Tennis in the Face is indeed a fun and funny game, but is it worth paying for? Given the fact that it's a wholly unoriginal game that barely distinguishes itself from its (free) peers, I would say no. One suspects that, at some point, the developer will be better off releasing a free version.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is a very attractive game that clearly had some effort put into the visuals. Beyond that, the title offers more tactical gameplay than most shooters on the market. The biggest sin that the game commits is that it just offers so little overall content.

So did the third episode of Minecraft Story Mode set a good precedent for the remainder of the series? Absolutely. Did it clear the bad taste left behind by episode two? Absolutely not. It makes me hopeful for episodes four and five to continue the upswing, but I’m hesitant to believe it will.

Highly atmospheric, beautiful, and smart in the way it engages the player, it’s the kind of independent game that can only ever hope to find a niche audience because it never meets the mainstream expectations of what a game should offer. But for those that do discover it, it’s yet another clear example of the emerging arthouse game development scene; games designed first and foremost as works of art, and piece of entertainment for consumption second (if that factors into consideration at the developer’s end at all, that is).

There have been a lot of retro games over the last few years, but I have found the ones that tend to be the most successful are the ones that blend in some sort of modern convention. In this case, the resource system that allows for ship improvement is easily the best part of what is otherwise a solid if unspectacular shooting game. If you enjoy a good retro shooter, Zotrix should be pretty appealing.

If the idea of truly great dungeon exploration appeals to you, Ruzar is a must buy. It's rare that you see a game focus so deliberately on one facet of their genre's appeal, yet Ruzar manages it and absolutely nails it too. Just don't go in expecting a deep character building experience or a rich plot - you're going in alone, and it's just you against the dungeon.

More than anything else, though, I badly wanted more from SteamWorld Heist, and that’s a reflection of the quality that’s already in there. I wanted more storytelling, I wanted more missions, and more variety in them. What’s there is genuinely entertaining – the kind of game that you will sit at for hours because it does a remarkable job in building the “just one more turn” compulsion. But there’s just not enough of it.

More than anything, it's the crushing lack of originally that really does let down Baseball Riot.

The base gameplay in Mayan Death Robots is quite entertaining. I certainly enjoyed the pacing, and could appreciate some of the tactical depth lurking beneath its humorous, brightly coloured surface. But lacking online multiplayer as it does, this is going to come across as a severely limited game to too many people for its own good.

The tactical strategy on offer is complex and rich enough that you’ll want to master it, and the touch interface works so well that this is really the definitive version. In a year loaded with quality Aussie-developed games, Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy flew a little under the radar, but it deserves notice as one of the best games we’ve produced in quite some time.

I highly recommend playing Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair with a friend or three. And then, only if you're all fans of incredibly cheesy science fiction films. If you can get the right group together, the fact there are over 100 levels to play through means this will be a lot of long-lasting fun.

Hot off the heels of the recent Kromaia Omega, which defied genre conventions at every turn, DariusBurst is there to remind players that traditional 2D shooters can still put up a fight. The arcade mode alone provides dozens of well-spent hours to genre fans and is enough to cover up for the gratuitous padding elsewhere.

Teslagrad is a sound platforming title with enough puzzle elements backing it to keep the game interesting. These hooks are needed, because the story itself is effective but undercooked with the lack of any text or dialogue. Difficult, and even sometimes unfair, boss battles and checkpoints diminish what is otherwise an excellent game. I thoroughly enjoyed working through the levels and discovering hidden items along the way.

So, while Yo-Kai Watch is pitched firmly at children, I found it to be utterly delightful, absorbing, and lengthy. I'm about 60 hours in, at the end of the main quest, but still have enough side quests to keep me going for a while.

The goodwill that it builds at the start does starts to suffer as you realise just how limited the spelling mechanic can be, and start to run into the rough edges around he platforming.

While I appreciate that multiplayer is always going to be the core of the Mario Tennis experience, the complete absence of any kind of single player meat to go with the local and online multiplayer is another blow against it.

I did not know a thing of Cage’s work prior to reviewing Beyond: Two Souls, but the excellent storytelling, the spot-on acting and the technical prowess that explodes out of the PlayStation 4 has made me a huge fan instantly.

It's simple enough for people of all ages to enjoy, and, as I've already mentioned a couple of times through the review, it's utterly adorable.

On the hardest levels of difficulty, I win more than 90 per cent of my games in titles like NHL, Madden, FIFA and NBA, but there I have the ability to more directly influence how the games play out. Here, it is about strategy, development and then learning the complexities of the game. This can make it difficult to find success, but I have found that it can be attained if you are patient and willing enough to stick with it.

I do believe that Rodea could have been a good little game. The ambition it has going for it is certainly appreciable, but ambition not put to good use is ambition wasted. Unfortunately, despite being one of the few high profile third party Wii U games, Rodea is a dud.

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.

Primal Carnage: Extinction certainly sets itself apart from other online multiplayer shooters out there. With a few different modes and a couple of maps for each mode thrown in, there is some degree of fun to be had in the game. How long that fun lasts though is simply based on how much enjoyment a person can get out of online shooters in general, and just how much patience they have for balancing issues and mechanic design flaws.

Something worth a play, but that I wouldn’t consider returning after the first completion.

The problem is that it’s not a game that will convert anyone who isn’t already a fan of the sport, and fans of the sport will really struggle to enjoy a game that ultimately fails to capture so much that is core to the essence of their sport.

Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter is a perfect sequel to the first entry. It offers some subtle improvements, while also keeping the focus on what Legends of Heroes does best; that narrative. It's traditional, but classy, and well worth the time it takes to play through it all.

Tenshu General is a competent adaptation of a tabletop style board game. Unfortunately, its lack of depth, content and narrative leave it feeling like merely an engine with good ideas and not much more.

More than anything else it's nice to see Koei Tecmo continue to support the PlayStation Vita. Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires won't convert anyone who isn't an existing fan of the series, and I've got to admit that after playing the recent Nobunaga's Ambition, I can't help but wish Koei localised the PlayStation Vita version of that instead, as I've already got a lot of Warriors games on my Vita, but nothing that approaches the depth of Nobunaga's Ambition. Those personal issues aside, this is a content-loaded, engaging, and entertaining entry into the Warriors series, and well worth playing for anyone who likes their action a little more cerebral.

Star Wars Battlefront is fun, but it doesn’t take long for that fun to be reduced to monotony.