There’s a lot to love here about Gears Tactics, and it somehow manages to almost flawlessly blend the genre of one game with another one’s universe and characters with great execution. Yes, there are some issues, and they can be quite annoying, but in the end these won’t detract you from the sheer amount of enjoyment you will experience. It’s not perfect, but it’s damn good, surprisingly good. Now give me more, please.

If you’re looking for the authentic Resident Evil experience, this is definitely not it. But if you have a Resident Evil itch that you just need to scratch, this could provide lots of hours of entertainment for you, even without the Resident Evil Resistance standalone experience. But at the end of the day, I’d rather just play the excellent Resident Evil 2 Remake, or even the original Resident Evil 3 on my old PS2 instead.

Half-Life: Alyx is a tremendous VR experience that should absolutely set the standard of quality for all VR games to come. But the lack of replayability value, and the scale factor of enjoyment dependent on your hardware and room size, holds Alyx back from being a truly astonishing game. Is it worth it alone to buy a headset for? I’m not sure, that depends on how big of a Half-Life fan you are. But I can say that there are tonnes of other VR games available that are worth buying a headset for already, and Half-Life Alyx will still be a significant entry in that list of games.

The story is not something I particularly cared for in DOOM (2016), but DOOM Eternal somehow manages to wraps it’s silky tendrils all across your brain, and will surely provide a lot of excitement and satisfaction for those who have been following the DOOM lore and theory-crafting for these past games. DOOM Eternal is bigger and better in every conceivable way. Welcome back, Slayer, it’s good to have you home.

When it’s fun it can be really fun, but when it’s bad it can be really frustrating. Luckily all the issues I have with it are easily fixable in later updates, whether they actually do it or not remains to be seen. But for now the overall Overpass experience is generally just okay to me. It’s a great, challenging game that’s bogged down by bugs, a lack of content and questionable game design at times.

Overall, AO Tennis 2 plays and runs really well - this being one of the few tennis games on PC that does - it's just a bit of a shame that it falls flat in a few ways. The missing major players are a downfall: not having Serena Williams or Novak Djokovic is a bit odd in a game that's all about the Australian Open but tennis is probably a licensing nightmare. Play ending with one bounce is also quite a bummer, but I'm sure that's something that will be fixed if people have even noticed that. I also tired to play multiplayer at the time of review and the game would crash and close itself so it still needs to be patched a few times. The single player career experience is where it's at though. AO Tennis 2's solo campaign is a thoroughly enjoyable time and it's here where I would say that is scores an ace.

At a superficial level it looks fantastic, your choices can often feel hefty and impactful, and the overall presentation value is comfortably in the very top tier of adventure games. But it is a game you may have to enjoy through gritted teeth; either raging or outright laughing at the clunky metaphors and hamfisted messages. Enjoy it I did though, honestly, even if it wasn't perhaps for the reasons Cage may have been hoping for.

Overall, Road to the Black Sea is another fantastic DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 that everyone has been waiting for since Beyond the Baltic Sea was released last year. Now we're just keen to see whether and when the final chunks of Europe will be coming our way.

Despite the markedly average score attached at the end of this review, overall I quite enjoyed my brief time with Bee Simulator and will be going back to find more facts and challenges. This is an incredible teaching tool in my eyes and I hope everyone at least gets a chance to try it, it could change things in the world. As a game though, Bee Simulator needs a little more meat on its bones. It's not a full on simulator like other simulators; it's an open-world arcade-like experience. It would be nice if we could actually land on a flower to collect pollen, for instance, rather than flying through a gamified light ring.

In the here and now, Planet Zoo is the best zoo management game around and it’s not even close. It also features far stronger management systems than Frontier has ever achieved before, culminating in a fantastic package for tycoon and animal fans alike. There’s a lot to love here, even if the scope for creativity can’t hope to match Planet Coaster.

Overall, the Utah DLC is a fantastic expansion, as it usually is with SCS and both ATS and ETS2. There's lots of attention to detail, and if something is missing they usually rework it into a future update. The team is always adding some new areas as well, it's never a let down. It was particularity great to see the Tree of Utah while driving to the salt flats, there's always something to watch out for during these behemoth treks across America. Here's hoping to seeing the whole of the continental United States one day, it should make for a hell of a drive.

I loved it, though I barely understood much of it. It's a wild ride despite being mostly walls of text. It's the only game where I honestly couldn't say what I thought my character would do at any given turn because I felt I barely knew him, and that was, I feel, by design. You're getting to know him as you're making the choices that define him. Like you are, in a way, with yourself in real life.

Taken on its own merit, GRID is a fantastic audiovisual experience, a decent racing game, and a barebones package. It’s the epitome of just enough, but enough is the optimal word here. Here’s hoping the next GRID can kick on bigger, better, and more ambitious things.

Overall, Trine 4 is a fantastic, beautiful and extremely enjoyable game to play. Originality may not have been high up on the list of priorities by the time this fourth outing rolled around but everything, from the sumptuous visuals to the audio, everything is tip top. For people who have played previous Trine titles, this one may be the best one yet. It’s a remarkably solid side scrolling title and what seems to be a welcome change from the ill-fated Trine 3. I didn’t honestly think Trine 4 would enrapture me as much as it has, particularly when tackling the multiplayer. If you’ve played and enjoyed and title in the Trine franchise before, you’re very likely to love this one, so grab a few friends and enjoy.

Overall, MXGP 19 has ended up being a great game. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did, to be honest. It still leaves some things to be desired, such as a ropey physics model and a lack of controller options, but there's some fantastic fun to be had here.. Some of the tracks are just incredibly tricky and technical, adding a layer of depth which just isn't found in more straightforward racers. The downside being, the same as any other racing game apart from the very few, replayability. Hopefully the multiplayer aspect does well and lots of people buy the game and should be quite fun.

Control is an excellent return to form. Not only is Control comfortably the best Remedy game since Max Payne 2, it may well be the best Remedy game ever. It helps as well that it's astonishingly beautiful, both on technically and artistically; from top to bottom, beginning to end, Control is a feast for the sense. Tantalisingly, the very concept of folklore and urban myths being believe into existence is a truly rich template from which this franchise can build. It’s rare to finish a game and already find myself lusting after a sequel.

I know it seems like a paradox to say that on the one hand, it's a well-oiled, impeccably balanced sci-fi empire building game with all the elements that make a great wargame; and on the other hand it feels a smidgen like they phoned it in, but there you are. That's precisely how it feels.

It breaks my heart a little to slap a relatively low score on this. Both The New Order and The New Colossus were fantastic reinventions of a venerated gaming franchise, delivering satisfying gunplay with surprisingly touching narrative hooks. Youngblood still has that great feel, it’s just wrapped up in a co-op focused bubble which detracts from the traditional flow of the game.

The end result is a relaxing, intriguing and sleek murder mystery tale that's certainly worth enjoying once. It's not overly long if you play on normal, nor is it particularly replayable, but finding out who the killer is definitely scratches an investigative itch.

The Sinking City is deeply evocative in its oppressive dourness, and stays true to the investigative backbone of Cthulhu. We are presented an open world of horror and suspense that HP Lovecraft surely would have enjoyed investigating.

MotoGP 19 is a fantastic package overall and, hopefully, it ends up with a thriving multiplayer scene. The first post-launch patch was absolutely crucial in terms of tightening up the brakes and, while some of the physics still aren't quite there, it's a strong start.

Overall, as with all their DLC, SCS Software has done a fantastic job. From the level of detail on the road markings being different from state to state to the police cars having the correct state trooper name on the car instead of something generic. Throw in the free 2GB version 1.35 update and the addition of "experimental" DX11, along with many other features, and ATS is growing into a stronger game than ever before. For those thirsting to expand their US play area in American Truck Simulator, Washington is a must-buy.

It’s not without its UI issues, but Total War 3 Kingdoms provides a beautiful, rich strategy that is well paced while enjoying a new layer of story depth through diplomacy and intrigue.

All in all, Mortal Kombat 11 is a great package, and nicely fleshed out with a ton of content and modes for both the casual fighting game players like myself and the hardcore community who want to get stuck into the online battling. The heavy involvement of microtransactions can be an annoyance, for sure, but there's more than enough to get busy with to help beat the grind.

One look at Close to the Sun and you’ll have a fairly clear picture of whether it’s for you or not. Despite its lofty ideas and immersive environments, Close to the Sun is a fairly lightweight adventure that trades on creeping scores and an intoxicating aura of mystery. There’s nothing to grapple onto that really elevates it above this. That's not to say this is an average game, it's a stronger experience than that, it just struggles to pull itself into the echelons of must-play territory. For horror fans, that could well be enough though, and it’s an engaging enough time but not one that necessarily sticks after the credits roll.

Despite all of this griping, and all of these complaints, Tropico 6 is still sort of fun. Partly it's just watching the numbers going up. When the freighter arrives in port and your first shipment of electronics goes to market, netting you enough money to build a new stadium, it's like a little pat on the head that can be weirdly addictive. There are certainly some bugs that probably shouldn't exist on the fourth (fifth? sixth?) iteration of essentially the same game, but the special sauce that has allowed them to actually get away with making six Tropico games is still there.

What it comes down to is that Paradox is just amazing at listening to their community and developing their games long after release. Now that ships are done, I expect that the air force will follow not too far behind.

I've really enjoyed every minute I've spent with Dirt Rally 2.0, just as I did with 1.0 before it. The handling is gorgeous, the routes are truly beautiful to look at, and the management is ...manageable. The cars all have tons of individual character, the rallycross feels scrappy and frenetic and everything just comes together wonderfully. Codemasters, eh? They really have the hang of this thing.