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EXCELLENT - Being able to create your own RPG on the Switch for other players is absolutely in a league of its own with nothing else coming close to this kind of exposure or amount of tools available to realize your dream of becoming a game designer, writer, and developer. The advantages of taking the Switch everywhere you go and “code” at a moment’s notice is a game changer.
EXCELLENT - Fight Crab is a fun and silly escape from the anxiety inducing year that is 2020. Do yourself a favor and pick it up, play with some friends, and have a crab flipping good time.
MEDIOCRE - A rather bland experience that is tainted by technical issues that almost render the game unplayable on the docked Switch, but made slightly better with some published workarounds. Once the game is patched and cleaned up it might be worth checking out, but I’m not sure that’ll be enough to make the game fun.
MEDIOCRE - Street Power Soccer attempts to bring an arcade-centric focused urban soccer game onto the Nintendo Switch platform. While the game does great at creating a visual and audio thematic setting for this genre, gameplay is clunky more times than not, and many of the game’s modes feel awkward and too mini-game focused. I also encountered a complete lack of polished animations that make for the standard soccer matches looking broken, and even in the home menu, my character would break from his idle animations to a standing T-Pose randomly. For a $49.99 game, there’s just a lack of polish and depth to this game.
GOOD - Captain Tsubasa is a fun arcade soccer game that perfectly reflects the world of Tsubasa and his friends, reliving the high points of the manga and the animated series. Each game is a unique experience and its story mode offers long hours of fun and replayability. Technically, it is not intended to compete with the most popular soccer games, but it is still a challenging alternative either to play alone or with your friends. If you like the anime, go for it!
MEDIOCRE - This is not the anime game that you’re looking for. You might be tempted to play it just to fight as your favorite manga hero, but chances are you’ll just ultimately end up as disappointed as I was. With performance issues, lack of quality audio visual presentation, and a bunch of grinding to unlock characters, this fighting game leaves much to be desired.
GOOD - Windbound attempts to combine Zelda-like visuals and gameplay with the survival genre of gaming that has become so popular over the past decade. For the most part it works, but there are some small issues like long loading, pop-in graphics, and less than ideal UI that hold it back from greatness. Still, there’s a lot of fun to discover here!
EXCELLENT - Faeria is a AAA quality merging of the collectible card game space with strategy board games. It features some of the most stunning art I’ve seen in the genre. Accessible and easily learned, but difficult to master gameplay felt nearly perfected, and there’s enough game modes and replayable matches to keep a person playing for ages. The only thing really keeping this from a perfect score in my book was that the game requires constant, good internet to play smoothly, even in solo modes. I wished so much I could have had a seamless experience offline. Still, for fans of Magic Arena, Hearthstone, or other fantasy deck builders, Faeria is a must-have, and definitely won’t break the bank at a $19.99 base price point, with a handful of great DLC for a bit more cash.
BAD - Gleamlight commits the cardinal sin of gaming by being boring. There’s nothing good to see here, and that’s a shame considering its premise seemed promising. The gameplay is boring, the visuals are generic, the AI is terrible, the core mission is on the short side, and that all adds up to a bad time. This is a very crowded market on the Switch and you can find so many other titles worthy of your time.
GOOD - Inmost is a dark and emotional 2D puzzle adventure featuring three playable characters via an intertwining story. Detailed pixel art and a moving soundtrack help sell the story and the puzzle solving is rewarding. Some of the action segments fall a bit short and the last half hour or so of the game seems rushed, but overall it’s an experience I won’t soon forget.
GOOD - Bite The Bullet is a fun game to play and offers some new dynamics to the classic run-and-gun genre. It introduces some new features, such as eating enemies, walls, etc., to level up and unlock skills. Couch co-op is where it’s at if you’re in the mood for a unique take on Contra.
GOOD - If you’re a fan of the legendary animated series then you’ll no doubt find enjoyment here cutting up Aku’s robotic army as Samurai Jack. Just don’t expect much more than that out of this title.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Overall, the story is worth playing through. It is touching and has an ending that is quite good. The manga panel presentation of the story telling is very cool, and the music is absolutely wonderful. However, with all the unnecessary padding, inability to destroy or at least incapacitate enemies, and the insanely idiotic control scheme that is enough to drive you crazy, it may not be worth the initial price tag of $30.
GOOD - Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a good puzzle game with some cool time travel elements. If you’re a fan of the show, you can easily give it a half point extra for that since you’ll understand the characters and who they represent. For a non-fan, this game is still a solid puzzle experience and a good amount of fun.
GREAT - With over 30 tracks to rock out to and plenty of ways to play, Double Kick Heroes is a rocking good time making full use of the Switch’s unique motion controls perfect for you and all your metal loving friends. Be sure to keep those Joy-Cons strapped to your wrists!
GREAT - Nowhere Prophet brings deck building and a unique turn-based combat system into the roguelike genre complete with slick visuals, and accessible controls that add to the straightforward game mechanics. There’s a ton of strategy to be had with each run, and the risk/reward elements tied into the narrative driven choose-your-own-adventure choices make for an incredibly engaging experience with every start of a new game.
WORTH CONSIDERING - With roguelike overhead maze levels that don’t punish you as much for failure, you can progress the game ahead every time you enter the gauntlet. If you’re really into taking care of a digital creature, searching for food to feed it and enjoy sweeping up poop then you’re in for a real treat. If none of these things sounds like fun, then look elsewhere for a fulfilling gaming experience. For what the game boasts to be, it does it quite well, it just wasn’t my personal cup of tea.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break brings with it a create-a-level mode as the centerpiece. For me, the Story Mode was still the heart of the game, but it’s borderline frustratingly difficult with a combination of too many obstacles, precise AI opponents that are just too good, and grueling courses. The classic storytelling and graphic animation styles were still present, but playing the game on the Nintendo Switch also brought some system quirks with it too. For fans of the series, there’s still something here to have fun with, but I felt like the original game ultimately brought me more joy.
GOOD - Carrion is a fun reverse-horror game that could have been much better than it is with a few simple fixes, but what we got is still pretty good. Stalking humans and slithering around feels as great as it sounds.
GREAT - Mr. Driller DrillLand took a long time to make it to our shores, but now that it’s here puzzle game fans have a reason to celebrate. With multiple modes of play you get to experience Mr. Driller like never before! The soundtrack is absolutely off the charts and fans of bubbly Japanese music will be in heaven. A lack of online multiplayer and leaderboards slightly hampers the replay value, but don’t let that deter you from nabbing this from the eShop.