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The Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 03: Vehicle Kit is easily the best all-round experience that I have had so far with Nintendo’s new line of interactive make, play and discover kits. Remarkable to build, fascinating to learn how it all works and, importantly, content rich compared to the last two kits, this could be the start of a cardboard revolution.
Woodle Tree Adventures has potential but fails to ever realise any of it. The paint-by-numbers approach that has been taken to make this 3D platformer results in a game that feels more like a proof of concept or prototype rather than something that you would happily pay for. The greatest insult is that it had promised to “take you back to the good old days” when we were running around collecting Jigsaw Pieces in Banjo-Kazooie and Power Stars in Super Mario 64. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
With an engine sputter, Vroom in the Night Sky is an unarguable disaster. It wouldn’t be unfair to expect the early releases on the Nintendo eShop to showcase the portable home console’s potential. Dull, shortlived, and with an unjustifiable price point, Poisoft, if anything, painfully demonstrates what not to do.
All in all, Jumping Joe and Friends is your typical smartphone experience – shallow, repetitive and lacking any real hook to keep you playing. Even the multiplayer wears out its welcome in a matter of minutes. The list of excellent or just fun Switch titles is already a long one and continues to grow with every passing week. Any one of those would be a better investment than Jumping Joe and Friends.
BINGO for Nintendo Switch is tedious, repetitive and just plain dull. None of the four available games offer anything close to fun, the constant focus on searching for numbers wearing out its welcome quickly. Bottom line, there are so many great ways to spend your time on the Switch and BINGO isn’t one of them.
There is certainly a place for 36 Fragments of Midnight on the Nintendo eShop, mainly as an inexpensive introductory experience to the platforming genre. But, it comes hard to recommend. Lacking in challenge and replayability, it fails to shine bright enough to guide you away from more worthwhile games.
Rough around the edges, Troll and I ends with as laughable a moment as it starts – even having the cruelty to leave your adventures in the Nordic wilderness open to a sequel. Spiral House has longed for the stars to align to allow them a chance to work on a game built from their own ideas. Let us hope that this nightmare has now ended, and they can find something far better to dream about.
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.
To put it mildly, It’s Spring Again is a complete waste of time. It doesn’t do anything new or different to teach children any better than what a good walk in the park or a picture book can provide.
I am not going to mask it, the only real reason you would actually buy Senran Kagura Reflexions is so that you can look at scantily clad women and see them in seductive positions. However, let us be completely honest here, if that really is your sole reason to play, there are many better and cheaper ways of doing such things.
I’m normally a big fan of party games; however Awkward is easily one of the weakest I’ve played, managing to deliver an experience that’s just painfully dull. While it sometimes achieves its goal of creating an uncomfortably fun atmosphere, the moods it tends to strike more often is that of apathy and aversion.
I have to say, a game like Hollow has so much potential and it could have been one the best horror games on the Nintendo Switch had some basic aspects had been right, such as the movement and combat. But what it ends up being is a game that doesn’t have many redeeming features or qualities. It’s too slow and lethargic, the display is a little off-putting after a while and it doesn’t run well playing in Handheld mode, which is a major feature of the Switch. If you’re looking to fill your horror gaming needs, put this down towards the bottom of the list.
Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is one to give a miss, then. That’s something that I take no joy in saying, either, as I had looked forward to checking it out when NIS America had announced that it was on the way to Nintendo Switch. There are certainly flickers of magic to be found, but this is a game that feels a generation or two behind where it needs to be.
That’s about as far as the good parts of WWE 2K18 go, unfortunately. And again, all of these good aspects are content-based, it doesn’t change the fact that the main aspect of the game is still awful. I still don’t know why publishers release games in a state like this and think it’s okay, but there may be some ray of light for Nintendo owning wrestling fans though, as I have no doubt that there will be a performance patch at some point down the line, as the same happened with 2K Games’ other Switch game, NBA 2K18. But still, that’s not a guarantee. Until then, stay well away from WWE 2K18. Just like the WWE tell us in their promos, don’t try this at home, school or anywhere else.
Everything feels very budget. The sound isn’t great, the visuals are only okay and the idea of a single player campaign only goes as far as a few races in each cup which ends with a message thanking you for playing. It could have been so much more and all I got from my time with the game was a hankering to break out my SNES and find a copy of Super Off Road, which did it all so much better… in 1992.
The end result is that Fimbul is a soulless experience that never amounts to much more than something that will forever represent the developer’s unrealized vision. Throwing the unpredictable bugs, glitches, and wayward problems that are present on Nintendo Switch into consideration, it’s hard to not come to the conclusion that you’d be better off simply leaving it to someone else to prevent Ragnarök from happening.
Those patiently waiting on a decent realistic racer on Switch, unfortunately, won’t find that in Gear.Club Unlimited 2. Its decent selection of cars, solid customization and lengthy campaign are crippled thanks to the game’s sluggish and uninspired racing, sketchy performance and horrendous load times that pop up far too frequently. The Switch may be sorely lagging in the racing department but it certainly deserves much better than this.
On the bright side, Nickelodeon Kart Racers is the kind of game you can buy for a nephew that you can’t stand. Just think. On the surface, his parents will give you brownie points for such an appealing looking gift. The nephew, on the other hand, will know full well that you have completely screwed him over.
Playing Party Crashers fills me with disappointment not just because I’m witnessing a type of racer I have a fondness for done poorly, but because of the wasted potential on display. A Micro-Machines type racer would be a fantastic addition to the Switch library but sadly the wait for a worthy attempt will have to continue. Party Crashers is a flat out crash.
When they did load, the levels themselves offered little to no joy, at all, despite the cute protagonists, DragoDino is shallow and sadly cannot live up to the visual style.