Digimon Survive is one of the best visual novels to come out so far this year, with plenty of heart and tension to carry you through to the final act. Fans looking for an engaging story with well-written and presented characters that deal with life-and-death situations will enjoy the ride, while players focused on the combat will probably find that the game comes up short. Despite its sluggish, padded start, Digimon Survive is well worth the long wait.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the strangest thing you'll play from Nintendo, bringing with it laughs and creativity in abundance. But even with improvements over the 3DS game, it follows a familiar structure that isn't always enthralling or hilarious.Tomodachi fans will certainly be living the dream with this new entry, but I'm not desperate to keep coming back to my island. A little more variety would've been welcome, but the customisation, and the thought of my cat being best friends with DMC's Dante, will have me peep in every so often for a little pick-me-up.
Bags of levels and increasing difficulty will keep N++ refreshing for hours and days on end. The mechanics are simple and yet incredibly deep, which opens up a wonderful game brimming with customisation options and new modes to try out. Floaty controls sometimes hamper progress, but the deaths are always spectacular.
All told, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 feels like a letdown compared to the stellar presentation of its predecessor. Missing features and lower quality games easily make this the more skippable of the two, although that doesn't necessarily mean that this is a bad collection. We'd recommend this to any fans of the Mega Man series – 9 and 10 just about justify the collection on their own – but those who are looking to get their feet wet may want to pass on this and just get the first collection. Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 is good, but it's not great, so think twice before taking the plunge.
The Adventures of Elena Temple does a solid job recreating a certain era of platform gaming, despite minor problems linked to level design. What's unfortunate is how more time, effort and focus seems to have gone into the fictional history of the game and the machines it can be played on for the sake of nostalgia, rather than the gameplay. It's nice there is reasoning behind the visual filters, but this and the silly story comes across as overbearing when the actual gameplay perfectly captures the feeling of nostalgia. It's a pity the developer didn't just release the game in its rawest form, cutting out the excess trimmings and adding in more playable content.
Digital Eclipse did a great job with all the details in Mega Man Legacy Collection, presenting the original games in their best possible light, while tossing in a handful of extra features and challenges on top to sweeten the deal.
Fox n Forests can't be faulted for its fantastically accurate portrayal of 16-bit platforming; very few indie games have managed to nail the look and sound of the SNES so well. Its season-changing gimmick also makes for some inventive moments. Where it lets itself down is in its fiddly controls and its short length, which combine to make a game that's merely good when it could have been great.
Runner3 is wonderfully creative and funny, relying on a style of play that belies the challenge at its heart. A few moments of unbalanced control or obstacle design can frustrate, but this will pass when Commander Video finally nails a sequence of movements and makes you feel like a fast-fingered expert.
The bright, flashing lights - and admittedly catchy thumping club music - coupled with an eye-watering amount of modes and game/bot customisation isn't quite enough to dress up what essentially feels like a promising idea that's vastly undercooked. A little more time in the oven - and with a more appetising and interesting main course - and Disco Dodgeball could have been a much stronger option on the small, but rapidly growing menu of online-focused games for Switch.
Little Nightmares boasts some superb character and environment design, and exceptional sound too, with parts of the Maw screaming as if the ship was a gigantic bionic seafarer. Its story is compellingly told, and the way the main game connects with the DLC is immensely rewarding. But you never really feel like you have full control of Six, and the long breaks between restarts can dump you into a painful loop of spending less time in the game than you do in loading screens. These problems were present in the game's initial release back in April 2017, and Switch owners can be forgiven for feeling disappointed that Tarsier wasn't able to fix them for this port. If you can overlook them, though, Little Nightmares is an occasionally moreish puzzler with an exceptionally creepy cast capable of turning any stomach.
With multiple updates planned for the near future this issue could soon start to be addressed so, unless you're entirely sold on the concept alone, we'd recommend holding off until these new features have landed.
Fairune Collection is a deliciously big slice of brain-teasing RPG fun with a sprinkle of shmup action on top. None of the games will require a huge amount of time to complete, solving many of its puzzles feels truly rewarding and both graphics and sound will take you back to a simpler time in this industry. If you were a fan of the original outings, you will certainly like this ‘upgrade' but if you are venturing into the realm of Fairune for the first time, heads up: you might have just discovered the perfect lazy summer afternoon game of the year.
InkSplosion could have been so much more, but it's ultimately let down by a sheer lack of variety (and a frustrating lack of replay value once you've swiftly bagged all of its in-game achievements). As a top-down shooter it's certainly competent, but it's unlikely you'll hang around for long with so many other fuller packages on offer on the Switch eShop.
All told, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is a great time-sink game, featuring mindless but fun action gameplay that offers up the potential for dozens - if not hundreds - of hours of content. Though it certainly feels like a game that's too bloated in places, it manages to balance the Zelda and Dynasty Warriors elements well. Group all of that with stellar presentation and impressive portable gameplay, and you've got a game that does a great job of doing something new (and weird) with a classic Nintendo property. We'd give this one a recommendation, especially to fans of the Zelda series who have always wanted there to be some sort of 'anniversary' game. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition may not have a ton of depth, but it's way more fun than it has any right to be, and you'd be missing out by not picking up this complete edition.
There's fun to be had in Suicide Guy. There's a nice variety of situations and environments and exploring each stage can be a blast. The technical problems are what ultimately drag Suicide Guy down. Still, if you can get past the bugs and glitches, there's a nifty little puzzle game waiting for you on the eShop.
Wizard of Legend has some novel concepts. Being able to swap and mix spells to create a seemingly unlimited amount of combinations keeps the action fresh and encourages you to experiment on each run. What's also likable about this game is how polished the entire package appears to be. It's these aspects that make it more favourable than the average offerings that frequently pop up on the Switch. If you are looking for yet another dungeon crawler with rogue-like elements, Wizard of Legend is a step above the competition.
Despite a title that suggests it came out of a name generator, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a satisfying slice of JRPG that forges a confident, colourful character of its own from formulaic ingredients. The approachable comic style, plus a couple of neat mechanics that encourage experimentation, give it a freshness that belies the age-old systems at its core, and it doesn't waste your time with filler. Depending on your skill, you'll probably spend around 30 hours on the critical path – comparatively breezy in RPG terms – though there's plenty of side content to occupy you beside the main quest, plus a trio of heroes you'll probably shun on your first playthrough. Disappointing performance dips aside, it feels at home on Switch. Ultimately, it's the same old story – numbers go up! – but it's shot through with an infectious exuberance and attention to detail that reinvigorates old tropes.
