The Layer of Fear devs deliver some effective horror with a side of smart ideas, though it's not without its faults.

Although this doesn't exactly break the mould, figuring out Da Vinci's secrets is generally a pleasurable stroll through a variety of well-crafted and largely logical puzzles and mini-games. The lack of psychotic monks and professors of symbology is an added bonus.

Despite the criticisms, Team 17 has still managed to pull off an impressive evolution of a much-loved series. The core game has remained barely unchanged, but the 3D engine introduces a lot of unexpected elements to get used to, both good and bad.

It would be easy to score this game as plain mediocre. After all, it essentially works, displays a misguided and seemingly half-hearted attempt at innovation, looks pleasant enough, passes the time and will likely meet the low expectations of its surprisingly large fanbase. But should such calculating mediocrity be continually excused?

For the poor, deprived Cube owners out there that have been thus far denied the chance to strut their stuff in front of their TV, this is easily the best Dancing Stage title on any platform.

To be presented with this utterly misguided and ill-conceived attempt to reinvent one of the best strategy-RPG series of the last two decades seems criminal and unfair. It’s a mammoth level grind, bringing together some of the action-RPG genre’s very worst conventions while leaving out some of the best.

The real disappointment, aside from the painful hand-holding of the main storyline, is the glint of true potential the game's main mechanic shows at times.

For me, though, Your Doodles Are Bugged strayed perilously close to feeling like work.

With more tricks, more variety in the Solo section, and most of all without restricting your access to the bloody tricks you paid for, this could have been surprisingly successful. As it is, it's surprisingly not awful, but very limited.

If you should spot Speed Racer in a bargain bin, and fancy a few hours of simple, entertaining arcade racing, it's worth a look.

On paper, this is just the kind of iOS tie-in fans often ask for: it's faithful to the source material, filled with familiar systems and details, and it's even made a decent attempt at matching the graphical style of the main game. It's Deus Ex in cross-section, but although so many of the right pieces are in place, the energy and skill that usually brings the whole thing to life is missing.

Supermassive's Dark Pictures anthology gets off to a promising start, but this first nautical instalment winds up a little too promptly.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is actually a very good simple basketball game, but the simplistic AI and chaos factor often prevent that from shining through.

Chrome isn't a dreadful game, really. It's just so deeply, incredibly average in every aspect of its gameplay that our enthusiasm for it went limp the very moment we bumped off our first enemy grunt.

Super Stardust Portable is still an exemplary Western shooter, but for fans of the PlayStation 3 original, there is little here to inspire repeat purchase, the convenience of portability offset by the hardware's other limitations.

It's cute and clever, then, but still more than a little clunky.

Controller novelty value can't disguise its one-trick limitations or the vanilla production values, and there's no doubt that it should have been released at a budget price. One to rent, then.

That sense of creating security from the environment, of making home, of surviving, is enticing and exciting. But if only it would just give you the time to play it.

A winningly nasty turn-based cult sim with beautiful monochrome art and surgical orchestral audio. [Recommended]

What the game lacks in ambition and depth, though, it makes up for in the ageless pleasure and pain of a finely-balanced multiplayer battle. The ability to dip in and out for a quick, engaging match is a compelling proposition on a handheld. But after seven long years, it's a shame there aren't bigger ideas to rally around.

It's a game that adds up to less than the sum of its parts. Undeniably, Thief suffers greatly by comparison to Dishonored - its more coherent, more thoughtfully and successfully designed cousin, in whose shadow Garrett and his game now cringe.

When Aeon Flux isn't busy being average, it's tied up in its own gibberish, or nudging you towards your next confrontation with awkward controls. It has almost none of the excitement we play video games for and as such, is time lost and tears in the eyes of anyone foolish enough to waste their money.

The 90s classic has never looked better, but beneath the makeover it can creak.

The game's peppered through with the sort of idiosyncratic humour that marks so many of Nippon Ichi's games, but here the jokes often come at the expense of clarity, with Badman more eager to poke fun at some crusty JRPG convention than to properly explain his game's own subversions.

While this is definitely a solid improvement on its dreadful predecessor, it needed to achieve a basic level of competence and build upon it, and it only does that to a very limited extent.

While it's a fine tribute to Panzer General's mechanics, it actually ends up feeling a little dumber and more obtuse than the venerable vintage it pays respect to. It sings its tune well and it will entertain fans of the original but, unlike the generals whose battles it represents, it fails to either innovate or inspire.

If Abyss Odyssey stumbles, it at least does so while attempting a genuinely thrilling, high-wire juggling act of game design rather than simply milking obvious and proven gameplay features. For all its missteps, it remains utterly unique, absolutely gorgeous and delightfully eccentric.

A typically snappy entry in the best series that action tower defence has to offer, held back by a repeating roguelite structure that's only partially successful.