Ultimately, Catan is a faithful recreation of the classic board game, and for that, I applaud it. I love being able to take Catan with me wherever I go and never concerning myself with having people to play with me. You probably won’t be spending large chunks of time with this in a single sitting, but the game’s autosave feature makes it incredibly convenient to pick up and put down on a whim. Catan isn’t perfect, but if you’re a fan of board games, you should enjoy it nonetheless.

Had I not played other snowboarding titles like Steep and Snowboard SuperJam, I probably would have enjoyed this more. But by comparison, it just falls short. This isn’t a terrible snowboarding game; it’s just more tepid than expected. If you’re a fan of the titles I’ve mentioned or other classics like 1080, you’re better off sticking with them.

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash is a wonderful looking game with very little substance. The game is a hollow corpse when held up against the franchise’s history. I just don’t understand how a franchise hitting a console with so many opportunities such as the Wii U could have fallen so hard on its face.

I wanted to love Gear Club Unlimited, I really did, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t. I have been a big fan of Eden Games since their V-Rally days, but I think they have dropped the ball a little here. I understand that this is a port of their racing game for iOS and Android, but this could have been the first and definitive realistic racer on Switch. Unfortunately, it only succeeds in being the first realistic racer on the system. There is a reasonable amount of fun to be had here for racing game fans, but this isn’t going to be the crossover hit that games like Forza or Gran Turismo are on their respective platforms. If you want an arcade racer on Switch you’d be a fool not to buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. If you really want a more realistic-style racer then Gear Club Unlimited is worth trying, just don’t expect too much.

If you buy Oh My Godheads, you will get an exciting local-multiplayer CTF game with a few tacked-on, lesser modes. There is not much to it outside of Capture the Head, and even that probably will not hold your attention for too long. Frankly, it is hard to recommend when party games like Ultimate Chicken Horse and Towerfall are available on Switch.

Brief Battles has some interesting ideas that could have made for a solid platform fighter, but this one needed way more ironing out. Despite a few good times to be had, the game ultimately doesn’t come close to meeting the bar set by other great indie platform fighters. It definitely has its moments, like the rush of satisfaction that follows landing a ground pound from way high up, but your time is better spent with same-genre titles like TowerFall, Duck Game, and Retimed. Promised free updates may redeem this title down the line with better modes and more carefully crafted arenas, but for now, clunky menus and long load times make an obstacle out of even setting up Brief Battles, and excessive stage hazards, wonky controls, and trite objectives mean that the prize for navigating those menus isn’t worth it.

As a quick refresher between Grand Prix in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Circle of Sumo will serve well, but that’s the height of its potential. As far as local multiplayer goes, you can do a lot better elsewhere on the Switch eShop, especially in a post-Ultimate world.

Jedi Outcast is a fun trip down memory lane. However, newcomers are likely to be too put off by the frustrations and poorly-aged game design of an ultimately incomplete port of a once-incredible title.

This is the Police isn’t a bad game, but it feels like the game could have been much more interesting with a little more variety in the actual gameplay. Managing your cops can be fun, and some interesting things happen throughout the course of the game, but a little more variety to keep things fresh throughout would have went a long way with the game. As it stands This is the Police is a decent game that, for many, will overstay its welcome.

RCTA isn’t a bad game, but the lack of any real challenge and overly-simplified design aspects may very well turn away season virtual park builders. As a result, I’m extremely hesitant to call this a simulator, as it feels far more like a casual game.

It’s short, the game doesn’t give you feedback, and is incredibly basic, but the gameplay was fun—even if I had no idea what I was doing half the time.

For now, it is what it is, and I would only recommend it to bored Wii U owners with spare money to burn.

If not for light content and clunky online, Morphies Law would stand out on the Switch indie scene. Offline, the unique size-changing gameplay works very well and the available maps and modes are encouraging. The game will be much easier to recommend if online stability and more content are ever added via DLC in the future. In the meantime, though, if you have several Switch-owning friends who can get together for some download play, or if you just really want to run around with misshapen offline bots, then Morphies Law may be a worthy addition to your library.

Mario die-hards that only have a 3DS will find some enjoyment in playing the new mode, and the limited selection of online courses, but without the ability to share your created courses with the world, it seems like a waste of time.

The bright, simple level design and the soothing soundtrack were a joy to experience and stopped me from tearing my hair out over some of the harder segments. I enjoyed my time playing Etherborn, but I also didn’t feel anything special while doing so. If you’re really in the mood for a puzzle game, then Etherborn may be worth checking out, but outside of that, you won’t be worse off for skipping it.

Say No! More has extremely vapid gameplay and can be finished in less than two hours, but the art style and sense of humor are so refreshing that the game is still weirdly charming.

Final Fantasy Explorers just feels shallow. It’s not that it is a bad game, it’s just painfully average in almost every respect.

Land of Screens tells a short, hokey, on-the-nose story about disconnecting from technology and reconnecting with friends and family, and it's not remarkable in any way. Fortunately, the art and sound are excellent, making it a decent way to spend a couple hours.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats tries its best to be the Nintendogs sequel that Nintendo is too scared to give us. It gets a few things right, like the variety of activities and the huge amount of customization available. Unfortunately, the lack of detail when it comes to control options and taking care of your pet makes this an experience with very little staying power.

For all my grumbling and complaining, I hesitate to be too hard on LEGO Avengers 3DS. Even with its problems, it is an awesome idea that does quite a bit right, and a TON of people will enjoy it.

Pilot Sports just comes off as a poor man’s attempt at trying to recreate Pilotwings. It simply does not have the same level of polish. Thus, the old saying, “An original is better than a copy,” definitely applies here. If anything, playing this made me want Nintendo to release a new authentic Pilotwings even more than before. But in the meantime, you’re much better off looking at past entries in that franchise rather than playing this.

Ultimately, Knight Squad simply does not have the quality of gameplay to take full advantage of its impressive list of modes. A complete experience could have left a mark, but nobody will be knighting Knight Squad when all is said and done.

There is a lot to like about Overpass. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of issues. The overall idea is great and offers something that a lot of gamers won’t have experienced. There are some moments of visual beauty as well, but the frame rate really struggles to keep up. This is also a seriously challenging game with the difficulty level only changing the time that the other drivers take to complete the course. It would have been helpful for an easier difficulty to provide you with more grip and less chance of flipping your vehicle over. If you want to try a different driving experience, Overpass may be the game for you. Just be prepared for a challenge.

I consider Aqua Moto Racing Utopia to just be a sub-par release. Again, it’s not bad, it’s just not great. Maybe casual/younger race fans might find some enjoyment out of it, but don’t jump into this pool unless you find standing around in the shallow end to be fun.

At times, it almost feels like the game was originally designed for the Wii with all the WiiMote use in the game, especially when at times it feels very unnecessary. The local multiplayer is still solid, but even then, questionable design choices in controllers you can use hinder the experience.

Ultimately, Mighty No. 9 is just not worth the price. It has a satisfying set of mechanics, but that is all it has going for it.

Even so, it’s a beautiful game that offers some legitimately satisfying fun. Just don’t expect that to last too long.

All in all, Outside the Realm is not great. At just fifty cents at launch, it may be worth a playthrough if you want something mindless to play for thirty minutes.

The puzzle element is more tedious than mentally stimulating, and the platforming ranges from average to horrendous.

My first dive into the game left a really sour taste in my mouth. There was a broken AI system that simply did not allow me to get gold in any of the races in order to unlock the rest of the characters. Most of them are generic in design, minus a few interesting ones with special attacks. I was really hard on the game for having a broken system. Even with the patch, I still can’t shake what I initially had played. I was simply hoping for a more enjoyable experience. It feels more like something that you would find on Early Access or a concept, not a full-fledged release.

Overall, Senran Kagura 2 is simply not a very good game. There are plenty of decent ideas, but none of them are anywhere near being developed enough to be worth your time.

While the massive roster will please fans, the similarities between characters, the convoluted story, the barebones RPG elements, and the technical issues make Warriors Orochi 4 a low point in an otherwise fun series. There’s so much potential with Warriors Orochi 4; unfortunately, the latest installment misses the mark on so many of the shots that it takes.

Depending on how quickly the player moves, this game can be completed in 4 or 5 hours. It is a title that might speak to fans of narrative-driven experiences. That’s not to say there is an entirely rich narrative here, but the mysteries surrounding the astronaut’s circumstances could drive one’s desire to progress. And the imaginative wonder that this journey’s final note ends with is poetic to a degree. The question is whether that is enough for you to invest here. Otherwise, platformer fans should look elsewhere to satiate their genre needs.

Overall, Minecraft on New 3DS is exactly what I imagined it to be: a portable version of a game we’ve all played several times. If you’re in the market for a portable version of Minecraft, just get it on Nintendo’s newest system, the Switch.

Trancelation is neither a powerful language-learning tool nor a particularly exciting arcade experience. But if you're looking for a supplement to a language you're already learning, and for some reason Duolingo isn't enough for you, this game will help you with rote memorization of basic vocabulary.

While Shiny the Firefly does recover after its agonizingly slow start, it never becomes great.

Ultimately, Neon Chrome is a game for a certain audience. If you’re one for sci-fi, retro-style action games, definitely pick this one up. However, if none of what I mentioned piques your interest, feel free to skip Neon Chrome.

Considering that it is an enhanced-port of a mobile game, one shouldn’t expect too much, but when there’s something like EDGE out there, then the lack of overall quality cannot be excused.

Much as it pains me to say, Ni no Kuni — an otherwise masterpiece — is not worth your time on the Nintendo Switch. Its issues are simply too frustrating to work around or forgive. The game is in dire need of patches that overhaul how the game performs on the handheld. I was hoping with talk of a new game in the series and this Switch port that the future of the franchise would be positive. For right now, I’m just disappointed that Nintendo fans have gotten the short end of the stick.

Paranautical Activity isn’t a bad game, it is just is very flawed. Sadists and FPS fans looking for something quirky and somewhat enjoyable might get a little amusement out of the game, but it’s hard to recommend it with these glaring issues for most gamers.

New weapons and a new character are nice, but an excessive demand for grinding makes Pulse of the Ancients a lackluster experience overall.

I wanted to like YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG a lot more than I did. There’s some rich creativity in its style, and the music is worth a listen even outside of playing. However, a lot of the fresh ideas with the battle system and Mind Dungeon simply don’t respect the player’s time. When I’m sighing after accidentally bumping into an avoidable enemy, that’s a problem.

Gear.Club Unlimited 2 is back with its Tracks Edition expansion, but building off of a bad foundation only leads to a mess. The unfair AI, unbalanced cars, puddle-deep "sim" mechanics, repetitive circuits, egregious economy, and laughable performance just drag the whole experience down. Tracks should've been its own (improved) title, but this one is currently better off swerving around.

When you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, Slam Land is a local-only party game with a genuinely likable art style and a great concept. The audio is bouncy, fun, and accompanies the game’s overall feel. Other than that, it really doesn’t have much else going for it.

Evan's Remains is a moderately fun puzzle game that is ruined by an overbearing and dull narrative that destroys any sense of pacing.

The existing fanbase will be more than happy with FBI Agent Francis York Morgan’s latest outing, as it adds another unintentionally terrible sequel to the canon.

psyscrolr is a game that I feel has potential, but it’s not quite ready for the big time yet.

As it stands, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a rushed and sloppy game on the Wii U.

3Souls is a short but solid game. The puzzle setup has potential, but was lacking in execution and accessibility options. Even though it took three hours to complete, I would still recommend it for those who want to give this game a try.

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is a remake tethered to the archaic design of its source material. Updated visuals cannot mask outdated mechanics that just don't fly in this day and age.

For a game in which the story is billed as the main focus, it says volumes that the plot does nothing to shine. Features such as the ability to watch a few classic movies are a nice touch but do little to tie into the actual game and feel like they were added just to create a selling point. If you're looking to pass a couple hours, you can certainly do worse than Stone, though you can also do better.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a wonderful-looking game held back by its developers clinging to the gameplay of the original Master System title. Some quality-of-life improvements could have saved it from mediocrity.

There are many great games on the Nintendo eShop, but unfortunately Shadow Puppeteer is not one of these games.

If you have children who like the show, then this may be worth a purchase. It will easily distract them for at least 6 hours and could be 40 hours or more if they want to gain every collectable. However, if you saw the title of this game and thought Giganto-what, I would suggest you move on and give this a wide berth.

The original Yo-kai Watch got a pass when it came to battle depth and strategy, but Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls do not enjoy the same luxury. The battle system is not improved in any way, and as a result is both shallow and slow.

Personally, I wish Ultracore were a better game. I was so excited to give it a whirl due to its being such a marvel for its time. I wanted to like it badly. However, it’s such a slog to play and so cheap with its deaths. It is one of those titles where you never feel like a demise is your fault. I mean, there were moments when a robot would fall on my head from up above, leaving me no time to react! Granted, you could memorize levels through a lot of trial and error and become an Ultracore master. But for me at least, it’s not worth the time and effort.

SpellKeeper is an OK puzzle game. The way the puzzles work is interesting and allows a lot of different solutions and fun challenges. The in-game visuals are perfectly serviceable, but the cutscenes look rough when displayed on a large TV. The music is inoffensive and isn’t annoying but neither is it at all memorable. If you’re after a cheap little puzzler that you can easily beat in a few hours, then this is the game for you. I just wish the developer had put a bit more thought into the difficulty or added a fifth area with more challenging puzzles.

The Low Road seems like it would have been a better short animated film than a video game. The gameplay sections are annoying at worst and bland at best. The crude yet eye-catching animation works with the comedic tone, however, and the characters were fun to spend time with. Unfortunately, we don’t get enough time with them. Perhaps a rework with more phone call puzzles would have elevated it. Otherwise, there are better experiences to be had in the modern point-and-click genre.

Whether or not you will enjoy Dare Up: Adrenaline will come down to whether or not you enjoy the core gameplay.

Despite the tone of this review, The LEGO Game 2 Videogame is not terrible. But even my 5-year-old son feels more at home in LEGO games like LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and even the recent LEGO The Incredibles. These games are imbued with a brick-ton of character that makes experiencing these LEGO-ized romps a blast. The heart of The LEGO Movie film series did not translate to The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame, unfortunately. The empty world, mundane gameplay, and cardboard cutout characters make this one a bit more difficult to enjoy. In Bricksburg, everything is meh.

Brakes Are For Losers is like a toy you find in a Happy Meal. A cheap distraction good for a few minutes of entertainment. It’s not meant to be played on its own. Instead, it is at best the sort of game that you mess around with for ten minutes while cooling off between sessions with meatier games. BAFL is reasonably fun, but a novelty at best.

Overall, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer proves to be a substantial disappointment for the franchise. Yes, the game does make large strides in the designing element of Animal Crossing, but it fails to create any sort of experience that is even remotely engaging or captivating.

I can recommend My Style Studio: Notebook as a nice drawing tool for younger audiences or just for those looking for something easy to use, but those who are drawing enthusiasts or artists may prefer something else. Using it to create notes can be effective for kids, but an average mobile phone may be a better option for adults. And if you seek to create flipbook animations, this is most certainly not your game.

It is nothing memorable for certain, but it is a nice way to waste time since the mechanics are easy to learn and it is at least a little entertaining – while it lasts.

As far as one dollar board game-esque eShop titles go, it has one of the more enjoyable concepts, but the extensive amount of boredom one has to endure while an opponent takes a turn brings down the experience considerably, and ultimately makes it not worth the purchase.

In its brief runtime, Half Past Fate: Romantic Distancing tries to tell a charming story of romance amid the pandemic, but it's just a waste of an hour instead. Give the original game a try in lieu of this.

With no Ice Age movie releasing in tandem with Scrat’s Nutty Adventure, the choice to not give Just Add Water a few extra months to add polish is disappointing. At best, Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure is a decent distraction for kids.

Despite my criticisms, Feral Fury is a largely inoffensive roguelite shooter. The biggest crime it commits is that it doesn’t go nearly as far as its contemporaries to stand out. It’s worth a few romps if you’re a fan of the twin-stick shooter genre, but there are more fulfilling options on Switch. I hope the developers at Scandivania Games look to add to this in a future update. At the very least I’d like to see an Image Comics run.

Jump Force Deluxe Edition has great ideas and intentions but fails to execute them in a meaningful way. Its story woefully underutilizes the incredible roster of characters at its disposal, and some technical and design problems keep it from being the smooth experience a modern fighter on Switch needs to be. The simple but flashy combat can be fun while you try out some signature moves from your favorite anime characters, but the lack of depth means that this novelty will eventually fade away. How far your mileage goes before that happens will just depend on how much you enjoy these properties.

At its finest, Clusterpuck 99 is fun for a little bit, but your friends will be begging to play something, anything else long before you exhaust the game’s available stages and features.

Rise and Shine is undoubtedly one of the best-looking games on the Switch. The animations, level design, and characters are nothing short of a feast for the eyes. While this is all well and good, the rest of the game never really finds its footing because of its brevity and lack of focus. If you’re planning on jumping into this adventure, be prepared for a game with elements of an action platformer, with bullet hell moments, that is constantly stifled by the need to be everything all at once.

JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword is a mediocre effort in the 2D platformer genre. While this review was mostly critical, I should clarify that the game isn’t bad – it just isn’t good either. In a world where we have our pick of the Metroidvania lot, JackQuest simply does nothing to stand out in the crowd. As a result, we’re left with something entirely basic in both design and function.

Desert Child is that kid you knew who watched a whole lot of Cowboy Bebop thinking it’d be cool to dress like Spike Spiegel in school. We appreciate the effort, but looking cool is different from actually being cool. This isn’t the poser of video games, but it gets close to it.

Star Sky is a brief experience that will be enjoyed by some and hated by others.

I really wanted to enjoy Spirit of the North as someone who is passionate for Nordic folklore, meditative video game experiences, and foxes. Unfortunately, amid the game’s performance issues and lackluster gameplay, the title comes across as unfocused at best and unplayable at worst. There’s a meditative, thoughtful, and even great game that’s underneath all of the uncomplimentary design decisions, and the poor technical performance of the Switch port is the nail in the coffin of an already flawed experience.

It’s not a bad game, but the overall package could be a lot better.

Overall, Gear.Club Unlimited is pretty much a missed opportunity. Eden Games took a second chance, but this may as well be a content update to the first game since virtually no real improvements have been made. This is, absurdly, a $60 title, vastly outclassed by similarly-priced games like Forza Horizon 4. Take a detour and wait for other racers like V-Rally 4 and GRID; this is just a tire blowout.

I’ve played a good chunk of racing games on the Switch at this point, and Speedway Racing is by far the lowest effort I’ve seen yet. If it functioned properly and ran smoother, then it would at least be worthy of consideration as a compact title. But in this state, you’re better off avoiding it and picking just about any other racer. Sega Ages: Virtua Racing isn’t stock car racing like this, but it does have similar arcade-style circuit tracks. It’s about the closest thing, and despite being one of the earliest 3D racing games ever, it’s a far more enjoyable experience than this poor indie.

Ultimately, like Aqua Moto Racing Utopia, Snow Moto Racing Freedom just feels very unrefined. Even if the framerate was actually tolerable, the core game is pretty basic and gets boring rather quickly. The one thing going for this game is that there’s currently a lack of racing titles on the Switch and so far this is the only one dedicated to winter sports. Even so, despite there not being much else to choose from, I wouldn’t bother with this in its current state. If the framerate issues are ever addressed, then perhaps it might be fun for younger gamers, but even then it just doesn’t have much lasting appeal.

If the game were a dollar, maybe that experience would be worth killing an hour for. At $7 for the download, however, the game’s utter simplicity and lack of any standout quality would likely leave you disappointed with the purchase.

I really wanted to like Skellboy. As I mentioned, the beginning moments led me to believe that I was going to have an enjoyable experience. The world is endearing, and I absolutely love the characters and humor. Unfortunately, despite some great ideas, a lot of the execution falls flat. With some tweaks and patches, some of my issues might be fixed, but as a whole, Skellboy isn’t a journey worth taking.

Unfortunately, I just don’t see how Mario Party is supposed to be enjoyable playing solo on a handheld when there isn’t even a fully fleshed out board games to play on. It’s just a series of 1min mini-games that award you 1-3 stars feeling very much like this should have been a mobile game. The mini-games are fun, but the model in which they’re presented to players feels very out of place on the 3DS. This might be a good pick-up for families with a few kids at home but I can’t recommend it to fans of the series or an older audience that have so many better titles to choose from on this platform.

Exile’s End is not a game you should avoid, but with the many quality games on eShop, it makes it hard to recommend. The game does a nice job to recreate the experience it was looking for, but failed at making what these games make fun: the interesting level design and challenge.

Nothing about the game is really satisfying, nothing about the game stands out, and poor and lazy design choices make it feel much more like a cash-grab than a full fledged experience.

Pokemon Rumble World isn’t necessarily a bad game, but it’s not of the quality I would expect from Nintendo.

As a Star Wars and LEGO fan, I found it extremely hard to dislike LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But, after playing through it in its entirety, I can’t help but feel robbed of my money.

In the end, Lionel was an overall disappointment. There are much older games with a lot more features than this, and a much higher level of fun.

It’s like a fruit salad with dry, discolored fruits in a pretty bowl — unappetizing.

The game isn’t terrible. It isn’t good. It’s just there. Fans of Ivan Stewart’s Super Off Road may like this little trip down memory lane for $5.99. but be warned: it will be a short one, and you will find yourself going back to the NES classic.

Despite being an interesting idea, Maze falls really hard on its poor execution: a boring experience during the first half of the game, the good ideas are hardly used in comparison with the bad ones and there are many flaws in the package as well.

If the frame-rate was smooth and the game was more technically sound, I could see potential for a fun horror game. The atmosphere is nice, the audio is extremely well done, and the story seems pretty interesting as well. It’s just a shame that the frame-rate is so bad that you probably won’t make it til the end to see the conclusion.

For a party game, it has its merits, but not enough to justify the rest of the experience.

Soul Axiom for Wii U is a rough port of an interesting first-person puzzler that just doesn’t quite live up to its potential. The combination of frustrating controls, poor graphics that don’t live up to the PC version, and intentionally slow storytelling may be too much for anyone that is not a huge fan of the first person puzzle genre.

If you happen to want to try a picture/word video game with friends, pick it up for just two bucks as it might work in that setting, but for the most part, I must unfortunately suggest that most players pass on the title – even keeping in mind the low price point.

Not a good game at all. When you find yourself just wanting to complete levels to see if the game ever changes and gets better, that’s a sign that something is very wrong. The core gameplay is simplistic, boring, and not the level of quality one would expect from a Metroid game. Other M may have been the most fan-derided Metroid game until now, but Federation Force will easily take the crown from here on out.

Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is a unique exploration RPG on Switch that doesn’t live up to its concept. I wanted to really love it, but the pacing is sluggish, the combat is lackluster, the party system needs some work, the HUD is distracting, there are annoying puzzles, and the gameplay is overwhelming. Although there are some good elements (audio, atmosphere, slightly creepy), it is a forgettable game that left me more frustrated than excited. Horror fans looking for a scary experience should look elsewhere.

Again, I firmly believe that those who like clever, challenging puzzle games will eat this up – this type of game has even been proven to help make people smarter – and if you’re one of those who really wants the game on their Wii U, go for it.

Tiny Galaxy had a chance to be an interesting addition to the eShop, but unfortunately, it just falls flat.