The Zombie genre is an oversized bloated mess. With nearly every game under the Sun featuring Zombies or an Undead army of some shape or form. Then on the other end of the spectrum is the classic light-gun shooter. This genre that was mainly seen in Arcades has died a death and fell into the annals of history. Considering how the Nintendo Switch is designed, I’m surprised that more developers haven’t attempted to adapt the classic light-gun shooter to the console.
Rain on Your Parade is the weather-based equivalent of Untitled Goose Game. You play as a mischievous cloud – aptly named “Cloudy” – whose goal is to annoy anyone and everyone who happens to be standing under them. If you think raining on people is a little dull, when you add in thunder, snow, and copious amounts of acid, petrol, fire, and even a little “Tactical Espionage Action” then Rain on Your Parade brings a whole new meaning to “cloud-based gaming”.
World’s End Club is a puzzle action-adventure game that takes you to the end of the world. Originally launched on Apple Arcade in 2020, the full experience has now landed on the Nintendo Switch. With plenty of ideas and a cast of likeable characters, is World’s End Club a club worth joining?
The term “grid-based” often brings up feelings of top-down RPGs or turn-based RTS titles. The ridged movement of these genres offer a somewhat tactical style of gameplay as your team moves between each tile on the map. Heading further back into gaming history, the grid style was fairly common in older PC titles – mainly games they allowed you to play is School. These educational games would often see you traversing a dungeon within a first-person viewpoint whilst solving reading puzzles or the dreaded mathematical questions. Vaporum: Lockdown is one of these games.
At first glance Guild of Darksteel can be mistaken as a typical side-scrolling action-adventure. Yet, it’s both and neither. What it is, is a pixel-based narrative adventure that’s been crossed with a rhythm-based game. If you think along the lines of Flashback and Guitar Hero then you’re not too far off track.
A Little Lily Princess is something of a rarity amongst video games. Where there has been plenty of games that have been adapted from films, comics, and television there hasn’t been many that have been inspired by a novel. The only title that springs to my mind is the original Rainbow Six. But even then the game was only loosely based on the Tom Clancy novel.
Trigger Witch is the result of mixing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Bayonetta, and a twin-stick shooter. From the creators of Reverie, Trigger Witch features a mixture of simple 16-bit gameplay with plenty of bullets, explosions, and gore. In a world where magic has had its day, bullets reign supreme.
When it comes to Battlefield I like to call myself a veteran of the series. My love of large scale combat started off back in 2002 with Battlefield 2 and has grown ever since. I like to say that I’ve seen it all. From the highs of Battlefield: Vietnam, to the lows of Battlefield: Hardline, I’ve been there and – for Battlefield 3 – gotten the t-shirt (RIP Gamestation).
When it comes to the humble arcade brawler, I’d like to think that I’m a bit of an aficionado. From high-flying titles of Streets of Rage, and Final Fight, to the niche of Knights of the Round and Alien Vs. Predator – my combo-button mashing prowess have saved countless worlds and cities from the forces of evil. Next in line is Final Vendetta, an arcade side-scrolling beat-em-up that’s just as much a homage to the genre’s greats as it is original.
Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel is a game that has been on my indie-horror radar for quite a while. The location within a vast hotel that seemingly shifts through various realities, not only screamed out the desperate isolation of ‘The Shining’ but also adds quite a hook to its narrative.
Created by indie developer FYQD-Studio, Bright Memory made its debut back in 2019 as part of Steam’s Early Access program. Originally released as Bright Memory Episode 1, the indie first-person shooter received great reviews, and to this day holds a 91% approval rating on Steam. Instead of releasing the planned Bright Memory Episode 2, FYQD-STUDIO have instead completed the game, and rebranded it under the new name of, Bright Memory: Infinite.
Dead Island 2 is a game that I was initially sceptical about. While I did enjoy the first title, it soon got to a point where everything seemed just to repeat. Quests would become bothersome, fetch this, fix that, and the glamorous opening of that beach resort playground essentially showcased just how the rest of the game would play. You were given a sense of freedom yet remained on a linear line of quests. And come the game’s conclusion – if you got that far – much like the game’s protagonists, I was willing it to end.
The Otterman Empire is a pretty simple game, both in terms of gameplay and design. With its simple character and level design, The Otterman Empire feels like a homage to the video game heyday of anthropomorphic animals appearing in everything. On the surface The Otterman Empire even feels like a Gamecube or PlayStation 2 game, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Those of us wanting a simple couch multiplayer game will find a lot of The Otterman Empire appealing despite its apparent flaws.
Back in the 1980s when Transformers, G.I. Joe and He-Man and The Masters of the Universe ruled the roost, there was also a range of toys that brought sci-fi and dinosaurs together in spectacular fashion. Zoids hailed from Japan and ended up encompassing the world with its impressive range of wind-up mechanical creatures.
Rez Plz is a pixel-art puzzle-platformer that brings a new twist to the co-op formula. The goal of Rez Plz is to kill your brother to then solve the various puzzles and dungeons. It’s a simple yet delightful adventure that aims to stand out from the crowded puzzle-platformer genre through its humour and unique gameplay.
The Remothered series has had quite a troubled and complex history. What started as a 2-D homage to the Clock Tower games was soon scrapped and re-imagined into a more cinematic survival-horror experience. The first title in this new series; Remothered: Tormented Fathers, was a sleeper hit amongst horror fans. Praised for its storytelling and scary atmosphere, it was pretty certain that a sequel would be on the cards.
Nintendo seems to be going down a fitness route at the moment. With Ring Fit Adventure, the original Fitness Boxing and that free Jump Rope game, the Nintendo Switch seems to be the best choice for those looking to get fit. With Ring Fit Adventure currently the fitness game to beat, Nintendo has added to this pedigree with Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise.
Fatal Fury: First Contact is the latest Neo Geo Pocket Colour title to be ported onto the Nintendo Switch. The pocket fighter originally debuted way back in 1999 and was released onto the SNK produced console – the Neo Geo Pocket Colour.
Controversy isn’t a new concept when it comes to video games. It’s been something that’s been around for a few years now. Games such as Grand Theft Auto, Mass Effect 3, Manhunt, and more recently Cyberpunk 2077. it’s fair to say that controversial video games are here to stay. The latest game to receive the “let’s create some controversy” is Sense – A Cyberpunk Ghost Story.
Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons is the fifth instalment of the Mercenaries series that’s been released onto the Nintendo Switch. It’s a turn-based strategy RPG that takes place on an isometric grid. Whilst this doesn’t sound particularly unique, what sets Mercenaries Blaze apart from its competitors is a vast story and fairly interesting characters.