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.

One of the worst introductions to Pokémon - and gaming in general - a small child could suffer. The video games equivalent of corporal punishment.

An interactive movie that tries to tell a relevant tale of near-future Britain but is marred by characters that lack credibility and a story free from dramatic tension.

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.