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EA was so preoccupied with whether it could port Apex Legends to Nintendo Switch, it didn’t stop to think if it should. And no, it really shouldn’t have. To anyone with literally any other outlet to play this game on, please do so, because all you will find here are the mutated remains of a game wandering where it shouldn’t.
While the spectacle of a gruff, coffee-pounding Pikachu in a deerstalker hat will never not be charming, Detective Pikachu Returns is less enjoyable than both its breakthrough predecessor and, somehow, the surprisingly decent Hollywood movie spin-off. The odd world-building is still on point, though, and younger players will doubtless find some fun in the not-so-murky corners of Ryme City, even if the intrigue is light and the detecting itself is a little rote.
Mothmen 1966 is a valiant first effort from LCB Studio, and it certainly scores highly on presentation, but clunky writing and those awful interactive sequences derail what was, on the face of it, a promising adventure.
There are definitely elements of Summer Catchers that work. The visuals are astounding, the music is brilliant and, when you get lucky, there’s some solidly fun endless runner gameplay to be had. However, its strange focus on luck over skill means every element suffers, the fun level design never given the chance to shine as it should. In the end, Summer Catchers feels so insistent on being deeper than a simple runner that it ends up stumbling at every hurdle instead.
While Effie has its heart in the right place, it can’t seem to find the spark that made its iconic platformer inspirations such lovable classics. It’s simplistic and just a little too bland to work, and while there are definitely elements that show care, it can’t save what is, at its core, a forgettable experience.
While Dangerous Driving desperately wants to declare itself Burnout’s successor, it’s simply too hollow to ever truly earn that title. It’s buggy, repetitive and lacks all the depth that made Criterion Software’s acclaimed franchise such a phenomenal hit. There are the fundamentals for an explosively fun driving game within this barebones arcade racer, but ultimately Dangerous Driving is more a knock-off Burnout clone than a worthy spiritual reboot.
There’s no denying Desert Child is a stylish and unique RPG, but beneath its striking facade, it’s simply too hollow to make a mark. The racing is repetitive, the side-activities lack variety and the lack of technical fidelity is too noticeable to avoid, overall, making this bland racer an underwhelming disappointment.
Other than the portability – which, without tilt aiming, feels like an opportunity wasted – there's no compelling reason to pick the Switch port of Hello Neighbor over any others. Worse still is the feeling you've already seen all the best bits, just like an all-too-revealing movie trailer, but that's an issue with Hello Neighbor on all platforms.
There's something Faustian about it: in striking a deal to carry such a powerful banner, it's gotten attention that games of its class would never get. Ironically, it's that banner that invites the most bitter criticism for a game that certainly could have done a lot worse.
Oceanhorn is a game built from components so familiar that even Nintendo has tired of them. If the brief was to ‘Make a Zelda’ then Cornfox & Bros have only succeeded on a surface level. The studio evidently has talent – it’s a visual and aural treat – but due to the game’s mobile heritage, Oceanhorn on Switch feels compromised, vague, and ultimately forgettable.
With an interesting idea at its heart, Minit becomes a tiring process of incremental steps. There are moments where its looping play does shine, but they are rare, and, like its fleeting premise, it wont stay in the mind long.
We're not saying that We Happy Few is all style and no substance, but have you seen how bloody stylish it is?
If you’re a fan of Beyond: Two Souls and want to revisit its world, this is easily the best way to do it. The visuals look superb and the new additions are welcome. However, age hasn’t been kind to Beyond: Two Souls’ story. Without the innovative glean that made this game so unique, Beyond is a poorly written experience that lacks player engrossment. It feels like David Cage’s attempt at directing a movie and, sadly, a tacky one at that.
In the absence of meaningful stakes, Frog Detective's trading sequence mechanics might seem shallow and its detective work may feel basic, but perhaps that's deliberate? In focusing on whimsy and charm above all else, Frog Detective is allowed to just be funny and daft on its own merits, and that's where it shines.
Like Final Fantasy VIII's gunblade or Gears or War's active reload, Dust & Neon knows that a solid, satisfying mechanical input can make or break otherwise rote gunplay. It's a small distinction, sure, but it lifts David Marquardt's twin-stick, sci-fi Western out of the metaphorical dust.
Neither a reinvention of the series nor a return to its roots, Fire Emblem Engage finds a comfortable middle ground. It's another polished skirmish (with Suikoden-like town planning on the side) that will keep Fire Emblem fans happy, but its lacklustre plot and lack of branching choice (like Three Houses) ultimately hold it back.
With its close-hugging third-person camera and its mood of air-locked foreboding, it's hard not to judge The Callisto Protocol through a lens tinted by Glen Schofield's earlier creation, Dead Space. And while its more violent tendencies diminish the tension somewhat, there's still plenty to recommend here.
With its striking production values and next-gen rat rendering, it's hard escaping the notion that A Plague Tale: Requiem is, like Microsoft Flight Simulator before it, more of a tech demo or portfolio piece for Asobo Studio. But for fans of the original, the prospect of more of the same – only bigger and flashier, and without the 'Allo 'Allo! accents – is certainly enticing.
Most video games that model themselves on H.R. Giger's biomechanical monstrosities are purely aesthetic. Scorn wears its influences not on its sleeves, but inside them; a mass of ooze and darkness and gnarly, desiccated things; a grimly singular puzzle, but perhaps one that didn't need the combat to deliver its horrors home.
Miitopia oozes wit and charm, but its core gameplay systems are simple and often repetitive.