The trailers may make the film look like a live action Halo but the game plays nowhere near as well.

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 mix of low budget, (relatively) high ambition, and mediocre execution, Defiance is a hard game to hate but an easy one to lose interest in.

A shallow and unambitious tech demo, of the sort that console launches specialise in. The action works perfectly well but it’s instantly repetitive to the point of inanity.

The same linear, patronisingly simplistic time waster it always was, but if you really must have a remaster of Resident Evil 6 this isn’t a bad job.

An interesting attempt at a Professor Layton clone, but one that has neither the charm nor the variety of its more scholarly inspiration.

The flawed original is already showing its age, but this poor quality Switch port is Payday 2 at its very worst.

Despite a few interesting innovations it's not only the enemies that are passed their sell by date in this bland downloadable shooter.

Sickeningly offensive use of not just microtransactions but every underhand trick in the marketing handbook, which is a shame as the underlying game isn’t bad.

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.

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

A tragic end to Crackdown 3’s long and painful journey, with an unremarkable campaign mode and a multiplayer that is a disaster in terms of tech and design.

Even though it offers cross-platform play finding those teammates can be a tricky, but once you’re up and running both sides are at least equally hamstrung by the control set-up.

An interesting mix of first person shooter and real-time strategy, from the co-creator of Halo, but the chalk and cheese mix of gameplay elements never really gels.

The original god game will find itself short of worshipers, with gameplay that's as old as Methuselah.

Acceptable fodder for undemanding children, but wasting such an epic crossover on such a non-event of a game has never seemed more perverse.

As laidback and undemanding as the Wii originals but in the modern age it seems restrictive and repetitive in a way that’s unnecessary and even patronising.

Some clever visuals and a modern setting can’t stop the third Chronicles game from being the least successful, even if it’s the most ambitious.

The closest you're ever likely to get to a new Wonder Boy, but this won't please fans new or old.

There's a real lack of magic in what is essentially Harry Potter And The Half-Hearted Mini-Game Collection.

There's barely enough time to rail at the missed opportunities in one of the least substantial games ever.

Cheaply shovelled ports of four classic games, plus two awful new exclusives that do both their franchises and the 3DS an enormous disservice.

Omega Force touts a fresh story, new mechanics, and a massive cast of characters but this is yet another Warriors title that succumbs to the series’ repetitive hack ‘n’ slash formula despite signs of passion from its developers.

Not the Metal Gear fans will be used to in terms of either quality or action. But despite a few interesting highlights, it’s just too boring to get very angry about.

A disappointingly direct reboot of the ground-breaking original, with none of the same ambitious appetite for innovation.

The Wii U could've enabled a mini-revolution in karaoke games, but that'll never happen with the minimum effort and budget at work here.

First person shooters clearly do work on the PS Vita, but proving that fact is the only real achievement of this otherwise insipid portable experience.

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.

Innerspace meets Smash T.V., except retaining only the worst elements of both in this slow-paced and tedious dual-stick shooter.

The real mystery here is why Nintendo continues to allow such a minimum effort cash grab to dilute the Pokémon name, in yet another bland and repetitive dungeon crawler.

Part of the problem is clearly the budget, with low-tech visuals and poor sound quality, but that would’ve been a lot easier to forgive if the gameplay had been stronger. It’s not awful, and is a reasonable gateway game into other, better games, but the obvious danger is that if you’re unimpressed by the flawed experience of Narcos you might be even less likely to try out XCOM. And since nobody really expected a game based on Narcos to be any good, that would be the real tragedy here.

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.

A competent enough clone of Final Fantasy Tactics but unlike the TV show it lacks any real sense of imagination or invention.

Despite the name this lacks any kind of zip at all, in what may be the most mundane and unexciting platformer Nintendo has ever put their name to.

Surviving zombies is fairly easy but the real enemy here is tedium and a shopping list of design mistakes that makes this one of the worst zombie games of the year.

A 3D platformer so bad it brings to mind Bubsy 3D rather than Super Mario 64, in what is a considerable step down from the already mediocre original.

A fun and unusual take on the third person stealth game, that suffers from some humourless writing but benefits from a surfeit of peculiar magic powers.

One of the more reprehensible examples of withheld content in recent months, although you aren't really missing much from the mission or character.

Not the worst tie-in of the year but one that runs out of ideas even more quickly than the films.

An odd couple crossover that is not only a loving homage to Star Wars but the best Angry Birds game so far – well, except for the sequel that this monstrously expensive port fails to include.

A disappointing homage to the Mega Drive games of yore, that emphasises all the wrong elements in terms of both gameplay and game modes.

There’s probably no way to make After Burner interesting again without turning it into a completely different game, but there was no need for Sega to prove that fact yet again.

It’d be nice to say that at least it’s something different but Contrast is far more mundane and derivative than it first appears. It’s also a near farce on a technical level.

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.

The real question here is why Rebellion has bothered to remaster the game at all. If it’s a first step towards releasing more 2000 AD adaptations then we’re all for it, but viewed on its own merits this is the same mediocre shooter it was more than a decade ago. For fans of the character it is at least a faithful adaptation, but viewed as anything else but fan service its thrill-power is far from zarjaz.

There are some interesting ideas and visual effects at play here, but they're not nearly strong enough to support such a monotonous adventure.

A very poor first person shooter buoyed up by the promise of things to come, and an impressively ambitious attempt at a cross-format connected universe.

The weapon-crafting is great but given the manipulative microtransactions this free-to-play shooter is not worth your time, let alone your money.

Another ineffectual attempt to transpose the Dark Souls gameplay and atmosphere into a sci-fi setting, although the split-screen mode is an interesting novelty.

What’s most unforgiveable is how imprecise slugcat is to control. We know there’s the whole slug side of things to consider, but he’s a lot heavier than he looks in the videos and because of the procedural animation he often doesn’t respond as quickly as you need him to. Add in the boredom and repetition from having to constantly hibernate and the game proves to be very aptly named: it’s dull, miserable, and makes you want to stay inside and do something else instead.

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.

As repetitive and predictable as any movie tie-in, but the core combat is sound and Green Lantern's powers are handled well.

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

An interesting attempt to cross Dark Souls with a roguelike, but it’s not a very well mixed cocktail and the ingredients really needed to be chosen with more care.

One of the most technically impressive PlayStation VR games so far but a disappointingly drab and unfocused prequel to Until Dawn, that takes itself far too seriously.

A clever and well-structured interpretation of the classic TV series as a co-op brawler, that would be a fun diversion even without the licence.

A good looking but shallow repurposing of Nintendo’s classic kart racers, transforming it form the world’s favourite racing game to a cynical, and disturbingly persistent, cash grab.

The premise of a ghostly investigator attempting to save himself and his town from demonic forces shouldn’t be this tedious. Unfortunately though making the fantastical seem mundane is one of the game’s few real achievements.

Despite its non-essential relationship with the medium, it’s a pleasant enough experience and a lot more polished than many VR-only titles, somewhere between arcade and puzzle action, although you’d be hard pressed to get too excited about it.

The switch to turn-based strategy works perfectly but only fans will tolerate the endless cut scenes.

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

For better and worse a very useful introduction to VR gaming, with a wide range of games that demonstrate the potential, and pitfalls, of PlayStation VR.

A game of exploration and combat that’s hamstrung by PlayStation VR’s unreliable motion-tracking and a movement system seemingly designed by someone who hates you.

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.

Gauntlet with Pokemon is at least something different, but it's too repetitive and shallow to really work.

There are countdown timers, bosses are oft-repeated re-skins with identical action, and Crash’s runs soon become repetitious, with progress gated behind either a tedious grind or microtransactions. Despite its colourful palette On the Run! is almost aggressively bland.

There are flashes of brilliance, especially when it comes to the flying, but confused storytelling, boring loot, and unsatisfying missions don’t justify the game’s massive time investment.

The intent is clearly there but a shortened development cycle prevents this from expanding on the solid foundations laid by War For Cyberton.

Three obscure lightgun games and the world's most unpopular online shooter do not exactly prove a great showcase for PlayStation Move.

A competent clone of Zelda and a pretty poor adaptation of Adventure Time, this amiable but frustrating tie-in doesn’t really satisfy on either level.

For a brand new Nintendo franchise this is short not just on content, but also compelling gameplay and a sense of fun.

The fact that it’s free-to-play is almost the only point of interest in this derivative shooter – and even that is far less appealing once you get into the details.

For a Dynasty Warriors game this features some useful innovations, but compared to any other series it remains as irredeemably shallow and repetitive as ever.

Sega dredges its archives for two of its more obscure lightgun games. Both work well enough, but your Wii remote still deserves better.

Despite its elegant art style and stirring musical score, it’s crushingly dull. The narratives don’t branch, and with auto-fight turned on, your role is reduced to that of spectator rather than player, and no amount of fourth wall-breaking humour or twisted fairy tale storylines make up for the boredom at its core.

A complex space base builder remake that’s marred by inadequate tutorials, clumsy attempts at humour, and a general lack of polish.

Old school to a fault, the worst thing about this Japanese role-player is it doesn’t seem to have any idea just how clichéd and outdated it really is.

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

The world needs a top notch open world samurai adventure, but sadly it's not to be found here in this strange mix of the perverse, the peculiar, and the downright boring.

A bad idea, poorly realised. Not only does this sully the already tarnished name of Silent Hill but it's a tediously poor dungeon crawler in its own right.

Treat it as an HD remaster of the N64 game and this is actually one of the best Mario Tennis games since then, but the lack of features and extra content is a real turn-off.

A loving piece of fan service that looks and sounds just like the anime, but unfortunately it plays like a bad Xbox 360 era open world game.

A well intentioned attempt to mix Ecco The Dolphin with a more urgent environmental message but the end result Iacks any real excitement or variety.

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

You don't need to be a Front Mission fan to get upset about the wasted potential in this lifeless, one-dimensional shooter.

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.

No matter how the new movie turns out this tie-in makes all the usual mistakes with bland, unoriginal action and an incoherent narrative.

Yet another slice of downloadable content that's well below the quality of its parent game.

Conventional Nintendo games want to make you happy, whereas Dr. Mario wants to take your money by providing an experience that’s just a touch sub-par. It’s oddly nauseating seeing Nintendo’s much-loved characters cynically shaking you down for spare change.

An unusual open world samurai adventure, with plenty of authenticity but little spit and polish.

Unwanted and unnecessary, but despite the bland third person shooting there’s an unexpectedly light touch to the script that hints at other lost opportunities.

Gameplay doesn’t come any more shallow and mindless than this, but at least it’s a little fairer with its free-to-play microtransactions than Pokémon Shuffle.

A low key revival of what should be one of gaming's biggest licenses, but the child-friendly recreations of the movies' battles are still fairly effective.

A masterclass in how not to do a retro remake, from the graphics to the controls to the tedious difficulty.

An unlikely sequel that ultimately struggles to find its place among today’s line-up of more polished and more established alternatives.

The most authentic-looking Warhammer 40K game so far – when it’s working properly – but the action is disappointingly shallow and repetitive.

The very obvious problem with using The Sims template on animals is that they don't do very much all day expect eat, sleep and procreate.

A simple but enjoyable party game that’s very easy to pick up and play with friends – and a considerably better video game than last year’s WWE 2K20.