Latest Reviews
Review World War Z - A Technically Robust But Repetitive Zombie Hunt Best Enjoyed With Friends
Yawn of the Dead?
Saber Interactive's World War Z is the very definition of a bland, middle-of-the-road game that takes very obvious inspiration from much better titles – in this case the Left 4 Dead series – and serves up a rather lazy rehash, excelling at nothing in particular while still providing a reasonably breezy good time, so long as...
Review Shin Megami Tensei V - The Best Entry Yet In This Dark, Engrossing RPG Series
A HEE-HOme run
Shin Megami Tensei V has been a long time coming. The last mainline entry in the series was released over eight years ago for the 3DS, while the last home console entry was another ten years before that. Moreover, Shin Megami Tensei V was one of the first games ever revealed for the Switch, mere months after the console itself was...
Review Demon Turf - A Tight, Stylish 3D Platformer With Plenty Of 'Tude
Off the hook
If there’s one thing gamers constantly crave, it’s a decent 3D platformer. Though the genre has seen its fair share of all-time classics, it’s safe to say its popularity waned as shooters and action-RPGs ascended through the 2000s. Indeed, unless a 3D platformer comes bearing the name ‘Mario’, ‘Crash’, or ‘Spyro’,...
Review Pikmin Bloom - Pokémon GO's Sister Title Is A Glorious, Glorified Pedometer
These blooms were made for walkin'
While fans of Nintendo's delightful Real-Time Strategy series patiently await the long-rumoured next mainline entry, Niantic has served up a new mobile Pikmin experience to while away the time, an application that looks suspiciously similar to the company's previous project involving Nintendo (or a Nintendo-aligned...
Review Blazing Rangers - A New NES Game In 2021? Youbetcha, And It's A Good 'Un
Toasty!
Gaming is not short of NES-like experiences these days; titles filled with 8-bit-style blocky pixels, beepy music, and some controllable character for you to take from the left side of the screen to the right. These games tend to chase the past from a comfortable distance, the harsh technical restrictions of almost 40 years ago something to...
Review Mario Tennis - The Game That Gave Us Waluigi
Ace
This review originally went live in 2010, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. When Mario Golf was released back in 1999, it was already known that Camelot was working on another Mario sports title for the N64, and following a decent title released for the sadly ill-fated Virtual...
Review Sin and Punishment - A Genuine Treasure And No Mistake
Run-and-gun fun
This review originally went live in 2007, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. Tiny Japanese developer Treasure has a back catalogue packed with classic titles, but one that sticks out more than most is Sin & Punishment. Released in the twilight days of the N64...
Review LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - Still One Of The Best Lego Games
With great power comes absolutely no responsibility
Long before Fortnite's metaverse and brands talking to each other on Twitter, there were the Lego games: winning combinations of a world-favourite kids' toy and some of the biggest movie franchises in the world. Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Batman were all Lego-ified by UK-based...
Review Mario Kart 64 - Frantic, Formative Four-Player Karting Chaos
Welcome to Mario Kart
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. Taking a bunch of Mario characters and having them speed around race circuits using a range of special items to rush or smash past each other is something that has worked very well since...
Review Yoshi's Story - Pleasant, But Not A Patch On The Dinosaur's Best
A pretty but short story
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. There's a lot to love about Yoshi's Story. The presentation is gorgeous, the mechanics are solid, the music is fantastic, and seeing a bunch of Yoshis wandering about remains adorable...
Review Star Fox 64 - A Cinematic Series High Point
Do another barrel roll
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. Despite Star Fox 64 (or Lylat Wars in Europe) being only the second (released) game in the series, Nintendo decided it was time for a reboot and so, similarly to the SNES original, this...
Review Dusk - An Incredible Port Of 2018's Quake-Inspired Boomer Shooter
Dusk and ye shall receive
Thank whichever deity (or prominent YouTuber, we guess) that you believe in for the "Boomer Shooter" explosion, and we mean explosion. Now that those who grew up on the original Quake (currently available in a very good edition on Switch) are themselves developers, we're seeing a bigtime resurgence of old-school style...
Review Super Mario 64 - The Best Launch Game Ever Made
Mario steps into a whole new dimension
This review originally went live in 2006, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online. Mario's first foray into the world of 3D is regarded by many — most, even — as one of the greatest video games of all time, and with good reason. It ranks as the...
Review Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cloud Version - A Disastrous Way To Play A Great Game
Gross Negligee
A terrible way to play a very good game. That pretty much sums up our thoughts on this cloud version of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy on Switch. Where we've previously rated cloud versions of the likes of Hitman 3 and The Forgotten City as worth your time and money — with the caveat that streaming has its inherent foibles —...
Review Mario Party Superstars - A Party Most Hearty
Dad dancing mandatory
For years now fans of the Mario Party series have been pleading with Nintendo to just go back to the roots of what made the series great; no cars, no bizarre new modes, not just a collection of minigames that when presented in a vacuum lose all context or purpose — just Mario characters running around a board grabbing stars...
Review Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water - A Ghostly Wii U Treat Resurfaces On Switch
Maiden voyeurage
Were you to see a ghost cutting about, what would be your first instinct? Forgive us for this assumption, but we imagine it's probably not "take a polaroid of it", right? Tell that to the various heroes of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water — Project Zero in Europe — who seem to fancy themselves budding Sir Donald McCullins and...
Review The Legend of Tianding - Terrific Combat In An Intriguing Setting
Tanto-lising combat
It’s always a joy to see an under-represented culture or time period in video games. In The Legend of Tianding, you’re thrown into the streets of Taipei - the capital of Taiwan - during the early 20th century as the legendary outlaw, Liao Tianding. It’s a wonderfully authentic take with locations that feel remarkably alive...
Review Dungeon Encounters - Square Enix Strips Away RPG Finery To Expose The Meaty Bones Beneath
Exactly what it says on the tin
We all worship the deluxe son et lumière of today’s games. Battles suck us in with explosive imagery, lavish cutscenes frame every encounter and voice artists declaim stories to rend our hearts. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing, then, if that were all shown to be a charade? If a game came along that created more...
Review Dying Light Platinum Edition - A Solid Switch Port That'll Please Portable Players
Dead good
Note: Dying Light Platinum Edition is unavailable on Switch eShop in Europe at the time of writing pending an issue with the game being banned in Germany. In 2011, Techland released Dead Island on most seventh generation consoles to mostly positive reception. Still, Dead Island had never quite been the game that Techland envisioned it to...
Mini Review Evertried - An Engaging Roguelite, Half Tactics, Half Puzzler
Try, try again
Some games just cut right to the chase. No set up, no indulgent intro, just a fast cutscene and you’re tossed in the deep end. Evertried is one of those games. Here you’re placed in the role of a cute little undead creature with a scythe who has to climb “The Tower”. See, in this world, lost souls that haven’t proven...
Mini Review A Little Golf Journey - A Relaxing If Repetitive Round
Just over par
Golf games tend to come in a variety of flavours. You’ve got the realistic sim games such as PGA Tour 2K21, the more arcade focused romps like Mario Golf: Super Rush, and abstract, minimal titles like Golf Club: Wasteland.
Review Crysis 3 Remastered - The Best-Looking But Shortest Game In The Trilogy
Game, Ceph and Match
The final instalment in Crytek's Crysis franchise is the best-looking of the bunch by quite some distance, a big budget action extravaganza that looks and sounds incredible as you blaze through its five hour long campaign. But can the Switch handle it? Well, we're happy to report that yes, it can. Saber Interactive has delivered...
Review Crysis 2 Remastered - A Solid Port Of A Spectacular Shooter
The Manhattan Project
After surprising us in the best possible way with a thoroughly impressive Switch port of 2007's original Crysis, Saber Interactive return with this remastered version of Crytek's second Nano-suited super soldier adventure. But can the Switch handle the stress of this big budget sequel? Well, yes it can. In fact this is a...
Review Crysis Remastered Trilogy - A Slick FPS Package That Runs Fine On Switch
Nothing to cry about
When we first heard that Crytek was bringing Crysis to Switch in remastered form, we seriously doubted that Nintendo's dinky little console could handle the stress of running this PC-melting behemoth, even if it was now 13 long years down the line in terms of technology. As our review of that game points out, however, we were...
Review Aeon Must Die! - An Aggressively Repetitive Beat 'Em Up That Tries Way Too Hard
As long as it DOES die
Do you have that friend who'll compromise the enjoyment of the group in order to indulge their own ego? You know, the 'wacky' friend who not only has to do everything just a little differently, they need you to know that they're special and unique and out there and WILL YOU JUST ORDER A NORMAL COFFEE, CLIVE? Ahem, sorry...
Mini Review Inked: A Tale Of Love - A Beautifully Drawn Experience
Ink between worlds
In the current era of impressive development tools and talented studios of all sizes, there can be download-only games that are just as eye-catching as big-budget contemporaries while having a focus on a small, carefully constructed experience. Inked: A Tale of Love is a good example of what can be achieved by small but talented...
Review Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute - Great Games Let Down By Poor Ports
A slightly troublesome trio of tributes
This trio of retro shmups — Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang and Guardian Force — have released under the “Saturn Tribute” umbrella (bundled together on a physical cartridge in Japan that's recently been announced for the West, or available individually via your local eShop at the time of wr
Review The Good Life - Cats, Dogs, And The Best Version Of Britain We've Seen Since Galar
She's more of a dog person
White Owls Inc. really buried the lede in their Kickstarter description of The Good Life. We’ll do the same here and see if you can spot it: The Good Life is a “daily-life debt repayment RPG” in which you play as an American woman in a pastoral English village, enjoying day-to-day activities such as taking...
Review Gang Beasts - An Adorably Janky Brawler Arrives Late To The Switch Party
Boneless brawler
In the Party Game Hall of Fame, Gang Beasts is one of the OG big dogs, alongside Nidhogg, Jackbox, and Overcooked. Gang Beasts is a chaotic, wonky physics brawler that relies on the utter incomp-itude of its players to create mirth and merriment, and much like a massive chocolate cake or a puppy, it's always been a huge success...
Mini Review Gleylancer - A Brilliant 16-Bit Shmup Sparkles With Mod Cons
Stick to it and believe in your power!
Retro re-releases falling outside the familiar safety of the M2, Hamster, or Code Mystics stables are usually one thing and one thing alone — a plain ROM bundled with some inoffensive but unspectacular emulation options. It’ll work, it’ll be official, and... that’s about it. If those bland goals had...
