Cladun is limited, in the sense that it’s a game with an incredibly basic gameplay loop, and little beyond that to keep the attention of players. With that being said, it’s a game that stuck a big ol’ smile on my face, and that wasn’t just because I had Hatsune Miku shooting off hearts in all directions. Cladun is, at core, a lot of fun, and manages to take the most basic of gameplay loops that you could imagine in a video game, and make something eminently worthy out of it.

One thing’s for sure: if you're not Nintendo hardware equipped but wish to taste forbidden fruit, then at least until Zelda goes mobile World to the West is probably one of the finer ways to to experience easy going, family friendly, lightly puzzling and very cute gaming. I certainly loved it, and if I was to offer personal advice in two words I would simply tell you: Go West!

Injustice 2 is a very solid fighting game that has not changed a whole lot mechanically from the last offering. Visually it is a step forward, but the narrative is a step back. I cannot entirely share the feeling that this is going to be a title that is meant to milk out additional money via a combination of microtransactions and DLC, which is a bit of a turnoff, but the variety of modes and quality roster do help to take the sting out of that, because there is already so much content available.

If you’re going to play Farpoint, then be absolutely sure that you get the lightgun. It adds everything to the experience, making the game one of the most immersive and fundamentally enjoyable shooters that I’ve ever played.

It’s a deep, complex, stylish game that blows every other fighter out of the water, but made surprisingly accessible through things like the Stylish control scheme and a Combo/Mission modes that serve to teach useful, practical combos and strategies. It’s still got its RPG-like M.O.M mode that lets you level up and customise your character, it’s still got an eccentric but oddly moving story, and it’s still got the sort of kickass soundtrack that only Daisuke Ishiwatari can come up with.

The strongest part of Regalia was its multitude of lovable characters, and any interaction with them was where the game really shone; there just weren’t enough of those opportunities to carry the more cumbersome elements. Those new to JRPGs likely won’t have the same jaded lens to view this game through, but I maintain that for Regalia to have really made an impact, it would have had to aspire to more than being a tribute to those who have gone before.

You just need to look at something like Theatrhythm Final Fantasy to realise that when people really love a franchise, taking the music from that franchise and turning it into a rhythm game can be a magical experience. But then people pay a lot of money to go to symphonies of Final Fantasy music. As my old mates Dunning and Kruger would always say: people should know their limits. The Legend of Dark Witch franchise is far too limited and nowhere near of the standard where its music is ready stand alone, and Rudymical is just not worth playing on any level.

By the end of Spirit of Sanada you’ll have learned something, enjoyed the prettiest Warriors game to date, and seen just how far Koei Tecmo’s been able to take this series, so that it’s no longer purely an action game. With Spirit of Sanada, we see a future for the Warriors franchise where every battle and event is given context and purpose, and it’s a far deeper and more rounded experience for that.

It's quite unfortunate for the sake of the game that Utawarerumono just happens to come out in a rare period when there are a lot of tactics RPGs to choose between. Fire Emblem and Disgaea both have far higher profiles, and those respective games will get the bulk of the attention, but for something a little more beautiful than Disgaea, a little more humorous than Fire Emblem, and genuinely focused on the narrative, Utawarerumono is my pick of the bunch.

LocoRoco can be confusing, wearisome and infuriating at times, but it’s still impossible to stay mad at it for long. It’s a happy game without gratuitous conflict or drama, and its sheer optimism alone prevents its shortcomings from ruining the grand vision. It’s a game which just works, and without a doubt, the PS4 remaster is the best way to experience it.

Fire Emblem Echoes offers some really neat ideas for how the series could progress onto the Nintendo Switch now. Free roaming dungeons just has to become a thing. But the series has moved on from the kind of narratives that it used to tell, and just like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS was quickly forgotten within the context of the series, I don’t think people, a decade from now, will still be talking about Fire Emblem Echoes. It’s a game for the here-and-now, made to give the 3DS one of its last hoorahs with a major franchise before all of Nintendo’s developers move fully to the Switch.

Boiling things right down, Caligula asks a question that’s really quite dear to my heart: “what if Hatsune Miku gained sentience and convinced us all that we would be better off living in a universe with her as queen?” I must admit that, were it me, I’d end up as one of the “villains” in this game, as I’m quite on board with that; but joking aside, The Caligula Effect looks, on the surface, like a bit of B-grade nonsense for a console well out of the mainstream’s attention. The great irony about that is that it’s far more pertinent and relevant, and asks genuine questions, about a topic that is going to be a significant sociological discussion point for generations going forward.

Obviously, your own mileage will vary. If you're into arcade stuff, No Stick Shooter will excite. If your persona is after a game to clear your mind of the latest 150 hours plus of a JRPG turn based saga, No Stick Shooter will delight. And if you’re simply wondering where you fall on the arcade spectrum these days, No Stick Shooter will give a better start.

A love letter for fans, a final send-off for some beloved characters and fitting conclusions to endearing storylines. The likeable characters kept me interested and never left me feeling as though the development team had gone to the same well too many times, despite some reused locations and bosses. If you are okay with a considerable shift in overall gameplay, exchanging actual exploration on world maps for doorways leading to more focused events, then Trails in the Sky the 3rd is going to be highly satisfying.

The main point here is that Nippon Ichi has done a spot-on job with Disgaea 5 in porting it to the Nintendo Switch. This is one of the best tactics JRPGs you can play. It’ll last you a long time, become more rewarding the more time that you put into it, and runs just perfectly on the Switch’s hardware. You could not ask for a better portable game than this.

Let's take a step back and examine Block'hood from a distance: it's a city-building game with charming retro-styled graphics. With every step closer, with every minute longer played, the end goal becomes increasingly clear: showcasing the pressure our precious planet is currently under due to increasing human demands and decreasing natural resources. In general, I think humans know what's coming. It's the reason those huge blockbusters films about disasters do so well: no matter where we are from, what language we speak, we know that we are pushing the planet too far and possibly past the point of no return. We're scared. So some people fight it (science!) and other prefer to flee (and pretend the threat isn't there), but we're all watching and waiting. Block'hood means I no longer have to wait. I know where the world is going. And I think I'd like to get off the ride now.

This combat system is a lot of fun. Each character does have distinct abilities and a role in the battlefield, and the action is fast enough that you’ll need to think quickly as you play. The crowning achievement of combat is the super attacks that you work towards (usually in time for the boss battles).

For all its mechanical competency, The Surge feels as mechanical as its enemies through most of the experience. No where near enough was done with the science fiction theme, and after catching my attention with an intriguing set up, the game then lost me with a generally dull plot that it was never quite able to claw back.

Not every game needs to be innovative, however, to provide thoughtful entertainment, and Period: Cube most certainly provided me with that in good measure.

A mixed offering, but one that could serve as a fantastic foundation for Coffee Addict Studio to build on in future games.

A new NBA arcade game will always be something to get excited about. Many of us have fond memories of dropping coins into those arcade cabinets back in the day. A game that can capture that raw sense of fun, while modernising the more archaic elements would instantly become one of the most entertaining games of the year. I’m sure the developers went into NBA Playgrounds with the most noble of intentions, but this game is not the NBA I remembered. This game is one that young me would never have considered to be worth my allowance.

This is the kind of indie game that hurts to review, because the intent to do something fun is clearly there, but it’s just not a good game at all.

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.

What Flinthook does do well is keep the variety of enemies, rooms, and environments strong from start to finish, and, generally speaking, the difficulty curve is reasonable. There’s always the risk that random elements means a game will take massive momentary spikes in difficulty when you get unlucky and the algorithms work against you. Flinthook avoids that, and progress through the game does feel good, but it struggles to be compelling.

The level design is generally good, albeit quite generic. It’s not like Butcher has many surprises for the players, but the action flows nicely and the game knows how to be punishing without feeling unfair. All in all, it's a generally smooth game let down by its idea of scale.

Plasma Puncher is a gorgeous, difficult and sometimes frustrating game. The excellent production values are overshadowed by some minor technical inconsistencies, but while I could spend all day complaining about the small stuff, the real weakness is a lack of gameplay depth.

Dawn of War III feels like a little bit of every other game that the franchise has churned out so far, but whether or not it will stand the test of time is uncertain; I’m already having trouble pinpointing anything particularly memorable about the campaign that doesn’t involve particular factions having really cool units. Being a fan, I probably hold this game a little closer to my heart than others will. Perhaps those keeping it at arm’s-length will be far enough away to not notice the imperfections.

Even with something as pedestrian and well-canvassed as arena mode DLC, Yoko Taro found a way to do what he does best: question our fundamental understandings of things we tend to just take for granted, and tear at the fabric of the circular logic that holds those things together. Arena modes are the purest form of the idea that combat is the pinnacle of fun in games, so Taro made an arena mode that undermines that very foundation. The best part, though, is what comes after you’ve finished all three colosseums (and no, I’m not talking about the well-publicised CEO boss fight). The arenas represent maybe three quarters of the DLC, and thought-provoking as they are, they’re not a patch on the final chapter. I’ll leave it at that, because it’s best discovered with as little prior knowledge as possible, but suffice to say that 3C3C1D119440927 is a lot, lot more than just an arena mode with some costumes attached. It's an insightful look at the very nature of arena modes and games' general obsession with violence, and the perfect epilogue to the greatest game ever made.