Digitally Downloaded's Scores

  • Games
For 3,524 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 11% same as the average critic
  • 37% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Bayonetta 2
Lowest review score: 0 Orc Slayer
Score distribution:
3526 game reviews
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Other than some lacklustre game modes and online play (that may or may not get extra players on it in the future), there is no real incentive to get Boggle on the PlayStation 4. The controls work well, and if you want to play Boggle alone, this is probably the best way to do it, but that is about the only crowd I would recommend this title to.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    With nothing to do other than explore and combat enemies, the fact that both systems are insultingly simple means that Fairune has no value, whatsoever.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    To the game's credit, there are a lot of levels, and the asking price is modest. There is some effort that has gone into making Epic Dumpster Bear 2. There are even some genuinely nice touches, like little facts about bears that pop up during loading screens, and some elements, powerups, and similar that make it clear that the game is Canadian. I like it when the developers don't shy away from identifying their work with their culture. Unlike many low-budget platformers, there is a soul and sense that the developers weren't just looking to make a cynical dollar. So much of Epic Dumpster Bear 2 is admirable, it's just a pity that there wasn't a stronger vision behind it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    What Mario Maker on the 3DS has forgotten is that one of the key reasons to make games is to have other people play them.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    All of this would be almost okay if 4 Elements also wasn’t one of the most unrelentingly plain-looking games, with terrible sprites representing enemies, and bland level design to back it up.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I just did not care enough about anything that I was seeing or doing to enjoy Edge of Eternity. The narrative lacks thought and insight, the characters are bland, and each new location simply means more fetch quests and slightly higher level enemies to go through the motions to fight. Edge of Eternity is undoubtedly beautiful and the art team deserves kudos, but it is a hollow, empty, and shallow kind of beauty, and with no intelligence nor soul to back it up, the talents of the artists are largely wasted on this one.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Clockwork Tales’ inconsistent tone, lack of self-awareness, and generally poor presentation let down an otherwise standard example of the genre, which means you’ll need to be a really big genre fan to derive much value from this.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Mato Anomalies had picked the right kind of experience to ape. The Persona series is consistently the most intelligent and thought-provoking in the JRPG genre. The developers have also done a decent effort to understand the thematic basis of those games, and at least attempt their own spin on it. Unfortunately, whether for a lack of resources or an inability to bring the creative elements together cohesively enough, Mato Anomalies’ greatest achievement is simply demonstrating just how hard it really is to make a game like Persona 3, 4 and 5.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    With a very short completion time and no replay value there really isn’t much to keep you playing and whilst the lack of challenge may be appealing to those looking for a short game to pick up and play it becomes tedious very quickly.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In theory, a roguelike FPS could work, however, there needs to be a very specific reason to even try. Nightmare Reaper never gives us that reason. It comes across like a game that’s a roguelike purely because that was how an indie developer should shove 100 levels of grind into it. There’s no narrative nor thematic value to it being a roguelike, and in all that randomness, it loses the soul of what makes those games it pays homage to so special.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Power Rangers Super Megaforce is completely uninspired, but at least knows who it is trying to target and is adequately made. As a bit of fan service, it succeeds in being connected to the show, but as a game it is repetitive, with half-realised ideas that could have made the experience more engaging but never really live up to their potential.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    More than anything, it's the crushing lack of originally that really does let down Baseball Riot.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    A new NBA arcade game will always be something to get excited about. Many of us have fond memories of dropping coins into those arcade cabinets back in the day. A game that can capture that raw sense of fun, while modernising the more archaic elements would instantly become one of the most entertaining games of the year. I’m sure the developers went into NBA Playgrounds with the most noble of intentions, but this game is not the NBA I remembered. This game is one that young me would never have considered to be worth my allowance.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In theory I would love a game like Fossil Fighters, but while I was willing to forgive the original on the Nintendo DS as a good-but-flawed new IP, by now the game should have a far more refined identity by now. There's still potential in Fossil Fighters, but the series needs to head back to the drawing board for a thorough rethink.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Give me a quality plot, or an interesting setting, or something to impress me enough to work through its weaker elements. Magus doesn't offer any stand out feature, which makes it difficult to get too excited over.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It does what it promises in offering a fast runner-style game, and it's nice that the developers went as far as to offer completely new level layouts each day, but ultimately this is as shallow as the likes of Doodle Jump or Temple Run, and costs an order of magnitude more money.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I do believe that Rodea could have been a good little game. The ambition it has going for it is certainly appreciable, but ambition not put to good use is ambition wasted. Unfortunately, despite being one of the few high profile third party Wii U games, Rodea is a dud.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    While the puzzle genre has certainly seen improvements over the many years, Chuck's Challenge is content with slapping on a coat of paint onto a 25 year old game, covering up what little charm the series and instead replacing it with tired level design wrapped in an uninspired package.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Baseball Riot is a perfectly competent game, but it suffers from a lack of originality.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I think there's a seed of inspiration within the game that, given experience and a larger budget, gives it real potential. Unfortunately, as it stands, AeternoBlade is simply not competitive either on a technical or artistic level, and that is a real shame.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The only people that might get something out of Mirror are those who are such big fans of the PC version of the game that they need to keep playing it on Nintendo Switch while... on the train, I guess. It's a character-driven, visual novel-heavy match-3 puzzler where terrible localisation has ruined the characters, the narrative is incomprehensible, and the match-3 action is so stock-standard it doesn't deserve to be celebrated, even if it does work. The real reason people played this on PC - the titillation, has been greatly reduced in order to be console friendly on the Nintendo Switch, and as such there is nothing of worth left in Mirror.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Run Like Hell! wants to be a good runner, and I can certainly see where Mass Creation was coming from with this one. The execution just isn’t there, microtransactions mar the experience, and the game does little to keep the player engaged.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I just didn't enjoy my time in Infinite Adventures. The first-person dungeon crawl is a favourite genre of mine, and the Switch already has plenty of those, so for Infinite Adventures to stand out it was going to need to do something special. Sadly, misfires in terms of presentation and the mistaken belief that procedural dungeon layouts are something desirable to the dungeon crawler make this game flawed on every level, from concept right through to execution.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It’s really just the storytelling that lets Absolute Tactics down, but unfortunately, this isn’t a genre where you can easily hide poor writing. Unless you have a particularly high tolerance for the literary equivalent of dragging nails down a chalkboard, this is one you should probably pass on.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Mutant Football League is a cheap and poorly executed arcade sports game. I think the developers went in with all the right intents, because there really aren't enough sports games being made for people who aren't willing to put a major commitment into the game in order to be able to appreciate it on any level. But for all the good intentions this game needs so much refinement, polish, and a complete graphical overhaul that I can't see myself busting this game out the next time I've got guests looking to play a game, either.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's just too simplistic and bog standard in design. I appreciate that the developers were aiming for traditional pinball experiences, but that's no excuse for not at least coming up with some dynamic, flowing table designs.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Putting aside the poorly translated story and the subsequently sleazy theme the game takes on, there’s just nothing to The Future You’ve Been Dreaming Of. It’s a too-basic life simulation… and the fan service isn’t even that good. Unfortunately, this is a rare misfire for qureate on what should have been the development team’s home turf.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    If Matchpoint Tennis had just thrown the occasional loss at me, or even let me fight back from behind at times, I would have spent so much more time playing the game. It’s unfortunate to think that here we have a tennis game that developers should be paying close attention to, because it gets so much right, and we know that won’t happen because one critical error means I have no choice but to score it the way I have. If, down the track, there’s a patch to improve the difficulty in an interesting way, then Matchpoint would be the best tennis game currently available, purely because the on-court gameplay actually gets it.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Legrand Legacy is, in the end, a very playable JRPG. Sadly it's also one of marginal appeal, even to those who grew up playing old JRPGs back in the 32-bit era.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    If you want cheap jump scares, Wick will do the job. If you’re after a more nuanced approach, one that goes beyond the superficial horror of sudden apparitions accompanied by heavy breathing, identical music, and a handful of different shaped insta-kill radii, then Wick is not for you. Wick is a blunt instrument – one designed not for players, but for observers of players. Aside from the occasional sudden jump caused by an inattentive ear, there is little of that creepy unease, that apprehensive discomfort, to elevate the overall horror experience.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Its simplistic combat and dull mission structures mean it quickly runs out of steam for anything other than quick bursts of play, and the Switch has plenty of games that can fill that need in a far more compelling way.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Machi Knights: Blood Bagos is often a game which grates in long play-sessions, and does little to set itself apart from other games on the market. This is a very hard sell for anyone who wants something more than a button masher, and even then, it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’re just settling for this game over a better use of your time.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Syberia 3 feels like a game that was made because everyone involved in the project felt an obligation to make it. It has its moments, and as a fan it’s great to see Sokal’s work reach a proper conclusion, but it’s also difficult to see how this game will find an audience; even among existing fans of Syberia, tastes change over 13 years, and it’s hard to see how this game has done anything to encourage people back for one more spin with Kate Walker.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Overall Zombeer has the potential to be much much better if the mechanics can be fine tweaked in a patch to make things smoother. The lack of story in a first person shooter isn’t the end of the world, zombie apocalypse or not, but how well you can move through the apocalypse could well be.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    There's nothing overtly wrong with it, but the 2D platformer isn't exactly one that is underserviced on the 3DS, and it's hard to see value in buying this game over some of the other options out there.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The game itself can be fun in fleeting moments. And there aren't really any alternatives to what this offers, in this form, so that's a plus for it. However, the campaign is short and the visuals are just terrible.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I do recognise that as far as the subject goes, I am not the target market for a game about esports. On the other hand, I am a big fan of the simulation genre, and this one is so unpalatable from that perspective that I have to wonder at its existence. If you're just looking for esports, there's no need to play a bad simulator that is largely unrepresentative of the experience of esports anyway. Just go and watch the real thing on Twitch.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's a super casual management sim, like Farmville or whatever city-building equivalents there are. Only far less attractive or compelling. But at least it's not begging you to buy premium currency every five minutes, I guess.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    There's a lot of content in Blackguards, but memorable moments are few and far between. This is a game that feels like it has a lot of ambition, but it's held back sharply but budgetary constraints and, perhaps, an engine so unfamiliar to the development team that they couldn't compensate for its inherent flaws.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Anima is not that engaging at all because of that overreach, and it’s stressful because I really did want to enjoy this. But the games it tries to be like; titles like Nier and Dark Souls, are unforgettable, potent, important titles. I should not be forgetting almost everything about a game that aspires to that level of greatness. But in this case I did just that.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In the end, Perfect Universe is a multiplayer party game that lets itself down by throwing mechanics at the player that are far too complex for their own good.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Overall, it's an okay game for poker fans who somehow haven't got their fill of the card game, but its appeal really is limited, and there really so many other poker options out there.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The enemy’s AI is non-existent; it will spawn slowly strengthening hordes of soldiers, but otherwise it won’t do anything. If you can get a multiplayer game going there’s a bit more strategy involved, I guess, but there isn’t much of a community wrapped around this one, leaving Korix feeling like a game that had a good idea buried away in there, but fails to give people the VR strategy experience that they’ll be looking for.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    All the levels have the same basic objectives; kill all the goons, destroy all the drugs, and repeat. In later levels the game will add hostages who will get in your way. Killing hostages will understandably lower your score, but have very little value to add to the experience beyond that.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    While I won't expect it to be a Mario Kart killer, I do still have hope that those console versions of the game, at least, fix the technical flaws and are free of hostile microtransactions. If they can do that then I'd have no problem recommending this to Kitty and My Melody fans.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    With minimal export options, even Art Academy is going to struggle to appear to people as anything more than a bit of gimmicky fun. And Art Academy doesn't have the same interface and functionality issues as this does.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Lethis had potential. The idea of a steampunk city builder is appealing and does delight the imagination on premise alone. In execution, though, there's virtually nothing of the steampunk concept, beyond the aesthetics, and the game is so stiflingly limited in how it plays that it becomes dull before measure far, far too soon.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The problem for Mervils is that none of it works that well. It’s not a game that benefits in any substantial way from being in VR, because you’ll be focused entirely on your avatar, which sits beneath your view and demands your attention at all times; you have no time to actually enjoy the game as a VR experience, and Mervils does nothing with that VR perspective.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Under Par: Golf Architect is charming and very welcoming, and that first golf course you create will be a truly fun process. After that, though, you’ll realise that Under Par has nothing else to offer and is such a disappointing missed opportunity. It’s all the more strange that the developers would do this because the same team previously created Hundred Days, a vineyard business simulation, and that one was genuinely interesting and engaging, and had proper tycoon simulation challenges built into it.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The designers don't seem to have understood how strategy works with card games, and, unfortunately, that's really what differentiates a good TCG from a very poor one.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Extinction is a game which just feels bad to play. It’s technically proficient, looks good and has everything it needs to be a functional game, but it never goes beyond that and assumes the player will be engaged just by the act of killing big monsters.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In theory, a Bubble Bobble game with Mario Maker tossed in should be occupying my every waking moment, whether I'm busy playing it, or working out smart new ways to build sequences of levels to play through with family and friends. Instead, what Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron's Workshop represents is far more of a lazy cash-in title. Bubble Bobble, needless to say, deserves far better than that. I do still love Bubble Bobble with my very heart and soul. But sometimes, love hurts.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Frankly, being competently made isn’t enough. Not for a genre as loaded as this boomer shooter one. The original Painkiller had an identity and personality. It wasn’t meaningfully different in how it played compared to its peers at the time, but it had something about it that allowed it to stand out for itself. This Painkiller is a generic multiplayer shooter with a generic Christian horror-themed setting and aesthetics, and none of it is memorable.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tenshu General is a competent adaptation of a tabletop style board game. Unfortunately, its lack of depth, content and narrative leave it feeling like merely an engine with good ideas and not much more.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The one saving grace to Bedlam is that it doesn't take itself seriously. There's some nicely written self-referential humour in there. Sadly, Bedlam seems to think it is genuinely funny, rather than the actual joke, so some of the humour falls a bit flat in assuming that people want to play the game in the first place.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Probably the most frustrating omission is the lack of any sort of online mode. It's hard to get this kind of game right in online play - Nintendo itself still hasn't achieved it, but a fighting game that doesn't at least try to go online is a dud from the outset.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    To say that the final product is possibly one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever experienced is not an exaggeration, this is coming from a guy who has had to review some pretty disappointing ones over the years.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Kingdom Rush isn’t even that great by tower defence standards. The towers are generic and bland, and enemy hordes are entirely predictable.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Taking a shallow sub-mode from other games, and presenting it in a no-frills manner, might make for a competent and reliable shooter, But Killing Floor 2 also fails to be anything more than a diversion from other, better shooters as a result. It's utterly useless in singleplayer, and for multiplayer hijinks there are more creative examples out there.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Turtle Tale winds up being a game that shows some promise for fans of retro action platformers, but the lack of depth and variety create an experience where fun gives way to repetition far too quickly.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    There is nothing inspiring about Starships. It's an insipid and undercooked strategy game that seems so desperate to appeal to a broad audience that it seems to lost sight of the fact that strategy games are best when they involve some kind of strategy. It's pretty, sure, but it's hard to think of a game more vapid than this one.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    With that, there’s really not much redeeming about Dungeons and Aliens. It squanders a potentially interesting Tolkien-ish Fantasy vs. B-Movie Alien plot, and barely gets its skinner-box-gameplay-loop out the door. I could only recommend this game if you’re looking for something to fidget your fingers with – but aside from that, nearly anything else on the Switch would be a better choice.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The environments are detailed and beautiful, replete with pops of colour. Unfortunately, navigating them through a haze of lag destroys your enjoyment quite quickly. Pathways are dotted with doors, and the slightest glance in their direction pops you into places that you don’t want to be.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I’m starting to wonder if I’m too picky about farm sims. I justify that by saying that all I want is a functioning game. I don’t expect some crazy story to bring you to the farm. I don’t expect perfection. But I do expect things like auto-saves to save often enough, the game not to crash, and farming itself to be pretty chill. I experienced none of that in Everdream Valley. I wanted so badly to like it, too. But instead, it feels rushed or incomplete. I don’t doubt the devs had all the best intentions, but it’s too big for its britches. It has potential, it just doesn’t feel like a fully polished game.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    People looking to play something immersive on their PCs should look elsewhere.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I can appreciate why a developer would want to try its hand at a Souls-like. It's a hugely popular genre that doesn't have that many entries at this point in time, and there's a veritable goldmine of unique settings and concepts to explore. A horror-themed Souls on an abandoned space station, circling a black hole, is appealing on every level. Unfortunately, this genre is also incredibly demanding, technically and creatively, and while I admire the ambition of Cradle Games, with Hellpoint they've shot for the stars but well missed the mark.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    At this present point in time, Goat Simulator is simply not worth it, even for the novelty value.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Unlike the PC version, which has been on Steam for a few months, there is no online component or a track creator. There’s not a big sense of creativity in the track design or even the game design, it’s all run of the mill kart racer, which is disappointing as the Xbox One has the most limited range of games in this particular genre.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It’s a good game, with some clever, creative puzzle design that takes the Lemmings-like inspiration for the series about as far as it would be possible to push it, and all those different amiibo special abilities do give a lot of variety to the puzzles, but it’s little nasty for Nintendo to hold back a full experience unless you’ve got over a hundred dollars worth of toys.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    What Flinthook does do well is keep the variety of enemies, rooms, and environments strong from start to finish, and, generally speaking, the difficulty curve is reasonable. There’s always the risk that random elements means a game will take massive momentary spikes in difficulty when you get unlucky and the algorithms work against you. Flinthook avoids that, and progress through the game does feel good, but it struggles to be compelling.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    My disappointment with Egglia is its capitulation to free-to-play mobile game conventions, that simply weren't necessary. Priced at the relatively premium price that it's set at, I expected Egglia to be something bolder; something willing to do away with the timers and endless grind. I expected something to take advantage of the gorgeous art style to tell a compelling story. I expected a game that was closer to what I might expect to play on my PlayStation 4 than something I download to my iPad, noodle around with for a while, but ultimately forget. Sadly, Egglia is not that game.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I don’t know if SHING! will find its desired audience. The control scheme and deviations from genre standards leave a sour first impression, and it’s not helped by the vapid quality of the story and writing. The game is filled with schlocky Shadow Warrior style jokes at the expense of the Far East setting (fake-Asian words which sound like English swear words!), and bloody violence despite the immature Saturday-morning-cartoon simplicity. If a game is crass, it needs to have other qualities to redeem it, and SHING! unfortunately fails to justify its shortcomings. I can respect the desire to experiment and to break from tradition, but this game doesn’t do enough to be worth the investment.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Born of Bread looks like a game that will be easy to love. The art in screenshots looks lovely, and Paper Mario-inspired titles are always welcome. It’s a lovely formula that lends itself to a lot of joy. But the developers completely misfired on this one. It comes across as a flat fan project that had original art assets dropped in at the last moment, rather than a cohesive creative work with its own identity, and, sadly, it’s one of the dullest games I’ve played this year.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    While I appreciate the idea behind making a Power Rangers game that taps into nostalgia, I can't help but feel that the Power Rangers property can - and should - do far better with the brawler genre.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    All that I Am Bread has achieved is to be a mildly frustrating but mildly attractive game that will disappoint any Kafka fan that is baited into giving it a go based on its title.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's too poor as a bowling simulation to work as a bowling game. It's too lacking in gameplay modes to work as a minigame-driven take on bowling or as a party game. So what's left? Not much, other than the under-developed seeds of something that could have been really great.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As a demo, it actually works; when I played it for ten minutes in a controlled environment last year, I came away quite impressed with it. But those first ten minutes are Bravo Team's limit, and Sony should have realised this and pulled the plug on the project as a commercial game a long time ago.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    While I’ll always be a fan and advocate of Snow Bros., a retro collection that somehow overlooks the main version of the game it’s meant to be celebrating is both a pathetic effort at licensing, and an utterly pointless product, to the point that it’s an insult to the fans to put it out in the first place. I’ll be the only person on the planet that gets value out of this, because I’m the last fan standing of Snow Bros. on the Game Boy. To everyone else, it’s worthless.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Despite being a cheap downloadable title, I feel like the developers could have done so much more with this mini-game, such as trying some different rhythm notations to mix up the gameplay.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I wanted a game that was like Muramasa: The Demon Blade; a game that would take the aesthetics of classical Japan and really do something with it. Instead, Sadame proves itself to be vapid and uninspired in the extreme, and so very disappointing as a result.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    My Time at Sandrock’s issues are due to its ambition and sheer density of what you can do. I would expect a Yakuza title to have similar issues on Switch. But then the developers aren’t putting Yakuza games on the console. I am quite sure that this game is a fine experience on other platforms. However, the developer decided to release it on Switch, and therefore this version needs to be assessed in isolation. In short, it is just not a good game on this specific platform, and the developers should have made a judgment call to pull this version when it was clear that it wasn’t going to work. That way we wouldn’t have been subjected to it.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Dark Witch Story: COMBAT is, ultimately, more grinding. I found this one more disappointing than Brave Dungeon because the combat is so random that you don’t quite get the same sense of progression. If you’re looking for a strategic TCG game on the Switch, this will just make you sad.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As someone who has every intention on buying his own pinball table at some point (or, hopefully, more than one), the appeal of having real pinball experiences is such that I’ll buy all of the tables in Stern Pinball Arcade, but it’s lacking the features and robustness to allow it to properly compete with Pinball FX 3, and the lack of leaderboard features just kills its long term appeal.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is ambitious. This is a development team as indie as indie comes taking a demanding gameplay perspective and trying to do something demanding with it; create a fast, free-flowing, hardcore action game. Sadly it does miss the mark on this one. There’s skill involved in getting good at Kobuto, however, clumsy, limited mechanics, and a general lack of variety, presentational standards, or energy and excitement really let it down. I would have taken a simple, direct sequel to Bullet Ballet instead.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    FIFA 20: Legacy Edition is really only here to appeal to those people who do not own last year's game on the Switch or are such dedicated soccer fanatics that a roster update is enough of a reason to buy again. However, I find it highly unlikely that anyone who owns last year's title on this platform (especially if they have seen the advertisements and new features for the PlayStation / Xbox / PC versions of the game) will feel like they are getting their money's worth out of the Legacy Edition on the Nintendo Switch. They'll probably feel insulted, and rightly so.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I cannot see Ace of Seafood lasting beyond the hangover that will follow you and your mates playing it together, which is probably the only valid occasion for trying this game out. Ultimately, Ace of Seafood is a one trick lobster.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    SuperPower 3 does allow you to lead any nation on the planet in any way that you might like to. Unfortunately, while the game is only as exciting as a pile of spreadsheets, it’s nowhere near deep enough to feel like a genuine political simulator. It needed more fireworks and a sense that the decisions that you were making were really impacting on the nation and, once you were powerful enough, international balance. As it stands, all that’s really on offer is a bunch of numbers endlessly ticking over.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    This is a console that does not need lesser local multiplayer experiences to bolster it up.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    What beggared my belief is the question of why this “buy once play forever” game utilises all the cheap and nasty tricks from the freemium books. I can only conclude there is a core design problem with Subdivision Infinity, perhaps to do with it originally being conceived as freemium but then turned into premium due to rival releases. Regardless, the end result is a very mechanical affair of short dog fighting followed by lots of tediousness for the sole sake of getting a slightly better ship with which to fight slightly superior enemies in the next round. In the year of our Goddess 2017, this - Subdivision Infinity - is simply not good enough.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The appeal of Date Night Bowling is incredibly limited. It's for people that want to play a game with their romantic partner, and need something that both can enjoy equally, regardless of their gaming experience. At the same time, it's for those that don't want to become too competitive or heated. And both people also need to be old enough to enjoy the 80's and 90's vibes and aesthetics. It's inoffensive enough in fulfilling that very narrow role, but its concepts fall down badly when you're playing single-player, or with anyone other than your significant other. Throw in a dearth of depth and character, and even when you are playing it in its optimal environment, you're going to wish that you decided to take date night to a real bowling alley instead.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I do feel bad for having all these criticisms of Curling. The sense I get from it is that the developer genuinely wanted to give players a decent simulation of the sport, and focused all their efforts and limited resources on the on-ice action. They actually delivered something that's genuinely enjoyable and accurate to the sport. Unfortunately, there's the complete lack of anything supporting the on-ice action has left this feeling more like a tech demo than a completed game. But who knows? Perhaps this will actually sell enough that a Curling 2 can deliver a more rounded product.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Futuridium is a game for those who can invest in the grind of simply 'getting the job done'. Taken on those terms, Futuridium becomes a challenge to be completed, retro looking enough to be in vogue, yet with mechanics that inhibit a broader mainstream appeal.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Soulblight is a largely disappointing experience. Hopefully My Next Games can take what works here (namely the morality-based systems) and apply it to a future effort, but this current action game isn’t enjoyable in the slightest. It doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, and isn’t polished enough to stand besides the better offerings already available.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I left the game feeling frustrated more than anything else. With arbitrary, esoteric puzzles and a wildly inconsistent tone exacerbated by technical issues, I found it hard to get sucked into the game’s atmosphere. The clever plot twists and unique setting were all but drowned out by errant jokes about office politics.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It doesn't really matter how well Summer Sweetheart actually plays, though, because it's such an poor concept, and its executed so clumsily, that it's just not worth touching.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I actually feel terrible that I haven’t enjoyed WitchSpring3 more. In isolation it has a lot going for it – I love pastel aesthetics, I love cute witches. I love the CG art. I really love alchemy JRPGs. Unfortunately, WitchSpring3 is a little too obviously a “mobile JRPG best practices” game, so a lot of its potential is let down by less-than-enthusiastic storytelling and a mechanical approach to gameplay systems that left me feeling very cold.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    While I appreciate that multiplayer is always going to be the core of the Mario Tennis experience, the complete absence of any kind of single player meat to go with the local and online multiplayer is another blow against it.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The main flaw of Super Blackjack Battle II is that a coat of paint, no matter how well made, can’t give depth to an ultimately shallow experience. Even with its four player multiplayer mode, this game is just a blackjack table – and one which is a little worse than just buying a pack of cards and playing in real life.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Laser Disco Defenders is missing a lot of components from being a phenomenal game or even a fantastic top down shooter. Some of the groundwork laid by the developers leaves room for excitement, but there just isn’t enough carefully crafted content to back up the solid mechanics. It’s a dance which ends too soon, and it comes as a hard recommendation.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Hiragana Pixel Party is a game with an identity crisis – it’s too shallow to be a serious learning tool but it’s too serious about learning to be just fun. It’s on a console with more than a few proper rhythm games which feel more intuitive to play, and honestly you’ll pick up about as much Japanese from this game as you would while playing Project Diva with dual language subtitles on. I would have loved it to be more ambitious, and to find more ways to be a useful language acquisition tool, but as of now it’s only useful to players who want to learn just hiragana and katakana.

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