Nintendo Life

Nintendo Life

Oliver Reynolds·Jan 29, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

With a bit more variation to its gameplay, Colossus Down could have been an easy recommendation. Despite its unlikeable main protagonist, there’s a heap of potential here that could well be realised if the developer decides to go for a sequel. As it is, it’s a great looking game that unfortunately falls foul to repetitive and shallow gameplay.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Jan 28, 2021

Critic70/100

Agreement—

It's rare to see Amiga games surfacing at all, so it's a real treat to have two of the very best available on Switch, along with entirely enjoyable Mega Drive and SNES efforts.

Nintendo Life

Oliver Reynolds·Jan 28, 2021

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Timothy and the Mysterious Forest is absolutely a case of style over substance. It definitely looks and sounds the part; the developer has gone to clear lengths to emulate the feel of a classic Game Boy game. The problem is that when attempting to emulate the difficulty of a retro adventure title, they’ve gone one step too far and made the game a chore to play thanks to a number of unreliable mechanics and unfair enemy encounters.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jan 27, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy takes everything good about Gust's 2019 Atelier adventure and further refines it, resulting in the best entry in the long-running franchise to date. This may still be a relatively small-scale, old-fashioned JRPG experience, but it's one that's full of heart, great characters, slick combat and some excellent new ruin-based dungeons. Anyone looking for a relaxed and enchanting JRPG to sink their time into should definitely check this one out.

Nintendo Life

Mitch Vogel·Jan 26, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

If you consider yourself a fan of retro action platformers, you owe it to yourself to pick up Cyber Shadow whenever possible. It's clear in virtually every facet of Cyber Shadow's design that this project was a labour of love and that its designer is intimately familiar with what makes the stalwarts of this beloved genre so great. Well-built levels, authentic presentation, tight controls and a high difficulty all combine to make this a supreme and focused experience, and one that we can easily say is well worth your time. Mechanical Head Studios has set a high bar with its inaugural debut, and we can't wait to see more from this developer.

Nintendo Life

Kate Gray·Jan 25, 2021

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Calico is still a little too buggy for us to recommend. It's fun to ride a huge cat off a cliff in an ice cream sundae outfit, but less fun when you get stuck in said cliff and your face turns inside-out. There's a lot of love in this game, but it doesn't quite outweigh the issues – and given that we've already seen more than one patch issued since launch, we're not convinced the developer can pull this one back from the brink.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jan 18, 2021

Critic50/100

Agreement—

WRITHE is a tiny little budget blaster that nails its old-school aesthetic, is refreshingly straightforward in what it attempts to achieve and has a genuinely fun sci-fi setup. However, scrappy enemy AI that feels badly judged and, more often than not, just straight-up unfair holds the whole thing back, resulting in a shooter that lacks balance and never manages to find itself in the addictive groove it needs to in order to encourage players to stick with its fiendishly difficult combat.

Nintendo Life

Chris Scullion·Jan 15, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Wrestling Empire is the video game equivalent of Paul Heyman-era ECW. It's low-budget, it's extremely rough and it's often difficult to watch, but there's a clear passion for pro wrestling underneath it and we're sure it'll develop a hardcore following of fans who love it in spite of its many, many flaws.

Nintendo Life

Mitch Vogel·Jan 13, 2021

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Those of you looking for the next Castle Crashers or Streets of Rage need look no further, as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition is a great beat 'em up for your Switch. Bombastic presentation and crunchy combat gameplay make this one enjoyable from start to finish. Though it can feel like it runs a bit short and the difficulty spikes can be rather intense, we'd give this one a strong recommendation to anybody looking for a fun, short game to play in co-op. Let's just hope it sticks around for longer than four years this time.

Nintendo Life

Oliver Reynolds·Jan 8, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Graphically, the game is technically decent, though the frame rate could have been bumped up a bit more. From an artistic perspective, the environments and characters are all a bit ‘samey’, blending together from one level to the next, with little variation. It’s a shame, because Hong Kong is undoubtedly a visually striking city, but the buildings showcased in The Hong Kong Massacre could have been plucked from literally any town in the world.

Nintendo Life

Gavin Lane·Jan 6, 2021

Critic90/100

Agreement—

But, what is Florence? It's an evocation of the beauty, sadness and hope that comes from any human connection we make in our lives, whether with art, nature or another person. It's a succinct and incredibly successful exploration of moments you'll recognise from your own life, and the way it mirrors thoughts and feelings through small gameplay mechanics makes it one of the most affecting experiences we've enjoyed on Switch, or any other platform.

Nintendo Life

PJ O'Reilly·Jan 5, 2021

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest is a decent visual novel that starts out strong but loses some of its appeal due to how rushed it all ends up feeling. There's a fantastic premise here with an atmospheric setting, some strong characters and plenty of decisions to be made that feel genuinely important to how your character develops. However, the speed at which it begins to introduce new situations, characters and mechanics in its final chapters before coming to a surprisingly premature end takes some of the shine off what otherwise could have been a properly top-notch effort.

Nintendo Life

Oliver Reynolds·Jan 4, 2021

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Although not quite as meaty as its older sibling, Professor Lupo: Ocean boasts the same engaging puzzle gameplay, albeit with often unwieldy controls. It’s a short game, and not one you’re likely to come back to soon after completion, but with a relatively small price tag, it’s one you’d do well to pick up if you’re after an original puzzle title.

Nintendo Life

Stuart Gipp·Dec 31, 2020

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Wingspan is a strong card game for those with the patience to learn how it works. It's fun, compulsive and can sometimes truly surprise you with stacked effects and their outcomes. Its translation to the Switch is a little... difficult, but certainly not for want of trying. In handheld it's far from ideal, but on the dock, as a couch multiplayer experience, there's plenty of fun to be had. It's also enjoyable alone as you'll seek out ways to create the highest-scoring possible deck. Despite a few porting issues, Wingspan is definitely a good time, and it'll be difficult to stop after just one game. It's a lot cheaper than the physical game, too, making it a thoroughly viable alternative.

Nintendo Life

Oliver Reynolds·Dec 30, 2020

Critic70/100

Agreement—

As with any roguelite, Synthetik: Ultimate requires an abundance of playthroughs in order to progress further into the game. Its overall length very much depends on your own commitment, but the strong gameplay is more than enough incentive to keep coming back, despite the poor menu system and less-than-stellar graphics. The addition of an Arena mode on top of the main ‘Citadel’ mode is welcome, though it doesn’t offer anything particularly new, so you’ll likely just stick to the main mode.