SimCity looks and sounds beautiful, and contains many great development ideas, but the always-online requirement has hurt the game. It also needs some patching.

Gods Will Be Watching shows a lot of thematic and gameplay dynamical promise, but the whole package let down by its lack of polish and consequence.

More attention to actual gameplay would have elevated Hell Yeah! beyond a mere distraction, and as such it's difficult to see it as a break-out success, and even harder to recommend to platform fanatics looking for something new.

Wheelman draws influence from a number of other titles, and fails to provide anything really new to the mix. Some initial excitement is offset quickly by repetition, and ultimately the game suffers for it.

Strafe isn't bad, but there are many better ways to satiate your nostalgia for '90s FPS titles.

It could be a fun game for those who want to try something different. There’s a melting pot of DoTA and Dawn of War features than does provide an enjoyable multiplayer experience. But if you are a long time fan of the singleplayer campaigns, I must warn you that EA have unleashed a metaphorical Rodney Hide on the franchise you love.

An unimpressive arcade racing experience. Need for Speed: Undercover seems to lack any real sense of immersion and is graphically a bland experience.

If you haven't already delved into the Deathspank universe, The Baconing is definitely worth checking out for its humour and zany cartoony feel. However, those already familiar with Spanktopia should be advised that they have already played this game, it just went by a different name.

There is still joy to be found in Ratchet and Clank's trademark weapons and humour, but Q-Force's lack of focus ultimately proves its undoing.

Yakuza: Dead Souls is a strange fruit sitting between the Yakuza that fans love and the zombie horde gameplay so overused in recent game development. While it doesn't really do either perfectly, there is enough here to keep players entertained. Fans of the series will enjoy seeing their characters in this new role but newcomers could easily be put off by the clunky control system and watered down gun-play, while zombie fans will enjoy the varied killing methods, but will be disappointed in the lack of challenge the aiming system allows.

Not quite the triumphant return long-time fans had hoped for but nevertheless, Darksiders III is an enjoyable and worthy entry in the series. The biggest issue here is that newcomers will likely find Fury and her world a little too unwelcoming. To those of us who have already shared the trials of War and the journey of Death, delivering Fury’s wrath is a satisfying if somewhat guilty pleasure.

The Force Unleashed was a great concept and a better narrative let down by a handful of mechanical faults and poor design decisions. A sequel was always on the cards but unfortunately what we're presented with fails to meet the high expectations expected of the license.

Sniper Elite III sees the franchise creep closer to excellence. It doesn't quite get there, but nonetheless this is a solid title that has arrived in a particularly lean month.

Ever wanted to wave your arms around to the polyphonic ringtones on your phone? Me neither. Welcome to the world of Wii Music.

Web of Shadows is an improvement over previous Spider-Man titles, but still lacks the punch we expect from such a popular movie-based intellectual property. A poorly told story coupled with mediocre and often repetitive action sequences have thwarted this titles chances of blockbuster glory this Christmas.

Despite being purpose-built for intense online gaming, SOCOM Confrontation just lacks the polish required to pull this off. Perhaps technical issues will be ironed out with future patches, but in the meantime there's just not enough substance here to warrant your time.

Front Mission Evolved is at its core an uninspired third-person mech fighter that throws out the tenets of the series, a move that may turn off long time players. Mech fans will find it lukewarm at best and the rest of us are left to wonder just who the game will appeal to.

8-Bit Hordes is a pleasantly diverting and fast-paced “blast”-style throwback to the heyday of the RTS, with plenty of charm. It’s also easy to pick up and play. But its major lack of depth will turn off hardcore strategy fans, and several annoyances detract from what would otherwise be a polished product.

While it looks and sounds fantastic, Sonic Lost World is hobbled somewhat by poor level design and an immediately oppressive difficulty. It still retains some appeal, but oh, what could have been...

It's amazing the mileage The Order gets from its incredible presentation and world, but that goodwill is squandered by a title that's middling to poor in most other areas.

As movie tie-in games go, this is actually rather good. It flows well, is visually impressive and maintains sufficient pace and excitement to keep the young player tuned in for many hours.

Gearbox have gone slightly astray with this DLC, it's certainly not on the same level as their previous effort.

Design-by-committee appears to have robbed Fuse of not only its former name and aesthetic, but also of any gameplay depth. It's a multiplatform misstep for Insomniac that will have Xbox owners wondering why that studio is so beloved in the first place.

Warhammer Chaosbane is a rather pretty, but ultimately shallow Diablo wannabe. By adhering too closely to its inspiration is fails to bring anything new to the table, and end up looking like a poor imitation in somewhat shinier armour and fails to deliver anything with any impact. More whiffle bat than Warhammer.

A novel concept, but Fracture ultimately fails to deliver. Hopefully the terraforming concepts can be applied to another title, in the meantime this looks like being just a rental.

There are hints of a great game buried under the decaying leviathan that is Call of Cthulhu, but they are interspersed with the detritus of too many disparate or poorly executed ideas that those hints feel more like broken promises than unrealized ones.

A sandbox of the simplest kind, Goat Simulator is a mental yet uproarious title whose silly antics will put a smile on the dial of even the most po-faced gamer.

By taking elements of iconic 90’s horror staples, Invader Studios have resurrected a Frankensteined horror experience that is far less than it’s borrowed parts. From the glacial pacing to the ponderous in-game action Daymare 1998 rather than invoking terror instead delivers tedium.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a relatively well compiled shooter, but misses out on top marks by simply being too short.

Agents of Mayhem fails as caretaker of the Saints Row dildo-torch, with passable gameplay and characters the only vague upsides in its a repetitive, bug-ridden sandbox.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered lacks any of the polish typical with modern remasters and struggles under the weight of dated design and poor presentation. What could have been a fun little jaunt through Nazi territory devolves into an altogether lackluster experience. Only for the most die-hard sniper fans.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a formulaic third-person co-op shooter that fails to meet the grade. Where the game does try to be different, it frustrates gameplay and pulls the uniform score downward.

Midway’s first foray into the ring proves that they have what it takes to mix it with the big boys of wrestling simulations, but they do fall just short of a 3-count.

Unpredictable camera angles are frustrating at times.

The Old City is rich in evocative sets, but it's too eager to impress with its cleverness.

The Station tackles with some of life's biggest questions with finesse, and will have you pondering it all long after the credits roll.

A brief excursion back into the Fable II world. Not nearly as long as we would have hoped, though the low price tag makes up for that somewhat. The quests are more diverse than in the last DLC. Gives another reason to have a look back into Fable II, even if it is only for a few hours.

While Malicious Fallen has the potential to be a fun hack-and-slasher, it is diminished by slippery movement controls, enemy AI that can overwhelm you and break the flow of the game, and an underwhelming soundtrack.

This remake of an '80s arcade classic is a flawed yet intermittently enjoyable bloodfest with some nice touches but too little polish.

A novel concept, but Fracture ultimately fails to deliver. Hopefully the terraforming concepts can be applied to another title, in the meantime this looks like being just a rental.

Addictive.

Deadpool will be well-received by Marvel comics fans, but a lack of mechanical depth holds the game back.

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour plays well, but it's also intermittently ugly, and there's isn't nearly enough content here for the asking price.

Hannah Montana: Music Jam manages to capture everything that made the show such a success, from the music, characters and locations to the ‘Hannah-isms’ and screwball humour.

War in the North, by being a blunt object of a hack-and-slash game with a facile story and an aversion to genuine characterisation, adds itself to the long list of Lord of the Rings games that just aren't Lord of the Rings games.

The Sinking City features a genuinely interesting story and setting but is let down by performance issues and very poor combat controls. Traversing the city is often a chore and will have you hitting more dead-ends than a night of speed-dating. The Switch port is the worst way to experience the game and I can only recommend it to the most die-hard Lovecraft fans.

Bland and unpolished, The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a generic and mediocre action role playing game that fails to fully embrace its source material, and therefore will ultimately leave the player unengaged and unfulfilled.

Dead to Rights: Retribution is a decent shooter, but it simply has nothing new to offer, and doesn’t do a particularly good job of presenting itself.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a relatively well compiled shooter, but misses out on top marks by simply being too short.

The world of The Crew is remarkable, but rarely has a great asset been squandered so tragically on a framework of dull grinding and insipid storytelling.

Great in concept, Blackgate is boring in practice – a tedious exploration of a prison's innards whose level design and combat simply aren't up to scratch. A functional but charmless and even boring title, this is not the Batman game handheld owners were hoping for.

Wario's hyperactive pace has been excised and his games expanded, which only highlights the dearth of compelling gameplay therein. A thin offering whatever the price, Game & Wario will only appeal to those with anterograde amnesia, and Pictionary fans.

I Am Bread arrives after a slew of physics-based "comedy" titles, but is nonetheless a winner thanks to compelling play and a shockingly-decent story.

While Kinect Sports Rivals adequately demonstrates the improvements made to the latest model of Kinect, uninspired gameplay lets the overall package down.

War Chest is an incredible disappointment given the strength of the series to this point, and the exciting licences within.

Magic 2015 is a step backwards for the Planeswalkers series, and could potentially prove a costly misstep for Stainless Games given the recent, celebrated arrival of Blizzard in the CCG genre.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is just another Crash title in a long line of Crash titles. The gameplay is nothing new and the graphics are average. The levels are creative but end up being a bit repetitive due to the mission structure and the back-tracking involved. The highlight is the story which is simply exceptional, and the satirical humour dotted throughout.

There's just really not enough here to warrant more than a cursory glance.

Ryse definitely looks the part, but the gameplay simply isn't up to scratch. It feels unfinished, or like a hardcore title whose mechanics have been dramatically simplified for the Xbox One TV crowd. Thumb down.

It's a solid attempt that is difficult to fault, but at the end of the day this game will only appeal to real Sudoku fans or people eager to learn about Sudoku.

It lacks the kind of personality you'd expect with titles like these, but does offer the occasional serious challenge to those able to overlook the clumsy controls, annoying camera issues, and fairly average graphics.

If you ignore the terrible night levels, Unleashed shows huge promise for the future of the franchise. The essence of Sonic is captured once again with incredible artwork, fluid motion and awesome speed. Unfortunately, we can't ignore the night levels, and they come dangerously close to ruining this game.

An also-ran in a stacked genre that somehow further lowers the stock of the most overused enemy type of the past decade, All Zombies Must Die! makes both a bad case for its title and as a game in general.

It's the official game of the event, but unlike the real thing there's nothing particularly ground-breaking about Beijing 2008. What you see is what you get, and with nearly 40 events it's a lot to cover. Unfortunately they're mostly similar to play and the awful controls ruin what could have been a solid title.

A tedious and somewhat repetitive brain training game. Interesting and exciting GUI but the content really feels like a let down.

Crackdown 3 is a refined improvement over the previous two instalments. The single and co-op campaign modes are super fun, and the jumping and combat systems give our character a real feeling of power and invincibility which transfers well to the player. Visually appealing, fast-paced and tons of missions to complete, I would recommend this game to anyone, not just fans of third-person action games. While not revolutionary, it is still a great example of its genre.

The DS version of the classic Populous title is a nice trip down memory lane, but lacks the complexity and ease of control found with the original.

A good revamp of an old classic.

Recommended only for serious Harry Potter fans, or seriously bored kids.

A "light gun" title that rates on the high side of the genre. Unfortunately the genre is fairly rubbish, so this isn't a huge achievement. When will game developers drop this tired concept?

An unimpressive arcade racing experience. Need for Speed: Undercover seems to lack any real sense of immersion and is graphically a bland experience.

Besides flying around (which unfortunately is not as exciting or fun as one might hope) it is a pretty standard and dull third-person shooter.

Total War Battles: Shogun may have very little in common with its hugely respected relatives back in the Total War stable, but it represents a cheap foray into a new market for the team at The Creative Assembly, and there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Compulsion Games' Contrast hints numerous excellent ideas but in its hasty execution, fails to deliver almost any of them.

Mars: War Logs has big ambitions, but it feels like it was rushed out the door – perhaps due to budgetary constraints. The makings of an impressive game are here, unfortunately it just doesn't hold together particularly well.

Despite some interesting puzzles, Keepers of the Void is a repetitive, shallow, and excruciatingly dull. The issues I was able to look past in the core game smacked me much harder this time around, and unlike the attacks in-game, I could see every one of these hits coming.

The Deer God has some wonderful ideas and attention-grabbing presentation, but it's mechanically underdeveloped and repetitive.

Generally underwhelming and far too simple, Murdered would have been better as a cat simulator.

MXGP 2 is a great example of how to take promising ideas, and then squander them all with terrible execution. There’s a decent motocross game in here somewhere, but it’s buried by technical issues like a fallen rider under mud.

Here's hoping the better two games get standalone releases for cheap, because they're good (but not NZ$69.99 good).

Anthem is a game with unmet potential at every turn. The gameplay is fantastic and recreates the ’30 seconds of fun’ that has made its competitor Destiny such a success. But in its current state of bugs, server issues and poor design decisions, it is planted firmly in the ‘play it in six months’ category.

As much as fans may be hoping for that great Transformers game, and as much as Dark of the Moon offers occasional moments of enjoyment, this is a game that will ultimately frustrate fans with robotic precision as it underutilizes or undermines every defining aspect of the Transformers franchise.

Steeldiver is a novel and varied title that should entertain the casual gamer.

1954 Alcatraz fails to deliver. There is a lot to like, the narrative and setting are exceptional, but the constant shortcomings of almost every other aspect of the game quickly saps enjoyment and replaces it with frustration and disappointment.

It's the official game of the event, but unlike the real thing there's nothing particularly ground-breaking about Beijing 2008. What you see is what you get, and with nearly 40 events it's a lot to cover. Unfortunately they're mostly similar to play and the awful controls ruin what could have been a solid title.

One Piece: World Seeker is lacking in so many areas. It may be lovely to look at, but an overall shallow and repetitive experience take away any semblance of joy fans are likely to find.

Jupiter & Mars may just induce the most motion sickness we've yet to encounter in a VR title to date. Boring gameplay mechanics lead to an altogether forgettable and dull experience. Younger players may enjoy what the game has to offer, but when there are so many other amazing PSVR games out there right now, it's hard to recommend to any but the most die-hard dolphin or neon fanatics.

If the Lost Planet series still had any devotees, they'd probably be disappointed by this third installment's padded and passionless offering.

The first of two scheduled DLC packs for Assassin's Creed II, we can't help but think the content within should have made an appearance on disk when the game was released.

Space Hulk is remarkably faithful to the source material, something that works for and against it in equal measure. Altogether the game shows potential but feels undercooked.

Space Hulk: Deathwing is a below par title with some excellent art design and satisfying enough combat. Enemy variety is higher than expected, and the unlockable weapons all feel appropriate, but overall it can only really be recommended to 40K diehards.

ReCore is an interesting robotic Frankenstein of various game parts. They don’t always work well together, but when they do the collective whole is a rather wonderful creation. However as not all parts were created equal expect some frustration and the occasional fumble.

You will need to play the game to realize its potential and accept that TiQal is definitely one of Xbox Live Arcade's greatest games to date.

A splendidly colourful game with a confused tone and too many bugs, Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel will at best briefly amuse then disappear from memory.

Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption nails its combat but loses ground almost everywhere else. This Souls-like boss battler leans too heavily on its inspiration and has no sense of itself as a result.

For casual hack 'n' slash fans then Dynasty Warriors 7 could be a bit too labour intensive and time consuming for your liking. You really need to have a genuine interest in the subject matter on display to get the most out of the game.

The graphic combat and rich storyline are let down by tiresome dialogue and endless and confusing travel. If you are a fan of the period and want to wallow in the mythology then this game has it by the bucket (amphora?) load, however game wise its lurching pace destroys its underlying potential.

One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows falls terribly short in almost every aspect. While the premise works well in the world of Anime, it does not translate well to the format of Gaming. A combination of lackluster gameplay, woeful voice-acting and a story as bland as they come, even die-hard fans of the series would be doing themselves a favour in avoiding this one at all costs.