Nowhere near as gut-wrenchingly bad as others are claiming, but that ISN'T to say it's some sort of hidden masterpiece. Very much a case of 'perfectly fine, but not much else;' whether or not you're looking for a short, sweet weekend romp or consider this a case of damnation via faint praise, depends on a person-to-person basis.

For me personally, while it was as simple as you'd expect an introductory adventure game to be (younger players are definitely going to get a kick out of the intrigue and action, whereas I guessed 95% of the main plot in the first case), the upbeat and charming writing was entertaining enough to make me want to keep playing. The music was bizarrely good, too. Luxray's theme especially is an absolute banger.

You can tell this was a project that started life on the 3DS, most likely got battered by covid (and not being as high-priority as other Pokémon games) and was parped out in its twilight years as 'lip filler' to make the Switch's lineup feel more well-stocked.

Overall, I feel bad for this game. It's going to get absolutely torn apart through no real fault of its own, given the circumstances it released in. If anything, it's a pleasant curio, and definitive proof that the Switch has been fantastic for letting Pokémon spinoffs experiment and do their own thing with the series. The story of the 3DS game wraps up with this sequel, but I would love to see a third instalment - I want this sort of unique spin on Pokémon to REALLY shine.

Extremely ambitious in scope, with an utterly fascinating world and lore (seriously, the backstory is incredible) with a fantastic cast of characters and a top-tier soundtrack, it's hard to go wrong with this game. It's easy to see how it got as blisteringly popular as it did.

The biggest flaw is in the Monastery exploration being on the clunkier side, and the first half of the game being the EXACT same on all the story routes, meaning that attempting replays to see the other sides of the story is a tough pill to swallow.

As someone who only played about ten minutes of the original, I can really only give my thoughts on this game from the angle of JUST playing this remake.

Holy hell, what a game this was. A fulfilling bite-size chunk of RPG - completed the main story and all the bonus postgame bosses in just under 20 hours - but despite the short length, it is stuffed to the GILLS with charm and fun character moments. It's vibrant, snappy, smooth as butter, and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. Very pleased I took a chance with this game.

Widely regarded as one of the best Pokémon games, and I'm inclined to agree... In some aspects.

The upped challenge, inclusion of more double battles, and better mon variety were excellent. It adds way more endgame content in the form of the Battle Frontier, but I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be.

Half of the Battle Frontier is effectively luck-based, and that's just not fun. Losing a win streak as a result of a coin flip is artificial difficulty at its finest. There's a difference between hard and 'hard' after all.

The gold standard of remakes since 2002.

The atmosphere is on another level, and is almost obscenely frightening, especially on your first playthrough. The puzzles, and the way item inspection plays into them are the perfect level of challenging to keep your brain alert, so that there's never a dull moment in the Spencer Mansion.

The game is the perfect length too, especially once you start learning shortcuts to get around quicker, meaning it's perfect for speed gaming - it's worth your time, too, as some of the unlocks you get for beating the game quickly are fantastic to toy around with.

I am so, SO glad I took a chance and played this game.

The story, and the way it connects the player with the delightful cast of characters, goes places I have never seen another game go before. My jaw was on the floor with certain a certain plot twist, and it's pulled off amazingly.

The pre-rendered (pre-painted, I believe?) backgrounds give this game a timeless look... Outside of some awkward character animations. The creativity on display is on another level.

The luck-based element of the deckbuilding combat can be frustrating if you get a crap hand at a critical moment, and there's some frustrating bosses towards the end - the remaster's framerate is insanely spotty too - but those issues are waylaid but just how amazing the game looks, the writing, and the satisfaction of kicking you enemy to the curb with the combat system.

Please, PLEASE give this game a chance if you're even remotely curious or enjoy RPGs - you may just find a new favourite, like I did.

Usually, I don't mix well with First-Person Shooters. In fact, trying to play the original version of this on the Wii is what set off my motion sickness when it comes to play ANY FPS game after the fact.

I was able to see this remaster all the way through to the end, because for some reason, it 'cured' my motion sickness (there you go Nintendo, there's a selling point and a half). I am so, SO glad I did, because this game is astonishing, and the remaster work is on another level.

The graphics are among the best on Switch, the framerate is a rock-solid and smooth 60fps, the controls feel great, there's oodles of replay ability and unlockables, this game has it all.

The only real downside is that there's an arduous amount of backtracking, especially towards the end, and certain areas are bit of a letdown (Magmoor Caverns doesn't even have a boss, and the Chozo Mines sucks), but these don't detract from how utterly amazing this game is.

Takes the modern trappings of Monster Hunter World, and translates them to a more action-oriented format, like previous 'Portable' Monster Hunter games before it. To say it 'succeeds' would be a understatement.

The presentation is superb for a Switch game, with amazing visuals, and textures for the models that, while low-res, look brilliant in moment-to-moment gameplay.

The monster variety is almost perfect, with the lack of Brute Wyverns (the bipedal freaks) being the only glaring flaw, and the music is among the best in the franchise.

The base game's only major flaw is that it's too easy, and even then, the DLC expansion Sunbreak released, not only fixing that issue, but adding PLENTY more incredible monsters to the lineup.

It doesn't get much more perfect than this. One of the best games on the Switch, bar none.

Because one Super Mario Galaxy game wasn't enough to contain all the game's fantastic ideas.

Sequels can go into one of three different categories - completely unrelated to their predecessor to try something new, being an evolution of said predecessor that expands upon its ideas, or made quickly to cash in on something's popularity.

Do I REALLY need to say which one this game is?

...It's the second. If you say it's the third then I'll sneeze in your mouth.

A breath of fresh air that Mazza SORELY needed.

The amount of creativity packed into the game's (a little disappointingly) short runtime is nothing short of delightful. You'll never quite know what's coming next, and the presentation factor with the vibrant graphics and fantastic sound design make it a treat for the senses. The uniqueness in course aesthetics and overworld theming compared to the previous games (even if they're based on old trends, like 'grassland' and 'lava') remains fresh.

The only real major disappointment is the bosses, which are both far too sparse, and are also unable to catch up with the game's own wellspring of ideas, leaving them feeling far too tame for the game, and boring in design. The design of the final boss made me roll my eyes, and if you've played other Nintendo games, you'll know exactly why.

Overall, though, this is an absolute diamond of a game, and proof that, even after all this time, when Nintendo know what they want to do with an IP, they know HOW to do it.