Wartales is a mix of great ideas tempered by some questionable design decisions. I really want to love this game, and there is plenty of fun to be had, but I can’t help but feel like there was a missed opportunity to make a good game a true great. For fans of the genre I do recommend picking it up and giving it a go, but I really hope that the game gets expanded upon in the future to let it live up to its full potential. [Early Access Provisional Score = 60]

I’m sure those who loved The Wonderful 101 the first time around will get a kick out of playing this game again on modern day consoles with nicer visuals. For those that hadn’t experienced it before though, this remaster feels like an artifact from a bygone age that couldn’t adapt to a new set of input’s without the Wii U controller. The combat and concept are still sound 7 years on. Everything else needed to be reworked or tweaked further.

New Tales from the Borderlands is a sequel that seemingly forgets everything that made the original so special and shoehorns in a story that simply doesn’t keep you engaged. Whilst it’s visually lovely and feels like it’s a Borderlands experience, it’s all style and no substance. Without heart or humour, this feels like a cash-in, and for a sequel to one of the greatest narrative games of all time? That’s just not good enough.

Cthulu: The Cosmic Abyss falls prey to the greatest source of madness: boredom. Bogged down with its litany of technical issues and crashes, its fragile story and bland walking simulator gameplay fail to inspire even a modicum of intrigue. It's not Cthulu who'll cause your mental degradation, but the endless tedium of trying to reach the finale of this abyss.

A rollercoaster of such highs only to be undone by flying straight off the tracks, Parkitect: Deluxe Edition has too many game-breaking issues to recommend taking a chance on. Its building gameplay, visual and sound design set it to a rip-roaring start, just so the technical performance and save-deletion issues cause this entire ported rollercoaster to derail.

So there’s really not an awful lot to recommend, despite Snakeybus doing what it does fairly well. In this climate there are so many better games at the £10 price range you can get stuck into that it’s not even worth the minimal RRP. It’s doing solid numbers on Steam which is great, you can’t begrudge a game that definitely has its fans. It’s just really not for me. This bus journey offers little thrills and a whole lot of frustration. Much like a normal bus journey then, I suppose.

Super Toy Cars 2 is one of the worst examples of this genre I’ve played in the past few years (surprisingly not the worst). The visuals, much improved over its predecessor and a decent soundtrack are its only saving graces.

Tomb Raider IV-VI just feels like a collection of relics from an era when we didn’t know any better. And honestly? Some relics are better off staying buried.

Lunar Lander Beyond attempts something of a reboot of the Atari classic with a modern wrapper. But underneath the shiny hood, the gameplay is virtually unchanged, difficult, and dull, and the extras have done nothing to implement a reward system that might keep newcomers trying to develop the skills needed to enjoy it.

Whilst it may seem like an intermission before Bloodlines 2 comes out, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong isn’t engaging enough to fill the gap. Lacklustre gameplay, unsightly character models and a sense of “You should know this already” are enough to put off the new players. Maybe for the fans, but that’s only if they’re coffin up the money for it.

The Edge of Fate is a desperately disappointing follow up to The Final Shape, offering little to nothing of value to the overall Destiny 2 experience. A forgettable story, lifeless new locations and joyless mechanic additions, this is a sad indictment on Bungie's current place in the industry.

Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing is really trying to play with the bigguns but just isn’t doing enough differently to justify why anyone should care, especially if you’re a Switch owner. Name recognition can only get you so far and not even everyone’s favourite giant green ogre can save this one.

Boti: Byteland Overclocked is ironically the opposite of its own namesake in being overclocked. Full of game breaking bugs, freezes, clipping, the list goes on – you name it it’s in there. Whilst having some small enjoyable elements within the game, It’s difficult to get past its state at review.

Whilst it's clear to see what games have inspired Wreckreation, the game itself pales in comparison to its forebears. A hollow attempt at both arcade fun and badly shoehorned in "live service", Wreckreation is a game as shallow as its unnecessarily large map.

Whilst visually appealing, Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow has infuriating depth perception, technical issues and a story that doesn’t offer much engagement to see you through the end. There is a good game in there somewhere, but at present Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow unfortunately feels unfinished, unpolished and unrefined.

Even for a series renowned for reusing material and rehashing a tired formula of mindless yet oddly satisfying gameplay, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is a hollow package. If this is all the series has left to offer, it may be time to let the Three Kingdoms war themselves into oblivion. A bland, shallow title with little to offer even those who enjoy the repetition of Musou gameplay, Empires is as regurgitated as a game can be.

One thing I do know is it is far more fun to watch than it is to play. Find a streamer gung-ho enough to punish themselves, and watch them for a bit. I had more fun writing the review than I did playing the game.

If you like those slide puzzle mini-games you find in many other games, Cubicity is a cutesy, leisurely game built around that core concept. There’s 6 to 8 hours of content in this original package with the hint of more to come later but in less than half of that time, you’ll have seen everything this game has to offer. It’s easy – far too easy for my taste as it becomes boring quickly – but this is a comfortable way to kill an hour or 2 before the monotony sets in.

On the surface, Hellpoint should have been a worthy contender. But too many technical issues suck any real enjoyment out of it.

Expedition Zero hooks you in with its first hour of tense atmosphere and excellent world design, only to fling you away with horrendous combat, counter-intuitive survival & exploration mechanics, and a barebones story. This expedition simply isn’t worth embarking on, but maybe one day there’ll be an adventure worth going on.

What could have served as a reminder to how good it once was, Crysis Remastered is instead a broken mess that needed a lot longer in the oven. Terrible AI and awful graphical glitches just suck any semblance of fun out of this.

Marred by dysfunctional controls, tired turn-based combat and an abysmal story, Crown Wars: The Black Prince is a dire knight. There are glimmers of the game that could have been within its broken and fractured armour, but this warrior is wounded beyond repair. There are simply too many other games in this genre that are more deserving of your time, and money.

I’m sure it will please its target audience but for me, Waifu Uncovered is a simple, functional yet characterless shoot ‘em up that rewards the player with lewd images that are far too stereotypical. There’s less than 3 hours of content in the game across all 3 game play modes and you’ll have to work to get to play on the game’s best mode, “One Finger Mode”.

Green Hell VR comes along with all the same challenges of surviving in the tropics you have come to expect from the game. However, the PSVR2 controls haven’t improved the experience, and unfortunately exploring the lush landscape is a boring chore as you only have a few small areas and terrible loading times.

A modern, “retro-inspired” title in the shape of Shovel Knight and Ghost ‘n Goblins, Sword & Bones is clearly a small team’s love letter. Once that veil drops, however, it just devolves into a needlessly hard platformer that doesn’t feel like persevering with.

Killsquad’s attempt at a twin-stick shooter unfortunately falls flat in almost every aspect of its design. The competent but bland combat, aesthetically interesting but boring presentation and poorly balanced mechanics lead to a functional but ultimately lifeless video game. It’s not bad, it’s just not a lot of fun to actually play.

Another drop in the vast ocean of action RPG’s, The Last Oricru brings nothing new to the much-treaded waters. Worse still, it lacks the refinement and polish to make it a barely passable romp, feeling as rough around the edges as Alpha Protocol did back in the day.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is too little, too late. Instead of innovating, it instead takes ideas already popularised and doesn't even pull them off properly. Lacklustre visuals and a flat future aesthetic don't do anything to bolster its chances, not when better contemporaries are available.