Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is a solid single player experience that is a pleasure to return to, even on a day to day basis. It might not unlock and skyrocket your mind’s genius-o-mometer to heightened levels but is definitely an entertaining way to keep yourself sharp and less dreary.
Hopefully this will set the tone for future installments dropping the unnecessary gimmicks and sticking to what fans love most: minigames, “unfair” dice rolls and new enemies that at the beginning of the game were close friends.
Kirby Fighters 2 is flooded with charm and potential with some well thought out level designs. The different abilities of the characters while different seem to fade into each other and the various Kirby’s all become the same character. Simply put, it all feels very watered down and mundane.
While there are plenty of events to keep you and your friends busy, the Story Mode leaves a lot to be desired, even though its premise isn’t terrible. The gameplay is mostly pleasantly accessible but sadly many events lack a good enough challenge, even if you crank up the difficulty in the Quick Match mode.
Link's Awakening has definitely changed, especially the outstanding visuals and impactful audio, but it stays very true to its ancestor that introduced Zelda games to a handheld device all those years ago.
In the end what will make or break Super Mario Maker 2 is the online community and the quality of content it provides. Super Mario Maker 2 is both a homage to the games from the past that we know and love and a creative addition to the franchise.
Yoshi’s Crafted World doesn’t revolutionise the Yoshi franchise quite like Yoshi’s Woolly World did, but this doesn’t take away any aspect to this game. The new flip-side levels and ability to project your Yoshi Eggs anywhere throughout a 2.5D environment are clever dynamics that alone make the game worthwhile. Add to this the extensive replayability and family friendly co-op gameplay and you have a solid entry to the series that makes it a great entry to the Switch library.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is by far the most complete game in the popular franchise. It hasn’t reinvented the wheel and doesn’t need to. Ultimate presents enough additions and improvements to smooth out the edges and deliver a beautiful balance of chaos and fluidity.
The formula behind FIFA’s popularity has always been a balance between accessibility and authenticity of the beautiful game. This time around, FIFA 19 offers some slight gameplay improvements proving that refining a winning formula is the way forward.
With a multitude of innovative minigames, a tried and tested return to traditional gameplay and well varied game modes Super Mario Party marks a return to form from the party franchise that we once knew and loved.
Long loading screens, appalling frame rate drops, glitchy mechanics, dated visuals and uninspiring AI make All Out an overall experience you might consider skipping.
Developer No Brakes have created a physics puzzler that requires patience, timing and an appreciation for the development process of games in general.
Whether you’re a dancefloor prodigy or a rhythm-less oaf, Just Dance 2018 is not only accessible but provides hours of fun for old and young.
With crisp and colourful visuals, a soundtrack that mixes traditional and modern music scores and out of this world boss battles, Super Mario Odyssey is a milestone in both the highly acclaimed Mario franchise and gaming history in general.
The puzzles are both fun and challenging, which somewhat make up for the uncompelling story and generally weak characters.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle manages to not only combine two very different franchises in what most thought to be an impossible manner; it also offers an accessible yet demanding and deep experience where no matter how difficult things may get, it remains an absolute joy to play.
The Omega Collection, for the most part, focuses on what the series had to offer in the generation prior to the PlayStation 4, and shows us just how much these titles hold up on new hardware.
Injustice 2 offers a constantly changing Multiverse, strong fighting mechanics, accessible gameplay and a well written story mode. With a variety of online and single player modes along with the guild feature to team up with friends to combine your stats, Injustice 2 offers something for fighting fans of all calibers.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is about getting the most out of an already stellar game. Whether it be faster loading times, more convenient online lobby and gameplay, or a handful of new characters. The Souped Up Battle Mode is now far more compelling and content driven than before.
It improves on the shortcomings in Super Paper Mario and Paper Mario: Sticker Star and while very different to The Thousand-Year Door it exudes the same quality fans have been expecting form the franchise. A must have title on the Wii U towards the end of its lifespan.