We’ve learnt never to assume a game’s final quality from even the most positive preview, but we were thoroughly impressed by First Light, which proved to be considerably better than we were expecting. The thought of future Bond films being owned by Amazon is very disquieting, no matter the talent involved, but no matter how all that turns out it’s very clear that Bond’s video game career couldn’t be in better hands. [Hands-On Impressions]

A colourful and creative first person adventure, whose From-style asynchronous multiplayer, branching plot, and faltering stealth sequences are hamstrung by a very low budget.

It’s not hard to take issue with Champions but for better or worse it’s clearly not finished yet and… it’s free. If you’re a veteran Pokémon fan then the only real benefit you’re getting here is easy access to a constant stream of online matches, since the matchmaking is actually pretty good. Otherwise, this seems to be aimed at a slightly awkward mix of hardcore esports fans and people brand new to the franchise, who want to know how the battles work (and to be fair, the tutorials are pretty good and the interface fairly straightforward)...Champions fulfils that remit reasonably well but it’s a hard game to get excited about and probably something you’re better off just making a mental note of, so you can come back later when it’s working properly and is more content complete. [Review in Progress]

Slay The Spire is not a game that sounds very exciting to describe and that’s certainly true of its sequel as well. But once you get a feel for how it works it’s enjoyably addictive in the way only the very best video games are. The early access version isn’t cheap, but the original game can currently be downloaded for just £4.99 on Steam, so if you’re not convinced you can get a good idea for whether you’ll like the sequel from that. [Early Access Review]

Even without the controversies surrounding it, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a huge disappointment, with no useful changes and a worthless new expansion.

A sorely underdeveloped, crafting-orientated survival horror game, whose neat comic book art style isn’t enough to compensate for sub-par combat and storytelling.

An outdated and uninteresting Soulslike that takes an already flawed original and makes it even less compelling, with unengaging storytelling, bland visuals, and repetitive action.

An amateurish mess masquerading as a homage to Dino Crisis, which might be defensible as a well-meaning fan project, if it wasn’t for the outrageously unreasonable price tag.

A mediocre homage to Contra and a terrible adaption of Terminator 2, which has nothing interesting to say about the concept of adapting movies into 2D video games.

It’s effectively a State Of Survival clone that uses Resident Evil themes and settings. So it’s a base builder at heart, except your base is Raccoon City – not that it makes much difference since you’ll be raiding rival Raccoon Cities in dull multi-hour engagements and paying real cash to unlock legendary heroes like Leon S. Kennedy. There are zombie-orientated exploration segments, and lane-based tactical battles, but the meat of the game is gacha and pay-to-win base building of the type that’s by now wearyingly familiar to mobile gamers.

The most baffling Nintendo release of recent years, with a quasi-remake of one of the GameCube’s worst games, that seems specifically designed to irritate and confuse would-be players.

A co-op orientated platformer, with cute robots and a deliberately awkward control set-up, that purposefully makes its tough challenge as infuriating as possible.

Insanely repetitive, horribly shallow, and pointlessly easy – this is the absolute least interesting thing to do with Zelda on the Switch 2 and bad even by the low standards of the Dynasty Warrior franchise.

Compared to other extraction shooters, Arc Raiders is very accessible and welcoming, but compared to Fortnite or Call Of Duty, this asks a lot more of players than many will be willing to give. Some will become frustrated at the complex maps and aggressive enemies (there’s a lot more PvE than there is PvP, in the average match), while others will appreciate that this is genuinely something different from the norm, which is what most people claim to want...There’s no way of knowing whether Arc Raiders will be popular on consoles or whether its popularity will last, even if it is, but the initial signs are very positive. This isn’t something you just throw on of the evening, while playing on autopilot, but if you’re looking for something more than that, then Arc Raiders delivers. [Review in Progress]

EA clearly know what they’re doing here and there’s little obvious to complain about right now. It’s always impossible to predict the future success of an online game, no matter how good or bad it might be, but at the moment Redsec seems to be doing everything right and it’s very hard to imagine it not being a massive, and well deserved, hit. [Review in Progress]

An extremely insubstantial Star Wars pod racing themed VR and mixed reality experience, that is technically competent but whose greatest value is in demonstrating the limitations of AR as a concept.

It’s atrocious, failing both as a tactical combat game and a whodunnit, instead settling for charging you to win more frequently via its paid battle pass.

A well-meaning Zero Escape expy that’s too simple for puzzle fiends and too shallow for anyone looking for a nuanced examination of dealing with one’s trauma.

In its current early access state, Skate is a contradiction. It tows the line between giving just enough of what we asked for by bringing the Flick-It system to modern platforms, while also being something of a storefront on wheels. It has the mechanics to last forever, being an outright hoot with friends, but the infrastructure could vanish overnight. 15 years on, EA has delivered a game that captures the joy of skating, but whether it can capture the heart of skateboarding remains very much in question. [Early Access Review]

After the career high of Silent Hill 2, Bloober Team return to their usual routine, with a Frankenstein’s monster of other people’s ideas – all of which are expressed better elsewhere.

A lovely looking origami-themed 3D platformer that’s let down by dull combat and pedestrian puzzle design, and then positively ruined by its use of fixed camera angles.

A cosy hobbit-themed life simulator that can look pretty but is almost entirely made up of thinly veiled multi-part fetch quests and drab, under-developed minigames.

A quirky and offbeat open world biking RPG that works nicely until races get more taxing, at which point its mechanical limitations make it frustrating to play

Mixing Pac-Man with Metroid seems like an enjoyably strange idea at first, until you realise just how bland and unimaginative the end result is.

One of the worst video games of the modern era, that clearly isn’t finished – but just as clearly wouldn’t be worth even a moment of your time if it was.

A bizarre attempt to celebrate the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 in the most boringest way possible, with a limp collection of unentertaining minigames made even duller by suffocatingly clinical presentation.

Players who’ve been around the free-to-play block will immediately recognise Kingshot as a reskin of Whiteout Survival, which itself is identical in gameplay terms to Top War: Survival, Age Of Empires, and a host of other games cynically designed to exploit unwary players financially. Do yourself a favour and give it a wide berth.

In terms of gameplay, it has little in common with the 37-year-old original but the fact that this is a generic and unremarkable copy of other, better games unfortunately makes this a very authentic sequel.

The three worst Tomb Raider games, remastered for a modern audience but unable to overcome their archaic systems, dull action, and uninspired design.

An excruciatingly underdeveloped take on the life of a paramedic in a fictitious American city, ruined by rote action, terrible AI, and lifeless mini-games.

Eventually you unlock a Vampire Survivors-alike mini-game that’s actually moderately entertaining, but the rest is a uniformly bland cash grab that is absolutely not worth your time.

There’s a lot of promise on display in Metro Awakening VR, but on PlayStation VR2 at least, it’s not yet in a playable state.

A deeply flawed attempt to combine survival horror with Devil May Cry style action, that tries to do a dozen things at once and succeeds at none of them.

Despite a fantastic soundtrack and interesting characters, the game’s lack of player choice and clunky writing fails to live up to the gravitas of the series.

There is still a long way for me to go, and lots of areas Black Ops 6 can drop the ball from here. That’s even before we get to multiplayer and Zombies. All of that will come in our full review. However, often you get a ‘vibe’ for a good Call Of Duty game early on. A feeling that this could be one of the more important entries in the franchise. Right now, I’m starting to get the tingling. [Campaign Review]

Your castle itself may look unique, as you build eccentrically-shaped rooms and staircases, but your courtiers look like Wii-era Miis, and the fundamentally uncreative nature of its gameplay makes it a depressingly pedestrian experience.

The exact opposite of what Starfield needed, with a DLC expansion that magnifies the parent game’s failings and sidelines its more positive elements.

An open world massively multiplayer online racer with a decent handling model and an okay car list, that’s hampered by dated graphics, some baffling design choices, and a clutch of technical issues.

There’s a solid game buried under the monetisation, but you’ll need deep pockets to find it. You expect more from Lego than lending their brand to this shameless cash grab, lightly disguised as entertainment.

A single-player and couch co-op sequel to one of the world’s oldest racing franchises, whose rudimentary looks and driving model can’t compete with 21st century alternatives.

A Star Wars version of Overwatch is not the worst idea ever, but its full potential can only barely be glimpsed through a miasma of cloying microtransactions and purposefully shallow gameplay.

The future of MultiVersus remains to be seen, but if it is aspiring to become a go-to fighting game for both offline and online gatherings, nothing spoils the party more than the free-to-play shell it’s encased in. This model might make it more accessible to players in the short term, but when it’s weighing down the overall experience like this, it’s hard not to see history repeating itself sooner or later – even if you can butcher Shaggy with a machete. [Review in Progress]

With a splash of gacha summoning, War Of Evolution descends into a, by now wearyingly familiar, microtransaction-based mobile template, completely wasting its early promise.

A barely-interactive movie that follows a mother and daughter road trip that is disappointingly short on both drama and meaningful choices.

For reasons unknown, Pinball Masters fails on the most basic level, its blurry, low frame rate visuals look like an early 90s FMV game. That makes it hard to tell where the ball is at any given moment, which in turn ruins the subtle timing necessary to play. Despite the number and complexity of tables on offer, the fact that you can’t see any of them properly makes it a frustrating disaster of missed chances and late reactions.

Skull And Bones has great naval combat but far too little else to recommend it, with a weak story and gameplay systems that amount to nothing but endless busywork.

Somewhere between a non-interactive VR experience and a half-baked licensed game, the latest Stranger Things VR experience has neither a coherent storyline nor proper action.

While the interface works, the game feels half-baked, with no instructions and bare bones interactions. It’s not terrible but in its current state feels unfinished, which for a game whose name riffs on the expression, ‘work in progress’ is perhaps quite fitting.

Stamina, the single currency required to progress, arrives in minuscule volumes, making cash payments the only viable route to making headway in this offensively dull and exploitative perversion of a much loved series.

Although it’s undoubtedly fun, the biggest question for Helldivers 2 is its longevity and variety. We haven’t played enough to judge that yet but then longevity is always difficult to discuss with a live service game, whose future plans are always in a state of flux. However, especially with its sensible price tag, this is definitely the best of the month’s online-only shooters, even if much of the appeal comes from shooting the wrong targets. [Review in Progress]

Despite its desperation to please, Foamstars is hard to dislike – but it’s difficult to say whether it has any staying power. There’s the expected battle pass progression trees, unlockable perks, and skin microtransactions to make your eyes roll, but it’s not as egregious as other live service titles in the same mould. In a similar vein to other B-tier online games with fun ideas (Knockout City, Rumbleverse, etc.), Foamstars feels like it’s caught against the tide, no matter whether it manages to stir up a dedicated player base or not.

The combat is good, and the script has its moments, but otherwise this is a highly repetitive open world shooter that makes very poor use of its licence.

Another disappointing Silent Hill revival, that gets some of the visuals and tone right but is let down by a hackneyed script and frustrating chase sequences.

Palworld’s success is built upon the shoulders of giants but there’s no denying it is a fun experience, although how much of that is due to the novelty of it all is hard to say at this early stage. We feel almost guilty for praising it but despite the copy/paste approach to game and creature design, and the disturbing way in which Pals are treated, it does hang together as a fun multiplayer game, at least in the short term. Whatever you think of it, there’s no downplaying the fact that this has been one of the most successful indie launches of all time and one that may go on to have important ramifications for both AI content generation and the Pokémon franchise as a whole. [Early Access Review]

A deeply flawed attempt to make a cross between Warhammer: Vermintide and an old school scrolling beat ‘em-up, with dumb and repetitive combat that’s never fun even in co-op.

A depressingly awful sequel whose main faults are probably due to a lack of budget and development time, but that doesn’t excuse it being considerably less entertaining than the 31-year-old original.

Part DLC and part Warzone knock-off, this is not only the worst Call Of Duty ever made but one of the most cynical video game releases of all time.

Wave 6 is an excellent set of courses in what has been an excellent season pass, for an excellent parent game. Some might talk of Mario Kart 64 or Mario Kart Wii but for us Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is clearly the best entry in the franchise and by virtue of being so it’s also one of the best video games ever made. Almost a decade later and it’s not only as much fun as ever but it’s almost impossible to imagine how Nintendo might improve it.

The best visual representation of Hellboy outside of the comic books, but an absolutely terrible video game, whose shallowness and lack of variety is matched only by its constant repetition.

For devout fans, the writing in collectable log entries might be more appealing than the main branching narrative. Some connect back to familiar characters like Anderson Dawes, while one particular voice note suggests cameo appearances from the TV series might be weaved in throughout future episodes. It’s fan service but it makes sense in the context of Drummer’s journey at this stage, heightening the atmosphere rather than pandering to replicate it.

An occasionally interesting attempt to update the Double Dragon formula, which understands the appeal of the original but fails to offer any longevity or variety.

A game whose very existence is absolutely baffling, with a tiny collection of completely uninteresting mini-games, that remain dull and unimaginative no matter how many people are playing.

Turning Crash Bandicoot into a MOBA is certainly a choice but not one that’s paid off, in this paper thin platformer that has little to offer either franchise fans or newcomers.

The shape of its isometric puzzles may be reminiscent of Monument Valley, but it lacks that game’s inventiveness and refinement, its intrinsic clumsiness imposing upon the difficulty.

Broken beyond belief but also a fundamentally bad idea for a video game, with inanely shallow and repetitive gameplay - Gollum is not only the worst mainstream game of the year but of the last two generations.

Whatever your views, it’s a monumental piece of game development and well worth a look, even if just to marvel at the high budget window dressing and wallow in its manifold, blissful absurdities. [Review in Progress]

As is traditional, the opening hours provide rapid upgrades, before slowing things down to encourage you to spend money. You and your alliance will also regularly find yourself at the mercy of bullying, big spending whales, but at least you’re not forced to watch any ads.

As with the main game, our fears that the more generic control system would undermine the appeal of the original have proven unfounded and the remake of The Mercenaries is great fun and makes the whole package seem like even better value for money than before, with enormous replayability for a single-player game. We can only hope that Capcom doesn’t get greedy with DLC – at least not for anything that was in the original version – but either way The Mercenaries only makes a great game even better.

The game is as compelling as ever, and this is an interesting opportunity to compare it with the TV show, but at launch this is one of the worst PC ports from any major publisher in a long while.

Given it’s a free joke download, we’re not going to give The Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog a score but we still recommend you try it out for yourself, be you a casual or diehard Sonic fan. Hopefully next year other publishers produce more April Fool’s gags of this quality and not just the usual tedious fake news.

An unlikeable, repetitive, and blandly designed clone of Payday that wastes its celebrity filled cast on an equally substandard script.

Whether Nintendo intendeds to reuse it for the inevitable Mario Kart 9 is impossible to say, but perhaps there might be some hint as to their future plans once the Booster Pass finally ends. Knowing Nintendo, they’ll more likely keep their secrets to the last moment but it really doesn’t matter because combined with all this DLC it’s difficult to imagine how anything could better Mario Kart 8.

Unfortunately, unlike Archero, it’s mind-numbingly dull and lacks any sort of compelling reason to continue drowning in its multiple currencies and lacklustre, microscopically incremental upgrade paths. There’s a genuinely free Netflix version that removes all the microtransactions, but it’s equally tedious.

It’s unfair to criticise any game for being something it’s not, so instead we’ll say that this is another excellent implementation of VR technology by Hello Games and despite all the years that have passed No Man’s Sky has never been better, resulting in another must-have title for PlayStation VR2.

We say the game wasn’t designed with VR in mind but we’re not sure that’s true. Capcom already did an excellent job with the VR mode for Resident Evil 7, so we imagine they had support for Village in mind all along. If they didn’t then the sequence near the start, where you stumble through the snow in the dark, is, entirely by accident, one of the best VR experiences we’ve ever had. [Review in Progress]

Unfortunately, the lack of chain reactions and the fact that the game automatically selects chains for you gives it a dull, staccato feel. Combined with the stingy number of turns you get before having to wait for a recharge, Tumble Time utterly fails to live up to the joy of its visuals.

A litany of missed opportunities results in one of the most aggravating action role-players of recent years, with irritating characters, dull combat, and a frustrating movement system.

A misguided attempt to recreate one of gaming’s oldest and most influential classics, that’s let down by outdated visuals and prehistoric gameplay elements.

This is likely to be the definitive version of a great game, and an excellent excuse to dive back into its gloriously rich and varied world, but at the moment it’s a bug-ridden mess that’s more trouble to play than the seven-year-old original. We’re sure by next Christmas it’ll all be running perfectly but all you get this year is a lump of 4K coal. [Review in Progress]

An inspired piece of Final Fantasy 7 fan service, and a very good remaster, but as a standalone game the story and gameplay has very little value.

An ill-conceived attempt at bringing competitive deathmatch to Resident Evil, that has turned out to be just as terrible as everyone always assumed it would be.

Bustin’ will not make you feel good in this shallow and repetitive asymmetric multiplayer, that is one of the worst of the recent crop of 80s movie homages.

A mild disappointment compared to the first Modern Warfare reboot, that relies too much on nostalgia and old ideas, but the core action and multiplayer modes are as irresistible as ever. [Review in Progress; Provisional score = 70]

A fascinating glimpse into the twilight era of the stealth genre but the outdated gameplay and awkward controls make it difficult to be all that nostalgic about it.

The semi-real-time battles are fun but a lack of depth soon dulls your enthusiasm for this limp Fire Emblem wannabe, as the rest of the game is taken up by tedious, choice-free conversations and lengthy cut scenes.

The problem, beyond its intense ordinariness, is that many questions are America-centric, so unless you spell ‘mesmerise’ with a Z, know who the 25th president was, and can name various baseball and basketball players, frustration awaits.

A tragically outdated open world adventure that almost has more in common with Goat Simulator than Grand Theft Auto, despite some moderately entertaining mechanics.

With its gorgeous Studio Ghibli artwork and charmingly offbeat dialogue translation, Ni No Kuni makes its way to mobile. Sadly, that’s the end of the good news, because Cross Worlds features all the worst things about modern mobile gaming.

A complex, vampire-centric role-playing game where conversations replace violence, but whose boring puzzles and undercooked script suggest its budget didn’t stretch nearly as far as its ambitions.

It looks nice, but there’s absolutely nothing going on underneath the veneer, apart from collecting currencies to perform upgrades that let you continue fighting more identical battles, while the game patiently tries to hawk its microtransactions.

The attempts to mirror the cinema of Akira Kurosawa work on a visual level but the story and gameplay are so empty and repetitive this barely works as a homage, let alone an engaging game in its own right.

A bad idea poorly realised and while the original coin-op retains its campy charm this remake is rendered pointless by the unsatisfying controls and glitchy performance.

Rarely has such a big budget game been based on such a thin gameplay premise, with this bafflingly dull first person action adventure that begins to run out of steam by the end of the tutorial level.

If it wasn’t for the change in graphics this would get an unequivocal recommendation and even with that issue, we can’t imagine anyone that already enjoys Mario Kart 8 not thinking this isn’t worth getting as well.

The 60fps option improves the gameplay to a small degree but, almost a decade later, it’s not the graphics or the story that impresses the most in GTA 5, but the open world design. It’s the one element that is beyond criticism and while it is beginning to seem a little old-fashioned compared to newer titles like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Elden Ring it’s still lightyears ahead of any of its would-be rivals.

Between the mountains of paid content and limited range of things to do, you can’t shrug the sense of stultifying pointlessness in a game that’s not really a game at all.

Not only the worst game Platinum has ever made but one of the worst live service titles of any kind, with an especially disgusting attitude towards microtransactions.

A perfunctory kart racing spin-off that has a few unique charms but falls well short of its far superior competition.