SwitchedOn_Games

@BionicDodo It may be the fact it can handle it, but still, nobody has made a game like that, so you can't really compare a game that is out on the Switch with one that hypothetically could be released?

@BionicDodo "...doesn't mean that it can't host a realistic looking racing game with a high and stable frame rate..." well, it does so far nearly 2 years in, so perhaps it can't? lol

But seriously I take your point. I agree MK is probably a 9 for me, so if I eventually stick at 7.5 for VR4, I feel thats enough of a gap given what I get out of it. I'm not going to score one game lower just because another similar(ish) game has a high score.

I take each game on its own merits plus those 2 games would be appealing to 2 quite different audiences despite both being racing games...

@BionicDodo Yea - I think I mentioned in my impressions video above, that its got mediocre reviews on other platforms, but for me you expect better on those systems plus they going up against Dirt Rally etc.

I was talking Switch specifically. I follow 4-5 people on Twitter that I know have this already and like me, they are all really enjoying it.

For the Switch, with no competition, I think its a very decent game. I'd personally score it in the range of 7.5-8/10. But... reviewing is all about opinions!

@Mr_Horizon Too be honest, it only really runs below 30 in multi-car races. If you just doing Rally its perfectly fine and really shifts. Problem is, there is not really any avoiding having to do multi-car races in career mode, so you have to suck it up eventually.

@SimonMKWii Why not get more opinions. I'd never make a judgement on a game from a single persons opinion.

Ha! Racing games not really your thing are they Chris? This is getting a lot of praise from people that have played it on Twitter. Not done my review yet, but have a few impressions videos such as;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0QkiT9TcdA

@MysticGengar Same characters, different sort of game. Puzzle Bobble has you firing arrows at colour bubbles coming down from the top of the screen. The sort of game you find swamping the iOS App Store (stuff like the Bubble Witch series)

@construx Hmmm that comment is pretty laughable really. Its NOT trying to do what Forza Horizons does, unless you literally mean drive cars around roads. FH is a massive game with a tonne of content and a persistent online world. GC2 is nothing like that at all!

Been playing this a lot too be fair and its growing more on me. Definitely a 7/10 type of game. Yes, it has bugs, it has some other technical issues and the price is crazy - but the actual racing is pretty fun and as I say, getting better the more I play it and get used to the handling model.

Realised I hadn't been using the handbrake button! Thats improved things even more as you can keep a lot more speed up and drift round some of the tighter corners.

The track layouts are actually really fun to drive and the snow tracks are definitely different. Probably not quite as slippy as they should be, but definitely less grip.

There is a lot here that can be fixed with a patch too be honest and I hope they do add as many improvements as possible.

I'm not looking to change anyone's mind on buying this as its not a £50 game. I'm just stupid with money and can't help myself buying things once I get that worm in my brain. I haven't got buyers remorse at all, but similarly I wouldn't expect a lot of people to be happy paying that price for this.

But its not a 4/10 game if you base it on gameplay thats for sure.

@JayJ Agree that MotoGP (at least docked) and Spintires are excellent on Switch!

There are definitely some frame rate issues. It should be pointed out by reviewers really - though personally, whilst I've noticed it during my playing, it hasn't bothered me much at all.

@Krambo42 Or ridiculously high - like giving Mantis Burn Racing a NINE was crazy.

Its such a weird game. Swings between most of what Chris has said in his review, to "whoah, that was a really fun and intense race!".

I paid around £40 for it (still ridiculous granted) in an effort to review it at some point this week too and my current score in my head is all over the place, so I need to play it more. It's a shame as it feels SO close to being half decent...

@GameOtaku oh no people like something different to you! PASS

Chance of a demo dropping??

EIGHT!?

Please, please go back and rectify the score you gave Mantis Burn (9) cos it just makes the rest of your reviews a mockery.

@Cobalt I live in a tiny town and regularly see people on their Switch, especially in places like hairdressers when they are waiting. Meh doesn't matter, can dress it up either way.

@N8tiveT3ch Years! Is F2P though, but pretty decent for what it is. Thats what made the £35 Switch version so hard to stomach.

@Cobalt "Boy" lol... what about the people that haven't got multiple systems? Its not fair to compare games cross system. Should Forza be marked down because you can't take it on a bus and play it? No? Well why not if we are comparing cross systems.

Of course FH4 is better, but on the Switch there are few 'sims'. FWIW Gear.Club isn't THAT bad, but was grossly overpriced for what it was. I had a decent amount of fun with it though, so definitely going to be keeping an eye on "2".

@Cobalt Yea I LOVE Forza on Switch - have no idea how they got it at 60fps 1080!

Exactly how I felt about it Chris. You nailed it saying its hard to know how to feel - impressed or disappointed. Its still a great game IMO and in isolation, is very impressive for the Switch, but the fact so much of it is untouched from a year ago is disappointing and as you said, surely SOME of the features could have made it over.

I totally get why the Journey hasn't. It was built in one engine and would be ridiculous to expect them to rebuild it for this engine - plus what are they going to do, start from Part 3, or redo a new story etc? So thats awkward and I'm fine with it being left out, but so much other stuff should have been added from the PS4/XBO versions. I'd probably give it an 8 (last year got a 9).

BTW, nice Muicin poke

Insulting to Dead Cells that trailer video. Crappy Flash looking animations.

Yea should be no surprise to anyone buying it that it could struggle - it does on every platform. Not that it makes it right for the Switch, but at least go in with the right expectations. Plus if any game is going to have frame rate issues, then a game like this is the one you'd want from the point of view that the FPS hardly effects any gameplay.

Its a fun game, something different on the Switch and certainly not deserving of a 5.

NL are a odd bunch with their inconsistent review policy - you get a really dull racer like "Mantis Burn" get a 9... thats when I really stopped caring about the score they give at the end of a review. Its kind of a running joke amongst friends now that if NL didnt give a game a 9, then something is afoot....

Are there any leaderboards?

No Wonder Boy games? Wonder Boy in Monster Land is one of my all time fave games.

@twenty90seven You can turn that off (at least on the other games by these guys)

@shani Well, too be fair the review said 2k19 is the best, and we do still have 2k18 plus the NBA Playground series. So 2, soon to be 3 (with Playgrounds 2) other bball games.

I loved 18 and rated it 9/10 on here (I'm not a reviewer, I meant in the game library you can store on NL)

Tempted by this, though after ploughing in a lot of hours to 18, not played it in months.

I'd advise against Super Sidekicks. The other versions released are far superior, even for £4-5, put that money towards the better version.

Has anyone seen confirmation yet that it will have video capture support this year? I still cant believe it was never patched into 18.

@Yosher The art and animation is so janky. Its like the demo code you might build in a "LEARN UNITY IN 20 MINUTES!" ebook...

Got it last night pretty much soon as it launched and regret(ted) it. Seen a few reviews of it today and everyone seems to at least not hate it like I do, so maybe there is something in there somewhere.

I may give it another chance - but theres kind of a rule I adhere to now with Switch and thats "a 7/10 is not good enough for the Switch". Theres so many good games, its hard to justify buying a 7/10 game.

Well... this isn’t leaving a good first impression on me. Already quite a list of things I don’t like

I think the fact this will be designed with the Switch in mind (rather than porting from iOS) should help.

Paid a lot for the first and didnt hate it. Played it for a fair bit and did get decent enjoyment out of it, so hope they can tweak the 2nd even further.

Yes, to echo @tedko above, the demo will showcase the mechanics of the game - the movement, attacking, fighting vs a monster etc - but MH is about SO much more, so if you think you quite like it, but 'its boring' or 'not a lot to it' - this is literally just a small part of a much bigger, deeper game!

How about... "and you can download a demo right now"....?

A good review here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAAHAKeAfIQ

Definitely fair comment - that the game really eases you in slowly and if you didnt realise, you'd think the mini games are pretty easy/shallow.

But after you've played through them, loads more options unlock, like harder levels, different tracks, harder objectives, more control methods (like tricks etc).

Got this morning and actually really enjoying it - better than I expected.

And for everyone asking - NO ONLINE.

@Hikingguy where is there 20% off?

@Wildvine53 You can complete them whenever in a season

Be aware though, some more remote challenges (like, "Kill 3 people in flush factory") can get hard as the weeks pass as less people go there.

Basically, try to do the challenges that week, but dont stress it.

Had this since launch and really enjoy it.

Its one of those gaming oddities that it has so much bad, but its actually.... good. Reminds me of games of old that had jank in them, but you still enjoyed playing them.

The career mode is pretty deep and lengthy, so tonnes of replayability. Loads of options and tweaks too.

Docked, it doesnt look too bad at all, all things considered - but its true, its a hot mess handheld. Still playable, but with a lot of graphical concessions. I play my Switch mainly docked, so personally, I dont let this bother me.

Finally... analogue vs digital. Yea, its a pain to be sure, but its playable without too many issues, Just takes some feathering, but controls feel pretty tight. Like letting go of accelerate will smoothly slow you down (cpt obvious right?) then its just slowly building the speed up again. Its hard to explain, but it does 'work' somehow!

The devs have said they are working on patches for all consoles to improve graphics and offer more control options, so maybe they will allow mapping to the right stick (which despite being able to edit the controls on the Switch version, you cant map to the right stick).

Final note - its a LOT cheaper from Canada. Like nearly half price of the UK version. I'd definitely recommend it for what I paid (around £27) but dont think I could at the £50 the UK eShop wants.

Really want to like this.... seems nice and varied but its bound to be awful.

@code45709 Yup, log into my.nintendo.com online, edit your account to say you live in a different country. Go onto your switch, log into the eshop and it will ask you to log in again, then you should be in the store of your account country you selected. Can use PayPal with most of these - like with Russia I used PayPal.

I rarely ever buy from the UK store. Usually I set my account to South Africa or Norway - and I also have seperate switch accounts set up for USA and one for Canada.

@bluesdance Its hard, if not impossible to use the Mexico store in the UK.

Bit of a sneaky one here, but its £2.98 on the Russia store...

@rockodoodle And Panic Button! Keep them ports coming...

@DragonbornRito You insolent mule!! I must..... DELETE YOU!

Can I just say thanks for doing these guides - most appreciated!

@Woosh193 Not sure if this is aimed at me too as the OP, but there is no denying the graphics are pretty awful - and as I said originally, I'm a big Switch apologist. Even to the point of this game, it looks terrible, but I'm still enjoying it a lot and would recommend it at the £27 I paid.

I have a PS4Pro too and its crazy that I will even play most of my Switch games on the same HD TV as the PS4, but prefer to play Switch. I'd say my play time between the consoles over the last year is 90% Switch, 10% PS4 and most of that 10% was on Fortnite, which I now play on Switch despite it having a better resolution and framerate on the PS4 plugged into the same TV!

I have also bought games on the Switch I'd never buy on PS4, yet still mostly play them on TV - MotoGP would be a good example actually - and another is coming today in Wolfenstein.. Now I've played MotoGP on Switch though, its definitely piqued my interest in having it on the PS4 with better graphics etc.

But there is absolutely no denying - for my usage anyways - that I prefer all my games on Switch now (and I have over 100 lol) just because of that freedom to pick it up from the dock and walk away and play it elsewhere.

I played about 50/50 of MotoGP between docked and undocked last night because I could. If I had it solely on PS4, I'd have played it for half the time. So I look at it as the Switch allows me to get more value out of a game just purely because I have 2 ways to play - on the couch, or anywhere else if I'm away from the TV.

@Filbert_Wang I’m not sure exactly what assists I have on, but it feels fine to me.

ZR accelerate, ZL front brake, B back brake. Works well.

@Gerald I got it from Canada eshop for 27. Maybe go that way? Think it’s similar price from South Africa store, which is a bit easier to set up.