May2024
Board already
There is no shortage of party games available on Switch – the console was practically made with the genre in mind. Standing out from the crowd requires some careful balancing of the rules or implementing some gimmick to make your game feel unique. Or, in the case of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board, you can let your...
March2024
Review Unicorn Overlord (Switch) - A Crowning Tactical RPG Achievement For Vanillaware
My kingdom for a unicorn
How do you follow up a game like 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim? Before that ambitious, phenomenal sci-fi adventure, developer Vanillaware found its niche in creating rich, beautiful-looking worlds with a magical, medieval twist. Sometimes it was traditional Western fantasy, while others it jumped back to Edo Japan.
November2023
Review Football Manager 2024 Touch (Switch) - An Impressive Sim With Some Real Pep
Not quite Ten Hag out of Ten though
Football Manager is an obsession for a rather large demographic each year, the sort of game that is nibbling away at the back of your mind when you're supposed to work, do taxes, or just be a grown-up. For some of us the obsession dates back to its Championship Manager days in the early/mid-1990s, and the core of...
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...
October2023
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...
August2023
Review Samba De Amigo: Party Central (Switch) - Sega's Cult Classic Returns In Need Of A Shake-Up
Going through the motion controls
In the Wii's heyday, some executive or other higher-up at Nintendo dove into the multitude of factors that converged to make the Wii such a resounding success. Among the factors was the idea that motion—even at a minuscule level, like flicking one's wrist—was tied to the brain's production of dopamine. Pairing...
June2023
Review Sonic Origins Plus (Switch) - Not Bad, But Sonic Still Deserves Better
Here we go again...
About this time last year, Sega released Sonic Origins—a compilation release that aimed to collate the first four (five if we count Sonic & Knuckles as a totally separate game) Mega Drive/Genesis Sonic games in one ultimate package with a bunch of extras thrown in. Though it wasn’t without its issues, Sega more or less...
Review Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection (Switch) - Divine Dungeon Crawling But Not Definitive
Back from the dead
One of the unfortunate casualties of the end of DS and 3DS eras was the death of games that were uniquely suited to the quirky dual-screened devices. The Etrian Odyssey series, the first three games of which are represented in the new Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection (also available separately) was a good example of this bespoke...
November2022
Review Sonic Frontiers (Switch) - A Bold But Ultimately Failed Attempt At Something New
Blue sky blues
Sonic Frontiers had a bit of a wild ride ahead of its release. Since the initial announcement and subsequent trailer reveals, public opinion of the blue blur’s latest outing has been all over the place, going from lingering dread to a more optimistic “hey, maybe this will actually be okay, after all”. Well, after sinking over 20...
October2022
Review Persona 5 Royal (Switch) - Finally On Switch, This Is The Very Definition Of Essential
Looking cool, Joker!
Well, all you lovely people, it finally happened. After literally years of pretending like it wasn’t sure there would be an audience, Atlus has brought Persona 5 to the Switch. And though this belated port hasn’t brought with it any major new upgrades or changes, we’re pleased to report that Persona 5 Royal is every bit as...
August2022
Review Two Point Campus (Switch) - A Beautifully Balanced Sim That's More 'Friend' Than 'Fiscal'
Putting the 'U-need' in 'Uneedversity'
After the excellent Two Point Hospital released on Switch moments before the world was rocked by a global pandemic, Two Point Studios are at it yet again with Two Point Campus. If the name hadn’t made it clear already, rather than running a hospital for money, Two Point Campus has you running a university...
June2022
Review Sonic Origins (Switch) - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
COPE
One particularly bright spot in Sonic's recent history was the release of Sonic Mania. One part sequel and one part reimagining of the 2D classics, that retro revival proved to be one of the best-rated and best-selling Sonic projects in recent years. In the (frankly baffling) absence of a true follow-up to Sonic Mania, Sega has instead opted to...
Devilishly good
Though the manga only started in 2016, Demon Slayer has gone on to become one of the most successful media franchises in existence—even passing up the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Minecraft in raw sales. Despite this, Demon Slayer has had shockingly little presence in video games; aside from a Japan-only mobile game that still...
November2021
Review Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch) - The Best Entry Yet In This Dark, Engrossing RPG Series
A HEE-HOme run
Shin Megami Tensei V has been a long time coming. The last mainline entry in the series was released over eight years ago for the 3DS, while the last home console entry was another ten years before that. Moreover, Shin Megami Tensei V was one of the first games ever revealed for the Switch, mere months after the console itself was...
September2021
Review Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Switch) - Feature-Packed, But Far From Top Banana
"I really love bananas!" - AiAi
Super Monkey Ball is an incredibly simple idea: poor little monkeys are trapped in air-tight balls. They can probably breathe but it isn't specified, and all you have to do is roll them to the goal. Yet somehow the original two games and the expanded Deluxe compilation managed to take that premise and mould it into...
Review Sonic Colors Ultimate (Switch) - The Best 3D Sonic Game Gets A Respectable Remaster
Just take my hand, we're gonna reach for the stars
Being a Sonic fan is hard. The Blue Blur has starred in quite a few legitimately great games over the years, but he’s also been in just about as many clunkers that tanked his reputation. Sonic has especially struggled when it’s come to his forays into 3D environments, yet there was an all too...
May2021
Review Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster (Switch) - The Best Version Of An Ageing Classic
A Demi-fiendishly good time
By this point in time, it’d be easy to believe that the Persona series is Atlus’ flagship franchise due to how easily audiences seem to have connected with the lighthearted high schooler antics featured there. In actuality, Persona is itself a spin-off of Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus’ true flagship franchise which has...
February2021
Review Persona 5 Strikers (Switch) - Much More Than Your Average Musou Spin-Off
Screwball Scramble
Persona 5 Strikers, otherwise known as Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers in Japan, finally blasts its way onto Switch consoles in the west and, if you were expecting this Atlus/Koei Tecmo crossover to be a straight-up Musou style spin-off, a Dynasty Warriors-esque effort with a fancy Persona skin hastily slapped on top,...
December2020
Review Football Manager 2021 Touch - With Patience, This One's Got Great Potential
It's got a Silva lining
Well, it’s that time of year again. Quite literally, in fact, as it was on this very date last year that we published our Football Manager 2020 Touch review. Here we now have the 2021 edition, and to Sports Interactive’s credit there have at least been some attempts made to mix things up a bit. Whereas EA’s FIFA series...
Review Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - Another Fine Fusion Of Two Puzzle Greats
Another one of those block-dropping feats
The original Puyo Puyo Tetris was one of those strange combinations that didn't seem like it would work but was actually surprisingly moreish, sort of like whoever came up with the idea of cola chicken: a mad idea, without a doubt, but the results speak for themselves. Now Puyo Puyo Tetris has returned, and...
September2020
Review SEGA AGES Herzog Zwei - A Seminal RTS And One Of The Best Two-Player Games Ever Made
Duke it out
When it launched on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis back in the very early days of the system, Techno Soft's Herzog Zwei confounded quite a few people. It came from a studio which – in the west, at least – was most famous for its Thunder Force series of blasters. The top-down perspective looked similar to the free-roaming overhead...
July2020
Review Catherine: Full Body - The Ultimate Version Of A Surreal Cult Classic
A Rare Vintage
One of our absolute favourite games from the last console generation, Atlus' Catherine is a sublimely stylish mix of visual novel, dating simulation and fiendish block tower puzzler that tells a captivatingly warped story whilst constantly challenging its players with its clever and rewarding platform puzzle elements. Originally...
May2020
Review Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix - This Digital Diva Is Perfectly At Home On Switch
Sweet Devil
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix sees the world's most famous virtual Vocaloid pop idol finally arrive on Nintendo Switch in an excellent portable version of the hit rhythm game series that includes a brand new Switch-exclusive art style, motion-control Mix Mode and touchscreen options that give players more ways than ever to bash...
Review SEGA AGES Thunder Force AC - Another Sega Rarity Comes To Switch
AC what they did there
In the early ‘90s, it was believed by many Mega Drive / Genesis fans that Thunder Force II, III and IV were the best examples of the shoot ‘em up genre on their system. It was hard to argue with them: the Thunder Force games delivered an awesome combination of constant action, impressive graphical trickery, ridiculous...
Review SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle - A Limited But Hugely Enjoyable Arcade Romp
The LOC of the fly-rish
It’s fair to say that the last few games in the Sega Ages series have been a little underwhelming. Not that they’ve been particularly terrible games, of course – we’re still dealing with classics from a legendary company’s archives – but the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Puyo Puyo 2 are hardly providing us...
