Nintendo Life's Scores

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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:
  1. Positive: 2,261 out of 5858
  2. Mixed: 2,821 out of 5858
  3. Negative: 776 out of 5858
5866 game reviews
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    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Into the Dead 2
    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.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ultimate Racing 2D
    Top-down racers, whilst never boasting the same level of depth as their 3D counterparts, are reliably accessible. They tend to put a playful spin on what is otherwise an often daunting gameplay experience for newcomers, allowing almost anyone to dive right in immediately. Ultimate Racing 2D succeeds in this respect, boasting simplistic gameplay that is incredibly easy to get to grips with. The problem, though, is that it isn’t much fun – at all.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Super Soccer Blast: America VS Europe
    Ultimately, the gameplay just feels a bit slapstick, with messy movement, erratic ball controls, and shoddy AI. Its simplicity is immediately appealing, with quick matches allowing for short sessions while you’re out and about, but even with its quirky visual style, the liberties taken with its gameplay makes Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe a tough game to recommend.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Best of Arcade Games: Tetraminos
    Tetraminos strips back the formula into a modest single-player experience, but fails to go anywhere compelling with it outside of a few stray powerups and level variants.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Cloudpunk
    Cloudpunk on Switch is a hugely disappointing port that struggles technically and ultimately fails to deliver the game in a satisfactory manner on Nintendo's hybrid platform. Merge Games have made drastic cuts all over, with a massively reduced draw-distance sucking much of the life out of Nivalis, volumetric effects missing entirely, pixellation rampant and a framerate that still chugs along in the face of all of these concessions. If you've got a PC capable of playing this one we'd highly recommend you play on that platform as this is an adventure that's well worth experiencing in its original form. This particular version, however, should probably be avoided.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    MARS 2120
    We commend Mars 2120 for what it does do well. It gets a few things right: the general aesthetic is on point, the ambient music is pleasant, and some of the upgrades you’ll pick up in your journey are pretty cool. But failing to nail the basic traits that make a Metroidvania means that we can't recommend this one.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Super Hyperactive Ninja
    Cheap level design, uninspired visuals, and poor controls make this a game that’s difficult to recommend, but moments of enjoyable gameplay can still be found for those who look hard enough. Even so, there’s no shortage of excellent platformers on the eShop at the moment, so you’d be best served passing on this one. If you’re looking for a challenging, retro-inspired side scrolling ninja game, go play The Messenger instead.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Jewel Adventures
    Take this adventure at your own discretion.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    ARK: Survival Evolved
    Ark: Survival Evolved, in its current state, is not the best port to grace Nintendo Switch. It is, however, a proper MMORPG survival game with a deep and rewarding crafting system and the potential for some brilliant online cooperation with your fellow survivors. There’s a palpable thrill to moving from simple stone tools to more advanced weaponry as you begin to master the crafting cycle, an experience no other game on Switch can offer right now. But its myriad technical problems – ranging from texture pop-in to substantial performance slowdown – mean you really are better off playing Ark on a different platform for the time being. Patches could solve some of these problems over time, but we can't help but feel this ambitious title will never run at an acceptable level on Nintendo's hybrid platform.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Falling Skies: The Game
    Even through mimicking XCOM's tactical gameplay and utilizing the setting of the popular TNT series as a reference point for the campaign, Falling Skies: The Game feels about ten years too late to impress.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Witch & Hero 2
    A grim example of a sequel that doesn't do enough to improve on the flaws of the original, Witch & Hero 2 mirrors far more than it should without bringing anything truly exciting to the table.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Absolute Baseball
    Absolute Baseball manages to take a great sport and turn it into a really long and uninteresting turn-based RPG.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Cozy Fire
    It's still hardly a must-have, even for the extended audience it's clearly aiming for, so is only recommended to those who absolutely have to have a fire on their TV.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Seven Knights -Time Wanderer-
    Uninspiring, uninteresting and utterly unremarkable, Seven Knights: Time Wanderer is an extraordinarily tedious game that it’s hard to recommend to anyone but the most die-hard fans of its mobile counterpart — particularly given how many other top-quality RPGs the Switch plays host to. Even if you're an ardent follower of the franchise, we'd argue your money is much better spent elsewhere.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Gear.Club Unlimited 2
    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.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Vector Assault
    Vector Assault is another eShop game that struggles to deliver the level of polish and quality perhaps expected on a Nintendo console. Coming off more like a prototype, we have trouble commending a game just because it works - it's hard to recommend Vector Assault when there are better options available elsewhere.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Escape Trick: Convenience Store
    In truth, unless you're someone with infinite patience or are just a huge fan of this rather tedious series, you're likely to give up on this adventure long before the credits roll.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports
    Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports' multiplayer can be fun in short bursts, especially if you just want to play a quick round of golf with friends. From a general audio-visual perspective, this is a good franchise representation. As a sports collection, though, it’s clunky and frustrating. Playing with others will elevate this, but not by much.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Devil May Cry 2
    Devil May Cry 2 is quite rightly regarded as a misstep for the now storied franchise; a confused and oddly bland game with a nonsensical story, boring level design, terrible enemy AI and a central protagonist who has seriously lost his mojo. There’s some fun to be had here and there by virtue of the fact it is a Devil May Cry game; that signature combat still intact, despite the fact it never really attempts to put your skills to the test. Still, there's no escaping the reality that this is one entry in the series you can absolutely skip without feeling like you missed anything. Roll on Devil May Cry 3.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ebenezer and The Invisible World
    We wanted to enjoy Ebenezer and The Invisible World far more than we did. The combat is solid and the platforming is tight, with the right balance of accessibility and challenge. Combine that with a fun concept and art that does a great job of recreating Dickens’ iconic novel and it should be a recipe for greatness. Unfortunately, a host of bugs ranging from slightly annoying to game-breaking sucked the Christmas cheer right out of us. Future patches might fix these issues and give us the game we know is hiding just beneath the surface here, but that game isn’t here at launch.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    My Pokemon Ranch
    As long as these audiences keep their expectations in check they may find themselves charmed by this goofy WiiWare title, but everyone else need only look at the screenshots and their gut reaction should let them know where they stand.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Bouncy Bob
    Bouncy Bob attempts to demonstrate how a simple idea of a one-button control mechanic can be fun and accessible. But it's met with shortfalls aplenty. Rather than being an attractive and accessible gimmick, it’s a painfully restraining annoyance and, although quashing a row of enemies can be satisfying, being given the one method to play quickly becomes a chore. Granted, the eShop isn’t awash with one-button titles - and Bouncy Bob stands out for this reason – but this title may be an example as to why this is the case.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Secret Neighbor
    Secret Neighbor is, in theory, a meaningful and intriguing spin-off from Hello Neighbor, introducing multiplayer elements that really should work quite well. In practice, however, the game suffers from poor controls, unremarkable environmental design, and quite frankly, its own player base. Matches turn into insufferable spectacles of chaos, and even when players commit to the game’s rules, it’s still completely unbalanced, favouring the incredibly powerful Neighbor each and every time. Even if you’re a fan of asymmetric multiplayer games, you're better off skipping this one.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Flower, Sun, and Rain
    The music is awesome, the characters are quirky and the story, is a little like 'Lost', but none of this can lift the game above an interactive story with a poor puzzle mechanic at its core. Let's hope Suda's next DS outing, The Silver Case, fares better. This one is strictly fans-only.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Toys vs Monsters
    It's generally not worth your time, unless you really want a tower defence game on your 3DS regardless of the quality.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Volcanic Field 2
    Some variation, choices or surprises could have really helped this title, but there's just nothing in it to make it pop.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Word Searcher 2
    If you played the first game then you pretty much already own this one, and if you weren't compelled to try it before then then there isn't enough different here to change your mind.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Troll and I
    For every intriguing idea that Troll and I presents, there are a couple of design choices or technical issues that will aggravate players. It’s ugly, clunky and bereft of certain amenities that players take for granted in this day and age. With so many games out to garner people’s attention, Troll and I isn’t as user friendly or quickly appealing as it needs to be in a flooded space. If you are someone who can look past technical hurdles there may be something worth divining here, but as a whole Troll and I is difficult to recommend.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Truck Racing Championship
    FIA European Truck Racing Championship does offer an officially-licensed way to race some of the biggest motorsport vehicles around, and with its unique brake cooling system, there’s a really rewarding balance between traditional racing tactics and resource management. However, the problems with performance on Switch - both in the framerate and the poor optimisation of trucks and track assets in handheld mode - really cause an already unwieldy racing experience to veer off the track. It's not without positives, but there are far better options for race fans on Switch right now, and far better examples of multiplatform optimisation.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Go Fetch! 2
    While it improves on its predecessors' flaws, Go Fetch! 2 has its fair share of detriments, including an often terrible camera, dullness and largely unimaginative ball and obstacle placement.
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