Latest Reviews
Review Spirittea (Switch) – A Relaxing Life Sim That Blends Spirited Away And Stardew
Afterlife sim
There’s no shortage of games where you have to cleanse a town of ghosts. But do those games let you cleanse the ghosts themselves? Spirittea does. Canadian solo developer Cheesemaster brings us this Japanese- and Korean-inspired afterlife sim. It’s a brew of Spirited Away, Stardew Valley, and other things that mostly goes down...
Review Super Mario RPG (Switch) - A Timeless Classic Returns In A Remake Done Right
It's-an-RPG!
On paper, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a game that probably shouldn’t exist. It brought together Nintendo’s platforming icon with RPG giant Square in a way that seemed impossible, imbuing the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom (and beyond) with bucketloads of personality beyond the hops, jumps, and yelps they were...
Review Astral Ascent (Switch) - Probably The Best Roguelite Since Hades
There's always room for one more good one
In 2019, a small French studio called Hibernian Workshop released a game called Dark Devotion, a promising 2D soulslike that was met with mixed reviews, but managed to garner a passionate fanbase. A couple of years later, the team returned with a Kickstarter pitch for a new roguelite called Astral Ascent,...
Review Persona 5 Tactica (Switch) - Thrillingly Varied Turn-Based Strategy With Joker And Co.
As refreshing as a river in a dry land
Never let it be said that Atlus is one to let its star franchises go untapped. It’s now been seven years since the Phantom Thieves were first introduced in Persona 5, and since then we’ve gotten an enhanced re-release of that game, a dungeon crawler, a rhythm game, a musou, an anime, a manga, and several...
Review 9 Years Of Shadows (Switch) - Unique Ideas Elevate This Scrappy Metroidvania
Dark crystals
The hallowed Metroidvania has gone from an original, curiously enticing one-off concept, to a highly consumable once-monthly product fit for devouring at speed. If you’re now, as we are, extremely seasoned in the format pioneered by Symphony of the Night in 1997, you’ll likely rip through 9 Years of Shadows like a '46 Ford through...
Review Thirsty Suitors (Switch) - A Heart And Humour-Filled Ex-Battler, Stylish But Overly Ambitious
And we thought our love lives were a disaster
If you play enough video games, you can see when developers are playing it safe, but that isn’t the case for Outerloop’s Thirsty Suitors. If anything, it is trying to do too much, its ambition reaching to heights that its budget simply can’t deliver, but we found ourselves not minding. So much love...
Review DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing (Switch) - Ain't The Sharpest Tool In The Shed
They put a Shrek in it
Given that he’s an internet icon these days and the star of countless memes, it’s a bit of a surprise that it’s taken this long – 12 full years, in fact – to find a way to get Shrek into another video game. The last title to feature the onion-layered ogre was DreamWorks Super Star Kartz, released by Activision in...
Fine finale
It feels like a lifetime ago since Nintendo announced that it would be expanding Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with the Booster Course Pass, adding a total of 48 courses made up of revamped classics and brand-new additions. But does the expansion end with a bang or a whimper? Well, much like prior waves, we’d say this one lands somewhere in the...
Review Fashion Dreamer (Switch) - Some Decent Dress-Up, But Lacks Style Savvy's Depth
Flashy façade
Fashion Dreamer, the newest release from the developer (Syn Sophia) of the cult classic Style Savvy games, garnered high expectations from fans hoping to find a spiritual successor to the series. While Fashion Dreamer is not technically part of the Style Savvy family (known as 'Style Boutique' in Europe), it offers fans of those DS...
Review Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 - A Poor Switch Port Of A Promising Platform Pounder
All-Star Bawl
Just two years after the release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, the Nicktoons have been thrust together once again in the name of licensed platform fighting, of all things, in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. The original was a solid outing with deep mechanics, but was held back by a lack of polish outside of gameplay, and although...
Review Little Goody Two Shoes (Switch) - Cute, Compelling Horror With Some Frustrations
The Red Shoes
Fairy tales are never really what they seem. Growing up, we’re all exposed to these moral stories – often based on fable and myth – which have been adapted multiple times and, in many cases, softened too, whether it’s through a beautifully drawn picture book or a sanitised Disney adaptation. But as you get older and more...
Review Air Twister (Switch) - An Arcade Blast From Yu Suzuki's Past, And A Missed Opportunity
Like we did last summer
Back in 2010, the Wii's Sin & Punishment: Star Successor inadvertently informed how, in various ways, the Space Harrier model could be revitalised in a contemporary fashion. In Air Twister, director Yu Suzuki, famous for creating Space Harrier, Out Run, and After Burner (not to mention Shenmu
Mini Review Alien Hominid Invasion (Switch) - An Explosive, Superior Sequel
Chaos reassembled
Admittedly, we never dug the original Alien Hominid. First released on consoles in 2004, it had its fanbase, sure, but the Newgrounds art style, slack animation response, and aggravating rather than enjoyable difficulty curve just turned us off. Enter Alien Hominid Invasion, a 2023 sequel that blasted out of nowhere, ready to...
Review World Of Horror - One Of The Most Unique Roguelites On Switch
"I am a horror maniac who prefers to stay at home"
These days, it feels like every other indie game released is a roguelite of some kind, and while there are a lot of good ideas brought to the table, the barrage of releases can feel like they start to blend together. Not so with World of Horror. This is a roguelite RPG styled after the basic...
Review Ebenezer And The Invisible World (Switch) - A Good Metroidvania Launched In A Ghastly State
(Bah, hum)bugs abound
Of the hundreds of versions of A Christmas Carol that we’re all bombarded with in the lead-up to the Holidays, very few give any thought to what comes after Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. The focus is firmly on how he becomes a changed man and not what he actually does with his...
Review My Time At Sandrock (Switch) - A Farm Sim Sequel That Plays It Too Safe
Not exactly the cream of the crop
Since this review was published, an update has reportedly improved one or more of the issues cited. Unfortunately, we cannot revisit games on an individual basis, but it should be noted that the patched game currently available may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. Fans of the farm sim...
Mini Review Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Still Outstanding On Switch
What a thrill
Originally released in 2004, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is widely considered to be the finest entry in Hideo Kojima’s Magnum Opus. And almost 20 years later, it’s still easy to see why, even though some aspects of the game haven’t aged particularly gracefully. For Switch owners who have never delved into the Metal Gear...
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...
Mini Review Metal Gear Solid - A Faithful Switch Debut For An All-Time Great
Kept you waiting, huh?
Going back to Metal Gear Solid in 2023, it’s undoubtedly clear why the game created so much fuss when it originally launched on the PS1 back in 1998. What’s also obvious, however, is how much the title has aged in the decades since. For its release on the Switch, Konami has opted to retain as much of the original’s...
Review WarioWare: Move It! (Switch) - A Fine Return For Wario's Wii-Era, Motion-Based Mayhem
Good Form
As much as we loved 2021's WarioWare: Get It Together!, it's definitely an entry in this barmy franchise that's ended up dividing opinion over time. With little in the way of truly engaging multiplayer options, no real core gimmick, or any significant attempt to utilise the Switch's unique control opportunities, some folks (not us, mind)...
Review Star Ocean: The Second Story R (Switch) - One Of The Very Best RPGs Of The Year
Come sail on a different sea of stars
The Star Ocean series has always occupied a weird spot in Square’s massive catalogue. This sci-fi-focused JRPG series started off relatively strong, but the last few entries have been middling at best and just plain not good at worst. Nonetheless, those earlier games were really something at the time, and...
Review Devil World - A North American Debut For Nintendo's Curious Pac-Man 'Clone'
Heaven a good time
This review was originally published in November 2014. We're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online NES library — and its official debut in North America nearly 40 years after its Japanese launch on Famicom. As far as obscure releases within the NES library go, Devil World is...
Review Castlevania Legends - A 'Vania So Poor It Got Booted From Canon
Tainted bloodline
This review was originally published in October 2012. We're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy library. The odds were stacked against Castlevania Legends almost from the start. When it was released towards the end of the '90s, it had the near-impossible task of following
Review The Mysterious Murasame Castle - The Legend Of Zelda's Action-Focused Sibling
The mystery is why this took so long to be released outside Japan
This review was originally published in June 2014. We're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online NES library. Although not originally released outside Japan, chances are that longtime Nintendo fans in the West have noticed nostalgic...
Walking in a winter wonderland
It’s been a busy year for Riot’s new Forge publishing arm, aimed at expanding its League of Legends Runeterra universe in games beyond the popular MOBA. In April, we got The Mageseeker, a hi-bit brawler set in the austere kingdom of Demacia, and in June, we got Convergence, a traditional Metroidvania set in the...
Review Dave The Diver (Switch) - One Of The Best Games In A Year Of Greats
If nautical nonsense is something you wish
Dave the Diver is a game about a diver named Dave. It's also about a restauranteur, archaeologist, marine researcher, and social media genius — also Dave. Poor ol' Dave has to wear all these hats in Dave the Diver, and living out his toilsome existence makes for one of the best games of the year and...
Review VISCO Collection (Switch) - A Well-Presented Neo Geo Arcade Set With Online Play
A magnificent seven?
Unless you’re a Neo Geo diehard, Visco isn't as recognisable as Namco, Konami, Capcom, or the other big hitters they used to roll with in the early '90s arcade scene. And, although the company made strong impressions with the likes of Vasara, the majority of its work was for SNK’s Neo Geo hardware, as represented by the...
Review Gordian Quest - An Engaging Deckbuilder, But A Poor Switch Port
Knot the best port
Gordian Quest, like many games of its ilk, is bogged down by dense, cumbersome menus and volumes of small text. But unlike a lot of other games in the strategy and deckbuilding genre, it's much easier to wrap your mind around and isn't mired in frustratingly long tutorials and steep learning curves. Weaving tabletop inspirations...
A legend returns
Editor's Note: If you're looking for our thoughts on the individual releases within the Collection, then check out our reviews on Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which you can buy individually on the Switch eShop. For Nintendo fans, the Metal Gear franchis
Review Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition (Switch) - Dripping In Nostalgic 4v1 Fun
Be the one who answers the call
If you’re a child of a certain age, you absolutely grew up wanting to strap on a Proton Pack and go bust some ghosts with your friends. There have been plenty of attempts to tap into the nostalgia for Ghostbusters over the years, and, while Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed isn’t the best of the bunch, it is a...
