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ReviewsSwitchPokémon Sword and Shield: The Kotaku Review
Roughly 10 hours into Pokémon Shield, I stepped into a stadium packed with screaming fans to face off against ghost-type gym leader Allister, a shy and awkward mask-wearing kid. I reliably made it through three of the four Pokémon on his team before getting my shit completely wrecked by his last monster. Even without Dynamaxing,…
By Gita Jackson Published November 13, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchLuigi’s Mansion 3 Is An Eerie Delight, From The Lobby To The Penthouse
Why is Luigi still scared of ghosts? After all, it was nearly 20 years ago that he Hoovered up an entire building full of poltergeists in the original Luigi’s Mansion. Then he cleared out six haunted houses in 2013’s Dark Moon. As he enters a massive spook-infested hotel in this month’s Luigi’s Mansion 3, one…
By Chris Kohler Published October 31, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchNintendo’s New Exercise Adventure Game Is Ingenious, Even If It Makes Me Look Ridiculous
Nintendo’s newest Switch game, Ring Fit Adventure, is an amusing generator of unusual, unprecedented experiences. Never before have I lost a 20-minute video game boss battle because my form could have been better in one or two yoga stretches. Never before have I opened an in-game treasure chest by doing squats. Never before have I…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 17, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: The Kotaku Review
The best feeling you can possibly feel while playing a video game is the act of swinging a sword in Zelda. I came to this conclusion recently, while playing the new remake of Link’s Awakening and trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes me love Zelda games so much. The answer, I think,…
By Jason Schreier Published September 19, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchDaemon X Machina: The Kotaku Review
Daemon X Machina, out September 13 from Marvelous, is a game about gigantic customizable mechs. Here is another way to describe it: the worst filler episode of your favorite anime series. It is a mess of a game, with a story mode chock full of unintelligible cutscenes, repetitious anime tropes, and a core of mech…
By Natalie Degraffinried Published September 13, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchAstral Chain: The Kotaku Review
“Action game.” That’s what Astral Chain’s publisher Nintendo calls it. That’s what its developer Platinum Games calls it. That’s what we called it when we first reported on its existence. But Astral Chain is so much more than just an action game. I’d go as far as saying that “action game” is the least of…
By Mike Fahey Published August 30, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchFire Emblem: Three Houses: The Kotaku Review
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a game for interesting times. At the start, none of the future rulers of Fódlan, the fantasy continent where Three Houses takes place, know that the regions they will lead are on the brink of war. Edelgard, the successor to the Adrestian Empire, is the only one who seems to…
By Gita Jackson Published July 25, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchMarvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Kotaku Review
Heroes from all corners of the Marvel universe unite to stop mad titan Thanos from collecting six Infinity Stones and unleashing their vast destructive power. What took the Marvel cinematic universe a decade and 23 movies to achieve, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order gets done in one game, and I didn’t sleep through…
By Mike Fahey Published July 18, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchSuper Mario Maker 2: The Kotaku Review
There’s more to Super Mario Maker 2 than just making Mario. It’s got a story mode, for instance, plus online and local multiplayer for groups of four. But the level editor is still the star of the show. Making one’s own Mario levels remains a joy, and Mario Maker 2 is designed to bring out…
By Chris Kohler Published June 28, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchCadence of Hyrule: The Kotaku Review
Cadence of Hyrule feels like a french fry dunked into a milkshake. There’s two distinct flavors at play—the deep exploration of a Zelda game with the bouncy pace of a rhythm game—and they mix together into something greater than the initial pitch. In combining two addictive yet contrasting gameplay styles, Cadence of Hyrule crafts a…
By Heather Alexandra Published June 14, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchBoxBoy + BoxGirl: The Kotaku Review
The fourth installment of Hal Laboratory’s puzzle game series about box-shaped characters who can emit boxes from their bodies is tricky to recommend to series veterans, but it is a cinch to suggest to newcomers. For those who haven’t BoxBoy’d before, it should take about 16 to decide if BoxBoy + BoxGirl is something you’ll…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 29, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitch
Yoshi’s Crafted World: The Kotaku Review
I think I fell in love with Yoshi’s Crafted World when I discovered the costumes. You don’t know cute until you’ve seen Yoshi running around the place in a little shonky cardboard cow outfit. My heart melted. This piece was first published on March 27, 2019. We’re bumping it today for the game’s release. Sweet…
By Keza MacDonald Published March 27, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitch
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes: The Kotaku Review
Goichi “Suda51″ Suda loves video games. Oh, sure, I love video games, and you probably do too. But when you play one of the games from Suda51 and his studio Grasshopper Manufacture, you can’t fail to come away with the impression that he lives and breathes this stuff—the passion for games, players, the culture around…
By Chris Kohler Published January 16, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Kotaku Review
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the very best of the Smash Bros. series. If you’ve got 20 years of accumulated Smash memories, from the button-mashing neighbor kid suggesting you play Kirby in grade school to drunkenly playing a round of all Bowser, Poké Balls only in college, you’ll find that they are done great justice…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published December 6, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchPokémon Let’s Go! Eevee and Pikachu: The Kotaku Review
Pokémon Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee are going to be divisive. The games seem meant to introduce a new generation of players to Pokémon, especially players who started with Pokémon Go. The changes made to gameplay may frustrate longtime fans, including me; I started playing in the late ‘90s and kept up with the franchise…
By Gita Jackson Published November 16, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitch
The World Ends With You: Final Remix: The Kotaku Review
If you have never played The World Ends With You before, the Nintendo Switch version released on Thursday night is not a bad way to get into it. Final Remix retains the game’s great sense of humor, its fantastic music, and Tetsuya Nomura’s most restrained character designs. But if you have played it before—say, if…
By Gita Jackson Published October 12, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchSuper Mario Party: The Kotaku Review
“Who are you rooting for?” I asked my housemate, a non-player heckler watching a full-up game of Super Mario Party. Without missing a beat, he responded gleefully: “Chaos!” Mario Party is a video board game series that’s all about swing. You get a star. You move a few spaces. You lose a star. You steal…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published October 5, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchOctopath Traveler: The Kotaku Review
Eight people gather in a tavern, swapping stories and preparing for adventure. It’s not clear why they’re traveling together—there’s a pious cleric and a murderous dancer in this odd crew—but they’ve united nonetheless. As they wander across the world, each of these people gets their turn to take the reins. In one city the hunter…
By Jason Schreier Published July 12, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchHyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition: The Kotaku Video Review
Hyrule Warriors came out for the Nintendo Wii U in 2014. It came out for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. In 2018, Nintendo finally looked “Hyrule Warriors” up in the dictionary. That’s my joke about the word “definitive”! Don’t worry. I, uh, I won’t make another one, much as I would like to. A Musou…
By Tim Rogers Published May 16, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitch
Nintendo Labo: The Kotaku Review
The first question you might have about Labo is: what’s so special about a box of cardboard and some mini-games? And the first thing to understand about Labo is that what’s actually in the box is only part of the appeal. What’s more valuable is what this tiny cartridge and its accompanying sheets of cardboard…
By Keza MacDonald Published April 20, 2018