Horizon Forbidden West fails to live up to its predecessor in just about every way. While the world and its many new machines are stunning, the experience is bogged down with confusing design choices and variation for the sake of variation - making Aloy's newest adventure one to forget.

Despite the poor presentation, WRC manages to be a pretty entertaining rally game, refreshingly free from offroad segments and extreme sports nonsense. In the long run, however, it suffers from repetitive tracks and an unexiting campaign.

Monks and Mystics brings exciting new ways of worship to Crusader Kings II. Through holy and unholy orders can we take part in the more intricate parts of medieval religion, but although the secret societies might bring excitement to old-timers and newcomers alike, there's just not enough here, making the expansion less worthwhile compared to its predecessors.

Remember Me is a game filled with ambition it doesn’t quite reach. Protagonist Nilin is a strong, interesting female lead carrying a good story through the entire game.

Cities XL 2012 is an enjoyable and addictive city builder, but the lack of depth that makes it instantly accessible to newcomers also makes it less interesting to play in the long run. It is also disappointing that there's so few improvements and new features in this year's edition.

Amphora is a beautiful game, which presents some very well-made moments throughout a young woman's life. The puzzles are somewhat entertaining, but quickly succumb to cheap trial and error.

Quotation forthcoming.

Evoland is both original and a rather banal at the same time, in that it presents the evolution of the RPG/adventure genre in a mostly interesting and entertaining manner. The problem with this game is that this evolutionary gimmick is all there is to it. The game underneath is rather shallow and not very interesting.

Contrast is a game with a beautiful mood, great music and a lovely film noir-inspired visuals. The plattforming and gameplay is mediocre, with few and short highlights.

Get Tannen is a fairly enjoyable experience thanks to lots of funny situations and humor and some pretty good acting, but doesn't offer much as an actual game. The puzzles are too simple to be satisfying, and the episode feels a bit too short as well.

The user interface could do with an overhaul, but this is a solid enough strategy game with tons of cool units from Warhammer 40,000.

Killzone: Shadow Fall is a game you can toss into your new PlayStation 4 to get a glimpse of the possibilities of next gen. In some years it’ll be remembered as a rather timid launch game, but right now it can capitalize on being one of the consoles first games. It’s a competent shooter with a lacking campaign.

This is the best Mario Kart experience one can get without owning a Wii, with party graphics and clever courses. Entertaining for console gamers of all ages.

Torchlight does very little wrong, and is probably the most streamlined game in the genre. The problem is rather that the genre is getting more and more irrelevant itself. The game lacks DeathSpank's humor and Diablo's mystical universe, and is sadly reduced to a decent single player MMO.

A decent multiplayer doesn't make up for all that grudgingly repetitive gameplay and a bloated, clichéd story. The world of Destiny is a shallow and uninspired place that fails to capture the imagination, let alone the will to play on after mowing down the millionth wave of dead-eyed space robots.

A fairly successful meeting between two worlds, but not without problems.

The same old issues like awkward ball physics, unnatural interaction between players, sloppy animations and a ridiculous menu system makes most changes irrelevant. Pro Evolution Soccer is in dire need of a round with the defibrillator before next year.

Beyond Good & Evil HD is a visually lovely update to what many consider an ignored classic. There is much to be admired about how the heroine Jade is presented and how the game mixes a plethora of genres with some success, but the nonexistent difficulty curve and simplistic mechanics make it hard to recommend for fans of action-rpgs.

Mafia 3 starts off with a bang, but does not manage to maintain its momentum. Despite great gameplay, a fantastic cast and a riveting story, the lack of depth and varied mechanics and opportunities halt an otherwise great game in its tracks.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is a mixed bag with a high emphasis on third person multiplayer action that never quite reaches the heights of previous entries.

Saint's Row: The Third sets out with a great ambition of giving the player freedom and an arsenal of fun elements to play with. Unfortunately, though, the game still falls a bit short with a somewhat childish sense of humour and quirky game mechanics.

This is a lightweight of an expansion pack if you primarily play alone. The big news here is to finally compete and cooperate with other players.

If you already own a PlayStation VR set you should consider playing Farpoint, but it is by no means a system seller.

Transistor is esthetically pleasing with a varied and well-made combat system which offers endless possibilities and fun gameplay. Sadly, repetitive parts and lack of challenging and smart enemies makes it fall short in the end.

One Piece Odyssey takes the Straw Hat Crew on a fun journey, revisiting stories fans would already know from the TV show and also getting to know some brand new and exciting characters and worlds. However, the game is let down by its far too easy combat and some frustrating design choices, making the overall experience a bland one.

While the retro style graphics and soothing music by chiptune artist Lifeformed turns Dustforce into a very meditative experience, there isn't much to the game beyond being simply another two-dimensional indie platformer.

Alice: Madness Returns is interesting, visually stunning and inviting. Some of the gameplay elements excites in its pure form, but combat does seem ridgid and sometimes random. It's close, but not quite the cigar for Mr. McGee.

Realm of the Wood Elves brings a fairly exciting campaign to Total War: Warhammer. The amber resource and the new focuses on alliances versus war forces us to think again on how to approach potential enemies, but as you grow more powerful, the game becomes a little bit easier, and a little more boring.

Gathering Storm offers a mixed bag. The ambition is clear, with climate change and the World Congress being major changes that sadly fails to fully live up to their potential. At the same time, the new resource mechanics are engaging, and the new leaders and other additions make for an expansion filled with content. Nevertheless, Gathering Storm does not live up to the standards set by last year's expansion, Rise and Fall.

Old school dogfighting that's best in short bursts. Luftrausers boasts easy controls and retro visuals, but lacks the range and depth to keep you up in the air for a long period of time.

The premise of the Project Zero series, quite literally having to face up to your fears to catch them on camera, is ingenious. Furthermore, at its high points, Maiden of Black Water showcases a generous amount of the very peculiar and likeable Japanese horror atmosphere. However, the experience suffers from imprecise and slow controls, making for frustrating maneuvering through the rather samey surroundings of the haunted Mount Hikami. Add to that the large amount of terribly dull and boringly angst-ridden notes that most of the narrative is related through, and you have a game that, unfortunately, doesn't quite live up to its potential.

However, once you find your flow – and the right path – it's fun to sweep through the world, whether you're chasing the game's big bad or poking around the many, many secrets that lurk around every corner of the spaceship Atromitos.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not a bad game, nor is it fantastic. It follows the same recipe as the series’ installments have done for a few years now, where we’re served a story full of intrigue, power struggles, and a revenge motif. The main characters, Naoe, a nimble ninja, and Yasuke, a powerful samurai, provide varied gameplay experiences, but does not quite let the player live out the full fantasy of being either. It’s unfortunate that Ubisoft does not unleash the full potential of finally having an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan.

Tales of Xillia 2 feels like not much more than a repeat of the previous game. You'll spend most of your time walking through familiar environments you already explored thoroughly in the previous game.

Chaotic, frenetic and often clumsy, Battleborn is a game that has a lot of flaws in its core design. Still, we can't quite stop playing, mostly thanks to the great cast of playable characters, as well as the game's addicitve progression system.

Phantasy Star Zero is a nice game that adds little new. It's easy to get a feeling that the whole product is quite old. All thought it works quite well, it prevents the game from being memorable.

Anger Foot promises and delivers shooting/kicking action at a furious pace. You don't have to sprint through each level, but the experience feels both more alive and more rewarding with the music at full blast and max pressure on the W key. If you are a fan of "speedrunning" and shooting games, this could be right up your alley. Lots of trial and error to sweep through levels as quickly and perfectly as you can. For those who don't like doing the same things over and over again, Anger Foot can quickly become tiresome. There are just a bit too many levels and far too many hopeless boss fights here. The convoluted solution for changing shoes - which gives you various advantages - is also extremely frustrating, but perhaps the developer can do something about that eventually.

Fe is a visually beautiful game that also delivers atmospheric audio pieces, but that sadly does not fulfill the promises of a truly great 3D platformer.

Among all the tactics games I've enjoyed in recent years, Persona 5 Tactica stands out as the least interesting. It has the potential to become something more, and the idea behind being able to knock down enemies to get new attacks is a good one. However, there is too little else here. The game quickly becomes repetitive, and the campaigns offer far too little variety.

This is pretty much a low-budget version of Gears of War, but enjoyable enough for what it is. Only buy if you can play in coop mode with real human beings, though, because the AI of your squad mates is just dreadful.

Agents of Mayhem is a lot of fun to play in the first few hours, and the gunplay and movement systems are addictive. Sadly, the story is rather dull and there is little offered in terms of immersion, which makes me wish the game offered more to keep me interested in Seoul and the admittedly charming characters in the long run.

Though this is a solid finale for an enjoyable trilogy of adventure games, it does feel a bit like playing through the final five hours of a good game that is exactly five hours too long. The freshness that the series initially offered is gone, replaced with predictability and a certain staleness.

Destiny: Rise of Iron follows in the footsteps of its expansion predecessor. It maintains the already polished gameplay and desire for better loot, but the continued lack of depth, both in characters, story and general mission structure, stops Rise of Iron from becoming the game-changer The Taken King became one year ago.

Man the Guns unfortunately brings more confusion to fleet manage than before. On the upside, the great new oil mechanic, the new focus trees and the US Congress mechanisms are mostly welcome additions to Hearts of Iron IV.

Dead Rising 4 has obvious flaws. It is not a great technical game, has a lot of bugs, and it does not run as well as a lot of other games on console. It still manages to entertain with it’s humor, but it is a flawed game.

Immortality lacks the satisfying detective work found in Her Story and Telling Lies, instead opting for randomness and an almost complete lack of control as to what part of the game you're wanting to explore. The story itself is enjoyable to piece together, but finding each piece is a frustrating and deeply repetitive process.

Styx: Shards of Darkness is an entertaining adventure that offers challenging stealth in vertical environments packed with obstacles. While there are plenty of possibilities and Styx has many tricks to avoid being spotted by guards, it’s hard to shake the feeling that this could have been so much better.

A mediocre platforming game with some good ideas and a great amount of charm.

It's a fun game, but it never reaches the heights of the original. There is no real structure to the game, and the variation in what you get to do is minimal. Chasing orbs is only fun for so long.

Quotation forthcoming.

Flawed in so many ways, but it still manages to engage and entertain. Jane Jensen-fans will find much to enjoy here.

Quotation forthcoming.

Fire Emblem Engage drowns a solid and entertaining tactics game under layer upon layer of boring filler nonsense that does a very good job of ruining the experience.

Dead or Alive 6 has a lot going for it – solid combat mechanics and an incredible tutorial mode being the elements that stands out the most – but overall it feels a little too bland and lacking in content to stand out in the sea of great fighting games of yesteryear.

The Flame in the Flood dares to be a different survival game. Instead of focusing on killing zombies, the goal is to survive by eating, drinking, and sleeping. Sadly, there's not much more to it than that. Being different alone does not make a game great, and this is no exception.

Age of Empires IV is fundamentally a true AoE game, but sadly, it's very little else. There are no bold chances taken here, no great additions or revolutionary changes. And that, after so many years, is disappointing.

A beautiful and relaxing game that is over too soon, and is too bare bones to encourage replaying.

Ghost of a Tale is a charming and often funny experience surrounding an adorable mouse and scary rats, but the simplistic stealth mechanics are not enough to keep the initial surge of excitement going for more than a few hours.

Rise of Ronin is not a bad game, but a mediocre one. Everything it does, from world building to combat system, story and mechanics both in and out of combat is well made and works. But there's nothing here that hasn't been done better in other games, or that you won't find a better version of elsewhere.

Quotation forthcoming.

Creative Assembly has created a game that could be the pinnacle of their great strategy franchise. Unfortunately Rome II is marred by a number of technical flaws that ruin the experience. Hopefully the game can be redeemed by future patches.

When Vikings Attack is a fun and charming little game, with simple core mechanics. Britain is overrun by vikings, and the townspeople need to throw everything they can find at their aggressors to fend them off. Its good for casual gaming, but works best as a fun gaming experience with family and friends.

Shadow Labyrinth never rises above being an occasionally exciting metroidvania. Between the likes of Hollow Knight, Ori and others, there are just far too many better options available.

Carving up an indefinite amount of faux-Soviet robot soldiers isn't the worst way to spend a couple of hours, but Strider won't go down in the annals of history is a modern day action classic.

While Helheim Hassle doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, Manual Samuel, this platformer offers up plenty of clever puzzles, bad jokes and hilarious characters. The core mechanic of disassembling and reassembling the main character to get through Helheim's neverending supply of platforming puzzles is good fun, though the clunky controls often cause problems during the game's more stressful segments.

This remake delivers a solid tactical experience with a gripping story, but it lacks the atmosphere and impact of the PlayStation original – a good game wrapped in a disappointingly lifeless presentation.

The latest Star Ocean shines in its combat, but the small world filled with padding ensures repetition sets in quickly. With a bigger budget this could have been something special.

A nice, but by no means particularly memorable experience.

Developer Spry Fox' first few steps into the console market definitely has its charms, but doesn't hold up in the long run. While the combination of match three game and roguelike games sounds like a good idea on paper it doesn't really work in practice.

A more dynamic and engaging game than the first zombie killer, Never Die Alone upgrades the cooperative aspect and makes sure you enjoy it's disappointingly short duration.

Need for Speed: Payback is a fun romp, but the micrtransactions are a bit on the invasive side.

Quotation forthcoming.

As long as you are prepared for some sluggish movement, Thalassa is a story-driven game that delivers where it counts most, with mysteries, characters and themes that make an impression.

The formula for a game like this is well established, and while Return to Moria doesn't add anything new to the genre, it works just fine. It may seem strange, but it's boring in a somewhat safe and relaxing way – when the technical aspects works.

The final chapter in the Naruto saga is an underwhelming experience where long and bland storyboards tell the story before you are finally allowed to participate in some downright spectacular battles.

Echoes of the End is at times great fun, but it is sadly brought down by wonky controls, dull combat, and an endgame that drones on too long.

Krater is a fresh new take on the action role-playing game. It offers a unique setting, interesting character development and many cool ideas, but becomes very repetitive after a while. More sidequests, bosses and unique environments would have helped a lot.

The concept is still the same, gather your friends for a friendly battle of speed and luck inhilarious mini games. However, new mini games and creative, lively worlds aside, Mario Party 9 is pretty much exactly the same as before. Some may love this, others can't help but feel a bit disappointed at the lack of innovation from Nintendo.

Twisted Metal is a mixed experience; while playing alone gives more frustration than enjoyment, it is a totally different take when joining up with friends or strangers online. The gameplay is tight and quite fun, but the general unpolished feeling of the game hold it back from being anything but an average vehicular combat game.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is extremely ambitious, but has suffered from an almost continuous flow of multiplayer related problems. While promising if Atari can get their servers working properly, the singleplayer content simply isn't convincing enough to warrant a purchase on its own.

Although its story and world with its dark and gloomy industrial setting is interesting, its puzzle-solving and platforming elements are to easy. The game might be great for casual gamers and those who are new to the genre, but those who expected Schaefers old lunacy and absurdities, will probably be disappointed.

Maybe there are those who want to laugh their heads off at the humor, and love to rummage through rubbish looking for treasures, but I'm fed up. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands can be fun. Especially with friends, but then you might as well play Borderlands 2 again.

Rig'n'Roll is a lot more enjoyable than the subject matter might indicate, but after nearly a decade in production, it's still not completely finished. Bugs and flaws makes the experience less fun than it should have been.

Tight and challenging combat aside, this remake feels like a step back for a series that with its previous few installments had begun moving beyond the clichéd storylines found here.

Fans of Akira Toriyama's celebrated manga series are sure to be pleased by beautifully stylized graphics, an above-average fighting system and a whimsical storyline pulled out of the manga. Anyone else however, is likely to find Goku's adventure lacking the variation needed to truly stand out among the handheld console's many comparable releases.

Techland deserves praise for having put together a well-functioning and well-flowing game, which is also completely free of microtransactions and other nonsense. It's just a shame that the game itself isn't more fun to play.

Swarm's cartoony violence is both charming and fun, but the game ends up being repetitive and mediocre. The game has got a good basic idea that unfortunately never reaches its full potential.

Grand Slam Tennis 2 is EA Sports' attempt to dominate yet another sports genre, but the title faces hard rivalry in the existing Virtua Tennis and Top Spin series. The game features a nice selection of official stadiums and competitions, but does not really present anything new of interest that has not already been done by the competition. Still, the implementation of Move functionality is promising, and together with a solid online service it should lead to some interest from fans of the genre.

A solid and addictive foundation, but for now the game feels a bit too unfinished – a bit like a promising "early access" title.

Somewhat better than Episode 3, with a bit more variation and more challenging puzzles. It delivers a few hours of easily forgettable entertainment, for one of those rainy days where there's nothing else to do.

Payday 3 at launch is a usable starting point, while we wait for Starbreeze to bring in more content in the months and years to come.

Easily digestible beat ‘em up action with some areas lacking.

Mafia: Definitive Edition is one of the most visually stunning games out there, but the beautiful city streets and cars are held back by the outdated shooting and fighting mechanics, as well as a story which never really manages to tell a heartfelt and unique mafia epic.

Daylight starts off scary and ominous, but repeating gameplay and enemies makes the game tedious and mediocre by the end.

With Run Roo Run 5th Cell continues its position as a developer with an eye for interesting aesthetic. Despite its extremely easy initial levels, the last part of the game offers some small amount of platforming fun.

ARMS is a fun and creative game, but lacks the depth and precision to last as long - or remain as exciting - as we'd hoped.

Mousecraft is the lovechild of Tetris and Lemmings, although it's nowhere near as addicting. It's a creative idea, with fun mechanics, and well worth a try, but the difficulty goes up and down too rapidly, because the game introduces new mechanics a bit too often.

An engaging and challenging, but still unfinished game.