Tag: Mini Review
Mini Review Can Of Wormholes (Switch) - A Very Worm Welcome For This Ingenious Puzzler
Roll tape
Greetings, worms! Finally, for all you readers who are worms, scouring Nintendo Life for worm-related content, here’s a game that puts annelids front and centre. Wiggling onto Switch from solo dev Munted Finger, Can of Wormholes dares to open that proverbial can and launch squiggly bird food – if we may call you that – straight at a...
Review LEGO Animal Crossing - Maple's Pumpkin Garden - Is It Worth Tracking Down?
Patchy availability
The launch of the LEGO Animal Crossing line at the start of March 2024 brought five sets based on Nintendo's slow-life-sim franchise to shop shelves, but there was also a secret sixth bonus set available if you knew where to look. Maple's Pumpkin Garden is a small bonus polybag set that was sold exclusively online from Lego...
Mini Review Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty - A Solid Switch Port, But Fans Deserve Better
I need scissors! 61!
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has long been considered one of the weaker entries in Hideo Kojima’s stealth franchise, nestled between the iconic PS1 original and the critically acclaimed prequel, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Yet playing the game in 2023 is, quite frankly, a revelatory experience. The story once...
Violently political
If you think the title is little more than a healthy pun, think again; Pulling No Punches means what it says. Politically charged, littered with incendiary themes, and crammed with expletives, this Brazilian indie title is quite the surprise, combining combat with combative opinion. A scrolling beat 'em up in a retro style, its...
Triumph or Die
Jitsu Squad is a beat 'em up heavily inspired by '90s classics like belt-scroller Final Fight and fighter Marvel vs. Capcom. You control the titular squad as they seek to stop the evil demon Origami from getting his hands on the Kusanagi Stone, a legendary MacGuffin which grants godly powers to anyone who can attain it. After a...
Mini Review Swordship (Switch) - A Challenging, High-Speed, 'Dodge 'Em Up' With Style
Burning The Tide
Swordship looks like something from the world of Wipeout, except here the race is for your life. With buttery cel-shaded graphics and a cool ambient techno soundtrack, it's stylistically polished. The frame rate maintains a perfect 60 FPS, with its industrial periphery altering between cities and the colour of the seas moving...
Mini Review OneShot: World Machine Edition (Switch) - A Brilliant And Bittersweet Indie Darling
You've only got OneShot
A cat-like child named Niko wakes up in a decrepit house, locked in a room with a bookshelf, a password-locked computer, and a TV remote control on the floor. It’s too dark to read the books and there’s no sign of a password anywhere – it's up to you to find a way out. Not long after, Niko stumbles upon a massive...
Mini Review Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 (SNES) - 16-Bit Sports With Super Powers
Serious simulation, honest
With five new additions to Nintendo Switch Online's catalogue of NES and SNES games arriving today, we decided to review these new/old releases to help you decide which to play first. Enjoy! With a name like Super Baseball Simulator 1.000, you might expect a hardcore sports game.
Mini Review Spanky's Quest (SNES) - Surprisingly Charming Monkey Business
Bubbles from Natsume
With five new additions to Nintendo Switch Online's catalogue of NES and SNES games arriving today, we decided to review these new/old releases to help you decide which to play first. Enjoy! In the late 1980s, a simian named Jiro was one of the most popular monkeys in Japan, becoming famous for his 'reflection' pose. He also...
Mini Review Magical Drop II (SNES) - Fun And Colourful Puzzle Action
Grab, toss, and match three
With five new additions to Nintendo Switch Online's catalogue of NES and SNES games arriving today, we decided to review these new/old releases to help you decide which to play first. Enjoy! Magical Drop is Data East's take on the competitive puzzle game, but with a major twist - instead of fallin
Mini Review Joe & Mac (SNES) - A Comical But Flawed Prehistoric Platformer
No third character called Cheese, amazingly
With five new additions to Nintendo Switch Online's catalogue of NES and SNES games arriving today, we decided to review these new/old releases to help you decide which to play first. Enjoy! There was a period in the early 1990s when the video game industry was in love with caveman characters - after...
Mini Review Stela (Switch) - 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...