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Prison Princess is an enjoyable puzzle adventure that combines invigorating brain-teasers with appealing characters, beautiful artwork and an intriguing narrative.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a pretty solid, if wholly unspectacular little tactical title.
When it comes down to the basic fundamental aspects of the genre – visuals, music, stage design, gameplay flow – Sisters Royale feels unfinished. It’s hard to care about the scoring system when the structure it is built upon doesn’t satisfy enough to encourage players to spend hour after hour routing and experimenting.
If you're after a new addition to your social multiplayer pile, this is an easy sell. Sure, it's a little old considering its long history on myriad platforms, but it's hard to deny just how enjoyable and easy it is to pick up, even for younger Nintendo Switch owners. The support for local and online multiplayer is great, as is the ability to play through the story mode solo, but the intermittent issues with performance in handheld mode does put a few wrinkles in this hero's costume.
A barbed look at today's society that lacks an end-product of sorts, Mosaic is a short experience that seems content with telling us what's wrong with our lives without really going any further than that. There's a vital message trapped within the game somewhere, but it never quite gets out, and the experience ends up being depressing rather than entertaining. That might have been what the developer was going for, but ultimately, it doesn't make for a particularly interesting video game.
While utilising the ruleset of a more traditional CCG system might put off some players, the on-brand approach to turn-based combat in Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is still a positive addition to the world. Because with such an involved and intricately designed story – and such an interesting world to explore beyond the confines of Geralt – Thronebreaker offers the opportunity to lose yourself in the Continent like never before.
Speaking Simulator is a great idea delivered in mostly the right way. It throws its android protagonist into some brilliantly awkward situations and, once you've unlocked his entire repertoire of facial movements, things get pleasingly hectic. However, a lack of polish with regards to the controls, zero replayability, a janky combo system and the fact you don't actually seem to be able to fail a level all conspire to hold it back from being really easy to recommend.
Aviary Attorney is well worth picking up, just so you can take your legal cases on the move and continue your cross-examination in handheld mode.
There's an interesting and fun game buried somewhere deep beneath the surface of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf, but you'll need to crack the tough, unintuitive armour that protects the core mechanics before you can find it. Unfortunately, you don't have the privilege of a Thunder Hammer at your disposal – all you have is time, and you'll need a lot of it to get any real enjoyment out of this rather disappointing title.
Even without comparing Super Tennis to the real Super Tennis, the game largely falls flat as a compelling sports title. Once you’ve mastered the gameplay (which you most certainly will after 2 or 3 matches), it becomes incredibly repetitive with little incentive to continue other than to see the cool unlockable costumes.
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition is the full and complete Kentucky Route Zero experience. A magical realist point-and-click adventure that takes you on a beguiling journey to a place that exists both below and beyond. It's a trip to be savoured, ruminated on; no need to rush.
There's a lot to take in when reviewing a package like Darius Cozmic Collection and we wish that it had been released in a single version which includes all of the bonus games, but it is safe to say that this release floats somewhere between the barebone lack-of-care ports like the Psikyo ZeroDiv releases and the passionate ocean of love that are M2's ShotTrigger ports.
At its core, this is a clever take on football with a genuinely entertaining turn-based system, and if you aren't careful you could spend countless hours working your way up the leagues. That said, its short matches always leave you wanting more (and not in a good way), and the completely random player names make it feel like you're paying a premium price for a clearly low budget title.
Stories Untold is a chilling adventure that manages to draw us right into its world through the ingenious use of its UI and perfectly realised lo-fi aesthetic. Through the walls of old technology and complicated machinery, it creates a uniquely strong bond between player and narrative, giving you a real sense of place within its world as it slowly corrupts and twists from the comfortingly familiar to something else entirely. It's one of the best interactive horror stories we've ever played and a perfect fit for enjoying alone in the dark on Switch.
Fantasy Zone is a charming game which might not be as flashy as Space Harrier or Out Run, but is right up there where it matters: gameplay. It's hard to recommend this over Shinobi, which also releases this week, but this is a perfect addition for anybody remotely interested in all things Sega.
f its numerous areas didn't feel quite so empty, if it had some more variety to its quests and one or two secret areas to discover as you explored its world it would be much easier to recommend, but, as it stands, this one is an inexpensive but pretty generic experience that won't sit long in your memory once you put it down.
Shinobi as a game has aged extremely well – it's still an absolute blast to play today – and that goes a long way to making this a worthy download. The excellent variety of stages and enemies complement the tight gameplay which still feels spot-on even compared with later entries in the series, and its rather fanciful representation of ninjas is difficult to get too upset about when it's just so much fun. We'd frankly like to see some later Sega games appearing in the Sega Ages range at some point, but it's great to see a return to the company's heritage after some of the other more questionable releases.
Despite these rough edges, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is still a joy to play on Switch, and if you didn't experience it the first time around, it's well worth a look now.
Don’t waste your time or money on this poor approximation; go download Puzzle & Dragons for free on your phone for a much more enjoyable experience and save your money for much more worthwhile releases for the Switch.
It’s one of the most emotionally impactful games to grace the Switch since its launch nearly three years ago.