Space Crew is a patchy trip into the cosmos. If you can tolerate the lack of mission and enemy variety you’ll get joy out of it but, with a little more attention it could have been stellar.

There are no set patterns, no connection or justification; just arbitrary cause and effect. For the most part you can’t take what you’ve learned with you from one puzzle to another and that, for me at least, is where the frustration comes from.

Even if the game’s visuals don’t appeal to you and you’ve never tackled any other games in the series, it still warrants investigating. Corpse Party: Book of Shadows’ frequently disconcerting and often bloody payoffs, as well as periodical dollops of psychological horror, make it worth tolerating the game’s less engaging moments.

It’s the narrative you discover through exploration that holds The Crow’s Eye together; reading and listening to people slowly lose their minds – as perhaps your character does too – makes the psychological thriller element of the game take centre stage. It’s just a shame that the horror never quite gets there.

I have to give credit where credit is due and that lies mainly in the consistently stunning visuals, the beautiful graphics, and the interesting variety of music.

I Am The Hero finds its home with beat ’em up fans quite well. As far as appealing to the wider audience, however, it falls short. Combat that fails to offer a personal feel alongside a lack of depth and replay features leaves me wanting more. High-score chasers and leaderboard-savvy players will have lots to love, but those looking for a casual beat ’em up may find themselves turning away at some point.

[PaRappa the Rapper is] possibly worth buying if you’re a huge fan wanting a nostalgia trip. Just be prepared to have your fond memories of the title tested somewhat.

An enchanting adventure, no doubt, and one that lasts quite a while. I just don’t know if it feels quite at home on Switch.

Using full 3D models and a real-time system, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII’s combat boils down to a numbers game more than strategy.

It comes down to the fact that Age of Empires III has never been the best at fundamental RTS gameplay. The Definitive Edition has done a great job of bringing the title into the modern age with beautiful visuals and a new UI – but that core gameplay remains, and it falls flat especially compared to the standard set by last year’s Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition‘s intriguing campaigns are worth a look, but if you value adaptive and fluid multiplayer gameplay, stick with Age of Empires II.

Repetitive level formatting is a curse many roguelites have to contend with to some degree, but it rarely strikes as soon as the one hour mark.

It’s a bit simple, so it’s never going to excite in the same way that God of War or Devil May Cry V does, but that doesn’t mean some won’t get a decent amount of enjoyment out of it.

There’s no doubt that 8-Bit Adventure Anthology Volume 1 is a good addition to your library if you’re a fan of classic point-and-click adventures, but if you’re new to the titles, then get ready for some frustration. If you do decide, at your own risk, to pick them up I’d consider getting them on PC rather than on console to avoid controller-induced rage fits.

Curse of the Sea Rats is a perfectly playable metroidvania that feels rough around the edges. Mechanically it can feel a little unfair at times due to things like stiff animations and unfortunate enemy placements. And while its four protagonist set up is a neat touch, it can be a grind to upgrade skills if you do decide to change. Still, fans of the genre are likely to enjoy their time with it.

Pneumata is an ambitious first-person horror game considering it's made a by a solo developer. But while it looks rather nice and succeeds in creating a tense atmosphere, there are numerous issues that ultimately bring it down considerably.

With the usual quality of life features added into the mix, such as screen options, save state support and more, G-Darius HD is easy to recommend to series fans with the skills to do it justice. Its dated visuals and rock-hard difficulty level, however, means it’s not likely to impress newcomers. It’s not a bad game by any means, but it’s hard to not feel like more could have been done with G-Darius HD to make it a more accessible and attractive package overall.

I can’t quite recommend Little Orpheus, and not just because of its unfortunate choice of narrative given the current climate. Its story is at least told in an interesting way, and it presents you a colourful, well-realised fantasy world to explore. But its platforming is dull and uninspired; you’ve seen it all before in other games. Though being inside a whale is cool, I guess.

[All The Delicate Duplicates’] moments of greatness – often coming from its experimental nature – are too few and far between stages of gratuitous reading and derivative searching. The final experience, marred by playing it just too safe, comes off feeling needlessly short and forgetful.

Ride 5 is the biggest and most feature-rich Ride game to date, but it’s a shame that many rough edges and issues hold it back from greatness, especially for newcomers. Perhaps with a patch or two, Ride 5 will turn into something really special, but until then, it’s hard to recommend it over Ride 4.

Despite its flaws, Moonlight is still an entertaining and delightful platformer. Its pleasing graphics and wonderful, calming soundtrack won me over right away but its brief playing time, frustrating jumping mechanics and underwhelming ending let the overall experience down in my opinion. At around four hours playing time, Moonlight offers a silly, quick platformer game, but those looking for anything with more depth or longevity are best looking elsewhere.

Gift of Parthax is an enjoyable title, just not a spellbinding one.

As it is, Of Carrots and Blood is an entertaining and energetic, if not short-lived, twin-stick shooter that is enjoyable in short bursts or with friends. However, the repetitive nature of its gameplay and the lack of diversity or variety really hinders the overall experience, and results in a title that is ultimately underwhelming and one that fails to distinguish itself as anything but mindless arcade action.

It won’t scare your socks off, but if you can avoid getting bogged down by The Sinking City’s clunkier elements, there’s enough to enjoy here.

Kosmokrats is, like the raw potatoes your protagonist devours, best enjoyed in small bites. The daft, post-apocalyptic storyline is a real draw, and successfully completing a station, serving the Glorious, Radioactive Motherland is rewarding in its own right. But Kosmokrats is only ever a few steps away from infuriating, and if you’re to get the best out of this puzzler, you’ll need a lot of patience.

If you can live with its budget nature, War Tech Fighters will provide you with many hours of mech building fun. Just don’t expect too much from its monotonous campaign devoid of any real highlights. Its real draw is levelling up, powering up and customising your very own tool of destruction. If you pick it up for that, you won’t be disappointed.

It’s commendable that Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons tries to do something a little new with the formula – although Streets of Rage 4 did get their first with its Survival mode which also features roguelike elements. There is fun to be had here, but ultimately, the late-game difficulty spikes are a major hurdle to get over – and the moment-to-moment action never reaches the heights of some of the best in the genre.

On the whole, there are enough changes for the better to elevate Tennis World Tour 2 from being a sub-par to a decent tennis game. Graphically it’s still not going to wow players, and there’s still some work to be done on the animation and AI side if Tennis World Tour 3 ever comes to fruition, but Tennis World Tour 2 is at least now somewhat enjoyable. Throw in a considerable amount of extra content and next-gen consoles not only now have their first tennis game, but also one that’s worth considering.

The direction in art and story is the high point in RIOT – Civil Unrest for sure. It helps depict these events, and teach the player about them – most of them I’d never heard of, but now I feel like I’ve learnt a bit about each. It’s grim and effective in that regard, but its gameplay really lets it down. RIOT – Civil Unrest‘s captivating art style and audio design is worth paying a visit to, and the game has some great ideas, but poor UI design, buggy AI and gameplay glitches really dampen the experience.