At its best, Rise and Shine is a marvelous reinvention of shooter mechanics wrapped up in puzzle-heavy stages that require some serious grey matter to think through. But most of the time? Rise and Shine’s charm can’t save it from its sadomasochistic formula.

The Sinking City both sinks and swims. Delivering a good mystery within a picturesque yet grotesque hellscape, while also held back by visual ramifications and tricky combat engagements.

Visually and audibly gorgeous, Inked battles to maintain its level of quality through an awkward camera, occasional obtuse puzzles and fumbled story.

Episode 4 has some truly engaging moments, but the issues that have plagued earlier episodes persist. By now, it’s likely that only the diehards – those who forked out for a season pass – will see this through to the end.

Like Journey, it’s the sort of game that works as a sort of blank slate on which to project your own feelings of loneliness, loss, unease, and perhaps even peace – but as much as I tried, I found no such emotional connection. No sorrow, no joy…just nothing.

Life Is Strange 2’s ending differs depending on how good or bad a father figure the player has been to Daniel, and it could be argued that this is what gives the game a semblance of replay value. That argument crumbles to bits when one considers what an arduous slog a lot of the game has been to play. While there are undeniable moments of power in Life Is Strange 2’s story, they’re strewn too far apart to make playing the game over again attractive. It’s a decent story, but as a gaming experience it disappoints, which is a real pity, given how good its two predecessors are.

You can't fault Four Door Lemon's bite-sized above-average AR game. It's wholly affordable and the nature of mini golf means that you can replay the various holes and courses as you desire, but the focus on future DLC content might leave some gamers with a double bogey.

Summer in Mara makes a great first impression with its pleasant visuals and laid-back music but ultimately fails to remain engaging for long due to repetitive quests, a hollow world and plenty of tedious mechanics.

While Liberation offers AC junkies some elements that will keep them happy for up to 15 hours, the game ultimately lacks coherent storytelling, interesting missions and memorable characters.

My Hero One’s Justice may be a faithful and stylish adaptation of the hit anime series, but all the fancy graphics in the world can’t do justice to a game whose kryptonite is a severe lack of real substance.

The Mystery of Woolley Mountain certainly serves up rewarding mental challenges, but they’re paired with a constant challenge of another sort: the game’s unsophistication in almost every other department. Stilted in its art style and comedic choices, it will test your nerves as much as your brain.

Far Cry 5’s first big slice of DLC lasts almost an hour, trading the chaotic mountain ranges of Hope County for a more subdued and streamlined stealth-heavy tour of duty in the Vietnam War that fails at feeling meaningful or having anything to say.

While almost every LEGO game has included some sort of new mechanic to differentiate itself in some way, LEGO The Incredibles just feels like it’s going through the motions. The formula is wearing mighty thin, and is the least inventive, most unexciting LEGO game in ages. Still, it's a decent kid's game, with plenty of family-friendly fun to be had.

Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 makes some massive strides towards improving on some of the deep flaws of the original game. It’s just a super-shame that it also forgets to actually add anything to that foundation to help it feel like a true sequel. I’m just Saiyan’ that is.

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 is a decent platformer. It ticks all the relevant boxes when it comes to platforming, it just lacks the imagination and depth which make other titles in the genre really stand out. It’s meant for a much younger audience, and thus, will be received much better by kids than adults.

A middling collection of mini-games held together by an unfortunately lacklustre story mode, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is, unfortunately, little more than a distraction. While the throwback retro events add a much-needed bit of flavour, they're just not good enough to bring the series out of mediocrity.

Another year, another dip into familiar waters with a game that isn't the revolution that fans have been waiting for. Believe it.

Miitopia is a quirky and entertaining RPG-lite in very short bursts, but unfortunately the game doesn’t have all that much to offer outside of a few goofs. The lack of substantial player involvement leaves it feeling too automated and the experience grows stale, fast.

Filled with ambition and a unique perspective, Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan could have been an excellent game, telling uniquely African stories. It is brought down by poor pacing, repetitive and tedious battles and an unfortunate lack of polish.

Godfall hits the nail on the next-gen launch game head: All style, very little substance. Granted there’s some fun to be had but once the next-generation glitz wears off what’s left is a repetitive slog through levels that quickly get old.

Who knows, maybe Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy would have been more attractive in this day and age if it exuded more…Pharoahmones.

Degrees of Separation is a visually gorgeous and charming game that, while having some innovative mechanics, devolves into tedium due to a poorly paced story and repetitive puzzles .

Project Cars 3 will definitely have a place for those wanting a quick and easy racing game with a ton of customisation, cars, tracks and challenges. For more seasoned racing fans, or anyone looking for something even remotely different to what we have seen hundreds of times before, you will definitely need to look elsewhere.

Beneath the mountain of bugs, shoddy design and inconsistent performance, there’s a genuinely good adventure waiting to be experienced in Darksiders III. Unfortunately, its numerous problems are more than just annoying in nature. They’re quite simply…apocalyptic.

What had the potential to be a great piece of DLC, is instead an all-too brief episode of missed opportunities and squandered potential starring a great heroine who deserves far better.

The Dragon of the North DLC does little to shake up the Nioh formula, providing familiar environments with uninspired boss battles. That said, this is more Nioh, and the strength of the base game should still give you the challenge and thrill of combat despite the DLC's downfalls.

Its mediocre ideas result in nothing more than a functionality that spoils solid art. Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold could have been a unique take on the genre but unfortunately cashes out too early to make any kind of lasting impression.

A satisfying blend of action, stealth and Russian history, undone by a frustratingly stupid difficulty spike that makes it a red menace.