Super Meat Boy Forever makes some big changes to its predecessor's classic formula, ushering in an endless-running style of gameplay, simplified control scheme and procedurally-generated levels that are a blast to play through but ultimately rob the game of the fiendishly additive quality of the 2010 original. We miss perfecting Super Meat Boy's bespoke little death mazes here and although fans of brutally tough platformers will still find plenty to love, we can't help but feel this one's a little bit of a step back for Team Meat's squishy red mascot.
Among Us is an instantly accessible and super-addictive casual gaming experience that serves up some hilarious whodunnit hijinks in short bursts that are perfectly suited to portable play. There are a few niggles here with regards to controls that make communication fussier than it really needs to be, but this is a fine port that finally enables Switch gamers to jump in and see what all the fuss is about with this most unlikely of gaming sensations.
Cyberpunk 2077, in its current form on consoles, is a hard game to recommend getting involved with.
Commandos 2 - HD Remaster is a disappointingly lacklustre port of a real-time tactics classic. This is a game that's showing its age in many ways but, with the right tweaks, some decent control implementation and squashing of bugs, it could have had its moment to shine with modern audiences. As it is, the irritations and annoyances expected in revisiting a game of this vintage are exacerbated to no end with shoddy, unwieldy controls, unexpected performance problems and a general lack of care. The graphics have been updated here, but everything else remains much as it was – with the added frustration of bugs, glitches and long loading times.
John Wick Hex is a clever turn-based strategy offering with some cool mechanics that, when everything comes together, can absolutely make you feel like you're Keanu Reeves' unstoppable assassin, kicking, punching and shooting your way through an endless procession of hapless goons. However, there's an unpolished element to proceedings, with a lot of repetition across the seven levels on offer, janky animations, shoddy replays and some unreliable AI behaviour that begins to grate after a time. With some more variety and a touch of polish, this could have been a really nice little movie tie-in, however, as it stands it's just alright; a brilliant idea that needed more time in the oven.
Empire of Sin is undoubtedly an excellent idea, a clever meshing together of management sim and turn-based tactical action that's set in a hugely compelling era of Chicago's criminal history. There are some cool mechanics here, too; the well-executed overworld map of the town, the gangster black book with its complex relationships and those tense sit-downs with rival ganglords. However, all of this promise is held back by copious technical problems, game-breaking bugs and management and combat systems that feel half-baked and scrappy. There are more patches and updates planned and we desperately would like to see this one sort itself out but, as things stand, it's virtually impossible to recommend – and it remains to be seen if future updates can bash it into shape.
Immortals Fenyx Rising undoubtedly owes a huge debt to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, borrowing wholesale as it does from its core gameplay mechanics and narrative structure. However, what Ubisoft Quebec has come up with here also adds enough of its own spin on proceedings, with a strong personality and sense of humour sat alongside some brilliantly designed puzzles, flashy, satisfying combat and a huge world full of secrets, treasures and Ancient Greek mythology to discover. It may falter slightly in the final stretch by wrestling away player freedom and funnelling you through its overly long endgame, but this is still a hugely entertaining, technically impressive Ancient Greek romp that's well worth experiencing.
Sniper Elite 4 is the best entry yet in this long-running franchise with great big meaty missions stuffed to bursting point with Nazis to snipe and stab in glorious slo-mo X-ray vision. There's a new-found flexibility to the gameplay, with Karl now able to shimmy and scurry vertically around levels and enemy AI that's much more up to the task than in previous iterations. There may be some slightly rough edges, with duff writing, naff characters and gameplay that doesn't change much from start to finish but, overall, this is playful sniper's paradise that lands on Switch in a truly impressive port. It's time to dust off that M1903 Springfield, find a nice vantage point and get to blowing great big bloody holes in fascist heads. The perfect antidote to 2020.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla sees the long-running franchise at an absolute high point. A much tighter, more refined and narrative-focused experience, it learns lessons from other recent open world efforts, removing much of the series' tedious open-world busywork and channelling its players through a genuinely excellent and intriguing adventure. There's still plenty of exploring, looting and collecting to be done here but it's so much more engaging, full of fun puzzles and atmospheric treasure hunts that make the downtime between story arcs all the more rewarding. This is Assassin's Creed looking and feeling better than ever.
Jurassic World Evolution: Complete Edition on Switch is a feature-packed and surprisingly playable port of a hugely entertaining game that provides a ton of fun for fans of the genre and Jurassic Park nuts alike. There are undeniably problems in handheld where the visuals take a pretty big hit and the framerate does struggle here and there in docked but, if you can deal with these issues, you'll find one of the most straight-up fun management sim offerings currently available on Switch awaits. So, who's hungry?
Descenders is an addictive freeriding roguelite with plenty of content to keep players busy as they get to grips with its unique take on extreme biking action. It may be a little rough around the edges in places and this Switch port has certainly seen a graphical downgrade, but the core riding controls well, the framerate is solid and the procedurally-generated nature of courses keeps things feeling fresh. With a meaty campaign featuring eight diverse biomes, a decent multiplayer component and those all-important online leaderboards, this one's a surprisingly robust package that comes highly recommended.
Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia attempts to shoehorn the long-running franchise into a Pokémon Let's Go-style affair aimed at younger players but does so with absolutely zero care or charm. This is a lazy, repetitive, basic game that slowly erodes your patience and goodwill with sloppy mechanics, a tiny roster of samey monsters and a world that reveals itself to be entirely devoid of character or life. Avoid.
Green Hell is a brutally tough, deep and satisfying open-world survival sim. It suffers from the same inherent repetition and often infuriating difficulty as most other examples of its genre, but these are problems offset here by satisfying crafting and construction systems, clever smartwatch and body inspection elements and a story mode that easily trumps the vast majority of offerings we've come across in a survival sim. If you can make peace with the Switch's graphical downgrade, missing multiplayer aspect and some minor control issues, what's here is sure to satiate any cravings you may have for some seriously tough survival sim shenanigans.
HyperBrawl Tournament is a fun and addictive futuristic handbrawling effort that arms its players with a wealth of weapons, tools and attacks and unleashes them on a variety of obstacle-filled arenas that make for chaotic and surprisingly strategic matches. Things can get a little muddled in handheld mode from time to time, docked games can feel a little sluggish here and there and we'd love to have seen proper 2v2 human matches facilitated online but, overall, this one's a decent offering that scratches that Rocket League, arcade sports itch.
Tennis World Tour 2 is a simulation style affair that demands much from its players but doesn't reciprocate with a game that's capable of matching their efforts. Flaky AI and a lack of basic player animations leads to core gameplay here that feels rough and unsatisfying for the most part. Matches often descend into a procession of double faults, there's absolutely zero net play, and no matter how much practice you put in, things always feel like they're out of your control. There is a decent selection of modes here and the fundamental ideas behind the gameplay could have made for a good time, but a lack of finesse in how these things have been implemented mean this one is best avoided by all but the most foolhardy of tennis fans.
Crown Trick is a stylish and strategic roguelite that slows the usually frenetic pace of its genre down and introduces some rhythmic turn-based battling to proceedings. Elle's ability to blink around arenas, combined with the plethora of powers she gains from the many weapons, relics and familiars she encounters along the way, also adds plenty of variety and flexibility to the runs you'll make here. There are some UI niggles that need addressing, the inherently random nature of the core gameplay can plague proceedings now and again and busy battles can become hard to read at times but, overall, this one's a very solid effort that fans of roguelites should definitely check out.
ScourgeBringer is a wonderfully slick and addictive roguelite adventure that flings its players headlong into non-stop frenetic combat and never lets up. This is an unapologetically tough game and if you struggle with the constant repetition and death inherent in the roguelite genre you may find it all a little hard to put up with. However, if you're not put off by a challenge, or if you're a Celeste or Dead Cells fan who is craving more, what Flying Oak Games has conjured up with this one is sure to absolutely delight.
Cloudpunk on Switch is a hugely disappointing port that struggles technically and ultimately fails to deliver the game in a satisfactory manner on Nintendo's hybrid platform. Merge Games have made drastic cuts all over, with a massively reduced draw-distance sucking much of the life out of Nivalis, volumetric effects missing entirely, pixellation rampant and a framerate that still chugs along in the face of all of these concessions. If you've got a PC capable of playing this one we'd highly recommend you play on that platform as this is an adventure that's well worth experiencing in its original form. This particular version, however, should probably be avoided.
Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is a button-mashy, overly simplistic fighter that's aimed at young kids but doesn't even manage to lift its game enough to satisfy a junior audience on any level outside of very basic fan service. There's a serious lack of modes or variety here, especially for the not-insignificant price tag, and what is included is let down by a lazy story mode and some shockingly simple enemy AI. Serious Zoids fans may derive some fleeting pleasure from seeing their favourite characters battle it out, but, for everyone else, this is a mega-hard sell and a fighter that absolutely fades into insignificance when compared to other examples of its genre.
Hardcore Mecha is a superb 2D side-scrolling adventure that marries some spectacularly OTT anime storytelling with explosively satisfying robot combat. There's a surprisingly meaty story here set across eighteen wonderfully varied levels with plenty of depth to RPG elements allowing you to customise your mech's attack and defence capabilities. An unlockable survival mode, online PvP, local multiplayer and mission rankings also add plenty of replayability to proceedings. It's a shame that this Switch port has some framerate issues that can see intense battles stutter, however, if RocketPunch can rectify this with a patch pretty sharpish you can feel free to add a point or two to the score below.