Stuart Gipp

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Oct 7, 2020

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Is Umihara Kawase BaZooKa! fun to play? Sure, a little. It's inoffensive, but it never grabbed us. Even though it's a short game, we never felt that burning desire to get to the end that is typically present in other titles. There are many characters, but none of them was really interesting. Cute, yeah. But not enough to mitigate the central problem that this isn't an interesting game. We're not sure why this is the direction the series has gone in, but could it go back to the lovingly-crafted, intricate rope courses, please? Far be it for us to call for a regression, but sometimes going back to the well is a good idea.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Oct 4, 2020

Critic50/100

Agreement—

A greedy price tag, poor performance and an incredibly short campaign make Goosebumps: Dead of Night more likely to be dead on arrival. It's a shame, because it's a well-constructed and entertaining lite survival horror adventure that's probably perfect for kids. Even then, we'd recommend either waiting for a deep, deep sale, or simply renting the excellent 2015 movie. There's a lot to like here, but unfortunately, it's buried under a lot of ugliness. Much like, say... a scary ghoul! Wooooo! Or something.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Oct 3, 2020

Critic80/100

Agreement—

The Long Dark is an onerous experience, but a memorably and powerfully atmospheric one. Its Survival mode stands out as something of a singular achievement on the Switch – and one we'd urge you to try if you don't mind freezing to death more than a few times before you've got a grip on how to last a couple of nights. It's difficult to call it outright fun given its sheer hostility, but it's certainly absorbing and at times downright terrifying game. Just like real life, nature is the real enemy.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 26, 2020

Critic70/100

Agreement—

A mature visual novel that isn't afraid to be fun, Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York is a quick plunge into the freezing waters of a bloodsucker-filled Big Apple. It won't last you forever, but you'll be hooked for its short runtime. It does a lot with a little and is breezy enough to fly by. Just don't expect to actually, you know, do that much. Great art and good writing, but not enough of it.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 19, 2020

Critic70/100

Agreement—

It's a little ramshackle, but care and craft has gone into the making of Giraffe and Annika. There's nothing new here to speak of, but its disparate genres work well together and we had a good time unravelling the mysteries of Spica Island. A great game for kids and the young at heart, we're excited to see what developers Atelier Mimina do next.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 18, 2020

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Super Punch Patrol feels like a greatest hits package, but that's the thing about the greatest hits – they're great. And so is Super Punch Patrol, in the end. For the price you'll pay, it's nothing short of spectacularly generous; there are only five stages, but they're tough as old boots and it'll take time to master the challenge and see those credits roll. With costumes and characters to unlock there's reason to keep playing even after you surmount this beastly little brawler, and at £4.99 it's a bit of a no-brainer.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 16, 2020

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Road to Guangdong is a tough one to score, because what it does right – the character interaction and small-scale personal dramas – are engaging enough to be worth praise. It's just that the mechanical glue holding it all together is close to disastrous at times. As a result, we can't give it a recommendation without enough caveats to make it sound like a warning. You might like Road to Guangdong, but even if you do, you'll like it despite it doing its level best to push you away.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 15, 2020

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Fight Crab is an impressively full-featured and surprisingly good-looking game that transcends its silly meme origins and ends up as something much more. It could end up a staple party game with its joyfully nonsensical premise and well-executed crab simulating gameplay, which goes above and beyond what a crab-battling game really needs to be, and we applaud it. Some novelty titles are a complete flash in the pan, but Fight Crab sticks.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 14, 2020

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Paratopic is a fever dream; a near-constantly engaging sequence of strange and at times frightening imagery. It's intriguing stuff, to say the least, but we felt that it rather fizzled out just when our interest in the various eldritch goings-on was piquing. We found that beyond experiencing it all over again there was nothing much in the way of meaningful replay value, but as a once-through bad trip, it'll keep you glued to your Switch from start to annoyingly-abrupt finish.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 7, 2020

Critic20/100

Agreement—

Gleamlight is worse than the majority of bad games.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 6, 2020

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Lair of the Clockwork God is a difficult one to score. What it does well is brilliant – the humour is great, with constant jokes both quickfire and slow-burn – but the gameplay is a more complex matter. While it's not bad by any reasonable metric, it is awkward in places.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Sep 5, 2020

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Manifold Garden is a lovely game, but sometimes the "game" bit gets a little in the way.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Aug 29, 2020

Critic100/100

Agreement—

A landmark game for all ages. Don't miss this one.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Aug 28, 2020

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Linn: Path of Orchards looks and sounds fine, but it's such a banal gameplay experience that we can't recommend it in good conscience.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Aug 27, 2020

Critic80/100

Agreement—

A truly pleasant game, Spiritfarer balances undemanding platforming, gentle exploration and forgiving resource management with a beautifully-realised world with a cast full of charming, likeable, memorable characters.