Chris Scullion
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Writing For
Nintendo Life
Pure XboxLatest Reviews
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one of the most unique-looking games you'll see on the Switch, and it's got the substance to back up the style. Its heavy emphasis on puzzles and its refusal to throw players a bone when they need help may not be to everyone's tastes, but anyone up for a mental challenge in what's essentially an elaborate escape room will love it.
Wreckfest is one of the more impressive Switch ports we've seen, taking a game that already had performance issues on more powerful hardware and delivering a relatively stable version with reasonable loading speeds and all its debris-flinging carnage fully intact. Handheld play is a little less visually acceptable, and the Switch tax rears its ugly head again, but just like the rough-and-ready roadsters in the game, we ultimately had a great time behind the wheel.
As it stands right now, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a fun racer whose fantastic selection of cars makes up for its relative lack of varied course environments. With updates and DLC it has the potential to become a brilliant mess of licensed properties in the way the best mash-up games are, but what’s here is a solid enough foundation to start from, even if it’s a little samey at launch.
Battletoads is without a doubt one of the funniest games of this generation, and it's a pretty nifty beat 'em up to boot. It does have the occasional lull when things start to feel a little repetitive, but by and large it's a hugely entertaining experience and well worth your time.
With solid combat and some brilliant character designs, Bleeding Edge has all the potential to become a solid, compelling online action game. Sadly, though, that's all it is at the moment: potential. What's here is good, but there's just not enough content to keep players' interest for weeks or months to come.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is the video game equivalent of Prince: it’s extremely short and its journey maybe ends a little sooner than you’d hoped, but it packs so many varied and beautiful ideas into its brief life and masters so many different styles that even though there’s a real disappointment it’s over so quickly, what it did give you will remain with you for an extremely long time. A true creative masterpiece.
Etherborn looks fantastic, sounds incredible and revolves around a brilliant game mechanic that initially feels like it’s going to lead to some clever puzzles but ramps things up far too quickly and engulfs you with frustratingly complex stages while you’re still trying to find your feet. There’s still a great game in there, but you’ll need to have the patience of a saint to stumble up its 90-degree difficulty curve to find it.
Cuphead was an absolute masterpiece when it launched on Xbox 18 months ago and nothing has been sacrificed in its move to the Switch. It’s the same visually jaw-dropping, aurally delightful, knuckle-whiteningly difficult game it was on Microsoft’s console and the Switch’s library is all the better for its presence. Its focus on intense boss battles won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into we can’t recommend it enough.
It takes a while to get going and it has its fair share of annoying quirks, but as it progresses Aragami becomes a solid stealth game with a compelling story. The addition of extra DLC chapters gives the game a welcome boost in longevity, and though its temperamental mechanics prevent it becoming an unarguable gem, its stylish look and the range of abilities you acquire by the end mean fans of stealth games (and fans of stealth only) will still have a fun time with it. Eventually.