Scottish games journalist for over 15 years, formerly of Official Nintendo Magazine UK & CVG, now Features Editor at VGC. Gaming since the mid-'80s.
Review EA Sports FC 25 (Switch) - The New Best Football Game On Switch
We've been to Haaland back
If you've been following the history of the FIFA series on Switch, you'll know there was a massive plot twist last year. After delivering exactly the same FIFA game for six years in a row and getting progressively more frustrated Nintendo Life reviews in the process, EA finally stepped up its game with EA Sports FC 24 and...
Review Hot Lap Racing (Switch) - An Enjoyable "Simcade" Racer That Still Falls Between Stools
Not about spilling coffee, sadly
Although the Switch is home to an abundance of arcade-style racing games, the same can’t be said for more realistic fare. This is most likely because the Switch’s hardware would struggle to handle the Gran Turismos and Forza Motorsports of this world, so developers tend to give Nintendo's system a miss when...
Review Sociable Soccer 24 (Switch) - A Sensible Option For Old-School Footy Fans
Definitely worth a punt
The debate about which is the best football video game is one that has raged on for decades. Until now, there hasn’t really been much of a choice on Switch. There’s EA Sports FC (which thankfully, finally, is worth getting now), but with Konami’s eFootball (formerly PES) nowhere in sight, the other options are...
Review Lorelei And The Laser Eyes (Switch) - An Excellent Puzzle-Filled Homage To Resident Evil
The Eyes have it
It’s fair to say at this point that Annapurna Interactive has one hell of an eye for a good game. A laser eye, if you will. The odd stumble aside – Twelve Minutes was a bit rubbish and the likes of Last Stop and Open Roads were perfectly fine, but not quite masterpieces – for the most part, Annapurna has an exceptional track...
Review New Star GP (Switch) - A Stylish, Moreish Homage To The Likes Of Virtua Racing
We've certainly Senna lot worse
Every now and then you get an indie developer who you can rely on to deliver a banger pretty much every time. New Star Games is one such developer, having already scored healthy scores on Nintendo Life in the past for New Star Manager (which scored 8), Retro Bowl (9), and Retro Goal (8). Alongside its Switch...
Review Top Racer Collection (Switch) - Three Classic Racers And The Odd Backfire
One for the Gear-heads
Racing game fans who’ve been around since the SNES era are likely to be familiar with the Top Gear series. Developed by Gremlin Graphics (later Gremlin Interactive) as the SNES equivalent of its Lotus games on other consoles, it’s the closest Nintendo’s 16-bit system got to its own version of Sega’s classic arcade game...
Review Arzette: The Jewel Of Faramore (Switch) - An Adroit Homage To The Worst Zelda Games
You'll need a Philips head for this
You can’t move for retro-inspired games these days, to the extent that a developer saying “Hey, this looks like an old game!” has started to feel less like a selling point and more like a hop onto a crowded, pixelated bandwagon. If you’re after something that looks a bit like a modern NES or SNES game...
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...
Review EA Sports FC 24 (Switch) - The Best Football Game On Any Nintendo System, Finally
We Kanté believe they finally did it
Long-time Nintendo Life readers will be aware of the love-hate (mainly hate) relationship we’ve had with the FIFA series over the course of the Switch’s life. The first Switch entry, FIFA 18, was considered a positive start, even though it felt feature-light compared to other consoles and was clearly based...
Review AEW: Fight Forever (Switch) - The Spirit Of WWF No Mercy Lives On In The Ring
Penta plays
Ask any long-time grappling fan what the best wrestling video game of all time is, and they’ll give you one of two answers, both published by THQ: WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, developed by Yuke’s (which is incorrect) and WWF No Mercy, developed by AKI (correct). For decades no wrestling game has touched No Mercy when it comes...
Review Disney Speedstorm - Great Courses And Characters, But Stutters On Switch
Super karting, quite artistic, FPS atrocious
It’s hard to review a game when it has something that doesn’t bother some players but is considered a dealbreaker for others. Disney Speedstorm is a particularly tricky course to navigate, then, because it has two of them. Let’s get this out of the way first, then, so as to not waste some...
Cel of the century
Foolish is the person who looks at a tie-in game aimed mainly at younger players and instantly dismisses it as a load of old bums. Of course, most of the time they’re completely right – we still have occasional nightmares of that time we played Hotel for Dogs on the Wii – but every now and then a licensed game will go above...
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 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...
Review Smurfs Kart (Switch) - Not As Smurf As Smurf, But Surprisingly Smurf
Not half as Smurf as we'd Smurfed
When it comes to karting games, you can either try something new in an attempt (and likely failure) to reinvent the genre, or you can play it safe and just take notes from Mario Kart. Smurfs Kart has absolutely no qualms about going with the latter option, with barely a shred of originality to be found in its game...
Review Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway (Switch) - Slams The Series Into Reverse
"No sir, I don't like it"
Usually when a licensed karting game is released, it’s a one-and-done affair. Cram a load of well-known characters into tiny cars, fling them around a bunch of courses, collect the money and punt them out the door. In that sense, you’ve got to give credit to developer Bamtang and publisher GameMill for holding firm and...
Review FIFA 23 (Switch) - The Final Whistle Blows On A Legacy Of Disappointment
Don't waste your Sterling on this
If you’ve been keeping tabs on EA’s hugely popular football franchise, you’ll have heard that FIFA 23 marks the end of an era. As the final game to carry the FIFA licence before EA parts ways with its partner of 30 years, most multiformat sites have been discussing FIFA 23’s importance as the finale of a...
Review Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course (Switch) - Short, Sweet, And Utterly Essential
You'd be a mug to ignore it
There’s a section near the end of one of the new stages in Cuphead’s DLC that made us shout a four-letter word at the screen extremely loudly, and that word wasn’t ‘cups’. Being the level-headed types we are, it’s very rare for a game to make us resort to such outbursts, but there we were, bellowing the sort...
Review Wreckfest (Switch) - An Absolute Banger (In A Good Way)
Wreck and ruin
On paper, Wreckfest is one of those games that should never really be possible on the Switch, at least not in a sufficiently playable state. When it came to PS4 and Xbox One in 2019, even though it was widely praised, many noted that it suffered from some technical issues and extremely long loading times. Surely if you’re bringing a...
Review Formula Retro Racing (Switch) - A Sega-Style Arcade Racer With Engine Troubles
Sega does what this don't
Formula Retro Racing is based on a particular era of arcade racers: namely, the very early polygonal era in which games like Virtua Racing (well, okay, it was really only Virtua Racing) were wowing arcade-goers. As in Sega’s seminal arcade racer, Formula Retro Racing uses large, chunky polygons for its cars and tracks...
Review The House Of The Dead: Remake (Switch) - Control Issues Gnaw At Sega's Arcade Classic
Stutter like G did
Two years ago, Polish studio Forever Entertainment released an HD remake of Sega Saturn classic Panzer Dragoon. Our review at the time stated that the remake was interesting but flawed, but ultimately concluded that even though it wasn’t perfect, we were glad it at least existed so that more people could at least get a chance to...
Review Slipstream (Switch) - A Neat, Sonic-Obsessed Homage To Sega's Super Scaler Tech
The skids are alright
If it’s retro racing you’re looking for, you don’t have to look far on Switch. The likes of Hotshot Racing, Formula Retro Racing, Horizon Chase Turbo and the Sega Ages versions of Virtua Racing and Out Run have ensured that anyone keen on a racing game of the vintage vehicular variety is practically spoiled for choice.
Review WRC 10 The Official Game (Switch) - Lots Of Rallying If You Can Handle The Visuals
Sliding into our DNFs
The WRC series on Switch feels to us a bit like a hammer made of sponge. We appreciate the effort that went into it and it sort of looks like the real thing, but it never really properly nails it. After getting off to a rocky start with WRC 8 on the Switch then delivering a slightly improved but still shonky sequel, the series...
Mini Review Horrid Henry's Krazy Karts (Switch) - One For The Kids
Unlike Henry, it isn't bad
Say what you will about Horrid Henry's suitability as a role model for youngsters, but there’s no denying the popularity of the franchise. Although there don’t appear to be any new books on the way anytime soon, the fact is they continue to sell well and its five-series animated spin-off now sits proudly on Netflix...
