Ultimately, the bland, dreary combat sinks the entirety of the experience and it’s with a heavy heart that I must warn you to avoid this title if you have any choice in the matter. Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic is a swing and a woeful miss.

A delightful albeit brief return for Ulala in VR, which while hardly game-changing for the tech, brings back the simple joy of dance for space cats everywhere.

Dangerous Golf combines the classic Burnout Crash mode as a nostalgia driven, explosive golf party game. Visually it’s very impressive, but the overall experience borders on glorified tech demo.

Trollhunters: Defender of Arcadia is a dull but mostly serviceable throwback to an era of gaming where licensed 2D platformers were rife. Decent writing and acting do help it stand out, but not by much.

Don’t bother unless you enjoy playing the same mission over and over again with no guarantee of any sort of pay off. The (very) few good things this game has going for it are completely dwarfed by the poorly implemented or flat out reprehensible systems that the entire experience hinges on.

I can only recommend this to game to anyone that is obsessed with 4X games and is willing to put up with the flaws and bugs, the sorcerer customisation and leveling up is extremely satisfying as you can truly build your character in the way you want.

With another three passes over the script and a completely new voice cast, Detective Hayseed would have been a decent adventure game. In its current state it’s hard to put up with.

Overall Demon’s Rise - War For The Deep was an interesting game with very unique concepts, however there are a lot of bugs in the Switch port that really make the game tougher to play, which makes me curious about the Steam version.

In Nightmare could have been great, but the atmosphere and environments aren’t enough to make up for the woeful frame rate, frustrating enemy encounters, and overall tedium of the gameplay.

AereA’s priority is to make the player feel totally engaged in a mystical world that has been fully committed to representing the power of music. I found myself astounded at how many mechanical holes this game contains when its visuals are so contrastingly stunning.

A generic, bland but functional SHMUP whose technical issues make it unenjoyable and tedious to actually play.

Adorable they may be, but having a virtual dog or cat was an already old idea that somehow has even less features and charm on newer hardware. Proof that not everything needs to come to Switch.

Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkhuni- hopes the abundance of cheap titillation will distract you from the uninspired repetitive brawling. There isn’t anything wrong with the game per se but it doesn’t do anything you can’t find done better elsewhere and that’s a shame.

Redfall’s a great title with lots to do throughout its world, but the lifelessness of the NPCs and story alongside the amounts of bugs and the steep entering fee, I can’t assume it’ll be for everyone.

A relatively triumphant return for the long-dormant franchise, Solar Crown still has a ways to go before it can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its peers, but for now it’s off to a good start.

It’s one of those games that’s alright for a couple of hours if you can get it at a deep discount. Otherwise, it’s just too frustrating to recommend.

Space Jam: A New Legacy is a super fun arcade-style beat ‘em up starring your favourite Looney Tunes characters and LeBron James teaming up to take down Al G. Rhythm. Highly recommended if you enjoy local multiplayer games, but it is pretty short so don’t expect something that will last a long time.

On a whole, RAID: World War II feels exactly like what you’d expect from a Payday clone. It takes less of a political approach than other games featuring Nazis such as Wolfenstein or the upcoming Call of Duty: WW2, and instead moves away from the war is hell narrative to opt for a more hyper-violent, stylised approach to the subject matter. While the choice of game engine severely lets itself down, there is still much to appreciate if you enjoy other co-operative shooters of its type.

A challenging battle game that has you fighting head-to-head against aliens in a reality TV show to gain your freedom. It takes a while to get used to how the controls work and feel, but once you do this is a very addictive game.

This game is absolutely not fun, the only appeal to this game is if you want to go abroad but don’t care about the beaches or the actual holiday part.

Despite my gripes about accessibility, the game delivers so many options regardless of whether players choose the role of Commander or Officer. Ultimately though, Eximius will most likely have a handful of hardcore fans to keep it alive, at best. Grading would be far higher if I could see potential for growth that would allow PvP to flourish. My advice, if you want to shoot stuff, stick to the Crucible.

Crime Boss: Rockay City: Dragon’s Gold Cup DLC is a hell of a ride with a nice payoff. But it makes you work for it, and my knees hurt from all that crouching.

Anima: Gate Of Memories is probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had on PS4 so far. Boring combat mixed with unlikable and frankly sexist characters, give me no real reason to recommend this game to anyone. Avoid.

The game is an unfinished and sloppy mess. With the majority of balancing and tweaking yet to be done there are some questionable items in the game, such as the previous mentioned shield for the Space Marines which seems to be capable of blocking all projectiles fired towards it. The shooting mechanics are alright but third person cover has always been something I have detested, being able to see over walls whilst hidden behind it often leads to some unfair and one sided gunfights.

While not an awful game, this is definitely not something I’m going to be overtly suggesting to my friends. The game is made up of a simple kind of fun and not any sort of deep and meaningful systems or mechanics. Topped off with a generic and negligible story, Extinction only manages to keep its head above water due to how fun chopping up ogres can be.

Crime Boss: Rockay City is a pleasant surprise considering all of the aspects that make its foundations usually crumble from the weight. Just get ready to die, try and die again until you take the throne.

It isn’t bad, it’s just painfully average.

A lot of Caveman Warriors’ design feels outdated; it’s a title that relies on mediocre action-platforming, on top of average cartoon visuals and a simplistic combat system. It never goes out of its way to impress you, but it also won’t leave you wanting more.

It’s a short but sweet game that does something a little bit unique. It’s unlikely to win any Game of the Year awards and it will only be amusing for so long, but considering it’s a budget priced game, I still felt that I got decent value out of the title.

It’s not for everyone, but this magical game of beach volleyball is silly, easy to learn, and practically impossible to master. It can be a bit of a mess, but it looks dang good doing it.

When The Waylanders succeeds, the game is one of the most solid experiences I’ve had all year. But those successes are few and far between, while the rest of the title fails to keep itself afloat among a sea of bugs and poorly thought out gameplay decisions.

A fun arcade-like party game in the Umihara Kawase series, the fishing rod and lure are back, but crazy knockback animations and underwhelming boss battles make the game drag in parts.

Taxi LIfe: A City Driving Simulator is a really good idea for a game ruined by a lack of goals, bad area design, optimisation issues, and awful controls.

I really wanted to like this game, and after the beta I was hoping there would be more to it than what they were testing. Unfortunately, there’s not, and there’s absolutely no way I could recommend buying this game. If you could pick it up for £10, sure, but four times that? No way.

Marko: Beyond Brave is good at its core, but its execution can be quite shaky. It has great presentation and methodical fights with bosses and enemies, but the iffy platforming and issues I encountered just left a bad taste afterwards.

Quite a disappointment, with only glimmers of fun to have peeking through the bike exhaust.

A solid, if uninspiring run ‘n gun title with some very nice visuals. The game’s length and difficulty make it hard to recommend without reservation but if you are after something a little quirky you might enjoy your brief time with this.

A funny social commentary trapped between frustration and poor game design.

A space station builder with very little to build. It’s a great concept but it’s just not well executed enough and it’s too shallow to be the game it deserves to be.

Despite a few neat gameplay touches Bullet Witch ultimately fails to impress and this remaster only goes to show that this game should have stayed in the past. What could have been an interesting third-person shooter is let down at almost every point by frustrating game design and bland level design.

It’s really fun and challenging, but unfortunately, due to the crazy loading times -- and the fact I know the graphics could be better -- I have to give it the score it deserves, rather than the score I want to give it.

Overall, I think Shadwen could be a good game, but for whatever reason I was unable to play it as the developer intended.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a fun arcade experience for home with up to four players, but it is very short.

As a story it’s fine, but as a game I expect so much more than what’s on offer. Perhaps if the developers had invested in making an audiobook rather than a full-on videogame, they would have produced a better product.

A really fun game for young boys and girls that range from four to eight years old and for any Ryan fan that is out there.

An '80s inspired arcade racing game with bright neon visuals and synth music. Fun to play once you unlock more vehicles, but is extremely difficult at the beginning until you can ditch that first shaky car you start with that can make you feel a little queasy if you get motion sick.

A lack of variety and a bit of polish on the mechanics leaves the game feeling less like a release and more like a well-made flash game you might find online. With a difficulty rating that shoots sky-high in relatively little time, this is a game that only the hardest of hardcore players will complete and enjoy to its full potential.

Beneath Lust For Darkness' great atmosphere and creative imagery lies a very average game.

Fear Effect Sedna is a game that does just enough to be considered basic. Unfortunately, for fans of the Fear Effect series, this is not a triumphant return for the franchise but more so a reminder that it exists.

A fairly repetitive dungeon crawler which is fun in small dose, but gets samey too quickly. There’s not that much wrong with Excave III, but it’s too bland to stand out from the crowd and there are better games of this type available on the 3DS.

Music Racer Ultimate is a high-energy racing game with brightly-coloured visuals that uses your choice of music to create the courses. There are some neat vehicles to unlock, but the flashing, pulsing visuals made it hard to play for a long time.

Despite hitting a lot of the same notes, Milanoir is not the Hotline Miami successor many were expecting. The game has a lot of style, enough for its 6-8 hour campaign to keep you engaged, but it is hidden underneath a layer of extreme frustration brought to light by its technical issues and extreme difficulty curve.

Krai Mira: Extended Cut is an interesting title that looks to deliver a game that feels similar in nature to the games of yesteryear. Though it ticks a number of boxes of this goal it falls short on a number of others. As it stands however, Krai Mira: Extended Cut is a lightweight take of the classic post-apocalyptic RPG formula but is just that.

Trulon: The Shadow Engine, made by Kyy Games and published by Headup Games, is a single player casually paced RPG. For those new to the genre as well as those with loads of experience, this is a game that has interesting lore and simple game mechanics. Being laid back gives it an edge on some other RPGs currently on the market, as it is easily approachable. Perhaps Trulon: The Shadow Engine will be my gateway game of sorts to exploring other card-based RPG games.

Anomaly has some interesting concepts, but it fails to entice me to explore it deeper.

A game that should have released 20 years ago, Captain Blood is a generic hack-and-slash that does little to innovate. That said, it certainly has its charms, and there is some fun to be had.

An interesting experiment that fails to nail either side of the experience, it uses Fallout trappings to good effect and can be fun with great environmental storytelling and West Virginia itself is gorgeous. The lack of NPCs and overall cohesion along with lacklustre PvP hinder its identity, however.

Broken Blades is a unique roguelike adventure platformer that lets you craft your own weapon to attack your enemies. Even on easy this game is quite difficult, and the lack of a map is frustrating.

Bland, repetitive, and offering zero challenge, Zorro The Chronicles isn’t aiming to be the next must-play title. What it does instead is gives children an entry point into other titles of the genre, so could be one to try if you have little ones desperate to play something new.

It can still look visually striking when viewed from a distance while its audio design, with a brooding electronic score, can also be wonderfully atmospheric. Sadly, it’s not enough to salvage a wholly disappointing experience that never reaches the lofty heights it begins with.

A nice game with an interesting world and story that could really use some quality-of-life updates and a price reduction.

Ares Omega might interest some players with the pursuit of reaching the final floor, and like many rogue-lite games, it can be difficult and you will die a lot, but the more you play, the more it becomes a tedious, frustrating experience, which lessens any encouragement to go back.

Bakery Simulator lets you experience all the work that goes into running a bakery all on your own without the dishes. The controls can get very frustrating when racing against the clock to get the order out!

Although fun for a little while, Blood Alloy lacks variety and fails to capture the player’s interests. At its best, it’s a fast paced run ‘n’ gunner that fails to explain itself; at its worst, it’s dull, buggy and makes use of cheap techniques to keep players torturing themselves.

After great first impressions showcasing fun gameplay and interesting characters, it quickly becomes a fascinatingly bad example of mech combat, lacking feedback, foresight, and fair play. Unbelievably boring offensive capabilities, a nonsensical story, and hilarious voice acting which tries its best to stand out. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to stand out.

A Bastard's Tale is a visually appealing game with nothing to do. Barebones from front to back and a lacking experience, this title is nothing but a tall tale.

While this review is hugely negative, the premise behind this game was a great one. While the execution wasn't great I believe that this game came out of the door too early, if the game had been delayed until later this year who knows if it would if had the same issues as it does now. Out Of Ammo is plagued with bugs and other issues, the core game is still there. While there isn't a huge amount of content to sink your teeth into, there are some fun moments to be had especially with a friend.

Deceit 2 takes away a lot of the positives the game had and feels like a standard social deduction game that doesn’t have anything unique to it. There isn’t any reason to play it instead of just playing the original.

It resembles more of a remaster of a last-generation videogame than a current-gen title. The story can be cool towards the end for Terminator fans as you see how the first two movies began, but it's not worth the boring gameplay, mediocre visuals, and uninteresting characters.

I couldn’t help but feel that the greatest time manipulation Aeternoblade II succeeds at was the 15 hours I wasted playing it.

A frustrating and flawed experience that could have been great. It will be interesting to see how the game is updated and whether the developer's can capitalise on the potential that 7 Days To Die offers, but unfortunately doesn't deliver on.

Undercooked in all the key places, Agony is just a 10 hour trip through increasingly edgy content that isn't actually fun to play.

Happiness is mandatory, the Computer is your friend, and this game is mediocre at best.

There’s not really many ways of sugar coating it; this game is a mess on Xbox One and isn’t worth your time. Surely any other fishing game would be worth considering if you have that urge.

Not detailed enough for a simulator and not fast paced enough for an action adventure. Coast Guard is a game that needs to decide what it wants to be.

Castaway Paradise is a title that tries to live up to other genre defining hits like Blue Harvest and Animal Crossing, but merely comes across as a cheap knock-off of the two. A life simulator that doesn't look very lively, your money is better spent else where.

The Captain Is Dead does so many things well independently, but is held back massively by the pure luck factor of the games events. There’s a great game in here, but it’s marred by miserable gameplay experience in which victory is snatched out of the players’ hands regardless of their skill level.

I doubt any Great Power could save this game from being the soulless wasteland that it is.

Simple combat, poor mechanics, boring voice acting and some unpolished graphics mean that the fans of the book series might find themselves struggling to finish it. For those without an invested interest in the character or the story: this is one to avoid.

PO'ed: Definitive Edition is a great remaster for a not-so-great game. Nightdive Studios has done a wonderful job and fans of the original will definitely enjoy it… but for newcomers, PO’ed is kind of obscure for a reason.

Zenith is a game that everyone should give a go. It's charming, funny and just well made in general. Don't let the classic RPG setting fool you, Zenith is one for the books.

Ego Protocol: Remastered is a tile-sliding Lemmings-like that offers about as much excitement as a geriatric knitting club. Outside of some temperamental controls and poor use of its sci-fi theme however, there’s not much to highlight as a real issue. It’s not offensive enough to incite mass riots but it still feels like a chore every step of the way.

BABYLON’S FALL has plenty of quality game design in it, with a good length main campaign and even side content on launch, with more already added, and even more coming for free. Whether the price is worth it is up to you; play the demo and decide for yourself.

Though there is not much remastering, Sacred 2 Remaster stays faithful to the original release. Despite being somewhat dated and lacking multiplayer on consoles, there is still fun to be had in this sprawling action RPG.

Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days is a top-down shooter that excels at the minimum. The replayability may be lacking, but it's definitely worth at least one playthrough.

Periodically beautiful yet consistently broken, Generation Zero’s brand of monotonous, sterile and bug-riddled open-world first-person shooting is something that you should avoid at all costs.

A basic action adventure game with a great style and a surprisingly engrossing story that is sadly backed up by repetitive gameplay that never evolves into something great.

Jumanji: The Curse Returns isn't a broken game; it just felt overly repetitive, short, and not very fun. It's too bad that it didn't make the game require more strategy because it could have been much more intriguing.

With an awkward difficulty curve and some questionable sonic choices, this isn’t a purrfect platformer, but it’s certainly good enough for meow. I’m not kitten around when I say this is a competent platformer that deserves a look in if you can get it fur a decent price.

The Uncertain: Light at the End is a game that interweaves everything through its narrative. Sadly, that narrative is frustratingly tedious, meaning the rest of the game’s building blocks fall apart without a strong base.

Waking is a game that attempts to be two very different things, and for the most part, it succeeds quite well. If you’re willing to devote a little bit of time to learning its quirky systems, you’re in for a potentially rewarding experience. An experience which encourages you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and go back into your memories.

MilitAnt is offensively bad, it looks like a PS2 game and plays like something a few amatuer developers cobbled together. This wouldn't be an issue if there wasn't a price tag involved. Steer well clear of this.

Despite getting some enjoyment out of it, Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator quickly became both monotonous and irritating thanks to the driving sequences. A disappointing simulator that just doesn’t live up to its potential.

Bombshell doesn’t seem to have gone down well with other critics, but I had a blast. Solid shooting backs up what I found to be an engaging gameplay loop. By no means the best twin stick shooter around, I had fun during the 8 hours I spent with it, and that’s enough for me.

There’s a core gameplay loop that could have some substance, but it’s surrounded by a confused interface, a simply awful tutorial, with surface-level complexity that needn’t exist.

New Gundam Breaker is a good concept, shoddily put together. The story is a trope-fest, battles are confusing and the masses of text are hard to read. There are so few positive points it’s not funny.

Food Truck Simulator is an enjoyable time, and the few minor annoyances don’t take much away, but it's let down by a mediocre presentation.

A bland, repetitive roguelike that had the potential to be something far greater. Scar-Lead Salvation is disappointing in almost every aspect.