If Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkhuni- sounds rather crazy, that’s because it is. And that’s why it astounds me how tedious it manages to be the majority of the time.

As beautiful as it is to look at, it’s a shame that Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland just isn’t more fun to play. It feels old and while I suppose that’s the intention, platforming games have move on for a reason. It’s the first Rugrats game in two decades, and while I’m glad it exists, I’m disappointed it’s not more enjoyable.

Despite an interesting premise, the game is not all that exciting and quickly becomes very repetitive.

There’s a lot to like about No Straight Roads, there really is. But ultimately, its gameplay is disappointing. It’s essentially a boss rush game that’s been stretched thin by repetitive platforming sections and a hub that’s just a mindless collectathon. The boss battles themselves are of varying quality too, and are laden with frustration. With a patch or two No Straight Roads could be a decent game, but as it stands it’s impossible to recommend to even those who are really into music-infused adventures.

If you’re a fan of Bakugan, there’s no doubt you’ll get a kick out of Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia. It’s a great-looking game, and seeing those huge beasties in battle for the first time is quite a thrill. But the game’s dull and repetitive combat quickly loses its excitement, and the fact you’ll be looking forward to completing a mindless side quest simply to get a reprieve surely tells you all you need to know.

Baboon! isn’t a bad game per se, but because of its flaws I can only really recommend it to the most die-hard of platform fans looking for a new quirky challenge.

Had this game come to Xbox One before Clockwork Tales, then it may have been a different story, but Artifex Mundi have set their bar rather high, and unfortunately this dated re-release just doesn’t hit the mark.

Unfortunately, Bloodshore is Wales Interactive and Good Gate Media’s most disappointing collaboration yet. We thought very highly of The Complex and Five Dates, and the recent Night Book weaved an enjoyable narrative, too. But Bloodshore never quite hits the mark. It doesn’t work as a black comedy, instead never quite deciding if it wants to be funny or horrifying. It’s a disparity that never redeems itself – not even by seeing terrible internet personalities meet their grizzly demise.

Perhaps I have been rather critical of Button City; there is something sweet in its cuddly art style and although its dialogue and narrative may be try-hard, it is effective at times. The real issue is that it feels like its developers have relied too hard on simply being cute rather than focusing on creating engaging gameplay. Regardless of how adorable the protagonist and their friends may be, there’s just not enough here to hold my attention.

Ultimately, it’s hard to recommend Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed to anyone but the most ardent of action RPG fans with a taste for Otaku culture. While its premise is genuinely interesting, as are the storylines that stem from it, the dated visuals and archaic combat will be big hurdles to overcome for most. For those who can see and work past them, however, there’s some fun to be had, albeit littered with some frustration. It’s just a shame that more hasn’t been done to bring this game up to today’s standards.

There’s a solid experience to be had underneath it all if you really, really want to find it, but unfortunately I feel that most people won’t have the patience nor inclination to bother. There are plenty more titles out there offering a much better experience of what Van Helsing attempts.

Metal Tales: Overkill is a fairly competent game; one that’s somewhat enjoyable but not remarkable in any way. You can have hours of fun with it, and can even play it with a friend or family member by your side thanks to couch co-op, but chances are you aren’t going to remember your time with it all that fondly. Still, if you’re into metal music and roguelikes, it might be worth picking up.

Doctor Who: The Edge of Time has flashes of excellence and, if you’re a hardcore Doctor Who fan, you’ll get something out of it. But for a show that’s had this long a run, there’s really nothing remarkable about Doctor Who: The Edge of Time.

It’s the frustrating sort of hard that comes about because of poor mechanics rather than elegant design. Despite your demon powers, the rules of this particular fight club start off by declaring that they’re going to be totally different for you and your enemies.

Trüberbrook isn’t without its charm, though. Despite the dull protagonist, the game’s story is engaging, and the smatterings of humour will occasionally raise a smile. Equally appealing is Trüberbrook’s graphical style, particularly when you’re able to behold the backdrops in all their glory. But considering how many logic-defying hoops you’ve got to jump through and the company you’ll be keeping, the journey to Trüberbrook is only for the patient.

Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX+ is a bit of a disappointment, then. The core gameplay still shines, the visuals hold up despite their age, and the soundtrack kicks ass, as ever. Event mode pales in comparison to Chronicle Saviours mode though, and the whole affair being presented in the original arcade format does it no favours whatsoever. Throw in a steep asking price, and you have a game that you should think long and hard about before splashing your cash.

A story-driven adventure that holds your hand every step of the way, Detective – Rainy Night will disappoint those hoping to actually do some detective work. It has other issues, too, like poor localisation, but those who are intrigued by its narrative will get some enjoyment out of it while it lasts.

Despite what you might have seen or read on social media, WWE 2K20 isn’t unplayable or broken. Or at least not in my experience. But it also doesn’t push the series forward in any way, nor is it polished. MyCareer mode has an entertaining story to tell, but it’s not worth the price of the game alone, and other modes don’t really offer anything groundbreaking or truly new. So overall, while WWE 2K20 isn’t terrible, there’s no reason to pick it up if you already have WWE 2K19 in your games library.

Tales of Cosmos is a game which, with a little more thought and attention could be a joy to play. Its frustratingly obtuse puzzles and repetitive space travel eclipse the game’s enjoyable moments. Appealing as Tales of Cosmos may initially be, it remains disappointingly flawed and is best left to drift through the aether.

‘Disappointing’ is the best word to describe Rustler. It takes the original Grand Theft Auto template, plops it within a medieval world, then delivers ho-hum missions. Add to that an overall lack of polish, some mechanics that don’t entertain quite like they should, and the absence of voice acting, and you have a small open world adventure that never quite delivers on its promise. Still, chances are you’ll get some fun out of it if you pick it up. Just perhaps not as much as its introductory FMV would suggest.

ICY: Frostbite Edition is a distinctly average title. It definitely has its moments, particularly when you stumble into the game’s stranger locations and end up having to deal with a colossal mutant tree or similar horror. Plus, never knowing whether you’re “right” is a wonderfully unsettling sensation. But you’re still left with a narrative that fails to draw you in, an oddly out of place combat system and a superficial survival mechanic, making gameplay middling at best.

If you’re a hardcore shoot ’em up fan and are desperate for something new to play, Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire might scratch that itch. For a little while, anyway. Its gameplay is fine, but it doesn’t attempt to further the genre or do anything new in any way. Sure, it packs in a story, but its groanworthy quality perhaps detracts from the overall experience somewhat. It’s fun enough while it lasts, but there are plenty of other shmups out there that offer a much better experience than Sisters Royale, so we recommend you go for one of those instead.

I’m sure some WWII enthusiasts and military logisticians will appreciate the level of optimisable detail of armies and their behavior, but for a general audience, the managerial emphasis is in all the wrong places.

If you’re not put off by its grave challenge that all too often feels unfair and its general rough-around-the-edges nature, you might have a good time with Wanted: Dead. Most, though, are likely to become disheartened and infuriated by it. It tries to do something new with the genre and we applaud it for that, but the execution isn’t quite there. We love its characters and its quirkiness, and even its mechanics, but they’re in a game that at the moment only sporadically feels fun to play.

It feels like a pointless endeavour to stick a score on something like this, really. Thanks to recent titles such as River City Girls and timeless classics such as Streets of Rage 2, I’ve found playing most of the titles in Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun: Retro Brawler Bundle to be painful, at best. To me, they’re now nothing more than curios; relics of the past that are good to be remembered but not to be played. But you might feel differently. It’s a costly gamble to find out.

We’d be lying if we said we weren’t disappointed by Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR. Our expectations weren’t outlandish; we just wanted another Operation Wolf game where the guns were our Sense controllers. While Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR somewhat fulfills that wish, it adds in needless complications and needs a little more fine-tuning and polish to really shine. If you have some love for the series this will serve up some entertainment, but it won’t replace the feelings you have for the classics.

TOHU is set in a beautiful world begging to be explored, with an adorable protagonist that we should be dying to learn more about. But its frustratingly difficult puzzles and the fact most players are going to have to rely on the built-in hint system quickly sucks any joy out of playing. Unless you’re a hardcore adventure game fan with the patience of a saint, you’re unlikely to enjoy your time with TOHU. The rest of us are better off basking in the beauty of its screenshots like they’re works of art.

If you have an Xbox One X and sit a fair distance away from your TV to play though, definitely give it a wide berth until you know its text has been enlarged via a patch. Assuming one is ever delivered, that is.