Shu will long be remembered for its wondrous art direction and hand-drawn characters, but also for the game’s many shortcomings. It’s bittersweet to reach the game’s conclusion, a moment that comes far too soon and leaves the player without enough of a compelling reason to sink more time into it. There’s charm to be found in the experience, but, as I soon discovered, it doesn’t take long to outrun a storm.
Romancing SaGa 2 is a remarkable experience that, even after such a long time, still has creative ideas that make the experience feel all the more meaningful. It still shows its age in places, not least for the fact that many of the gameplay mechanics that whir beneath its pixel art exterior are never explained to the player. But, those looking for a classic packed with challenge will find much to enjoy.
Teslagrad is still as wonderful as the first time that I saw it through to conclusion, and the game’s release on Nintendo Switch is the perfect opportunity for those that have not had the chance to flee to the Tesla Tower to experience to see exactly how incredible it is.
Grimm may earn himself one too many slices of pizza for your efforts at wordplay, but Letter Quest Remastered doesn’t have enough content to really satiate my appetite. That’s a compliment in many ways, a game that has a clever gameplay mechanic but just needs to find more ways to explore it.
Ittle Dew 2+ is hilarious though, and, even if it isn’t as mentally challenging, the game’s undeniable charm and pun-filled humour will carry you through to its concluding moments. Tippsie is the best companion an adventure could ever need (even if he needs to kick his health potion addiction), and the game throws more than enough ideas at you to make sure that it entertains.
There is some satisfaction to be found in slaughtering the alien forces that are hellbent on attacking Earth in Xenoraid, but the experience fails to ever be more than distinctly average. Even throwing in the chance for friends to fly alongside you as wingmen seems a flawed move, a couch co-op experience that comes at the cost of removing the best idea that the game has going for it. There are better games in the genre to spend your time with on Nintendo Switch, then – meaning that it’s best to leave someone else to defend mankind in this one.
With America’s future in your hands, I never wanted the action-packed mayhem in Aces of the Luftwaffe: Squadron to end. Bursting with character and more than enough enemies to mercilessly shoot from the skies, it is in the skill trees that let players tweak the pilots to match their own playstyle and the chance to recruit your friends as wingmen that it scores the most success.
There is much that Tallowmere gets right, with one of the game’s mightiest battles seeing you work hard to slay a three-headed hydra that’s sat in an acidic pool. It’s a shame, then, that these moments are outweighed by the game’s shortcomings, the patchwork level design and randomised enemy placements resulting in an experience that’s never balanced in your favour – faltering as both a rogue-like and platformer. But, slaughter some kittens to lend your character more health, and there’s rib-tickling fun to be found in mucking around with the weapons that you accumulate.
There are more than 100 levels in Tennis in the Face and while their bite-sized design playing is a perfect match for playing Nintendo Switch on the go, it isn’t long before your enthusiasm for slamming tennis balls into foreheads starts to waver. There’s no chance of rain cutting play short though, and those that keep their rally going are sure to find this quirky game entertaining.
Imperfection does not readily detract from the successes that Lumo achieves, a heartfelt love letter to the revered golden era of gaming that has been created with thoughtful ingenuity. The isometric camera angle can frustrate in how it can lead to imprecision, but it’s hard not to come away charmed by the game’s enchanting design.
This passion project has evidently been created with a modest budget, but Heroes of the Monkey Tavern is unremarkable in execution. It is the painting by numbers approach that leaves an overriding impression that the developer was arbitrarily ticking boxes as to what is expected in a first-person dungeon crawler, rather than making their own mark on modernising the genre. Instead, we’re left to brave a distinctly average experience that doesn’t hide many riches.
Splasher‘s brilliance is clear to see, and it is not hard to come to understand why it has become so popular with speedrunners – especially thanks to the chance to switch to Time Attack mode on the fly, challenging you to complete each level as fast as possible in competing in the online leaderboards. The Nintendo Switch may already be home to a fair few platformers, but Splasher will long linger in your memory for all the right reasons. Slick and tuned to perfection, it’s another Nintendo eShop release that’s not to be missed.
King Oddball readily entertains with its quirky demeanour, putting an entirely unexpected body part to work to unleash wanton destruction upon the world. It may have riffed on someone else’s concocted formula (and with less breadth at that) but, especially for those longing for an alternative to Angry Birds on Nintendo Switch, it’s hard not to come to appreciate the game’s warped nature.
Monster Jam: Crush It! promised players the chance to take control and experience Monster Jam like they have never seen, but it fails to ever entertain. There will be those that may blindly enjoy playing as their favourite Monster Jam trucks, but it doesn’t hide how pitiful this game really is – an effort that would look more at home on mobile rather than seeing release on Nintendo Switch and other consoles before it. At least there’s a button dedicated to pinging fireworks in every direction.
There can be no question that those who are willing to dedicate their time to Farming Simulator: Nintendo Switch Edition will find it an endlessly rewarding farming and management sim, reaping their own success to soon see their outdoor business flourish. Whereas those that aren’t prepared to stick it out long enough to truly grasp the game’s many intricacies may struggle to ever see their farmland thrive.
Accessible to all, Chess Ultra will undoubtedly please aficionados of the strategy game while marking the perfect entry point to those that have always wanted to learn how to play. With the chance for your Nintendo Switch to become a virtual chess board to play against someone across a table, the portable home console could also be seen as the perfect home for it.
This Is The Police is undeniably compelling, the player charged with watching over a city that is already spiralling the drain. As with how your police force is broken down, it is best experienced in shifts – otherwise risking the experience descending into monotony, which, we can all admit, is something that we already suffer enough of in our jobs out in the real world.
Where Revenant Saga summons strength in the ideas for its combat systems, it falls short in nearly every other regard. It’s never pleasant to have to rag on a game, but there’s a lack of care with the whole experience more than anything. And, if the developer doesn’t care enough, then the general impression that the player is left with leaves them not caring as much about the world that they are placed in. And that is a worrying flaw to have.
Cut from the same cloth as Neon Chrome and Time Recoil, the twin-stick gunplay in JYDGE is elevated thanks to its objective-based approach. Its unmistakable flaw lies in repetition, leaving players to replay missions until they have enough medals to unlock the next which, at the same time, pads out the game’s content. When it comes to passing judgement, JYDGE doesn’t deliver the wholly righteous blow that it wants to.
And, that’s it. Super Ping Pong Trick Shot certainly has an addictive gameplay loop but it exists within a mediocre experience that fails to ever truly engage and maintain your interest. Even Paper Toss is more entertaining, however mindless it is.