PJ O'Reilly

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 29, 2021

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Darksiders III on Switch is a poor port of a distinctly average entry in the series. Constant technical issues make fighting and platforming more frustrating than fun, long loading times follow every death and the further along you get, the worse these issues seem to become. It's a shame as we're pretty big fans of the series in general, but if you have any other means of playing this one we'd advise you give this clunky version a miss.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 21, 2021

Critic40/100

Agreement—

RiMS Racing is a super complex motorcycle sim that provides players with a ton of depth in terms of tinkering, tuning and customising. However, once on the track, this Switch port is let down badly by performance issues that make it a frustrating, messy experience. There's definitely a market for this type of in-depth motorbike action on Nintendo's console but, in this state, it's very hard to recommend diving into this particular offering.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 16, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is an excellent action-RPG that's arrived on Switch in a fantastic, feature-packed port. Evan and Roland's antics across this game's sprawling world are stuffed full of great characters, exciting combat and adventuring and a kingdom building mechanic that's a delight to get to grips with. It looks and sounds every bit as good as its predecessor and, although the story might be a little more hit-and-miss here, we were completely hooked into this one from beginning to end. This is a sumptuously crafted adventure you won't regret diving into.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 15, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

NBA 2K22 is another fine entry in the franchise that continues the developer's habit of delivering satisfyingly solid ports of their basketball sims on Nintendo Switch. Yes, most of the modes don't try anything massively new - beyond MyCareer's revamped Neighbourhood setting - and the loading screens will have you pulling your hair out from time to time, but refined core gameplay and enough content to keep you playing until the end times make this one an easy recommendation for b-ball fans.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 10, 2021

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Murder on Eridanos is an entertaining final slice of DLC that leans into the narrative elements of Obsidian's action RPG, delivering plenty of well-written dialogue and characters in the process. Yes, the combat is pretty much played out at this stage and the whole thing feels a little bit too linear, but this is still an enjoyable return to one of our favourite action RPGs of the past few years that's well worth picking up if you enjoyed the core campaign.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 9, 2021

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Ultra Age is a solid indie hack-and-slash effort that delivers some fast-paced combat and a handful of unique mechanics to keep its battles interesting. It may have some ropey voice-acting, the graphics have predictably been dialled back on Switch and there's the occasional frame rate wobble here and there, but overall this is a surprisingly decent budget effort that's well worth taking a look at if you're hankering for some Devil May Cry-style action.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 8, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

WarioWare: Get It Together! is a triumphant Switch debut for the subversive series that makes some daring changes to core gameplay, resulting in the best entry in the franchise to date. With a generous roster of playable characters, lots of solo and multiplayer modes to dig into, and stages that cleverly adapt to your choices on the fly, this is a superb compilation of hilarious microgames that delivers more ways to play than ever before. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll dodge bird droppings on a skateboard. So grab a few friends or family members, break out the controllers, and gather round the TV - WarioWare: Get It Together! is essential stuff.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Sep 6, 2021

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Baldo: The Guardian Owls is a beautiful looking Ghibli-esque adventure that draws you in with its wonderful art style and atmosphere and then beats you into submission with its bewildering gameplay. This is an excruciatingly frustrating game filled with bad design choices, clunky combat and traversal, a terrible UI and map and instant, unfair death waiting around every corner. For a small number of gamers who thrive on pointless, unfair punishment, there may be some joy to be found here. For everyone else this is one adventure you'd do well to avoid taking.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Aug 30, 2021

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Rustler attempts to take us back to classic top-down GTA action in a neat medieval setting but poor performance, shoddy controls, weak humour and a dull, short campaign hold it back from reaching its potential. There are glimmers of good stuff here, a few fun pop culture references, those beat-boxing bards and a good-looking world to stomp around in, but the game underneath is just so underwhelming and uninspired and, in the end, it all feels like a big step back from its most obvious inspirations.

Pure Xbox

PJ O'Reilly·Aug 23, 2021

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Aliens: Fireteam Elite mostly delivers the goods with a super solid squad-based shooter set in the Aliens universe. There's plenty to enjoy here, lots of fun nods to the movies, tons of lore, impressive attention to environmental detail and slick Xeno-slaying action that's enhanced immensely by taking the fight to the alien hordes with a couple of friends. It may be a little repetitive, there aren't nearly enough surprises and the campaign fizzles out towards its end but, grab some buddies, get your headsets on and crank up the difficulty and there's hours of properly intense, team-based action to get stuck into with this one.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Aug 23, 2021

Critic100/100

Agreement—

Quake returns in a feature-rich remaster that delicately updates the classic FPS, adding lots of optional bells and whistles, packing in a ton of content and delivering the definitive way to play this 25-year-old masterpiece in the process. There's a wealth of online and co-op options here, a glorious new expansion to blast through from MachineGames, super slick performance in both docked and handheld modes and it's all available at a cracking price point. This really is a stellar port of one gaming's true greats and an absolutely essential addition to your Switch library.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jul 27, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Samurai Warriors 5 takes the long-running franchise, gives it a wonderfully vibrant lick of paint, throws in some excellent new combat mechanics and fills its story mode with well-directed cutscenes, resulting in a slick and stylish addition to the series that's sure to please fans and newcomers alike. Yes, it makes a few fumbles here and there - we aren't fond of its grindy system of upgrading your Dojo and Blacksmith, it limits your character choices at times in the campaign and that stripped back roster is sure to irk some - but, overall, what's here is a fine addition to the Switch's line-up of Musou titles. This is a fast-paced, flashy hack and slash effort that looks and plays fantastically well and, most importantly, performs almost perfectly whilst doing so.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jul 14, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD introduces a raft of technical improvements and quality of life updates that reinvigorate and revitalise this ten-year-old game. With motion controls more precise than ever before, an alternate button control scheme that totally works, crisp HD graphics, smooth 60fps gameplay and a bothersome sidekick who's been streamlined into something altogether more useful, this really does feel like Skyward Sword as it was meant to experienced. Yes, the locking off of instant travel behind the official amiibo is a misstep, but beyond this one issue what's here is a sublime experience, a technical triumph and an absolute must-play for Switch owners and Zelda fans.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jun 24, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 on Nintendo Switch is a rock solid port of a pair of genuinely fantastic remakes. These really are two of the very best arcade sports titles of all time, revamped, reworked and re-imagined for modern audiences with all the graphical bells and whistles, collectibles and game modes we've come to expect in this day and age. With flawless performance in both docked and handheld modes and visuals that still look the part after a few necessary concessions here and there, this is one collection we highly recommend you kickflip right into as soon as possible.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jun 18, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

The Persistence is a unique and unsettling sci-fi horror roguelite that does an excellent job of transferring its tense atmosphere and absorbing gameplay loops from its original VR form to the Nintendo Switch. There are tons of weapons and toys to tool around with as you run the gauntlet, the permanent aspects of the gameplay are refreshingly generous and survival mode and New Game+ provide a properly stiff challenge for those who prefer their roguelites to be tough as nails. Firesprite Games has done a fantastic job of porting the entire ghoulish affair over to Switch, with flawless performance in both docked and handheld modes; overall, this is another very strong addition to the console's ever-expanding collection of excellent roguelite experiences.