A quirky 2D adventure with hints of psychological horror and some classic puzzles. Though its gameplay is riddled with glitches and its narrative full of flaws, The Long Reach keeps tempting you to peer around the next murky corner.

This Is The Police 2 is a distinctive and multi-faceted management sim with a fresh tactical edge. However, its list of punishing demands, perpetually scarce resources, and sluggish storytelling can sap the game of joy and momentum. There's a lot to do, and a fair amount of that is fun, but it feels like the game's many systems and demands are competing both for scarce virtual resources and your strained attention. In that sense, you'll come to relate to Sharpwood's put-upon new Sheriff all too well.

Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is a valiant attempt to cut away some action-RPG fat in order to get to the meat of its boss battles, but a lack of consistent quality makes this boss-rush concept a frustrating experience at times (and not for the reasons its developer likely intended). The combat lacks the heft of the series that inspired it, so while Sinner looks much like the Souls games, it never captures (or innovates upon) that familiar combat model. There are some great boss designs to take on here, but this is very much a curio for Souls fans who want something to do in-between playing the vastly superior Dark Souls: Remastered.

It's not at its absolute best on Switch, but New Star Manager still provides the deeply tactile Yang to Football Manager 2019 Touch's stat-heavy Ying. It plays a more intuitive and portable game of tactical footy than its illustrious rival, and it also packs a lot more depth than its basic presentation might suggest.

Waifu Uncovered has a laser-focused target audience and it caters perfectly to that audience. If you fall outside of that demographic, how much you’ll enjoy this game will depend entirely on your receptiveness to hand-drawn, mildly lewd pinup-style art and puerile humour coupled with solid shoot ‘em up action. It perhaps lacks a little longevity besides chasing high scores on the online leaderboards — but if you’re looking for a quick fling with an affordable game you don’t have to think too hard about, this is a great palate-cleanser for when you’re between more substantial experiences.

Those seeking a long-lasting single-player experience may want to steer clear though, as there isn't enough depth to the solo-focused modes to keep you engaged for very long.

Sometimes Nintendo puts out distinctly 'B-list' games, and Kirby Battle Royale falls into that category. While the main games in the series on 3DS offer creativity, smart design and generous amounts of content, this ultimately falls short on all counts. It's not a bad game, but it is mediocre, and the mileage and value it holds as a retail release will vary drastically depending on the players. For families and minigame enthusiasts able to dabble in local multiplayer it offers some fun, but sparsely populated online servers and a repetitive Story Mode leave little to write home about. Kirby may have many of his iconic abilities here, but the copy-and-paste approach and limited minigames mean this doesn't get close to the mascot's other 3DS games.

Typoman fashions a marvelous world full of wordy wonder, and those who feel it would be up their alley should definitely give the game a try based on that alone. However, the smudges that can come in the platforming, combined with the roller coaster difficulty, may very likely frustrate some when they find themselves caught in a death loop.

Stranded Sails offers some terrific farming simulation which does the majority of the game's heavy lifting, but it’s held up by middling RPG-esque mechanics. Mixing things up and throwing a selection of genres into a pot to see what comes out is arguably commendable, and there’s an awful lot to like about Stranded Sails, but some frustrating and bizarre choices in regards to recipes and the energy meter system hamstring the game for those hoping for a less taxing castaway experience.

While it’s great to see Ubisoft finally giving Nintendo Switch a platform exclusive, it’s frustrating that it has to come in the form of a competent yet throwaway party game. Having said that, superior hardware and far more accurate motion controls make this the best Sports Party instalment yet, so if you’re looking for a new addition to your local multiplayer setup this Joy-Con-happy collection of simplified sports should tickle your fancy, in-between rounds of Super Mario Party, of course. However, there’s an almost crippling lack of depth to each discipline that anyone hoping for more than a casual party experience will be sadly disappointed.

Monster Harvest is a good example of why great ideas also need to be followed up with great execution. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of a farm sim with monster-catching elements, but Monster Harvest does a rough job of convincing you of that. The monster RPG content is so poorly done that it might as well have not been implemented at all, as it clearly took focus away from the decent farm sim portion of the gameplay. Amazingly, the farm sim gameplay still redeems this enough that it’s not a complete dumpster fire, but we’d only give this the barest of recommendations to anybody looking for another entry in the genre. Take our word for it, you’re much better off just starting over with a new farm in Stardew Valley, or picking up Rune Factory 4.

Ghost Mania provides its audience with a charming visual presentation and some admittedly catchy music, but the gameplay experience is subpar, and the puzzles are not all that engaging.

As a self-proclaimed spiritual successor to WWF No Mercy, AEW had big wrestling boots to fill. While it doesn't quite surpass THQ's classic N64 grappler in terms of pure gameplay, it's nevertheless a highly entertaining wrestling title with a pleasantly silly story mode and some frankly ridiculous weapons-heavy match types. Performance on the Switch leaves a lot to be desired, but it's still the best wrestling game on the system for now.

When it’s firing on all cylinders, The Princess Guide is a somewhat deep, satisfying action game with vibrant visuals and humorous, whimsical storytelling. Unfortunately, it’s bogged down by trying to shove overengineered combat through a thick UX fog. After yet another “mission” that consists of moving on the map to intercept three enemy skirmishes to completion, a reasonable player might wonder: Is it worth $40 to praise-or-scold each Princess through a couple of hours of sword-swinging? This quirky game may meet the particular sensibilities of some, but others should probably pass on this one.

A relatively short five-hour or so campaign, a lack of difficulty that ramps up unexpectedly on the final boss, and the non-coherent blend of 3D sequences, 2D sections and cutscenes make Sonic Forces a mixed experience, with positive moments undone by weaker areas. It isn’t poor as many feared, and for children it could well be a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The overall impression is a positive one, but occasionally the lights of this puppet show flicker, making the strings visible and taking away a little bit of the magic.

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.

When it's firing on all cylinders, running fast and smooth with massive and beautiful enemies getting obliterated by hundreds of lasers firing in all directions to furious metal guitar solos, RXN -Raijin- is everything an old school shmup fan needs, and a strong call back to what made the genre so revered in the first place. Unfortunately, the game also has some missteps ranging from the tolerable multi-pilot levelling system to infuriating slow down. The structure and chapter length suit short sessions, but may leave some players wanting more to chew on. At times thrilling, and at others confounding, it's a flawed but nonetheless enjoyable straight-up shmup.

Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers is very much a "My First JRPG" type-affair. Its story is overly-schmaltzy and safe, the game world is small and disappointingly sterile and its cast of bad guys won’t give you too much trouble over the course of its short running time. However, the combat here is entertaining stuff, intuitively laid out and clearly explained, it’s filled with fun skills and makes light and breezy work out of systems that more grown-up JRPGS tend to get bogged down in. It has a likeable central cast of characters and, although there are many more exciting games of its ilk available on Switch, it does do a commendable job in providing a safe starting point for younger players looking to sink their teeth into the genre for the first time.

High Voltage should be commended for intelligently lifting play elements from Arkham Asylum and successfully merging them with a novel shield-throwing mechanic to provide a similar but still entertaining gameplay experience. Truly awful presentation severely hampers the product overall though, creating a title that is enjoyable in the hands but abhorrent to the eyes.

Hiragana Pixel Party is a welcome rarity: an educational game that’s both good fun and an effective learning tool. If you’ve ever wanted to read Japanese — whether for language study, travel, or playing import games — this is a great way to get started, and an enjoyable rhythm-based runner with an excellent chiptune soundtrack besides.

Ultimately, there are a ton of potential issues you may or may not run into, and seemingly no real advantages to running Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece on Switch — unless you simply have no other choice but to play these games on this console. As a fan, and as a player who just wants a consistent gameplay experience, it's incredibly disappointing. If you can buy this package for another system we'd earnestly implore you to do so — it may not be handheld, but at least it would be yours to keep and it would run reliably and consistently. As it stands, Kingdom Hearts on Nintendo Switch is defined by compromise.

Like most minigame compilations, you really need to round up a few friends to get the most fun out of Deca Sports DS. The events have a simplistic skew and several just aren't worth returning to alone, leaving you underwhelmed after a while.

This isn't how a game port to a more powerful system should be, and if you absolutely have to sample Mickey's latest adventure we suggest looking to your old system or the Wii Menu.

Rather than building on the solid foundations its predecessor set last year, Gear.Club Unlimited 2 slams into reverse gear and delivers racing gameplay that feels significantly more laggy and sluggish than the original. With no attempt made to cut its remaining mobile roots and more performance issues than a drunken West End actor, we just can’t recommend dropping a whopping £54.99 on this unoptimised, clunky effort.

Overall, Fossil Fighters: Frontier is too innocuous and likeable to stay mad at for long.

With its predecessor containing over four times more puzzles at the exact same price on the eShop, and with its most glaring issue curiously still present in this new release, it's hard to recommend Kids over the original Color Zen.

If we've made this game sound thoroughly generic, that's because it is. But it's not a disaster — Operation Blackout has plenty to do, with unlockable skins and modifiers to mess around with if you get into it, and there's love for the G.I Joe property here, so fans of the toys may get a kick out of it. For everyone else, though, it's a very difficult game to recommend. If you want a third-person shooter on Switch, Rebellion's Rogue Trooper or Zombie Army Trilogy are both better buys. And now you know. And knowing is half the- actually, no, forget it. We're not even going to finish the thought. We're better than that.