While the opening hours do nothing to rid your mouth of a slowly growing taste of disappointment, Nights of Azure eventually manages to claw you back once some of its more interesting combat mechanics begin to shine through. It’s relatively short length aids the process, but also comes under fire when you consider the bare-bones storytelling. It’s a difficult sell, but one I hope GUST can rehabilitate with the upcoming sequel.

A game specifically catered to football enthusiasts who are not really on the nitty-gritty of football technicalities. Creativity and the spirit of the football game are the very elements that EA and Tiburion had wonderfully weaved into this All-American game.

In the end, Ancestors is a fine experiment that I’m sure will interest a lot of people, but I must say it wasn’t quite my cup of tea. As fun as it is to run around and climb stuff, leading a group of apes into a bigger group of somewhat smarter apes is not exactly an exhilarating proposition – especially when you can easily screw up to the point of losing the clan, not finding a surrogate, and having to restart the game and relearn everything all over again. If the idea of playing through evolution without any guidance and getting your ass kicked by nature appeals to you, then definitely give Ancestors a chance – it’s the kind of experience you’re probably not getting from anywhere else.

It doesn't do anything new or exciting, but nor does it offend in any great way. There are plenty of little mistakes, and just not enough to make them forgiveable. It's a pretty average game with decent presentation. For something a bit more time consuming or in depth, I'd look elsewhere. If you just want a distraction then maybe.

It’s cleverly designed and brilliant - it just can’t seem to manage all of its ambitions within the rather tight, easy-to-run framework that Maxis has placed the game within.

Gods Will Be Watching is not necessarily frustrating in its difficult, it's that it really didn't need to be.

Same old same old, then - Alien Breed 3: Descent is not the sequel we were hoping for, dragging the series out rather than building on it. Still, for Alien Breed fanatics, the story will at least provide closure and more of the same.

It's bloated, cumbersome and little has changed from last year, and in that way bears many parallels to the game itself. However, it's also earnest, uncompromising and serves its purpose well enough, and in that sense it is equally a fitting title.

As it is I believe Kholat is still worth playing but just be aware that frustration and tension will be present in equal measure.

Depicting the horrors of an asylum with animated pictures was a tender touch to sensitive imagery. Even the 3D animations conveyed moments with care. But the story is confusing and painfully disappointing and the translation errors make matters worse. So I can commend LKA’s efforts, but I can’t recommend The Town of Light.

It's a decent enough title, but unless you're a hardcore fan, you could easily live a happy life having not played this game.

Mad Riders borrows a little too liberally from other titles to truly have its own identity. What is there, however, is an enjoyable enough arcade racer.

The Baconing sags limply in a puddle of its own stale grease when it should sizzle: reheated leftovers from the previous two games, liberally seasoned with humour to mask the aging ingredients, in danger of becoming inedible.

Going into Yakuza: Dead Souls I had some reservations, but after playing it, I'm happy to say that this works surprisingly well.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 3 is a good-looking game but the lack of features from the previous entries are a sore point

It’s obvious that it’s a Dark Souls rip-off, but it’s a good rip-off. It’s fun to beat things down, and that certain style of combat is rewarding when you get the hang of it. But its flaws can make or break the game depending on personal perseverance. It can be confusing and its messaging system is less legible than Dark Souls, but it’s got that combat loop that makes Dark Souls (and Hellpoint) work. If you can forgive some unoriginality, you’ll have fun with Hellpoint, especially with a mate. If you can’t, maybe you should finally give Bloodborne a try?

Unfortunately Nail'd's core gameplay doesn't do quite enough to justify stripping back all of those extraneous details. It's a game that's begging for a little more refinement, visual polish and structural content; and without those in place it struggles to elevate itself above the frustrations inherent in its erratic engine and course design.

TinTin may be basic and one of the easiest games I've played in some years, but it's certainly a cracker of a game for children and gives them something to get their teeth into with its cute visuals.

Despite lacking the scripted set-pieces of a so-called 'AAA' game, Insect Armageddon does a remarkable job of showing what a focused team can produce on a minimal budget.

If you're looking for what is probably the deepest and most complicated strategy game ever made, oh boy have you found it.

Dirty Bomb is off to a great start, offering a blend of fast-paced team-based action that I hadn’t realised I’ve been missing since the glory days of Enemy Territory.

With precious few of those quality gameplay moments and a plot that limps along in need of focus, unfortunately Force Unleashed 2 ultimately fails to live up to the interest of its broken but far more compelling predecessor.

The tragedy of Alpha Protocol is that, hidden behind the mass of technical failings is a superb action RPG bristling with choice and driven by some inspired storytelling.

None of the single pieces of Darkstar are particularly shoddy (voicework aside), but mixed together they form an experience that's largely devoid of anything memorable, but also one that remains hypnotically sedate until eventual boredom sets in.

King’s Bounty II is a game where it takes forever to do anything. I averaged maybe 2-3 short battles for every hour of gameplay – perhaps 20 minutes of fun for 40 of drudgery. All this is doubly frustrating because somewhere under all this crap is a pretty solid strategy game. I just wish that King’s Bounty II would stop jerking me around and just let me play it!

Hothead may be pushing their luck, but there's life in the Hero to the Downtrodden yet.

Fans of the game will enjoy this distraction, even with its similarities to Pirate Bay, and with any luck some of the more promising additions will pave the way for further enhancements for what is really a neat, if slightly flawed, little game.

Some will find its look and concept tired and defunct, but slow paced strategy titles are still big business. If anything, it's good to have the choice of another franchise in English. It's just a shame that the potential for something great has been squandered by a lack of sheen.