Even with a new coat of paint, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter wasn't a particularly amazing game to begin with, with odd controls and a woefully underutilised and fiddly bounty-hunting system that really should have been its USP.

Whether choosing to play it in random or chronological order, neither of these options make it a compelling story.

Remothered: Broken Porcelain's many issues hold it back from being a proper playable experience, let alone the quality game it could have been.

Prince of Persia has flashes of greatness. Its production values are absolutely stunning – but the game designers need to take a long hard look at themselves.

An interesting real time take on the strategy JRPG genre. Unfortunately bogged down by a generic story and a lack of purpose between missions.

MudRunner VR provides a new perspective in this vehicle towing extravaganza of a franchise, but missing features, pedestrian design, and lack of creativity transports your vehicle that's stuck in the mud into a stick.

For younger players, they might find something puzzles that’ll keep them replaying the different levels and checking out all the optional islands around the world map. But for anyone looking for a Dragons adaptation that really makes you feel like you’re involved in the fantastical world from the films, I’m sorry to say but this isn’t it.

What could’ve been a solid addition to the Game Pass family, ends up a disappointing mix of interesting ideas and bad execution.

Prison Architect is a surprisingly addictive game at times with minimal longevity.

Achilles: Legend Untold is filled with obvious ambitions and inspirations of a souls-like RPG, with even a few Diablo-like dungeon-crawler undertones along the way. However, the areas this game falls short in were too much to overcome.

Jump Force is the perfect example of good intentions with poor execution. I personally feel sorry for diehard fans who were really looking forward to a game that had so much potential. Unfortunately, all anyone got was a box of disappointment and relentless loading times. As a whole, Jump Force comes off half baked and unfulfilling. I honestly wish I had more good things to say about this game but even now I’m hard pressed. The most positive thing I can say about this game is that it could be a starting point for a brand new series of games. Even though this game is in dire need of fixing, I have hopes that redemption can be made with a solid sequel if done right.

Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is a remastered beat em’ up platformer about using power-ups and collecting points to bring down the Galactic Empire. While the new coat of paint may gloss it up a bit, the game is still coarse, rough, and irritating. Nostalgia and simple arcade fun may prompt quick bursts of amusement, but all in all, this is a Star Wars game from a long time ago that can easily be mauled for its confusing incompetence.

The game is pretty short and it would be even shorter if you were given the option to skip dialogue or move while listening to voice logs. For me it was not at all compelling, characters were annoying or just very poorly written and the gameplay didn’t add anything to make it interesting. If you are a fan of the first game, perhaps you will be invested enough in the lore to want to get through this, but otherwise I would suggest avoiding it.

Deadly Premonition is both very hard and very easy to recommend. For fans of the series it’s a no-brainer. It’s another 30 hours with York and his gang of nutty friends. The story is Twin Peaks meets True Detective put through several extra filters of oddness. For newcomers to the series the gameplay, graphics, animation and loading times may simply be insurmountable obstacles. For those that can look past it there are so many interesting ideas at play and the game can be genuine fun. In short it sucks, but it may also be one of the more interesting games of the year. It’s destined to be a Let’s Play classic.

So fans of the books and show may like the game a lot because of the materials and a chance to play the time line long before the show? But hard core RTS players may feel a little antsy here if they enjoy the large scale battles part of a RTS. Those new to RTS style games may want to try this one out as it's a good primer and friendly throughout.

Crasher is an interesting mix of vehicle vs. vehicle combat that if it had players in it, would be a blast to play. It is mystifying that the game is not popular.

Iron Man 2 limps onto the scene for several game platforms and is a rusted heap on arrival. The bit of fun to be had does not out weigh the not so fun aspects of the game.

It's nothing special, nothing new, but it still entertains.

For players looking for a casual and low-pressure simulation, Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 might be worth a try. But for those seeking a more varied and polished experience, the game falls short of what you’d expect from a title on the Xbox Series X. With some improvements to gameplay mechanics, deeper tool upgrades, and more stable performance, it could have been so much more. As it stands, Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 is an enjoyable but ultimately shallow experience

The Hideaway offers up some interesting ideas but the application of the escort missions and buddy mechanics fail to impress and serve to pull down what would have otherwise been a passable, if uninspired, addition to the Little Nightmares story.

The Last Remnant is a fascinating and frustrating experience. Beneath a fundamentally mediocre game are a lot of interesting ideas. The story is epic and interesting, but only in parts. The battle system is wholly unique and feels massive in scope. Except you have to play the game for hours and hours before it becomes any fun. The Switch is full of quality RPG ports at the moment, and there are plenty more coming. The Last Remnant is not one of them.

Yakuza: Dead Souls may seem like a decent idea, but it is probably best to just ignore it and hope that things return to normal for the next instalment.

Unfortunately Start the Party! Save the World is one of those collection of mini-games that seems a little lacklustre from the get go and doesn't really challenge this genre.

The Bee Simulator is unfortunately missing its Queen Bee and is a missed opportunity of what could have been an interesting game!

KAKU: Ancient Seal is an endearing adventure with a vast, colorful world and a quirky flying pig companion. Its combat, puzzles, and story are uneven, but exploration and discovery make it enjoyable. If a sequel ever comes, it could be truly amazing if it builds upon the good that is here.

Samurai Warriors 4 Empires is unfortunately a missed opportunity!

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star is a click your way through several absurd, linear stories about pigeons.

A lot of good things about it, but a few nasty shortcomings makes this a game I likely won’t play again, even when part two comes out.

Ultimately it is an impressive achievement from what seems to be essentially a one person developer (I say seems to be as I assume there were at least some other people helping with the voices). Is it fun… yes it certainly can be. Is it inconsistent in art style… absolutely. Is it worth buying… I’m honestly not sure. I completed the game in a bit over 6 hours… there might be some other choices I could make on the way… but it didn’t feel like they would make that much of a difference. If you can find it on a decent discount then perhaps grab a copy… otherwise keep track of the progress as there may be some updates to tackle some of the issues otherwise… maybe give it a miss.

HoPiKo is challenging and moves at a lightning pace, although it can't escape the fact that it feels more like a game you'd play on your phone than on a console.

Fails to meet minimum standards delivers a cheapened frustrating experience that is only tolerable in finite quantities.

So should you part with $50 for this little addition? Frankly, no. Wait for discounting, because it's currently much too overpriced for what's on offer. Neither the religion or espionage change the game that much, and Civ 5 is still suffering from the same malaise it did before Gods & Kings hit.

While other similar games offer a little bit of interactivity and control on what's going on, in Fragments of Him we act as a mere camera operator through various people memories, which even fail to trigger in us any empathy for the dead boy they talk about. Maybe a video game wasn't the best medium to tell this story.

From a visual and story point of view, the Layers of fear masterpiece edition is indeed a masterpiece, but it is a game, and sadly the entire gameplay side of things is extremely disappointing and turns what could have been a very impressive and cutting edge psychological horror title up there with the likes of Silent Hill, into nothing more than another boring and generic indie horror, so short that even the $30 its in the PlayStation store for is a stretch.

This game is one that I personally think was just okay. The multiplayer breaths some life into, plus the budget price considering you get the gun as well. I am not sure that there is enough to hold you long term considering the other shooters out there in the market but at the same time, a gun game that is not a gore fest is also a welcome change.

There is little doubt that at some point the story would offer some unique content; it was just too excruciating to continue playing to get to that point. It is sad, because the stories offered by the game are no doubt well written, but it feels like a bit of a cheat to offer 3 stories that utilise the same dialog, without so much as a twist or hook to recapture the audience.

If the bugs are patched, Weird West has the potential to be a truly excellent game, as there is a lot of fun to be had in the West, you just sometimes have to make it yourself.

Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise is a step back from the first game, with repetitive gameplay, a lack of humour and some dodgy presentation and performance issues.

While Babylon's Fall had several good ideas and had a lot of potential, it shot itself in the foot with its intrusive live service model and its painfully obvious lack of polish, making it that much harder to recommend to anyone, especially at the ludicrous price of $60.

It can be a bit of fun taking down a throng of enemy in one giant sweep… but the enjoyment is pretty limited… even if you are interested in collecting all the images and costumes and little bits and pieces… you’d have to be a fan of the series I think to really call this one a must have. If you want to just have a bit of pick up and play titillation then this is probably just the thing for you.

While it has some minor redeeming qualities Defiance is just too bland and unoriginal to recommend. If you’re done with Borderlands and want more this might interest you, but it’s a step down. A really, really big step down.

Oninaki is brimming with ideas and heavy themes. Unfortunately this is hidden behind some rudimentary, repetitive gameplay.

There was so much potential surrounding The Order, yet it hasn’t lived up to the expectations.

Syberia offers a chance to play a series of relatively undiscovered gems from the 2000s. However a high price point and a terrible third entry prevent a full endorsement.

In conclusion, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is another movie game that is cursed.

That is the main failing of the game. It achieves nothing, it does not positively reinforce the player, it also seemingly offers no achievement or objective to obtain. If the game does not tell a story, does not educate the player in real methodology, does not reward the player in any way, then there is no point in playing it. It is such a shame, because this was a brilliant concept and had the potential to be great. We will no doubt see this game in the free-games category on steam soon enough.

In the end, the missions are the same just different loot drops. The upgrades and different types of ship is the highlight of the game and it is a great way to bring a classic title to its modern players. The approach was in the right direction; it just needs something more into its gameplay. Even so, consider this title an okay game to try out.

In the end, Elements of War would have been a decent game 10 years ago, however it feels trapped in the pre-2000 area from its dated graphics to gameplay. If you're in need for an RTS fix, you might want to investigate this for $59.95AUD but unfortunately there are several better games available. Even the multiplayer is quite boring and in the end, this is not a very memorable RTS title.

The bottom line is this is kind of a variation of Job Simulator with an attempted franchise skin. Stick to Job Simulator would be my recommendation.

The gameplay of Journey of the Broken Circle almost caused me to throw my controller across the room and quit several times over its brief journey. But I kept coming back to it because I was charmed by the story and the atmosphere. Those expecting a decent platforming experience might want to look elsewhere, but there is a lot to like.

This one may sink pretty fast unless Ubisoft get's the damage crews working pretty fast.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest isn't a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, it's just probably not worth adding to your collection.

More or less, Dread Delusion appears to be the work of one man, James Wragg, and with a little help, he’s handled practically all of it. It makes sense then, why one aspect of the game is far better than the rest– the visual design, as he’s a visual designer. But it means that every other aspect is playing catchup while he learns them from scratch. The result is a game that would be better as set of postcards– the game looks deceptively cool from the Steam Store page– but if Dread Delusion is great for anything, it’s great for the game Lovely Hellplace will make next. A game with a bigger budget, team, and (hopefully) more inspiration, innovation and attention to detail.

Xenoraid is competently built but lacks any real reason to actually compel you to play it. The gameplay loop quickly becomes monotonous and, aside from quick bursts here and there whilst waiting for a download, I can’t see many gamers putting much time into conquering the alien attackers.

Although I desperately tried to like this game, unfortunately the buggy, almost unfinished gameplay made things a very frustrating and annoying experience.

A nostalgic trip down memory lane marred with aiming issues and a very short play time.

Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron: Fly Boy Edition on Switch is a lot like the Dakka Jets that the Orks pilot; a shabby contraption comprised mostly of scrap and spare parts that should be avoided in case it spontaneously combusts.

Overall, Metal Gear Survive is an instantly forgettable, drab and insulting entry in the Metal Gear series that isn't worth your time.

Overall, the game is a mess in its current state and desperately needs patches.

A change of pace from the running and gunning games, though with slight blemishes in the armor.

Little Friends: Puppy Island certainly has lots of adorable dogs to care for, but sadly spends way too much of its playtime having the player repetitively walk them through boring and visually unappealing areas.

Professional Farmer 2017 (perhaps too accurately) requires you to do a lot, just to get one crop.

A missed opportunity given a second chance or something that should have stayed dead? American Hero is FMV choose your own adventure with bad acting and horrible writing. It's either so bad it's good or it's just bad.

If you’re hoping that Tamagotchi Plaza has something worth playing on your new Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll be royally disappointed. All you’re subjected to here are a series of minigames that don’t offer fun, rather they’re more likely to offer disappointed sighs because there’s no challenge here, and more criminally than that there’s no juicy meat on its bones, just dissatisfying morsels. Tamagotchi Plaza would be forgiven if there was more going on and if it didn’t feel so unrewarding to play. There is some charm to the characters and the dialogue, and you might find the rap battle to be a tad cool, but everything else is so workmanlike that it seems to peel itself away from the audience it is most-likely to entertain-children. You might come into Tamagotchi Plaza feeling like you’ll be lightly entertained, but all too soon you’ll reach the conclusion that there’s barely anything here that’ll keep your attention for long.

In theory, using the Dragon Ball universe as a setting for an asymmetric multiplayer game is an innovative idea, but The Breakers executes poorly on this idea, with a tedious gameplay loop and technical issues.

Tenebris Pictura is a game brimming with fantastic ideas hamstrung by poor execution.

Ascendance is a nostalgia-filled title that is not even worthy of borrowing the titular name of the franchise, let alone be the title that the fans waited decades for: it’s an unredeemable abomination.

Saw II: Flesh & Blood tries to bring a great deal of emotion into a game, this is something that developers have been trying to do for years and very few games have accomplished this effectively. Saw II fails to deliver this, it is difficult to become attached to the lead character and without this attachment it is difficult to be overly concerned about the characters.

With a few adjustments and a little more time in the oven, Bloodhound could have been a fun if janky shooter, but everything feels so rote, so slapped together, so inconsistent, and ultimately bland that I can’t recommend you sniff this one out.

The game’s low price and moments of charm give it a modest appeal. Unfortunately, that isn’t enough to elevate an experience that feels thin and undercooked. In the end, it’s a diluted take on a genre already crowded with far stronger competitors.

All in all, there may not be enough substance for a gamer to really stick around and play the game more than a few times in curiosity.

It is unfortunate that my first experience with Dynasty Warriors was so disappointing, but as a newcomer the bland gameplay, bland environments and bland AI doesn’t make me want to come back.

Magic 2015 Duels of the Planeswalkers fails to reach the heights of previous games

Unfortunately, it seems that Tokyo 2020 did not live up to my expectations. The Event selection is fine, if not a bit lacking, but there’s no flare in the game itself. Tokyo 2020 is bested by every Mario & Sonic game that came before it, and that’s disappointing to see from a game that could have, and should have been the best game yet. All I can hope is that maybe Paris 2024 will be better.

On Your Tail hooks you with its charming seaside mystery, reeling you into a world where every clue is a breadcrumb and every suspect has something fishy to hide. An imaginative world and characters with phenomenal design are impressively expressive, but the shortcomings of the Switch's power as a system drags the gameplay and graphics through the mud and sheds a negative light on this creative whodunit.

If gathering resources, exploring, and “go get this for this, or find an item or persons for this” kind of quests are your deal or if you just want a change of pace, Yonder: the Cloud Catcher Chronicles is just for you. More experienced players may find some of the shallowness of the story and game play to be a little off putting. However younger players and those that desire a passive bit of simple gaming away from the loads of violence driven games with no choice but violence in them will have a good time with Yonder: the Cloud Catcher Chronicles. Though I must give this warning… you may smile.

It’s hard to feel nostalgic when you’re having a miserable time, and that’s what Montezuma’s Revenge – The 40th Anniversary Edition is. It’s just like its namesake. You can remember what you had to eat, and you’re sure you enjoyed it, but unfortunately, now that time has passed, your body is violently rejecting it.

Clean the Sea! is a game filled with potential to tell an interesting story that conveys an important message that unfortunately fails to do anything with it beyond the bare minimum.

Hungry Meem is a quirky and chaotic strategy sim that blends resource management, exploration, and creature care into a deeply layered, if sometimes frustrating, experience. Its unique systems feed into one another in interesting ways, creating a gameplay loop that can be both rewarding and overwhelming. While technical issues and repetitive pacing hold it back, there's a strange charm to helping your oddball Meems rebuild their world beneath the World Tree.

Star Wars Republic Commando could be a very interesting game for the Nintendo Switch but due to glaring performance issues it will be hard for me to recommend the game in its current state. For its flaws it does have interesting gameplay and I for one would like to revisit this game once the performance patch has been released and proven to be working correctly.

At the end of the day, I only found a handful of the mini-games enjoyable but the problem is you need to filter through the rest which is quite horrendous to say the least. Sorry guys, save your money!

Even though there are a few mini-games in the title, these seem a little too forced and contrived and what's even more frustrating is that one wrong answer sees you at the bottom of the quiz game pit again.

Fans of the Rollercoaster Tycoon series may find some level of nostalgia playing Tycoon 3D, but if they were waiting for a genre defining entry, this certainly isn't what they're looking for.

Borderlands Legends doesn't live up to the Borderlands family name. The game could've been good, since it fits perfectly in the Borderlands style. However the game never succeeds in finding the right balance between shooting and tactical gameplay. Also the game is never really challenging and has some annoying technical issues.

In conclusion, Fighters Uncaged lacks any real gaming substance and although I can appreciate what the developers were trying to achieve, they really needed to test this game before releasing it in order to jump on the Kinect Launch bandwagon.

While Orion: Dino Horde has potential, it will certainly fall short of even modest expectations. If it weren't for there already being quite the track record of bad Jurassic games, I'd suggest that fighting dinosaurs has never been so dull. A shame, since it's evident that the developers put a lot of time into it... it's just too bad they didn't focus on making it fun.

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission suffers from a classic case of 'Duke Nukem syndrome'. This game had a rather extensive development period (news of a remake has been buzzing around for about a decade) and just too much hype for anyone to expect that it would live up to all of their dreams. It sports quite a lengthy campaign so you won't be finishing it in a day, but with the poor gameplay, bugs and issues you'll face along the way, you may not even end up finishing it.

Maybe down the track this game will be patched in order to make it play better but I have a better idea; get it right the first time because this reviewer will never download a patch to make a game playable, that's why I bought a console, games should work every time straight out the box. This one does, barely, and that is why sadly I wouldn't bother with it.

Homefront - The Revolution is spectacularly broken in a way that very few games can get away with and offers very little redeeming features to justify playing through it.

With the lack of originality or innovation both in gameplay and storytelling, in a year packed with great indies such as Dredge and Cocoon, I’m afraid Undying leaves the table empty-handed.

Daybreak is a mindless horde mode expansion to State of Decay 2 that will only appeal to players seeking more outlets for zombie slaughtering co-op madness. There’s a serious lack of exciting new content or variety offered here that fails to capitalise on the areas of the main game that work best and could use expansion – such as story content, more community management mechanics or new maps – and what we’re left with is a monotonous combat-focused distraction that misses the mark for true replayability as intended.

With a time consuming upgrade system and lack of variation in the levels despite the procedural generation, Neon Chrome is, forgive the obvious pun, ultimately neither bright or polished enough.

Gloriously gory visuals let down by an unoriginal and scarce story, by-the-books gameplay and minimal replayability.

It is in face a thinly veiled excuse to look at pictures of anime style characters in various states of dress/undress. If this is your thing then maybe it’s worth the price, otherwise perhaps at least wait to see if more features are added… especially a settings menu to turn the music off… because it will get annoying after a while.

For the hard boiled gamer with very old style gaming, you may find something hidden in Face Noir that can hold your interest.

A super-deep zombie survival crafting simulator ruined by a sub-par PC-to-console port effort, resulting in endless bugs and glitches and an ugly game which struggles to run competently.

Ultimately Sid Meier's Starships feels like a game that might have been great in VGA back in the 90s.

8Days is a game inspired by better ones in the same genre, and fails to deliver on its promises. Poor aiming, cheat AI, and texture difficulties create a frustrating experience that is more hair pulling than deliberately challenging.