Battlefield 2042 isn't a bad shooter, but to release in this quarter of this year it really needed to bring its A-game, and it hasn't done that.

It may not hold up to the current crop of rhythm games, but there’s still lots to love about this 20-year old classic. Besides, who doesn’t appreciate a love story between a rapping dog and a sassy sunflower?

If you're looking for a game with tough choices and challenging combat to get lost in, you could do much worse than Broken Roads.

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.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII is a good RTS, but there’s plenty to learn that may put off those looking for a shorter and snappier experience.

Whilst certainly competent, Darksburg won’t offer you enough to convince you to try it and it doesn’t do enough to stand out in a market flooded with brilliant alternatives.

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires has some interesting strategy elements, but the combat is so far behind other recent Musou games.

Mia and the Dragon Princess is a hugely entertaining FMV action game, with great fight scenes and genuinely funny writing.

The flaws will probably dampen your enjoyment too much – and, to be fair, there are more accomplished fighting games out there.

Georifters is fun with friends, but it's slow pace and rough character models mean it just can't hang in a crowded cooperative marketplace.

Payday 3 is designed around those emergent moments that only come with friends, when you're trying desperately to stay in control.

The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 improves on the original in many ways but still suffers from poor design decision.

It’s a shame that such an interesting possibility falls so flat. Perhaps a little more development time could have yielded more positive results, but as it is we end up with a running time of around 5-6 hours that feels like it outstays its welcome ever so slightly, purely because the longer you play it, the more it falls apart and the more it becomes frustrating.

Even without having any headline stealing innovations, F1 2014 is still a finely tuned, expertly crafted testament to the sport, and great way to experience the trials and tribulations of meandering a stylish, super powered car around a circuit for an hour or so – heck, I can even be the cause of those crashes I so desired.

Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai is a great introduction to the Dragon Quest anime, but will be too story heavy for some.

An intriguing premise and interesting art style aren’t enough to drag Violett up to the level of other more accomplished point and click adventures.

Scathe is a serviceable shooter with a few nice touches, but there's little to set it apart from other Doom-likes.

Need For Speed: Payback may not do anything new, but it brings together elements of Forza Horizon and Burnout Paradise to create a fun and explosive racer.

Outcast: Second Contact is a classic adventure wrapped up in shiny new clothes, but which maintains everything it was born with underneath, for better or worse.

While the design is excellent, with a creepiness that’ll make you hear noises in the night, only buy this to play on an iPad unless you have tiny fingers.

If you can look past pretty much everything the game offers you may find that there’s enjoyment to be had here.

The definition of average, Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden isn’t good enough to delight you with the subject matter, but nor is it terrible enough to incite your rage over how bad it is. It’s simultaneously very competent and very unspectacular.

Blightbound has a lot of good to offer, but with dodgy matchmaking and a repetitive feel to the gameplay, it won't be for everyone.

The here and now of Asemblance leaves you with more questions than answers, and not in the way Nilo intended.

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.

The Quark combo system is a clever and intuitive gameplay mechanic, which is sadly let down by basic design issues.

Assembly Required is a solid, but very short, entry. Here's hoping that episode three can start to pull it back around.

The Descendant offers a fascinating sci-fi tale intertwined with interesting puzzles, breathing fresh air into a genre that can feel stagnant at times.