Dodgy AI, a horrible story, and a frustratingly steep learning curve are all obstacles to enjoyment, and even when you do hit the height points, it's still nothing special.

I definitely enjoyed heading back to the simpler gameplay of Bubble Bobble 4 Friends. But the main game is far too short for any long-term gaming. The lower difficulty setting certainly allows younger gamers to play with a degree of confidence. However, it will leave older gamers wanting something extra. The addition of the original game does increase the nostalgia, but the issues of poor controller responsiveness somewhat limit the enjoyment. If you have a young family and want to show them a comparison between games of yesteryear and today, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is worth a look, but look elsewhere if you’re looking for a challenging platformer.

The only ray of light was the amazing, and well out of place, graphics which are both visually stunning and seductive. Gameplay is a repetitive mental abuse and the plot would make baby Jesus cry, there I said it.

By paying such homage to the 80s classics which inspired it - even in an age where ‘retro’ interpretations are ala mode - Space Run feels a bit dated.

Sacred Citadel, then, is certainly of interest from a game design standpoint, but more as a warning that sometimes what sounds like a good idea actually isn’t. RPG elements have become more and more common in other genres of video games, but in this example of the side-scrolling brawler, they just don’t work.

While there are moments where the spookiness clicks, like its hectic climax, the rest is forgettable. It will give a fright once in a while, but that shock quickly disappears. It’s the fluffy type of horror, something with the trappings but not the depth. It’s not an amateur production, but it is less eerie than it should be. Horror is subjective, but I cannot suggest DARQ for its scares. Playing it made me crave the more refined games in this genre. If you’re a streamer who needs a game to scream at, this will do fine. Just don’t be surprised if you forget about it the moment you turn it off.

Though this title is flawed, shallow, and often bland, it does have fun moments.

What should have been a glorious marriage of Binary Domain and Smash TV in Ares Omega ends up as something far lesser on account of its many flaws. While a serviceable roguelike shooter ticks away at its heart, there simply isn’t enough here to recommend Ares Omega to anybody with a hankering for a well-crafted, progression focused blaster.

Mars is a fairly interesting action RPG with a cheap price on its side, but in all honesty it could do with being even cheaper.

Styx is a likeable protagonist and is quite possibly the best videogame goblin of all time, but his humorous nature and sailor-like vernacular isn't enough to lift his game beyond the abyss of mediocrity it languishes in.

Sacred 2 was the sort of action-RPG you turned to once you’d exhausted better, more focused options in the genre. 17 years later, a decent remaster can’t mask what’s a largely plodding and miserable experience.

Atlas Fallen is perhaps best summed up by one of the later powers you add to the gauntlet. You are given the ability to raise ancient structures, the capacity to uncover a lost world, its towering buildings and long forgotten relics. You spend the next few minutes pulling empty boxes and planks of wood out of the sand. Want to raise all of the history from the mythical siege of the gods that lies beneath your feet? We’re going to go metal detecting for pennies down the local field instead…Such letdowns underpin a game that I initially really liked and quickly grew weary of. There’s fun to be had, and co-op may open up the enjoyment even more. But heed the warning; most of Atlas Fallen’s positives are tapered by the sense it hates its players and isn’t willing to give back on the effort put in.

Nowhere Studios have an artistic eye that spoke in a unique and moving way to me at first but the technical problems voided that emotional connection and Monochroma ended up being a slog rather than a joy.

You’ve got to work for hours upon hours to reach anything approaching competence, and it’s tough to recommend that investment to any but the most hardcore of space strategy tactical RPG simulation enthusiasts.

Hoard is quite an addictive little casual game when it gets going, but ruins it by giving the player no satisfaction from winning or reason to continue after one level.

AlthoughDoorways starts to find its feet in the concluding segments, the closing shots of the chapter feel desperately anticlimactic.

Stalker 2 is unlike anything else in the FPS market right now, but design flaws that only become more baffling the more you play and an embarrassingly long list of minor bugs, performance hiccups, and game-breaking issues undo nearly all the good done in other areas of the game. An engrossing experience lies beneath all the clutter, but it will take time to unearth it.

There’s no making up for a lackluster story that clearly pads the game length, unimaginative missions, or a weak combo structure, but Arslan: The Warriors of Legend could have been a much better experience had it not been marred with inexcusable framerate problems and sullied with glitches.

Clunky, frustrating and a world away from the series best efforts, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia limps over the finish line, completing a spin-off trilogy and closing the door on a concept that simply deserved better.

As a lovely and crazy world to explore with a charming art style and catchy music it’s just fine, but as a game Armikrog comes up significantly short.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 will most likely receive a cult following for its kooky characters and general offbeat atmosphere, and the solid multiplayer options will keep many coming back. A word of warning, however - give this one a rent before you go the whole hog, as the baffling physics and numerous technical oddities are sure to kill this ride for many.

Ghost Recon Online has moments of exciting and tense action, but they're fleeting events in an otherwise drab game that's plagued by minor annoyances and a cash shop that adds a pay-to-win element to proceedings.

The repetitive minigames that occupy a significant portion of the gameplay in Zipp’s Cafe tend to hinder its charm, despite the narrative potential that flickers through its admittedly dry dialogues. While the game succeeds to some extent in immersing players into its expansive setting, the lackluster routine of food and drink preparation, coupled with insufficiently developed characters, makes it challenging to feel drawn into becoming a frequent visitor.

If you're a huge Formula One fan the updated season content might be enough to sway you on F1 2014. For everyone else, there are better and more involving racing games out there, that are far more worthy of your time.

There's some really good ideas in Master Reboot, maybe Wales Interactive have been a bit too ambitious with the project versus the size of their team, but it never quite fulfils those ideas.

It's just a little bit boring right now. If you want to show Paradox and Kerberos your support, then by all means go buy it, but regardless of whether you pick it up now or not, it'll probably take a couple of months of patches to be the game it was meant to be.

I’m not entirely sure who’d enjoy a game like this. It’s possible we’ll see a few desperate YouTubers record their girlfriend getting scared by some of the earlier moments in the game, but aside from that tiny bit of stimulation and the initial hope that the nonsensical plot will have a logical finish, there’s very little here for anyone other than the most desperate of horror fans.

There’s a depth to the lore and world-building that you rarely see at this scale. But the level design is so constrictive and the difficulty so fierce that it’s a constant fight to have fun.

With its derivative world and characters, it's at best a guilty pleasure but probably isn't worth your time unless you can find it at a bargain bin price.

With its derivative world and characters, it's at best a guilty pleasure but probably isn't worth your time unless you can find it at a bargain bin price.

Even for a budget title, Lollipop Chainsaw has plenty of shortcomings. Repetitive combat, bland levels and an insistence on sexual humour will leave many players disappointed. That said, it does produce a few moments worthy of your time.

With its derivative world and characters, it's at best a guilty pleasure but probably isn't worth your time unless you can find it at a bargain bin price.

You certainly might find a few hours of amusement here, and original ludicrous comedic 2D adventures are something I'll always support, but Straandlooper have a long way to go before they reach LucasArts standard. They're not even at Leisure Suit Larry yet.

Life is Feudal has a lot of things going on in it. Between the comprehensive skill systems, the crafting mechanics, and the maintaining of self and relation with players around, there’s a lot of things that could have made Life is Feudal really enjoyable. The biggest problem it faces is that practically everything in the game is a tedious crawl.

With a huge amount of investment, there is a worthwhile and entertaining simulation underneath all of the confusion.

We don't take offence to the content, but rather the execution - it's poorly designed, and feels hopelessly filmsy. If you're looking for a game to take out at parties then this may well do the trick - otherwise, steer clear.

We don't take offence to the content, but rather the execution - it's poorly designed, and feels hopelessly filmsy. If you're looking for a game to take out at parties then this may well do the trick - otherwise, steer clear.

Disciples: Domination is a flawed, by-the-numbers strategy RPG that shows some creativity with its units and certain boss mechanics, but lacks enough depth and variety to sustain the amount of fights it throws at you across its decently lengthy campaign. Its writing lacks a consistent tone, its world fails to grip you, while Avyanna only stands out as one of the most unconvincing protagonists to date, making Domination a functional but rather forgettable second entry in the series.

You'd have thought that any game featuring a high velocity jetpack would be a guaranteed winner, but Dark Void somehow manages to ham-fist the execution completely, leaving a game that's only ever fun in parts, while the rest is simply not up to scratch.

You'd have thought that any game featuring a high velocity jetpack would be a guaranteed winner, but Dark Void somehow manages to ham-fist the execution completely, leaving a game that's only ever fun in parts, while the rest is simply not up to scratch.

All in all this game is solidly average. It’s a decent if predictable story saddled with a pedestrian game.

Genesis Rising in no way reaches the potential it has bubbling beneath the surface, released all too soon and unnecessarily plastered with imperceptive, charmless patina.

Good, but not good enough.

Silent Hunter 5: Battle for the Atlantic would have been a fitting and enjoyable experience had it not been so inexplicable demanding on hardware, buggy and generally frustrating.

Just prepare to be very forgiving of the show stopping bugs and flaws that the game contains.

All in all though I can’t think of a single reason you’d want to play Escape Dead Island over a thousand similar, better games on Steam. Most of them have zombies in them anyway.

Unless someone really likes archaeology or must possess every adventure game ever created by man, then it’s doubtful anyone would bother to give Barrow Hill a glance.

Twisted Metal never escapes the fact that it feels completely old and archaic. The premise is timeless, and there should always be room for a game of mindless destruction, but the execution is poor here.

As one of those Star Trek fans I certainly did enjoy moments of The Videogame, but I think I would’ve had a lot more fun continuing with Star Trek Online instead. This one won’t live long and prosper, and good thing too.

Still the best Kinect game your correspondent has played.

Exorder is a technically sound game save for optimization issues, but fails to present a personality of its own or stand out from the crowd with any unique or creative aspects. With poor visuals, bland gameplay and a barely existent storyline coupled with the mobile-game feel leave a sour taste in one’s mouth after playing.

A seemingly faithful adaptation of a German RPG franchise that may be too detached and boring for modern players.

Dream Chamber is full of great ideas that just don't pan out that well. The slightly stilted dialogue in some places doesn't help.

Most of the missions outstay their welcome with shooting down so many planes each level, quickly becoming tedious and dull.

While Orwell’s Animal Farm stays true to its source material, its repetitive and unclear gameplay weakens a stylized portrayal of the book. It’s not the worst way to spend a couple hours thanks to replayability and excellent narration, but it’s not compelling to get every ending and collect every stamp. You’ll get a lot more out of reading the book than you will from the game.

Epic Mickey 2 is like a wonderful celebratory book of Disney lore where 80% of the pages have been torn, ripped, doodled over or spilled coffee on. On a base level there are numerous things to love, but the actual playing of the game turns that joy into hard, bitter anger.

For new players, Riptide may well be a decent enough curiosity, but for everybody else, there’s little reason to return to Techland’s zombie-murdering vision.

N.E.R.O. has the potential to be very deep if you can connect with it and fully understand it.

Kung Fu Rider is definitely not as funny as it thinks it is, and not really much fun either.

Victory at Sea is not without some charm. The basic ship combat is simplistic but fun, and though controlling large-scale battles is tricky and occasionally cumbersome it can be pretty satisfying.

It's this feeling, the one of crushing disappointment, that riddles this HD update with frustration. Activision killed the series for a reason, and there's nothing here to suggest that decision was a bad one.

Reasonably solid Move implementation will appeal to those desperate to try to justify a purchase of the hardware, but nobody else should bother with it.

Defiance is an underwhelming MMO at best, but it does have one or two moments of distinction. The TV and videogame tie-ins largely fall short of the mark, and there are better online shooters out there to choose from. A curiosity in terms of media convergence, but it rarely troubles the definition of 'groundbreaking'. Average from start to finish.

By the time you reach the end boss, complete with compulsory quick-time events, you'll be glad it's over.

By the time you reach the end boss, complete with compulsory quick-time events, you'll be glad it's over. Daggerdale doesn't do anything out of the ordinary – it's a typical plod through the world of D&D, and a stale one at that.

Serious Sam is another unfortunate casualty in this constant cycle of re-releases; it should have stayed in the past with all of the fond memories.

Believe it or not, there is an entertaining action strategy game underneath all this, it’s just that with the crushing weight of issues that sit atop it, we tragically rarely see it.

By the time you reach the end boss, complete with compulsory quick-time events, you'll be glad it's over. Daggerdale doesn't do anything out of the ordinary – it's a typical plod through the world of D&D, and a stale one at that.

The story's fairly competent and ties into the film well, but the lack of Andrew Garfield or even a remote sound-alike ruins its chances of feeling like the movie it's supposed to tie in to.

War Hospital is a primarily functional World War I management simulation game that struggles to establish a meaningful connection between players and their staff and patients. As you progress beyond the initial hours, the gameplay becomes bogged down by repetitive mechanics exacerbated by an inadequate user interface with insufficient tooltips and unclear instructions, accompanied by a host of frustrating bugs that compelled me to frequently reload older save files and restart entire chapters. Despite a promising start, the overall experience is marred by tedium and irritation. Its only redeeming quality lies in its exploration of a scenario rarely seen in the management genre. However, this alone does not warrant an immediate recommendation.

Full Control have done a very faithful recreation of the board game, and with a few tweaks it could have been fairly decent.

I really don’t like how specific and restrictive the Technocrat and Diplomat advisors are, but their quality is for the most part okay. And aside from ship designs, "okay" is a word I can apply to the whole of the Humanoids Species Pack. The end result is kinda obvious, and something I alluded to at the opening of the review: it’s inherent value is based on your personal attraction to what is offered, and if you are attracted to the ships and races in display, you’re in luck.

Gauntlet needs fun, badly.

Wave of Darkness tries to separate itself from other games on the market by trying to do everything one might want to see in an RPG: deep item and spell crafting, open-world environments, tough encounters. All of these things are fine goals, but they’re all done better elsewhere.

Dead to Rights simply coats the environment in red and its characters in force-fed grime and loathability. What's left is an experience that provides some basic action sustenance, but lacks any real purpose or direction.

Battleplan is too shallow and too invested in the novelty of its ideas, lacking the depth to ever back them up. With a little more effort put into presentation and a lot more variety on display it could've been unique. As it stands, it's just forgettable.

Yes, it's got loads of realistically recreated tanks, choppers, planes and all sorts of stuff like that. That's all fine and dandy. But it's easy to get that stuff right. What they fail at is creating a 'fun' game for all the nice tanks to be used in. Realism is fine when there's some gameplay oomph to back it up. Not here and, judging by the fact each Theatre of War game is pretty much making the same mistakes, not ever.

It means that for all Whispering Willows’ atmosphere it can’t deliver what it sets out to achieve. I don’t often say games need to be longer but here, the experience needs more locations, more detail and more time to fill out its fiction to be able to tackle the themes it wants to tell.

I really don’t want to rag too much on Rise of the Triad given it works so hard – and often succeeds – to just be an even-more-ridiculous modern-looking remake of a classic FPS. In many ways Interceptor have done exactly that, but in others I really wish they’d been more ambitious.

The real issue is that the game's own spin on the dungeon-building concept is just plain dull.

Sonic Adventure 2 might technically be Sonic but it doesn't have any of the classic spirit of the cocky hedgehog. Instead, Sonic Adventure 2 offers a bunch of nice concepts that feel a little disjointed and muddled.

It's dumb, it's crass, and it's not all that good, but it's shocking. If you fancy playing a real oddity of a videogame that will both revile and amuse you: look no further.

Dead Space 3 is a game that looks sleek, is polished to the last minute detail, and is full of some stunning set-pieces. But beneath those shiny distractions, it lacks any real sense of soul, slotting in among a raft of other third-person shooters, never causing you to feel anything other than short bursts of panic and relief.

MX vs ATV Alive doesn't do itself any favours. It races well, and it's great fun alongside other humans, but it seeks too much of a commitment.

It plays like a poor man's Call of Duty, copying everything except the stuff that makes the series enjoyable. It's unpolished, has terrible enemy AI, impossible stealth, boring multiplayer, a badly-told story, last-gen graphics, and the shooting is merely okay.

MX vs ATV Alive doesn't do itself any favours. It races well, and it's great fun alongside other humans, but it seeks too much of a commitment.

It’s not a game that you should spend your money on quite yet. Maybe, after the passage of time, when you can find it cheap or even for free, it will be worth a cursory glance. For the moment however, it’s best to skip this one out.

We can’t remember the last time a game disappointed us so much. Petroglyph are a gifted RTS developer filled with industry veterans, and their last title Grey Goo was superb. 8-Bit Armies though is not.

Enjoyable? Certainly. Inventive? Never. Defense Technica is a game so humdrum and so by the numbers that it is a struggle to say anything much about. The game exists within its own genre, and that seemingly says enough. Serviceable to a fault, but where the developer's expected to find their own niche, nobody will ever know.

The cumbersome gameplay and completely unrealistic settings and character movement provide quite the opposite of an immersive experience, and within an hour or two, you'll be exiting to Windows and filling your time with more entertaining games.

At its best, Fract is a wonderful celebration of a videogame’s capacity to ignite your senses. At its worst, it can be a downright chore.

As it stands, Secret Government is an interesting concept let down by a very boring gameplay loop. As a fan of grand strategy games, I look forward to seeing what it is done with the secret society concept as the game develops in Early Access. If the game stays as it is or the flaws pinpointed here are not addressed, however, I can’t honestly recommend it to anyone.

So yeah, it's only for people who are really, really (repeat for a while) really into their tough platformers or those who love Rayne's exploits so much, they can't live without experiencing this.

So yeah, it's only for people who are really, really (repeat for a while) really into their tough platformers or those who love Rayne's exploits so much, they can't live without experiencing this.

With ridiculously long loading times, poor graphical design, and repetitive gameplay it's hard to recommend to anyone but the biggest RPG devotees.

Infinity Runner is a strange beast. If this was a review of an iPad version then I would probably feel more favourable towards it but here, on the PC, a game as casual and potentially frustrating due to the nature of genre, feels out of place.

I can forgive the shonky voice acting, the monotony of the slaughter, the lack of free roaming. I can ignore the dull challenges, I can even forgive the second rate graphics, this is a slasher game and there is plenty of stabbing and hacking to keep you going, but what I can't forgive, in the end, is the dreadful monotony of stun to finishing move and back again.

I can forgive the shonky voice acting, the monotony of the slaughter, the lack of free roaming. I can ignore the dull challenges, I can even forgive the second rate graphics, this is a slasher game and there is plenty of stabbing and hacking to keep you going, but what I can't forgive, in the end, is the dreadful monotony of stun to finishing move and back again.