Game Reviews scoring 8/10
Review Tiny Thor (Switch) - A Neo-Retro Delight That Feels Like A Lost Genesis Game
"Are you tiny Thor, god of tiny hammers?"
Tiny Thor from Asylum Square has been a long time coming. After one of its lead developers came up with a rough cut of its concept in a 48-hour game jam in 2012, its development proceeded in fits and starts for a little over a decade before it finally saw release this past June. Games that spend that long in...
Review Venba (Switch) – A Narrative Cooking Game That Goes Down A Treat
A stirring story
Here’s a recipe for a good game: a meaty cross-cultural story, a dash of delicious food, and a dollop of fun, cosy gameplay. Those are the ingredients of Venba, and mixed together – and topped with a reference to Ratatouille – they form a wonderful narrative-led game that had us wanting seconds. Visai Studios has dished up a...
Review The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons - An Underappreciated Old-School Adventure
Battle seasoned
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy / Game Boy Color library. The combat of The Legend of Zelda series has seen several iterations over the decades. The classic top-down gameplay of the original was morphed into a faster,...
It's a kinda magic
The Might and Magic series is about as ‘old-school RPG’ as it gets—it’s been around since the distant, ancient days of the 1980s. As the series has changed hands a couple of times over the decades, plenty of spin-offs have been generated, with Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes being the one Nintendo fans are likely most aware...
Turning lead into gold
The Atelier series has expanded at an impressive rate over the past couple of decades. The most recent game — Atelier Ryza 3 — is the 24th mainline entry in a series that has had a new release almost every year since 1997. However, due to the franchise's more niche appeal, not every entry has made it out of Japan due to...
Mini Review Gimmick! Special Edition (Switch) - A Rare And Wonderful 8-Bit Gem
Shoot for the stars
Gimmick! is one of the most valuable after-market titles for the Famicom, and even more so for the NES, where it only received a limited release in Scandinavia as Mr. Gimmick. Sunsoft, the publisher, was an unsung hero of the 8 and 16-bit gaming eras, with titles like Batman, Gremlins 2, Panorama Cotton, and Waku Waku 7 to its...
Review Ray'z Arcade Chronology (Switch) - M2 Delivers Fine Ports Of Taito's Trilogy
Confounded by the Rayz
The limited edition retailers are getting out of hand again. The Ray'z Arcade Chronology, originally released in Japan back in March, and published by Taito for Switch and PlayStation 4, is receiving a European release courtesy of ININ games. Bizarrely, ININ Games are releasing two different compilations: this, the Ray’z...
Review The Lara Croft Collection (Switch) - Two Well-Preserved Tomb-Raiding Treasures
Lara's back on our raiders
First announced back in 2021, and originally due to arrive as part of Tomb Raider's 25th-anniversary celebrations before being delayed, The Lara Croft Collection has finally rappelled its way onto Switch. This pair of spin-offs may not carry the main series' full moniker, but they are resolutely full-blooded Tomb Raider...
Review Pikmin 2 (Switch) - Still A Sublime Time, Even Without The 7-Up Bottle Cap
Pik of the bunch
Not content with dropping an HD port of the original Pikmin during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct, the platform holder also saw fit to furnish us with this slightly revamped version of its sequel, the very excellent Pikmin 2. Hooray! Yes, Nintendo has planted us firmly in the Pikmin 4 hype zone prior to that game's launch and, if...
Review Pikmin 1 (Switch) - A Bare-Bones Port, But A Joyous Adventure
Pik it out
Nintendo gave Pikmin fans a couple of lovely surprises during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct, prepping players for Pikmin 4's debut by stealth-dropping the original Pikmin and its wonderful sequel in HD remastered form. Exciting! Yes, if you've played these two beauties before, you'll know they're among some of Nintendo's loveliest work,...
Review Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted (Switch) - The Best Home Release Of Toaplan's Final Shmup
The Iceman Cometh
Toaplan, a shooting game developer that flew high in the '80s with titles like Twin Cobra and Truxton, possesses a formidable resume. Batsugun, the company's swan-song shooter, and one of its most historically significant works, spearheaded an evolution of the genre that remains prevalent today. Programmer Tsuneki Ikeda joined...
Mini Review Bleak Sword DX (Switch) - A Surprising, Stripped-Down Soulslike
A grimdark pixel world full of detail
If you’re looking for something grim, dark, and pixelated, then Bleak Sword DX is here to scratch that itch. It is difficult to pin down exactly what genre this game belongs to. It takes the core mechanics of a Soulslike and strips it back to its bare essentials. The deceptively simple graphics betray a...
Review Cassette Beasts (Switch) - An Inventive Monster Battler That's Far More Zelda Than Pokémon
We'd die for Traffikrab
There’s something that feels right about a monster-battling creature-collecting game coming to a Nintendo console. Originally released for PC on 26 April 2023, Cassette Beasts has made its way to the Nintendo Switch where it belongs. At first glance, Cassette Beasts clearly draws quite a lot of inspiration from Pokémon,...
Review Fights In Tight Spaces (Switch) - A Fresh-Feeling Roguelike With Turn-Based Tussling
Wham, bam, thank you ma'am
There are an almost infinite number of roguelikes on the Switch, so it could be easy for you to miss the release of Fights in Tight Spaces. First released on PC and Xbox in December 2021, this is a tactical deck-builder that offers visceral violence and surprisingly deep strategy. The concept of one person against a room...
Review Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! (Switch) - Bubbles Over With Charm (And Useless Bots)
PAYONPAH!
One of the biggest games to dominate the scene of the golden age of arcades was Bubble Bobble, a cute Japanese action platformer centered around little dinosaurs that could shoot bubbles out of their mouths. While that original game eventually went on to spawn a ton of sequels and ports that iterated on the concept, it also led to the...
Review Nuclear Blaze (Switch) - A Neat Little Action Platformer, Small And Cool
I don't want to set the world on fire
In April of 2021, the beloved Ludum Dare game jam took place with the theme of 'Deeper and Deeper'. Participants had 48 hours to throw together a game, and Sébastien Benard—known for working on Dead Cells—decided to give it a shot by making a firefighting game called Nuclear Blaze. After the competition was...
Review Teslagrad 2 (Switch) - A Fine Follow-Up That Leaves You Wanting More
Lighting strikes twice
When the original Teslagrad released in 2013, the indie game scene was in a very different place. Long before modern Indie Worlds and Nindie Showcases and games from small developers put out by billion-dollar publishers, indie games still felt very much independent. The original game — recently re-released in Remastered form...
Review Trinity Trigger (Switch) - A Blast From The Past For Secret Of Mana Fans
Pull my (Trinity) Trigger
Fans of '90s JRPGs, particularly those released for the SNES, will have been watching Trinity Trigger closely. The game boasts a veritable dream team from some of the best JRPGs of the past 30 years, including those who worked on Xenoblade Chronicles, Octopath Traveler, and, of course, Secret of Mana. There is a lot for...
Review Castle Of Shikigami 2 (Switch) - A Fine Version Of The Best Game In The Bullet-Hell Trilogy
Something familiar
Shikigami no Shiro, or Castle of Shikigami in localisation, is a shooting game series by Alfa System, a studio that once upon a time pitched in on the likes of Wonder Boy III and several Ys ports for the PC Engine CD-ROM. Castle of Shikigami’s main series spans three games, and, despite the third entry’s intriguing Hi-Tension...
Review Tin Hearts (Switch) - An Engaging Little Puzzler That Tugs On Your Heartstrings
Heigh ho, heigh ho
Remember when Lemmings was all the rage? It’s hard to imagine that the studio that would go on to develop the monumentally successful Grand Theft Auto franchise made such a quaint little puzzler. Lemmings was a darn good game, spawning multiple add-ons and sequels over the years. It’s honestly a little surprising that the...
Review The Mageseeker: A League Of Legends Story (Switch) - An Enthralling Hack-And-Slash Spin-Off
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me
It’s a shame that League of Legends has become such a meme for being a source of toxicity, as Riot Games has consistently shown that the world of Runeterra has quite a bit more potential than the MOBA lets on. Through its Riot Forge publishing arm, the company has enlisted...
Six not-so-final Final Fantasies
Few series are as beloved as Final Fantasy, and given how many re-releases, remakes, and remasters we’ve gotten over the years, Square Enix knows this. Often these remakes and re-releases have questionable quality and design choices that diehard fans lament. Enter the Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster, which...
Review Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories (Switch) - A Witty Little Nostalgia Trip
Melondramatic, in the best sense
We are living in an unprecedentedly competitive attention economy, one in which time and energy are increasingly finite and precious. Because of this, it can be easy to overlook games which appear simple and unassuming at first glance: retro monochromatic Game Boy-style graphics, cute-but-childish anthropomorphic...
Review Pokémon Stadium - The Original 151 Brought To Life With Style
Your stadium tour awaits
This review originally went live in 2016, 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. With the Pokémon franchise being as super effective as it was during the late '90s due to its handheld games, trading cards, television anime...
Review Cannon Dancer - Osman (Switch) - The Bold, Concise Strider Sequel You Always Wanted
Strider Too
Following his departure from Capcom, director Kouichi Yotsui was burdened with expectation following Strider's success. Sadly, despite his inventive, risk-taking approach to game development, he would never again win the limelight. In the mid-'90s he had a fling with Mitchell Corporation, a studio formed of ex-Capcom staff that coaxed...
Review TRON: Identity (Switch) - A Tight Visual Novel That Fans Of The Films Will Love
Griddy with anticipation
The world of Tron is filled with intrigue, opposing forces, and not-so-subtle hints at the influence humans have on the programs living within their computers. While the two films followed humans who made their way to The Grid, TRON: Identity is a visual novel that offers a look at how programs interact when there aren’t...
Review Lunark (Switch) - The Love Letter The Cinematic Platforming Genre Deserves
That's both a moon AND a space station
Lunark sends players into the retro-future we all thought the '80s would be. It brings a world of flying cars and corrupt mega-corporations to life with vibrant pixel graphics and rotoscope animation. At its best moments, Lunark is an effective love letter to the cinematic platformer, a genre of gaming that...
Review Have A Nice Death (Switch) - Delightfully Dark, Brutally Tough Roguelite Action
Dead good
In 2019, Magic Design Studios—a new team comprised of many ex-Ubisoft staff—put out the Rayman-esque Unruly Heroes, which we thought was a great platformer with some amazing visuals. For the next few years, the team went quiet while working on its next game, revealed in late 2021 as Have A Nice Death, a tough action roguelite about the...
Review Dredge (Switch) - A Haunting Lovecraftian Fishing Sim That Reels You In
There’s no plaice like home
New Zealand indie studio Black Salt’s Dredge surfaced in a highly mysterious trailer in 2022. All we saw was a small boat chugging around torrid seas, terrorised by Lovecraftian looming skies and giant, tentacled monsters. A later trailer showed a fisherman catching ever larger fish, selling them for ever larger...
Review Assault Suits Valken Declassified (Switch) - A Great Treatment Of A Mecha Classic
Assaulting the senses
Within a few steps into the world of Assault Suits Valken Declassified, it is immediately apparent that something distinct is going on. That’s because the steps themselves feel different. Compared to traditional run ‘n’ guns such as Metal Slug, for example, the movement in the Assault Suits Valken remaster is...
