Nintendo Life's Scores

  • Games
For 5,862 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 45% higher than the average critic
  • 18% same as the average critic
  • 37% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Horace
Lowest review score: 10 Lawnmower Game: Racing
Score distribution:
5870 game reviews
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Party Planet looks wonderful on the surface with a bright, colourful, and slick interface that suggests you have a top-quality game in your hands. Unfortunately, though, a series of mini-games that vary from being good to disappointing may well start to feel rather stale after a short time; everything is nice and interesting at first, but there’s little reason to keep playing once you’ve seen each game a couple of times.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Between these limitations, as well as a general lack of options or control precision, this collection is only for casual gamers and even then only if they are looking for a collection that will let them play a lot of different games but none of them well.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The long and short of it is that anybody looking for a fun multiplayer experience already has dozens of stronger examples to choose from, and anybody who isn't would be wise not to make an exception for Gravitronix. We cannot recommend this shabby excuse for a game to you in good conscience.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition on Switch delivers three of gaming's true greats in a shockingly rough package that manages to suck pretty much all of the fun out of Rockstar's stellar crime epics. This is a poor port, a shoddy, stuttery, low resolution mess full of bugs, glitches, audio problems and more besides. If can grab this one on any other platform, we'd advise you do so or, at the very least, hold off until it's been patched and hopefully improved in the future. As things stand, this is a very, very long way from 'definitive' — this isn't the way we want to remember these games.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Unfortunately, Karous -The Beast of Re:Eden- is what could only be described as a painfully average game. Aside from the mess that is the story, it doesn't do anything wrong necessarily, but it doesn't do anything exceptionally well either.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    This is a game only young players will likely enjoy on the whole, while others will be left scratching their heads as to how a show with so much personality churned out such a dull game.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lost Reavers is bitterly frustrating. Not awful, not unplayable, but frustrating.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated is not a good game. It is not a bad game. It is a game. A harmless time-waster that will neither bring a revolution nor it will end the world by its quiet presence on the Switch eShop. It is, however, hard for us to recommend it at the current price point considering there are far more viable options content and gameplay wise for the same price. What we have here is yet another incredible kusoge whose existence made us remember not to take life too seriously. Plus the title did remind us to replay the Sensible Software developed classic Cannon Fodder. In conclusion: Paper Wars: Paper-thin Fodder.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    InkSplosion could have been so much more, but it’s ultimately let down by a sheer lack of variety (and a frustrating lack of replay value once you've swiftly bagged all of its in-game achievements). As a top-down shooter it's certainly competent, but it’s unlikely you’ll hang around for long with so many other fuller packages on offer on the Switch eShop.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It’s a shame, because the game looks quite nice, and with tighter controls and a bit more thought into the puzzle design, it could have been a decent alternative to the Zelda games. As it is, it’s merely a poor imitation.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    A bijou Doctor Who experience, Edge of Reality is impressively dedicated to the beloved TV show but unfortunately suffers in its transition from VR exclusive to traditional console game. Limited inputs and fetch-questy scenarios hardly inflame the imagination and it's not until the game's last quarter that things start to feel more tailored for the Switch — because they are. It's too short and there aren't enough clear save points (we lost a fair amount of progress when we quit during the first area to play something else and it simply hadn't saved the game yet) but the fact that performance is so all over the place is Edge of Reality's main issue, and one that will absolutely affect your enjoyment of an otherwise serviceable adventure. Overall, it's the most cautious of recommendations to Doctor Who fans, then. Everyone else almost certainly need not apply.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Nothing about this game provides enough fun to make it a worthwhile investment, and thus we'd advise you to steer well clear of it.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    It's not as though Family Pirate Party was a spectacular failure, but rather that Aksys Games seems content with the package it has delivered.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Gun Gun Pixies is a bad game. It’s a terrible third-person shooter, a clunky platformer and an incompetent visual novel, all wrapped up in an embarrassingly puerile attempt at titillation. Usually, this type of game can be saved somewhat by at least having some humour about itself or some level of self-awareness as to how bonkers or puerile it's being, but Gun Gun Pixies can't even manage that. It’s hard to believe anyone would choose to offend themselves with this kind of thing but, if it is your bag, you should still be put off somewhat by the fact that everything it attempts to do, on a purely technical level, it does very badly indeed.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Drill Sergeant Mindstrong features quite a few interesting gameplay ideas, but they ultimately become too weighted down with the overly simplistic play control and mediocre audio/visual presentation to be of much enjoyment.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Stay Cool, Kobayashi-san!: A River City Ransom Story is an interesting entry in a genre that is experiencing a revival of sorts on the Switch thanks to the ever-increasing number of re-releases and brand new experiences. Long-time Kunio fans will find this a rewarding and worthy experience, but newcomers – or anyone who wants to jump into this series – should opt for the far superior River City Girls instead. The time we spent with Kobayashi-san was fun, but a bit repetitive; the franchise can do much better than this, but it's a neat little side-story nonetheless.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    An underwhelming presentation and an unwieldily camera make it a tougher sell for non-fans, but if you're willing to overlook those flaws, unchaining humanity can be a blast.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    RCMADIAX has produced perhaps its best game yet with SHUT THE BOX, not by creating a bigger experience but by shaving it down to its core mechanics and offering it for the lowest price possible.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    For the money you ultimately get two figurines, three cards and a game package with snippets of fun and charm - it's ultimately up to you whether that's worthy of your cash.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Mad Carnage has a few things going for it in the form of its movement mechanics and the comic strip-led story sections, but they’re packaged together with an experience that doesn’t do them justice. Everything else is far too basic, and thus it fails at building a cohesive experience that we could recommend.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Into the Dead 2 is a pretty fun, well-made auto-run zombie survival game that arrives on Switch at a ludicrous price point that makes it very hard to justify picking up. The central gameplay loop is satisfying enough for a few minutes but it’s as deep as you’d expect to find in a game that originated as a free-to-play mobile experience. It’s been padded out with a bunch of extra modes, and they’re all perfectly serviceable, but you can never escape the core truth that it’s just the same thing over and over again in slightly different settings. If you’re an absolutely massive fan of running through endless waves of zombies whilst very slowly unlocking weapons to make it seem as though you’re somehow changing that experience, fill your boots, but everyone else should maybe check this out for free on a mobile device first instead.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tank! Tank! Tank! does a few things pretty well, but a torturously mind-numbing solo campaign and a high price tag keep it from being a hit. The younger crowd will definitely enjoy the photo-taking aspect and simple multiplayer, but other than that it's pretty barren. If Namco Bandai had lopped off the limp campaign mode and released the game as a multiplayer offering on the Wii U eShop for $15 then it would be easier to recommend, but as it stands now, Tank! Tank! Tank! is better described as Lame! Lame! Lame!
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    It’s hard to recommend Wacky World of Sports due to its hit-and-miss events and occasionally poor controls.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    You can't help but feel that the game is constantly trying to do too many things at once.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As interesting and unique as the visual presentation is, it's still not quite enough to cover up the many gameplay flaws that rear their heads rather frequently throughout the game.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Although features are a good thing, they don’t help much when the game itself has an uninteresting premise, clumsy controls, unappealing looks, and is just no fun to play.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Soul Axiom has some strong points to make it potentially enticing for eShop enthusiasts; it works hard to deliver an interesting narrative, there are plenty of hours of play, and it's atmospheric and intriguing at times. There are downsides though, with performance and puzzle design often middling and sometimes poor, which both drag the experience back somewhat. Perhaps worth a punt - at a budget price - for fans of first-person puzzles, but Soul Axiom sadly doesn't deliver to its full potential.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It doesn’t take very long for Lust for Darkness to overplay its hand and reveal just what kind of horror game it really is; for all the shock value of seeing some Giger-esque creature with an overtly phallic head or yet another doorway shaped like genitalia, you realise it’s just that: hollow grotesquery employed for the sake of making you cringe. There are a handful of moments of genuine unease, but they’re few and far between in what is ultimately a short trudge through sex-inspired horror landscape that wastes the opportunity to find some genuinely interesting allegory in all that face-value titillation. Still, at around three hours to complete, at least it’s a mercilessly brief experience.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Due to the repetitive nature of the gameplay the long-term value of this game is questionable, but make no mistake - this game is certainly better than you might have assumed at first glance.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    A pretty bland game; the graphics and audio are so unmemorable that the gameplay would really need to be top notch to bring this game up.

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