I've had the Nintendo Switch 2 for one day and I'm not impressed
A reader gives their first impressions of the Switch 2 and is disappointed by what they see as a lack of new features and a weak line-up of games.
There's nothing in gaming more exciting than a new console. Especially if you get it day one and know you're getting it as early as anyone else in the world (even most journalists, as it turned out). Figuring out what all the sockets do, attaching the Joy-Cons for the first time, plugging in the dock… I loved all that stuff and it's very obvious that this is a well designed and thought out bit of kit.
I got my Switch 2 on Thursday and so I've played it for around 12 hours, as I write this, and after the initial excitement ran out I have to say that I do have a lot of concerns. Most of it is with Nintendo and the games but the console has some issues too.
The LCD screen is a nasty backwards step from the OLED Model, and it really makes me not want to use it. I know it would've been too expensive with an OLED screen, but I do wish they'd given us the option at launch, rather than just try and make us double dip in a couple of years.
I also worry about the connection between the Joy-Cons and the console. I know Nintendo think it's fine with the magnets and everything, and it is clever, but it worries me because it feels like it could snap, even if they say it won't. But perhaps I'll just get used to that.
The other more vague thing is the fact that the dashboard and interface is identical to the original Switch (at least after its most recent update) and that makes it feel like less of a brand new console. I prefer the way Sony does things, with each new PlayStation having a new interface that builds on the previous one, and sometimes isn't quite as good, but at least it feels new.
This lack of new feeling stretches to the games too. Mario Kart World is fun but it's basically just Mario Kart 8 for 24 players but with no anti-gravity sections. There's also the open world but as people are starting to realise this adds absolutely nothing to the game.
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It has nothing to do with the Grand Prix mode or Knockout Tour and there's very little to do if you just free roam. It's an impressively big world but the only thing you can do is complete little tasks and get stickers for your kart.
Maybe there's more to it than that, because I admit I haven't played it that much so far, but I don't see anything online saying there is. Which makes me think that after only a few hours I've seen everything the game has to offer.
I'm not saying it's not a good game but it's not a very original or ambitious one and the one thing that does make it different from the others is a complete non-event.
The next problem is that there's basically no other games beyond that. It's all just third party games that have been out for ages already and I either already have or don't want. So, stupidly, I bought Welcome Tour, because at least it was new and it was cheap.
But it's not even a game. It's just a bunch of boring quizzes and rubbish mini-games, with a ton of text to read through like you're swatting up for a test, which you basically are. The graphics are completely boring and it's not funny or charming or anything you'd normally expect from Nintendo.
I also got the upgrades for the two Zelda games, as at least they were relatively cheap, and… I can see the difference they make but it's pretty minor. Unfortunately, that kind of sums up the Switch 2 so far for me.
The launch line-up is really bad, in my opinion, and easily one of the worst Nintendo has ever had, which is weird given how long they've had to get ready for this. And yet I bet next week we'll be hearing about how it's the fastest-selling console ever or something. More Trending
There's nothing wrong with the Switch 2, there have been worse launches from other companies, but for me it doesn't live up to the hype and I'm confused and disappointed that Nintendo has made such little effort with it.
By reader Coolsbane
The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email.
MORE: Why is nobody talking about the PS5 anymore? – Reader's Feature
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Metro
4 hours ago
- Metro
I've had the Nintendo Switch 2 for one day and I'm not impressed
A reader gives their first impressions of the Switch 2 and is disappointed by what they see as a lack of new features and a weak line-up of games. There's nothing in gaming more exciting than a new console. Especially if you get it day one and know you're getting it as early as anyone else in the world (even most journalists, as it turned out). Figuring out what all the sockets do, attaching the Joy-Cons for the first time, plugging in the dock… I loved all that stuff and it's very obvious that this is a well designed and thought out bit of kit. I got my Switch 2 on Thursday and so I've played it for around 12 hours, as I write this, and after the initial excitement ran out I have to say that I do have a lot of concerns. Most of it is with Nintendo and the games but the console has some issues too. The LCD screen is a nasty backwards step from the OLED Model, and it really makes me not want to use it. I know it would've been too expensive with an OLED screen, but I do wish they'd given us the option at launch, rather than just try and make us double dip in a couple of years. I also worry about the connection between the Joy-Cons and the console. I know Nintendo think it's fine with the magnets and everything, and it is clever, but it worries me because it feels like it could snap, even if they say it won't. But perhaps I'll just get used to that. The other more vague thing is the fact that the dashboard and interface is identical to the original Switch (at least after its most recent update) and that makes it feel like less of a brand new console. I prefer the way Sony does things, with each new PlayStation having a new interface that builds on the previous one, and sometimes isn't quite as good, but at least it feels new. This lack of new feeling stretches to the games too. Mario Kart World is fun but it's basically just Mario Kart 8 for 24 players but with no anti-gravity sections. There's also the open world but as people are starting to realise this adds absolutely nothing to the game. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. It has nothing to do with the Grand Prix mode or Knockout Tour and there's very little to do if you just free roam. It's an impressively big world but the only thing you can do is complete little tasks and get stickers for your kart. Maybe there's more to it than that, because I admit I haven't played it that much so far, but I don't see anything online saying there is. Which makes me think that after only a few hours I've seen everything the game has to offer. I'm not saying it's not a good game but it's not a very original or ambitious one and the one thing that does make it different from the others is a complete non-event. The next problem is that there's basically no other games beyond that. It's all just third party games that have been out for ages already and I either already have or don't want. So, stupidly, I bought Welcome Tour, because at least it was new and it was cheap. But it's not even a game. It's just a bunch of boring quizzes and rubbish mini-games, with a ton of text to read through like you're swatting up for a test, which you basically are. The graphics are completely boring and it's not funny or charming or anything you'd normally expect from Nintendo. I also got the upgrades for the two Zelda games, as at least they were relatively cheap, and… I can see the difference they make but it's pretty minor. Unfortunately, that kind of sums up the Switch 2 so far for me. The launch line-up is really bad, in my opinion, and easily one of the worst Nintendo has ever had, which is weird given how long they've had to get ready for this. And yet I bet next week we'll be hearing about how it's the fastest-selling console ever or something. More Trending There's nothing wrong with the Switch 2, there have been worse launches from other companies, but for me it doesn't live up to the hype and I'm confused and disappointed that Nintendo has made such little effort with it. By reader Coolsbane The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: Why is nobody talking about the PS5 anymore? – Reader's Feature MORE: The original Switch is still a better option than the Switch 2 - Reader's Feature MORE: MCM Comic Con is still worth it for gamers even without EGX – Reader's Feature
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Video games and Gaelic football: Can Belfast studio crack the code for a hit?
It was 20 years ago that video-gaming Irish sports fans had their prayers Pro Evolution Soccer, Madden NFL – back in 2005, these were the sports games dominating living rooms. Indeed, some still are today, helping to make the sports video game industry a £17bn-per-year while most sports, from snooker to bizarre basketball superstar kung-fu tie-ins, had a title to offer, fans of Ireland's national sports - Gaelic football and hurling - had never seen their heroes in pixelated is until Gaelic Games: Football dropped in November 2005. The highly anticipated release, which saw eager gamers queued outside one store in Belfast, became one of Sony's biggest selling games in as was the pre-peak online gaming style at the time, those who wanted to beat their mates had to invite them over and gather around a defiantly non-flat screen of those was Peadar McMahon, then a student in Belfast, who remembers "big sessions playing the game, having a laugh with friends".The game was not well-received."Seriously flawed" declared the Sunday Times in a dismayed 3/10 review. "Devastatingly awful" condemned Irish culture website in a 2018 lookback is a little more diplomatic – "not a great game" he recalled – but he has reason for diplomacy since, poor or not, Gaelic Games: Football gave him an idea: What more could a game like this do? The making of a Gaelic football video game "I took the game as impetus to go and do something about it because I'm doing computer science, loved games from no age - and maybe I could do something?"Two decades, one career in financial software and a £30k Kickstarter later, Belfast studio Buck Eejit Games, formed four years ago by Peadar, is set to be the first to dive back into the Gaelic games market since that ill-fated Eejit is one of about 40 firms active in Northern Ireland's burgeoning video games industry, a scene non-existent when Peadar graduated from Queen's the dozen-strong team - a tiny group compared to the huge numbers working at behemoths like EA – are in crunch time to get Gaelic Football '25 finished for a summer release: 16-hour days every day and not much time for anything else, including three kids in Peadar's case."It's a lot to undertake, you're putting a lot aside to get the game – the dream, the passion project – over the line," he scale of the challenge is not lost on him. While the likes of football, F1 or golf can tap into a huge video gaming fan base, Gaelic games are niche sports – huge in Ireland but with a relatively limited global other words, a "risk", said Peadar, given the amount of hours and expense required to make a also means nailing the concept for both die-hard GAA fans and non-fans, said Úna-Minh Kavanagh, a video games producer with the Irish studio Gambrinous who has written extensively about games and the industry. "For a global audience, it would be a 'new' sport for them to learn and jam with," she said."It could easily gain a following if key Irish influencers hop on board, and I think they may do because it's such an Irish thing – especially given the lacklustre response to the original game."For her, the biggest failing of the original – and its sequel – was it didn't capture the "tribalism, excitement and thrill of being at a GAA match or even playing in one". What went wrong for Gaelic Games: Football? Created by defunct Australian studio IR Gurus, who used their pre-existing Australian Rules football game as a template, its development was beset by issues according to an oral history by Irish news site - a small team, working on a shoestring, recreating a sport they had no familiarity game did sell, but copies soon became a common sight in second-hand Irish YouTuber PKMX, real name Matt Murphy, decided to review the game, he found copies so easy to find he now has what he believes is the world's biggest collection of the series - 18 copies, costing a grand total of €15 (£12.50)."Put GAA in a video game, people are going to pick it up," he said. "But after people realised it was terrible, they (game copies) were everywhere."PKMX's review of Gaelic Games: Football was not kind, but Matt has some sympathy for the "overworked and underfunded" studio behind it."They had their hands full. They'd never seen a match, had a tiny budget. It was never going to work out." As for the new effort, he can see some similarities between IR Gurus and Buck Eejit in terms of team size – but what the Belfast studio lacks in resources it can make up with passion and feel for the sport."They grew up with the GAA, they understand the thrill of the game."The pressure is on for players not to experience déjà vu – people don't want to be disappointed again."That "cultural nuance" could be key, agrees Úna-Minh."There's something special knowing the team understands what GAA is all about. Whether it works out or not is another question, but it's a solid foundation."So what does this solid foundation mean for Gaelic Football '25? What features will Gaelic Football '25 include? For one thing, Peadar said, with a laugh, of the team of 12 there's probably only a couple, including him, who grew up with the Gaelic games. But they're keeping the focus on playability above all means some minor modifications to Gaelic football's basic rules – for instance players are allowed six steps when carrying the ball rather than the mandated four as it simply played better, said sweeping new rules introduced in the sport won't be in the final game as they came in the middle of its development cycle.A lack of resources also meant some tough will be no online mode and, despite about 18 months of conversations with the Gaelic Games Association (GAA), no official licences meaning no real player names. Inspired by Pro Evolution Soccer's approach in decades past, the game will instead feature extensive editing capabilities so players can change names and counties as much as they want. These decisions can be revisited via updates or, if things go well, sequels - in the meantime, said Peadar, the focus is on finishing the game for a summer he feeling any pressure?There's a lot riding on the team, he acknowledged, but if he's fazed by the prospect the game "gets panned and nobody buys it", it doesn't show. Instead he seems like a man content that the best effort had gone towards making the best game the team could at a playtest for punters at GamerFest Dublin in May garnered a positive response. And the finish line is in sight."We've been at this coming up to three years so it's about time we got this off our table and into people's hands."And when they do, said Matt, people will definitely buy it - and maybe more."If it gets buzz on social media that it's actually the sky's the limit."
Metro
11 hours ago
- Metro
Best new mobile games on iOS and Android - June 2025 round-up
This month's most interesting smartphone gaming apps includes a new Game Of Thrones adaptation and a gacha free version of Puzzle & Dragons. Getting things for free is great. The trouble is that, as the old adage says, there's no such thing as a free lunch, a concept mobile gamers will be more than familiar with. Games that are free to download tend to extract their pounds of flesh through ads, microtransactions, or an unholy union of the two. That doesn't mean all mobile publishers are equally tawdry in their pursuit of revenue. Where Game Of Thrones: Kingsroad and Chainsaw Juice King beat you around the head with tediously relentless sales pitches, long awaited prequel Puzzle & Dragons 0 shows there are more player-friendly routes to monetisation. Then again you could just pay upfront and enjoy the delightful Follow The Meaning or Rusty Lake's genuine freebie, The Mr Rabbit Magic Show. iOS & Android, free – remove ads £9.99, unlimited stamina £9.99 (GungHo Online Entertainment) Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Puzzle & Dragons featured a compelling blend of match-three puzzling and combat, your match-ups and the resulting combos triggering damage to colourful assailants. Puzzle & Dragons 0 retains most of the original's look, feel, and mechanics but removes its gacha elements. Now you add new monsters to your team using the crystals you win by completing dungeons. It's just as monumentally complex though, the interlocking sets of skills and team buffs taking a great deal of time and instruction to even start getting the hang of. You'll also need to watch a fair number of ads to stay competitive, although none are forced on you. It's not easy reviewing games designed to be played for literal years, because they tend to change qualitatively as you master skills and inch your way up their mountains of content, but in this case the intricacy, level of polish, and only two options for in-app purchases are promising signs. Score: 7/10 iOS & Android, £2.99 (Second Maze) With a charming art style slightly reminiscent of Machinarium, Follow the Meaning is a partially animated point 'n' click adventure with a lovely handmade feel about it. Both its plot and limited amount of text-only dialogue are deeply surreal, centring on your investigation of a small town's problem with three-eyed mutants who mostly come out at night, and whom most people are scared of. You'll need to solve a range of simple puzzles using light deduction, a bit of trial and error, and a touch of dragging items from your inventory. A few of its puzzles are a bit abstruse, but there are walkthroughs online if you get horribly stuck and the whole thing has such a unique atmosphere it's worth a look for that alone. Score: 7/10 iOS & Android, free – remove ads £11.99 (SayGames) Build a fruit juice empire in this amusingly unserious business simulator, that begins with just you, a chainsaw, and a gaggle of panicking, wide-eyed fruit doing their best to avoid being traumatically juiced. Hire staff, upgrade your blenders, raise prices, and gradually ratchet up the orders of magnitude in your juicing operation – which diversifies into jam and, for some reason, gem mining. Unlike many incremental games this is emphatically not idle, requiring plenty of active management of your operation, including chasing down those pesky fruits. If it weren't so riddled with advertising it would initially be quite addictive. As it is, you're regularly forced to watch ads and strongly incentivised to sit through a lot more. The real issue is how dystopian those ads are. Often 90 seconds long and with deliberate pauses you need to click through to continue watching, they actively prevent you from just leaving them on in the background. You can, of course, pay to remove them, but the more Juice King you play the more its gameplay feels like skill-free busy work, which is fine for a bit but eventually boring. Score: 5/10 iOS & Android, free (Yannis Benattia) Kumome's turn-based puzzles get you to move your hero one space in any direction on the board, then add a new piece in an attempt to block your opponent. If they can't move their hero, you win. From those simple beginnings, Kumome layers on teleport tiles, multiple opponents, single-use power-ups, and online PvP combat. Clearly a labour of love from a lone developer, its interface may be slightly rough around the edges but its gameplay is solidly designed, providing a varying challenge throughout its 200-level single player campaign and online multiplayer, once you're confident enough to try it. Score: 7/10 iOS & Android, free – full game unlock £4.99 (Afterburn) Pub Champs is a football themed puzzle game that despite its content requires neither a love of the sport nor dexterity. Instead, you'll be greeted by an escalating series of turn-based tactical challenges in which you direct a set of animal footballers to kick a ball into the back of the net. Initially, that's a case of getting in front of the goal mouth and tapping but soon enough you'll find your path occluded by road cones, piles of leaves, muddy puddles, and more. You'll also discover that different players interact with the ball in their own distinct ways, some kicking it straight, others curling it through the air to clear obstacles. Each also has a limited number of turns, so you'll need to combine their skills to complete puzzles. Highly polished, Pup Champs' 170 levels also get pretty taxing, belying the cozy setting and menagerie of young animal protagonists. Score: 7/10 iOS & Android, free (Rusty Lake) Indie developer Rusty Lake has a wonderfully offbeat signature style that blends the sinister, dreamlike, and mundane into some of the most idiosyncratic and enjoyable games on mobile. To celebrate the studio's tenth birthday, they've released this mysterious interactive magic show, whose 20 acts are punctuated by an interlude in the Rusty Lake offices where you need to make everyone a drink, solve some puzzles, and debug The Mr Rabbit Magic Show game ready to be published. Its puzzles are mostly straightforward, although one demands such an extreme level of trial and error that you'll need a pen and paper – or a spare iPad – to discover its lengthy and highly specific sequence of taps. Still, for a freebie its hour of pleasing, self-referential puzzle solving can scarcely be faulted and if you're new to Rusty Lake's delights this could well act as a gateway to their superb back catalogue. Score: 8/10 iOS, included with Apple Arcade subscription (What the Games) Made by the developer of the award-winning What The Car?, What the Clash? has a similar visual design, but instead of surrealist driving escapades it features a series of mini-games that you can play solo or against a fellow human. Starting with table tennis and soon adding racing, target shooting, and others, each of its games can be modified using a growing set of special cards that unlock as you play. That means if you and an opponent choose Archery, adding the barrel and giraffe cards gives you high winds that affect the flight of each arrow, while barrel and rotate give you rocket launchers. It means almost every game is different – often in quite surprising ways – and that you're continually unlocking new and frequently outlandish add-ons almost every time you play. Some of the games are a lot more fun than others but its high production values, zany humour, and continual sense of progression are a winning combination. Score: 8/10 iOS & Android, free (Netmarble) Game Of Thrones' foray into mobile entertainment delivers excellent first impressions. A graphically intensive third person action role-player, it features the visual likeness of plenty of familiar characters, and while it doesn't boast the original cast, voice-acting is first rate. You also don't need to be an aficionado of the books or TV show to get it, with everything conveniently explained. Starting as a knight, sell sword or assassin, you're unleashed into an open world infested with white walkers, their world's take on zombies. More Trending Problems start to creep in with combat that's instantly superficial, and even on an iPad Pro tends to drop numerous frames when the action gets frantic. Its real issue though, is your character's Momentum Score; the total average level of every piece of gear you have equipped. If it's too low, missions are deliberately impossible until you've met its requirement, and the enormous range of different currencies you need to progress makes it a shamelessly extended grind, which naturally you can circumvent with microtransactions. Inventory space is limited until you pay actual money to expand it, forcing you to sell each piece of unneeded equipment individually, and that's just the start of a seemingly endless parade of different methods of fleecing you. Even if you're a massive fan of the show, this is best avoided. Score: 3/10 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Best of Summer Game Fest 2025 trailers – Mortal Shell 2, Game Of Thrones and more MORE: Resident Evil Requiem trailer reveals release date and new main character MORE: Neil Patrick Harris is Deadpool in new Marvel VR game
