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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
After more than a year of waiting, Octopath Traveler has finally arrived on the Nintendo Switch, and boy are JRPG fans excited. One look at its aesthetic is all you need to begin drawing comparisons to the many excellent JRPGs from the 1990s, like Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger. It’s safe to say that hype among the folks who love this genre was incredibly high in the lead up to release, but now that it’s here, does Octopath Traveler live up to the hype? Is it the 16-bit throwback we’ve all been waiting for?
It isn’t very often we see a game come around and define a new genre, but after building Battle Royale mods for a handful of other games, Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene is doing just that with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The game has taken the world by storm this year, which is saying a lot because PUBG had to share the limelight with huge titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Despite that, it’s managed to become a sensation and win over millions of players while still in beta. Now, 9 months after it first arrived, it has left early access and launched into version 1.0, a milestone that some early access games infamously never arrive at.
The first Razer Phone clearly wasn't designed to take on the competition with bright, flashy colors. Razer didn't make their first phone with curved edges, and it didn't include a front-facing 3D face-sensor setup for animated emoji messages. Instead, Razer took the top-notch knowhow of the team at formerly-NextBit and combined it with their own understanding of their massive cult of modern gamers. With some top-level branding and a genuinely nice box to package it all up, the Razer Phone is like no other company's "first try" I've ever experienced.
The HTC VIVE Tracker is a new tool for the VR universe - an extra bit of zazz that opens up new doors and dimensions. Over the past few days I've had the opportunity to test out the HTC VIVE Tracker with the relatively limited set of games it already works within. Included with this review package was a set of accessories with which the tracker works. The best of these is the Hyperkin Hyper Blaster - a VR-ready version of a pistol, extremely similar to that of the original NES Zapper from Nintendo.