Nintendo Life's Scores

  • Games
For 5,858 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: 10 153 Hand Video Poker
Score distribution:
5866 game reviews
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Had Rayman not been so annoyingly cheap then it would be a highly recommended platformer. Unfortunately, it is annoyingly cheap and should only be traversed by those with either a masochistic streak or diehard Rayman fans.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    We liked much of Chernobylite and this is a playable port with a fairly solid frame rate, but too many things held us back from scoring it any higher - the graphical downgrade, the tedious death loop, and most egregiously, the multiple crashes that we experienced throughout. We never lost any progress but almost a dozen crashes in the 15-20 hour runtime are worth noting.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    King Of The Monsters is simple to play, but with a range of moves available as you fight your way through the different creatures. Outside of aesthetics the monsters largely play the same however, making the fights quite repetitive. The game works well with the five minute caravan mode as you attempt to smash up as much of the city as possible, whilst not loosing the fight to increase your score. There's no long term appeal with the game, but turn off continues and boot it up for a few two-player fights every now and then and it can still provide some entertainment.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    On paper, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 does so much right, with a bigger roster of racers, more kart customisation, and the oft-requested addition of voice acting, which does add to the atmosphere considerably. But on the track it's hugely disappointing, with a severely reduced frame rate compared to its predecessor, making everything feel more sluggish as a result.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Overall, Hive Jump is a disappointing game in light of the attention and buzz it once attracted. There are the bones of an interesting concept here, but it never seems to come together quite right once everything gets rolling. Repetitive gameplay, disappointing performance and ho-hum presentation make this a game that’s 'ok' at best. We’d recommend this one only to players who are eager for a co-op action shooter for their Wii U. It does what it says on the tin, just don't expect to come away from this one wowed by the experience.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    On the whole though, while some fun can be had if you really dig in and attempt to learn Shockman with total conviction, it remains the lesser of its series, has aged fairly poorly, and will really only appeal to diehard retro enthusiasts who want to own a piece of gaming history on a modern format.
    • 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.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Many of the avoidable snags found in GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon were solved by genre predecessors long before this game was announced. There is no doubt that in a few patches time this could be a fantastic game — but that's if Konami, which hasn't been in many gamer's good books for a long time, actually grants the development team the time and the funding to work on it. As it stands the game could end up being something special, the trouble is other similar Switch titles already are.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    By offering five games in one it fails to offer a definitive version of anything, and even a pretty decent take on horse racing isn't worth the price of admission unless you're planning on really diving into the other sports as well. As a multiplayer title it could be fun to climb the ranks online, but as a single player experience it's totally functional yet painfully lifeless. It's laid out the groundwork, but Sports Superstars just needs to take a few more risks.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    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.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Cradle of Egypt 2 isn't a bad game because it doesn't deliver what it sets out to. In fact, aside from a few gameplay niggles and its rather basic visual style, the title is quite playable, and fans of the Match-3 genre will likely find it absorbing. The problem with it is that it's virtually a carbon copy of the games that precede it.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Overwhelming for newcomers and probably too generic for genre aficionados, Touhou Gensou Wanderer Reloaded is difficult to recommend to all but die-hard series fans. The beautiful hand-drawn presentation and high production values are hindered severely by a contrived and intrusive interface, unimportant dialogue with very little character development and derivative mechanics. It certainly looks the part, but there are more fun and interesting adventure roguelikes such as Crypt Of The Necrodancer on the eShop right now.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    When all is said and done, when the glow of the stylish aesthetic and the intrigue of the Cyberpunk Orwellian narrative have fizzled out, Neon Chrome emerges as an average, sometimes fun but more often than not generic twin-stick rogue-like with a Sci-Fi coat of paint; it rarely lives up to its explosive promise or explores its thematic potential in any meaningful way. It could be argued that the genre is solely about the mechanics, but with a neglected back story failing to compliment the reasonable if hardly revolutionary gameplay, it's difficult not to feel a little flat about the experience on offer.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Super Bomberman R Online joins many of its peers as the latest classic franchise to receive a battle royale twist. It’s not entirely successful, with technical issues including freezing during gameplay and awfully long waits to get into matches alongside a battle pass and microtransaction system that just doesn’t fit in with the nature of the game. Underneath all the added padding, however, is the same classic Bomberman gameplay that’s tweaked to fit 64 players, making it an experience that you should, at the very least, download and try out. It’s free Bomberman, after all.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    3Souls - Episode 1: Nelesa has an intriguing story, character and setting, but ultimately falls short of its full potential as a puzzle platform game.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle certainly has some interesting elements - most notably its team-splitting mechanic and use of classical Japanese folklore - but thanks to the rigidity of its first-person dungeon crawling design it soon loses steam and you’re left exploring a vast castle full of dangerous yokai and unimaginative level design. It takes plenty of inspiration from those that came before it, but does little to innovate on its own merit.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Disney Universe plays it safe in nearly every way, and that's a problem.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Nothing about FAR S Ultra is particularly offensive (except the music, which is a crime against the concept of ears). It has some clever ideas but the execution is a little lacklustre, and the relatively low number of tracks combined with the annoying AI and the unforgiving nature of its difficulty means it certainly won't be to everyone's tastes. If you don't have Fast RMX then get that first, but we've played worse racing games for $7.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Outbuddies DX tries to mix things up a bit with unique features like a playable drone partner. The problem is, it tries to be a little too clever for its own good, and its failure to effectively pull off solid fundamentals like the controls and the map system means that the gimmicks suffer as a result. There's a lot we want to love about this game, but its constant annoyances make that hard.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Other DSiWare games have raised the bar significantly in terms of presentation and polish, and Beach Party Craze doesn't come close to offering a premium experience on the platform.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ultimately it tries to mould action defence play with RPG levelling but optimises neither, leaving a passable but uninspiring end result.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection gets off to a promising start on Switch with a decent port of Ninja Gaiden Sigma that performs well in both docked and handheld modes. However, as soon as you boot up parts two and three it's all downhill, with dynamic resolution resulting in a pixelated mess in places as the frame rate consistently struggles to keep up with the action. All we needed here was a solid, no-frills port and this collection would have been an instant recommendation. As things stand, it's a disappointing experience that needs patching ASAP and should be the last version you opt for if you've got the choice to play elsewhere.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    An inoffensive mini-game collection that tries to deliver a little of that Disney charm, but it feels like the type of lacklustre Wii title that was abundant during that console’s golden era. With the availability of Super Mario Party or even Carnival Games, it’s hard to recommend this – unless you’re a really big fan of Tsum Tsums. Not Disney, just the Tsum Tsums.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    What's frustrating about Toby: The Secret Mine is that it feels like it's actually trying to offer more than the sum of its parts, but just doesn't quite pull it off. It feels too bogged down in its inspirations to present any exciting ideas of its own, and while it's visually stunning at times, even this apes off superior titles that came before. Some challenging platforming and decent puzzles make it one to consider if you're looking to give your Wii U one last Nindie hurrah, but otherwise we'd recommend waiting on a digital sale before diving into this dark adventure.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In trying to incorporate 3D environments and ideas from the Wii U title, Dimps has rather tied Sonic's red boots together, causing him to often stumble and fall.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    If you’re a die-hard fan of the studio, then perhaps Code Shifter is worth a look if you find it on sale someday. Otherwise, there isn’t much to see here.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Taken on its own merits, Goooooal is a decent digital approximation of a specific tabletop toy.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    If you’re desperately on the hunt for the next Enter The Gungeon then give this one a pass, as there’s simply not enough depth or variety to maintain interest past an hour. The Switch iteration is desperately lacking the online functionality, which ultimately results in a stripped-down version of an already lacking title.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Metal Slug Attack Reloaded removes some of the worst bits of the original mobile game’s mechanics, but the scaled-back roster and brutal difficulty spikes highlight the excessive grinding needed to make these kinds of games profitable and will probably fail to satisfy any but the most hardcore fans of the original. For better or worse, this feels exactly like a mobile game that has been ported to the Switch, warts and all.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Electronic Keyboard is an interesting curiosity, but not something worth sticking with when there are better options on the platform.

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