Latest Reviews
Mini Review Marenian Tavern Story: Patty And The Hungry God (Switch) - Solid If Familiar Fare
Meet Patty
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Marenian Tavern Story: Patty and the Hungry God...
Mini Review Steamburg (Switch) - A Clunky Adventure Puzzler With Great Presentation
Steamburger
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Steamburg is an adventure puzzler that is...
Mini Review Crimson Keep (Switch) - A Fun Dungeon Crawler With A Few Gremlins
Keep going
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Crimson Keep is a dungeon crawler with an...
Mini Review Desert Child (Switch) A Hilariously Offbeat, Indie Hovercycle Racer
I need to borrow your... hoverbike
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. Fast-paced and frantic,...
Mini Review Please, Don't Touch Anything (Switch) - An Inviting Puzzler That Begs You To Play Up
Look with your eyes
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. 'Cryptic' is the name of the game in...
Praise be to HD
El Shaddai is an artistic endeavour in the same vein as Rez or Thatgamecompany’s Journey, taking action genre norms and weaving them into an avant-garde, visual tour de force. Anyone familiar with the ill-fated Clover Studio, a Capcom subsidiary that started out in 2004 developing for the GameCube, will likely have encountered the...
Review Library Of Ruina (Switch) - Potential Aplenty, But Just Doesn't Stack Up
My library's in ruins
This review text has been updated to include additional narrative impressions and late-game thoughts. Library of Ruina is less than the sum of its parts. While this visual novel's dialog sets up a well-established, deep world with interesting characters, its grindy repetitiveness eschews plenty of opportunities to make the...
Review Slave Zero X (Switch) - Slick, Stylish, But A Hot Mess On Switch
Slice 'n' dice the frame rate
Many games can get away with slightly sketchy performance if the gameplay experience is a bit more laidback and relaxed (or ‘cinematic’, if you like). Others, however, like Slave Zero X, which focus on blistering combat and stylish visuals, can be almost impossible to recommend if their performance isn’t up to...
Review SaGa Emerald Beyond (Switch) - Diverse But Dull RPG Boosted By Excellent Combat
Junction system
The SaGa titles are part of a series that started life as Final Fantasy Legend, named to capitalise on Square’s blossoming juggernaut. Despite being separate creative endeavours, the two franchises have grown up together. While never achieving the superstar status of its sibling, SaGa has carved its own niche over the years. The...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath Of The Mutants (Switch) - Coin-Op Co-Op Cowabummer
Not quite a cowablunder
Can you ever truly have too much of a good thing? If you’re a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, this question must have sprung to mind at least once in recent years. Because in truth, the good things have been coming thick and fast. 2022 brought arguably the series' best beat 'em up ever in Shredder's Revenge and gave us a...
Review Grounded (Switch) - Obsidian's Shrunk-Down Survival Adventure Struggles On Switch
Does this port come up short?
Listen, if you're of a certain vintage, one of the standout summer holiday movies of your youth will undoubtedly have been Disney's excellent Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Back in those terrible and endlessly cruel times we didn't have all your fancy CGI smothering the life out of every frame, you see, or superheroes...
Review Lunar Lander Beyond (Switch) - A Fresh Approach For Atari's Arcade Classic
Minor turbulence
Atari has had a very interesting few years, publishing a critically acclaimed 50th-anniversary collection in the form of a playable documentary, the ‘Recharged’ series of neo-retro revivals, and a handful of unique reinventions of its classic IPs. Lunar Lander Beyond from Cris Tales developer Dreams Uncorporated is the gaming...
Review Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Switch) - An Immersive JRPG With Some Real Problems
The wait is over
The PS1 played host to a staggering number of memorable and influential RPGs, one of which was Konami’s Suikoden. After that strong debut came a handful of sequels that eventually puttered out during the sixth generation of consoles, and Konami has virtually abandoned the series since. Not ones to be stifled, some key members of...
Review Kudzu (Switch) A Delightful, Leafy Ode To Link's Awakening And The Game Boy
It'll grow on you
Kudzu came to this reviewer during a significant birthday celebration. The day was filled with echoes of our past. There was the music on the radio – uncanny remixes of early-to-mid-90s techno songs that used to hype up pre-teen candyfloss-fuelled visits to funfairs. And there was Kudzu and its unsubtle similarity to all-time...
Review Rose & Camellia Collection (Switch) - An Enjoyably Absurd Yet Frustrating Slapathon
Slappiness is the truth
Certain problems cannot be solved through careful discussion or compromise. Sometimes it isn’t enough to give a verbal beatdown to your rival – you must throw hands as well. The Rose & Camellia series was built upon the idea that not only is a good old-fashioned slapfight fun, but it is often the only dignified way a...
Review Planet Of Lana (Switch) - A Gentle Puzzle-Platformer With Sparkling Presentation
Out of this world
The cinematic platformer: although some great examples have emerged over the decades, the genre perhaps under-celebrated, with its fans especially under-served for a long stretch in the 2000s. It has nonetheless provided some truly legendary games: Prince of Persia, Another World, Flashback, and Inside. Planet of Lana gathers...
Mini Review The Gap (Switch) - A Bit Basic, But Still A Gripping Narrative Mystery
"One must have good memory to keep the promises one makes"
Following a mysterious 'walking sim' path similar to those trodden by The Stanley Parable and What Remains of Edith Finch, Slovenian developer Label This' debut game, The Gap, doesn’t necessarily feel like anything revolutionary, but it’s an engaging narrative experience that we’d...
Review Moonglow Bay (Switch) – A Fishing Sim That Doesn't Pull You In
Watered down
Love or hate fishing minigames, there’s no denying they’re a staple of the cosy set. But Moonglow Bay aims to blow that hook-and-line mechanic into a full game. This fishing sim from Bunnyhug and Coatsink launched in 2021 on Steam and Xbox to mixed reviews. The new Switch port (and starboard) starts out as a tranquil few days out on...
Review MLB The Show 24 (Switch) - A Solid Swinger Emerges After A Laughable Launch
Homerun or dinger?
San Diego Studio returns for a third season of baseball action on Nintendo Switch and it's another fairly solid job all round for 2024, giving fans yet another feature-complete port that manages to get the most important stuff right during its deep and addictive matches. Indeed, whilst MLB The Show 24 has seen plenty of technical...
Review Botany Manor (Switch) - Cosy Yet Challenging, This Puzzler Is Quite Beautiful
Bloomin' lovely
When cosy and wholesome games first stepped onto the scene, they were counter-culture — created in response and in resistance to an industry that churned out violence, conflict, and a particular type of masculinity that wasn't keen on things like emotions or intimacy. Some people were tired of this monolithic and exclusionary idea...
Review Freedom Planet 2 (Switch) - A Sonic-Style Platformer Exuding Passion & Quality
He better watch out
Back in 2014, a team of new developers calling themselves GalaxyTrail released Freedom Planet—a retro style platformer that captured the hearts of many classic-era Sonic the Hedgehog fans. Freedom Planet, in fact, started life as a Sonic fan game, though it established a unique identity for itself as development wore on, and...
Mini Review Screencheat: Unplugged (Switch) - Turns An Old Problem Into A Great Game
Who watches the watchers?
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. An old Steam favourite comes to...
Mini Review I Am The Hero (Switch) - A Well-Presented, Retro-Style Beat 'Em Up
Hero of crime
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. I Am The Hero is an interesting beat em’...
Mini Review Storm Boy (Switch) - An Incredibly Brief But Touching Experience
Pelican't believe it
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. This interactive story game is based...
Mini Review Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure (Switch) - A Crude-Humoured Point-And-Click
Cyn and out
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. An enjoyably crude and dark point-and-click...
Mini Review Soap Dodgem (Switch) - A Rudimentary And Repetitive Slide-Puzzle Port
No scrub
This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format. A puzzle game that has you cleaning up stains and...
Review Open Roads (Switch) - A Short, Evocative Trip Worth Taking
Straight and narrow
The surprising phenomenon of indies casting Hollywood talent continues with Open Roads, a three-hour narrative adventure. But then this is the latest release from Annapurna Interactive, a publisher of both films and games, which has a few similarly voice-acted examples in its back catalogue – the delectable The Artful Escape...
Review Felix The Cat (Switch) - A Cute But Costly Clowder
Retro charm aplenty but no purring
As one of the earliest animated characters dating back to the silent film era, Felix the Cat’s popularity has waxed and waned over the decades. His charm, though, continues to endure beyond his centenary. He may be the only cartoon mascot older than Mickey Mouse to have also tried their hand at the Super Mario...
Review F-Zero Maximum Velocity (GBA) - The First Portable F-Zero Still Holds Up
Back to the future
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's Game Boy Advance library via Nintendo Switch Online. Ah, F-Zero. The futuristic racing series that’s so fast that even Nintendo lost track of it for years. Since it released the Japanese exclusive...
Mini Review Otxo (Switch) - Think 'Roguelike Hotline Miami With Bullet Time, But Not As Good'
I can dodge bullets?
It’s difficult to experience Otxo and not compare it to the top-down shooter Hotline Miami. With its minimal, pixel art visuals, simplistic yet effective core gameplay, and a penchant for visceral, bloody violence, Otxo shares much in common with Dennaton Games’ arcade-style hit. Where Otxo deviates, however, is in its...
