We've come to expect mediocre games derived from motion pictures, but Terminator Salvation is about as bad as it gets.

Deadlight could have been something great. Unfortunately, it's as mindless as the zombies it features.

A great-looking game let down by poor storytelling, repetitive gameplay and cheap, frustrating puzzles and traps.

A largely uninteresting game populated by awful characters that is a chore to play, NeverDead deserves to spend eternity alongside those infamous Atari 2600 ET cartridges, or perhaps digesting forever in the belly of The Biggest Loser's loser.

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.

Armikrog is a game that has had obvious care and exacting attention given to its visual design and animation… at the expense of almost everything else. A bland and woefully short game with asinine puzzles and an unresponsive interface, it’s beautiful but that's about it.

Some will be satisfied that merely having Duke's name attached to the box equals a safe punt. Those suitably enamoured in this respect may possibly be content long after the end credits roll. However, casting a critical eye to this title reveals serious fundamental flaws that Duke, by the mere virtue of being Duke, cannot possibly fix.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is a maddeningly repetitive experience and should be avoided at all costs.

Do yourself and the industry a favour and seek out the original.

It's a shame that so much of Little Deviants is so difficult and (literally) painful to play. There's a handful of games in it that really work, and a further set of minigame concepts that could have been pulled off if they hadn't been bogged down in unnecessary control complications.

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

I honestly believe that the team at Spiders wanted to deliver the very best game that they are capable of producing, and sadly I think that is exactly what they have done. The Technomancer is not a bad game, but it is devastatingly mediocre.

A classic RPG that you will either love or hate, and there are no two ways about it.

Ubisoft may have been overly optimistic with their chances of entering the arcade football market. The concept of Pure Football is solid, but ultimately it needed a lot more work prior to release.

Both Deathly Hallows titles are a disappointment, and it's abundantly clear that there was never enough quality content to fill two instalments from the outset. Again, the poor collusion between a game studio and official licensing channels has produced a weak platform to support such a vibrant fantasy as Harry Potter.

It's a nice attempt, but ultimately falls short of the entertainment we'd expect from such a title. In a market saturated with similarly designed games, this one does little to stand out.

It's a cynical release, devoid of entertainment, that should be avoided at all costs.

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.

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.

Many elements of MilitAnt's core design are flawed, so it's no surprise that the game as a whole is pretty dire.

Only the most ardent Sonic fans need apply. For the rest of us, some good gaming memories should just remain that: memories.

At the end of the day, it is frustrating enough for New Zealand sports fans and gamers that rugby and cricket titles are so few and far between, and that they will never be made on the sort of budgets that Madden or Pro Evolution Soccer enjoy. To then be presented with such a cynical, half-hearted effort as Rugby World Cup masquerading as a legitimate contender with a full-retail price tag only adds insult to injury.

Battleship is one part generic and one part simplistic. The link that binds the two parts together is exasperatingly cumbersome, and that's probably the biggest problem with the game. It starts out fun, but quickly gets repetitive: The same old story.

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

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.

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.

It's unacceptable these days to see the framerate just about crawl to a halt in every cut-scene shown between levels, and it's certainly unacceptable to charge full retail for what would barely pass muster as an XBL or PSN release.

New Carnival Games is a rainy weekend hire at best.