The same beautiful, laidback 2D adventure as it's always been, but now almost ruined by fiddly and unresponsive touch controls.

No longer the Deadly Premonition of action games, just an outdated, half-broken, shooter that offers only glimpses of what it could’ve been.

The visual look of the game is novel and fun, but underneath it is a shallow and only intermittently enjoyable dungeon crawler.

There’s a plot involving the town’s ineffectual mayor, gaff-prone police department, and various other resident caricatures, but underneath that shell, it’s incremental business as usual. How this got past Apple’s legendarily puritanical vetting process is anyone’s guess.

At last, Mama gets out of the kitchen and... into a perversely unenjoyable shopping simulator.

The Turtle edition of Super Smash Bros. has the same ingredients but plays like week-old pizza.

A competently made but disappointingly inferior follow-up to the excellent AI: The Somnium Files games, featuring mediocre puzzles and an uncharacteristically simple mystery for a game with Kotaro Uchikoshi’s name in the credits.

The old school origins are rather too obvious in this competent but predictable Japanese role-player.

An interesting test of your VR mettle, but also a reminder that once the novelty wears off VR titles need compelling gameplay as much as any other game.

Not quite Scary Movie but certainly not the video game equivalent of Airplane, although the fact that it even tries to be is almost recommendation enough.

It looks amazing but baffling design decisions suck every ounce of fun out of this disappointing sequel.

Easily the most authentic Predator game ever made but also a paper-thin multiplayer game that offers far too little content and variety for its asking price.

A colourful, silly and deliberately over-the-top first person shooter, with severely undercooked gunplay and a sense of humour that will test the patience of even Rick and Morty fans.

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 technical issues.

In the end we’ve come to believe that maybe the trolling theory is accurate and that this is all one big joke carried out by Microsoft, Rare, and Dlala Studios. Either way, we spent the entire time being frustrated, bewildered, and only very occasionally entertained. We don’t think our experience would’ve been improved if we did happen to be big Battletoads groupies though, as this doesn’t seem like something fans, or indeed anyone else, would enjoy.

A disappointing and unnecessary sequel that squanders the potential of its story and is saved only by the series’ customarily excellent combat.

Whilst ultimately an underdeveloped entry, it does make for a loving send off for Max Caulfield. Unfortunately, being another weak entry, it may also play that role for the franchise itself.

Focusing on the movies rather than the comics has seen Marvel go from inspiring the best Lego game to one of the worst.

It may beat Gran Turismo for realism but the real trick here is making driving a Koenigsegg seem dull.

A missed opportunity for an exciting take on medieval history, that’s inferior to Kingdom Come: Deliverance in every respect.

Creators of Pokémon or not, some interesting ideas can’t override the terrible execution in this staggeringly ugly 2D platformer.

An extremely workmanlike throwback to early generations of platform adventure, that completely wastes its interesting setting and gorgeous visual design.

This new episodic graphic adventure is mild cheddar compared to the original TV shorts and movie.

As charmingly idiosyncratic as you’d expect from the creator of Katamari Damacy, but although the harmonious message is clear the game itself is a frustrating chore.

An underwhelming finale to what has been a consistently disappointing season of Batman adventures, with weak storytelling and bland visuals.

One of the best attempts at an interactive anime ever, although the nonsensical story, weak combat, and dubious portrayal of female characters will ensure it a limited audience in the West.

Roguelike fans will appreciate the persistence needed to get anywhere but this is a mediocre example of the genre and not nearly as much fun as it could’ve been.

A wasted opportunity to redeem PlayStation Move, with a horribly uninspired range of sports that barely work any better than back when they were Wii Sports games.

A well-crafted remaster but this ancient real-time strategy has little to offer modern gamers, especially when the sequel is already readily available.

An intriguing set-up, with an impressively ominous atmosphere, is spoilt by overfamiliar roguelike elements that ruin the pacing and increase the repetition.

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.

Part massively multiplayer online game. Part Grand Theft Auto clone. All failure.

Compromise should not have been a dirty word given the interface and control issues that seriously spoil what could have been a perfect portable Football Manager.

Some of the best 2D artwork ever seen in a video game, married to a spitefully difficult game whose main gameplay gimmick only manages to make it more frustrating to play.

An ambitious magic-themed shooter which, despite its impressive, flashy combat, buckles under the weight of its influences and slapdash execution.

Never has so promising a game been ruined by such a perversely high difficultly level, which is a crying shame given the gorgeous 2D art.

Square Enix’s latest attempt to create a Monster Hunter clone has a lot of Final Fantasy fan service but few other reasons to explore its world.

A predictably inessential expansion that adds nothing anybody ever asked for and completely fails to address the points fans have been complaining about for months.

Not the PlayStation VR killer app you might have hoped for, but still a clever and imaginative mix of shooter and puzzle game.

The creature editor is still fun, but this is no more a video game than the first version and considerably less value for money.

All the component pieces are here, but given the severe control limitations the subtitle here should have been 'lite' not 'refrain'.

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.

An enjoyable combat system is left to flounder in an otherwise unambitious ode to Xbox 360 era shooters, that quickly gets too repetitive to enjoy.

An inspired mix of Groundhog Day and Choose Your Own Adventure style decision making, combined with a half-broken action role-player of considerably lesser interest.

A chirpy spin on the skateboarding sim genre, undermined by poor level design and frustrating gameplay.

Turok may have been state-of-the-art in 1997 but today both its graphics and its gameplay feel virtually prehistoric.

Inconsequential and frustratingly restrictive, this is by far the worst episode of the season – and you can only hope the finale will be good enough to make up for it.

An uninspiring start to the season, that even fans of the show will find stilted and tedious. Although they can still foster high hopes for later episodes.

Hugely disappointing retro reboot that fails to offer any of the freedom or fun its premise suggests.

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.

A frustrating ending to what has become an increasingly disappointing download series, even though the premise remains one of the most imaginative for years.

An improvement on the last Star Ocean game but Square Enix’s veteran sci-fi franchise still feels stuck in the past, rather than exploring new frontiers.

A typical Fallout download that buries a few interesting new ideas and locations beneath a patchwork of overfamiliar, and increasingly outdated, content.

A mildly spooky walking simulator whose plot, acting, and puzzles fails to benefit from its Hollywood connections and is even more disappointing without VR.

It's a clever idea but being in charge of a swarm of moronic blue midgets proves a fairly fleeting and frustrating pleasure.

Few PSP games look as good, but this is still a hugely disappointing return for Parasite Eve and the ruination of a once intriguing heroine.

It may have been cutting edge in 1997 but the Shin Megami Tensei series, and Japanese role-players in general, have moved on a lot since then and this entry is really only for completists.

Somewhere underneath this shameful collection of monetisation gimmicks there’s a decent game waiting to be played, but it never gets a chance to fly as free as it should.

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.

Another largely pointless download that fails to capitalise on any of Mass Effect 2's achievements.

A historical supernatural role-player whose portrayal of Warsaw under Russian rule is highly compelling but where the combat and simplistic detective elements fail to engage.

A disappointing second chapter that's short on comedy, game length and decent puzzles.

This doesn't solve any of the original's problems with storytelling and variety, it just makes them worse.

The glory days of Mario Golf and Tennis seem very far away, in this lazy and patronisingly simplistic sports compendium.

The third Guitar Hero game for the DS isn't as lazy as you'd think but the concept is still deeply flawed.

B-movie by name and B-movie by nature, but there’s still enjoyment to be had with the endearingly rubbish enemies and fun but vapid combat.

A competent camping and survival game set in an unpopulated wilderness, whose lack of narrative structure, threat, or competitive elements leaves it feeling disappointingly hollow.

Another uninspiring episode of nothing but filler and hopes for the future, although that’s as much a criticism of episodic content as it is the game itself.

Sega's new dumbed down sequel isn't a disaster but it requires little skill and proffers little satisfaction.

Everything but the gameplay is great - but as fun as creating your own stories may be, it's not enough.

Shallow, sexist, and largely nonsensical. The action is amongst Suda51’s best but it’s not leveraged in any way that justifies the failings of the rest of the game.

Turning a demonic cult into a management simulator is an amusing idea but the cute graphics are the only lasting entertainment to be had from this misjudged muddle of a game.

The original was always highly simplistic and repetitive, and neither the passage of time or being in 4K can do anything to improve this disappointingly trivial actioner.

A disappointingly drab Tron tie-in that wastes some interesting ideas on dull and repetitive combat and an unequally unengaging story.

A jumbled mess that’s trying to be at least three different types of game at once, drowning out the enjoyable combat with a tsunami of repetition and meaningless loot.

The mix of influences seems like they should work very well, but the limitations will frustrate both shooter fans and Minecraft addicts.

Compounded by the nonsensical script and one-dimensional characters it’s as if the game is specifically designed to feel as shallow and disconnected as possible. Lightning Returns might be an enjoyable enough folly for fans, but there’s very little here for anyone else.

There are some innovative ideas here but poor balancing, restrictive matchmaking and too little content overwhelm the positives.

A glorious looking and warm-hearted adventure in modern healthcare, let down by tedious mini-games, bugs, and lengthy conversations that often go nowhere.

There's barely a single idea here that hasn't been borrowed from elsewhere, and usually done better - but as a compendium of other people's puzzles it still has its charm.

The controls are superior to Overlord II, but the gameplay and difficulty is even more simplified.

An inoffensive way to waste a few hours with friends or family, particularly younger ones, but a waste of both Insomniac and Ratchet & Clank's talents.

Mixing Final Fantasy with Harvest Moon feels like it should result in something more stimulating than this awkward mishmash, whose disparate elements all prove disappointingly underdeveloped.

On paper it sounds like the ultimate zombie game, but a year later and the technical issues are still as decayed and broken as the undead enemies.

A small improvement on Dead Island, but there’s still barely anything that either works as well as advertised or is isn’t just stolen wholesale from other, better, games.

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

Series fans may view it as a disaster but the problem is that Thief isn’t even interesting enough to get angry about, despite the well hewn stealth gameplay.

A bafflingly pointless remake, that absolutely no one asked for, and which manages to introduce a number of new flaws while completely failing to justify its own existence.

A game that should probably have been cancelled rather than delayed, with its complete absence of personality or new ideas.

While it lasts an entertaining and fairly imaginative tech demo, but none of the mini-games will have you coming back for more.

A great advert for Oculus Rift and VR in general, and yet even with the novelty of zero-G it proves a disappointingly bland gameplay experience. [Oculus Tested]

As shameless a clone of Geometry Wars as you could ever hope to see. But fairly good fun all the same.

A no-thrills arcade racer that straddles the line between nostalgic throwback and outdated curio, and while fun in short doses it quickly loses its novelty.

An inventive sequel whose small improvements in gameplay can’t make up for tedious firefights and minigames, and a less witty script.

There's an obvious love here for the genre, and retro gaming in general, but as strategic role-players go this is far from a grandmaster.

A deeply flawed attempt to revive Road Rash, that gets the fighting right but crashes out when it comes to the racing and graphics.

The original 3DS game is sacrificed on the altar of microtransactions and grubby monetisation, almost erasing any sense of fun in the process.

Clocking in at under an hour, with no challenge and a story that is at best highly confusing, Arrog is beautiful but strangely empty.