Game Reviews from 2020
IMMORTALIZE!
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late is the third iteration of the indie visual novel/2D-Fighter from developer French Bread which was first released in Japanese arcades all the way back in 2012. An update in 2017 added four new characters, a bunch of new modes and gameplay tweaks for console versions, and this latest iteration adds yet...
Mini Review Oddmar - An Acclaimed Mobile Platformer That Just About Holds Its Own On Switch
Inspector Norse
When Oddmar hit iOS and Android in 2018, it prompted many to proclaim its beautiful cartoon graphics and tight 2D platformer gameplay worthy of the Nintendo Switch itself. Now that Oddmar has hit the Nintendo eShop, we have a chance to put those lofty claims to the test. Do you know what? Those people were right, at least for the...
Review Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo - A Fine Shmup Selection, But Input Lag Remains An Issue
Continued delay
Just as Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo is the companion game to the earlier release of Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha, what you're reading now should also be considered the companion to our earlier review of the latter title. We suggest, to help digest the full context of this review, that the reader also hop over and read this companion...
Review Murder By Numbers - Ace Attorney Meets Picross In This Engaging Detective Adventure
Holmes and Robotson
There's a lot going on in Murder By Numbers. Mediatonic's rather mad mashing together of Ace Attorney-esque sleuthing and Picross-style pixel puzzles manages to cover sexism in the workplace, divorce, suicide, overbearing parents, the dangers of social media, the vacuous and often sleazy nature of the Hollywood TV industry and,...
Review Boulder Dash 30th Anniversary - An Awkwardly-Ported Tribute That's For Fans Only
On the Rocks
It’s amazing to us that 2020 is only Boulder Dash’s 30th anniversary. In fact, come to think of it, that can’t possibly be right, because we remember this one back on the Apple II. Indeed, a quick glance online reveals that Boulder Dash was first released in 1984, which would make this Switch version Boulder Dash 36th Anniversary,...
Mini Review Spartan Fist - This ARMS-Style Brawler Fails To Pack A Punch
Not quite a knockout
Spartan Fist is described as a 'first-person puncher', and for better or worse, that's exactly what it is. Taking place within a series of procedurally-generated arenas, the game is reasonably fun for short bursts, but thanks to some dodgy controls and a distinct lack of variety, it ultimately fails to pack a punch. Taking...
Review Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX - Fun, But Only In Short Doses
Titled Zangoose Game
When it comes to Pokémon spin-offs, the Mystery Dungeon series is probably the lengthiest. For every short-lived game like Pokémon Dash or Pokkén Tournament, there’s a Mystery Dungeon title offering potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay. Of course, whether you’d actually want to play one of them for hundreds of hours...
Review Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle - A Stunning Retro Collection
Come for the Dragons, stay for the Kunio
Being a Kunio fan in the West is tougher than the mean streets Kunio and his friends come from. We've had to endure butchered localizations and dozens of titles being missed because they were simply deemed “too Japanese for Western consumption”. In fact, even nowadays, few Western gamers might realise the...
Review Bloodroots - Wonderfully Flowing Combat Makes This Hotline Miami Rival Stand Out
Blood sport
Games like Hotline Miami and Katana Zero have become instant modern classics thanks to their razor-sharp and utterly addictive gameplay loops. Following hot on their heels is Bloodroots from developer Paper Cult, a supremely stylish, confident action title that encourages improvisation and experimentation at every turn as you take down...
Mini Review Hero must die. again - A Unique JRPG That's More Than The Sum Of Its Parts
What would you do with five days left to live?
It isn't the most cheerful game, but Hero must die. again is a fitfully fun and refreshingly unusual JRPG with a time management focus that's perfect for the flexibility of the Switch. See, the in media res opening scene depicts your intrepid hero defeating the Dark Lord, but suffering a fatal wound in...
Review SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo 2 - A Fun But Ultimately Forgettable Puzzler
Same Pu, different game
When we reviewed the Sega Ages version of Puyo Puyo, we wondered why Sega had decided to go with the very first game in the series, and not one of the numerous better sequels. Seven months later, Sega has responded – not to us, we’re not that big-headed – by going back to the Puyo Puyo well and this time giving us a...
Mini Review Ganbare! Super Strikers - Strategic Soccer Action That Will Be Too Sluggish For Some
Strategy fans will get a kick out of this
The beautiful game of football (or soccer for those across the pond) is generally known for its face-paced, high octane action. The players are constantly moving, constantly searching for that one crucial opening to find the back of the net. Ganbare! Super Strikers is an odd little duckling, then, as its...
Review Kitty Powers' Matchmaker - A Refreshingly Inclusive Dating Sim That Grows Stale Too Quickly
Love is in the air
Do you love watching Celebs Go Dating, Dinner Date and other mind-numbing entertainment on TV? Has it inspired you to start your own dating agency? Well, before you up-end your career and invest your life savings in becoming a professional cupid, how about investing in a Nintendo Switch game instead? And who better to mentor you...
Mini Review One Finger Death Punch 2 - A Brutally Rhythmic Brawler
Devastating left-right combo
For all of the hard work, physical preparation, and learned technique that goes into high-level combat sport, it's all about two basic things: hitting and not getting hit. It's an appropriate analogy with which to start a review of One Finger Death Punch 2, where an increasingly elaborate fighting game plays out through...
Review SEGA AGES Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - A Fantastic Game, But Who Hasn't Played It By Now?
Hogging the limelight
The Sega Ages series can evoke some strange reactions when it comes to game selection. There can be little denial that the series is at its best when it’s bringing us fantastic ports of Sega classics that don’t usually get the attention they deserve; the likes of Virtua Racing and Fantasy Zone are clear highlights so far...
Review Rune Factory 4 Special - The Definitive Version Of A Series Classic
"You're always welcome here"
The Harvest Moon series made quite a name for itself when it first released on the SNES in 1996, trading the typical combat-centric trappings of an RPG in favour of a much more laid-back and slower-paced focused on farming. Many sequels would follow in the coming years, and on the tenth anniversary, Marvelous produced an...
Mini Review Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge - A Fun Homage To The Classics Of Yore
Willy or won't he?
With a name like Willy Jetman, developer Last Chicken Games seems to be courting a nostalgic audience who fondly recall the ZX Spectrum adventures of Matthew Smith's Jet Set Willy and Rare's (née Ultimate Play the Game) Lunar Jetman. It's a tried and tested move to attract interest in a crowded digital marketplace, and frankly,...
Review Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection - A Superb Selection Of Retro Classics
A legacy to be proud of
Those of you familiar with the backstory of the ongoing development of the Mega Man X series may be aware that Zero – the sabre-wielding, long-haired secondary protagonist – was, in fact, the original design Keiji Inafune wanted to use for Mega Man. That idea got shot down because of how different Zero looks from the...
Review Metro Redux - A Compelling Pair Of Amazing Horror Shooters
Apocalypse Now
Metro Redux unites a comprehensively overhauled Metro 2033 and its sequel Metro: Last Light in an excellent first-person survival horror package that's stuffed to the mutated gills with genuinely creepy stealth gameplay and a gripping story that sees protagonist Artyom make his way through the mutant-infested Metro deep beneath...
Review Metro: Last Light Redux - A Big-Budget FPS That's Right At Home On Switch
Half Light
Metro: Last Light Redux sees the first-person survival horror adventures of post-apocalyptic Metro ranger Artyom continue in a sequel that seeks to up the ante in terms of big-budget bombast. There are lots of OTT on-rails sections here and even a couple of traditional boss battles thrown into the traditional Metro mix, but it's when it...
Review Metro 2033 Redux - A Truly Astonishing Switch Port Of A Genre Classic
This is Sparta
When Metro 2033 originally released back in 2010, it was something of a graphical showcase that really put the latest consoles and custom-built gaming PCs through the wringer. Rebuilt from the ground up in 2014 for this enhanced 'Redux' edition in order to bring its visuals and gameplay more in-line with its sequel, Metro: Last Light,...
Review Samurai Shodown - This Blade Is Still As Sharp As Ever
Another 'victoly' for SNK
When Street Fighter II arrived in arcades in the early '90s and turned the one-on-one fighter into the genre of choice for millions of players, it predictably caused a deluge of copycat clones to flood the market, each offering a slightly different take on the concept. Few of these could hold a candle to Capcom's effort,...
Review Kunai - Pacing Problems Undermine This Otherwise Likeable Roguelike
Unleash your inner ninja
You awake in what seems to be a graveyard for robots. Or, more of a room with piles of dead robots filling every corner, piled up to the ceiling. Your rescuers are among them, their bodies blending in with the countless others. This world has been run into the ground by a tyrannical overlord, and you, an anthropomorphised...
Review Speedway Racing - Daytona USA Has Nothing To Worry About
Days of Blunder
For gamers of a certain age, the name Sega is a synonym for arcade racing perfection. From Yu Suzuki’s sprite scaling opus Out Run to the polygonal bliss of Virtua Racing, the company always stood at the top of the arcade racing genre due to on-point game design, ensuring that anyone regardless of skill could walk away with a silly...
Review Vitamin Connection - A Charmingly Unique Co-Op Experience, When It Works
Co-op cure-'em-up is a mostly sweet pill to swallow
It might sound like a health supplement conference, but Vitamin Connection turns out to be one of the zestiest Switch exclusives of the year so far – which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when you consider that the developer behind it, WayForward, is responsible for the joyful Shantae...
Review Warface - A Perfectly Competent Free-To-Play Shooter For Your Switch
Face for radio
While most of us – this writer included – have given up any hope of seeing a Call of Duty or a similar triple-A multiplayer shooter on Switch anytime soon, some studios have attempted to fill this void with their own take on asymmetrical gunfights. Some have been a success (Paladins being a fine example), while others have ranged...
Review Two Point Hospital - Arguably The Best Version Of An Acclaimed Modern Classic
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
Harkening back to the “good old days” of Theme Hospital from Bullfrog in the '90s, Two Point Hospital wraps the same irreverent humour into a modern game that introduces a whole new generation to the joys of medicine. This is a game about managing expectations. Patients expect to be treated and...
Review Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition - The Best Version Of The Best Devil May Cry
Three is the magic number
After the absolute mess that was Devil May Cry 2, Hideaki Itsuno returned to the fray in 2005 with this absolute banger, righting the wrongs of his previous effort, returning protagonist Dante to his righteously cocky self and letting loose with a no-holds-barred, non-stop action thrill-ride that, to this day, is as good as...
Review Pop'n TwinBee - Konami's Colourful 16-Bit Shmup Shines With Couple Mode Co-op
Colour me glad
The TwinBee series enjoyed relative success in Japan throughout the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Pop’n Twinbee was the sixth game in the series, and the last proper shoot ‘em up entry before Konami took it in a different direction with things like spin-off platformer Rainbow Bell Adventures. Because it was never released in...
Review Brief Battles - A Well-Designed Pair, Though You'll Have To Share
Choose Your Underwearriors!
Juicy Cupcakes' Brief Battles sees you and up to three pals go head to head in a variety of butt-based competitive and co-op duels using powers gleaned from magical pairs of pants. You'll bound around its arenas, clinging to walls and ceilings, jumping through portals, fending off all manner of weird alien beasties and...