Latest Reviews
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...
Mini Review HyperParasite - Proof That It's Fun To Be Bad
Host with the most
We’ve seen quite a lot of rogue-lite games in the past few years, but HyperParasite is quite a unique one. Taking place within a typical cyberpunk cityscape, an alien parasite has invaded the planet and is looking to leech onto every unfortunate soul that happens to get in its way. The twist here is that you get to play as the...
Review SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle - A Limited But Hugely Enjoyable Arcade Romp
The LOC of the fly-rish
Editor's note: SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle is currently only available in Japan, but you can follow our guide on how to buy Nintendo Switch games from the Japanese eShop to get it right now. 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...
Review Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition - A Gorgeous Love Letter To JRPGs Which Just Falls Short
Ara Fell, not awful
There's a comforting familiarity to Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition that lends the whole game a veneer of nostalgia. That's not just in terms of its debt to classic JRPGs – which, naturally, it has in spades – but also in its character writing, which conjures up memories of old-school webcomics, fanfiction and English-translated...
Mini Review Wandersong - This One Can Really Hold A Tune
Pitch perfect
We recently asked if there were any Switch games we'd missed which you thought were worthy of a review. Wandersong was one of the most-requested games, so there we are! They say that music heals the soul, but can it actually save the entire universe? Wandersong seems to think so. You take on the role of a passionate bard who uses his...
Review Shinsekai: Into The Depths - A Watery Twist On The Metroidvania Format
Unsplashy adventure with hidden depths
We shouldn't be surprised any longer when a mobile-to-Switch port turns out to be decent. There are far too many examples to list here, but just recently both Exit The Gungeon and Oddmar have acquitted themselves admirably. Even so, we're as surprised as you are to note that the latest must-have Metroidvania...
Review Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - Back To School
A mature student
Years ago, when the Star Wars franchise wasn’t under the world-dominating scrutiny of the House of Mouse, developers were farming out all games like no one’s business. And while that did mean we were ‘treated’ to the likes of Star Wars: Demolition and Kinect Star Wars, it also meant the long-defunct LucasArts produced some...
Review One Step From Eden - A Mega Man Battle Network Spiritual Successor With Brutal Difficulty
The rockin'est, rock-steady beat of madness
One Step From Eden makes absolutely no secret of its cribbing from Capcom's late, occasionally great Mega Man Battle Network series. It essentially lifts the ingenious battle system from the GBA cult classic wholesale, makes a series of tweaks and additions, then sets you to work. There's no gallivanting...
Review Good Job! - This Laugh-Riot Feels Like 2020's Answer To Untitled Goose Game
Promoted to ‘essential’
We’ve all been in a job that we didn’t like very much. Heck, a lot of people – this writer included – have had jobs that they’ve actively hated, filled with menial tasks that make time grind to an absolute halt. Given the current world climate, chances are you’re safe and sound in your own home (and if you do...
Review Operencia: The Stolen Sun - A Rich And Satisfying Dungeon Crawler
Dungeon Master
Zen Studios' Operencia: The Stolen Sun doesn't really get off to the brightest of starts on Nintendo Switch. Opening with a prologue that sees you assume control of King Attila and his wife Reka as they attempt to close a portal between their land and the underworld, things kick off here with a ten-minute introduction that highlights...
Mini Review Mekorama - It May Look Like Captain Toad, But Don’t Let That Fool You
Dior-iffic
Mekorama looks a lot like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. There’s no getting around this, but in the same way that Metroid Prime looks a lot like other FPS titles, it doesn’t quite play the same. In fact, Mekorama is played entirely on the Switch’s touch screen (or with an on-screen cursor, if you wish), and feels completely...
Mini Review Mystic Vale - Green-Fingered Players Take Note
A nice spot of cardening
It's all well and good to want to save and enrich the environment, but is gardening really good fodder for a deck-building card game? Most such games we've experienced are about legendary battles between blade and magick, not cultivating plum trees. But keep an open mind and you'll find plenty to enjoy in the digital version...
Mini Review Pooplers - We’re Not Kidding, This Game Really Is Poop
Flat-ulent gameplay
After the monumental success of the Splatoon franchise, many folks were quite rightly expecting some copycats to appear. Given the high accessibility of the games and their family-friendly nature, some – this writer included – even encouraged more of the same from other developers. But we’re not sure any of us were...
Review Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Doesn’t Quite Nail The Landing
In-flight entertainment
When Nintendo revealed during its 2019 E3 presentation that a remake of Panzer Dragoon was coming to the Switch, we were pleasantly surprised. When this week’s Nintendo Direct Mini then confirmed that it was available to buy, we were once again delighted by the unexpected news. Now we’ve played it we’re slightly less...
Review SeaBed - A Moving Visual Novel Masterpiece, If You Give It A Chance
Ooh, mysterious girls
Anyone who has ever studied literature will know all too well that even works universally agreed to be timeless classics don’t necessarily appeal to everyone in the general public. Such will doubtless be the case with SeaBed, a visual novel developed by Paleontology Soft and brought West by localisation specialists Fruitbat...
Review La-Mulana 2 - A Deep And Challenging Metroidvania For Your Switch
Passing the torch
As indie game development has massively ramped up over the past decade or so, there’s also been an equivalent rise in the popularity of the Metroidvania genre. We’ve seen countless fascinating examples of how elements of the genre can be bent or expanded upon to create amazing new experiences, but one of the finest examples of...
Review La-Mulana - Packed With Peerless Puzzles That Demand Dedicated Players
It belongs in a museum!
If there’s one element that it feels modern game design has largely left in the past, it’s mystery. There are some bastions of it still around today, such as the delightfully esoteric Dark Souls series, but most games these days just aren’t made to have impenetrable secrets. By that, we mean of the sort that can grind...
Review Wunderling - A Fun And Fresh New Take On The Typical 2D Platformer
Wunderfully addictive
Since the advent of platform gaming, the genre has come on leaps and bounds. Although some (this writer included) would argue that many titles overcomplicate their gameplay, introducing unnecessary additions that threaten to overwhelm younger gamers. Thankfully then, Wunderling is perhaps one of the most accessible platform...
Mini Review Talisman: Digital Edition - A Superb Adaptation Of A Board Game Classic
You won't be bored board gaming on the go
Talisman is a superb board game that conjures forth innumerable fond memories. The vast multitude of characters to choose from, each more unbalanced than the last. The hundreds upon hundreds of Adventure Cards offering something new to see on every play. Spellcasting battles leading to pure salt from the...
Review Exit The Gungeon - Fine-Tuned Action That's Less Compelling Than Its Forerunner
Beating a hasty retreat
Having created one of the finest indie roguelikes of recent years in Enter The Gungeon, some might have wondered how developer Dodge Roll would follow it up. The answer, of course, is to Exit The Gungeon. This is no direct sequel, but rather more of an extended epilogue. Having faced and killed their past, our four...
Mini Review ibb & obb - Another Co-Op Gem For The Switch
To ibb, to obb
Ibb & Obb is a clever 2D puzzle platformer in which you and a friend (or an online stranger) must work closely together in order to successfully navigate a series of increasingly complex levels. The twist here is that the levels take place across two opposing planes, each with their own gravitational pull. The two playable...
Review DOOM 64 - Will Tide You Over Until DOOM Eternal Arrives On Switch
Eternal doom
Players of a certain generation might recall just how special it was having an actual Doom on Nintendo 64. The FPS that put corridor shooters firmly on the map was pretty ubiquitous in its ports – even back in 1997 – but having a graphically superior take with bigger levels, more guns and even more challenging demons to slay made...
Review Neon City Riders - There's Little Substance Under That Retro-Tinged Veneer
Retrograde step
Nostalgia is as potent a force in modern video games as it is in cinema, TV and music. We all appreciate a dose of something warm and familiar in these scary times. But the trouble with such rose-tinted glasses is that they can often obscure a litany of flaws and a critical lack of imagination. Such is the case with Neon City Riders...
Mini Review Stela - A Pretty Platform-Puzzler That Badly Wants To Be Inside
Caught in Limbo
If Stela is wholly successful at anything, it's as a tribute to Inside. It follows Playdead's immersive platform-puzzler template to a quite remarkable degree, while its shortcomings only enhance the reputation of the 2018 eShop release. Are you someone who thought Inside was merely a generic 2D platformer with pretty window dressing...
Review 3000th Duel - A More Approachable Alternative To Dark Souls
Karma is served
Nearly 9 years after its initial release, Dark Souls’ influence is as strong as ever. Its brutal difficulty and focus on slow, methodical gameplay have become iconic staples in modern gaming, with some games taking inspiration from the title, and others outright copying it. 3000th Duel sits somewhere in the middle. It’s a...
Review Syder Reloaded - A Free-Scrolling Shmup Switch Owners Should Check Out
Free to roam
The Defender-style free-scrolling shmup sub-genre has always had a lot of untapped potential, and while some free-scrolling shmups like Fantasy Zone and Black Bird have garnered a fanbase of admirers, the style of allowing the player to control the movement of the screen still feels unexplored. Syder Reloaded is another take on this...
Mini Review NinNinDays - A Short And Sweet Visual Novel With Some Rough Edges
An everyday tale of near-naked ninjas
There are certain things those familiar with romantic comedy, slice-of-life visual novels have doubtless come to expect by this point: a scene involving a maid costume; a heroine who can’t cook; a date at an amusement park; and some sort of boob-based misunderstanding. NinNinDays from Qureate has all of these...
Mini Review Half Past Fate - A Great-Looking Rom-Com Adventure Brimming With Personality
NOT a Steven Seagal movie
If you’re in your teens or beyond, chances are you’ve probably found yourself falling head over heels in love with someone at least once in your life. We all know the feeling: you see a stunning stranger out of the corner of your eye, someone who you’re absolutely sure is way out of your league, but your eyes lock,...
Review Afterparty - A Hellishly Good Night Out, Without The Hangover
Hell yes
Night School made a relatively big splash with its 2016 debut Oxenfree, a ghostly story-based video game that set new standards on how dialogue can be executed in a game. The follow up to that title was always going to be an interesting one, then, as the question would be how Night School would iterate or, potentially, break away from the...
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...
