Latest Reviews
Review A Short Hike - A Landmark Game For All Ages
Walking on sunshine
Why do we play games? Exploration would seem to be the watchword, the catalyst for every element of the most diverse and interesting form of entertainment there is. It doesn't matter what you're exploring; all that matters is that it's happening. In the most traditional sense, you're exploring an unfamiliar, possibly mystical...
Review Linn: Path Of Orchards - Unfair Gameplay And Spotty Controls Ruin A Visually Striking Game
We can't put a spin on this one
It's obvious and often jarring when you realise that a game you're playing on your Switch is clearly designed for the simple taps and swipes of a mobile phone. Nintendo's handheld does have touch screen support, yes, but it's so underused (with exceptions, such as Anthill) that when a game like Linn: Path of Orchards...
Review Spiritfarer - A Striking Yet Benignly Haunting Gem With Big Ideas
Super-gatory
It's not exactly rare for a game to be about delivering folks to their deaths – usually via high-calibre ammunition – but it's certainly something new to see a game about ensuring a peaceful, fulfilling end of life. That's what Spiritfarer is, and it's certainly a unique thing; an instantly striking, benignly haunting little gem...
Review Nexomon: Extinction - An Interesting Pokémon Clone That Doesn't Quite Stick The Landing
Almost the very best
Let's get one thing straight before we begin: we're going to go into this entire review without comparing Nexomon: Extinction to Pokémon. This is a very original RPG with items that have original names such as “Super Potion” and “Max Revive”…actually, who are we trying to kid? We will compare it to Pokémon, because...
Review Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition - A Weak RPG Enlivened By Nostalgia
"Do you have a link cable?"
Nostalgia can be a potent drug, often muddling our actual memories of an experience in favour of how it made us feel, and such a phenomenon positively fuels a large portion of the game industry. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition is an excellent example of this. Players want to recapture that feeling of...
Review No Straight Roads - An Inventive Musical Brawler That Hits One Too Many Bum Notes
A hit single?
In the modern gaming industry, new game releases are largely put into one of two groups: Indies and AAA games. This, however, wasn’t always the case. Just a few generations ago, prior to indie games taking the spotlight, you had a lot of games that were often referred to as “AA” games. Such releases didn’t have the production...
Mini Review Bite The Bullet - Looks Delicious, But Lacks Fine Flavour
Hunger pains
If we’re being honest with ourselves, we’ve all overindulged in food at some point in our lives (heck, 2020 has done a number on this writer’s belly alone). But could you imagine being able to consume literally anything and everything? You could argue that Pac-Man got there first, but Bite the Bullet is a run-and-gun action game...
Review Evergate - Soulful, Sumptuous, And Essential
Puzzle-platforming perfection
Amidst the din of the many exciting announcements made at Nintendo's recent Indie World Showcase it may well have been pretty easy to miss Stone Lantern Games' Kickstarter-backed Evergate. This wonderful little puzzle/platformer stealth-dropped onto the eShop during the show and not only has it turned out to be one of...
Review Helheim Hassle - A Limb-Lobbing Viking Puzzle-Platformer That's Worth Sticking With
Put your body through hell
Bjørn Hammerparty is a 14-year-old boy who could fairly claim to have been born in completely the wrong time and place. The typical Viking pursuits of fighting and drinking really aren't his horn of mead, and he'd much rather find a quiet corner to relax in. And so it is that after finding himself the unfortunate victim...
Review Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time - Jack's Back In An Enjoyable, If Unoriginal, Slash 'Em Up
Long ago, in a distant land...
Any conversation about the greatest cartoon TV shows must inevitably make reference to Samurai Jack, the early 2000's samurai epic from Genndy Tartakovsky. Featuring Tartakovsky’s signature angular animation style and a surprisingly mature narrative, the show easily captured the hearts of millions in its original...
Review The Eternal Castle [Remastered] - The Cinematic Platformer Reimagined In Dazzling Style
Keep going, never stop
The cinematic platformer genre has a distinguished and well-documented history, but considering the limitations of the hardware in the years of the genre's biggest breakthrough titles really puts things in perspective. The way pioneering game designers such as Jordan Mechner and Eric Chahi were able to squeeze incredible...
Review Arcade Archives Super Punch-Out!! - Hardly A Series Highlight, But Still A Welcome Bout
Return of the Mac
If you ask us, Hamster should be getting more praise for successfully releasing a steady stream of Nintendo games in its Arcade Archives series. No fewer than 18 of Nintendo’s vintage coin-op titles have now been released on the Switch to date, with practically all of them available to buy for the first time in their history...
Review Peaky Blinders: Mastermind - An Addictive, Time-Bending Puzzler, Once It Gets Going
In like Finn
We're big fans of Futurlab here at Nintendo Life, with the studio's 2018 shoot 'em up Velocity 2X easily one of the very best offerings in its genre that's currently available on Switch, and so, when we heard the developer was taking the Peaky Blinders licence and turning it into a top-down puzzle game we were definitely ever-so...
Review Phoenotopia: Awakening - An Intelligently Crafted Metroidvania That Stands Out From The Crowd
Almost phoenomenal
It takes some going to stand out among the Switch's throng of superb Metroidvanias. When your competition includes the likes of Hollow Knight and Iconoclasts, you know it's going to be a rough ride. But Phoenotopia: Awakening somehow manages to stand out, and it does so by being a little more... low key. That may sound a bit like...
Review Inmost - A Haunting Tale That Stays With You Long After A Rushed Conclusion
Hope Through Pain
Hidden Layer Games’ Inmost boots up with a discretionary warning regarding the upsetting nature of some of its content and, perhaps more than any other Switch game we’ve played so far this year, it’s a warning that’s absolutely warranted. This beautifully crafted and genuinely heartfelt little pixel art adventure has some...
Review King of Fighters R-2 - A Pocket-Sized Fighter That Still Packs A Punch
Calm down, Star Wars nerds
The Neo Geo Pocket Color is one of the most underrated systems in video game history. Released just a few months after the Game Boy Color, its 16-bit innards meant its games looked significantly better than those on Nintendo’s handheld, and its clicky control stick was a delight too. Ultimately, though, the system was a...
Review Double Kick Heroes - Highly Original Rhythm Action Marred By Lacklustre Music And Gameplay
Shouting gun, on they run through the endless grey
Rhythm games on Switch have some strong competition, what with the excellent likes of Thumper, Taiko no Tetsujin and, of course, the immortal presence of Hatsune Miku. That said, Double Kick Heroes features heavy use of firearms, something even the mighty Miku never indulged in. Oh wait, yes she...
Review Faeria - A Superb Mix Of Board Game And Card-Battling Action
Faery good indeed
There are plenty of card games on the Switch, but Faeria may be the prettiest one of all in terms of sheer presentation. Everything just looks beautiful; the cards themselves are attractive, the UI is slick and very readable, and it all just runs very nice and smoothly, with visual effects enhancing the turn-based action rather...
Hestia still bestia?
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? - Infinite Combate is a video game adaptation of the popular Japanese light novel, manga and anime series Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, also known as 'Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka', or 'DanMachi' for short to Eastern and Western fans...
Mini Review Spitlings - Great With Friends, But Not So Much Fun On Your Own
Teething difficulties
Spitting is a bit gross, isn’t it? Indeed, the notion of spitting in someone’s face is widely considered one of the most disrespectful and downright revolting things anybody could do. But could you imagine being able to spit out your teeth on demand? Most of us will only come close to such a scenario in our weirdest,...
Review Megadimension Neptunia VII - A Nice Enough JRPG, But Far From Essential
No, it's not pronounced as 'seven'
Any fan of the game industry is aware of the ‘console wars’ that have pretty much always been going on between hardware developers since gaming hardware has been available. Of course, no real wars are occurring, but imagine if the concept was taken literally. Compile Heart certainly liked the idea when it made...
Review Swimsanity! - A Wet And Wild Multiplayer Experience
Future's made of virtual Swimsanity
For a game evoking insanity in its title, Swimsanity! feels rather sedate at times, even when it's casually erasing you from the face of the planet. It's unforgiving, you see, but not in the positive, challenging sort of sense. Often, we'd see our entire team wiped in a matter of seconds by the unexpected...
Hammerwatch on steroids
Back in 2017, Hammerwatch released on Switch, and we thought it was pretty darn good. It delivered accessible combat and progression that anybody could jump into whilst also catering to those who were after a bit more of a challenge. Heroes of Hammerwatch is set in the same universe, and sees you scale the Forsaken Spire,...
Review Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection - A Strong Lineup Of Brilliant Fighters
Seven Samurai
Although these days most gamers would associate SNK with the King of Fighters or Fatal Fury series, there’s still a sizeable following for the third major string in its fighting game bow, Samurai Shodown. Focusing more on weapons-based combat and less on having all the W’s in its title, the Samurai Shodown series is much loved for...
Review Skully - More Than Bare-Bones, But Ugly As Sin On Switch
Rolling blunder
When it was originally announced, it was clear that Skully had the potential to be one of the top five greatest ‘reanimated rolling skull puzzle platformer’ games ever made. Sure enough, it manages to accomplish that (purely by existing, to be fair), but that’s not to say it isn’t without severe issues that will greatly...
Review Fairy Tail - A Disappointing RPG That's For Fans Of The Series Only
A passable adaptation of a beloved franchise
Every now and then, it’s nice to have a good cheeseburger. Just a good one. Not one of those fancy burgers that come with everything but the kitchen sink, or those made out of some specially treated beef, but just the bog-standard and no-frills patty that you can get at just about any fast food joint...
Review Rock Of Ages 3: Make & Break - Between A Rock And A Hard Place
Gathers an enormous amount of moss, sadly
Some games just aren't a good fit for the Switch. It's a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. Rock Of Ages 3: Make & Break falls into that category, we're sorry to say. The most egregious problem to be found in this Nintendo Switch incarnation is, quite simply, a lack of suitability to the handheld...
Review Rogue Company - A Solid, If Unspectacular Hero Shooter With Plenty of Potential
Derivative delight
Hi-Rez Studio's Rogue Company arrives on Nintendo Switch in paid beta form with three tiers of Founder's Packs – starter, standard, and ultimate – available to competitive shooter fans whose trigger fingers are too itchy to wait for the free to play version slated to arrive later this year. This one's an absolute mish-mash of...
Review Carrion - A Shockingly Violent Metroidvania Where You're The End Boss
Carrion screaming
We haven't played a lot of games that made us feel like a monster. A real predator. The measured and ultimately law-abiding stealth of the Batman: Arkham series had its power-fantasy moments, but nothing that made us sit back and think for a minute about what we've done. Enter Carrion. Taking control of an amorphous,...
Review Ageless - Not Quite The Next Celeste, But Worth A Look All The Same
Another hidden gem?
Though it still certainly occupies a niche, it’s been fascinating to see how 2018’s seminal Celeste has begun to influence the design of platformers in the time since its release. That unique blend of approachable but punishing gameplay and a surprisingly emotional story was something that had never really been done before,...
