Sugoroku is, as far as the mechanics go, not the most exciting board game. In fact, it’s not far removed from Snakes & Ladders, and no one really plays it for the tactics or challenge. But it is a piece of Japanese culture that anyone with an interest in the…
Read MoreI’d never heard of Rammy’s Great Adventure until its remake landed on the Switch eShop. So I went and researched it, and here’s a brief history lesson. Okay, so Rammy’s Great Adventure was originally a Japan-only release, and it was released on GAMEPACK, back in 1995. Now, GAMEPACK was a…
Read MoreThe movie tie-in game is something of a dying art, but in many ways you would have to rule it death by way of suicide. The very model for movie games ensured that they would die out. This was never terribly surprising; classically speaking, lots of money got spent getting…
Read MoreI’ve been making my way through the surprise-dropped Tomb Raider Definitive Edition that landed on the Switch a few weeks ago, and with two new Tomb Raider games just announced (albeit with a new publisher), that turns out to have been good timing to remind myself of the direction that…
Read MoreOctopath Traveler 0 isn’t really Octopath Traveler. It’s good. It’s even excellent, frequently and for long stretches of time. But it’s not Octopath Traveler for this very simple reason: Both the original Octopath Traveler and its sequel told the stories of eight (“Octo”) different people, who would eventually come together…
Read MoreBubble Bobble is one of the greatest games ever made, and it’s also my go-to game when I’ve been asked about my favourite game of all time. Taito’s certainly done some interesting things with the Bubble Bobble IP over the years, and while a lot of the spinoff games have…
Read MoreI first heard of Demonschool about three and a half years ago, during the PC Gaming Show in June 2022. At that time, it was meant to launch in 2023. I’ve followed news about the school-life tactics RPG ever since, through multiple delays (2023 to 2024 to September 2025 to…
Read MoreDisclaimer: I’m making this quick disclaimer so it’s clear and up-front. I did work with Big Ant in the past, and contributed to cricket games that they have previously released. During the term that I worked for Big Ant, I did not review their games, nor did we cover them…
Read MoreKirby Air Riders is fun. It’s not any more than that, and it’s clearly filler for Nintendo to pad out the all-important first Christmas for the Switch 2. With Metroid coming soon, Kirby’s there for the younger ones to also have something under the tree. And it’s fun. The basic…
Read MoreTetris Effect (by the same developer as Lumines Arise) was a breakthrough puzzle game in the way it utterly transformed how we look at action puzzle games as audiovisual experiences. It was, essentially, an interactive music video with some of the coolest, most rhythmically vibrant music. The way it inspired…
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