PJ O'Reilly

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jun 10, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection gets off to a promising start on Switch with a decent port of Ninja Gaiden Sigma that performs well in both docked and handheld modes. However, as soon as you boot up parts two and three it's all downhill, with dynamic resolution resulting in a pixelated mess in places as the frame rate consistently struggles to keep up with the action. All we needed here was a solid, no-frills port and this collection would have been an instant recommendation. As things stand, it's a disappointing experience that needs patching ASAP and should be the last version you opt for if you've got the choice to play elsewhere.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 26, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Maneater is a great idea for a video game, a ridiculous shark revenge fantasy in an open world setting with plenty of humour injected through its unique narrative framing and the vocal talents of Chris Parnell. However, as much as terrorising beach goers and snatching hunters from the bows of their fishing boats is a pretty good time, and as much as we enjoyed watching our orphaned bull shark grow from helpless pup to apex predator, the whole thing is let down by poor combat and the very worst kind of busywork side quests. With a little more variety in missions and a few refinements made to combat, this could have been a killer action-RPG. As things stand, however, it's all a little toothless.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 25, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

King of Seas gets off to a pretty decent start with a promising story and combat mechanics that are initially fun to engage with. However, the repetition isn't long creeping in. This is a game that's seriously lacking in any sort of depth, jettisoning much of its early promise in favour of a bog-standard narrative, hugely repetitive side quests, overly punitive combat that thinks nothing of wasting your time and a constant, mind-numbing grind that very quickly becomes a tedious waste of effort. If you're absolutely desperate for a high seas adventure, there's still a measure fun to be had with the combat in brief stints here but, beyond that, this one really is more of a Sir Francis Drag than a Sir Francis Drake.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 24, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Knockout City is an absolute blast, a colourful arcade sports game that's easy to jump into for newbies with plenty of depth and strategy for crews looking to become the ultimate dodgeball champions. With four modes and five stages currently on offer, tons of unlockable cosmetics, daily challenges and cross-play/cross-progression included from the get-go, this one has hit the ground running and there's absolutely no reason not to jump into the free trial and see how you fare.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 20, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Layers of Fear 2 is a rather disappointing follow-up to 2016's interesting and effective psychological horror effort. There's a decent premise here, a strong setting and an opportunity to tell an interesting tale, but it feels wasted for the most part. Despite looking and sounding great, predicable scares, repetitive gameplay, disappointing puzzles and a story that just never makes a decent connection result in a game that's pretty hard to recommend overall.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 19, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Aerial_Knight's Never Yield is very obviously a passion project that's had a ton of love poured into its super stylish aesthetics and excellent soundtrack, however, it's also one that's rather sorely lacking in the gameplay department. Wally's runs through this futuristic take on Detroit needed more in the way of challenge and variety in order to keep things interesting - more obstacles, more twists and turns and opportunities to show off your skills as you improve and take on higher difficulties. As things stand, this is one slick looking and sounding game that just doesn't manage to provide an incentive to keep playing for very long.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 13, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

However, slight niggles aside, Below Zero absolutely delivers in providing more of the excellent deep sea survival antics that we know and love from the original Subnautica. This is a super solid port too, a joy to sink time into in both docked and portable modes, with only a little stuttering here and there as you enter new biomes - and the series' ever-present scenery pop-in - to mention in terms of technical shortcomings. Unknown Worlds has served up another superb slice of survival shenanigans here, one that we highly recommend diving right into.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 13, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

When Unknown Worlds announced they were bringing this one to Switch we were hugely excited, this is one of our all-time favourite games after all, but it was excitement tempered with a degree of scepticism as to how on earth they'd manage to cram the entire experience onto Switch in a properly playable manner. As it turns out, we needn't have worried as this is a super solid port that - besides a few loading stutters here and there and some scenery pop-in that's present in every other version of the game - successfully delivers one of the very best survival experiences on any platform to Nintendo's hybrid console.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 11, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Subnautica and its excellent sequel have arrived on Switch in unexpectedly fine form. This is an absolutely essential survival smorgasbord, a fantastic port and something of a must-buy double feature for fans of the genre. If you're purchasing one or the other separately on Switch we'd still plump for the original game, as Below Zero's fleshed out narrative and on-foot sections dilute the overall experience ever so slightly, but, regardless of which you choose, you're in for a mighty good time here with two of the very best survival games currently available on any platform.

Pure Xbox

PJ O'Reilly·May 5, 2021

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Resident Evil Village may not quite live up to the highs of its terrifying predecessor but it's a still a solid entry in the long-running series that's well worth checking out. Eastern Europe makes for a fantastically atmospheric and surprisingly open setting here, it's chock full of delightfully oddball characters and features a handful of properly entertaining set-pieces to blast through. There may well be a few rough edges, with a rather painful protagonist and some duff boss battles to contend with but, overall, this is one truly messed up village that's well worth a visit.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·May 3, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Skate City is a laid back, chilled out alternative to the more hectic skateboarding action of the likes of Roll7's OlliOlli series. The various tricks and skills here won't take you long to master, putting together little runs through Los Angeles, Oslo and Barcelona feels satisfying and the overall aesthetic suits the rather simple, straightforward nature of proceedings. However, there's an undeniable lack of actual challenge and variety here, alongside a few niggling framerate issues on Switch, that result in a game that's reasonable enough value for a quick bash, especially given its budget price point, but one that won't last anyone beyond the most avid of skateboarding fans for much longer than a couple of hours.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Apr 25, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Battle Axe is a good-looking homage to the classic hack and slash arcade efforts of yesteryear that's dragged down by some fairly dull and repetitive action. It looks the part, sounds the part, nails the aesthetic and vibe that it's going for completely, but then it drops the ball with regards to level design, enemy AI and in providing any sense of strategy or surprise during a short campaign that gives you very little reason to return once its done and dusted. If only it had a few twists and turns and a handful more levels, this one could have been well worth a playthrough but, as things stand, it's pretty forgettable stuff.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Apr 21, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

SaGa Frontier Remastered sees Square Enix's cult classic JRPG looking and playing better than ever, with a lovely HD lick of paint and lots of restored content and quality of life improvements providing hardcore fans with an experience they'll doubtless enjoy. However, this is still a game that's aged quite poorly in many respects; an idiosyncratic, eccentric and infuriating experience that refuses to guide you or help you in any way, and one that, in the end, is quite hard to recommend to anyone who isn't already a fan.

Pure Xbox

PJ O'Reilly·Apr 6, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Outriders really has taken us completely by surprise. This is a game that gets off to a pretty bad start but, once the combat kicks off properly, quickly reveals itself to be one of the slickest and most addictive looter shooters we've played in a long while. Launch weekend has been a mess of server issues, for sure, but stick with what People Can Fly has dished up here and you'll find yourself handsomely rewarded. This one comes highly recommended.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Mar 31, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Bladed Fury is a good-looking hack 'n slash platformer that tells a decent tale and is set in an engrossing period of history that's been nicely infused here with mythological and supernatural elements. It's Soul Sliver mechanic adds plenty of scope for strategic combat shenanigans and its levels have a few good ideas thrown into the mix. However, all of these positive aspects are let down by poor implementation, dull enemies who don't force you to utilise your moveset, bland and repetitive area layouts, simplistic platforming and constant technical issues that plague combat just as it's starting to up the ante. If the framerate issues are addressed this one may be worth a look for fans of the genre, otherwise it's hard to recommend in its current state.