Boing! Docomodake is a difficult game to gauge. At times it can be painfully frustrating - with some puzzles requiring a complete level-restart if failed initially – and it’s criminal just how short it is. But on the contrary, Boing! is filled with intuitive puzzles, a genuinely creative control scheme, and some truly amusing moments.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope brings appealing sci-fi imagery to the Xbox 360 catalogue of RPGs. It’s not the best JRPG on the system, but what it does is give players a game with an addictive battle system.

Faults or not, if you’re looking for a different involvement with a video game, then you should give up a spare afternoon to sit down and wet yourself in Rain’s absorbing little world.

It is a clever game, with a simple idea at it’s core, that consistently brings enough clever ideas to the table as it goes to remain captivating throughout.

If you’re looking for a multiplayer fix, then look elsewhere, as you will be solely disappointed with the wreckage of online cooperative play – a mode that spoils this otherwise solid video game.

Overall, Superdimension Neptune vs Sega Hard Girls is yet another solid entry from the Neptunia series, but it could have been one of the higher recommended titles were it not for the new list of annoyances it added alongside its gameplay improvements.

It won't be remembered for breaking any moulds in the first person shooter genre and probably won't spark up everyone's enthusiasm since it's not as good as Modern Warfare 2. Instead Medal of Honor should be looked at as an alternative to the hyperactive Call of Duty series and be played by people who want to have a more reasonable interpretation of a military experience.

WWE '12 is a step in the right direction. Yuke's implementation of a limb-targeting system adds a satisfyingly-strategic twist to the usual brawl and is accompanied by passable visuals and great sound. Loads and loads of content make this title worth every dollar spent on it.

Incidentally, if they bring this game out for the Xbox 360 like they keep saying they want to, it'll probably be amazing. So I'll see you on there… in two years. Good-day!

Though not as expansive enough to call it a true special edition, Devil May Cry 4 features a lot of fan-favorite additions and an attractive price that makes it well worth double-dipping (or triple-dipping if you originally started on console and moved to PC).

A worthy companion to the original series and one of the better Visual Novels available on consoles. It doesn’t quite have the narrative force that can hook people in like Steins;Gate or Danganronpa, but it is definitely the best possible medium for adapting the cyberpunk setting of the original series while letting fans spend more time with Akane and her team.

A bit more polish and refinement could have elevated this up from being a fun, violent game of American football to something a bit more exciting and special.

As of this writing, Ubisoft has created a live blog that promises to address all of the technical issues that is plaguing their high profile game. Considering their misplaced priorities, however, they hardly deserve a pass for releasing Assassin’s Creed Unity in the miserable shape that it’s in, which damages both this decent entry in the series as well as the very AC brand itself.

Forced is absolutely brutal, requiring constant team communication, clever problem solving and the mastery of combat skills. It can be an incredible amount of fun and is highly recommended for any group of gamer friends (casual gamers may get their asses kicked).

All in all there’s a lot of play here, although it is most fun playing with friends.

Total Annihilation and Command & Conquer perfected many RTS game mechanics and Machines at War 3 closely retreads their footsteps. If you can overlook the borrowing of ideas from these past classics there is much to enjoy, and some new experiences to be found.

Great character models, professional voice acting and initially enjoyable combat can’t make up for the other graphical and design mistakes.

It’s clear this game is aimed at the Games Workshop crowd, and those who understand what Blood Bowl is are the ones that will gain the most pleasure from the game. Others will have to fight through the game’s resistance to stop newbies from playing.

The biggest chunk of praise needs to go to Swordfish, though, who have managed to take what – on paper, at least – is an awful idea and turn it into a decent shooter, even in a very crowded market.

Warriors Orochi 4 doesn’t do much to advance the Orochi spin-off, but it does bring a return to the old formula, something fans will no doubt enjoy after Dynasty Warriors 9‘s misstep. It has the biggest cast of characters yet, a fresh story involving the legendary Greek gods and fun hack-and-slash gameplay. The issue is that it’s a very familiar core, even with the new magic mechanics, it isn’t another to shake that “it’s another one” vibe. With less modes than the previous entry and some changes that feel like the development was short on budget, Warriors Orochi 4 will give fans a fun past time hacking down hundreds of thousands of enemies, but this fails to become the best Warriors game to date.

They Are Billions' crucible of experimentation and failure molds players into rugged survivalists. The RTS-style resource management and tower defense test the ability to aptly devote time to the bare necessities that will fend off countless hordes of undead. Harder to master console controls may add an extra layer of tension but living another day remains the sweetest of rewards.

Compromised on a technical level, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus is not as polished of a port as it deserved to be (and probably could have been if the publisher was not so adamant about shipping the game in time for the Vita's launch). Some solace is taken in the fact that, at the very least, we finally have a workable version of a 3D Ninja Gaiden game running in the palm of our hands, but it still leaves you feeling let down by the whole sloppy affair.

If you've not played the Wii game then this is worth a rental at least, or maybe wait until its price drops to about £20, then it would be worth it. If you have played the Wii game though, just don't bother, there is nothing new here, and the slightly shinier visuals don't disguise the fact you are playing a slightly worse version of the same game.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls might not be as polished as the previous mainline games, but within this handheld adventure is still the fabulous, quality story and tone fans expect from something slapped with Danganronpa on the case.

The bizarre music and strange noises and beats do take away from the experience somewhat, but it’s still an enjoyable game.

The Last Tinker: City of Colors certainly has charm and a wonderful colour pallet that smothers the player in a warm and loving world. The issue is that many people won’t be engaged by the stripped down controls and limiting gameplay.

This is another strong narrative release for Dontnot Entertainment, it’s just a shame that it is in a genre that has to be more than that, so Vampyr, while I can recommend, just don’t expect it to hit the superb heights of action RPG classics of the last few years.

This is a review of the PC version, but in reality, Dirt 5 makes a good buy for people with shiny new consoles, having those people see the visual tease of what could be possible with the new hardware. Yet somehow, Dirt 5 finds its gameplay feeling at home in a 90s arcade machine, thanks to the flat handling. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but a change that fans will need to adjust to. Just please, don’t let me have to do any more Sprint events in the downloadable content that is planned in the future.

A basic platformer with the same old clichéd mobility tools and a pretty underwhelming world to be a part of just isn’t enough to make its mark these days, making Shu feel a little played out. It’s by no means a bad game, but hardly a good one either; it falls quite neatly into the comfortable, average middle-ground.

It’s excellent to see an action platformer on the Wii that is an original concept, and doesn’t fall prey to many of the routine mistakes of the innumerable other shoddy efforts that have been pushed out onto store shelves. However, I fear that Mushroom Men will fail to find its target audience and be overlooked, as the fact that it failed to make it into the Wii’s top 40 games in its first two weeks on sale appears to prove.

The short nature of this title may actually be its best aspect. It’s the perfect length for this type of comforting game – best played in a single sitting, with a quick break to grab a soothing hot drink and perhaps wrapped in a blanket. Carto exudes this nice, warm feeling through its simple, enjoyable nature and dainty design. It’s certainly not for everyone and the gameplay isn’t considerably fantastic in a vacuum but it’s something a little different and I’m happy I got to experience it.

There are so many of these 90s-inspired shooters that anyone who is a fan is having a field day with all the options available. Dread Templar becomes another solid entry in this subgenre. It offers a nice mixture of retro gameplay along with some more modern ideas with its skill tree and weapon modification concept. Dread Templar is a fast, fun, twitchy shooter that enjoys promoting the old through great-level design, hectic gameplay, pixellated visuals, and its groovy metal soundtrack. Dread Templar is a competent first-person shooter offering made for a certain audience, and I think the developer is happy with delivering a good retro-feeling shooter for those people to add to their video game collection.

As a game by itself it kind of feels empty and soulless. Get a mate to join with you and that is forgotten as the fun level rises considerably. It’s not a bad game in single player, but you feel as if it really was meant for humans and not COMs to play with you.

The game has a solid concept that it sticks to and evolves with new ways to play with its ageing mechanics that some players will be genuinely surprised at how smart the puzzles become. But, I cannot help but feel the game is missing that final polish, that spark that puts it on the same pedestal as Celeste and a few others. There are some irritating issues with the controls, which spoil what would otherwise be a quality puzzle platformer. I can say that fans of the genre will entertain with what Ageless delivers, and anyone who enjoys a challenging game, if sometimes frustrating, will find something to like here.

Moving to an open-world concept is a brilliant step forward for the Pokémon series, but currently, this release lacks the Nintendo quality that we expect from their published titles. In terms of mechanics, vision and gameplay elements of Pokémon, this is a shift in the right direction, and it only makes me get excited to see what future games do on new Nintendo hardware, whenever that arrives. I still recommend Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to fans of these wonderful little critters or to people who grew tired of the original formula, as the shift to an open world makes for a more exciting experience. Just be prepared to suffer from something that is very un-Nintendo like with this game’s inconsistent frame rates and the occasional glitch, which will put a dent in what should have been a wonderful new direction for the extremely popular creature collecting series.

The only thing I would have liked to have seen is more of it, although it does well with what little is already there. I mean, using bombs grown from special plants and strings of portals in conjunction with one another to map explosives down specific routes to destroy blockades is brilliant, and more so when used to fight crazed mutated forest animals, but it’s over all too soon when there’s so much space to expand. What’s worse is that as the story progresses and we learn more about the world and the origins of the living produce, a lot of darker questions begin to surface but none of them are really answered. The whole thing feels more like the showcasing of an idea, even though it does come full circle by the end. All I’m saying is that if we got to see more adventures of Turnip Boy in the future, it would be totally cherry.

The Glaive works well and is rather satisfying to use but this is offset by the old school use of ammo crates and parts of levels being sealing off, making it as linear as they come.

I have no qualms in recommending this game to fans of the Tower Defence genre and new-comers alike.

Having to drone through shallow plots and mysteries that the player figures out ages before Katrielle does just left me wanting to skip directly to the next puzzle or go back and play a much better Layton game. As mentioned, the puzzles and world are as marvelous as ever but I just can’t see myself recommending it to anyone who hasn’t already exhausted every other Professor Layton game first, especially when the physical copy is releasing at twice the price of the mobile version. I hate that I didn’t properly enjoy this entry and will just continue to hope that more Layton games (and movies please!) will come in the future. After all – a true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved.

In the end, Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed is a decent button-masher built around the polarizing Neptunia brand, with an overabundance of pointless banter that even the most hardcore fans may grow weary of.

The big question here: Is Off The Record different enough from the original Dead Rising 2 to warrant a purchase? For fans of the franchise the answer has got to be yes. There may not be loads added, but considering the budget price it is worth picking up, if only just to play as Frank West again.

If the prospect of playing an online fighting game that strikes a satisfying balance between old-school brawlers and modern action games appeals to you, I honestly can’t imagine that Anarchy Reigns will disappoint.

Despite the tedious missions, wonky controls and piss-poor visuals, it can cast a strange spell over you.

The Typing of the Dead: Overkill is similar to those outlandish B-movie films that people deep down enjoyed simply for the fact that they are stupid. This game takes a basic premise and runs with it. As it turns out, it’s still a lot of fun, even after experiencing the first The Typing of the Dead.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 takes the foundations that were built by the original Pirate Warriors, strips away the gameplay that it wasn’t confident about and sticks with what Warriors games know best – frantic action against waves upon waves of enemies while looking stylishly true to source material to please fans of the show.

In the end, Megadimension Neptunia VII can certainly be classified as the biggest and most competent Neptunia game to date, which may or may not sound as impressive depending how much of a fan you are.

In the end, Mantis Burn Racing manages to bring effortless controls and a superb handling model, while being an enjoyable skill-focused racer that gets by just fine with its lack of funky weaponry that often features in these top-down racers. Mantis Burn Racing inhabits an area of gaming that is rather mundane in its selection, and while it’s not the greatest racing game to come out this year, and its online suffers from a lack of players, it’s a solidly made top-down racer with a lengthy career mode and fun multiplayer that I can recommend it for for people who enjoy this now currently niche part of the genre.

Cookie Cutter stays true to the tried and tested metroidvania recipe. It does not try to do anything different in that respect, meaning fans of the genre know exactly what to be expecting with the game’s level design and progression. Where Cookie Cutter does stand out is more with its eccentric and loud visual design and fluid animation. Combat is a lot of fun due to how smooth it is. There have been a few melee-focused metroidvanias in the past and Cookie Cutter is a welcome addition to that group, bringing with it a violent and bloody adventure that is full of hi-octane encounters and great platforming controls that make up for the lack of innovation, varied environments and slight frustrations it brings to the genre.

As it goes, this game is better than last year's Edge of Time and should be considered if you're feeling the need to act out a Spider-Man fantasy without getting into your own costume and causing harm to yourself as you try to wall climb up your house wall. It's not amazing to do something like that, but it sure can be amusing, just like this game.

Moving to an open-world concept is a brilliant step forward for the Pokémon series, but currently, this release lacks the Nintendo quality that we expect from their published titles. In terms of mechanics, vision and gameplay elements of Pokémon, this is a shift in the right direction, and it only makes me get excited to see what future games do on new Nintendo hardware, whenever that arrives. I still recommend Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to fans of these wonderful little critters or to people who grew tired of the original formula, as the shift to an open world makes for a more exciting experience. Just be prepared to suffer from something that is very un-Nintendo like with this game’s inconsistent frame rates and the occasional glitch, which will put a dent in what should have been a wonderful new direction for the extremely popular creature collecting series.

As it goes, Under Defeat HD: Deluxe Edition is a solid shooter that I am happy was given the chance to come across to the UK and deliver gamers a good bit of challenging fun.

Tomodachi Life is the new life simulator game from Nintendo. But that doesn’t mean a boring 9-5 office simulator, it means more mad and crazy Japanese things to do with your Mii kinda game. Which, as far as anyone is concerned, equals awesome.

It's not good enough, frankly. The fun zombie-bashing can't sustain itself, and the plot, characters and setting aren't good or memorable enough to justify wading through the 20 odd hours it'll take to finish.

Boulder Dash XL is highly recommended for anybody who likes their arcade games with a puzzle element, young or old alike.

As a horror experience, Corpse Party is absolutely mandatory, and should be experienced in whatever platform that is available to you.

Those of you who do know your Ric Flairs from your Rick Rudes, this is a decent jaunt through the history of the biggest wrestling company on the planet, but the lack of depth means it just falls short of an essential purchase.

Even these best intentions cannot hide the fact the game never consistently hits the epic feeling most will feel it should.

Asura's Wrath is a game that goes into a rage and stomps on whatever we call the convention of video games. And you know what? I'm going to join in the stomping too, because the reason I play games is for refreshing engagements that entertain me, and Asura's Wrath hit the spot.

What’s frustrating is there are some elements that the game does well – your player moves with a weight that not many games on the Vita can match, and the story – while a bit ridiculous and cliche-ridden – still manages to be fun without too many groan-induced moments. But that’s a hard price to pay in exchange for the game’s other, poorer elements; there is a gem of a game hidden in Toukiden, and the universe of the game is one I’d like to revisit one day.

If you are looking for a game to play in your spare time, be it for 20 minutes or a couple of hours, and are fan of twitch-style first person shooters that require you to react fast (think Quake III or Unreal Tournament) mixed with a arcade, almost puzzle-like scoring system, then Xotic might just be up your alley.

This series has been disappointing so far. This episode is probably the best yet but the glitches and just general lack of improvement in the writing mean that it is still substandard. The last episode would have to be incredible to draw everything together into a meaningful arc which lives up to its predecessors.

Elven Legacy is mercifully conservative in its design, though it does not seem to be executed as smoothly as it should have been. With more time in development, future releases for the series should turn out to be more entertaining.

As it is, Zero is far too hampered by Nintendo's handheld to be worth a hearty recommendation.

With better MMORPGs already out there and seemingly more great ones coming, The Elder Scrolls Online is using the name to appeal to its large fan base, and I have no doubt some will enjoy, but for the rest, this game is an vacillating anomaly in a packed market.

The controls are intriguing enough to hook a player in and it’s quite fun to embrace the elementary mastery of them once they’ve become second nature and platforming through formidable-looking obstacle courses is a breeze. Plus, relaxedly exploring the 15 stages for collectibles (20 wisps and 5 coins per level) is made more enjoyable by the charming, bright design and chilled out tunes that accompany it, which is all it really aims to be – a laid back game that shows off a new angle for a bit of fun. No real replayability after the few collectibles or big skill wall to overcome, or even any kind of lesson to learn, but instead to almost act as a kind of sandbox for a new type of control system and whilst it could have been built on, it does do what is set out to do, just a bit lazily.

For only £8.99, Nano Assault Neo is a gorgeous, challenging game worth checking out. Just don't go in expecting the next Geometry Wars, and you'll be pleasantly surprised and forgive its shortcomings.

What you have here is two thirds of a good show that has been axed by the television network, leaving the studio to sort itself out, bringing an end to the season early, except what was offered for a closure was a cop-out, robbing The Detail of a truly satisfying ending that it deserves.

Trash Goblin has the basics of a cosy experience, offering a casual, low-stakes loop with charming characters and accessible mechanics. It’s pleasant, undemanding, and occasionally fun, but it rarely stretches beyond those foundations. The lack of failing mechanics keeps things relaxing but also dulls any sense of progression or challenge. As the systems begin to fade and repetition sets in, even the new patch content struggles to reignite that initial enthusiasm, it begins to lose its appeal. There’s enjoyment here, for sure, especially in short bursts, but it’s the kind of game you put down once the novelty wears off or the story wraps up. A fun little distraction, but not a noteworthy one.

Stranger of Sword City takes the fundamentals of the dungeon crawler and coats it with a twist of Japanese.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a fair stab at bringing something for the fans, a game that did not have enough time to be fleshed out, so had to bulk the journey out with its stamp collection, but overall, it’s a fair game, nothing too good or bad, just a game that I did enjoy for the most part, but tries to hinder that enjoyment with some questionable and generic quest padding.

It won’t blow your socks off mechanically, but people looking to just pick a car and drive in an exotic location without any complications will find fun here, it’s just a huge shame that Driveclub could have done with more work before being released in its the current state.

There is definitely something to like with Guardians of Middle-Earth and Monolith has done a good job breaking down the key points of MOBA and bringing it to consoles with its own controls.

The biggest chunk of praise needs to go to Swordfish, though, who have managed to take what – on paper, at least – is an awful idea and turn it into a decent shooter, even in a very crowded market.

Due to the game’s short length and easier 2-player difficulty, especially considering the second player’s unique special ability is to wipe out everything on the screen with a giant laser beam, an endless mode would have gone a long way. Of course, there is both a higher difficulty and New Game+, as well as silver and gold challenges for each level, but I still hope to see some extra two-player focussed content in the future. Fortunately, I’m still a good while away from completing everything for now and I’ll be passing that second controller to anyone I can get. Wunderbar!

Daytona USA is no doubt a lot of fun for an arcade racing game.

Destroy All Humans! was never trying to be a masterpiece back on PS2 and it still isn’t one now, however it is a fantastic remake and if you are a fan of the old game I don’t see why you wouldn’t love this. People have begged for a return to this franchise but I’m not sure a remake was the way to do it; I truly hope they reboot this franchise for newer consoles.

Everyone else who hasn't played Crush and is into puzzle games will no doubt enjoy Crush3D. As puzzle games go this one has an exceptional game mechanic that's driven with great level design and enough challenge to make your brain hurt. Marvellous!

Perhaps when all four episodes are released and the boasted 200+ microgames are all available it’ll be worth jumping back in for a few rounds, like you would with WarioWare, but until then I’d say it’s more like a comical RPG than anything else. A great time, but far from the ‘party’ experience some may go in looking for.

For the people on the lookout for a new RPG to play and especially the ones who are awaiting Blizzard’s Diablo 3, Sacred 2 might just pass the time for you. It won’t replace your Diablo 3 thirst, but it will give you something to play in the meantime.

Had Lost Dimension worked harder in building a cast of likeable characters, its Wild West premise of losing any party member for good would have been more impactful. That aside, the combat is fun despite its small frustrations, and the usual array of customizable skills and plentiful missions should prove to be another satisfying budget RPG experience, though with so many of those pouring in by the month, this game does run the risk of being buried underneath the rubble.

Lips disappoints by lacking in features in almost every area, and although the microphones set a new standard for future singing games to strive towards, the functionality is often worse than games nearly half-a-decade old.

It is an expertly crafted 6DOF game with tight controls, but the rogue parts of its cross genre appeal are rough enough around the edges to be problematic.

Given the problems with the previous episodes, I would class the whole game as a solid 8, though this episode in particular was an excellent, climactic and, above all, affecting foray into the mind of Michonne.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle has some shortcomings with its story mode, overall content and that awful microtransactions malarkey, but there’s no doubting that there is a solid fighting game at its core that anyone can have fun with.

Story Mode – Episode 1 hits or misses with its characters and presents a relatively anemic plot for later episodes to build on; less immediately captivating than its predecessors, yes, but Telltale has set out to find the perfect blend of action and heart – they haven’t found it yet – but in later episodes they just might.

An essential play for any fan of George Lucas’ creation. Unfortunately, the gameplay feels a tad repetitive, un-ambitious and never quite lives up to the superb storytelling.

It may be a B-tier RPG, but it’s a very well-made B-tier RPG that is just as addicting for JRPG fans as the A+ classics.

Ultimately, that is the very core of Deadly Premonition’s appeal; underneath the poor visuals and poorer gameplay, it still manages to surprise you once players dig deep into the story, an analogy that holds true about the fictional residents of Greenvale. It’s just unfortunate that what could have been the definitive version of the game ended up being the worst performing.

Even these best intentions cannot hide the fact the game never consistently hits the epic feeling most will feel it should.

A better journalist might make a little comment here, just to wrap things up, about how you were fighting for freedom in Red Faction: Guerrilla, yet as a gamer you had it all along. Despite liberating Mars at the end of that game, find yourself more restricted than ever in the follow-up. I'm not that guy.

Over the many hours that I played Parkasaurus, I have to say that I did feel very relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the simple yet goofy style picking out appropriate hats for all my dinosaurs. Going into this as a tycoon game you know exactly what is included but if you want an all singing all dancing experience then this game may fall a little short of your expectations. Hopefully in the future with more updates and steam workshop engagement there might be more to offer in the future and a reason to come back for more.

Crackdown was fun back in 2007, and Crackdown 2 offers a slight update to the core ideas brought to air in the original. Whilst those ideas still may be good however, they no longer feel all that special.

All in all it's another winner from the guys at Sega. Enough has been added to make it worth buying, while not messing with the perfection that made it a hit in the arcades over a decade ago. If you want to play tennis on your console it doesn't get any better than this.

Ultimately, the biggest problem with RotTK also happens to be its biggest strength. It makes no attempt to open itself up to newcomers, instead choosing to continue to revel in its deep historical accuracy.

A combination of cooperative gameplay and ferocious versus modes keeps things fresh in the game’s online multiplayer.

The game manages to do this throwback to Chrono Trigger with care, while throwing in a few new ideas of its own, even if some don’t work in its favour.

Whether or not Global Agenda is worth paying a monthly fee for entirely depends on the player, along with Hi-Rez Studios' commitment to pump out enough updates that justify the fees. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the game, but there's nothing particularly outstanding about it either.

The concept and the combat both give it a unique identity over Monster Hunter, and could lend itself to great things that help make it stand out. But the amateurish story direction and outdated control schemes hinder its chances to emerge from the shadow of Capcom’s multimillion dollar franchise.