MouseCraft is a likeable but simple puzzle game that barely touches the complexity of the two titles it claims to take inspiration from.

Shovel Knight is a genuine success.

Even though many fans will already know how the characters end up, The Wolf Among Us manages to be gripping from start to finish – there’s just no real weak point, and Cry Wolf is a fittingly great ending to a fantastic series.

Rise of the Dark Spark is a step back from Fall of Cybertron, and that’s an utter travesty.

Most of the time, Concursion is a pleasure to play. It packs in a nice variety of game styles and never once comes across as repetitive.

Blue Estate’s gameplay is actually really good: the motion controls work well and the simple control scheme makes it easy to play, if a little basic.

It’s a massive shame that so few people are playing Intercept so soon after release – and that the number is only going to go down – because Intercept is excellent, a diamond finally cut from the rough potential of Killzone Shadow Fall. Fragile systems that must be balanced during relentless assaults, clever enemies and perfectly built maps combine to make it the best mode in the game.

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition doesn’t get much wrong throughout, and the inclusion of new levels and enemies adds longevity to an already great experience. It can be a little repetitive if played for long periods, but the unique and likeable art-style and effortlessly enjoyable combat carry it through.

Just Colors is as simple as puzzle games get, but with a good approach to building upon a basic, easy-to-understand idea.

The bottom line is that Cocoro doesn’t do anything that you can’t get from the hundreds of free line defence games on the net. It tries to set itself apart, with a storyline and customisable units, but it all rings a little hollow.

What it lacks in the kookiness of its similarly successful One Piece stable-mate it makes up for in bombast, explosions and simple speed and playability.

Whilst Moto GP 14 is the closest many of us will get get to living out our dreams of taking a bike around iconic tracks such as Silverstone, it’s not quite a true simulation even on the highest physics settings.

The striking is very satisfying, and the new submission system is interesting and creates a more level playing field than in the past, but the game is let down by poor wrestling and transition mechanics.

If you’re a fan of MMOs but had stopped playing because they were starting to get a little stale, then WildStar might be the game to rekindle that love.

Five styles of driving all done justice with one of the most violent and emergent racing engines available make GRID Autosport a compelling title for both car enthusiasts and petrol heads alike. Even if your interest in cars is merely fleeting, GRID Autosport juggles realism and aggressive satisfaction to deliver an intoxicating mix somewhere between the joy of an arcade racer and the science of a true sim.

Valiant Hearts tackles the harsh realities of what this war did to regular families. It tore people apart and, conversely, brought strangers closer together. It’s a beautiful tale of love and woe, with a consideration for the chilling realism of war.

It’s all silly and over the top, full of daft enemies and exaggerated characters, and it positively screams “I am a game! Have fun with me!” Sometimes, though, that’s exactly what you want.

A tragic step back from the above-average Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Enemy Front is a turgid, listless affair with far too many problems to recommend. Terrible AI, truly awful graphics and a dull plot add up to make this a World War II shooter that you’ll want to avoid like a Nazi death squad. Disappointing and derivative.

Rorona Plus is not an instant classic, but accessible and enjoyable enough that it deserves to be more than just a curio.

Let’s Go, Photo!’s biggest stumbling block is the Nintendo 3DS itself. Its poorly spec’ed camera has always been pretty useless, even for taking pictures – trying to use it for a game is a mostly fruitless endeavor.

If you’re in the market for a little puzzler for your Wii U, Pullblox is for you. The amount of content straight out of the box, as well as the potential for thousands of player made levels, means you’ll get value for money. The simplicity of the concept also means that anyone can pick it up and play, although later levels may get a bit too much for younger children.

Crimsonland may not be particularly flashy, but it does successfully deliver an old-school arcade shooting experience.

Pokémon Art Academy is a polished, enjoyable time sink, with intuitive controls. It’s very easy to pick up and play, and uses the Pokémon licence well to introduce a new group of potential artists to the Art Academy series.

State of Decay: Lifeline takes the original’s sense of urgency and heroism and dials it up to eleven.

Aside from the short length, there isn’t much that Chronology does wrong. The platforming is competent and it controls pretty solidly; the puzzling is well thought-out and intuitive, and the gameplay interesting and varied. But none of the elements truly excel either, leaving you with the feeling that, whilst enjoyable, this is a game that could have been great were a few more risks taken.

Vertical Drop Heroes is a cheap and certainly cheerful 2D platformer, and pretty enjoyable, although it’s unlikely to hold your attention for too long. It’s a game that’s as much about luck and perseverance than actual skill, but Roguelike fans who want something a little lighter might well enjoy this.

A decent, if feature-light, management game. It’s helped massively by the premise, but the execution, from the cute graphics to the ease of use, might make this worth looking into if you fancy a management sim on the go. Just don’t expect hidden depths – like the generic pop the game asks you to sell, what you see is what you get.

Ridiculous, hilarious and full of the unique surrealism that Nintendo does so damn well, it’s hard not to fall in love with Tomodachi Life and the characters you create. The sedate pace and minimal interaction might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this is guaranteed to be a cult hit.

There’s a very good idea in here, but it’s buried under the monotony and the snail’s pace, and while it might be fine for a younger player that really likes dogs, I would hesitate to recommend this. It could have been so much better.

If you enjoy a light puzzler this collection is for you, but it won’t change your mind about the series if you’ve already decided it’s not your thing.

On the whole, there’s not enough substance to make a second playthrough viable, so the value for money is questionable, yet the mystery as it stands is well worth investigating.

The biggest issue that the first few hours of the story areincredibly boring and predictable, and it takes too long for anything to happen. Admittedly, it does get better, to a respectable level, but if a game like this takes 5 whole hours to become any good, is it really worth playing?

Street Fighter IV was a superlative experience even before today, but Ultra Street Fighter IV, with its well devised additions, has added the bacon to what was already a tasty burger – you don’t know that Street Fighter IV needs these mechanics until you’ve tasted it with them.

Drakengard 3 will join the collections of many series fans, as it certainly has buckets of character and no doubt stays true to the previous games. For anyone else looking for an interesting action-RPG, it misses the target far too often to recommend it as an essential purchase.

Minor gripes aside, though, the God of War Collection remains incredibly playable, proving once again that Kratos is one of those rare, ageless creations whose mechanics never seem to age even if his visuals do.

Lifeless, unpolished and uninspired. These are all words used to describe such a dull ripoff. This game gives badgers a bad name and, quite frankly, unlike the real creature, these badgers should be culled.

This is a fantastic edition of one of the Vita’s best exclusives and only heightens anticipation for a possible full sequel.

City of Colors blends the aesthetic stylings of platformers past with design concepts taken from modern classics. While this meeting of the times may not be a constant success, there’s enough gorgeous art and frequent, snapshot ideas here to satisfy any gamer’s dietary requirement of primary colours.

A captivating and engaging experience. Once you put on that suit and are launched into the sky, you begin a journey that will have you smiling throughout, even during the challenging moments.

If you don’t like the series this won’t convert you, but if you do, well, you already know what you’re getting.

Adding touch controls is a great way to reintroduce one of gaming’s forgotten classics to a new generation, and the added portability is a real bonus. But for fans, the familiarity may be a stumbling block, and it would have been nice to see some new abilities to play with, if only to make this more than just a re-tread.

In Sheep’s Clothing ends on one of the best cliffhangers you could imagine.

After a generation that brought us seven years of countless linear and identikit shooters, Watch Dogs is the open world adrenaline shot that fatigued gamers needed. While the story could have been better and Ubisoft have made a few questionable design choices, it’s rare to see a big budget game that offers players freedom in almost every aspect of its design – and, more importantly, one that is this much fun while doing so.

Even at just shy of three quid, this feels like poor value. Small developers should be taking these opportunities to create interesting and worthwhile ideas, not pointless relics like Turtle Tale that belong on a Mastertronic cassette in the darkest recesses of gaming’s past.

Mugen Souls Z is a bland, generic JRPG. The only thing that makes it stand out from the crowd is the rampant sex that runs through it. Personally I found it distasteful; games are better than this, and Mugen Souls Z is the precise reason why the entire medium gets viewed as juvenile. If you like JRPGs you could probably do worse – nothing about it is broken – but you could also do a hell of a lot better.

Sparkle 2 is a simple yet effective time waster that offers plenty of hours of fun before it inevitably starts to feel a bit repetitious.

There’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, and while it’s a decent take on the runner game, you’ve no doubt seen it done so much better elsewhere. There’s very little payoff or reason for repeated plays, and that’s a big problem with a mobile game.

The very definition of a well crafted, slept-on series, this is punching well above its weight, and for the budget price will appeal to a wide section of the Nintendo fan-base.

Transistor contains not only some of the most stunning art design, but one of the best game soundtracks I have ever heard. The droning bass of the main theme is mesmeric, and any music with vocals is astonishing – this is a soundtrack you’re going to want to buy, and composer Darren Korb has absolutely delivered.

Though it falls foul to the old FPS bane of occasionally stupid AI, Wolfenstein delivers a story-driven campaign experience that manages to be less po-faced than Shadow Fall and more consistently enjoyable than either Ghosts or Battlefield 4. Killing Nazis never looked or felt so good and, let’s face it, what else really matters?

As a brand new run-and-gun game it’s a simple one, but add the time manipulation mechanics and it becomes an incredibly refreshing take on an age-old genre. Awesome, dumb fun with a very clever twist.

Abyss is as “OK” as a game gets. Presentation and gameplay-wise, it’s very unmemorable, and there’s not really any particularly reason for recommending this eShop purchase, save for its very low price.

Not much has changed, but that’s a good thing. To tamper with the formula would be doing a disservice to the great work that first came to people’s attention, two years ago. If this gets the lonely quadrilateral in the hands of more folk, then that’s a good thing.

It may not be revolutionary, but it adds just enough to pique interests while keeping the core experience we’ve all grown up with, regardless of age. Mario Kart is one of those timeless franchises that every age group can enjoy, and sometimes, that’s enough to celebrate.

An immersing, profound experience that is equally as rewarding as it is exhilarating.

The Walking Dead is back on track, after a slightly dull Episode Two, this is exactly what the series needed. It will make you care again, it will make you angry and sad in equal measures, it will remind you that nobody is safe in this universe, but best of all it recaptures The Walking Dead’s brilliance. I cannot wait for the next episode.

Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails, with its strange design and riveting gameplay, echoes this side of the feline personality, too. Captivating stuff.

Putting aside it’s controversial nature, Conception II is okay as a JRPG. If you can handle the identikit dungeons and by-the-numbers gameplay (and if you haven’t played the many other great JRPGs on both 3DS & Vita), then you may find some enjoyment here, but it’s unlikely to last very long.

There is nothing to offer in terms of longevity after the eight levels have been completed, but as this is a download title, you get a fair amount of retro-style carnage for your cash.

Almost as simple as a shooter can get, Puppygames’ space blaster owes its success to our inability to be satisfied by a personal best. The premise and genre make more sense on the Vita than the PS4 (though options are always nice to have), but Titan Attacks is charmingly simple and hugely playable on any format.

In Bound by Flame, Spiders deliver an action-RPG that just about manages to remain playable throughout, but offers not a single “wow” moment. An interesting but limited crafting system and an atmospheric fantasy world don’t make up for run-of-the-mill writing, 2-dimensional characters, imbalanced combat, and a rushed, unsatisfying narrative.

Like its predecessors, this is most definitely an under-the-radar, cult title which is unlikely to be troubling the charts – which is a damn shame as it features a fresh take on how a platform game can be played, something that almost becomes an art-form in the right hands.

Constantly having to do things keeps you interested, and never did I feel like I was just a passenger. A few more unique ideas such as the ray gun and we could have been looking at a truly revolutionary game, but as it is, Beware Planet Earth! only changes the formula slightly.

Let me put it to you this way. I actually stopped playing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to do some other work. I’d play a mission, decide I couldn’t take any more and go do something else instead, just to get away from it. Quite frankly, that’s the opposite of what a game should be.

Leo’s Fortune proves that on-screen controls can work well when the gameplay is designed around them. A visually stunning iOS game that runs smoothly and justifies the premium price, with no in-app purchases to speak of, means the game feels high budget despite it coming from a small team. Another good game, then, and one iOS users should be checking out as soon as possible.

It’s a far better introduction to the peculiar designs of this superb cult series.

Whether you are a fan of the source material or not, the production values are excellent, there are plenty of options as to how you view and take part in the action, and the power of the modern game console allows Zen to do things that no traditional pinball cabinet could ever do. Excellent then, and well worth a look. May the force be with you.

The game does a good job of replicating the atmosphere of the first two two-dimensional Broken Sword games, successfully integrating new 3D modelling with traditional hand-drawn backgrounds and old-school point and click techniques.

If you liked the first game or need something to scratch that Civilisation itch then this will make you very happy indeed – just don’t say I didn’t warn you about the giant turtles.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy-themed MMO doesn’t get everything right, even on PS4, but the things it does well outweigh those it doesn’t, and the end result is a fun and engaging open world RPG with some great multiplayer options that don’t really come into their own until end-game.

Not only is Hearthstone one of the best F2P games I’ve ever played, it’s unbelievably deep, rewarding, and satisfying.

One of the best in its class. It is a game that encapsulates the spirit of horror in any form of media and offers suspense, terror, panic and a mystery to solve. The procedurally-generated levels and fantastic design not only make the game challenging, but create an intense and energetic atmosphere, aided by the sparse resources that must be painstakingly preserved for that crucial, life-or-death moment.

It’s so pleasing to see a game this gorgeous actually back that up with impressive gameplay, as long as you’re a fan of the genre, that is. An impressively deep RPG that actually bothers to make each party member feel different in combat, while telling a story that most will relate to in some way or another, Child of Light is full of whimsy, yet also full of heart and never gets boring.

Triple Deluxe is a solid platformer bookended by some great extras, even if it is pretty easy, give or take a couple of tricky boss encounters. It lacks the sense of wonderment that Epic Yarn generated with its incredible use of texture, humour and verve, yet is still well worth a look -and is perhaps the finest handheld outing for the cerise sucker.

A visually ballistic and staggeringly polished fighter that offers great lip service for fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure while also delivering a game with enough flair to appeal to both determined and casual fans of the fighting genre. And if there’s one thing people will remember about All Star Battle, it’s that it’s stylish. Mission accomplished, Cyber Connect 2.

It is far and away the superior version, and that’s without the need to download any sort of fan-made patch. The cycle of death and success has never felt this good.

Hitman Go is a rare breed in mobile games because it doesn’t try to copy another popular title, or provide a lazy spin-off from its source material. In fact, it manages to take an existing license and apply it to an entirely new genre, whilst still managing to maintain the spirit of the original.

Mario Golf World Tour offers a methodical 3DS sports title that fills a niche on the console more than adequately, and it would have been a compelling and satisfying golf game regardless of whether it built courses in the Mushroom Kingdom or not. One of the best plates of chips I’ve had in a while, regardless of the ketchup.

While the presentation leaves a lot to be desired, there are plenty of elements that make Demon Gaze a good jumping-off point for the first person dungeon crawler. If you can stand the typically Japanese sexism, you might just enjoy this challenging, if repetitive, adventure.

A love letter to the Nintendo Entertainment System and a wonderful introduction or reintroduction for gamers of all ages, NES Remix 2 expands on the entertaining original by providing challenges based on some of the best first-party games ever released on the system, making it a more complete package than its predecessor.

You will get irritated by the precise timing needed to avoid obstacles, as well as the repetitive music and gameplay, but there remains a strange satisfaction when you do.

While I do feel MLB is above average in most areas, I feel it is let down entirely by boring gameplay, which completely ruins the general mood and feel. Great modes, decent graphics, the licenses – although they are all there, playing MLB 14 feels like going through the motions over and over again.

Legacy of Romulus is an excellent example of expanded content, and combining it with 7 “seasons” worth of additions and tweaks, great storytelling and an engine that has proved it can stand test of time means it’s only fair to readdress that original score, and critique this all over again as a complete package.

If you’re a real Japanophile, then you’ll no doubt enjoy everything on offer here. However, if you only have interest in the game itself, then you absolutely will be disappointed.

The gameplay is thoroughly repetitive and uninspired, but this undemanding approach does allow you to enter a sort of Zen-like state of relaxation, while still feeling like you are completing quests and achieving something. For most however, there is very little in the way of an actual game on offer here.

It’s no surprise that the Sly Trilogy is a great fit for the Vita. Fun and engaging despite occasional difficult spikes, the enjoyment only tends to wane after playing for long periods, and may become slightly tiresome should you decide to marathon all three games one after another.

Regardless of negatives, Trials Fusion is still a fun, yet hard-core twitch-based experience that will give you hours of pleasure (depending on your definition of the word), but the best part of it is still the competition it creates with your friends list, and with that in mind, I’ll see you on the leaderboards, folks.

It looks great, the gameplay has enough variety to remain interesting and the sampled movie dialogue (and that mesmerising score) add an air of gravitas to the whole shebang. But, it is still just another LEGO game and, as such, does little to make it stand out from its ever-increasing crowd of peers.

With its superb atmosphere and genuinely innovative inclusions, this is perhaps the best World Cup tie-in of recent times.

Platformines isn’t a bad game, it’s just a largely unpolished one. The mechanics feel either loose or under-developed, leading to a game that’s entertaining but never spectacular or truly engaging.

Spate isn’t a game that is terribly concerned with action-packed or challenging gameplay. It isn’t going to keep you busy for very long either, taking only a couple of hours at most to play through. But the visuals, audio and narrative combine very nicely to create a strong sense of atmosphere and identity – one which is likely to remain with you long after you finish playing.

Invizimals: The Alliance is the perfect example of a game held back by the very elements that set it apart from its peers. The creativity and technology involved with the catching of Invizimals is great, but there isn’t enough of a game built around that aspect – other than the monster fighting, which can get rather repetitive. But even with its mildly tedious nature, it’s still infinitely more enjoyable than The Lost Kingdom.

With four leagues and three cup competitions to win there is a lot of playtime on offer and most of it will be enjoyable, providing you can put up with watching every single game your team ever plays.

A fundamentally sound game of Football Manager, which is as compulsive and addictive as it ever was, and you can play it on the toilet, or snuggled up in bed.

The bugs and general lack of polish do have a negative effect on the game and the short playtime will have some questioning whether it’s worth the asking price. But if you are looking for a couple of hours of fun with a lot of laughs, you cant go wrong with Goat Simulator.

The Auction House is gone, the loot system is fixed and we finally have a proper end-game that will keep both new and experienced players fighting for many hours to come.

It truly is wonderful to see a company try something creative and succeed in at least some areas. The art, the mechanics and the atmosphere all work and come together very well. The downfall, however, is that Betrayer wants to be mysterious, but the inscrutable objectives become too perplexing due to a couple of factors, and as a result the game becomes one big enigma in itself.

Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom is not only a bad game, it’s also the sort of lazy, badly-executed tripe that you would have seen during the last days of the original PlayStation.