Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype is all about playing over and over to perfect your runs. A series of unlockable challenges task you with goals like “finish the first four stages without losing a life”. You’ll probably knock these challenges off the list without being aware of them, because replaying Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype is not a problem.

The original Shelter had me instantly replaying it, just to see if I could keep my babies alive. This time though, despite the bigger levels and excellently-crafted simple gameplay, I put the game down. It’s worth experiencing, but on this evidence the Lynx will flourish in wolf-free Britain.

In short bursts, or for younger gamers, Gravity Ghost is worth a look, but considering the style and polish applied to such a basic central concept, I’m far more excited to play Ivy Games next game rather than this one.

I could go on all day about Cities: Skylines, much like I could go on all night playing it. It has restored my faith in the City Building Simulator genre. It’s everything that fans of the genre were hoping for and more.

Glaring flaws aside, Flame Over just isn’t much fun. With just one enemy (poorly modeled fire), effectively one weapon and a whole bucket of poorly explained, poorly chosen gameplay ideas, Flame Over is a real disappointment. Game over.

It is a great game that makes its simplicity work for it. It doesn’t try too hard to do anything spectacular, but I can only respect that. The gameplay is easy enough for new people to pick up and play and it is strangely gratifying to watch your horde galavant through enemy land with ease.

Switch Galaxy Ultra is a fun game to play in small bursts. When you are whizzing through the tracks at great speed it is exhilarating. However, it loses its focus when it adds gameplay barriers that detract from the quick paced nature of the game.

République is a game made with clear direction and passion, and is largely competent in matters of gameplay. Remastered is a good upscale that adds clarity and control, but loses something of what made the original sparkle. To me, the iOS version holds a slight edge because the concept works better in that context.

The graphical style is reminiscent of 90s cyberpunk game Speedball, the rules of the game are Bloodbowl-esque American football lite, but the turn-based strategy is as deep as a glacier, only with a ball and a clock to watch.

Despite its shortcomings in regards to controls and camera, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee is worth every minute of frustration.

If you don’t like the Total War series in general, there might not be enough revolution here to change your mind. But if you’ve appreciated the series in the past, even in passing, Atilla deserves to be given a whirl. Learn the ins and outs, and you’ve got days worth of content right here.

With a versatile cast of strange of wonderful characters that play well and quite differently, it’s a release that deserves a rightful place in any fighting game fans collection and a title I hope gets the attention it deserves.

I don’t want to sound too down on Sunless Sea. Sadly though, it’s one of those games that I respect and appreciate more than I enjoy and one that I find it easier to recommend than to actually play.

It’s certainly one of the smaller DLCs that’s been released for Crusader Kings II, a game that still stands strong despite being three years old. However, if you like to focus more on the roleplaying side of the game then the Way of Life expansion will add a lot of fun to your game.

Now comes my favourite part of the game. Better than the combat. Better than the graphics style. Better even than the NPCs who fight by your side. It’s the soundtrack. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It takes me back to a time when a much younger version of myself was ineptly running through games like The Legend of Zelda and Mario Brothers.

Unlike some of the recent expansions to Crusader Kings II (Charlemagne/Rajas of India), the Art of War doesn’t add a huge amount of content to the game in terms of replayablity.

Not a game that you’d play at length every day, but certainly one you’d practice on until you are confident enough to challenge your friends.

For the price of Criminal Girls, you could buy a whole bunch of sex toys, one of those big anime pillows with a naked girl on it, or some really nice handcuffs and a whip. Regardless of who you use them on, you’ll have more fun with them than you will with this game.

Even after you strip away the high level of fanservice and questionable theme; for every aspect that I enjoyed such as the characters and voiceover, there were others that marred my experience such as the repetitive combat, irritating camera and repetitive mission structure. For those that can ignore these misgivings, there is an enjoyable game waiting to be played.

Overall I enjoyed the core battle system and upgrading of characters in BlackGuards 2, however the story was really mediocre and the characters just seemed pretty lifeless.

Dying Light is a game that looks good, plays well and feels great. A survival horror game should be able to reliably freak you out, and Dying Light achieves that and so much more.

If this sounds like your type of football management game then dive right in. However, for an iOS football manager there are other solutions out there, especially if you are willing to pay for them. The far more in-depth Football Manager Handheld 2015 from Sports Interactive for example.

The art, UI and sound all match the minimalist style of the game perfectly, and with a potentially endless selection of user generated levels to play Socioball is a game that will never get old.

It really needs some rebalancing most of all, but the devs also need to give players more freedom.

It has all the makings of a solid game, yet is let down by some minor problems but I still feel that Lucid Games should be given a pat on the back for driving Geometry Wars into new territory.

The only real criticism I can think of for Dungeon of the Endless is that it’s difficult. But that’s like criticising FIFA for containing so much football. Difficulty, permanent death and a challenging learning curve are the bread and butter of the entire genre. And it’s a fun genre, if you’ve got the patience to try and try again.

At its core, The Crew is one of the most ambitious games of the year. The problem is that the combination of bad design choices, poor performance and a certain lack of refinement also make it one of the biggest disappointments of the year.

If you're a fan of top down Zelda games and the Adventure Time cartoon then just get this game. The Adventure Time setting is perfect for this game genre.