Switch eShop, Switch Game Reviews scoring 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6/10
Review SGC - Short Games Collection #1 (Switch) - It's All In The Name
Not really shorts weather
Gaming and gamers aren’t what they used to be. In the '80s, strict gatekeepers foisted action-flick-derivative moneyspinners on children; now, one-person indie devs suggest conceptual art experiences to midlife wage-slaves. Nerd Monkeys is hunting that time-poor customer with games “that you can play through from start...
Review FIFA 22 (Switch) - Another Match Abandoned
Getting a new game? Neuer not
“Fool me once,” the famous phrase goes, “shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” With FIFA 22, EA is attempting to fool us thrice, and although we haven't been able to find any official ruling on what this means, we’ve come to the conclusion that it basically rolls back to “shame on you” again...
Mini Review Antonball Deluxe (Switch) - Fun With Friends That Like Arkanoid
Wario Meh
Simpler, smaller games live or die on the strength of their central gimmick, an idea to grab hold of the player and force them to pay attention. Sadly, Antonball Deluxe's grand design doesn't quite live up to its WarioWare-esque presentation. So what’s the deal? You’ve got a pretty strong central idea in Antonball; think Arkanoid, but...
Review Embr (Switch) - A Spark Of Co-Op Potential, But Never Catches Fire On Switch
In the line of fire
At first blush Muse Games' Embr put us in mind of riotous slapstick comedy titles such as Overcooked and Tarsier Games' excellent The Stretchers. This is a bright and colourful multiplayer-focused mess of firefighting carnage that also presents itself as a wry satirical take on the state of 21st Century capitalism. It's got the...
Review Darksiders III (Switch) - A Poor Switch Port Of A Distinctly Average Series Entry
Hellish
We're pretty big fans of the Darksiders franchise here at Nintendo Life. These games may pilfer their core mechanics from all over the shop, and make no attempt to hide the fact in the process, but they're pure comfort food; cosy, familiar, resolutely old-fashioned in how they go about their business, and for the most part a lot of...
Review Knockout Home Fitness (Switch) - Too Limited And Lightweight To Be A Contender
Fails to pack a punch
The Switch is slowly but surely becoming home to a new dawn of fitness games. The success of Ring Fit Adventure has clearly inspired a new batch of keep-fit titles, with the likes of Fitness Boxing 2, Active Life Outdoor Challenge and even Nintendo’s limited release Jump Rope Challenge all vying for a piece of the fitness...
Mini Review Project Winter (Switch) - Social Deduction That Survives But Doesn't Thrive On Switch
Snow close, yet snow far
Project Winter is an interesting combination of survival and social deduction — think Among Us mixed with The Long Dark — that's brilliant in its best moments, but sadly kneecapped by the compromises you'll have to make to play it on Switch. The pitch may sound familiar: a team of between five and eight people, a few of...
Mini Review Fisti-Fluffs (Switch) - A Cute But Limited Kitty Brawler With Control Issues
A whisker away from competent
Cats can be devilish creatures. They can be cool as a cucumber one moment, nuzzling their squishy faces into their owners’ neck, before flipping and ripping the furniture apart in a rage that would make even Gordon Ramsay quiver in his boots. Fisti-Fluffs is the latest game to feature the furious felines, focusing on...
Review RiMS Racing (Switch) - A Poor Switch Port Makes For An Uneasy Rider
Brake drag
In order to very quickly condense exactly what kind of motorcycle sim RiMS Racing is, consider this: There are over 500 fully licenced vehicle parts in this game and just eight actual bikes. This isn't a sleight on Raceward Studio's game, far from it, the eight bikes here are very obviously authentically detailed and lovingly crafted,...
Review Active Life Outdoor Challenge / Family Trainer (Switch) - Fit Enough For Purpose
Wii think we've seen this before
There used to be a time during the Wii era where you couldn't move for fitness games. The enormous success of Wii Fit led to a steady stream of imitators, from well-known established publishers all the way down to the shovelware merchants looking to cash in on the latest fad. One of the more unique offerings was...
Review SkateBIRD (Switch) - A Chirpy, Charming Tony Hawk-Alike That Fails To Stick The Landing
Flip the bird
The skateboarding game, as a genre, has been under-explored. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater defined it with such finesse in 1999 that there has barely been any room for improvement – as borne out by the continuing appeal of that first game two decades later. But considering how much it has in common with a 3D platformer – open...
Mini Review The Magnificent Trufflepigs (Switch) - A Metal-Detecting Sim Short On Magnificence
beep beep beep BEEBEEBEEBEEP
From day one, The Magnificent Trufflepigs — a game about metal-detecting and romance — came out swinging for the fences with prestige TV powerhouse AMC (of Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad fame) as publishers. But is it the equivalent of a stash of rare Roman coins, or just another rusty bottlecap? The story...
Review Monster Harvest (Switch) - Poor Execution Of A Promising 'Stardew Valley X Pokémon' Premise
It hurt itself in its confusion!
It must be tough to be a hopeful dev working on a farm sim project. Stardew Valley—a simple looking project made by one guy—has so effectively raised the bar for what a pure farm sim can be that matching it seems almost impossible by this point. The only way that a new game could feasibly beat it would be by...
Review Baldo: The Guardian Owls (Switch) - Exquisite Ghibli-Esque Art Can't Hide Tortuous Gameplay
You Died
Since this review was originally published, patches and updates have reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. Unfortunately, cannot revisit games on an individual basis, but it should be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. Excruciating. It's not a word you...
Mini Review Necrobarista: Final Pour (Switch) - Decaf On Switch, But Still A Potent Blend
Could be robusta, but has strong notes
While video games often provide a very different storytelling experience to books and of course TV / cinema, the continual growth in the popularity of visual novels demonstrates that different mediums can blend to excellent effect. Necrobarista: Final Pour is another welcome entry in the genre on Switch, and it...
Review Dodgeball Academia (Switch) - Impressive Presentation, But Lacks Depth On Court
A True Underdog Story
It's very difficult to make school appealing. Persona gave it a go, and Lego Harry Potter took its best shot, but in general we just don't want to go to school ever. Dodgeball Academia is up against it from the off, but compelling gameplay could have brought it back from the brink of enforced educational apathy. Sadly, it's...
Review Rustler (Switch) - GTA Goes To The Ren Faire And Makes A Medieval Mess
Medieval times
Editor’s note: Having been informed of a launch day patch (not made known to us prior to publication of this review) that improves various performance and stability issues on Switch, a reviewer's note has been added to the end of the text below. Jutsu Games' Rustler attempts to take us back to the chaotic top-down craziness of...
Review Secret Neighbor (Switch) - An Intriguing Premise, But Unbalanced And Tedious
If it weren’t for those meddling kids...
Of all the indie games released over the last decade, you’d be forgiven for thinking of stealth horror game Hello Neighbor is one of the lesser-known creations, one which was engulfed in the flood of — let’s face it — better games. Yet despite the poor critical reception, Hello Neighbor found its...
Brave Souls and the Phantom Nomad Eaters
We live in a golden age of remasters and remakes when it comes to video games. It seems like every week there are more classic games that are getting new life on a current gen console. This might seem like a crass attempt to squeeze a few more pennies out of gamers (and in many cases it is), but it is also...
Review Boyfriend Dungeon (Switch) - A Fun But Ultimately Shallow 'Dating Crawler'
Knee deep in dunj
Sometimes you come across a game that really makes you curious what the developers were thinking when they were first drafting it. Boyfriend Dungeon is one such game. It’s a dungeon crawler, rather like Hades or Diablo, with the twist that your character is probably dating the weapon they’re using to kill baddies. As ridiculous...
Review The Silver Case 2425 (Switch) - Style Over Substance In This Pair Of Early Suda51 Epics
Case closed
Every now and again, we review a game that's just absolutely no fun. The review process can sometimes be a bit of a drag — we know, complaining about a job where you play games for a living is like being annoyed that your career as a biscuit taster is making you put on weight — and unfortunately, The Silver Case 2425, a two-in-one...
Mini Review Trigger Witch (Switch) - Guns And Witchcraft Of A Different Type
Fly me to the moon
Ever found yourself wishing that games like The Legend of Zelda featured a boatload of badass guns in addition to its staple Master Sword? Well, no, neither have we, if we're being honest. But there's clearly a market for such a game, as eastasiasoft's Trigger Witch proves. Part adventure RPG, part twin-stick shooter, this...
Review Pokemon Unite (Switch) - Pokémon Divides In Free-To-Start MOBA
Fun, in the right circumstances
Since the original release of Pokémon Red and Blue on the Game Boy, The Pokémon Company has consistently tried to take its successful monster-collecting RPG through many different iterations, genres, and applications. Pokémon has taken forays into genres such as digital/physical card games, the Mystery Dungeon...
Review Out Of Line (Switch) - A Gorgeous Puzzle-Platformer That Doesn't Quite Pay Off
A game stuck in limbo
Out of Line really could have been so much more. Developed by Nerd Monkeys, it’s a puzzle platformer that feels like a riff on earlier modern classics such as PlayDead’s Limbo and Inside; it’s a linear experience that features action set-pieces and copious puzzles to drive its narrative, but never really capitalises on...
Review Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Ghoul Patrol (Switch) - A Classic That Deserves Better
Zombie. Zombie. Zombie. Compilation.
Well, this has been a long time coming. Lucasarts’ beloved top-down ghoul-‘em-up Zombies Ate My Neighbors has finally come to Switch, missing in action since its release on the Wii Virtual Console back in 2009. And this time it’s brought its follow-up, the somewhat-maligned Ghoul Patrol, in a...
Review Worms Rumble (Switch) - Fun Traversal, But A Limited Battle Royale Spin-Off
War has changed
If you’ve ever played a Worms game, chances are you know more or less how it works by now. Two or more teams wage war within the confines of a 2D destructible arena, each taking turns to make their move in a strategic battle of wits and firepower. It’s a formula that, despite some missteps here and there, simply works. So when...
Review Destroy All Humans! (Switch) - Ray Guns And Probes Abound In This Silly, Simplistic Remake
Alien Resurrection?
Black Forest Games' remake of 2005's Destroy All Humans! issues a warning to players upon launching into its campaign for the very first time. The overall experience, it says, has been upgraded but the content, the story, words and images, remain the same and may be shocking to modern human brains. It's an honest acknowledgement...
Review Legend Of Mana (Switch) - The Best Way To Play A 21-Year-Old RPG Experiment
Confusing, but charming
It’s interesting to see how the Mana series has been treated over the years, both by Square and the general public. Secret of Mana was widely considered one of the best RPGs of its time and even today carries quite a bit of clout, but many of the other titles either didn’t get localized or arrived overseas years after...
Review Alex Kidd In Miracle World DX (Switch) - Vintage Sega Hero In Mediocre Remake
Putting the sham in Roshambo
We know we're risking the ire of several hundred very cross Sega Master System fans by saying this, but we have to be blunt — the original Alex Kidd in Miracle World, while inarguably an important and formative classic, is and always has been an exceptionally flawed game. Don't get us wrong, there's plenty to like and...
Review Beautiful Desolation (Switch) - Good Ideas Lost Down Obscure Pathways
Possibly the most aptly-named game ever
At first, we assumed that Beautiful Desolation was some kind of lost late-nineties PC game. Its isometric perspective and visually spectacular pre-rendered scenes immediately called the likes of the original Fallout and Planescape: Torment to mind, and this comparison was cemented with the user interface,...