A fun, uncomplicated romp that’s a great way to relax for 20 minutes or so. Beyond that though it struggles to entertain, especially given the grubby approach to microtransactions.

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

This doesn't fix the flaws of the original it simply finds more to keep them company, in a game that's as banal and repetitive as its protagonists' vocabulary.

Its limited budget is obvious but as an unofficial reboot for the Burnout series this is one of the best arcade racers for a long time.

Being better than the other Sonic Boom games really isn’t a compliment, as this dull, ugly platformer continues to sully the memory of Sega’s once great mascot.

A welcome revival of a much-loved franchise, although Banana Blitz was never the best entry and Sega has had to accept too many compromises in porting it from the Wii.

A Djokovic-centric tennis simulator that’s easy to pick up but lacks the polish and tactical complexity needed to make it great.

As far as being an early access game goes, you’d barely guess in terms of normal gameplay, as while there are a few bugs and glitches it’s nothing compared to how most AAA games launch nowadays. However, the further you start to explore away from the town the more missing content and blocked-off areas there are, waiting for a future update and the final release. We’re never fans of early access precisely because of things like that but if you take the current state of the game as an extended demo then we can definitely say that Ooblets is already growing us.

There are flashes of brilliance, but this graphic adventure lacks some very elementary features.

Only one game in five is any good in this five-games-in-one compilation, whose brazen recycling of old content is equal parts embarrassing and cynical.

The story set-up is good and there are some interesting new gameplay features, but almost all of them are squandered by sloppy design and inconsequential action.

Another disappointing port of one of the Wii’s best games, although still a clever and entertaining mix of Pikmin and The Settlers.

Pikachu has probably had more exciting adventures visiting the men's room, than in this boring spin-off.

A competent Overwatch clone but one so apparently allergic to new ideas it’s depressing to see it so thoroughly waste its technical triumphs and well-designed characters.

Not your typical real-time strategy game, but despite a few interesting ideas this shallow husk of a game feels almost barbarically simple.

In many ways just a bog standard movie tie-in, but the potential of the licence and the unscrupulousness of the microtransactions make it seem even worse than it is.

A deeply flawed open world role-player but also an extremely ambitious and unique one, whose approach to co-op play and survival deserves further iteration.

Exactly as simplistic and one note as the name implies, but if you want to shoot undead Nazis with your friends then you can’t say the game doesn’t deliver.

The action side of things is weak but as an interactive meditation on mortality and predestination this is an impressively thought-provoking indie experiment.

The free web toy gains little from its transformation into a retail game - or in its move to the DS.

A return to the mini-game collection formula proves predictability disappointing, with slightly more complex games but even less variety.

Never mind the sexism, the awful gameplay is the primary reason you should be avoiding this shockingly poor beat ‘em-up.

A complex interconnection of influences results in a game that’s both familiar and interestingly unique, with a few rough edges compensated for by excellent combat and role-playing systems.

Like its predecessors, it’s incredibly lightweight, your choices set out so briefly you’re regularly left guessing about potential outcomes; a sense the game attempts to paper over by throwing so many of them at you. It’s occasionally amusing, but too insubstantial to be satisfying.

Daring and provocative, but also poorly written and technically inept. PlayStation VR will no doubt get much better horror games in the future, but this is still a notable first step.

A clear improvement on Heroes Of The Pacific, but IL-2 Sturmovik is still the superior fighter ace.

In so many ways this feels like a driving game from another age, but no matter how much you miss old school arcade racers FlatOut 4 will end up driving you crazy.

Hopefully the future of Fable won't be any more downloads, as this is another waste of both time and money.

One of the least worst Kinect games this year, which although it suffers from all the usual control issues is at least mindless fun while it lasts.

The Wii U game was just a few flaws short of a minor classic, but this joyless companion piece is only a couple more problems shy of a complete disaster.

A surprisingly decent movie tie-in with a fun four-player mode that will amuse players of any age.

An inexplicably bland shooter from the usually reliable Insomniac that has no personality and no sense of purpose beyond a few hours of empty co-op action.

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

Cheap, obvious, and unambitious but the zombie theme does at least help to circumvent the technical problems of the original, and offer up some novel co-op options.

It might be okay on a mobile phone but you'll want to reverse the charges for this on Xbox Live Arcade.

When it hits its targets the game can be genuinely funny, but its aim is too haphazard and the gameplay nowhere near good enough to pick up the slack.

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.

Almost everyone does it better than this bland, unambitious shooter that manages to squander all of the developer's usual talents.

Gaming's most prolific, but least pioneering, series ruins its best spin-off with an overdose of deja vu.

A charming homage to Streets Of Rage and other scrolling beat ‘em-ups, but it doesn’t overcome the genre’s limitations and manages to add a few of its own.

A dungeon-crawling mix of Disgaea and Atelier proves just as impenetrable and cliquey as it sounds.

The gameplay basics are fine, but this is the absolute bare bones of what a golf game should be – with less than half the amount of content of the last game in the series.

Cheap, but not cheerful, first person shooter, with nothing new to offer the genre but change from £20.

When it’s finished this has the potential to be a classic multiplayer horror game, but the state it’s in now the original movies feel like they have higher production values.

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

The Lord Of The Rings is yet again denied a decent tie-in, with this desperately uninteresting and half broken action role-player.

Whether it's more or less value for money than usual is up for debate but in purely game terms this is the best MX Vs. ATV yet.

The motion controls work well enough but this is an unambitious and needlessly simplistic on-the-rails adventure that does nothing to help Move's cause.

A co-op version of XCOM in the Shadowrun universe sounds a great idea, but this lacks the depth to make the best of the concept.

Street Fighter with bullets or a one-on-one 2D shooter, whichever way you look at it this hombrew download is an intriguing oddity.

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

An unexpectedly daring mix of Jet Set Radio and de Blob, that may lack in realism or plausibility but certainly not in imagination and fun.

It gets most of the mechanics right, and it certainly looks like Sonic, but this new episode doesn't have the heart or the imagination of the originals.

Although it seems to have all the necessary components to become a compelling looter-slasher Godfall’s fussy mechanics and repetitive design will quickly sap your interest.

Unquestionably the best Dynasty Warriors style game so far, but at its core it's still just as shallow and repetitive as any of Koei's games.

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.

Possibly the world's least anticipated sequel, but a surprisingly enjoyable brain dead romp all the same.

Exactly the game you'd expect to result from the film, with fun effects but no variety or depth.

An odd mix of Test Drive Unlimited, Assassin’s Creed, and Destiny. And while the combination is tastier than it sounds it also has an awful lot of lumps in it.

One of the most influential rhythm action games ever made, but the graphics and gameplay definitely show their age – remaster or not.

A competent but completely unremarkable story mission that seems to exist more as an excuse to sell season passes, rather than through any creative justification of its own.

It's the imagination of the developers that seems at fault here, not the player, with little real opportunity to create anything - just rearrange it.

It's good to see Assassin's Creed having a positive influence on game settings but this historical would-be epic has little else to recommend it.

All the fun of the original squeezed into an all-action and generally more enjoyable expansion.

Manga and anime fans will no doubt get some pleasure out of the game’s endless array of cameos, but viewed on its merits as a fighting game this is a clear defeat.

It should never have been made, but this abridged zombie slasher avoids being a complete disaster.

Although this fixes many of the problems with the original it then undoes all the things it got right, in one of the most inexcusably brief games ever.

A step in the right direction, but still nowhere close to being the ideal Transformers game.

Formula 1 crossed with Mario Kart is almost made to seem an inspired idea, but the restrictions of the licence drag this promising racer down.

Despite having had a decade to come up with new ideas and heists this is a disappointingly hollow sequel that offers too few reasons for not just sticking with the last game.

Not a very good Batman game and certainly not a very interesting take on the Metroid formula, this portable dud squanders its potential on boring exploration and frustrating combat.

3D graphics may be the future, but this dull beat 'em-up is unlikely to convince you of the fact.

Spore hits an evolutionary dead end, as the "everything sim" becomes just another dull platformer.

Nostalgia hounds will find plenty to excite them but viewed under the cold light of modern day Superfrog is not, and never really was, a very good platformer.

A great remaster of a forgotten almost-classic, but most of its flaws were already obvious 18 years ago and this does little to improve any of them.

Once the novelty has worn off - which will only take a couple of goes with lesser games like 20,000 Leaks - you'll never want to play any of them again.

No insult to the series' legacy, but a workmanlike sequel that didn't need to be made (or ported).

The worst Need For Speed game of the modern era, that leaves no stone unturned in its attempts to make itself as boring, repetitive, and exploitative as possible.

It may look like any other tower defence game but this has just enough wrinkles to keep your interest.

A more noble failure than most Kinect games, but a failure all the same. And even beneath the control issues not a particularly good on-the-rails shooter.

It’s obviously been made on the cheap, but that’s no excuse for the legion of technical problems and the embarrassingly unsophisticated script of this obnoxious action game.

Red Dead Redemption is a great single player game, but this only emphasises the mediocre multiplayer.

A horribly disappointing mini-game collection that has none of the qualities of the real WarioWare titles and won’t entertain even the most game-starved Wii U owner for more than an hour or so.

Probably the least surprising game on the 3DS, but even if you do like Dynasty Warriors games this is still one of the lesser spin-offs.

The best bread simulator ever made, and despite the rampant silliness there’s some inspired gameplay mechanics and level design baked in.

The most disappointing Mass Effect 3 download so far, which once again emphasizes overfamiliar action instead of meaningful storytelling.

Kinect is still a solution in search of a problem, and while this is an impressive tech demo it’s a largely uninteresting video game experience.

As a full price game it'd be a ridiculous con, but if you really must have a Wii Remote Plus then £5 for some half decent mini-games isn't the worst deal on the Wii.

Gears Of War meets Diablo turns out not to be a classic pairing after all, or at least not when it comes to this low rent hotchpotch of other people's ideas.

Absolutely not a next generation Strider, but it is an unusual and fun co-operative platformer if you have the friends to hand.

The original was hardly viewed as a classic even at the time and while a lot of work has gone into this remaster it can’t hide the game’s intrinsic shallowness and repetition.

An interesting script and missions can't save this miserable morass of repetitious role-playing.

A relatively competent remaster collection but the games are so old now that, without a full remake, newcomers will struggle to understand how they became so beloved.

Mama's sideline in gardening proves to be just as shallow and repetitive as her cookery courses.

A bafflingly under-designed multiplayer game that features some classic Nintendo innovation in terms of controls, but deeply unengaging presentation and zero longevity or variety.

Mixing Tower Defense, third person action, and beloved ’80s toys should’ve been a recipe for success, but this bland sequel doesn’t do justice to any of its ideas.

All its best bits are clearly stolen from Batman: Arkham Asylum, but for a movie tie-in this still counts as above average.

Its amusingly on-message alerts – ‘HEY NERD! You can’t build muscle just by texting! Get back to the dojo!’ – are great and being hazed, 80s style, by Johnny Lawrence remains inspiring. Sadly, the game, with its random-feeling successes and lacklustre card collecting, isn’t nearly as interesting.