An enthralling world with 'meaningful choices' is surely ahead of you, but for such a short game in this genre, the story stumbles and trips in its consistency and its appeal. On top of that, for a fantasy world, there's not much variety in enemies or creatures, so it can be a bit of a disappointment in that regard.

Good fun to rock out while shooting your way through the levels, as long as you see past all the product placement.

Bridge Constructor is a title that tries to port the popular genre over to console, unfortunately, poorly designed controls and a lack of tutorials mean the experience falls short. Players are never properly introduced to the game's physics, which makes the experience far more frustrating than it ever needs to be.

Fans of the franchise should pick this up, if they’re eager to see what Kingdom Hearts III will have in store, although newcomers would do better to pick one of the previous HD remakes.

An extremely unengaging gameplay and bad graphics mine what could be an interesting addition to the pirate genre.

With a strong artstyle and a clever idea, ultimately the lack of in-depth systems and the huge limitations on the gameplay killed the interest I had in this title.

Mekazoo brings the 2.5D platformer to life as you battle bosses and traverse terrain in a beautifully crafted experience that'll be sure to have you wanting more.

It would be slightly unfair to say that a lot of these changes feel like a user-made mod, but at a price point as high as this, I can’t in good conscience recommend it as a must-buy for players of the base game.

Bethesda Pinball offers an enjoyable amount of content for lovers of the studio's franchises and fans of the classic arcade game.

Overall the DLC is fantastic however limited sight for the long term has resulted in an even furthering of the unbalancing. I would strongly suggest acquiring the DLC if you are playing on a private server with friends, I strongly do not recommend playing on public servers due to the issues that run rampant in the community.

Dungeon Souls provides ample fun for those who enjoy roguelikes. It borrows a lot from other games (Rogue Legacy, Spelunky, Nuclear Throne, to name a few), and while it doesn’t do much to differentiate itself, it’s still a fun dungeon-crawling hack ‘n slash adventure for quite a few hours.

Redie is a challenging title. Frustration inducing but by the end becomes rewarding. It certainly catered towards fans of Hotline Miami, it why it caught my attention, but the game itself feels fresh and enjoyable. It isn’t a straight up clone, neither is it an homage, but another action-packed stylish top-down shooter with the same concept.

A brilliant tactical puzzle game, interesting story, engaging characters, slick controls and beautiful maps make this a very enjoyable play. It’ll take you while to get through each level but it’s very rewarding when your plans all come together and you feel like a master ninja!

Overall, Franchise Hockey Manager 3 is important as one of the only hockey simulation games available, especially on computers where EA has foolishly forsaken the PC crowd of sports games for years on end with the absence of Madden and NHL games. However, this is a very specific game for fans of the sport, and it is not very fun at being a game, actually.

Whilst not an outstanding score, this game is still fun and I had a blast reviewing it. The pacing of the battles make it very accessible for the general player without much experience with strategy JRPGs. But with the mundanity of certain aspects of the game, pacing being off and with its current RSP. It’s hard to recommend unless on sale.

Steep is a solid experience that accomplishes what the developers set out to do. They have a created an impressive world that is both fun to explore and addictive to conquer. The multiplayer feels like a bit of a letdown due to a lack of variety but it is still fun exploring the world with friends.

Super Rad Raygun is not what you would call addicting, simple silly fun inspired by a simple silly time in video game history. Any classic gamer would love this title and would even be a great way to introduce new gamers to what it used to be like for us old people. I would easily play again between AAA releases.

It’s short, but worth every second of your time. This version is somewhat more forgiving than the original, much to my disappointment, but the visuals, atmosphere and narrative come together to create a particularly impressive experience.

A frustrating game based on an interesting idea, poor execution and small niggles add up to make this a deeply unpleasant experience.

A great tutorial and scenario mode with a great aesthetic and attention to detail, let down by graphical issues and poor implementation of standard chess notation.

A fantastic game with more than competitive graphics. Whilst slightly repetitive, it is undeniably enjoyable with teammates and the more friends you play with the more fun you will have within the game.

While a good number of the missions are fine when they work, the linearity and widespread bugs prevalent throughout the game ruins Ships 2017. Bad controls, underwhelming visuals, and plenty of other issues make this a generally unenjoyable game.

Laser Disco Defenders does what it sets out to do and more. A bullet-hell shooter with an emphasis on hell, this title is definitely worth defending.

Onion Force offered a decent amount of enjoyment but it's glaring problems detract from it's experience.

One of those games that can be appreciated regardless of how long it’s been around – Xanadu Next makes some brilliant use of videogame elements that we have all come to love, and although the player often lacks meaningful choice the game is never truly restrictive.

The Little Acre is a heartfelt adventure with a lot of care and dedication put into it. It's short, but there's enough charm that you can playthrough on a quiet afternoon.

Final Fantasy XV is a return to form for Square Enix, a showcase of their willingness to adapt more Western approaches in their game development whilst also keeping what gave the series it’s charm, flair and personality.

Satisfying fun with a great soundtrack at its best, visual mess with a great soundtrack most of the rest of the time.

Space Hulk: Deathwing is a game full of potential, wasted on terrible creative decisions that pitch the game's strengths directly against one another.

This is one of my favourite content packs for Cities: Skylines just because of the new challenge it offers. It’s also really cool to completely blow your city to bits.

The art was fairly pleasant and vividly detailed. I enjoyed looking at the scenery and characters as they were drawn well. But with the horribly painful interactions and long drawn out scenes of nothing that I had to force myself to get through, the art just didn’t make up for it.

At the cost of a full retail release you will receive three of the strongest Assassin’s Creed titles + DLC + bonus content. Fan of the franchise or not Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection is certainly worthy of a spot in any gamer’s library.

Where the story falls short, the gameplay rises up. The fighting is fun to pick up and play, but hard to master. There’s no shortage of combos and character specific special moves, making finding your character of choice and fun and personal experience. For those that are fans of the series, Central Fiction is an absolute must have. For fighting game fans that want a fighting game to keep them busy until Tekken 7 comes out, Central Fiction is definitely worth a try, just be prepared to do a lot of reading if you want to understand the lore.

A fantastic and mysterious thriller-lite. Though the protagonist has non-existent motives and the ‘choice’ isn’t really choice at all, the supporting cast and story arc make this difficult to put down.

A comedic and utterly bizarre adventure game backed with passion and love for the genre and the craft, with some important options missing letting down a near perfect game.

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, ShapeRockets is a good concept for a multiplayer shooter, but suffers the curse of almost all indie multiplayer shooters: it struggles to find an audience. The endurance mode feels pretty unfair, and there’s no progression to it to give me any reason to want to play it. I also think that the game is restricted by its concept, since the only game mode is deathmatch.

This might be worth more or less for your money due to the extra content of Wild Run, depending on whether you already had the that DLC pack. Calling All Units doesn’t really have enough to warrant the full price, so you might want to wait unless you’re after Wild Run too.

Both a spectacular jump-on point for newcomers and a strong entry for series veterans, Pokémon Sun and Moon is everything you’d expect, and maybe even a little more. I’m happy to say that, even 20 years after it’s inception, Pokémon remains one of the best RPG series’ out there.

Both a spectacular jump-on point for newcomers and a strong entry for series veterans, Pokémon Sun and Moon is everything you’d expect, and maybe even a little more. I’m happy to say that, even 20 years after it’s inception, Pokémon remains one of the best RPG series’ out there.

Dumb fun is great, especially when you’re bogged down in deadlines or stress. What better way to unwind than with good ol’ dumb fun in the form of SENRAN KAGURA Bon Appétit! - Full Course. Taking it by the bucket loads of over indulgent second helpings in a three course meal of cheesy writing, bombastic music and fan service galore!

You would never know that this is the first game from Billy Goat Entertainment, from how well polished and written it is. Very funny and filled with pop culture references, it makes you hopeful for the post-Brexit future.

A halfheartedly executed game that tries little and accomplishes less.

A blend of physics-based tetris and magic in a sweet little package makes this a must have for gamers of all ages and sizes.

Puzzles and Vikings make up for a mildly funny and mildly challenging experience, but still miles away from worth your enthusiasm.

Although currently HoPiKo's controls are not perfect, the combination of electric visuals, music and pace achieves both the best and the worst of drinking too much coffee, but in videogame format.

The videogame equivalent of telling a joke and it not landing, so you keep telling it until someone laughs, but no-one ever does.

With a forgettable combat, low production values, and unexisting storyline, I find hard to recommend Herolike to anyone. Although it recently shed its Early Access tag, it still carries all of those characteristics and, especially, its faults.

Overwatch is a punch to the face for multiplayer shooters. It mingles quick-fix, objective-based gameplay with a deep tactical core and intelligent meta, forming a game that is simply perfect in short bites and thoroughly satisfying to play for hours on end.

With great cartoon graphics, brilliant game design, and an amazing soundtrack, Beholder is a gem that should be experienced by everyone at least once. An oppressive, depressing, and sad gem, but a gem nonetheless.

Perhaps the lack of features, collision detection, animation, depth, gameplay, fun or anything that actually resembles a game would be excusable if this were an early access title or a really cheap budget game. That's not the case though, the cheeky buggers have the sheer audacity to be charging 35 quid for this game! It's astonishingly poor value for a title that barely works and isn't any fun at all. I wood recommend striking this one off your chopping list, it's just not worth the axing price.

Overall, I do not like Demolish & Build 2017 for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it was so incredibly boring. Playing it felt like a chore, which I don’t think captures how it feels to really have a demolition job. For what could have been such a great idea, I feel like it was let down by its execution and its technical issues.

With an intense and intriguing narrative, Steins;Gate 0 is a joy to play through though too many times the story slows down for sometime much more mundane. Without knowledge of the characters or larger plot of previous games, you may struggle to get the full experience.

What it is, is a modern take on the theme park management genre, and a spectacular one at that. Planet Coaster feels like RCT, even if it isn’t. Frontier has delivered an incredible followup to their past games. Unfortunately, it’s a little light on content at the moment. Despite this, I’m confident in saying that Planet Coaster has a great core game, and even though it doesn’t have as much in it as it should, it’s the best theme park game out there.

Silence is a charming if challenging adventure in a world of dreams with inventive, if sometimes harder than necessary, puzzles. The setting and a gorgeous aesthetic add to the charm. Great voicework with interesting characters make this worth a look.

Overall, it’s a good game but riddled with issues and a way too expensive price tag. It feels like they should have spent way more time on improving the game and play testing it a bit more. One of the most fantastic things however is that they have added modding compatibility. Also, credit to Urbanator for the art.

Rogue Continuum is an ugly game. Unfortunately, here you can judge the book by its cover, as the top-down shooter at its core is unbalanced, repetitive and unsurprising.

A great concept that has been executed dreadfully. Not funny enough to be a good parody, not detailed enough for a good simulation. It’s neither funny enough to be amusing or serious enough to be engaging and ultimately never rises above mediocrity.

It has plenty to do, and it’s (usually) easy to find something interesting made by the creative player base. It’s not for everyone because a lot of the longevity relies on you creating your own levels, but there is plenty to play with, thanks to the community created levels.

Woodle Tree 2: Worlds is not very good, and while my experience with it was marred by the technical issues present I doubt it would be much better if it did run well. The game is boring: there’s nothing to draw you in to keep playing it, and for the most part it was making me want to not play it. The one thing it does do well is live up to its predecessor’s legacy of being a difficult to control technical mess, though that won’t help it sell many copies.

Eventide 2: The Sorcerer’s Mirror was a little more than I expected: it’s been many years since I last played a hidden object game and I didn’t think that the genre would have moved on as much as it has. The writing was obviously translated into English, and the voice acting matches the odd look of the cutscenes, but the gameplay is amusing for the two hours there and it has a satisfying conclusion. The addition of adventure game mechanics really increased my enjoyment and I’d be really interested to see this taken further into a longer game.

A great text-heavy RPG in the classic style of yesteryear. It has great writing and a whole cast of interesting characters. The retro presentation might be off-putting for some but give it a chance and it will sink its teeth into you.

If you are a fan of Final Fantasy definitely pick this game up. Just maybe next year sometime. This games biggest disadvantage is that it’s been released only a month before Final Fantasy XV. But if you do play this game you will be treated to a wonderfully adorable and charming RPG with a cast of colourful characters, an immersive battle system, beautiful worlds and a soundtrack that is simply amazing. While the story is cliched and simple it’ll still have you hooked! Maybe we should give Square another chance.

Though there might not be much to it, what Toy Odyssey does do is very well polished and extremely well done. The game play flows well, the art style looks amazing, and they’re complimented by gorgeous graphics with an amazing soundtrack. Digital Smash has obviously put a lot of care and effort into Toy Odyssey and a developer we should all be keeping a close eye on for the future.

Nobunaga's Ambition is a turn-based strategy sim that does it's best to impress. Although it may not be my cup of tea, it will currently come as a welcome entry to fans of the genre.

While it is repetitive, the driving and fighting mechanics are enjoyable as long as you remember to take a decent sized break every few missions. Ultimately, this is a game for those who care more about the story than anything else.

Both campaigns add maybe eight to ten hours of extra gameplay onto Total War: Warhammer, and while solid, enjoyable experiences neither are anything to write home about. Despite this, fans of the two races will have lots to explore and enjoy.

Dishonored 2 is a substantial improvement over its predecessor and is an expertly crafted continuation from the first. With a plethora of choices and wonderful architectural puzzle design, Dishonored 2 is truly an immersive experience. It's just a shame it's held back by terrible and unfortunate PC performance.

End of the day, it’s just a rehash of the second iteration of the original Japanese launch, but more feature complete and features better illustrations than the Steam version. Give this a whirl if you’re interested in trying a solid J-horror game. Otherwise maybe just watch the Anime OVA, live action movie or read the manga that’s currently being published by Yen Press.

An excellent adventure-puzzle game with a heavy macabre theme in an oil painting universe that keeps you so immersed you barely realise how much blood you spill until it is far too late, ultimately let down by bizarre puzzle solutions and issues with Flash player.

Whilst a near perfect Monster Hunter in my eyes. If it contained better quality of life implementations to reduce the plethora of loading screens and responding to quests (which could be done in a single menu/mail system). This could be an easy ten, otherwise I’m shaking in anticipation for generation five, the Hollywood movie currently in production, Double Cross and Monster Hunter Stories coming to the west (hopefully).

If you like getting an hour per monetary unit, then you definitely get that in Orwell. The campaign is as long as Titanfall 2, and it has a heck of a lot more gameplay to it than BATMAN the Telltale Series, both of which cost more and are written just as well.

The game very accurately depicted the anime and nailed the speed and ferocity of slaying titans, although I do find the price point to be just a little bit too high for what the game actually gives you in content.

As far as the whole visual novel thing goes, Batman is a well written and performed game. As far as an adventure game goes, it's awful.

A game with a beautiful landscape and effects, but the clumsy controls, repetitive game play and lack luster rewarding system leaves much to be desired.

In short, Ride 2 is an experience that hardcore bike fans are going to get the most out of. The game is fun enough on its own merit without the impressive library of licenses and tracks, but for those not really into the sport I would imagine the barriers to entry are too high. Ride 2 manages to improve on last year’s release, but still struggles to shift itself above a niche racer for fans of the sport.

It’s much better than the first in lots of ways.

The improvements to the game are much needed, the single player campaign is one of the best I have played this year and as we draw to the close of 2016 I am almost 100% sure that no one will be able to top it, but I am more than willing to be proved wrong! Graphics are fantastic and a treat to the eyes, game modes have increased overall for multiplayer but there is the occasional hit and miss. Also… You CAN hack specters in multiplayer! I don’t know WHY so many people are saying you can’t!

A briefly funny but ultimately shallow experience that throws all of the progression into the less interesting mode and wears its inspirations on its sleeves.

Skyrim is still a great place to get lost in and the visual upgrade is welcome. It perhaps doesn’t go as far as it should and it’s a shame no other aspect of the game got looked at but it’s still well worth your time.

As someone used to simulators, I have to say this is the most playable one I’ve seen for a long time that isn’t just a sequel. There’s little mechanically wrong with it, and the sense of scale that it achieves is very impressive. I really enjoyed the in-game radio and that there was a form of story progression to most of the random activities together. Ultimately though it is let down by how tedious some of the missions can be and how plain it looks, and although it is relatively short there wasn’t a lot that made me excited to continue playing after the novelty of driving these huge machines wore off.

A game that is lovingly made, with a very interesting crafting system. Unfortunately, due to a lack of goals, purpose or anyone one else playing it has very low playability.

Ginger: Beyond the Crystal tries to revisit the golden age of Rare-style 3D platforming but instead falls a bit short of the mark due to a lack of depth and engagement.

Farming Simulator 17’s odd mix of authenticity and not-quite simulation is curious. The core gameplay loop is by its very nature extremely repetitive but if you have an interest in farming you’ve probably already bought into the idea. It’s certainly not a bad game but it’s definitely an acquired taste.

Civilization VI is most definitely the best base-game installment of the franchise yet. There are so many gameplay mechanics included here that it feels like it’s already had a large expansion. I can’t wait to see what Firaxis could possibly add to improve on an already spectacular and complete game. But as much as I hate to say it, with so much to learn this is one of the least accessible games in the series for newcomers. Still, with beautiful visuals,step-up in AI competence, and so much to do, for returning players this is the best Civilization game in history.

The Bunker is a well written short film with some good acting. It’s not really a game though, so it ultimately fails to live up to expectations.

New ideas and innovations help move the franchise forward, but a lot of the same bugbears are still prevalent. Until we get a new engine I believe we are always going to be waiting for that truly amazing wrestling game experience. Until that happens, 2K17 is a nice bridge between that gap.

This beautiful puzzle-platformer is filled with attention to detail, and with its tight controls and clever puzzles I couldn’t recommend playing this enough.

Overall, it’s great to see a new top-down racer that isn’t just a re-hashed mobile game, and one that handles well to boot. It can be a blast with a few mates on the couch and has a fully fledged campaign that doesn’t resort to just getting three stars per race for when your mates are off doing less fun things.

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.

A game for the kids, an incredible game that doesn’t outstay its welcome. With a strong sense of style, Shu takes the action platformer genre into its own stride with ultra shine polish and melodic music that’ll warrant listening outside of playing the game. This is a game that’ll age well for its solid game play.

For me, Football Manager 2017 is undoubtedly the best game in the series, and even when results aren’t going my way, I’m desperate to come back and go again. The changes to the match day experience are superb, and the social feed is a touch of genius.

After having a blast with the campaign, The Coalition have taken the helms of the Gears of Wars franchise and have made it their own. There was little to dislike about the experience and the team have more than proved that a returning franchise can still be epic.

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.

Inklings really is a great modern puzzle game. Whether you’ve been itching for more Lemmings, or just a new puzzle game that’ll make you think, this is definitely something you should check out. While it may look like a rip-off of a classic series, it adds its own flair to both the gameplay and look, and deserves a spot in any puzzle-aficionado's library.

Zombasite might be a little hard to wrap your head around but the blend of action RPG and Civilization-style strategy works really well. A little rough around the edges but the game underneath is a gem worth digging for.

Fun and entertaining with its eclectic mix of indies (never heard any of them if I’m honest), give a miss if you’re searching something that’ll give you a proper run for your money song choice with high BPM songs - since some stretch to a slightly unbearable 70 BPM.

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.