The real problem though is that it’s missing career mode, which was central to Rush Rally 3. Despite the excellent interface and handling model it leaves the game feeling a little unfocused.

Simple but enjoyable co-operative fun, but despite its looks this 2D shooter lacks the pace and ingenuity to trouble the best in the genre.

Enjoyable Souls-lite combat can’t make up for the tedious loot system and laughably bad storytelling, in this misconceived Final Fantasy spin-off.

A strange yet relatively successful attempt to merge television with an episodic video game, that should at least please the show’s fanbase.

This is a sequel afraid of what its predecessors stood for and too timid to focus on and perfect their strengths. It’s a real shame that it’s the game’s creators that seem the most scared in Dead Space 3, rather than the players.

It’s not perfect and although you could argue that the typos reflect a slightly lower standard of proof reading in mid-21st Century news publishing it’s still a satisfying read, even if some sort of player agency would have made it even better.

Some truly innovative ideas that all MMOs would do well to take notice of, but they and the intriguing narrative are wasted on the tedious and derivative combat.

A missed opportunity to reinvent the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which offers only incremental improvement and too many old problems.

Konami forgets it's already made the ultimate Contra tribute - and it's not this bland rehash.

The game’s limitless options and boundless enthusiasm have never been so impressive, but it’s further away than ever from fulfilling its potential as an actual video game.

It's now the only game keeping vehicular combat alive, but even fans will be disappointed at the lack of change and ambition - in what is more a remake than a reboot.

An excellent remaster duology that’s an interesting reminder of early online console gaming and one of the most feature-packed Star Wars games ever made.

An ambitious but uneven action role-player, with impressive visuals and excellent boss battles, that are held back by an inherent shallowness – particularly in the lack of meaningful exploration.

Customise a very ordinary platformer into something a bit more personal in this clever DSiWare game.

The Phantasy Star Online legacy still goes unfulfilled, as the portable version treads water.

More restatement than rebirth, this Gradius greatest hits collection has little new to offer.

A colourful, loot-orientated action role-player let down by over-simplified systems and levelling up that often feels inconsequential.

A disappointing follow-up to Gone Home that tells a less interesting and less focused tale, while failing to advance the art of interactive storytelling.

An ambitious and unique approach to video game storytelling, but one that never quite escapes the limitations it purposefully imposes on itself.

It definitely looks the part, and the striking is excellent, but stodgy controls and a weak ground game makes this far from the ultimate MMA game.

It’s fun and polished as far, as it goes, but it feels as though more content might be due in future updates. It’s also seriously light on instruction, leaving the impression of having been rushed out to a tight deadline.

A disappointing sequel to The Dark Descent, but while the horror elements can seem mundane at times the storytelling and characterisation remain impressive.

Another disappointing instalment of the once great franchise. Inconsistent level of realism, poor presentation and too few positive innovations.

One of the Amiga's favourite sons returns but with little of its original personality intact.

Not a bad start to the second season but not a great one either, with a formless plot and unusually weak characterisation.

As fascinatingly unique as it always was but this former PlayStation 2 game is showing its age and while it’s still one of the best JRPGs of its era, it pales when compared to more modern titles.

It's the gameplay which is slave to the visuals and storytelling here, in this intriguing but shallow post-apocalyptic fable.

A staggeringly ambitious, gun-free immersive reality detective game set in an alternate 1980s Britain, whose admirable intentions are undermined by technical problems.

The basics of gameplay work tremendously well, but the game is bogged down by too many niggling faults and the sense that it’ll take until at least next year to fulfil its potential.

A few baby steps forwards for the granddaddy of farming sims, but not enough to deserve a new game or your time and money.

A competent Soulslike lifted by its alternate history premise and Parisian setting, but it’s not quite enough to compete with its obvious inspirations.

A remaster too far for a game that, through no fault of its own, is showing its age and is further encouraging the franchise’s reliance on nostalgia instead of innovation.

A fascinating retro shooter that proves a perfect match for the world of Warhammer 40,000 but whose almost complete lack of nuance and variety eventually wears you down.

Disappointingly mundane first person shooter from the creators of the genre, with only a few interesting ideas and far too many overfamiliar ones.

Despite improvements the debt to Portal cannot be fully repaid in this cleverly-constructed by staid first person puzzler.

A cosy game of potion manufacture, healing, and friendship set in a delightful isometric world, that’s let down by its grinding repetition and some serious bugs.

A surprisingly competent 2D fighter, but one whose presentation and muted combat will restrict it only to hardcore fans.

Shooting tin cans hasn't got any more exciting over the years in this forgettable lightgun game.

Shallow and repetitive it might be, but this new mobile game can prove surprisingly tense and recreates the atmosphere of the first film very well.

One step forward in terms of story and two back when it comes to gameplay, Black Flag’s first story expansion has its heart in the right place but that’s about all.

A solid idea but the implementation, especially on a standard controller, doesn’t really work – leaving with you increasingly little incentive to save Max or his brother.

Not a particularly auspicious start to Fallout 4’s season pass, but the chance to build your own robots is at least more interesting than the new story.

RiME is not quite the game it wants to be, but while it lacks the profundity it was clearly aiming for the surface level puzzle-solving and exploration can still be enjoyable. But as you note the obvious inspirations it’s hard not to acknowledge that RiME’s various elements all worked better in the games they originally came from.

A curious sequel whose simplified combat and lack of challenge undermines some of the best level design and puzzles in any recent Metroidvania.

A stodgy middle episode for what is still a promisingly unique slice of downloadable content, but its true worth won’t be clear until the final episode.

The old Advance Wars clone gets a remake, but somehow avoids getting a proper 21st-century makeover.

A loving tribute to one of the grandaddies of survival horror and while the game feels random and abstruse compared to modern titles it’s still entertaining and surprisingly scary.

Probably the best-looking WiiWare game ever, but still a mediocre platforming experience overall.

It's still just another Tower Defence game, but at least this one requires some genuine strategy.

An already flawed game struggles with the limitations of joypad controls – but it’s a spirited effort and further proof that strategy titles do work on consoles.

An ambitious and visually arresting double-A adventure, that blends Assassin’s Creed’s stealth with Halo’s epic scenery, but which is compromised by a litany of minor technical issues.

Nowhere close to the arcade perfection of Resogun or Nex Machina, this undercooked action platformer lacks the precise controls and instant appeal of its stablemates.

Punishingly hard for no good reason, turning what could have been a fun reaction-based platform game into a painful memory test.

Offensive both in terms of language and diluted potential, although saved to a degree by its strong team-based action.

Konami's role-player is a frustratingly uneven mix of great graphics, dull combat and fun questing.

The game swiftly adds more suits, and you can buy power ups that let you clear rows, or give you more turns to complete goals, but even though it’s authentic to solitaire, that niggling random factor holds it back.

A fantasy real-time strategy that ignores conventions as readily as its heroes ignore your commands.

An inoffensive 2D platformer with some novel ideas - but fairly vapid and overly expensive.

Shallow mechanics hide a game that is much more simplistic than it first appears, but this is still a passingly entertaining take on a 3D Metroidvania.

Despite the many obvious flaws there’s a mesmerising quality to the game’s artificial worlds, as the gameplay itself creates a surprisingly palatable form of edutainment.

A slight improvement on the first episode, but still basically just plot set-up for a story that too often feels out of your hands.

A much more ambitious slice of downloadable content than many, but in the end one that fails to take advantage of its own, or the main game's, best features.

A very British sense of humour and a compelling mix of Metal Gear and DayZ, but the randomised maps and dispiriting endgame does it no favours.

Arguably the last great Sonic The Hedgehog game, even if it's not necessarily one of the best.

Shallow, repetitive and easy, but this Ninja Gaiden clone is also mad as a hatter - and that helps a lot.

A fun nostalgia ride for fans but not a patch on the similarly pitched Dead Space: Extraction.

Its touch controls work well enough for the button mashing and occasional dodges the game requires, although fighting your way through areas that previous runs failed to complete, long after you’ve collected all the loot they have to offer, is as tedious as it sounds.

As loving a recreation of the Mega Drive original as fans could ever hope for, but without any major evolution of the concept it has far less to offer anyone else.

One of the least demanded remasters on Switch is a primitive but surprisingly nostalgic reminder of just how ambitious and open-ended gaming could be in the Xbox 360 era.

It may be big in Japan but there's little here that is new, in this still deeply flawed mini-MMO.

It feels more like a long lost SNES game than a modern action role-player but that’s clearly the point in this charming, if insubstantial, prelude to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

When you factor in the £25 price tag, Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain could be considered a no-brainer, if you’re after a decent party game that’s suitable for everyone. However, the lack of new mini-games and disappointing online features does make this franchise comeback feel more cynical and lazy than it should.

Most British gamers will find it unbearably obtuse and slow-winded but there's a depth of content and gameplay here that will still find its fans.

A considerable improvement on Quantic Dreams’ previous work, and while the storytelling is still flawed its tale of abused androids feels very human.

Some great ideas and fantastic graphics, but as fun as it is to see so many genres mixed together Abyss Odyssey doesn’t do any of them any real justice.

Original Journey is a twin-stick shooter-meets-platform game, with Tower Defense-style fixed guns and an upgrade system more reminiscent of a role-playing game. adly though its gameplay loop of shoot, loot, and retreat is just a tad too tight, rapidly feeling repetitive and restrictive.

A curate’s egg of zombie clichés and surprisingly solid multiplayer, with the movie’s undead hordes replicated in impressive fashion.

The in-your-face visuals distort and strobe when you collide with walls or objects, giving the whole enterprise a migraine-inducing quality that actually goes quite well with its savage difficulty level. If you suffer from photosensitive epilepsy, this is a game you might want to avoid.

A surprisingly hesitant start to EA’s new sports series, in terms of both the amount of content and the disjointed action.

An inexplicably careless remaster, where none of the changes are unequivocally for the better and the experience is brought down further by numerous bugs and missing features.

Even Absolution's harshest critics may be surprised at how badly some of these games have aged, but warts and all this is still a fascinating collection to play through.

Feeding the upgraded floors to your monsters triggers their individual superpowers, in a game whose action is fast, furious, and extremely silly.

A wonderfully bizarre premise is spoilt only by frustrating motion controls, but this is definitely the best Victorian lady slapping simulator ever made.

Despite all the effort to seem wacky and surreal this is an oddly un-engaging follow-up to Excite Truck.

It's not going to change the world but this is a simple, accessible pseudo flight sim that's plenty of fun.

A good HD remake but the game itself doesn’t really warrant the attention, with too many unfulfilled promises that even its sequels failed to make good on.

The new professions are a fun idea but there aren't enough of them to justify the high asking price.

There are moments of brilliance, but also frustrating inconsistencies and technical limitations that ruin what could have been the ultimate sniper game.

The low budget is obvious throughout but the game is clearly trying its best, with a great gameplay experience and an impressive array of options and licences.

The formerly classic arcade racer gets a high resolution makeover, but 10 years later and the one note driving model now feels functional rather than exciting.

A walking simulator set in a colourful, rather than spooky, mansion with rewarding puzzles, a cheerful atmosphere, and a locomotion system from the seventh circle of Hell.

An interesting stew of ideas and great presentation can’t make up for a game that goes out of its way to frustrate and discourage its players.

It was probably foolhardy to ever try to bring The Sims 3 to consoles and despite a spirited attempt this is just a shadow of the PC version.

The price prevents any serious criticism but this is still one of the best-looking and most accessible Tower Defence games around.

A sci-fi short story masquerading as a video game, and while it’s often fascinating and beautiful it makes even other walking simulators seem fast-paced by comparison.

A low budget but competent remaster of a game that’s showing its age – and yet still makes a good argument for a future franchise revival.

A charming, if basic, detective game is transformed into a patronisingly simplistic visual novel for only the youngest of Pokémon fans.

A peculiar sequel that at times seems to be purposefully undermining the best elements of the original, but it still gets just enough right to please both existing fans and potential newcomers.