Nintendo Life
HomepageNintendo Life's Reviews
Double Dragon Revive is the sort of game that's just damningly mediocre. It doesn't fumble the ball too hard in any significant way, but neither does it really excel at offering a fun and engaging beat 'em up. Interesting gameplay ideas are held back by uneven execution, and the uninspired graphical style kind of takes some getting used to.This will have its fans, and it's worth purchasing on a deep sale someday, but it's definitely nowhere close to the list of games I'd recommend to someone wanting to expand their beat-'em-up collection. Perhaps Billy and Jimmy will wow us with their inevitable next outing, but this one is just 'alright'.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a stunning slice of action, and my favourite musou game so far. Lessons have been learned from both Hyrule Warriors and Age of Calamity, resulting in a game that balances big-time story with top-notch combat that's got proper depth to it.With Zonai devices to play with, a cracking roster, tons of sexy Sync Strikes to pull off, and a ludicrously slick recreation of early Hyrule to set about kicking ass in, this is dream time for hack-and-slash fans and Zelda enthusiasts alike. Yes, map layouts are still a bit bland, and co-op mode is 30fps, but everything else here combines to make for the best entry in this spin-off franchise to date.
With a total of 23 playable games alongside a comprehensive interactive documentary providing detail behind the series' development, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is yet another triumph for Digital Eclipse from the historical compilation perspective.
What Luigi's Mansion lacks in content and longevity, it makes up for with a remarkably well-crafted and unique single campaign that will keep you consistently entertained from front to back.
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a deeply satisfying follow-up to last year's remake project, closing out the Erdrick trilogy on a fittingly high note. A gorgeous art style, tons of new content and quality-of-life updates, and a wonderful soundtrack all combine to make this one an easy recommendation for any retro JRPG fans.If you're interested in RPGs, I'd suggest you pick this up at your earliest opportunity. These games stand as excellent reminders of why Dragon Quest is so highly respected today.
Once Upon a Katamari proves its worth as a mainline sequel and differentiates itself from other action-puzzlers with its irresistible game feel.Rolling the katamari and sticking things to its surface with a satisfying pop is a continuous, sensory delight not dissimilar to vacuuming up gems in Vampire Survivors. Refined controls and the introduction of power-ups like the Magnet simply enhance this core experience, making for a deeply satisfying roll-'em-up.
Simon the Sorcerer: Origins is a solid return for a beloved series, and the developers at Smallthing Studios seem more than capable of carrying on these magical adventures.
Two Point Museum might be the best Two Point game to date. It's smart, funny, good-looking, and packs in more mechanics than you can shake a stick at, all without feeling overwhelming or too much to handle.It's got some performance-based blemishes on Switch 2, and the lack of a mouse mode at launch feels like an obvious omission. Still, the final package is an incredibly entertaining one that fans of management sims would be mad to skip.
Lumo 2, just like its predecessor, does a great job of reintroducing players to a whole bunch of retro delights from the 1980s, and in small enough servings that they don't outstay their welcome. There's an impressive array of tricky isometric levels to get stuck into besting here, plenty of collectibles and achievements to tick off, some nice side-scrolling surprises along the way, and a general retro-british vibe that you can't help but love infusing the entire thing. Whilst it may not meaningfully evolve its predecessor, Lumo 2 is yet more of the good stuff.
If you’ve never played a pinball game before, then Xenotilt might well be the only one you’ll ever need. Heck, even if you don't like pinball, I suspect playing this might very well change your mind – it's mercilessly addictive from the get-go. Give it a shot and you’ll soon succumb to its will.
Unfolding like a classic Disney tale, this is a beautifully animated adventure that weaves a deeply personal tale. Bye Sweet Carole is driven by its art style and a brilliant musical score, but occasionally stumbles due to stiff controls and frustrating mechanics.
Ball x Pit is a tremendous brew of so many ideas it ought to collapse under the confusion. However, it operates in such perfect balance that it appeals both to the one-more-go instinct and to more cerebral planning and creativity. Kenny Sun Studios set itself a heck of a challenge but, fortunately, hasn't dropped the ball.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A should be celebrated for its fabulous real-time combat and its largely smooth jump to the Switch 2, but in condensing things down to one single location, it loses part of the Pokémon magic that Arceus and many other entries managed to amplify.I'll forever find filling up my Pokédex fun, and for the Switch 2 generation, this is a good starting point for the franchise. But if the Legends series is to continue, it needs to recapture its personality and fuse that real-time system with a bit more freedom.
Between a restrained scope and structure that harkens back to the Atelier games of old, a bevvy of fresh gameplay twists to call its own, and a metric ton of fanservice for veterans, Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian feels like a triumphant celebration of the entire series' legacy.More importantly, it's just a really great RPG experience. Appropriately, it mixes together a bunch of quality ingredients - a heartwarming narrative, strategic and dynamic turn-based combat, complex crafting systems - and synthesises them into a jolly little romp of an adventure. There's certainly a bump in the road or two, but the ride is too enjoyable to linger on those for long.
You won't become fluent in Japanese by playing Shujinkou, but it will introduce the basics of both hiragana and katakana to you in a game that features the best bits of the Etrian Odyssey series in a very clever way. The combat system is solid enough that not even the counterintuitive menus could keep me from diving back in for more.
Absolum is an on-par experience to Dragon's Crown, but a superior game in terms of its key metrics. Its combat, collectible augmentations, and planning are exceptionally well-formulated, ensuring no run is ever quite the same and its strategic options and play-styles are ever-deepening. It's incredibly impressive in its reconstitution of arcade, role-playing, and roguelike formats, evolving them into something fresh and exciting.To that end, it's one of the best of its kind, whatever that kind may be. If you don't enjoy the idea of repetition and grind, you may not fall in love with its initial five hours, but the momentum for one-more-go becomes so compelling after a while that it's impossible to relinquish the pad.
Yooka-Replaylee, in most ways, feels like the game that Yooka-Laylee was always meant to be. The core experience has remained the same, but much has been added or tweaked to make for a significantly more confident and streamlined experience.Though the technical issues hold it back a bit, at least on Switch 2 at launch, this is still a clear improvement over the original and a game that no fan of the 3D platforming genre should miss out on. Even if you played the original to completion, I'd say Yooka-Replaylee is still very much worth your time and money.
Little Nightmares III faithfully preserves the oppressive mood, clever environmental puzzles, and visceral unease associated with the series, but feels like an echo of what came before. While its dark allure remains potent, the baffling absence of local co-op undercuts the game's most ambitious feature. Though its multiplayer concept shines in theory, the absence of a character-swap feature to enrich single-player mode feels like another missed opportunity.
With how stellar a package the Vows of the Virtueless proved to be upon release, the expanded and feature-packed Disgaea 7 Complete should be a slam dunk of a recommendation to any tactical RPG fan - but re-releases are rarely that simple. For anyone who missed out on the original the first time around, this version is every bit as great and stands tall as the ultimate, feature-complete iteration of the game.At the same time, there's no denying that the handful of brand-new content additions fall on the niche side and mostly serve those who want to live and breathe Disgaea 7 for their next hundred-plus hours of game time. Even stalwart fans who loved the base game may want to think twice before dropping the price of admission on this updated version and starting from scratch for a couple of post-game goodies.
Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is a genuinely excellent game, but the Switch version is just 'alright'. The dynamic track designs, high replayability, and thrilling visuals all combine to make for a game that - judged purely on that content - stands as a strong competitor to the dominant Mario Kart series.But the poor visual quality and resolution present in the Switch version drag down the overall experience and make it feel like a much more mediocre experience. I'd still give this port a light recommendation; it's a fair choice if Switch is the only platform available to you, and ultimately justifies the price of admission. Otherwise, I'd suggest waiting to see how the upcoming Switch 2 version pans out, or picking it up now on another platform.