Latest Reviews
Review Arcade Spirits - A Nostalgic Visual Novel Celebrating The Romance Of The Arcade
Find your Player Two
Joining an ever-growing list of dating sims for the Switch, Arcade Spirits is a visual novel that imagines a world in which the video game crash of 1983 never happened. Arcades are more popular now than they’ve ever been, and technology has come on leaps and bounds. Despite this, the protagonist makes a point to mention that...
Review Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl - An Enjoyable 8-Bit Throwback, Warts-And-All
Licensed 8-bit beat-'em-ups don't just fall outta the sky, you know
It's appropriate that the first Kevin Smith video game is a retro throwback, because the stoner director's output has been increasingly insular in recent years. More power to him making things he wants to see, but the recent Jay and Silent Bob Reboot didn't endear us to the idea of...
Review SNK Gals' Fighters - A Simple Yet Robust Brawler Which Is Perfectly At Home On Switch
Gal power
Fighting games have always had a welcome home on handhelds – even if the genre has served up a fair share of turkeys over the decades – and 20 years ago, Japanese powerhouse SNK was doing wonders with its plucky little Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color systems. One of those little gems was SNK Gals’ Fighters, a pint-size...
Review ITTA - Beautifully-Designed Bullet-Hell Brilliance
What a rush!
ITTA is the kind of game that will make you scream with frustration as much as it’ll make you’ll whoop with joy. One of those interactive experiences that gets your adrenaline pumping like a shot of epinephrine to the heart, while simultaneously putting your Nintendo Switch at risk of being smashed to smithereens. That, of course,...
Review Battle Princess Madelyn Royal Edition - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Mulling over Madelyn's mulligan
Capcom's legendary Makaimura series, better known to the West under the titles Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts, has been a source of inspiration to many, many pretenders throughout gaming history. Its intoxicating mixture of vivid graphics, unique levels and punishing difficulty have made it both memorable and...
Review Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope - Seven Years On, This Action Platformer Still Dazzles
Strike the earth!
About seven years ago, a small indie studio comprised of some ex-Wayforward staff began the Kickstarter campaign for Shovel Knight, a delightful love letter to fans of 8-bit gaming. The project was a fairly big deal at the time, but few could have guessed just how much staying power it would prove to have. Several spinoffs and...
Review Super Pixel Racers - Top-Down Racing Action That's Worth A Spin
Easy left, easy right
Mario Kart has taught us to expect a close-up, over-the-shoulder view of our arcade racers, but it didn't always used to be this way. Back in the NES days, the likes of R.C. Pro-Am and Super Off-Road offered a birds-eye view of the action. It's this old-school racing spirit that developer 21c. Ducks seeks to evoke with Super...
Review Dread Nautical - Damp Tactical Action Which Fails To Excite
Cruising for an eldritch bruising
You'd think being trapped on a cruise ship under the influence of some mysterious malevolent entity would engender a sense of urgency, but Dread Nautical seems content to take it easy. It's all very casual stuff. World's collapsing, sure. Lines between realities are bleeding together. Sanity's starting to look like...
Review SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle - A Limited But Hugely Enjoyable Arcade Romp
The LOC of the fly-rish
It’s fair to say that the last few games in the Sega Ages series have been a little underwhelming. Not that they’ve been particularly terrible games, of course – we’re still dealing with classics from a legendary company’s archives – but the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Puyo Puyo 2 are hardly providing us...
Review Ministry of Broadcast - A Grim But Enjoyable Cinematic Platformer
"I'm not into politics. I'm into survival"
Charm goes a long way in our illustrious hobby. A game with – let's be generous – difficult mechanics can be forgiven quite a lot of sins if it's got plenty of character. Ministry of Broadcast most certainly has difficult mechanics, but it positively oozes charm. Almost every screen is interesting, the...
Review Streets of Rage 4 - A Perfect Modernisation Of A Beloved Franchise
Street Kings
It may be twenty-six years since Streets of Rage 3 released back in the spring of 1994, but jumping into this brand new chapter in the series, a joint venture between Lizardcube – makers of the excellent Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap – Dotemu and Guard Crush Games, it genuinely feels as though very little time has passed since we...
Review Telling Lies - Sam Barlow's FMV Detective Thriller Translates Smoothly To Switch
Virtual desktop
Chances are that the very screen you're reading this review on has a camera either built into the shell or sitting in close proximity, and its the notion that government agencies are capturing our every action through the devices we use everyday that gives Sam Barlow's Telling Lies its central conceit. Following the static,...
Review Moving Out - Good, Old-Fashioned Fun That Just Falls Short Of Greatness
We quite like to move it, move it
You get an idea of Moving Out's tone when you're designated a F.A.R.T in the first sixty seconds; a Furniture Arrangement and Removal Technician. Much like that joke, the game is is silly, puerile and, unfortunately, a little bit lacklustre. Taking its cues from the frantic likes of Overcooked, Moving Out sees you...
Review MotoGP 20 - Tremendous Two-Wheeled Racing Action On Your Switch
Hello, Moto
With over 25 years of experience in the racing game development scene, it’s safe to say Italian studio Milestone has cemented its place as one of its most prevalent developers. Outside of the official F1 and WRC games, it’s established a foothold in almost every facet of modern motorsport and while double-A budgets haven’t always...
Review Picross S4 - More Of The Same, But That's Fine
The strongest entry yet
The Picross series has become a rather expected staple of Nintendo’s digital release schedule by now. Every few months, you can reasonably expect another mainline entry or spin-off to show up, and you more or less know exactly what that next new entry will be offering: a substantial new set of nonagram puzzles for you to...
Review Billion Road - Like Pokémon Meets Monopoly, But Not As Cool As It Sounds
Does it deserve to Monopolise your time?
In a world where Switch owners already have access to both a serviceable version of Monopoly and Pokémon Sword and Shield, do we really need a game that combines the two? For most people, the answer is "probably not". But that's got nothing to do with Billion Road's concept, and everything to do with its...
Review Trials of Mana - Old And New Combine To Create A Fine RPG Adventure
A potent blend
It seems that Square’s cult favourite Mana series has been enjoying something of a renaissance of late, and the latest product of this resurgence is a new remake of Trials of Mana. Seiken Densetsu 3 – as it’s known in Japan – never saw a release in the west when it first debuted in the ’90s, and only got introduced to...
Mini Review Later Daters - A Poignant Dating Sim That's Over Far Too Quickly
A short-lived romance
Later Daters argues that it's never too late to find love. From developer Bloom Digital Media, you take on the role of an ageing pensioner settling into life at Ye Olde Retirement Community, where the prospect of romance fills the air. The game plays out as a visual novel, presenting you with a vast array of choices and...
Mini Review Anodyne - A Unique Zelda-Style Adventure That Keeps You Guessing
High-rule
We recently asked if there were any Switch games we'd missed which you thought were worthy of a review. Anodyne was one of the most-requested games, so there we are! Anodyne may at first glance look like just another retro dungeon crawler; a Legend of Zelda tribute act designed to scratch a particular old-school itch, however, getting to...
Review Totally Reliable Delivery Service - Return To Sender
FedEx-cruciatingly bad
We’re quite sure game devs don’t go out of their way to make a bad game. Normally, a game’s quality – or lack thereof in many cases – is a direct result of budgetary limitations, time restrictions, unexpected bugs, and many, many more variables. It really feels, though, that We’re Five Games are playing some kind...
Review Overcooked 2: Gourmet Edition - The Perfect Recipe For Multiplayer Fun
A full course meal
After nearly two years of regular post-launch support, it seems that Team17 and Ghost Town Games are finally ‘finished’ with Overcooked 2. The developers have provided some excellent additions in the time since launch, and all of it is now being tied together with the aptly named Overcooked 2: Gourmet Edition. For the purposes...
Mini Review Songbird Symphony - Platforming And Music Take Flight Together
Cheep thrills
We recently asked if there were any Switch games we'd missed which you thought were worthy of a review. Songbird Symphony was one of the most-requested games. Songbird Symphony is an indie rhythm-action platformer by three-person team Joysteak Studios. You play as Birb, an adopted chick in search of its birth paren
Mini Review Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche - A Surprisingly Fun Shooter
You want fries with that?
Boasting what is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous titles ever, Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche actually started life as an April Fool’s joke back in 2013. Skip ahead seven years, and it’s now an actual, tangible game; a really good one at that. It’s a shoot-em-up at heart, but its gameplay is also...
Mini Review Chapeau - Multiplayer Fun Ruined By Awkward Controls And Limited Scope
If you want to get ahead, get a hat
Chapeau is quite possibly one of the most bizarre multiplayer games we’ve played in a good while. Pitting up to four opponents against one another, you take control of a sentient hat, with the aim of the game being to ‘tag’ as many humans as possible by leaping onto their heads. It’s a chaotic game that...
Review Gunbrick: Reloaded - A Painfully Tedious Puzzler Which Isn't Worth The Effort
Square goes
Following the formerly-exclusive (and really rather good) Bomb Chicken, developer Nitrome has returned with a whole new puzzle-platformer in Gunbrick: Reloaded. Well, we say "new", but that "Reloaded" in the title should really cue you in that we're dealing with the redux of an existing game, here – and if it didn't, one look at the...
Mini Review Snakeybus - All Aboard For Some Undemanding But Enjoyable Action
A lengthy bus journey
As vehicular nomenclature goes, 'Snakeybus' is just about as apt as 'Boaty McBoatface'. Your primary means of locomotion in Snakeybus is a bus that's well and truly snake-like. It's a snakey-bus. Not that it eats mice or hisses at you or anything. Rather, your physics-defying vehicle stretches out to improbable, city-enveloping...
Review In Other Waters - A Chilled-Out Journey Of Discovery Quite Unlike Any Other On Switch
A real treasure of the deep
In Other Waters is not an easy sell. A game where you explore the vast expanse of an alien sea? Sounds awesome, right? Something like 2016's Abzu, or the Wii's Endless Ocean series would be perfect for the Switch. Imagine that sense of freedom, the spectacle of magnificent aquatic creature drifting past you in such an...
Review Curious Expedition - A Return To The Punishing Origins Of Table-Top RPG Gaming
Call of the wild
It can be easy to fall into a certain rhythm with modern RPGs, especially after series such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy more or less codified a sort of ‘blueprint’ that players come to expect. However, RPGs in general vastly predate this blueprint, having received their start in a more social setting via tabletop games...
Review Cooking Mama: Cookstar - Definitely Needed More Time In The Oven
Undercooked
It’s been rather fascinating to follow the slowly unfolding trainwreck of Cooking Mama: Cookstar over the past week or so. What began as an innocuous and unassuming new release in a beloved series has quickly grabbed headlines after its mysterious and sudden disappearance from storefronts. Conspiracy theories around copyright...
Mini Review Ty the Tasmanian Tiger HD - A Competent Remaster That Lacks Bite
The real tiger king?
Two of the biggest trends in gaming right now are developers making use of Kickstarter campaigns and studios bringing back their classic, nostalgia-inducing properties. TY the Tasmanian Tiger HD is a product of both of these trends. Originally released in 2002 for GameCube, Xbox and PS2, TY the Tasmanian Tiger is a 3D mascot...
