Latest Reviews
Review Dave The Diver - 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 - 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
For Nintendo fans, the Metal Gear franchise has long been just out of reach, with Konami dangling the metaphorical carrot with one-off releases such as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on GameCube, Ghost Babel on Game Boy Color, and Snake Eater 3D on the 3DS. After decades of neglect, however, Switch owners can now rejoice, as...
Review Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition - 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...
Mini Review Garden Buddies – A Relaxing Sim That’s A Little Green
Sow-sow
Gardening in game worlds is relaxing – more so than its real-life counterpart, where plants wither no matter what you do. Garden Buddies from Dutch developer JamPics joins the many cosy Switch games where you can grow plants without wondering if you’ve under- or over-watered them. Unfortunately, it’s not the pick of the bunch. Garden...
Mini Review Just Dance 2024 Edition - Just More, Now With Added Miley
May I have this high-score challenge?
2024 is on the horizon, which means it’s high time for Ubisoft to step onto the dancefloor with its latest Just Dance offering, Just Dance 2024 Edition. If you look back on our review of 2023’s entry, we mentioned that it significantly improved the tried-and-tested formula, boosting the visuals nicely while...
Mini Review Suika Game - Viral Sensation 'Watermelon Game' Is A Ripe Little Puzzler
Ripe and ready
A couple of years ago, a Japanese company called Aladdin X released a digital projector, and it included a fun little fruit game called Suika Game as part of its software. Suika Game was so well received by people who bought the projector that the company decided to port a version of it to Switch, but the game launched there to almost...
Review Harvest Moon: The Winds Of Anthos - Terrible Title, Pretty Alright Game
Harvest Dew
If the 'Uncanny Valley' is the term for something being almost-human-but-not-quite, then Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos is in the Uncanny Stardew Valley. It's so close to being a really good farming sim game, but doesn't quite manage to hit the mark. However, for the first time in the
Mini Review Witchy Life Story - Lots Of Potential And Charm, But Lacking In Execution
A cup of something cosy
Cottagecore fans, this one’s for you. Witchy Life Story is a visual novel packed full of sweet characters, magical charms, and cozy rituals. Coming from Sundew Studios, it has already been around on Steam for a while, and it’s now available on Switch. The story puts you in the pointed shoes of a witch who has been sent...
Review CRYMACHINA - Silly, Stylish, But Oh-So-Repetitive Action-RPG-ing
Cry me a river
FuRyu has made a name for itself in recent years of being a publisher that does a great job of churning out RPGs that you’ll certainly like, but probably not love. Games like Monark, Caligula Effect, and Crystar have all offered players some decent yet flawed experiences, and now the company has brought us yet another entry in this...
Review Agatha Christie - Murder On The Orient Express - A Clever New Spin On An Old Mystery
Train of thought
When a mystery story has been told millions of times before, how can it still be a mystery? This is the challenge faced by anyone adapting Agatha Christie’s phenomenally widely-read 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express. And just in case anyone missed out on the book, decades of film adaptations have also solved the case again...
Review Gargoyles Remastered - One For Cult Disney Die-Hards Only
"We are defenders of the night! We are Gargoyles!"
Back in the mid-to-late '90s, Disney produced a cartoon called Gargoyles that stood out quite a bit from other shows in the animated landscape. Featuring a serialized storytelling format, rich lore, and a rather dark tone, it quickly gained a cult following across its run, though it never garnered a...
Review Super Mario Bros. Wonder - The Best 2D Mario Since The Super NES
Wonder boy
When Super Mario World first released back in 1990 (or '91 or '92 depending on your region), it felt like a huge moment for Nintendo's iconic platforming franchise. Here was Mario as we already knew him, bounding energetically through 2D environments on the way to his usual goal but, at the same time, everything felt as though it had...
Review Front Mission 2: Remake - Serviceable, But With Some Seriously Rough Edges
RNG my bell
It takes a lot to make a game about giant robot battles feel dull, but somehow Front Mission 2: Remake manages it. While it improves on some of the shortcomings of Front Mission 1st: Remake, the combat system isn’t fun enough to fully salvage this tactical RPG. While it might be worthwhile for strategy fans eager to test out G-Craft's...
Review Sonic Superstars - A Fine, Authentic-Feeling Return That Runs Great On Switch
Speed up, superstar
If you’d have told us that two of gaming’s most iconic rivals, Mario and Sonic, would be going head-to-head with two brand-new platformers in the space of a week, we’d have said you were probably off your rocker. What’s more, if you’d have said that Sega’s latest entry, Sonic Superstars, would turn out to provide one...
Review Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged - A Cool, Creative Racer That Expands The Playset
Burning rubber
Hot Wheels, man. We remember those. In the '90s almost every Saturday morning ad break featured a Hot Wheels commercial braying out superlative adjectives over thrashy rock solos. Invariably, two pearly-toothed, spiky-haired kids would grin as their miniature cars jostled for pole position, giving each other a thumbs-up after a...
Review Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition - Makes The Jump To Switch Almost Entirely Intact
"Do you hear screaming, or am I having another one of my episodes?"
A little less than ten years ago, a port of Borderlands 2 famously launched for Sony’s ailing PS Vita to middling reception. The fact that a then-current game could run at all on a portable was remarkable, but the flat visuals, crashing, and consistently sub 30 FPS performance...
Great gameplay never goes out of style
Great games are great no matter how much time has passed, and that remains true of Company of Heroes. The RTS classic that robbed us of our evenings and weekends back in 2006 has returned to the Nintendo Switch in the form of the Company of Heroes Collection and despite an updated control scheme for the...
Review Dementium: The Ward - A Safe Switch Return For A Creepy Cult Classic
Before the Lobotomy
Bringing cult classics to a more modern, updated platform can be a risky proposition. What, if anything, do you change, and what do you keep the same? When the game you happen to be porting originated on the DS, a certain degree of change is inevitable given the shift from a two-screen to a single-screen format, so naturally, a...
Review Wild Card Football - An Ambitious Take On Gridiron Lacking A Full Deck
Missing the Playoffs
While the Nintendo Switch has never had the prominent American Football video game series, it has had some notable efforts in the Indie and retro spaces. Now we can add Wild Card Football to the mix, and it's certainly an ambitious release in comparison to its contemporaries on the system. From Saber Interactive, it follows a...
Review Fate/Samurai Remnant - Musou Evolved, With Patchy Switch Performance
Your wish is granted
For several years, it felt like if you’ve played one of Omega Force’s famed Musou action games, you’ve played them all. It seems the team took note of this souring sentiment, however, resulting in more nuanced takes on the formula in more recent titles such as Fire Emblem: Three Hopes and Persona 5 Strikers (the latter...
Review COCOON – A Unique, Worlds-Within-Worlds Puzzler That Left Us Buzzing
Into the hive mind
2023 has swarmed us with quality games. So many that there aren’t enough hours in the day to play them all — and now, Cocoon has crept onto our screens to buzzing acclaim. Fortunately, if you’re busy as a bee, and can’t dedicate time to a marathon game, this is a nice quick one. Jeppe Carlsen, lead gameplay designer of...
The jump hasn't been smooth
The Dragon Quest series is no stranger to spin-off titles, but few are as confusing as Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai. This action RPG is based on an anime adaptation of a manga based on the world of Dragon Quest, but it is never clear who the game is designed to appeal to. The few things it does well...
Review Detective Pikachu Returns - Drab-Looking But Fun Forensics For The Fam
Sherlock Ho-Oholmes
It's been over seven years since we got our first helping of the wise-cracking, coffee-addicted Detective Pikachu on 3DS and, in the time since, the gruff private investigator has gone on to star in his very own big-screen adaptation voiced by the one and only Ryan Reynolds. Well, excuse us, Mr Hollywood! The first Detective...
Mini Review Super Adventure Hand - Uncanny Platforming With A Flip-The-Bird Button
Gripping
It feels like 3D platformers have come back in a big way these last few years, and some of the most memorable entries have been the most unconventional. Demon Turf utilized a fascinating hand-drawn 2D art style. Tinykin had you leaping and exploring bedrooms and kitchens while commanding a small army of not-Pikmin. Snake Pass tasked you...
Review Horizon Chase 2 - More Arcade Racing, With Some Bumps In The Road
Follow the speeder
Horizon Chase 2 isn't the most interesting racing game out there, but damn, if it isn't hard to put down! It may not match the high-speed hijinks of kart racers starring Mario, Crash Bandicoot, or Sonic the Hedgehog, nor does it hit the same destructive highs of Burnout or the high-fidelity, simulative thrill found in other...
Review Mineko's Night Market – Cosy Fun With A Few Knots In The Fur
This little kitty went to market
Editor's Note: As described in the text below, a glitch towards the end of Mineko's Night Market prevented us from 100% completing the Switch review build at launch. An update for the game has reportedly fixed the issues we encountered, so while the text should be accurate for the most part, your experience may...
Review Gloomhaven - A Cumbersome But Deep (And Hard-As-Nails) TTRPG Adaptation
No safe haven here
As anyone who plays board games (or with friends who like board games) can attest, an involved, TTRPG-style board game can be cumbersome. From in-depth rules and systems, it takes a while to get into Gloomhaven and introducing new players to its dense combat can make multiplayer challenging. But also like a dense board game,...
Review Kirby & The Amazing Mirror - Messy With Metroid Influences, Better With Buddies
Oh, Kirby, you blowhard...
This review, penned by Philip J Reed — our much-missed friend and Nintendo Life contributor — was originally published in January 2012. We're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack GBA library. We have to hand this much to
