Nintendo Life

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Mar 9, 2023

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Session: Skate Sim is a valiant attempt to recreate the trials and tribulations of actual, real-life skateboarding that eschews the arcade flashiness of other skating games in favour of slow and methodical repetition and mastery of both your board and your environment. There's a deep and involving game here for skate fans who want something to really sink their teeth into, or at least there would be if it wasn't for blurry visuals, control issues, poor mission design, and frame rate issues that make for an uphill struggle that just doesn't feel worth the pain in the end. If you've got a ton of patience there's still some joy to be found here, but it's gonna take some patches and updates to get this particular port to the place it needs to be in order to earn a full recommendation.

Nintendo Life

Oliver Reynolds·Mar 8, 2023

Critic60/100

Agreement—

For fans of the franchise, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse should be a no-brainer. Fifteen years after its original release in Japan, its launch in the west brings some welcome upgrades to the visuals and presentation. That said, you can definitely feel the game's age in the core gameplay and little has been done to bring this more in line with modern sensibilities. Movement is janky, the camera never quite feels spot on, and the loading between rooms really shouldn't be an issue in 2023. Additionally, the frequent presence of ghosts and the arcade-like combat required to defeat them feels constantly at odds with the otherwise impressive sense of dread felt as you explore the environment, but since this is a core aspect of the series at large, you might be able to overlook this. We definitely recommend checking it out if you're into survival horror, but just know that it comes with a number of quirks that we wish had been ironed out.

Nintendo Life

Alana Hagues·Mar 7, 2023

Critic90/100

Agreement—

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Azure takes everything that's excellent about Zero and runs a marathon with it. It's one of the best-paced games in the series, with some of the best characters, best music, and easily the best setting. The Crossbell Arc is a hugely compelling two-parter that captures everything that makes the Trails series what it is perfectly, and Azure in particular deftly balances high-stakes drama, political intrigue, and poignant character moments. This is one Switch RPG we won't be feeling blue about anytime soon.

Nintendo Life

Chris Scullion·Mar 6, 2023

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Like the standard Fitness Boxing titles, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star is a straightforward enough exercise game that will give you a workout if you commit to it. Despite its fun tie-in, however, the very basic gameplay combined with the limited number of routines and sparse music selection means you're going to need a strong tolerance to repetition.

Nintendo Life

Mitch Vogel·Mar 1, 2023

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society does a fantastic job of providing a dense and devastating journey into the depths of dungeons, though it sometimes does so at the cost of accessibility. An attractive art style, expansive team-building options, and genuinely surprising story all combine to make this one worth a recommendation, but with the big caveat that a lot of its appeal is lost if you don't enjoy min-maxing in RPGs or don't have the patience to fully digest and comprehend all its systems. If that does sound like it's up your street, though, Labyrinth of Galleria is absolutely worth your time and money.

Nintendo Life

Roland Ingram·Mar 1, 2023

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Brok the Investigator is a true original. It's a hodge-podge of point-and-click, side-scrolling beat-'em-up, visual novel, and find-the-object. Most of the time, these disparate ideas sit slightly awkwardly alongside one another, but despite a slow start we did eventually feel a little spark and the whole thing became more than the sum of its parts. It's all the more impressive given that it's just the second game from a one-person studio. Graphic adventure fans should absolutely consider thoughtfully pointing and clicking it onto their wishlist – or just drop-kicking the heck out of the buy button.

Nintendo Life

Trent Cannon·Feb 28, 2023

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Despite having some fun wrinkles on the tactical RPG formula, Redemption Reapers is too frustrating in its early levels to justify the thin plot and undeveloped characters. The music is the only consistently stellar part of the game, which is let down by uneven visuals and poor gameplay balance. You're better off looking elsewhere for your tactical RPG fix on Switch.

Nintendo Life

Lowell Bell·Feb 27, 2023

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Meg's Monster is a one-of-a-kind adventure with a lot of heart, well worth a chunk of your weekend or to play for an hour or two before bed. Sure, some of it is predictable and the novelty of protecting Meg during battle fades near the end, but if you're anything like us, you won't want to put it down until you see how Roy's heartwarming adventure to reunite Meg with her mother concludes. You might even shed a tear or two while keeping the little girl safe.

Nintendo Life

Brett Posner-Ferdman·Feb 24, 2023

Critic30/100

Agreement—

Clive 'N' Wrench is not a good game, there is no way around that. When the Switch is home to some of the greatest 3D platformers ever made, Clive 'N' Wrench stands out for all the wrong reasons. From terrible controls to poor visuals and performance, we're sad to say that there is very little redeemable about the game on Switch. The entire project feels like a glorified demo made for a game design class, rather than a completed project that belongs on store shelves. The attempt is admirable, but after a decade's worth of development, Clive 'N' Wrench turned out as an incredible disappointment. With so many other ways to get your 3D collectathon platforming fix on Switch, your time and money are best spent elsewhere.

Nintendo Life

Trent Cannon·Feb 24, 2023

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Digimon World: Next Order is an open-world RPG that's too much of a grind to recommend. While the music and graphics have their charm, they're totally overshadowed by the unbalanced difficulty, highly-repetitive training mechanics, and some very strange design choices. Unless you're a die-hard Digimon fan with untold patience, this one is best left alone.

Nintendo Life

Tom Massey·Feb 23, 2023

Critic70/100

Agreement—

For Metroidvania fans and lovers of Inti Creates' works, Grim Guardians certainly does enough to please. Getting to grips with combat negotiations and levelling up your weaponry brings with it a sense of reward and progression, and it's enjoyable to backtrack for secrets. It's not quite on the level of Curse of the Moon, its closest relative, but it's not far off - and the sibling switching idea is at least novel and fun to work with. Gory, spritely, and occasionally creatively inspired, it hits all the right notes, just sometimes in a little too sparse a manner to be considered overwhelmingly compelling.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Feb 22, 2023

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a fantastic remake of one of our favourite Kirby adventures. With slick new visuals, some meaningful gameplay tweaks and two excellent new modes to dig into, this is a big, loud and colourful celebration of all things Kirby that should delight new and returning players alike. Magalor's Epilogue is a surprisingly chunky addition to the core action that gives the campaign a nice boost, whilst Merry Magoland ensures that you and your pals are kept busy with plenty of minigames, missions and online challenges to best once you're done with the main story mode. It's another win for everyone's favourite pink puffball.

Nintendo Life

Tom Massey·Feb 20, 2023

Critic70/100

Agreement—

As irreverent and disruptive as one has come to expect from the mind of Jeff Minter, Akka Arrh is a game that, rather than based around all-out cattle space warfare, requires a certain level of restraint to wring the most from its scoring potential. Learning to dally with its diverse and ever-changing threats is almost mathematical, but still liberating and rewarding to overcome. It may struggle to appeal in the long-term in the same way as Tempest or his recent Polybius, owing to its slightly less absorbing construction; and those uninitiated in Minter's unusual thought processes may find it altogether abstruse. Nevertheless, it certainly earns a rightful place in his catalogue of psychedelic, slightly barmy, and altogether addictive score-based challenges.

Nintendo Life

Mitch Vogel·Feb 17, 2023

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Octopath Traveler II is a triumphant and confident follow-up to its predecessor, building on the established foundation with welcome new ideas and tweaks that make for an overall excellent experience. A strategic combat system, open-ended character progression, well-written stories, gorgeous visuals, and an incredible soundtrack all coalesce into one of the finest RPGs available on Switch to date. Though it may be more of the same, Team Asano demonstrates mastery of its craft at every turn here. We'd give Octopath Traveler II a high recommendation to anybody looking for a beautiful new RPG to add to their Switch collection.

Nintendo Life

Scott McCrae·Feb 16, 2023

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Elderand is another solid entry in the Metroidvania genre, though it doesn't push any new boundaries where gameplay is concerned. It does manage to stand out somewhat thanks to its strong enemy design and worldbuilding, as well as a good soundtrack. For a debut game, it's impressive to see something as well realised as this, but there's precious little here you haven't seen elsewhere in this crowded genre. Perhaps it needs a second entry to fully live up to its potential.