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
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Even the staunchest of Sega fans will admit that Space Harrier has never been the deepest of experiences, and this 3DS iteration does little to change that.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Bunker puts legacy FMV games to shame, delivering a slickly produced psychological horror experience for the price of a trip to your local cinema. The Switch release offers both the touchscreen comfort of the mobile version and the cinematic immersion of the home console versions, so there’s no better place to catch up if you skipped it first time round. However, lack of pointer control is a sorely missed opportunity to improve on the original release.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Samurai Warriors' return to Nintendo platforms is a welcome one, even if it is a little flawed in places. The combat is as solid as ever, and fans will appreciate the effort and attention that's been put into the personalised story mode.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Boost Beast is a wholly serviceable match-three game with a cute theme, fun mechanics, and plenty of content to keep you entertained. It has a few notable balance issues — including an overemphasis on luck and some puzzling vestiges of its free-to-play origins — but it’s still a good time for fans of the genre, and a worthwhile addition to the Switch’s growing puzzle library.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Final Vendetta does an able job of using and enhancing tried and tested formulas of the past, and is great fun for either one or two players. Its brevity is ameliorated by its single-credit format; a bold but welcome move that makes learning to clear it rewarding for all the right reasons – but it’s a setup some may struggle with. There’s still room for experimentation in this genre with regard to original systems, and sadly Final Vendetta doesn’t really attempt any of that, instead opting for more traditional '90s arcade fare – albeit with lots of variation in how you smack people around. If that’s enough to tickle your fancy, you’ll feel well-served by Bitmap Bureau’s stab, but others might feel like they’ve walked this street before.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Viking Invasion 2 is a capable tower defense game that doesn’t do much to improve on an unbroken formula; with an intense difficulty curve and emphasis on replayability, you’re sure to get plenty of hours out of this purchase. While it may not have enough to draw strangers to the genre in, fans of games like this will definitely find something to enjoy here.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Though Klang 2 has its issues, we feel that it still offers up a satisfying and unique enough take on the rhythm genre to at least be worth your consideration. This isn’t necessarily a title that we’d recommend to anyone looking to get their feet wet with rhythm games, but fans will likely find enough to love here that it’s at least worth the relatively low price of admission.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sociable Soccer is a fun arcade-stye football game that plays like the complete opposite of the realism-focused EA Sports FC, and in doing so manages to be just as satisfying in an entirely different way despite its drawbacks. EA’s big-budget game may be the equivalent of eating at a fancy restaurant, but sometimes you just want a burger, and Sociable Soccer is a delightful dose of fast food.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Although its branching narrative system could have more depth, Chase: Cold Case Investigations has an undeniable sense of charm and keeps players' attention through its characters, anime art style and subdued jazz-noir soundtrack. If the series is allowed to continue and introduce a deeper approach to multiple choice and interrogation, then we could see something truly special.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It's the most fun we've had with a LEGO game in quite some time, as a matter of fact - smart design, some gameplay variety and a surprisingly impressive amount of content all weigh heavily in its favour. It strikes us as a game that had one of the more experienced and imaginative TT Games teams at the helm, and it charmed and entertained us over a number of hours.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    On the track, Smurfs Kart pulls off a surprisingly solid imitation of Mario Kart, with satisfying handling and some wonderful visuals (albeit at 30fps). In the grand leaderboard of Switch karting games, it’s not quite going to trouble the podium places, but it’s certainly lingering just behind the front-runners and definitely delivers an entertaining time, even if it’s as short as its subject matter. A lack of courses is what keeps it from being one of the very best karting games on the Switch, but they certainly haven't Smurfed this one up.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    At its heart, Overwatch on the Switch was always going to be a bit of a tough sell. Those who somehow haven’t played it yet could easily buy a better-performing version on other platforms, while those who have played it to death may be put off by the weaker performance and the lack of shared progression. Even so, having the capability to play a match of Overwatch while using the restroom is 2019 living at its absolute finest, and the kind of flexibility offered up by the Switch’s portability is not something to be understated. We’d give Overwatch a recommendation, but with the caveat that you should consider first why you’re buying it. If you intend on playing it plenty when undocked, we can’t recommend it enough, but if you intend on mostly playing on the TV, consider first buying it elsewhere.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If you’re willing to look past a handful of typos and some fairly significant visual issues, WitchSpring R is a great example of turn-based combat with a strong story to back it up. It’s whimsical and enchanting, and you won’t be able to predict how it all ends. On top of this, the NG+ option gives it an extra splash of replayability for players who like a challenge. That being said, the visual quirks do take a toll on the score here. While they weren’t game-breaking, having the main character pop out of existence during crucial cutscenes was frustrating, and it did affect our overall experience.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    For a fun and addictive game that can be played at your own pace, this is definitely a download worth hunting down.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water has been put through a wringer of doubt and speculation in the run up to its release, but manages to come out the other side still just as drenched with atmosphere and intrigue as ever.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Human Resource Machine is a good game, bordering on great. It's just missing a few little tweaks.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The only real downside to Turrican Anthology Vol. 1 is the limited selection of games on offer. This is a series currently spanning two volumes, which some will rightly see as unceremonious enterprising. The Turrican games exist in so many formats and in so many guises, that it would have made sense to build the ultimate compilation and serve everyone at once, perhaps including obscurities like the PC Engine, original Commodore 64, or even Atari ST entries for the sake of completeness and preservation. As it stands, while a package that provides hours of gritty action gaming, its main drawback is its hefty price tag and meagre curation in respect of multiple volumes. Still, that soundtrack though.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    NBA 2K23 makes the inevitable downgrades and cuts that we see every year with this franchise on Nintendo's console and, just like other last-gen versions of the game, it's also missing both The City and the brand new MyNBA Eras. Loading times can be frustrating, and 30fps basketball feels noticeably stodgier than the 60fps found in other versions. However, if you can put up with these necessary downgrades and slight technical shortcomings, this is still a solid port of a superb basketball sim that's stuffed full of enough content to see fans through another season.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If you’re looking for a simple, fun, somewhat shallow arcade-like game for your Switch, Knights of the Rogue Dungeon is definitely something that’ll satisfy that need. It's over quickly, but this is an overall enjoyable experience—though we’d recommend you try the iOS game first to see if this is really for you.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Swordship is a clever, original, and interesting concept. It looks good, sounds good, and plays well. There’s just that RNG irritant that means, while you can learn enemy behaviours, you sometimes get lost in the fray. Even the camera shifts and the slow down (which can be disabled) can occasionally disorientate you from your position, resulting in sudden death. At the same time, while imperfect, its evolving and increasingly intense nature has major appeal for score hunters. And, when you do grab that container, trip under a set of lasers, detonate three mines sequentially and blow the screen sky-high, it earns itself an action badge of honour.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Overall, The Exit 8 is a cool experience that's worth trying for the low price, but not one I imagine going back to anytime soon. I wouldn’t call it scary, but there are definitely moments that made me feel uneasy. I think if the developer had really leaned into the horror and made something a bit closer to Hideo Kojima’s P.T, we could have had a modern classic here.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Going Under makes for an excellent debut from Aggro Crab. Though the humour won’t be to everyone’s taste, it brings us a corporate satire which hits closer to home than most, and by doing so consistently, never feels ham-fisted in its execution. This isn’t the longest experience you can find on Switch – taking around 10 hours to fully complete including side tasks – but it provides an entertaining story, and one that’s filled with great combat and high replayability. Keeping you hooked until the end, this dungeon crawler comes with a modest recommendation.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A mature visual novel that isn't afraid to be fun, Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York is a quick plunge into the freezing waters of a bloodsucker-filled Big Apple. It won't last you forever, but you'll be hooked for its short runtime. It does a lot with a little and is breezy enough to fly by. Just don't expect to actually, you know, do that much. Great art and good writing, but not enough of it.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The pick-up-and-play nature of 3DS gaming lends itself to the game's quick levels even better than Wii U does, and keeps it from getting boring – if you're a fan of puzzles, electronica, or just want something to relax with after a long day of work, Color Zen is a worthy investment.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Aside from its compact size and some overwritten (but nonetheless beautifully-rendered) story scenes, there really isn't much to fault with Oddmar. Its cartoon-Norse universe is richly drawn and beautifully animated, while its classic 2D platforming is sharply executed. Of course, the game finds itself in a significantly more competitive field now that it's on the eShop, which lays bare the lack of anything genuinely new or exciting about it. But the simple fact that it provides such a pristine bite-sized example of the format is impressive enough.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mega Turrican represents one of the series highlights, and there’s a certain amount of intrigue in Super Turrican 2’s adjustment of the formula. The rest is largely recycled. The package has all the same awesome, tweakable features and options featured in Vol. 1 as well as continued bonuses in the form of galleries, jukeboxes, and a remastered soundtrack option. But the price for what’s on offer is somewhat lofty. As we mentioned in our review of Turrican Anthology Vol.1, there’s no real need to split these titles between two releases except to wring more money out of consumers. While the titles herein and the quality of the ports are generally excellent, the lack of unique content leaves something to be desired.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    For the most part, Zombie Incident turns out to be an extremely enjoyable throwback platformer with highly addictive gameplay. What faults the gameplay does possess due to its antiquated design are eclipsed by its wonderful visuals, highly addictive gameplay and sublime chip tune soundtrack.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Torchlight III is the sort of game that we can only describe as genre filler. It does absolutely everything that you would expect of an ARPG, and it often does these things extremely well, but it also doesn’t do anything particularly interesting or revelatory. Those of you that love a good ARPG will find plenty to love here, then, just don’t come into it expecting to be blown away by anything on offer. And while we’d sooner recommend that interested newcomers jump on Diablo III for their first experience, it’s pretty tough to go wrong with Torchlight III. Despite some of its shortcomings, Torchlight III is a rewarding experience that we’d say is certainly worth your time.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ratcheteer DX may not break new ground, but it's a genuinely charming, lo-fi action-adventure that feels perfectly suited to the Switch eShop. It boasts clever and engaging gameplay, an evocative chiptune score, and its five-hour runtime feels just right. A little more platforming forgiveness and this would be an easy recommendation. As it stands, it's still a very good one.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Make no mistake, Brunch Panic is more whipped-cream waffle than hearty Full English. This is a mobile-inspired tap-and-swipe game with simple, repetitive gameplay and graphics, and it's not going to fill anyone up until dinner.

Top Trailers