Tag: Reviews - Page 7
Have at you!
Few games have enjoyed post-launch support as robust and high-quality as Dead Cells has received for the past six(!) years. Motion Twin has produced wave after wave of updates, some free and some paid, which have packed the already awesome base game with a dizzying amount of new biomes, weapons, cosmetics, and more. And all of it feels...
More blessing than curse
If you’ve not heard of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, then don’t worry. Although this curious visual novel is receiving a worldwide release on the Switch eShop, its reveal was specifically earmarked for the Japanese Nintendo Direct back in February. So while we were undoubtedly smitten over Metroid Prime...
Review Figment 2: Creed Valley - Charming Action Puzzling, But Sluggish On Switch
Sleep well
In 2017, Bedtime Digital Games released Figment, a cute and dreamlike action puzzle game that aimed to be a little more ambitious and expansive than their debut release, Back to Bed. We enjoyed it, and evidently plenty of other people did, too, as the studio has now brought us Figment 2: Creed Valley. Though Figment 2 feels like more of...
Review Mato Anomalies (Switch) - Ambitious Detective RPG Is Overstuffed And Unengaging
Shanghai Surprise?
Arrowiz, the Shanghai-based development team behind 2021's Hermitage: Strange Case Files, returns to Nintendo Switch with a determined attempt to replicate the general rhythm and vibe of Atlus' all-conquering Persona series in the form of Mato Anomalies. This is an RPG that throws a whole bunch of ideas and gameplay mechanics at...
Review The Last Spell - An Extremely Fun, Dark Roguelite With A Clumsy Switch Port
Spells trouble
Even in a magical fantasy setting, nothing good comes from war. The Last Spell, a roguelite that mixes tactical RPG and tower defense elements, is set in a world that has already been destroyed by mankind’s thirst for destruction. With this unique blend of genres, the game offers up some fun and engaging gameplay mechanics, but...
Review Metroid Fusion - An Infectious, Portable Pleasure
SA-Xcellent
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in Switch's GBA library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Released a full eight years after its phenomenal Super Nintendo predecessor, Super Metroid, 2002's Metroid Fusion is a well-paced, tense, atmospheric game and...
Review Session: Skate Sim - A Valiant Attempt That Doesn't Quite Land On Switch
A grind
What instantly springs to mind when you consider skateboarding video games? If it’s effortlessly pulling off super cool tricks, grinding rails at high speed, doing flashy spins off the top of huge vert ramps and putting together sick combos for rad scores, then you may need to pump the brakes on that board of yours a little before deciding...
I ain't afraid o' no ghost
In the original 1998 Ring movie from director Hideo Nakata, the entire film's premise revolves around a vengeful spirit called Sadako, whose internal rage gave birth to a video tape curse via a phenomenon known as ‘thoughtography’. While Sadako is ultimately the driving force behind the film’s narrative, it’s only...
They're good dogs, Bront
These days, it feels like it takes a lot more for a Metroidvania to stand out from the pack, especially when there are so many excellent titles that have already shown impressively creative takes on the genre standards. Pronty from Taiwanese indie developer 18Light makes its bid for your attention by plopping players in a...
Review The Legend Of Heroes: Trails To Azure (Switch) - Crossbell's Conclusion Is A Cracking RPG
Blue-sky thinking
The release of the Crossbell Saga in English has been a long time coming for fans of the Trails series. And with The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero’s cracking debut last September, the wait for Trails to Azure has had us salivating. And finally, the missing gap in the series has been filled, and the conclusion of the...
Review Fitness Boxing Fist Of The North Star (Switch) - A Fun Crossover That Delivers Basic Beats
HD Rumble in the jungle
Despite what you may initially think, combining a fitness game with much-loved manga and anime series Fist of the North Star isn’t the completely left-field crossover it appears to be. In fact, it’s not even the first game based on the IP that makes the player swing actual punches. Many years ago, this writer used to...
Review Labyrinth Of Galleria: The Moon Society (Switch) - A Deep, Dense, Devastating Dungeon Crawler
Moon's haunted
Though the JRPG has remained the de facto king of the RPG space for the last few decades, one could argue that the popular genre would never have existed were it not for DRPGs. What started in eons past with titles like Ultima and aimed to translate a traditional D&D gameplay experience to the screen has given way to more...
Spinning bird click
BROK the InvestiGator gets right to the point: you begin the game in a burning room. You naturally start pointing and clicking to solve a simple puzzle. This leads to another puzzle: Alligator PI Brok urgently exclaims, “I need to get past that door!” Before your grey matter cogs can even get a-whirring, a dialogue box tells...
Review Redemption Reapers (Switch) - An Uneven Tactical RPG With A Fantastic Soundtrack
Fails to live up to its hype
When we first loaded up Redemption Reapers, we were in love with the aesthetic of the game. A dark and gritty tactical RPG with surprisingly good-looking cutscenes and haunting music was exactly the palate cleanser we needed after playing through Fire Emblem Engage. While those strong points never get old during this...
Review Meg's Monster (Switch) - A One-Of-A-Kind Adventure That Hits You In The Feels
Trust me, bro. You’re gonna cry.
There are a lot of forgettable little indie RPGs floating around on the Nintendo Switch eShop, but it’d be a mistake to lump developer Odencat’s Meg’s Monster in with them. In fact, despite appearances of turn-based battles and an underworld filled with monsters to battle, we’d argue that Meg’s Monster...
Review Digimon World: Next Order (Switch) - A Repetitive, Open-World Grind For Die-Hard Fans Only
The only way is Easy Mode
Just like any franchise that’s been going as long as it has, Digimon video games have had plenty of ups and downs. Digimon World: Next Order was first released in 2016 for the PlayStation Vita, with a PlayStation 4 release making its way to the West the following year. Since then, it has enjoyed enough of a cult following...
Review Clive 'N' Wrench (Switch) - A Banjo-Kazooie-Style Throwback That Hits All The Wrong Notes
Monkey see, monkey don’t
There is little argument that Switch has become one of the premier consoles for 3D platformers. From a host of classics from the 'Golden Age', such as Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64, to incredible brand new experiences, like Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and brilliant indies such as Lunistice, there is a 3D platformer...
Review Grim Guardians: Demon Purge (Switch) - A Creative, Character-Swapping Ode To Castlevania
Double Switch
From Inti Creates, developers of the critically acclaimed Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon duo and the Mega Man Zero/ZX series, comes a new Metroidvania rendered in a 16-bit graphical style, utilising modern hardware for various special effects, animation, and sprite creation. And it’s a fine-looking game, overall. While some areas...
Dream Weaver
If you’ve had a gander at our list of the Best Kirby Games Of All Time lately (or read our original 9/10 review from back in the day, more to the point) you’ll know that we hold Kirby’s Return to Dream Land in high regard around these parts. A return to classic Kirby action after a few less successful deviations from the norm...
Review Akka Arrh (Switch) - A Scrapped Atari Shooter Gets A Psychedelic Llamasoft Refurb
A bomb in hand is worth two in the bathroom
Jeff Minter, international man of gaming mystery, is back in action. If you’ve never heard of him, the 60-year-old has been in game coding and development, and seemingly happily off his rocker since 1979. Going by the moniker ‘Yak’, Minter cut his teeth on the Sinclair ZX60 in the early '80s, going...
Review Octopath Traveler II - A Confident Follow-Up And One Of Switch's Finest RPGs
Eight roads diverged in a wood, and I... well, I took them all!
A year after the Switch released, Team Asano—who made its name on the Bravely Default games on 3DS—released Octopath Traveler for the Switch. The fascinating HD-2D art style immediately grabbed people’s attention, while the clever implementation of classic JRPG gameplay quickly...
Gore-trait Of Ruin
The genre blend of Metroidvania and Soulslike is a tried and true combination. And it makes sense; two styles of game with a deep focus on exploration and strict difficulty were bound to cross paths. Games like Salt and Sanctuary, Blasphemous, and — of course — Hollow Kn
Review Tales of Symphonia Remastered - A GameCube Classic That Shows Its Age On Switch
Dwarven Vow #108: Let sleeping dogs lie
Though it’s never quite had the popularity of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest franchises, the Tales series has set a good reputation as the ‘other’ classic JRPG series that’s consistently maintained a decent quality for quite some time now. Back in 2004, Namco (no Bandai yet) was only on the fifth...
Review Blanc (Switch) - A Perfectly Pleasant Co-op Experience With Gorgeous Visuals
White plains
The notion of two disparate species of animals coming together to help one another is not particularly new in the world of storytelling. The trope goes all the way back to the likes of Peter Rabbit, in which our intrepid titular hero enlists the assistance of Squirrel Nutkin to help fend off the dastardly fox, Mr. Tod. It’s a concept...
Review Ten Dates (Switch) - A Surprise Second Date Where More Is Better
"What's yer name and where d'ya come from?"
Looking back on Wales Interactive’s Five Dates in 2023, more than two years after its debut, reveals a fascinating glimpse into what life was like during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a game that leans heavily into the idea that the dating world has migrated online, forcing singletons to...
Review Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Switch) - A Magical Musical Romp Through Final Fantasy History
Feel the Theatrhyhm
If there’s one thing pretty much everyone can agree on, it’s that the Final Fantasy series has some incredible music. With a 35-year legacy and around 100 games bearing the Final Fantasy moniker, it’s not surprising that the music from the series is some of the most recognisable in video game history. Theatrhythm, then, is...
Review Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder (Switch) - Stunning Visuals Can't Disguise Its Shortcomings
We're on the highway to Hell
Taking a trip to Hell has never looked quite so good as in Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder. The stunning visuals are enough to pull you in, while the card mechanics take seconds to learn yet provide a constant challenge. There are a lot of solid points to Nadir, but technical shortcomings and some bizarre design decisions...
Review Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) - A Long-Awaited And Stunning Return Of A Legend
Prime example
It’s difficult to believe now, but there was once a time when the notion of a first-person Metroid game seemed unfathomable. Prior to the release of Metroid Prime back in 2002, the franchise had been confined to the 2D realm, with complex environments full of secrets and hidden equipment that bolstered your abilities and combat...
Review Colossal Cave (Switch) - An Obtuse, Outdated, Unfriendly Reimagining Of A Fascinating Text
Horrible history
“You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.” Those are the opening sentences of the foundational 1976 text game Colossal Cave Adventure. Originally created by Will Crowther and extended by Don Woods, it ran on a...
Review The Pathless - Slick, Open-World Traversal Transitions To Switch Solidly
A Link to the Path
Having hit it out of the (water) park with its debut ABZÛ in 2016, Giant Squid landed The Pathless on PS5 just as the console launched in November 2020. The game provided the kind of audiovisual spectacle that would satisfy early adopters hankering after something to show off their next-gen kit, so you’d be forgiven for...
A projector for those ready to go all in
When shopping around for a new TV, it's easy enough to know what to look for and what questions to ask. What’s the picture size and resolution? How many HDMI inputs does it have? Does it come with any smart features built-in? Is it HDR-compatible? But what if you’re interested in a projector instead? What...
Review OddBallers (Switch) - Ballsy And Chaotic Co-op Fun, Though The Online Is DOA
If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a...lawnmower?
Game Swing's OddBallers, a raucous top-down dodgeball party game, has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, having languished in various unreleased forms since it was first announced as "coming soon" a fair old while ago. Now it's suddenly dropped onto Nintendo Switch and, far from the...
Review Fashion Police Squad (Switch) - A Stylish Romp That Gives 'DOOM Clones' A Fabulous Makeover
Oooh! Suits you, sir
Feel like you've played one too many dull Doom clones in your time to really be bothered trying another? Well, may we suggest you get your glad rags on and give Mopeful Games' Fashion Police Squad a whirl, it's absolutely fabulous, darling! Sashaying onto Switch in a very silly burst of colour and humour, this is a quirky...
Review Life Is Strange 2 - A Solid Switch Port For This Thrilling Second Story
Highway to hell?
Given the critical and commercial success enjoyed by Life is Strange back in 2015, creating a compelling direct sequel can’t have been easy for developer Dontnod. Yet just three years later, players were surprised with a brand new story that was every bit as emotionally affecting as the first, if not more so. It boasts a plot that...
Review SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Switch) - The Best SpongeBob Platformer Yet
Across the Spongeverse
A few years ago, Purple Lamp Studios released SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, a solid revival of a 3D platforming classic from decades past. Sales for that remaster were evidently robust enough to justify development of an all-new sequel, as SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was announced a...
Review Drainus (Switch) - A Spectacular, Showboating Tour De Force For Sci-Fi Shmup Fans
Drain the core
Drainus. Whether a ham-fisted portmanteau of Darius and Gradius, or relating to the game’s core mechanic, it’s a silly name any way you look at it. Japan-based developer Team Ladybug, more recently known for the rather good Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, has had the Switch shooting game hardcore waiting eight...
Review GoldenEye 007 - Aged And Flawed, But Still A Masterpiece Of Game Design
Gold-tinted specs?
Highly revered by countless N64 owners, GoldenEye 007 is often credited with kick-starting the first-person shooter craze on consoles. It not only showed that a good first-person shooter could be crafted for a machine other than a high-spec PC, but arguably also created the multiplayer FPS phenomenon on consoles. In fact, if it...
Indy Jones bar t’at
‘Ey up, adventure fans! Are you hankering for a grave-robbing escapade reminiscent of Indiana Jones? But do you wish it were set in Yorkshire, trading jaw-dropping Incan ziggurats for drizzly moors? Well, have we got t’ game for you! The Excavation of Hob's Barrow puts your clicking finger in the shoes of one Thomasina...
If you can find an NSO N64 pad, that is
When it comes to sprucing up your retro consoles with a mod-con or two, there is no shortage of options. From new shells to upscalers and converters, RGB mods to devices that emulate OG disc drives, old video game systems are being upgraded and refurbished like vintage cars these days, giving them a new lease...
Review Onion Assault (Switch) - A Bold, Breezy Homage To Super Mario Bros. 2
A game with layers?
If you’ve played Bertil Hörberg’s Gunman Clive and its direct sequel on 3DS, Wii U, or Switch, then the developer’s latest effort, Onion Assault, will look immediately familiar to you. But while the former two titles were undoubtedly inspired by the Mega Man franchise, Onion Assault instead feels like an homage to...
Review A Space For The Unbound (Switch) - A Beautifully Rendered, Breathtaking Adventure Game
Yes, you can pet all the cats
We began our time with Mojiken Studio’s A Space For The Unbound curled up on our sofa, cup of steaming tea close by, with winter rain softly rapping against the window. Much like reading a good book, it felt right to play this slice-of-life adventure game this way; it pulled us in immediately in with its gorgeous...
Review Persona 3 Portable (Switch) - A Fine Series Entry, Though One That's Tough To Return To
"Remember you will die"
Though Persona 3 was actually the fourth mainline release in the series, the meme goes that it was really the first because Atlus just refuses to acknowledge the previous games. As a fresh start for the series, Persona 3 was eventually followed up with not one, but two ‘final’ versions that each had important new features...
Review Persona 4 Golden (Switch) - A Must-Buy Classic That's Stood The Test Of Time
"Heartbreak, heartbreak, you tell me goomba"
Although Shin Megami Tensei is technically the flagship RPG franchise over at Atlus, its spin-off Persona series has made huge strides in finding mainstream appeal in recent years. While Persona 5 may have done most of the heavy lifting, Persona 4 Golden (P4G)—the enhanced re-release of the PS2...
Review Fire Emblem Engage (Switch) - Relationships Get Sidelined By A Thrilling Combat-First Focus
School's out
It's been almost four years since the hugely successful Fire Emblem: Three Houses stormed onto Switch and reignited our passion for Intelligent Systems' long-running tactical RPG franchise. Here was a game that deepened the relationship and social sim aspects and captured the hearts of gamers who revelled in three separate campaign...
Review Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider (Switch) - Drop-Dead Gorgeous, Neo-Retro Action Platforming
Stepping back in time
Making any video game is exceptionally hard work. But creating a retro-style experience that feels 100% authentic to the source inspiration adds a whole extra layer of difficulty. Implementing pixel art visuals and calling it a day just doesn't cut it, but what developer JoyMasher has done with Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is...
Review Lone Ruin (Switch) - A No-Nonsense, Roguelike Twin-Stick Shooter
It's dangerous to go 'lone
Though it flew under a lot of radars, Cuddle Monster Games’ Hell is Other Demons was a standout platform shooter of 2019, featuring razor-sharp, ultra-tough action gameplay alongside a delicious neon aesthetic. Considering it was mostly the work of just one man by the name of Hannes Rahm, Hell is Other Demons was an...
Review Breakers Collection (Switch) - Visco's Neo Geo Fighters Return In Fine Form
Give me something to break
Visco Corporation, responsible for shoot 'em up Andros Dunos (1992), was a Neo Geo stalwart, releasing 15 titles across SNK’s arcade and console hardware. One of its only forays into the fighting game arena was Breakers and its semi-sequel, Breakers Revenge. In 1996, the fighting game market was flooded. And, while it...
Review Kaiju Wars (Switch) - Silly And Surprisingly Complicated Strategy Fun
A tactics game of monstrous proportions
If you’ve ever wanted to find out if you could save the world from giant monsters rampaging across the city, you’re in luck. Kaiju Wars gives you the chance to marshal the forces of a small nation beset by a force of five kaiju, each modelled after a famous city-destroying monster from cinema history. The...
Review Sports Story (Switch) - A Long-Awaited Sequel That's Sadly Not Up To Par
"The thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat!"
Back in 2017, the Switch library was still in its infancy and this relative lack of competition led to indie projects like Blossom Tales and Blaster Master Zero having far more visibility than they perhaps would in the current, more crowded marketplace. Another big early winner on the eShop was...
Review WRC Generations (Switch) - Rough-Looking Rallying With Too Many Compromises
It's the end of the road
It’s only taken 11 games to figure it out, but publisher Nacon has finally realised that numbering its WRC games has perhaps started to get a little ridiculous. As such, this sequel to WRC 10 has ditched the numbering system, and goes by the more approachable title of WRC Generations. It’s an interesting time to finally...