As much as we adored the charming back-and-forth between Ivan and the General, we also began to lose interest in Ivan’s predicament near the end. There’s no narrative payoff here, no greater meaning or memorable conclusion that sticks with you. In Little Orpheus, The Chinese Room flirts with providing a more engaging experience that never quite materialises, made all the more apparent by the lack of puzzles intuitive enough to give us the barest hint of a dopamine-laced ‘aha!’ moment or a chase sequence or two with enough challenge to make us sit up on our sofa. That aside, the richly detailed worlds and superb presentation provide just enough reason to see Ivan's tall tale through to the end, but we ended up wishing there was more on both the puzzling and narrative fronts.

Longevity will ultimately depend on how often you’re able to play Spitlings with friends. The story mode won’t take long to conquer, and even though there are plenty of additional characters to unlock, they’re ultimately only cosmetic, providing no real incentive to unlock them all. On the other hand, party mode is great fun, giving you complete control on how you customise your experience, from selecting a specific level to implementing various parameters (including a neat retro filter) to make the sessions more difficult.

Oceanhorn 2 is a decent game, albeit one that doesn't do enough to stick out from the crowd. Excellent presentation and a clear understanding of the mechanics underlying the Zelda franchise make for a game that is satisfying and ultimately worth the price of admission. At the same time, however, a slight pervasive shallowness in the various gameplay systems keeps it from ever becoming too engaging of an experience, as it never delves as deep as it could with many of its ideas. We’d give Oceanhorn 2 a light recommendation, but with the caveat that you might want to wait for a sale on this one.

On a system like the 3DS, there's no shortage of top-shelf RPGs to choose from, but if you've played the best and are looking for a solid mid-tier effort, you might just be in luck.

Double Dragon gives you a number of ways to dispatch enemies, a few different attacks to deal with thanks to the use of weapons and the fighting generally works well. There are a few issues with the game, however, with the biggest two being its short length and its distracting slowdown. If you are just looking to clear the game, then there's little long term value here, although it is fun to go through again with a friend, battling the bad guys before your final showdown. Arcade Archives Double Dragon is not an essential download, but there's still enjoyment to be had from this old school title.

Graphically, the game is technically decent, though the frame rate could have been bumped up a bit more. From an artistic perspective, the environments and characters are all a bit ‘samey’, blending together from one level to the next, with little variation. It’s a shame, because Hong Kong is undoubtedly a visually striking city, but the buildings showcased in The Hong Kong Massacre could have been plucked from literally any town in the world.

Bloons TD presents a simple, smooth, charming take on tower defence. 15 levels and three difficulty settings mean that it's accessible and substantial enough to make your purchase worthwhile. On the other hand, it does next to nothing that we haven't seen in just about every entry in the subgenre ever, nor is it the prettiest of them.

Discovery is a strong sandbox game that, in terms of creative options, arguably even manages to surpass the game it so clearly draws its inspiration from. That being said, many will no doubt be turned off by the lack of any sort of survival mode.

Since this is really nothing more than a new paint job, though, fans of the first game have little incentive to re-invest.

While Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games is technically no worse than its forebears, its events are too much of a mixture when it comes to quality and after four years the blemishes and inconsistencies are beginning to wear thin.

This quest for fishy love might not introduce anything noteworthy, but it's still a good bit of fun that just about earns a recommendation for kids and curious adults.

The second Namco Museum Archives compilation is far more eclectic than the first. Vol 1 had more of the typical classics you’d expect from a Namco collection, and while that may seem a bit boring and predictable the reality is that they were classics for a reason: most of them are more fun to play. While there are still some great titles in here – Rolling Thunder and Mappy-Land are highlights – the general quality is lower than that in the first volume. The only reason you should be opting for this one over the first is if you’re sick to the back teeth of Pac-Man and Dig Dug and are looking to discover some lesser-known NES games.

An impressive range of modes and variations, alongside a decent local multiplayer offering, means that experienced players can have a handy computer simulation that serves its purpose. This title is let down, however, by unappealing visuals, with ugly avatars and the useful details on game rules being undermined by the bland presentation.

Despite being late to the war-torn party, the Nintendo Switch version of Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times is still a robust and enjoyable turn-based dungeon crawler that benefits from having its roots in mobile gaming. Years of updates mean new players have access to a lot of content, but tactically it becomes a little stale once you learn to exploit its easily-manipulated levelling system. Still, if you're a fan of the Warhammer universe then this game does manage to tickle an itch that only dungeon-based loot drops can scratch.

Having been ported from mobile devices, Dan McFox: Head Hunter is understandably simple, straightforward, and best suited to shorter play sessions, but there's fun to be had just as long as you like the core concept.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a decent game, but it sits in the shadow of much better Metroidvanias on the Switch. We love the setting and storyline, but as Surgent Studios' first stab at what has proven to be a wildly popular genre over the years, it struggles to set itself apart with rather bland exploration and repetitive combat. Coupled with compromised visuals and performance on Switch, veterans of the genre may want to give this one a miss. For newcomers, however, the breezy gameplay might make for a nice introduction to Metroidvanias.

The 3rd Phantom isn't a bad game, but it's hampered by controls that should have taken advantage of the DS' strengths more fully and provided more options to speed up gameplay if desired.

Redout: Space Assault isn’t a bad game by any means, it just isn’t an exceptional one either. This is a bargain bin game, the kind of thing that’s worth a few hours of your time after you’ve picked it up on a deep sale. Intense shooting action and outstanding visuals languish in the shadow of repetitive design and generally shallow gameplay, making for an experience that’s just pretty good once all is said and done, but hardly something that's going to top genre lists at the close of 2021. If you like Star Fox and are simply desperate for something to fill that void, this may be a good buy right away. Otherwise, wait it out and maybe play this one a while down the road.

Come at this without expecting anything earth-shatteringly deep and there's some fun to be had here, albeit in small doses.

Electroplankton Rec-Rec is yet another engaging take on the Electroplankton gameplay idea and given the freedom it presents the player, you'd be hard-pressed to find one as fulfilling as this one.

Uncanny Valley’s desire to hark back to the simpler days of survival horror is commendable, especially in those early moments where you’re flitting between abstract nightmares and a security job that feels increasingly isolated. However, the sheer openness of its non-linear plot means it’s all too easy to jump large sections of the story as you stumble on one of the game’s secrets too early on. Still, with a strict consequence-based system that rewards and punishes you in equal measure, Uncanny Valley has a lot of potential. It’s just a shame it doesn’t fully live up to it.

Happy Circus does some things rather well, with care and attention clearly paid to its presentation and careful management of the learning curve at work. What it lacks is a fun hook, something to reward or encourage learning beyond its strong audio-visual delivery. This isn't a bad option for young gamers learning basic skills, by any means, but it's not everything it could have been.

Frenzic's a decent game, but with many other, better 200 Point alternatives available, it's kind of hard to recommend.

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is a reasonably fun turn-based strategy affair with an excellent setting and some unique ideas of its own. The streamlined nature of its gameplay makes it pleasingly zippy stuff that's well-suited to strategy newcomers but a lack of real depth, a clunky UI and some dodgy enemy AI means the fun here is, unfortunately, pretty short-lived overall for anyone but genre enthusiasts and vampire fans.

Beatnes might not be the best of the five Electroplankton titles but it's still got enough charm and personality to make it one fans of the series will want to try out. The intuitive play control - not to mention the classic NES chip tunes - give the game a lot of nostalgic charm and other than becoming repetitive a bit too quickly, the game is still a fairly enjoyable experience.

Although Xenoraid does nothing to shake up the genre, changing spacecraft in the heat of battle and using different weapons on the fly tries to add spice to an otherwise solid but unspectacular top-down shooter experience. The characters, dialogue and locations are neither varied nor dynamic enough to be very engaging, and the gameplay, while serviceable, will satisfy but certainly not impress anyone who has already played one of its ancestors or contemporaries, either on Switch or elsewhere.

If you’re after a cheap and cheerful fighting game, Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters more or less ticks the right boxes. At its low price, you shouldn’t expect anything close to the level of depth seen in more well-known examples of the genre, and its potential online longevity will likely suffer as a result. Play it locally with a few friends, however, and you’re almost guaranteed to get a few laughs out of it.

The improved frame rate makes WRC 9 a better experience than WRC 8, but it still suffers from a number of issues through no fault of the developer, such as a lack of analogue triggers and a reduced rally count. However, the extremely distracting nature of the scenery, which is constantly drawing itself in right in front of you, makes it difficult to get properly immersed in the action. It's probably the best rally game on the Switch so far, but for fans of the sport, the wait continues for something truly brilliant on the system.