‘No console left behind’ is this week’s motto, with the Switch on the receiving end of (almost) all of the latest big-name releases – Trials Rising, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove, The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame, and DELTARUNE Chapter 1.
Reviews of Trials Rising were first out the gate. Sadly, it hasn’t scored quite as highly on Switch as on PS4 and Xbox One, no thanks to technical hiccups and control issues.
“The graphics are reduced (though not distractingly so, especially in handheld mode), but the Switch’s lack of analog triggers is the real pain point here. It means you have zero throttle control with the right trigger and instead have to use the right stick to subtly control your speed,†warned IGN.
As mentioned during our other new release round-up, it’s worth investing in a GameCube controller (if you don’t have one laying around for Smash sessions already).
It seems the physical release of The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is still two weeks away, so if you’re hankering for some brick building/destruction you can either wait or go digital. Reviews of the Switch version are slow to surface. We recommend waiting until they appear – scores of the PS4/XO versions are wildly mixed, ranging from Xbox Achievement’s 70% to a tepid 4/10 from TheSixthAxis.
“This is the game that President Business would have designed, full of static environments and boring construction. Everything is far from awesome with The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame,†said TheSixthAxis.
Speaking of the word ‘awesome’, there’s Awesome Pea from Sometimes You. This is one of their better games, being a 2D platformer with 8-bit Game Boy-style visuals. The one hit death system is rather punishing during the longer stages, but it’s competent enough considering the £5 price tag.
Getting back on track, we have the long-awaited ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove – a follow-up seventeen years in the making. Reviews of the colourful roguelike went live earlier today, including a stonking 9.5 from Destructoid, an 8.0 from EGM, and a solid 7/10 from Nintendo Life. “This funky, distinctive game should please the nostalgic while being unique enough to attract, and satisfy, the curious,†said NL.
DELTARUNE Chapter 1 is available for sweet nadda, meanwhile. It’s a 3-4 hour follow up to the almighty Undertale, set in a new world and retaining the similar joyful art style. If you’re looking for something short but sweet to blitz through this weekend, look no further.
As for Switch exclusives, there’s Ape Out from Devolver Digital – a top-down, abstract, Hotline Miami alike with a jazz soundtrack. Reviews have been full of praise, resulting in a 9/10 from VideoGamer and an 8/10 from The Metro.
That’s joined by RemiLore – a full price “rogue-lite” anime style adventure which has gained mixed reviews – the long-time coming Constructor Plus (once planned as a Switch launch title!), a re-release of the obscure PS2/Wii platformer Crash Dummy, and Rad Rodgers Radical Edition, now including the current king of cameos, Duke Nukem.
Here’s the full list of new releases, including two new demos.
New Switch eShop releases
Constructor Plus – £19.99
Take on the role of a budding property developer and build yourself up from minor-league housing crook to interplanetary property tycoon, wheeling, dealing and thieving all the way.
Crash Dummy – £26.99
The evil D-TROIT has kidnapped MIA, the Advisor’s daughter! You might be playing as CID, the simple crash dummy, but CID was also programmed and equipped with everything need to be the hero he always dreamt of.
Fimbul – £26.99
Fimbul combines intense Viking battles with a deep story that unfolds through in-game comics to bring the frozen world of the Norse sagas to life. Immerse yourself in the blistering winter preceding Ragnarok — The Fimbul Winter!
Trials Rising – £19.99
Explore over-the-top action and physics-bending motorcycle racing in the latest opus of the Trials franchise. All new features, more competitions and more tracks means new challenges.
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame – £34.99
The alien monster invaders have left Bricksburg in ruins and taken Emmet’s friends! It is now up to Emmet and a host of heroic characters to go beyond their world and save their friends from the strange inhabitants of the Systar System. Journey into outer space, discover new worlds, and test your Master Building skills.
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition – £26.99
Rad is a rambunctious but spirited young boy who maybe plays too many video games. After dozing off at the tail end of a long night of gaming, Rad awakens to find his dusty old console has turned itself back on. Suddenly a vortex emerges and he’s sucked into his TV, where he finds himself the star in his very own video game adventure.
ACA NEOGEO THE ULTIMATE 11: SNK FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – £6.29
Choose your favorite of 80 different teams, more than ever before, and conquer the two Championship modes!
Choose from 4 styles of team balance to customize your team according to your own playing style!
Anodyne – £8.99
Immersed in a moody, dream-like soundtrack explore a world full of natural, urban and abstract environments, solving puzzles and defeating enemies…with a broom!
Ape Out – £13.49
Ape Out is a wildly intense and colorfully stylized smash ‘em up about primal escape, rhythmic violence, and frenetic jazz. Build up nearly unstoppable momentum and use your captors as both weapons and shields to crush everyone on your procedurally generated path to freedom.
Creepy Road- £11.69
When everything goes insane and the world falls apart, a man must take up arms to protect his loved ones. Embark with Flint Trucker on a crazy journey to reunite him with sweet Angelina, and try not to succumb to the madness that awaits you!
BATTLLOON – £5.49
BATTLLOON is a cute and casual PvP action game which pits you against your friends in a battle of bouncing balloons! Plays up to 4 players!
Awesome Pea – £5.39
Awesome Pea is a classic run-and-jump platformer, where you must jump through many challenging levels and help the greedy Pea, who is ready to undergo any trials for the sake of gold. Dangerous dungeons, deceptively beautiful nature, hidden deadly traps, and many MANY coins await you!
Dark Quest 2 – £8.99
Dark Quest 2 is a turn based RPG where you control a party of heroes on your epic quest to defeat the evil sorcerer and his minions.
DELTARUNE Chapter 1 – Free
The award-winning indie RPG, UNDERTALE, expands the series with a brand new game…in a different world! DELTARUNE Chapter 1! Create your own avatar, meet strange friends, and jump into the darkness. By the way, this first chapter is FREE, so please feel free to check it out. Like, you don’t really need to read this or anything… You can just try it…
History 2048 – £4.49
A new and reimagined reboot of the well known 2048 game. Pair the similar panels and step to a new era.
Klondike Solitaire – £7.99
Klondike Solitaire, the perfect game to help you escape your hectic daily routine, relax and enjoy.
Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Super Real Darwin – £7.03
The inhabitants of the planet Lakya unwittingly unleash the planet’s life force known as Evol. As the released Evol drifts from planet Lakya, it is received by the inhabitants of the nearby planet Cokyo; the people of Cokyo initiate the Shlohe project, a plan to use their captured Evol to develop advanced biological ships and weapons to invade planet Lakya. The inhabitants of Lakya retaliate the Cokyo invasion by using their own evolving fighter ships.
Monster Dynamite – £17.99
Cheeky monsters everywhere! Place your explosives strategically on stacks of crates, scaffolding and logs where the little critters are sitting. Light the fuse and bring them all down!
My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!? – £22.50
Our protagonist lives out in the city but one summer decides to return to his rural hometown and it is there he once again meets his childhood friend, Ion… who is now a mermaid!?
Ninja Villag – £8.99
The shogun has fallen from power, plunging the land into chaos as feuding feudal lords scramble to take his place. But the shogun has an ace up his sleeve: you! As the head of a leading ninja clan, it’s up to you to rally your followers and help unify Japan!
Pixel Devil and the Broken Cartridge – £8.99
Pixel Devil and the Broken Cartridge is an old school pixel art platformer. The protagonist ends up in the world of 8-bit video games. Help him get through challenging levels, beat various bosses, learn new skills, and find the villain behind the abduction of young women. But more importantly, together you’ll have to find the answer to the big question: why have the characters of old school video games suddenly turned evil?
RemiLore – £35.99
RemiLore is a “rogue-lite†anime-style adventure set in a colorful fantasy world where players hack-and-slash their way through an army of mechanical monsters using a huge variety of unique melee weapons and devastating magic attacks!
Pirates Pinball – £2.69
Enjoy Pirates Pinball, a perfect reproduction of a real pinball machine, with all the graphic details and sounds.
Riddled Corpses EX – £8.99
Riddled Corpses EX is a twin-stick shooter made in the style of 8/16 bit arcade games.
Shred! 2 – Freeride Mountainbiking – £8.99
Ride as Freeride legend Sam Pilgrim, and use the advanced trick system to bust out insane combos in over 40 levels including Big Mountain, Downhill, Slopestyle and Street!
SKYHILL – £13.49
World War III was an unexpected and cruel tragedy… You seemed to have a nice time, hidden in your fancy penthouse in Skyhill Hotel… Till the impact of a bio-weapon blew away the life and world you once knew.
Tardy – £8.99
Ramto isn’t the smartest guy in the Universe. He enjoys finding troubles – and solving them, but when woke up on a spaceship it was too much even for him. Alone on the ship he had no idea how to pilot, among heaps of weird devices created by a schizophrenic engineer.
Swords & Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon – £13.49
In this base stomping battle extravaganza, each battle is a fight to win a fast paced tug of war; whether online, locally in split-screen or against the devious AI.
Space War Arena – £11.69
Build an armada from 30 different types of evolving units, unleash your cunning, adapt to the enemy, and command your fleet in epic AI encounters or vicious same-screen multiplayer. Engage!
The Lost Light of Sisu – £8.99
In this playful adventure you find yourself searching planets in pursuit of energy cubes that power your spaceship but also evolve your abilities. Use these new-found powers to traverse obstacles and overcome grumpy alien species.
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! – £15.79
ToeJam and Earl have crash-landed back on Earth in ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!, a funky fresh roguelike adventure infused with old skool hip-hop and jam packed with awesome throwbacks to the 1991 classic. Original Funk Lord (and co-creator) Greg Johnson is back at the helm with the sequel that ToeJam and Earl fans have been waiting for!
Treasure Stack – £15.79
Fusing the pulse-pounding pressure of a falling block puzzle game with grapple-powered platforming, Treasure Stack offers up a fast-paced party game experience like no other. As treasure chests and keys fall from the sky and threaten to fill the screen, take direct control of a pixelated hero as you run, jump, grab, climb, grapple and stack matching colors to keep the blocky deluge at bay. But don’t go in unprepared! Unlock over 100 items to customize your hero and grapple with, featuring everything from slimes with chainsaws, to avian boxing glove grapplers.
World Tree Marché – £10.69
World Tree Marché is a warm-hearted management simulation in which you run the market of a struggling ‘world tree’ together with six chefs. As the Royal Food Adviser you need to help them through their unique gourmet storylines, find new recipes and stop the evil Gourmand Corporation.
New Switch demos
Riddled Corpses EX
Ninja Village
Next week: Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, Assault Android Cactus+, R.B.I. Baseball 19, Unknown Fate, Pillar, Bard’s Gold – Nintendo Switch Edition, 12 is Better Than 6, Dragon Marked for Death: Frontline Fighters, Dragon Marked for Death: Advanced Attackers, Monument Builders Rushmore, Braveland Trilogy, Valley, and Hard West.