Despite the pedigree of the developer, and some unusually disturbing subject matter, the main enemies in this survival horror are frustration and boredom.

If you're tired of music games this peculiar platformer is no reason to keep your plastic axe either.

Hearthfire is certainly a download that shatters preconceptions, but only in the sense that it never really allows you to do any of the things you thought it would.

It’s amazing it runs on the hardware at all, but the performance is a huge compromise, especially in a solely competitive environment.

An interesting and original shooter, but one that never has enough ideas or challenge to justify the price of admission.

Horribly unrefined historical romp whose few positive features are outweighed by dull, glitchy questing.

Sonic speeds ever further away from his roots and into one of his most ineptly-designed games so far.

An inexplicably dull follow-up to Valkyria Chronicles, that jettisons almost everything that made the original interesting in favour of bland Dynasty Warriors style combat.

The cinematic approach makes sense on paper but it means Telltale Games aren't able to play to their strengths and the end result seems doomed to extinction.

A laughably bad ghost story whose broken technology and shallow gameplay cannot sustain even its meagre two hour running time.

Offline multiplayer may be increasingly a thing of the past, but In Space We Brawl isn’t anywhere near interesting enough to reverse that trend.

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.

A masterpiece of mediocrity and a crowning achievement in unambitiousness. The Devil’s Cartel has sold its soul, not to Beelzebub but to boardroom suits and focus groups.

Depressingly banal in every way, it's not impossible to be entertained by Warfighter but it is impossible to be surprised by it.

The worst game Platinum has ever made, and thanks to its sheer incompetence and banality almost the Bizarro World opposite of Bayonetta.

That lack of co-op at launch is a baffling omission but otherwise this is a fun evolution of the Lego games, that’s superior to them in a number of ways.

The Windows timewaster comes to Xbox Live Arcade, but the only real addition is a hole in your wallet.

Even if you enjoy Roguelikes this must be the worst special edition ever, with almost no new features.

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.

You can see the basis of a good game here but Omerta gets almost everything wrong, from the shallow gameplay to the bland, characterless gangster atmosphere.

Space Channel 5’s dancing aliens and high camp work well in VR, but with only around half an hour of gameplay this represents astoundingly poor value for money.

A steaming pile of robot parts that seems to go out of its way to appear more repetitive than it is.

An admirable attempt to create a 'real' game for Kinect, but despite the simple arcade style gameplay the technology just can't keep up.

Not the revival Carmageddon veterans will have been hoping for, and far too glitchy and unrefined to draw in more casual fans of vehicular violence.

The granddaddy of point 'n' clicker Zack & Wiki makes a surprising and largely successful return.

A pale shadow of the original turning a perfectly constructed platformer into a bland retread.

It’s great to see the creators of Disgaea trying something new but this charmless, needlessly confusing, action role-player is a failure on almost every level.

SolSeraph might replicate the gameplay of the original it but doesn’t even attempt to channel the same sense of innovation and experimentation. Failing to offer any improvement or evolution of the concept is a far greater insult to its legacy than just letting the game being forgotten by history. A fate to which it is now assuredly doomed anyway.

A disappointing evolution of the Budokai Tenkaichi template, which despite some interesting ideas seems intent on making itself as shallow and simplistic as possible.

The first new Star Trek game in years doesn't boldy go anywhere in this cheap and tacky tie-in.

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.

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.

A terrible video game and still a terrible attempt at simulating owning a farm, with unbearably boring and bug-ridden gameplay.

Combat and storytelling are boring beyond belief, but what's worst about Inversion is that you can sense the far more interesting game it could've been just beneath the surface.

Incomprehensibly poor crossover that completely ignores the history of three best-selling franchises in favour of a motion-controlled mini-game collection.

The exact opposite of what most fans of the TV show would probably want from A Game Of Thrones tie-in, but there are some interesting strategic ideas here nonetheless.

An ill-conceived port of a game that seems to make little sense on the 3DS, especially given the compromises in controls and graphics.

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 Frankenstein’s monster of other people’s ideas, that if not for the sleazy script would be laughable in its desperation to include every fantasy cliché imaginable.

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.

A tedious trawl through the worst aspects of roguelikes, turn-based strategy, and bad interface design. Only somehow less fun than that sounds.

A Monster Hunter clone that copies most of the key features but fails to properly balance any of them - or add any proper new ideas of its own.

Still essentially the same game as released on mobile, but at twice the price and with microtransactions that are even more cynically-designed than usual.

What started off as a fan remake of Resident Evil 2 has been transformed into a would-be homage that even in its better moments is a tedious and frustrating slog.

You'll be laughing at, not with, this parody - which perpetuates every cliche it sets out to mock.

There’s moments of greatness, and genuine terror, in this loving homage to everyone’s favourite double-hearted alien, but time and again it’s dragged down by dull puzzles and drab storytelling.

A Diablo clone set in a Fallout style world sounds like a great idea, but the changes this makes to Blizzard's formula are genuinely apocalyptical.

Even if this was free it still wouldn't be worth it.

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.

South Park already has a poor track record in video game tie-ins, but this is easily the worst yet and a terrible 2D platformer in its own right.

Low budget, low effort port of what is otherwise one of the PS2's more unfairly forgotten action games.

Occasional flashes of mediocrity are as good as this lacklustre shooter gets, in a tedious jamboree of technical ineptitude and bland co-op action.

A depressingly generic free-to-play looter shooter that steals shamelessly from other, better, games but never has the nerve to try and create anything of its own.

Not only a poorly disguised mobile game but one of the shallowest Tower Defence strategy games ever.

Ratchet & Clank's less talented cousins show just how unimportant technical competence is when a game has no heart or ambition.

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

Extremely short, extremely dull, and extremely expensive for what it is. Dead Rising 3 may not be the greatest launch game ever but it deserves better than this.

As an homage to Mega Man this is almost a complete failure, especially given the only successful elements are those that have the least to do with the original games.

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.

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

Compare The Pikmins.com will be overloaded once people tire of this well-meaning but dull wildlife sim.

No matter how much you like your Japanese role-players this convoluted crossover has little appeal.

As a quick and dirty port this is no disgrace but it doesn't make any meaningful use of the 3DS's functions or the concept's potential.

There's a decent a story to be salvaged here, and one that could happily be adapted for the show, but as a video game this fails miserably.

Micro Machines meets Geometry Wars, but so phenomenally less interesting than that sounds it's almost painful.

Technically inept in many ways but there's an earnest charm to the action that proves far more entertaining than higher budget rivals.

An unusually innovative combat system that, although lacking the game structure to properly exploit it, still offers some enjoyably bizarre entertainment.

A sequel that seems to have learned almost nothing from the deeply flawed original, and which still only hints at the wider potential for a proper sniper sim.

It channels the grit and desperation of the TV show well enough, but the prolonged development has ended in a co-op shooter that feels outdated and unexceptional.

There are still glimpses of the original’s charm, and the potential of an earthquake-surviving simulator is made clear, but this tonally awkward, disaster of a game doesn’t get close to realising it.

It's relatively original but this unusual puzzler does nothing to justify more than the 59p it should've cost as a smartphone game.

There are cars to unlock using a spin-the-wheel lottery style, and you win the usual variety of currencies for completing events, but at heart this is a stylishly presented car-themed rhythm action game rather than anything to do with driving. You can sign in with Xbox Live and it has Forza in its name, but that’s absolutely all this psychologically addictive but patronisingly over-simplified abomination has in common with the illustrious Xbox franchise.

Virtual On on a budget, with a fully functioning online mode but very little depth or longevity.

There's no fairytale ending for this beat 'em-up, with its striking art and terrible control scheme.

Qix is great but this does almost nothing to improve it or make it more palatable for modern audiences.

Fast, fun and a little bit silly, Squid Game’s battle royale works surprisingly well on mobile, but it lacks the depth to provide any long term interest.

Another failed attempt to revive a franchise whose time seems long since passed, especially given how frustrating and unrewarding this reboot is to play.

Lots of interestingly odd ideas but although the basic stealth action more or less works the escort element and poor AI ruins a potentially promising premise.

It has sadly little to do with the original Xbox game but this is still a competent little stealth adventure, even if the Riddick connection is of arguable benefit to it.

More an interactive hint at what could've been than a proper game, but more engrossing than the flat out disaster it first appears to be.

A hugely disappointing mess of a game that magnifies all of SWERY’s worst tendencies and fails to compensate in terms of the unengaging characters and script.

Another technical marvel for PlayStation VR that looks amazing and makes clever use of the tech – it’s just a shame the game is so incredibly short and so disappointingly dull.

Possibly the worst value for money expansion of the modern era, with little more than an hour of generic action, bad storytelling, and zero scares.

If you are an old school Fear Effect fan it’ll be obvious the developers are too, but despite the changes this is no better than either of the PlayStation originals.

Maybe the next gen versions will be better, but on the 360 and PS3 this is a deeply cynical release that’s inferior to last year’s entry in almost every way.

There are some clever ideas in this strategy role-player but they're suffocated beneath a weight of banal storytelling and tedious battles.

The Wii U version has slightly less control issues than the original Kinect game, but also less of the novelty – although it's still mindless comic book fun while it lasts.

One of the most imaginative and ambitious motion-controlled games ever. The only problem being that it doesn't actually work.

There's a decent range of game modes, but none are as engaging as the other ten year old snowboard games it's trying to copy.

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.

A ruthlessly realistic simulation which not only has no interest in being a video game but also seems intent on making fishing seem as drab and mechanical as possible.

A bafflingly dull extension of a franchise that barely deserved one sequel, let alone three; with tedious mini-games and laughably bad use of the 3DS camera.

By-the-book cartoon tie-in, which ticks every box on the list of obvious mistakes. Some of them twice.

A shoddy conversion of a shameless Diablo clone, that was perfectly good value when it was a £4.99 iPhone download but not as a full price PS Vita game.

A relatively ambitious WiiWare game, but whose many options never provide any truly riotous fun.

There have been worst movie tie-ins, but this fails to channel either the spirit of the film or the excitement of a real combat flight simulator.

A monument to not only everything that is wrong with escort missions but with bad action game design in general.

The apes look pleasantly simian, and it’s nice observing conversations from behind the small visible portion of your hairy forearms, but these are small beacons of light in an otherwise unremittingly bleak landscape.