Tired Old Hack

Dodo Peak is well-trodden territory, and anyone who’s ever played Q*bert, or Frogger, or Crossy Road or anything like that will know the script here. You know something though? It doesn’t really matter. Not every game has to reinvent the wheel and at £7.49 there’s enough here to keep you busy for long enough to get your money’s worth (especially if you’re the sort of person like me who absolutely has to 3-star every level).

It’s hard to nail down whether you should be playing this game, because it really depends on your tolerance for style over substance. The actual game itself is a fairly mindless hack and slash affair with little in the way of character upgrades or progression (a basic levelling system and collectable abilities aside), and while it’s perfectly entertaining to play it isn’t going to win any awards on that front. But in terms of its plot, its knowing humour, its countless references and its downright insanity, I’m confident in saying that you won’t play another game like this on the Switch. I absolutely loved it as a result of this and consider it one of the most entertaining games I’ve played in a while: if you’re more interested in depth than daftness, though, your mileage may vary.

With two full adventures packed with secrets, a brilliantly difficult Challenges mode and thoroughly entertaining multiplayer, it’ll take you ages to see everything on offer here. It may not be ‘New’, but it’s certainly ‘Super’.

How long the game will ultimately last will depend on how much you (or your child) are willing to think outside the cardboard box and tinker with your own creations. If you’re only willing to stick to the pre-designed projects the game has prepared for you, you probably won’t get more than 10 hours of gameplay out of it. Those 10 hours will be a good laugh, though.

On the Wii, Go Vacation was trying to enter homes that most likely already had at least two sporting mini-game titles in their library. What we have now on the Switch is a situation where there’s no Wii Sports, no Wii Sports Resort and nothing else decent that’s really like them. In this day and age, Go Vacation stands alone as the sole option for anyone who fancies dipping back into the Wii days. And those who do will be more than happy with what they find.

No, this Switch version is clearly aimed at those who missed out on Captain Toad the first time around. If that’s you, then there’s no better time to fill your boots: even four years later it remains an absolutely charming adventure and one that’s still a treat to play.

How much enjoyment you’ll get out of Mario Tennis Aces depends firmly on how you plan on playing it. If you’re a loner and don’t play online you can have the story mode and tournaments licked within a day if you’re good. If you’re up for some online multiplayer you’re going to get a lot more out of it, but as it stands there may not be enough to ensure you’re still jumping in six months from now. Get some similarly-skilled friends together for some local multiplayer, though, and this has the potential to be another one of those timeless Nintendo party classics like Mario Kart and Smash Bros.

The Definitive Edition name is an accurate one. Although it doesn’t offer a lot of exclusive content (a couple of Breath Of The Wild costumes for Link and Zelda are about as good as it gets) no other version of Hyrule Warriors contains absolutely everything released for it to date. There’s no question that this is by far the most comprehensive and best-looking version of the game, and while those who owned either version and all the DLC may have fewer reasons to buy it, if you haven’t played it before – or just owned the base game and didn’t fork out for any downloadable content – there’s hundreds of hours of gameplay here for you.

If Tropical Freeze passed you by when it was on Wii U and you fancy yourself a bit of a platformer fan, then it’s an absolute no-brainer: it’s a gorgeous game packed with inventive levels and should present you with a serious challenge (even on Funky Mode). If this game is new to you, I can’t recommend it enough. If, on the other hand, you already bought and played through the Wii U game then it really comes down to how eager you are to play it again.

In a world where gaming is getting increasingly complex with loot boxes and microtransactions and season passes and whatever dabbing is supposed to be, Kirby Star Allies is refreshingly consistent with the old way of gaming. It’s the video game equivalent of the old blanket you’ve had in your house for decades. It’s nothing flashy and you wouldn’t necessarily show it off to your friends when they’re over at your house. But when times are hard and life’s getting too much, it’s sometimes great to just snuggle under it (this time with up to three family members) and enjoy its simple comforts like you’ve done for years.