Nintendo Switch micro reviews

Part platformer, part environmental puzzler, Little Nightmares: Complete Edition, has you navigating creepy corridors, jumping, crawling, and running to safety at nearly every turn.

The game ramps up it’s terror, starting slowly, and quickly making you squeamish as you just narrowly get out of the monsters way (or sometimes not.)

The game is over quick, and I didn’t care for the longer loading times, but if you’re looking to get a different experience out of your gaming, look to Little Nightmares.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a love letter to fans of the series that dates back over 20 years. Chose your favourite Nintendo character, or even third party character, and get to duking it out on the battlefield.

SSBU is a fantastic party game with your friends, have ridiculous chaos unfold on the screen, or take on the go. If you’re more into a solo adventure, SSBU contains a World of Light mode, where you adventure your way through a massive world, fighting the computer with tons of variants (everyone is large, the ground makes you sleep, and so on.)

There is so much packed into this game, if you have ever been a fan or the series, or it looks to interest you, you should definitely pick it up now.

If you have never played a Pokémon game before, Let’s Go, Pikachu! is a perfect starting point. This is a reimagining of the 1999 version Pokémon Yellow, for the Game Boy Color.

You will capture, battle, and aim to catch-them-all, as you traverse through the world of Kanto, on your way to becoming a Pokémon Master. The game is very addictive, and will keep you playing for hours on end.

The biggest change has been the capturing mechanic, which borrows heavily from Pokémon Go. I found this entire game to be an amazing nostalgia trip. I spent around 25 hours beating the main campaign, with countless hours left if I want to catch all 150 Pokémon.

Do yourself a favour, and get this game. You’ll have a great time.

Guacamelee! STCE is a brawl/combo based metroidvania game that you will punch, throw, kick, and chicken pluck your way to the end.

The game has some really neat features and abilities, with some great level design, and tough platforming sections. I completed the game just under 10 hours, but there are a lot of hidden secrets to discover. To the game’s credit each area tells you if you 100% it.

For the price and gameplay I must recommend this game. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s refreshing to play as a Luchador for a hero.

More of an interactive story than a game, Oxenfree has you navigating a small island, choosing verbal replies, tuning your radio, and watching a supernatural story unfold.

If you’re heading into this game with the correct expectations (more of an interactive experience), and you like supernatural stories similar to Netflix’s Stranger Things, you will love this game.

Though part of this game was a bit plodding for me, it set an eerie atmosphere, had amazing voice overs and believable reactions. Full disclosure, I never finished this game (since as it turns out interactive stories aren’t for me,) but I can’t help but want to recommend this game in case that may be your thing.

Enter the Gungeon is an excellent Rogue-like-bullet-hell adventure game, that has you going room to room, defeating minibosses, and shooting bullets to kill enemy bullets.

This is a ridiculous game, ridiculously difficult, but will provide you with countless if not endless hours of entertainment, should the rogue-like genre interest you. Fans of The Binding of Isaac should certainly pay attention to this game.

If you’re looking to have a quick pick-up-and-play experience, EtG is worth your time.

In a melding of several different genres; strategy, board game, role-playing, Into the Breach provides countless hours of fun.

Part strategy, part chess game, you will pilot mechs, defend buildings, protect time pods, and complete many other objectives. While the main goal of most matches will be to simply survive 5 rounds, each level provides you with bonus objectives that ups-the-ante with difficulty.

If you are itching to play some strategy games, I can’t recommend Into the Breach enough. There are layers of complexity, and it’s perfect for those pick-up-and-play sessions.

Part action-adventure, part platformer, The Messenger gives you the feeling that you’re playing a classic NES game, and a classic SNES game.

You will jump, attack, and rope-dart your way to victory. I don’t think I laughed or smiled as much before in a video game just reading the in-game text. This is a well-written, funny, and quite difficult-at-times game. 

If you’re looking to scratch a retro vibe, the way Shovel Knight did for all of us several years ago, then I must recommend you buy this game. They just added New Game Plus to it, and at the date of writing this, there appears to be teases of upcoming DLC.

KAMIKO is an arcade/action game, with a unique pixel-art look, and fast paced gameplay.

Though this is not a deep game by any means, KAMIKO was one of the first eShop titles to land on the Switch. It’s quite cheap, provides a decent amount of gameplay to muck about with, and encourages players to replay the game with different warriors.

Though I only put a small amount of time into this game (beating it only once), if you’re looking to have a short adventure, and spend those Gold Coins you have on MyNintendo, KAMIKO may be right for you.

This is the weirdest RPG I have ever played in my life. It was short, kind of ugly to look at, and completely over-the-top in everything it does.

But.

Undertale provided me with a very unique experience that I have never encountered before. I cannot go into further detail as to why, since it would ruin the experience for new players. I would suggest you ‘go-in-blind’ if you’re looking to play this game.

As noted above the game is short. I beat the game just over 5 hours . If you love RPGs, quirky games, and are not looking to get overly invested with your time, Undertale is right for you.

If you want to feel like a badass playing a game, Dead Cells is a must for you. This side-scrolling, Metroidvania/rogue-like gameplay is perfect for the short bursts of gameplay, while also having several “one more round” moments.

You will die in this game a lot, but that’s okay because you get to play again, and again, and again. In one of the most satisfying game-loops, you will fight through ever-changing levels, difficult enemies, and tough bosses, but you will have a blast doing it.

I highly recommend watching their official animated trailer here to give you an idea of how the game will play out for you. I had a blast playing Dead Cells, and will continue to play it.

What a unique experience.

That’s what I can say about INSIDE moments after beating this short, puzzle adventure game.

To talk too much about INSIDE would spoil it, but what I can say is it provides a very unique, and chilling experience to the player. Part puzzle solving, part environmental story telling, this darker themed experience is worth checking out.

The game ended much sooner than I expected, but in a good way. If you’re looking to have a different kind of puzzler experience, I think it’s worth your time.

Yooka-Laylee is a love-letter to the N64 style collect-a-thon gameplay. You spend your time exploring several open levels that are akin to Super Mario 64, Conker, or Banjo-Kazooie.

You can jump, roll, and fly through several worlds, collecting a ton of quills, and hidden collectables. If you enjoyed the glory days of the N64, this game might just be for you.

The game never clicked for me. Though I don’t have any major negatives about it, I personally found that every time I started to like the game, there would be small moments that pulled me out of my enjoyment.

Rating: Consider

YOU DIED.

Get ready to see those words often, sometimes unexpectedly, sometimes expectedly, and sometimes controller-throwing, rage inducing ‘you got to be kidding me’-ly.

Dark Souls Remastered is an action role-playing game, that will turn everything you think you know about the gameplay on its head. Don’t expect to hack and slash your way to victory. Parry and riposte, or back-stab your way there, and make sure to add a few evasive rolls to boot.

This is easily the hardest, most difficult, obtuse game I have ever played in my life. I died so many times, I couldn’t count them if I wanted to. The game is vague on where to go, and how to get there.

The game demands your respect, the second you let your guard down you will be punished. If I didn’t scare you off on this, then good because this is an amazing game that is worth your time. You will hate it at times, but once you get through that hard boss or area, you’ll cheer because it will be so rewarding.

Given the size of this collection, I will be breaking down this micro review into three parts.

Mutant Mudds Deluxe

Mutant Mudds Deluxe is a platformer/quasi action game that relies on pixel perfect jumps, perfect timing, and collecting coins.

The game gives off some serious NES vibes, so much so, that if feels like you’re playing a classic Nintendo game. The gameplay is easy enough to learn, shooting the enemies, making the jumps, and getting to the end, but the challenge lay with collecting all the coins, and finding all the secret levels.

You move in between foreground, and background, using different powerups to collect everything. Again, the game isn’t too difficult, until you try to collect everything. It’s a lot of fun to try to 100% it.

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge has everything from the original in terms of gameplay, but turns the difficulty up to 11.

Within the first level you already experience how difficult and unforgiving the game can be. Going from Mutant Mudds Deluxe, you’re tempted to try to collect all the coins on the first go. This may be a mistake for just how difficult the game can be. There’s even a death count, and I am well over 300 at the moment.

Super Challenge introduces boss battles, which can only be played after you collect and unlock all paths in the worlds. Super Challenge is a great game to hop into after you finish Deluxe. I would recommend playing this game second due to the difficulty.

Mudd Blocks

Mudd Blocks is a puzzle game that is quick to learn.  After a few rounds you’ll quickly understand what each piece does, and the best way to drop them.

The game works nicely as a pallet cleanser, and if you’re into puzzle games like Tetris, Dr. Mario, or Puyo Puyo, this will likely be your thing.

I didn’t sink too much time into Mudd Blocks, but I am quite happy it’s part of the collection. Unlike Mudds Deluxe and Super Challenge which both appeared on multiple systems, Blocks is a new game as part of the collection.

Mutant Mudds Collection has a ton of bang for your buck. If old school style platforming is a favourite of yours, this collection will scratch that itch. All three games have online leaderboards if you’re looking to prove your worth to the world.

Rating: Buy

Soccer meets rocket powered cars. You read that right. You play 3v3, 2v2, 1v1, and even 4v4, in various different modes. Each match is only a few minutes, and though that may not seem long, it can when you’re team is losing badly.

This game is really quick to learn, but a long time to master. Rocket League is a whole lot of fun, and worth your time if you like playing online, and playing games as a service. Hitting your boost at the right time, collecting boost power-ups, or just destroying the enemy teams car is all very satisfying.

The ecosystem is still vibrant, and you can currently cross-play with friends on Xbox (a bit complicated at the moment.) Cross party matches are coming soon, where you and your friend can play together against other teams. RL is worth your time if you enjoy a good competition online.

Rating: Buy