recreate that pressure as well as Koei Tecmo’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, with Romance of the Three...
Mini Review Miniatures (Switch) - A Wonderfully Strange Little Narrative Trip
Short 'n' surreal
Experienced across four beautifully rendered vignettes, Miniatures is a short game that leans as much into the shadows as it does into the charming strangeness at the core of each narrative. Miniatures doesn’t take great pains to explain or justify itself, leaving us somewhat mystified by the sparse tales. The connections...
Review Rage Of The Dragons NEO (Switch) - A Fabulous Version Of A Fantastic Fighter
Hey! Broom heads!
With the original Double Dragon, Yoshihisa Kishimoto realised a dramatic, violent expedition to save a kidnapped girl from a miscreant petrol gang. Although the genre had already been established by Irem’s Kung-Fu Master several years earlier, the scores of enemies, weapons, multi-plane scenery, two-player functionality, and...
Review Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Switch) - Square Doesn't Drop The Ball, Just Some Frames
The wait is finally over
A few years ago, Square Enix announced it would be doing a remake of Dragon Quest III in its popular HD-2D engine, but this was then followed by a lengthy period of radio silence where its development status seemed uncertain. While they were at it, the developers decided to go ahead and remake the first and second Dragon...
Mini Review Bad Dream: Coma (Switch) - Nightmarishly Immersive Point-And-Click Horror
Bad times good
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Horror and point-and-click adventures go...
Legend Of The Zone
The third and strongest instalment of GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy brings this excellent set of Switch remasters to a close. In some ways, it feels inaccurate to say Call of Prypiat is the best of the three because it so effectively capitalises on the groundwork laid by Shadow of Chornobyl, but it’s a brilliant,...
Review Tetris Forever (Switch) - The Best Breakdown Of A Legendary Franchise
The building blocks of history
How many times do you think we can say the word ‘Tetris’ in a single review? Well, since Tetris Forever contains a total of 18 games based on the original 1985 title, you’d best strap yourselves in, because we’re going to be saying it a lot. Well, okay, we might mix things up a bit with the odd sprinkling of...
Review Angel At Dusk (Switch) - A Magnificent, Grotesque Gateway To An Entire Genre
A universal horror
Indie developer Akiragoya doesn’t just want you to get better at their latest shmup Angel at Dusk. They want to improve your prospects across the entire genre. Though taking a glance at the new Switch port of their distinctly grotesque work, you’d be forgiven for thinking the opposite is true. Set deep in a future where...
Let battle commence
With the release of The First Console War, the second DLC expansion for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, developer Digital Eclipse has seemingly completed its mission to present the most comprehensive interactive documentary on Atari possible. Much like the previous expansion, this latest release lacks some of the cohesion...
Review Broken Sword - Shadow Of The Templars: Reforged (Switch) - A Classic Adventure Returns Intact
If it ain’t Broken…
Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars is a big deal in the world of graphic adventures. Ever since its release on PC in 1996, it has jostled for the top spot on best-ever lists around the internet. It’s landed on consoles and early mobile platforms, including a Director’s Cut that reached Wii and DS. Now, nearly three...
Mini Review STALKER: Shadow Of Chornobyl (Switch) - Legendary Series Stalks Switch With A Solid Port
In the Zone
Lauded on its original 2007 release, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow Of Chornobyl dropped players into a stark world, filled with effective horror and precision combat. It spawned two sequels, both of which refined and improved on the model of their predecessor. Ukraine-based GSC Game World’s Legends Of The Zone bundle squeezes all three...
Mini Review Vampire Survivors: Ode To Castlevania (Switch) - Divine DLC Is Absolutely Essential
Finally, some vampire killers
Ode to Castlevania is a full-circle moment for Vampire Survivors. Heavily inspired by the franchise, and originally built with assets influenced by Konami’s whip-cracking series, Luca Galante and Poncle have blown all of their other excellent DLC out of the water. If your jaw isn’t on the floor by the time you roll...
Review Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch) - Easily The Best Mario & Luigi RPG Yet
Gonna get yourself connected
As the very first Mario & Luigi RPG to be released on a full-fat home console, we've been champing at the bit to discover whether or not Nintendo would capitalise on the extra grunt of the Switch to serve us up the biggest and best turn-based Bros. romp yet in the form of Mario & Luigi: Brothership. We had some concerns...
Can open, worms... nowhere?
Right. There's a whole backstory — a whole mess of lore, as we like to call to it — with regards to Atooi's Hatch Tales. You can read about it in detail here or, TL;DR, it's six years late releasing and its Kickstarter backers have been rightly miffed, and more than a little concerned. Anyway, it's here now, and when
Review Core Keeper (Switch) - Mysterious, Addictive & Beautifully Presented Sandbox Survival
Creating core memories
About a decade ago, not long after Minecraft was discovered by mainstream audiences, it felt like every other week you’d see another new sandbox survival project from developers both large and small looking to cash in on the craze. Now that’s been replaced by new trends like deckbuilders and extraction shooters, though...
Review Sonic X Shadow Generations (Switch) - A Blistering Return To Form For Both Hedgehogs
The best 3D Sonic game..? Yes
Holy moly folks, Sega actually did it. After the disappointment of Sonic Forces, the glitchy mess of Sonic Colors Ultimate, and the divisive nature of Sonic Frontiers, the publisher has delivered what is undoubtedly the very best 3D Sonic game yet with Sonic X Shadow Generations. It gracefully revisits a beloved modern...
Review Banjo-Tooie (Nintendo 64) - An Enormous Adventure With Charm Up The Kazoo
Can you bear second helpings?
This review was originally published in October 2009. We're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of the game in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack N64 library. <related ids="106839"> Banjo-Kazooie was a game that revolutionised platforming on the N64: Rare's off-the-wall-humour, creative...
Review The Smurfs - Dreams (Switch) - Not Quite Smurf, But Surprisingly Smurf
Don't smurf on this one
We have a confession to make: we were almost certain we knew how this review was going to go before we even started playing The Smurfs - Dreams. After all, on paper it didn’t appear that anything special was on the cards. Publisher Microids is generally known for releasing solid enough games, but French developer Ocellus...
Trolley dash
Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is based on the long-running manga and anime series, Crayon Shin-chan (Kureshin in Japanese), about a peculiar five-year-old named Shinnosuke (Shin-chan) and his family. The game follows up on the successful 2022 Western release of Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation - The Endless...
Review Fear The Spotlight (Switch) - A Retro-Styled, Narrative Horror Gem & A Must-Play
The spotlight fantastic
When Blumhouse Productions announced its venture into the video game industry with Blumhouse Games, it would have been all too easy for the company to lean on some of its most recognisable IPs for its first release. Franchises such as Insidious, The Purge, Sinister, and Paranormal Activity certainly have strong potential...
Reach out, touch faith
Fancy learning Latin? Well, you’re guaranteed to learn at least one word in the classical language by playing Faith: The Unholy Trinity: Mortis, or “death”, which flashes on screen every time you succumb. Facing off against legions of the damned armed with only a wooden crucifix and, well, your faith, it’s a given...
Review Killing Time: Resurrected (Switch) - Nightdive Revives A Weirdly Alluring 3DO Curio
Send in the Murder Clowns
Nightdive Studios’ quest to revive some of gaming’s most bizarre and long-forgotten treasures shows no signs of slowing down. With the release of PO’ed: Definitive Edition earlier this year, it was a clear-cut signal that the team is ready and willing to embrace titles that may not be the most recognisable in an...
