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Super Mario 3D World remains one of the better linear Mario games, and anyone playing it for the first time is in for an absolute treat. Add to that the curious bonus adventure that is Bowser's Fury and you've got a package that provides great value for money. It isn't without its flaws, but most of these (online multiplayer, repetitive missions in Bowser's Fury) relate to the new additions; the main game itself remains as pure and perfect as it was seven years ago. Had it just been Super Mario 3D World on its own, we'd be thoroughly recommending it anyway; Bowser's Fury is just the cherry on top.
Persona 5 Strikers is a slick and stylish spin-off that manages to successfully combine a surprisingly strong story with some satisfying Musou-inspired hack-and-slash action. There are a few issues here and there, with some necessary grinding at points, slight difficulty imbalances and a camera that can be a bit of a pain during busy battles but, overall, this is a thoroughly entertaining action RPG that comes highly recommended.
Little Nightmares II is nothing less than engaging from start to finish, with superb pacing, entertainingly varied level design and excellent graphics and performance. Its only real flaws are based on the imprecision that comes with all games in its sub-genre, as well as a few sections that feel more about trial and error than reactive survival. In our view, though, this doesn't detract from a far superior sequel and one of the best cinematic platformers we've had the privilege of enjoying. A real stylish treat.
With smooth, stable gameplay, Glyph is truly a joy to play. The exploration levels in particular are incredibly creative, with plenty of collectables to keep you occupied. The accompanying soundtrack deserves a special mention too; the ambient music really suits the tone of the game, and the way it swells when you’ve collected all of the required keys is excellent. The only major downside is the time trial levels; if you enjoy this kind of thing, you can bump the score up by one point, but there were a few too many of these levels for our liking.
Despite its unconventional structure, Starship Project X is an undeniably creative endeavour. It's clear that the developer has enjoyed making it, and it manages, against all odds, to do something new and interesting with the often tired shoot-em-up premise. Once you learn its catalogue of obstacles and sync with its immediacy, it gets a lot more manageable and enjoyable, and trying to finish stages unscathed is a fun pursuit. Unfortunately, no matter how skilled you become, the experience is occasionally marred by unexpected attack overlaps and ensuing ship positioning struggles. While the balance isn't perfect, and its longevity in terms of holding your attention is questionable, it deserves applause for its originality and its short, fun, adrenaline-fuelled nature: the kind arcade gaming was designed for.
With nothing to offer besides some pleasant storytelling, we cannot recommend Sword of the Necromancer on any meaningful level. It's not horrible, but it's bereft of both meaningful content and any manner of unique execution. A sequel or heavily-modified relaunch could salvage the game into something much stronger, as the core idea of resurrecting fallen monsters is a decent one, but its treatment here renders it irrelevant. What a shame. This could have been something special. It's not a complete and total disaster – occasionally, when the screen is a little busier, you might feel a flicker of engagement as you dash between combatants – but overall, we'll be leaving this one for dead.
Redout: Space Assault isn't a bad game by any means, it just isn't an exceptional one either. This is a bargain bin game, the kind of thing that's worth a few hours of your time after you've picked it up on a deep sale. Intense shooting action and outstanding visuals languish in the shadow of repetitive design and generally shallow gameplay, making for an experience that's just pretty good once all is said and done, but hardly something that's going to top genre lists at the close of 2021. If you like Star Fox and are simply desperate for something to fill that void, this may be a good buy right away. Otherwise, wait it out and maybe play this one a while down the road.
Gods Will Fall is a unique and challenging dungeon crawler that cleverly combines a handful of inventive gameplay mechanics, resulting in constantly tense and thrilling runs through some seriously tough death chambers and boss battles. This is a pretty brutal and unforgiving game – one some players are sure to bounce hard off – but stick with it until it clicks, explore, experiment, forge ahead through frustration and you'll be rewarded with one of the most addictive and original roguelikes we've played in quite some time.
Shing! has a few decent ideas and a reasonable premise up its sleeve but all of these things collapse under the weight of poor performance issues combined with scrappy combat and shoddy enemy AI and placement. The game's unique right-stick control mechanic could have worked a treat but isn't refined enough or even given the room to breathe and the story that backs the whole thing up is let down by atrociously dated writing. If you're desperate for a four-player co-op side-scroller you may find something to enjoy along the way here, but otherwise, this one is almost impossible to recommend.
There's no denying that Tadpole Treble Encore isn't for everybody, as it's a rather short entry in what is traditionally a niche genre. Even so, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by missing out on this adorable experience. Tadpole Treble Encore is a thoroughly well-paced and enjoyable adventure, one which is supported by solid game design and excellent audiovisual presentation. If you missed out on this on the Wii U or find yourself itching for a worthwhile rhythm game for your Switch library, we'd urge you to pick this up as soon as you can. If you're one of the few who played this on Wii U, we'd still say it's worth your time to double dip, just bear in mind that it's not a massively overhauled experience.
Olija is a piratical adventure that really, really pays attention to atmosphere. From its bombastic music, which echoes similarly pirate-themed Return of the Obra Dinn, to its arthouse-cinema-style sudden cuts to black, Olija is possibly the most cinematically dramatic indie game we've seen in quite some time.
An odd duck and no mistake, Shadow Gangs is nonetheless an enjoyable Shinobi clone with plenty of level design polish. It's let down by an obnoxiously high difficulty level and some fairly stingy game-saves, but overall has a good amount to recommend it if you're done with the Sega Mega Drive Classics and Sega Ages Shinobi. It's an extremely valiant effort at a truly old-school feel and retro gamers definitely won't regret checking it out – just be prepared to swallow your pride and head for the options menu.
With striking gold, blue, and green colours, Disjunction certainly looks the part, and depicts its cyberpunk setting successfully. There’s plenty of atmosphere, and this is further elevated by an ambient soundtrack that really sets the tone in every level. The game’s overall length is a tad disappointing; you’ll rinse it in just a handful of hours, and there’s little incentive for multiple playthroughs. If you're itching for a decent new stealth title though (and aren’t quite willing to go for the cloud version of Hitman 3), then Disjunction is a glorious homage to the entire genre.
With a bit more variation to its gameplay, Colossus Down could have been an easy recommendation. Despite its unlikeable main protagonist, there’s a heap of potential here that could well be realised if the developer decides to go for a sequel. As it is, it’s a great looking game that unfortunately falls foul to repetitive and shallow gameplay.
It's disappointing that Golden Force falls down in the areas that it does, because without these fixable issues it would be an easy recommendation – level design is mostly strong, the boss battles marry spectacle with varied and fun-to-learn attack strings nicely, and it feels good to get stronger and play better. Unfortunately, some rookie errors come close to spoiling the fun altogether, but if you're bloody-minded enough to muscle through these frustrations there is undoubtedly a lot to appreciate about Golden Force. Which is a shame, in a sense, because "Golden Farce" would have been a perfect tagline for this review. The one we've had to opt for is rubbish, by comparison. (It's not as easy as you might think, this game-reviewing lark.)
It's rare to see Amiga games surfacing at all, so it's a real treat to have two of the very best available on Switch, along with entirely enjoyable Mega Drive and SNES efforts.
Timothy and the Mysterious Forest is absolutely a case of style over substance. It definitely looks and sounds the part; the developer has gone to clear lengths to emulate the feel of a classic Game Boy game. The problem is that when attempting to emulate the difficulty of a retro adventure title, they’ve gone one step too far and made the game a chore to play thanks to a number of unreliable mechanics and unfair enemy encounters.
Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy takes everything good about Gust's 2019 Atelier adventure and further refines it, resulting in the best entry in the long-running franchise to date. This may still be a relatively small-scale, old-fashioned JRPG experience, but it's one that's full of heart, great characters, slick combat and some excellent new ruin-based dungeons. Anyone looking for a relaxed and enchanting JRPG to sink their time into should definitely check this one out.
If you consider yourself a fan of retro action platformers, you owe it to yourself to pick up Cyber Shadow whenever possible. It's clear in virtually every facet of Cyber Shadow's design that this project was a labour of love and that its designer is intimately familiar with what makes the stalwarts of this beloved genre so great. Well-built levels, authentic presentation, tight controls and a high difficulty all combine to make this a supreme and focused experience, and one that we can easily say is well worth your time. Mechanical Head Studios has set a high bar with its inaugural debut, and we can't wait to see more from this developer.
Calico is still a little too buggy for us to recommend. It's fun to ride a huge cat off a cliff in an ice cream sundae outfit, but less fun when you get stuck in said cliff and your face turns inside-out. There's a lot of love in this game, but it doesn't quite outweigh the issues – and given that we've already seen more than one patch issued since launch, we're not convinced the developer can pull this one back from the brink.