I had a very enjoyable time with the game. It’s like the “dark side” alternative to Port Royale 4 from a couple of years ago. In that title, you were incentivised to play the “nice guy” and exploit the Caribbean’s resources in establishing trade routes that lined your pockets with gold. In Tortuga, you’re taking all that back (for yourself, not because you’re a Robin Hood), and it acts like the other side of a coin that, combined, does a great job of encapsulating one of the most dynamic, dangerous, and fascinating periods of world history.

A decent game that's fun to play, but is even more fun if you have a friend or two that can play with you. The online play is smooth and there are some hidden things that can be unlocked like more difficulty levels and more characters.

It might be irritating that there aren't enough licensed teams, but I do think the football purists will prefer the on-the-pitch action of this game.

I enjoyed Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star as a fan of the original. It was great getting more back story for several characters that were underdone in the original, as well as meeting new characters all in the holiday mood.

The Museum Archives are by no means the perfect collection - they're the wrong ports in that the NES ports rather than the arcade originals are in there, and there are many compilations that have more games in them. With that being said, there's not single dud game in this collection, and whether they're as well known as Pac-Man or as obscure as Dragon Spirit, they're all genuine all-time classics. You buy either of these collections and you'll be coming back to them for years to come.

Ultimately, Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders is a perfectly competent point-and-click detective game, competently ported to Nintendo Switch. It's more difficult to deliver a "great detective" story in a way that feels appropriate to the character and the players than most people would think, but the developers have done an admirable job here overall. Just do yourself a favour and resist looking up a guide. Not all the puzzles are perfectly executed, but for this game to have the right impact on you, you really do want to be solving each puzzle without assistance, even if that does mean that you feel like your Poirot's IQ has dropped a couple hundred points.

Omen of Sorrow is a missed opportunity. It should have been more extreme and followed Mortal Kombat in dancing with taboo. The Switch version also needed optimisation, because loading times are a killer to the fighter genre. Because it plays things too safe, this won’t be remembered as an all-time great example of the genre, however, it is still a bit of fun fantasy dark gothic action and, should there be a sequel, I would expect a more confident development outfit to really deliver on to the excellent potential this fledgling property has.

The Museum Archives are by no means the perfect collection - they're the wrong ports in that the NES ports rather than the arcade originals are in there, and there are many compilations that have more games in them. With that being said, there's not single dud game in this collection, and whether they're as well known as Pac-Man or as obscure as Dragon Spirit, they're all genuine all-time classics. You buy either of these collections and you'll be coming back to them for years to come.

These episodes have played out in roughly two hour chunks so far. It feels as though there are still numerous loose strings to be tied up. I cannot help but feel that although this next episode is meant to be the last, that we are also going to leave some questions unanswered as a setup for another season.

The Witcher 3 tells an excellent story and offers a massive, epic adventure, but the compromises made to this Switch version mean that this is a (significantly) lesser version of one of the most respected blockbusters out there. In doing that, a little of the magic and prestige behind The Witcher itself has been scrubbed away.

Once you wrap your mind around this added layer of complexity, it makes the Ardennes Assault experience both fun and challenging.

It might not have the stealthy educational value of Minecraft, but Ninjago is a well-produced and clean title, and I'd be able to buy this knowing that my child was going to get enough play out of it to tide them over.

It’s charming nonsense, and with plenty of additional options to replay levels to challenge yourself further, it won’t be a game you’re done with in a hurry either, once it has its hooks into you.

There's nothing unpleasant about Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story. It's easy to pick up and play for short bursts, and as a simulator, its simplicity makes for a nice change of pace. It's also charming and actually does offer an intriguing world and narrative. In just about every area, the game could also have been much more than it is, but everyone needs inoffensive time wasters too, and Valthirian Arc scratches that itch nicely.

There is so much potential for Operencia. Zen Studios has crafted a gorgeous, elegant dungeon crawler, with rich lore, interesting characters, and the team has demonstrated real talent with dungeon design - something that is by no means easy. Cleaning up the combat system so that it's not so exhausting and frustrating is all it would take for Operencia to be a top-tier example of the genre.

This is the most sterile take on an invasion from hell that we've had for some time. Strategy buffs will enjoy it nevertheless for the tactical brilliance the engine enables, but more casual fans would be better off sticking to Battle Academy, where the theme and gameplay are more closely entwined.

The long and short of it is that Worms Armageddon is a classic, both within the Worms series and multiplayer gaming in general. While today it might seem a little barebones in terms of content, and the online multiplayer features are far too limited for a game that relies entirely on the multiplayer experience, as far as the playability goes it’s still off the charts, and one of the best games you can treat yourself to.

The Last Birdling is a game worth playing, especially if you enjoy a story of tragic love and friendship. It takes a timeless premise and puts just enough of a unique spin on it to make it feel fresh.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition feels like a release schedule filler. While the multiplayer features are robust, they’re hardly innovative, and really it’s just a package of sliced-up classic games with a timer attached to them. I’d never call a game development project “lazy,” because they’re not, but the minimum work has gone into this, and while it will become a competitive obsession for a small minority, there could have been so much more done to draw in a much broader audience and really celebrate the deep heritage of these games (as well as Nintendo in facilitating competitive play).

It's a short game and doesn't get everything perfect, but it's also quite unique and has a strong narrative to it. And I do love a game with a strong female lead. This is also a game that feels that it has been released a little early, and by that I mean Adr1ft badly needs to be a strong VR experience when PlayStation VR lands. Then it will truly will be a game that will stick with me for a long time to come.

While Abyss Odyssey suffers from a few design choices that ultimately hold it back from greatness, its easily ACE Team’s most playable game to date, which doesn’t come at the sacrifice of the look and feel we’ve come to love with earlier titles.

Playing Exile’s End involves a lot more aimless running around than it should. It’s frustrating because these are all problems that have been solved as the Metroidvania genre’s developed over the years. When it’s allowed to shine, it’s a wonderful game that almost rivals the original Metroid, I just wish it didn't spend so much time getting in its own way out of a commitment to dated ideas about difficulty.

The Cruel King And The Great Hero is a lovely and loving adaptation of everything that people love about the fairy tale, with the charming premise of a girl that dreams of being a hero, and a gold-hearted dragon that makes that happen for her. I know we’re all feeling JRPG fatigue from the sheer number of them that have been released this year, but don’t let this slip past you. It almost did me, and that would have been a big pity.

Devil Survivor 2 is not even close to Atlus’ finest moment, but it is a very fine game nonetheless. It does a good job of offering a narrative with thematic depth, and mixes in well with some deep character development and monster fusing mechanics. If it wasn’t for the generally uninspired effort to pull the game into shape from a visual perspective, it would be in the running to be one of the better examples of the genre on a console loaded with them.

Sadly, I found later levels lost a lot of the game's early steam, as too much of the old "pixel perfect" platforming starts to creep in.

It’s not perfect, and it will frustrate many, but it’s a quality, solid effort nonetheless.

ADIOS is a game I think many people can enjoy. I also think each individual will get something different out of it, as long as they stick with it and get a feel for the inner workings of the game.

Ultimately it's a simple score attack, presented in minimalist, unpretentious manner. I'm a big fan of Cubixx. It's something that I kept coming back to for short bursts of play back on the PSP, and I suspect it will remain on high rotation on my Nintendo Switch for some time to come, too.

Trackmania: Turbo is a beautiful game that tries to set itself apart from the pack. It's definitely better than most, and it’s clear that Nadeo have become rather accustomed to making these games. As the first TrackMania to make its way onto the PlayStation 4, I do recommend it if it is your genre of choice. But note that, thanks to the uninteresting campaign track designs, how long the game can hold your attention for is definitely proportionate to how much time you might be willing to pour into the track editor.

On a whole, while Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus offers more than a dozen hours of content, it doesn’t offer much variety in terms of gameplay. That being said, the visual novel-like storytelling does add enough of an interesting plot and characters that, assuming you're okay with seeing them in underwear most of the time, makes this game worth playing through.

Anno 2205 is a stellar city-building experience that rewards and demands precision in planning. It makes the compromises that real city management requires central to its mechanics, and the strong environmental theme helps to make it contextually relevant today.

Super Mega Baseball 3 feels like the baseball games I used to love from a few generations ago. Liberated of the "depth" of modern sports games, there's an efficiency to the action that is appealing, and the gameplay modes that it does offer are all compelling. On the pitch, the difficulty curve is perfectly tuned, and while the game doesn't innovate and is ultimately destined to be the kind of thing that you pick up for short bursts of play at a time in multiplayer, the accessibility makes this one so much more appropriate for that than most other sports games out there. It's good, honest and clean entertainment, and that's something a lot of sports game developers have lost sight of in their efforts to monetise every moment of their content.

Jokes aside, the lack of personality in Project Highrise hurts it. You stop caring about whether tenants move in and out, or what happens to them while they stay. And then the whole game becomes an exercise in figuring out ways to exploit it to make it even easier for you. Which sounds harsh, I know, and I don't mean to be, because overall it is an admirable and mechanically sound simulator. It's just that for a genre that was in danger of fading to real obscurity, the renaissance that it has had over the last five years ago has left Project Highrise with a lot of catching up to do.

As a story-focused first-person adventure game, NERO is quite remarkable. It’s surreal, heartfelt, bittersweet, and thought-provoking, and that should have been more than enough to carry it without the need for shoehorned-in “gameplay”. As it is, it’s a very good game, but it would have been so much better if it hadn’t tried so hard to avoid the “walking simulator” criticism and just ran with its strengths.

The most heartwarming thing about this game is its a tribute to the lead developer's sadly deceased dog companion. For that reason alone anyone who has ever had a beloved pet really owes it to themselves to experience this one.

Five Memories Spent With You doesn’t hide why it exists – you’ll see your favourite girl (and all her sisters) in their bikinis within the first hour, but what you’re really building up to is the wedding dress scene. It’s quite sweet when it comes.

It’s fast paced arcade shooter style is a ton of fun, and considering the types of leaps and bounds it brought to the FPS genre, it’s no wonder that it managed to succeed all those years ago.

At times, Survivalist feels more like work than a game, as Joe scrambles for supplies with no real sense of progression. If you're in the camp which feels that a good survival game needs to feel like work at times, Survivalist is a good choice for its price.

The Vita version of this game is only the slightest touch beneath greatness, but there's a lot of competition out there for sports games, and being "portable" is not really an adequate excuse any longer for being significantly inferior to the home console version. Especially for a game that is as relatively simple as baseball.

Sugoroku isn’t a brilliant board game. It’s not Wingspan, or Catan, or Lords of Waterdeep. It’s not even Hero Quest or Talisman. But sometimes a game has cultural resonance beyond the entertainment value of its mechanics and systems. Sugoroku is as Japanese as Shinto, Kabuki, Pikachu and Sushi. And for that sociological reason, it’s actually worth having a take on Sugoroku and playing it. This one is actually one of the best examples of it.

STATIONflow is an interesting experiment in urban space design, with an eye for the utilitarian and an ultimately sympathetic outlook on the bureaucracy. All in all, meeting the demands of thousands of commuters is difficult, and the game is effective in teaching the player why inefficiencies tend to occur. It’s a very particular kind of person who would enjoy this – they’d need to like thinking on their feet, and coming up with practical (if a little boring) solutions to complex problems, only to be rewarded by the reassurance that nothing’s gone wrong. But as with most games which target a niche audience, there’s bound to be a dedicated following eager to enjoy what DMM Games have to offer.

Ticket to Earth is not a book by Sartre. One need not spend too much time assessing it in depth. However, the player is clearly not going to suffer the dreaded death by PowerPoint; the theme of the rich and powerful exploiting everybody else creates enough interest (and, sadly, relevance) to lift Ticket to Earth into more than just another tile based mobile game. It even meant yours noobishly had no problems whatsoever going through the grind required to upgrade my character to a level I could actually make progress with. I needed to know what’s going to happen!

Once I pushed past the odd tone and approach to the game, though, I had a really good time with this one. It’s not a classic by any means, but it’s different, interesting, and often quite clever. This is a developer with a bright future.

The game is unforgiving when it comes to the AI, and some players can learn from this while others will be destroyed constantly, which is unfortunate. With some tweaking here and there and adding difficulty levels, BRAWL could be amazing.

Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed is fun while it lasts. Though it is not for everyone, and though there is much more that could have been done to make the parody theme stronger, if you are willing to check your brain at the door, there is a good time to be had here.

There might be just a handful of people that this kind of experience would appeal to, but for that audience, it is enormously appealing. If you enjoyed the remakes of Famicom Detective Club that Nintendo published a few years ago, or have fond memories of stumbling your way through Shadowgate or Déjà Vu, then both this game and its predecessor are made specifically for you.

With all the lavish features of other SNK arcade ports to Nintendo Switch, Zupapa is one of the more distinctive and enjoyable that we've seen from this retro series for some time. It's one of SNK's lesser known classics, perhaps, but it's so bright, charming, and oddball that it's one you won't quickly forget.

There's nothing wrong with how Black Future '88 plays. It's actually quite exceptional. But there are a lot of exceptional roguelikes and hardcore 2D platformers, and Black Future '88 lacks the narrative or context that it really needed to stand out against its many competitors.

My least favourite in the series so far. I assume it will become a very important part of the narrative, but its highlights are few enough and far enough in between with the promise of more to come that it comes away somewhat less than its predecessors.

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is Inti Creates at its safest, working in a genre it is most comfortable with. That’s not a criticism, given how talented the developer is at this stuff. If you enjoy the older Castlevania games, you’re going to love this. At the same time, as confident as this production is, it’s hard not to wish that the team at Inti Creates had pushed themselves a little further for this outing. It’s just a little too safe for broader appeal beyond its main niche.

A fun little adventure that doesn't really take a lot of chances with a formula that was first established about thirty years ago. That might be playing things a little too safe, but it is also a testament to how good River City Ransom was that three decades later the core gameplay still holds up as an entertaining if somewhat shallow experience.

What makes Sky Force work so well, though, is the thought and care which went into keeping the gameplay balanced – and it’s hard to appreciate just how narrowly the game’s design teeters.

Fans of the Saints Row series will enjoy the expanded scope of Gat Out Of Hell and the new world. Everyone else may want to instead stick with Saints Row IV, which has been re-released on current consoles, before venturing into the underworld with the expansion.

With a handful of interesting chances taken with the combat and core mechanics of Classmating, it is a shame that the combat itself becomes a grind.

As a huge rugby league fan, Rugby League Live 3 is a fun, serviceable Rugby League simulator that any fan of the game would enjoy playing. This is no EA FIFA production for sure, because you're not going to find sports that are much more niche on a global scale than rugby league, but it's genuinely good to see that sports like this do get dedicated support from passionate developers.

There's all the usual Taiko charm in there, from the expansive range of silly costumes to dress your character in, to the explosion of bouncy energy in the background whenever you get on a roll. There's even online play, though I wasn't able to get a match going in my testing time (perhaps it's not the most popular of the 30 game drop to work through). I'm sure it'll catch an audience though. It is, after all, Taiko the Drum. That's a level of charm that is difficult to resist.

Refind Self is a compelling narrative experience. One that you might just learn something about yourself from in the process. It might not be scientific, but it’s one of the better pieces of introspection we’ve seen coming out of game development.

I like what The Golf Club 2 has to offer. It is a really solid representation of the sport both in terms of mechanics and the overall aesthetics. Because of the course editor, you have a plethora of options you can use to create the course of your dreams, or just play those made by other people. The possibilities are limitless. However, some technical issues still linger and the career mode could use some additional depth as The Golf Club takes some small steps in the right direction.

With the likes of Bravely Default, Fire Emblem and Etrian Odyssey IV already being readily available on the console, Untold is more of a curiosity; a remake of a game that people can already play on the console that plays classically well, but ultimately feels a little limited for any but the faithful.

Really, the only thing that RAD is missing is Richard Simmons. As a game, there's a bit of a misfire in that the one area where RAD looks to distinguish itself from its peers actually hurts more than it helps, but the core action remains sound, and the nostalgia trip back to my childhood was like a precious gift. I question just how many 30-somethings are out there looking for a new time-draining roguelike to play, but regardless of just how niche RAD's audience turns out to be, I'm very glad that Double Fine gave it a crack.

So, while the horror might be a little too much of a pastiche for its own good (it does go places sometimes, but a "haunted letter", Ring-style, is a shoddy hook in 2021), there's something very readable and enjoyable about The Letter. It's not particularly deep, but it's significantly better than amateur standard, the editing is clean, and you can just tell that this was a labour of love for the development team. It might not be an Otomate production, but this is of a standard that well exceeds most other indie visual novels.

It’s a cool little game that pokes fun at a lot of what is wrong with AAA First Person Shooters, and a lot of it is still relevant today. I'd just avoid playing through as Duke Nukem.

It's clear that the same effort that went into historical research in other Assassin's Creed games did not happen here. Rather, it's quite obvious that the team did an afternoon's research on Wikipedia and called it a day.

I really like CastleStorm, and I’m so pleased with what Zen Studios has done to make the VR version of it a meaningful upgrade.

Taken exclusively as a rhythm game, there is so much to appreciate about Metronomicon. It does bring some new tricks to a genre that often feels quite stale for ideas, and has a truly killer soundtrack. But, this was meant to be a mix of RPG and rhythm games, and Metronomicon did let me down with the former.

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom isn't going to turn heads or win awards, and it's not quite to the same standard of refinement as Rideon's tactics JRPGs tend to be. With that being said, it offers an enjoyable, pleasant and pleasing way of spending time in-between meatier fare, and the efficient and bubbly approach makes it very easy to pick up and play. Kemco has a habit of working with some really terrible developers, but between this and Marenian Tavern Story Kemco has found a partner that can produce the kind of cut-price JRPGs that it likes to publish while maintaining a standard that means they're still worth playing.

I might constantly rail against the industry's obsession with content, but that's because I firmly believe that artistic quality comes from any artwork being only as big as it needs to convey the full weight of its themes and ideas. Most games are far too long for that, trying to spread too little thematic depth over too much gameplay. This is a rare example of things being the other way around. There's so much potential here that the developers should have done a lot more with it. It's genuinely good fun while it lasts, and that's why I'm scoring it this high. Just don't expect to get more than an hour or two of game, with another hour or so for finding the best locations for topless photo sessions with this game's large... levels.

Monster Combine TD isn’t totally polished or totally original but it bears the markings of an eShop sleeper hit. If you’re in the mood for portable tower defence action with a comedic twist, Collavier has you covered.

The game is about as long as a movie, making it short at three or so hours in length, but I enjoyed the ride. The gameplay is a tad weak due to the puzzles being very easy to figure out, but realistically you are in this one purely for the storytelling. Also, the game has a satisfying ending which a lot of games seem to be lacking these days.

There's nothing outwardly wrong with Arcaea. The presentation is beautiful, there are some foot-tapping tracks in there, and there's certainly a generous amount of content to enjoy. It's just way too late to the party for something that isn't meaningfully different to its peers. The music's enjoyable, but not stand-out, the gameplay is too-familiar and while it does have a lot of pretty girls and that is a very nice thing, is not going to help it become a memorable, standout example of a genre that the Switch is already over-subscribed with.

With that being said, Maid of Sker is still hugely entertaining, especially for people that are aware of the literary traditions that it's tapping into. As an aesthetic, it's probably a little nuanced and subtle for its own good (let's face it, the video game sector isn't big on rewarding nuance and subtlety), but it's great and distinctive. It's just disappointing that the development team struggled so hard in their efforts to make a compelling game to go with it.

If you’re a fan of clever puzzle-platformers and have a co-op partner who is the same, then Biped is bound to bring you hours of delight. If you can quieten that whisper in your brain going “but why can’t you just jump”, then the game’s inventive puzzles and clever iterations on its mechanics will easily win you over. It’s almost sad that Next Studios doesn’t seem to be interested in sticking with this genre, or outputting something else that’s happy and co-op based in the near future: they’ve certainly proved with Biped that they’re very good at it.

I ended up having a lot of fun with Dex, though playing it through at the same time that I was reviewing The Technomancer was a bit unfortunate for it. In belonging to the same narrative genre as a game that will be right up there with my favourites this year, Dex’s pulpy and limited narrative was disappointing. Thankfully, as an RPG/platformer, it still largely works, and will certainly help you kill off a rainy weekend or two.

I feel audiences will be alienated by the overwhelming focus on dying and starting over, but take out the death and what remains is a simple, lifeless game about cubes.

Frontline: Road to Moscow won’t win any prizes for originality, and it’s not quite in the same league as genre heavyweights such as Battle Academy or Unity of Command.

But, again, I found the soul of Langrisser to be well and truly in the right place, and while I don’t believe it is a classic game, I also don’t believe for a moment that it deserves the commentary it has been getting to date.

So while SD Gundam G Generation Cross Days may not be for everyone, I would definitely recommend it to fans of the series and fans of turned based tactics. With all of the series and side stories available to play, not to mention the sheer number of available units, there is more than enough to keep you busy for a long while... and this is just the start. This one has a season pass, and the promise of adding even more suggests that this game may well become a hobby in its own right.

There’s room for improvement, and it’ll be interesting to see how that takes shape, given that they’ve said the plan is not for annual sports game style releases, but instead iterative development over many years. Maybe adding in a cage match, smoothing out some of the games’ slightly rougher animations, even if they are hand-drawn, and adding commentary would be good for a start. Yes, I know, I’m asking for them to add in even more DLC, but it seems like that’s what they actively want to do here, and it might just be the right approach for the challenger brand.

If you happened to play Sniper Elite V2, you already have a good idea of how Sniper Elite III plays - but this latest iteration does everything a bit better. With less than a dozen maps, relatively lacklustre story and questionable enemy AI, Sniper Elite III is a flawed but enjoyable game nonetheless.

Immortal Redneck is a blast of a game in a genre that we don’t see enough of. It’s not the first roguelike FPS that we’ve seen on PlayStation 4, and I wouldn’t say it’s the best, either. It does, however, have an exceptional aesthetic, clever level design, clean action, a decent difficulty curve, and plenty of longevity. A very worthy action game indeed.

Aside from being an imperfect port, Concordia is an excellent digital board game for Eurogame veterans. That's a fairly small niche on Switch and I do think most people will be happy with Wingspan, but if you do like your board games to be smart and engaging, this is one that you don't want to overlook.

Like a lot of of titles in this genre, Ark: Survival Evolved has a steep learning curve and requires quite the time - and possibly financial - investment. But once you get into the rhythm of it, the endless need to survive, set against the simple satisfaction of slowly building up your capacity to do so, makes this a game that could well turn into a hobby for you, all in itself.

The actual run time of the DLC is short, too. Too short. Perhaps because the puzzles and level structure of Sunken King provided more trial and error and time spent experimenting with the layout, it took me longer to work through that one. So, while this expansion is still fun, it's the least worthwhile addition to the Souls experience to date.

I didn't think I would like this at first but the game soon grabbed me and pulled me into a wonderful story and well thought out characters.

You know what you’re getting from it, but by the end of it, if you play enough games in this genre, you will probably be itching to play something a little more creative.

The band of people interested in Princess Maker Go!Go! Princess would have to be very narrow, but it does provide a sound board game experience, backed up with some lovely art and a charming theme. It's also worth noting that the publisher is bringing one of the Princess Maker titles to Switch in English, and while I suspect they would have been better off reversing the order of these two releases, I imagine they will compliment one another very nicely. The Switch has proven to be impressively robust when it comes to digital board games, but the anime trappings of this one help it to stand apart.

Even with some of the issues that mean it might only be for JRPG fans – especially the dungeon crawling monotony, this is, nonetheless, yet another feather for the JRPG cap for the Nintendo 3DS, and represents yet another reason to settle in with your 3DS for dozens of hours of fantasy fun.

Horror is a very natural fit for the technology, but some awkward juxtapositions between Here They Lie’s art direction and theming, and the critical lack of physical feedback after providing such a sensory overload in other ways, is perhaps an argument that the best horror experiences we’ll see on VR will be the “walking simulators” that focus on psychological fear rather than physical threats.

Two Point Hospital is wildly entertaining, with a great sense of humour and production values that pop with light-hearted, satirical style. It's worth playing through if for no other reason than to see what zany diseases and treatments you'll need to deal with next. It's just odd that for a game with such strong nostalgia for Theme Hospital it would neglect to recreate the challenge that was such a feature of those early-era simulators. Still, that's me showing my age, I know, and I can't imagine anyone failing to come out of Two Point Hospital with a giant smile on their face. If nothing else... it's a great cure for boredom (okay, I'm sorry, really. In my defence, I did resist getting that stupid joke out until right at the end).

Toodee and Topdee could have been something truly essential if the developers had have funnelled the creative energy that they put into the puzzles and mechanics into some other areas of game design, too. Unfortunately, the game doesn't have the personality, aesthetics or energy to stand toe-to-toe with the big guns. But the puzzles themselves show a confident understanding of good design and creativity. Ultimately that is the most important thing for a puzzle game, so hopefully, the developers get the chance to revisit what they've done here with a slightly broader vision. This team clearly has talent in spades.

Perhaps I am slightly biased because of the movies, but I felt as though the game was stronger during the latter portions of the adventure - just as I believe Desolation of Smaug was far better than An Unexpected Journey.

Buried Stars could have been a 5/5 game, easily. Unfortunately, the narrative thought behind the game really relied on me having a personal interest in the characters and their plight, and thanks to the inelegant and overly literal localisation, it became impossible to see them as anything but constructs and narrative tools. Buried Stars is still good enough to work as an academic thought exercise, but I do wish I understood Korean, so I could play the game the way it should be.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a game that really struggles to find the new voice that Resident Evil so needs as a franchise. It’s incredibly well designed and executed, and you’re not going to find a game that does VR better than this one. But it’s a confused game, sending out all kinds of mixed messages that suggest the development team - and especially the writers - have a better idea of what makes for horrific imagery than they do of horror as a storytelling genre. As a real fan of horror, and someone who has studied it for years, this is what doesn’t sit so well with me.

E.T. Armies is a well-made indie FPS with a few caveats that occasionally detract from a mostly enjoyable experience.

This isn't my kind of genre at the best of times, and I don't think it's the finest example of the genre, not as long as its core potential - to offer strategic combat - is ruined by obnoxious players. But I do think this is a well-crafted game and it's a fair call to say it's the finest attempt at a serious, "hardcore", free-to-play experience out there is probably justified.

In terms of the gameplay, level design and overall pacing, The Old Blood has learned a handful of lessons and made the appropriate tweaks to improve the play experience from its predecessor. Unfortunately some of the spark that make last year's game oddly inspiring is gone, which makes it decent fun for shooter fans, but ultimately unsatisfying for anyone beyond that.

It's a good start to the franchise, with opportunities to expand upon the world there, add some story context and hopefully flesh out the experience further.

More a series of small improvements than anything major, WWE 2K17 is a great deal of fun for wrestling fans.