It’s not unfair to say that the gaming landscape was somewhat different when Donkey Kong Country Returns first fell into our laps in 2010; 2D platformers were a rare breed, and ol’ DK himself hadn’t arguably had a mainline entry in his series since 2004’s Jungle Beat. Back then, the title said it all: not only was Donkey Kong back, but Donkey Kong Country had indeed returned. That’s not quite the world we’re living in 15 years later.
Having said that, just like the original, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD explains everything you need to know about it in the title: it’s Donkey Kong Country Returns in HD, and unfortunately, it’s not much more than that. This is that same great game from the Wii era tarted up a bit here and there.
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]]>Like Nintendo’s own Wii U, the PS Vita has seen a good chunk of its best games migrate to alternative platforms in the years since the system itself veered into the realm of ‘commercial failure’. One of those games is Freedom Wars, a third-person action title created by Dimps that, at the time, was one of the most successful first-party-published Vita games (in Japan, at least). Now, over 10 years later, publisher Bandai Namco has taken the reins to present a remaster for Switch, retaining much of the original’s essence while improving upon the core gameplay.
Freedom Wars Remastered is, at its core, a loose take on Monster Hunter’s gameplay. As a Sinner within an underground Panopticon city, you must complete combat ops. Y’see, in a world in which resources are exceptionally scarce, the very nature of existence is in itself a crime; hence, you begin the game with a rather harsh one million-year sentence. By completing operations and rescuing your fellow citizens from large creatures known as Abductors, you can reduce your sentence and gain entitlements along the way.
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]]>Way back in 1989, Nihon Falcom released Ys III: Wanderers from Ys for various PC-based platforms and eventually consoles like the Genesis and SNES. This 2D side-scroller was well-respected in the community and eventually acted as the basis for 2005's 3D reimagining, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, though this didn’t receive a Western release until a PSP version in 2010. Now, hot off the recent Western release of Ys X: Nordics, Falcom brings this remake to modern platforms as Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana. Sporting a few quality-of-life updates, this throwback to simpler times (which debuted in Japan back in September 2023) offers up an enjoyable and tightly designed action-RPG experience that you shouldn't miss out on.
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana covers one of the earlier adventures of series star Adol Christin, following a journey to longtime companion Dogi's homeland of Felghana. They arrive and are warmly welcomed by Dogi’s friends and family, but it doesn’t take long for Adol to get caught up in a larger struggle. The king of Felghana seeks to claim a series of statues to loosen the seal placed upon a demon he wishes to release. Adol thus sets out to retrieve these statues before the king can, hoping to stop his nefarious plan.
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]]>Cutting a bloody swathe through an army of the undead, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP joins Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered on Switch. Both games complement each other as flawed but enjoyable examples of Grasshopper Studios' beloved catalogue. An idiosyncratic collaboration between Suda 51 and filmmaker James Gunn, Lollipop Chainsaw highlights the unique style of both creators. It’s a hyper-stylised, quip-heavy action game that remains a uniquely demented experience. Sadly, content omissions and some choppy performance hamper this remaster, tainting the colourful mayhem.
The plot is both a perfect representation of its era and a great opportunity to experience Gunn in a goofy horror mode that was stifled when the MCU beckoned. On the morning of her eighteenth birthday, cheerleader Juliet Starling is inconvenienced by a zombie outbreak in her hometown. Luckily, Juliet comes from a long line of zombie hunters, the undead horde is no match for her skills with a chainsaw and a set of pom poms. Unable to save her boyfriend from a bite, Juliet decapitates him and carries his magically animated head on her belt. Together, they must battle through high school and defeat five musically themed dark lords, summoned by an angry goth kid named Swan to end the world.
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]]>As a mischievous omnipotent being once said, Star Trek isn't about mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence. The voyages of the starships Enterprise et al. are journeys of self-discovery. It's about the people we meet on those strange new worlds and what they teach us about ourselves. It's not about taking turns to phaser each other in the face. Despite issues elsewhere, that's where Star Trek: Legends really fails.
It's not all bad, though. Emerald City Games' turn-based trawl, published here by Qubic Games, debuted on Apple Arcade back in 2021 and though some may baulk at its mobile-first design, it translates fairly well to Switch. The UI is well-proportioned and the touchscreen integration functions as you'd hope.
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]]>Editor's note: This article was originally published in December 2023 as a review in progress. We had hoped to return to Palia once it hit version 1.0, but it's still not there at the time of writing. Therefore we're revisiting one year on to see how things have changed with some new text up top and a score below.
A full year on from its initial beta launch, now feels like as good a time as any to revisit Palia to see what’s changed. The good and bad news is… well, not that much.
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]]>Holding the Guinness World Record for "Most prolific developer of danmaku shooters” — a tenuous plaudit seemingly concocted entirely for their receipt — Cave’s five DonPachi entries form bullet points in the company’s evolution, from Toaplan-esque beginnings to a full-blown, bullet hell renaissance.
SaiDaiOuJou, the series’ final entry and Cave’s last arcade shooting game, makes the clean stylings of its predecessor, DaiFukkatsu, even cleaner; a shiny blue aesthetic wrought from 3D renders and a billion pixels. It also carries over adjustable difficulty options and an auto bomb on/off feature. Its core, however, is similar to DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, the greatest and most beautiful of Cave’s work.
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]]>Since this review was originally published patches have addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. While we unfortunately cannot revisit games on an individual basis, it should still be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below.
A few months ago, the Switch finally received Pizza Tower, an indie action platformer that’s gotten a lot of praise for how well it channels Nintendo’s long-dormant Wario Land series. Yet developer Tour de Pizza wasn’t the only team inspired by Wario. Summitsphere’s Antonblast is a wild and wonderful action platformer that feels like it could actually be the next Wario Land game if it came with a different coat of paint; its combination of speed, precision, and smart level design makes for a truly thrilling experience that’s only let down by its issues with stable performance.
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]]>Chernobylite launched back in 2019, bringing with it mostly positive reviews and an interesting hook for a 3D survival game laced with a touch of horror – it was made using 3D scans of the real-life Chernobyl exclusion zone. This hints at an intriguing attention to detail from the developers, and on more powerful hardware, the effort pays off, providing the game with an immersive atmosphere full of misty lighting and tangibly tragic ruins. But on Switch, the impact of the game’s most unique feature has, unfortunately, been lost in the visual downgrade.
By far the strongest part of Chernobylite for us was its ambitious storytelling. The storyline follows Igor Khymynuk, whose aim — to find his wife Tatyana, another scientist, who went missing in the zone — is compellingly brought to life as he hallucinates through missions and struggles to put together clues and launch a climactic assault on the Chernobyl facility itself, Tatyana’s last-known location.
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]]>'Game' is a funny word. On its face, it describes lighthearted, fun, frivolous things. Even a very serious game of snooker, in which people wear waistcoats, is 'just a game' on some level. But of course video games can be very different, and Pine is one such game. The subtitle gives it away – A Story of Loss – and it does exactly what it says on the tin.
You might be inclined to imagine something like Arise: A Simple Story, where some light platforming guides you through allegorical landscapes in between cutscenes. However, Pine could be politely described as 'gameplay-light'. The protagonist is an unnamed man living alone in a forest clearing. He fells trees for firewood, grows vegetables in a small allotment to feed himself, and does little else besides carving little statuettes of a woman he loves but has lost.
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]]>When Victory Heat Rally first appeared on Kickstarter back in 2020, the game appeared set to pay homage to Sega's wonderful Super Scaler range of arcade games from the 1980s. In the four years that have followed between that Kickstarter launch and this Switch release, something appears to have been lost along the way.
Rather than the Kickstarter trailer’s segmented rollercoaster-like tracks, which immediately conjured up memories of Seger's brilliant arcade racer Power Drift, instead the tracks in Victory Heat Rally look a lot more like the typical 3D environments expected from a modern racing game, albeit with cel shading designed to deliberately make them look more basic.
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]]>Being from the UK, the name 'Rita' never quite sat right with us for Power Rangers. It sounds too much like Rita from down the chip shop, who might ask if you want salt and vinegar with that; or Rita from round the corner, who may or may not be a juvenile delinquent wearing altogether too much makeup. That said, Rita, the witch-like antagonist of the Power Rangers team, definitely doesn’t work in the chip shop. Too much makeup on the other hand…
Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a brand new belt-scrolling beat 'em up from Digital Eclipse, a developer better known for their retro remasters and collections in the form of Atari 50 and the recent Tetris Forever. Based on the original '90s incarnation of the show — a Japanese-American co-production that mish-mashed Japan’s Super Sentai action scenes with US-filmed actors — Power Rangers is a logical candidate to join the 2D scrolling beat-'em-up renaissance.
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]]>Here's the thing about The Thing: Remastered; it's still very much 2002's The Thing. Which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how much you like your The Thing.
2002's The Thing, you see, which was developed by Computer Artworks and based on the intensely sexy Kurt Russell movie, The Thing — itself based on a novella that isn't called The Thing — is a real mixed bag of a game, truth be told. It sets its stall out impressively, digging into the creeping fear and slowly rising paranoia of the classic movie, giving you some light squad control and an intriguing fear/trust system, whilst presenting its tale in environs that, whilst certainly now aged, still absolutely nail the vibe of the thing (didn't even mean that one). But! It also falls apart quite badly for the second stretch of its slight running time.
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]]>A few years ago, Gust Studios—the popular Atelier RPG factory—decided to do something a little different by putting out a licensed RPG adaptation of the Fairy Tail anime and manga. It wasn’t a particularly great game, but it wasn’t too bad either, and it obviously did well enough with its audience that a sequel was greenlit. With Fairy Tail 2, we’re pleased to say that Gust has crafted an overall stronger RPG, although it also makes many of the same mistakes its predecessor did.
Fairy Tail 2 picks up shortly after the events of the first game, and centres mostly on an adaptation of the climactic Alvarez arc. We say 'adaptation' here because the developers took a lot of liberties in changing the story from its original telling—fans may be divided over the tweaks and omissions here, but it overall still feels like a consistent and interesting story, albeit one that will appeal most to longtime fans.
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]]>Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop is a roguelite fix-'em-up that combines the frantic buttons-and-levers work of Space Team and the chaotic manual-flipping of Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes with the repetitive, greasy work of car mechanics. You are the sole useful employee of the titular Rocket Shop, a podunk space garage that looks like it would serve roaches in the instant coffee and use spit to polish headlights, and it is your job to fix the spaceships that come into the shop each day.
Every ship has a bunch of broken modules. Some are easy to understand, like Fuel, Oil, Headlights, and Star Maps, and some take a turn into absurdity, like Tomfoolery, VR, and the Rebreather, which sounds like it might be straightforward but is actually full of snails and pancakes.
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]]>The blood-soaked jewels in the crown of a storied cult franchise, Soul Reaver and its sequel were praised on release for original gameplay and stellar visuals. Gorgeous gothic fantasies, co-written and directed by industry luminary Amy Hennig, they followed the exploits of vampire lord Kain’s fallen lieutenant, Raziel. These games are easily the strongest entries in a series that would span two decades, before sadly ending with 2018’s ill-fated online PVP title, Nosgoth.
Now, the corpse is pulled from the Lake Of The Dead and granted new life, thanks to a faithful clutch of remasters from Aspyr (developers of the great Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, also originally from Crystal Dynamics).
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]]>Spirit Mancer, the inaugural release from Sunny Syrup Studio, is an ambitious game that flies a little too close to the sun. It’s a hack ‘n’ slash, an action platformer, an RPG, a monster catcher, and a deckbuilder, all rolled into one. If that sounds like too many ideas to cram into one game… well, it totally is, though Spirit Mancer still comes across as a modestly enjoyable and interesting game.
Spirit Mancer follows the story of two military-trained demon hunters, Sebastian and Mary, who are suddenly transported away from the human world to Inferno, where a wicked demon queen has stolen away their friends. Armed with the titular Spirit Mancer, which gives them limited control over demons, the two set out to free their friends, defeat the queen, and save the world.
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]]>The king of theme park management sims is here. It’s not some godawful spin-off that bears the name but none of the fun, it’s not the great-but-not-as-good-as-the-first-two RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, this is the first and second games in the series stitched together and bundled with some modern quality-of-life features, such as speeding up time, which is a godsend. This is Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic on Switch, and expectations are lofty.
If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, you’re given a plot of land or an existing theme park and a goal to reach; it might be housing a certain number of guests, achieving a high park value, or perhaps even paying off a debt that someone incurred by not charging for anything.
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]]>It’s been six years since the first Fitness Boxing was released, during which time we’ve had two main games and two spin-offs based on Fist of the North Star and Hatsune Miku. Now it’s time for the third proper entry in the series, and thankfully regular Fitness Boxing players will find some new stuff in here to freshen up their daily routine. There are new modes, new tasks, and even a new way to explore the Fitness Boxing lore. Yes, it turns out there’s lore now, apparently.
The main workout mode returns and brings with it the same strengths and weaknesses it always did. Those who played the previous games will know exactly what to expect here: after picking your workout of choice (or accepting the Daily Workout chosen for you based on your required time, intensity, and target body areas), you repeat a series of punching and dodging motions to the beat, almost like a violent rhythm game.
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]]>Hironobu Sakaguchi needs no introduction. The “father of Final Fantasy” is an industry titan, arguably untouchable in the video game pantheon. But, since 2004, Sakaguchi has been at the helm at Mistwalker, his development studio which has a knack for slightly twisting the traditional turn-based RPG affair. Over the years, we’ve seen that in Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story.
Fantasian, the studio’s latest game, fits that mould, but it also feels slightly different. Sakaguchi admits that he was inspired to make Fantasian after replaying Final Fantasy VI on stream, reminding him how much he loved the genre. We’ve waited over three years since the two-part Apple Arcade release, but now console gamers can experience Sakaguchi’s ambitious project with FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, a game with flashes of brilliance – including a beautiful world and rewarding combat – held back by uneven pacing, brutally long encounters, and a lacklustre story.
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]]>The Life is Strange series has been an interesting diversion from Square Enix’s typical MO of putting out endless takes on RPGs, instead offering heavily narrative-focused stories exploring the trials of various people who develop supernatural abilities. This series' strong storytelling has garnered a loyal fanbase, it’s also proven to be a bit uneven along the way.
The original Life is Strange followed the adventures of a time-bending teen named Max Caulfield, and its ending (whichever one you picked) was considered by its creators Dontnod to be the definitive end of Max’s story, as Life is Strange was intended to be a sort of anthology series and Dontnod introduced a new protagonist in Life is Strange 2. With development duties having shifted to Deck Nine, however, a direct sequel has now been produced that continues the story of an older Max who now lives in another part of the country. Despite its divisive premise, Life is Strange: Double Exposure does a solid job of exploring Max’s character further while introducing a new and interesting supporting cast, though it unfortunately feels like a clumsy fit for the Switch’s limited hardware.
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]]>Scroll through the eShop any week, and under the new releases section, you are bound to find a Metroidvania, if not several. The genre is packed with so many games that few manage to break out. However, Red Candle Games' Nine Sols did manage to make a name for itself earlier this year on PC, and now that it has come to Switch, it is clear to see why.
It fuses the intense, precise parrying system seen in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice with satisfying skills, abilities, and upgrades that are all accentuated by strong sound design and visuals. While the worldbuilding and design didn't particularly grab us, its combat is enough to make it stand out when compared to its 2024 Metroidvania competition.
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]]>The toughest April Fools' jokes to swallow are the ones that genuinely get our hopes up, only for it all to come crashing down when reality sets in. April Fools’ Day 2024 saw plenty of enticing fake announcements, but there was one smaller prank nestled among the big hitters that stung just a little bit extra. Developer Inti Creates, known for games like Blaster Master Zero and Azure Striker Gunvolt, took to social media that fateful day to unveil Divine Dynamo Flamefrit: an all-new, top-down, action-adventure, dungeon-crawler game.
Suffice it to say, it left quite the strong impression with its stylish 16-bit graphics, its flashy combat, and, most importantly, its utter devotion to replicating the cheesy aesthetic of '80s and '90s-era shonen anime. While the trailer was clearly marked as an April Fools’ Day joke, that didn’t stop fans from letting Inti Creates know that this was a game they wanted to actually play. Fortunately, the developer made it happen. Once just an intricately crafted joke, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is now out in a fully playable form — and it’s quite the enjoyable little romp.
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]]>It's a story you've probably heard before: there's a detective, a rich, old heiress with an amended will, and an assembled group of people all hoping to benefit from it. And then, as these stories usually do, it ends in murder. On a train! But don't be fooled by the plentiful Agatha Christie-isms: this work of whodunnitry is wholly unique while paying tribute to its influences, and may even be one of our favourite modern point-and-clicks.
In the astoundingly well-named Loco Motive, you play as three separate characters – Arthur, a paperwork-loving estate attorney; Herman Merman, a crime novel-author-turned-detective; and Diana, a spy and bounty hunter working for the Inland Revenue Service, which we really hope isn't a real thing. These three are your guides as you try to piece together the mysterious and sudden murder of a rich matriarch on a train through a series of goofy, absurd item combinations, interspersed with plot twists, reveals, and comedic cutscenes.
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]]>Released in 2007 by EA Redwood Shores, MySims was an attempt to capitalise on the increasing popularity of Animal Crossing (the excellent Wild World had released two years prior). A chibi-styled spin-off from the main Sims franchise, this series skewed towards a younger audience and had players rejuvenate a community with friendship and brightly coloured furniture.
MySims Cozy Bundle pairs the original release with MySims Kingdom, an expansive sequel with a medieval theme. Switch isn’t exactly wanting for a chilled-out town builder. All of the genre's greatest examples already live on Nintendo’s console. What does this remaster bring to the table that makes it a worthy alternative to the likes of Tom Nook’s Debt Simulator and the seminal Stardew Valley?
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Haruko 
Haruko