Gaming Reviews

At this point, I think it’s safe to say that Pokemon Sword and Shield are the most controversial Pokemon releases we’ve ever seen. Game Freak’s announcement that Sword and Shield wouldn’t feature a full national Pokedex was the straw that broke the camel’s back for a lot of people, and after that, we saw a wave of criticism coming from longtime Pokemon fans online. By the time these games launched, taking a look at fan communities online would have someone who was out of the loop to believe that no one was buying these games.

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When this Google Stadia Review was first posted, the service hadn't yet formally launched. Google sent the Founders Package to a set of sources that got an early look and were invited to review the game streaming system before the official Google Stadia release date of November 19, 2019. As such, we gave the service an early once-over review with what we'd experienced thus far. As the service evolves, we'll be updating this review accordingly - so stay tuned!

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I owned a fair number of games for the Sega Genesis when I was a kid, but two that will forever stick out are The Lion King and Aladdin. Though I played both games for hours on end, I’ve only ever managed to actually beat just one of them: Aladdin. Aladdin was a game that was difficult enough on its own, but it didn’t hold a candle to the sadistic challenge of The Lion King. I have seen the end of The Lion King, but I didn’t get there through determination and skill. No, I had to use a Game Genie to get infinite lives and invincibility or to skip levels. Despite the amount of time I sunk into that game, I never managed to beat it legitimately.

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Though I count The Legend of Zelda as one of my favorite game franchises, I’ve never properly played Link’s Awakening. When I was a kid, my Game Boy served mostly as a vehicle for Pokemon, and though I’d always heard good things about Link’s Awakening, I never actually gave it a decent chance. Luckily for me, Nintendo has remade the game for the Switch, giving me a chance to play it without having to bust out a decades-old handheld. For those who may be in the same boat, is Link’s Awakening a safe buy on the Switch?

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The Switch Lite is something that most of us probably assumed was inevitable. Nintendo loves to iterate on its consoles with new models - handhelds especially - so a hardware revision for the Switch is something that was bound to happen. Now that the Switch Lite is here, is it worth buying in place of the standard Switch? Is it worth trading in your Switch and downsizing to this newest model?

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How on earth are you supposed to review something like World of Warcraft Classic? Not only are MMOs hard to review in the first place given their emphasis on community, but WoW Classic is already a known quantity. We already played this game 15 years ago - or, more specifically, 13 years ago as WoW Classic is based on patch 1.2 for vanilla WoW, which didn’t ship until 2006. Regardless of the specific moment in time WoW Classic captures, many of us have played this before, and we all likely have an opinion on how good this game is.

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The Nintendo Switch isn’t hurting for quality first-party games, and arguably hasn’t been since the day the console was released. In an effort to make sure the Switch doesn’t turn into another Wii U, Nintendo has tapped nearly all of its franchises for Switch titles, and the latest series to arrive on the Switch is Fire Emblem. It’s been a long, long time since there was a proper Fire Emblem game on home consoles, because in recent years, the series has been exclusive to Nintendo’s handhelds. Given the Switch’s hybrid design, putting a Fire Emblem game on it was a no-brainer.

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If there was any reason at all to own a Wii U, Super Mario Maker was it. Super Mario Maker was so unique and so popular that I think if it would have been a launch title, the Wii U may have succeeded despite all that was working against it. Super Mario Maker 2 on Switch, then, was inevitable, and if you’re looking for more of a good thing, you’ll definitely find it here. Unfortunately, it isn’t all sunshine and daisies in the world of Super Mario Maker 2, as the consistent problems with Nintendo Switch Online hold this game back from achieving true greatness.

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Even though Yoshi is one of the best things about the Mario franchise, our green dinosaur friend is often times relegated to the role of sidekick. Every once in a while, though, Yoshi gets to star in a game of his (its?) own, starting with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island way back in the days of the SNES. Since then, a variety of games starring Yoshi have been launched for various Nintendo platforms, most recently with Yoshi's Crafted World on the Nintendo Switch.

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Were it not for Super Smash Bros., the GameCube controller would probably be a distant memory for most people. A curiosity of the past, perhaps, given its rather unique design and button layout. A stepping stone on the path to the more refined gamepads we have today. Thanks to Super Smash Bros., though, the GameCube controller is none of those things, and instead it’s alive and kicking. Though the original Wii had a set of GameCube controller ports all its own, Nintendo eventually figured out a way to bring GameCube support forward to the Wii U, all in the name of Super Smash Bros. and the Melee veterans who love it.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is here and it’s unquestionably the biggest Switch game of the year. While every Smash Bros. release is a major event, there’s a certain excitement for this one, as all fighters that have ever appeared in a Smash Bros. game are returning for Ultimate. Pair that roster, which now includes more than 70 characters, with a map pool that climbs over 100, and we’ve got quite the massive game on our hands. Even though it sounds like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a balancing team’s worst nightmare, it’s definitely exciting for us veterans who have been playing since the first game. It begs the question, though: Can you have too much of a good thing?

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I have to admit, I have a strange history with the Mario Party series. I’ve been playing since the very first game launched on the N64 back in 1998, and while I’ve always been entertained by them, there’s always been this voice at the back of my head saying “you know this probably isn’t very good, right?” Still, I would play them, and I never really listened to that voice until Mario Party 9 rolled around. In that game, Nintendo decided that having everyone move around the game board individually wasn’t a good idea and plopped them all in a car that meant they’d be stuck side-by-side for the entire match. Why? I don’t know. Reasons, I guess.

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