Gavin Lane

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Dec 28, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

There's no shortage of charming, artistic puzzle-platformers on Switch and Koloro is certainly a good one; there's much to like in its simple mechanics and narrative, and there's satisfaction to be found in its puzzle-solving. The problem is that you've almost certainly seen everything it has to offer somewhere before and, as much as it engages your grey matter while you play, it's unlikely to stay with you in the same way the games it evokes do.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Dec 13, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Kingdom Two Crowns offers a hell of a view, but you may find its brand of light strategy too sedate if you're not one to ‘smell the roses'. Give it a chance, though, and it really grows on you. Disappointing framerate aside, it's a great introduction to the series, and valuable split-screen co-op adds a fresh, more relaxing dimension to its tower defence. If you bounced off New Lands, this won't win you over, but if the last game piqued your interest but passed you by, Two Crowns is a much easier recommendation.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Dec 11, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

While reminding us just how much we'd love to see FTL on Switch, Everspace manages to carve out an impressive identity for itself. With gratifying space combat, an addictive ‘rogue-lite' core loop and even some light, entertaining writing along the way, it performs admirably – if not flawlessly – on Nintendo's console. Overall, we had a hell of a time with it and this port does a cracking job of preserving the full experience on a handheld. If any of this sounds remotely enticing, we'd heartily recommend investigation.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Nov 30, 2018

Critic30/100

Agreement—

Harvest Life is not irredeemably awful, but it's rough and easily outclassed by the games it evokes. It feels dehydrated, with all the soul and polish sucked out, and a few pleasant tunes aren't enough revive it. Games of this ilk thrive on charm; this is subsisting on numbers and fodder. Harvest Moon fans don't have much on Switch at the moment beyond Stardew Valley, but life's too short to waste in Lohwold.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Nov 29, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

A few rough edges do little to disturb the tranquillity Cattails lulls you into with its fun mechanics, cheerful writing and lovely soundtrack. Despite the conflict at its heart, you could happily while away hours frolicking in the fields, catching butterflies and chatting with your feline chums. If you're after something light-hearted to relax with until Animal Crossing arrives next year, this fits the bill very nicely.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Nov 15, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

If it were a launch title, we'd recommend tactics fans investigate Mercenaries Wings: The False Phoenix, at least until something better came along, but something better did come along – several things, in fact. If you're an insatiable tactics fiend who's munched through everything else, including the previous collection, this is stodgy, competent filler that should keep you going for a while; it's a supermarket meal deal or a plate of cocktail sausages. It's no-frills and fine, but with a veritable buffet of tasty, interesting alternatives, who wants a sausage on a stick? Perfunctory, cliched writing and a lack of niceties make it a tougher sell when there are literally hundreds of hours to be had elsewhere.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Nov 9, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Forgotton Anne is an evocative, artistic triumph that nails that feeling of a ‘living anime'. Sure, the puzzles are hardly mind-blowing, and some later sections may test your patience, but the beauty of the art and the gentle humour of the writing should carry you through these irritations. Animation buffs should dive in without reservation, and we'd recommend anyone with even the slightest interest check this out.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Oct 31, 2018

Critic70/100

Agreement—

We thoroughly enjoyed our illustrious career in data manipulation – if you've got the head for it (or if you've ever enjoyed an episode of Silicon Valley), 7 Billion Humans is as perfect an introduction to programming as you could hope for. It gives the layman an appreciation of clean, efficient code, and the writing will keep more savvy players entertained for the duration. It offers more puzzling variety than its predecessor, but if your brain simply isn't wired that way, you won't like it any better. If that's the case, we'd recommend sitting this one out and crossing your fingers that Tomorrow Corporation have something less esoteric in the pipeline.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Oct 17, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

It's not for everyone, but Warriors Orochi 4's multitudinous hordes can be pleasurable to sweep through, despite the game feeling by-the-numbers in many ways. This is simply more, and while fans might be able to forgive the bland presentation, we'd wager that non-devotees would have a much better time with the Zelda or Fire Emblem spin-offs – with the characters, settings and accoutrement you know and love helping to temper the monotony when you're not quite ‘in the zone'.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Oct 10, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

On the whole, Child of Light is an easy recommendation for those who didn't catch it the first time round.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Oct 2, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Disgaea 1 Complete blows raspberries at po-faced, self-serious strategy games by mixing complex systems with comedy to delightful effect. This remaster is a great introduction for series newcomers, provided you can forgive the odd mismatching texture and an inflexible camera.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Sep 15, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Wasteland 2: Director's Cut on Switch is a missed opportunity. While the underlying systems and crunchy combat are enjoyable – and it just about works as a portable experience – a steady list of irritations make an unqualified recommendation impossible. There's a solid foundation of gritty turn-based combat with some great writing, but a stubborn camera, disappointing performance and a lack of quality-of-life enhancements means the PC ‘master race' take this round.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Sep 13, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

The Spectrum Retreat is a valiant stab at a Portal-esque puzzler which largely pulls off what it sets out to achieve. It lacks the dynamite script and surgical timing of Valve's masterpiece, but the test chambers (sorry, ‘authentication challenges') withstand the comparison. If Gone Home's pace is a touch too navel-gazing for your liking, we'd heartily recommend a trip to The Penrose Hotel.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Aug 26, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

In many ways God Wars is like a new Picross game; it's more of the same. The Japanese folklore narrative offers a slight twist, but the script is painfully dull and repetitive. If you're dipping your toe into the genre or only have time for one of these, we'd sit tight to see what Intelligent Systems has up its sleeve with the upcoming Fire Emblem: Three Houses. If you're a strategy junkie after a fix, it gets the job done with all the mechanics and systems you'd expect – but nothing new or novel.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Aug 24, 2018

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Space Ribbon is not without merit – and the closer it inches into F-Zero's slipstream, the better it gets – but a terribly humdrum beginning, lacklustre implementation of items and a central mechanic which forces you to slow down to speed up makes it a tough proposition. There's fun to be had if you persevere but considering how the alternatives provide pretty-much instant diversion, this makes you work too hard for it.