Aliens: Colonial Marines stings of bitter disappointment; fans of the franchise will dually be delighted by the fan service, but appalled at the misappropriation of the license and the liberties taken with the new Xenomorphs; while those just looking for a suspenseful horror title will find little more than a run-of-the-mill corridor shooter. It’s Duke Nukem Forever all over again.

It may be free to play, but the cost of actually spending time with Marvel Heroes is too damn high. The idea is solid, but completely lacking the spirit of what makes these timeless heroes so popular over multiple decades of action.

WWE 2K15 is a slick product but on closer examination it hides numerous problems and flaws. It’s the game of tomorrow with the problems of yesteryear, a transitional game between platforms that feels like very little care has gone into crafting the ultimate simulation in sports entertainment. And that’s the bottom line.

Shadwen is a game that I so badly wanted to love but even with all its quirks and interesting mechanics, I couldn’t get past its bland levels, disappointing story and odd gameplay hiccups. A shame, really, as it could’ve been something special. Instead it’s nothing more than average, at best. The interesting gameplay mechanics found in Shadwen do little to hide the fact that the game is pretty boring and has a story that hardly amounts to anything.

Lost Valley struggles to retain the heart and soul of previous titles and while it does a few things right and does end up being somewhat enjoyable in the end, the road to reach any semblance of enjoyment was just too long and never feels worth the time investment.

A title like The Crew has to be more than a glorified "Google Earth" simulator or a VOIP chat client - especially if it's advertised as a "revolutionary action car and driving game".

Fade to Silence is an ambitious survival game with an intriguing setting but suffers from a laborious pace, poorly implemented mechanics and uninteresting characters and writing resulting in an unfun grind that never really pays off.

You don’t need a Spider-sense to realise that a game with various audio glitches, gameplay crashes and overall sloppy design might not be worth your time or effort, as this Spider-Man isn’t the hero that fans need or deserve.

There’s nothing wrong with freemium games when they’re done right, but what Pokémon Shuffle does is reward players with very few benefits when cash is handed over, and that’s just a damn shame.

In a genre that has its fair share of challengers, V Rally 4 comes in dead last thanks to its bipolar handling, meagre selection of tracks and a modest grab bag of disciplines that fails to excite any fan of dirty racing.

It lacks both length and depth, but most importantly, it lack the charm of The Muppets. A younger audience may find extended joy in the title. Others, especially fans, will be sorely disappointed.

It looks nice, and it’s fun to play for a short while - but it’s such a pallid production that it just feels like a shadow of the game it could have been. Micro Machines deserves better.

Fans might get a kick out of this self-aware spinoff, but its referential meta-jokes ultimately fall flat. Worse though is that it’s just not very much fun to play. It’s repetitive to the point of being tiresome, and not even its occasionally enjoyable boss battles save Travis Strikes Again from being dull and dreary.

Extinction is a fantastic idea buried in mediocrity. It’s one trick is stunning for a short while, but quickly runs out of steam as repetition, flimsy combat and a glib story cuts it down to size.

In trying to re-invent a classic that was never really any good to begin with, Shadow of the Beast becomes a cautionary tale about how nostalgia is sometimes better left in the past.

Bee Simulator is more of a kids action game than it is a simulator. While it has an undeniable charm, it’s short, repetitive to a fault and feels like it’s been hastily cobbled together.

Balan Wonderworld is a game of missed opportunities. It’s simplified control scheme robs it of any of the subtle complexity that the genre is best at, its various ideas are half-baked at best, and its core gameplay is a taxing uphill climb through even the most basic of platforming principles. Amusing visual design aside, the only thing that Balan Wonderworld is good at is being consistently boring.

Sacred 3 is a complete let down for fans of the franchise, departing from a formula that has somewhat worked in the past in the hope of attracting a wider audience. Instead of building on features, and borrowing some from games that pull off the action RPG genera to a tee, Sacred 3 is disjointed, boring and just downright bad.

Fun for belting out a few tunes at a party, Singstar Ultimate Party simply doesn't offer the variety to give it any form of longevity. Add to that some serious mic pickup issues, and the game quickly loses any party charm.

Overall, Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness is not a good game. It’s plagued with a bland narrative, generic characters, repetitive gameplay, unskippable custcenes with sparse savepoints, unbalanced battle system, dumb AI, a jarring camera, inconsistent visuals and performance and an unsatisfying ending.

Frantics should be a fun collection of casual-friendly mini-games made in the Mario Party mould. Unfortunately, it's just criminally boring.

Mario & Sonic at Rio 2016 Olympic Games on the 3DS is a disappointing collection of hastily cobbled together minigames. There's some fleeting fun to be had, but most of its sporting disciplines are an exercise in repetitive drudgery.

Hunter’s Legacy is a game that clearly wanted to remind players of classic metroidvania gameplay, but the combination of a generic plot, uninspired visuals, and uneven and often frustrating gameplay make Hunter’s Legacy a game that offers little to its players.

A sub-par experience with stripped down features, a complete lack of multiplayer and no noticeable improvement whatsoever.

If you desperately need a new Rugby game to fill the void, you might still consider picking Rugby 20 up, but even then you might be better off going back to Rugby Challenge and playing that with some of the new community squads.

For every inch of innovation, there is endless, effortless copycatting.

Forgettable, drab and middling to the extreme, MXGP Pro is an unfinished two wheel disaster.

Unless you’re the sort who loves doing the same thing over and over again within artificial confines, there’s very little redeeming about this DLC.