This conceptually solid music-based tunnel racer gets it all wrong in the execution, with disorientating track layouts and dull gameplay.

While it might be a nice idea, Earn to Die is an oddly uninspiring experience that prizes slog over everything else.

It's not going to set the world alight with its brilliance, but Dingle Dangle offers a couple of hours of soft, harmless fun.

Training up your sensei alongside your regular troops is an interesting mechanic that helps Sensei Wars stand out a little from the rest of the Clash of Clans clones.

More neon-infused shooty goodness from one of iOS's most dependable developers, and with plenty of challenge for the jaded.

Shuffle Cats offers similar thrills to multiplayer hit Clash Royale, but punishes you financially for playing poorly - and that's not very nice.

Individual, engaging, and brief, Lume is a fitting introduction to what will hopefully become a much bigger experience.

Hardcore Harry Potter action that's almost too involved for its own good.

It's not perfect, but that's sort of the point. Goat Simulator is one-note and ridiculous, but it does it very well.

It doesn't really add a great deal to the original mobile phone release but Orcs & Elves DS remains an extremely polished and playable adventure that is well worth splashing your Dwarven gold on.

Fantastic to look at and occasionally excellent to play, but too cumbersome and frustrating to do justice to the brand.

A game about walking around hitting things. If you like the sound of that then you should probably download it.

A cheap and cheerful destroy-em-up that makes up for in fun what it lacks in elegance.

A solid point-and-click adventure, Cognition: Episode 2 is a decent enough sequel, though it lacks the bite of the original.

A frantic battle to the death, and then to the death again, that does lose a bit of its shine in the grind.

Bioshock is a marvel of intelligent storytelling, creepy atmosphere, and stunning world design. You get all that in this iOS port, but not without compromise.

A bad case of identity crisis, Men in Black 3's lack of focus leads to an underwhelming experience on both the action and simulation fronts.

You'd be forgiven for mistaking Picross e2 for the original, so similar do they look. Here's hoping for something new in the next instalment

Greedy Dwarf has solid arcadey presentation and mostly enjoyable gameplay, but it's far too short on variety and content.

Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable remains one of the most demented, wild-eyed shooters you'll ever play. But as funny, ragged, and carefree as it is, until it's available at a lower price it's hard to recommend to anyone but those who revel in flawed cult classics.

Stiff controls and limited options keep this beautiful shooter from firing off perfectly.

Like its veggie protagonists, Grow Away is simple, satisfying, and good fun to throw around for an hour or two.

Unsurprisingly, this Metal Slug 2 remake has all the same strengths and most of the weaknesses - which is to say it's a cracking platform-shooter with iffy virtual controls.

A boring, uninspiring game that's utterly forgettable. It's not actively bad, but you probably won't dig Dig!

Its free to play system might but some off, but Madden NFL Mobile is a step up from last year's effort.

Temperamental controls and B-grade visuals aside, this is a lovely little downloadable racer with a surprisingly compulsive time trial format.

Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper is a near-perfect rhythm game held back only by its persistent social integration and always-on connectivity requirements.

A competent but ridiculously overpriced JRPG with too many old ideas and not enough substance or excitement.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance provides everything required for highly polished Star Wars experience, but there's not quite enough depth for a real Jedi adventure.

Creative souls will have a blast with Freakyforms's tools, while those looking for a game may find it a bit too simplistic and repetitive.

A solid, deceptively intricate puzzler that is best enjoyed against human opposition.

Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is the Pokémon series at its most professional and polished, but non-fans will find it as linear and repetitive as ever.

FIFA 18 on Nintendo Switch is the most competent handheld offering of the sport to date, though there's no escaping the fact it's a lesser product than its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts.

Tokyo Crash Mobs takes the crown as the Nintendo 3DS's weirdest game yet, with potentially dull match-three action that is rejuvenated by silliness.

It feels almost wrong to give such a polished game a downbeat review but there's no avoiding the fact that Buzz! Master Quiz is a case of concept and hardware being lamentably mismatched.

The dragon returns to form. The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning is a well-designed, satisfying action game.

Solidly constructed and as compelling as ever, Jewel Quest on the DS suffers from the wealth of high-quality alternatives on the platform and a somewhat superfluous story.

The button-based control system isn't ideal but other than this, Bloons Minis is an enjoyable version of the popular web puzzler.

A well-intended racer that has all the right features - however flawed they might be - but none of the excitement needed to get your heart racing.

An intense dash to infinity that's entertainingly frenetic, if a little too flimsy to hang out with the big boys.

A jaunty, if all-too-familiar experience that's lacking polish where it's needed most.

Strange, obtuse, and a little unfair, BreakQuest Extra Evolution is a more artistic take on the typical game of Breakout.

Arena blaster fans will thoroughly enjoy Alien Chaos 3D, especially if they have a (strange) predilection for cleaning up their mess afterwards.

An occasionally bright game that's beaten into submission by difficulty spikes and shouty IAPs.

An ingenious, well put together mash up of genres and ideas, Gunbrick is the first must-buy of 2015.

There's a decent game here, with some brilliant ideas, but it often ends up obfuscated behind fiddly controls.

Black: The Fall is a nice addition to the Switch range, offering an interesting story, intriguing puzzles and great bite-size gameplay. Lovely moments easily outweigh any small flaws.

Super Meat Boy Forever returns in a more suitable format as a mobile endless runner with short challenging levels and strong gameplay.

Neatly presented, well thought out and with plenty of modes – multiplayer is especially good - Zendoku is a fun improvement on the basic Sudoku.

An atmospheric and good-looking twin-stick shooter that's saddled with crushingly linear downtime, a rubbish plot, and control issues.

Great graphics aren't enough to save endless jumping game Volcano Escape from floaty controls.

With oceanic depth, honed controls and absorbing missions, this is the epitome of bad, meaning good.

You should play Rising Board. How else are you going to witness a penguin on a surfboard flipping tricks like there's no tomorrow?

Without a compelling story or multiplayer it's hard to find a reason worth sticking with the plain strategy gameplay of Hills and Rivers Remain.

Sound Ride's unique graphics and music-building hook add a bit of spice to what's otherwise a relatively vanilla running game.

A tough, violent, strategic card battler, Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a sharp-edged love letter to the grim vision of the future.

A little more polished than your average button masher, Wraithborne will appeal to some, but it's a little too generic to really set the world aflame.

Playing it doesn't make you feel like a superhero or a supervillian, and the game makes unsatisfying use of the DS' technology. Lack of variety and an insistence on turgid fetch-and-carry missions seals this as one to avoid.

In many ways a very simple game, the tactile pleasure of flicking basketballs into a hoops makes NBA Hotshot a joyous experience.

With a few tweaks, Gear Jack could be a wonderful game. As it is, it's nearly crushed under a pile of frustrations.

If you know your Stan Lee from your Stanley Carter, there's a lot to like in the collection of these beautiful cards, and the math grinding will appeal to the Excel-obsessed. But those looking for an accessible battler will be best served elsewhere.

There's a decent puzzle-platformer in here, but it takes too long to grind out the game's currency to unlock later level sets and see it all.

War. What is it good for? A pretty decent builder / battler that will appeal to the more domineering fans of freemium strategy on mobile.

A good tennis game for the dedicated player looking for a sim-like gaming experience. But for most, Virtua Tennis 3 is more appealing, accessible and, ultimately, fun.

A tough puzzler that lacks immediate charm, but offers a lasting challenge for those who persevere.

A physics puzzler that twangs sharply off the string and adds a fun, if macabre, time mechanic into familiar gameplay.

Move over Candy Crush Saga, the crown for fast-paced puzzling crown now rightfully belongs to Papa Pear.

Pick up the game if you’re a fan of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, but stay away if you’re looking for a solid strategy RPG.

TwinBee is a fun little shooter, but rather quickly its lack of depth is exposed.

Death, Jr II inches its way closer to being a very good game but, too often, its action fails to match the creative promise of its scenario, character and art design.

While it's not without its merits, a clumsy control system and some badly thought-out levels mean Rocket Fox doesn't quite reach the heights it's aiming for.

There's potential here but it's sadly squandered thanks to a frustrating control system and needlessly repetitive game modes. One for hardcore WWE fans only.

While Dead Nation is showing signs of age, there's still life in the old girl yet.

The Last Ranger is more of the same, with none of the original's main flaws really attended to at all.

While combat needs fine-tuning, the exploration and platform side of Shadow Guardian make it an enjoyable play.

A game that only six months ago would have justifiably been a full price title is an unmissable and highly entertaining bargain at four quid. That's a lot of rotten meat for your money.

A very good version of a great game, the 3DS outing of Swap Force is the portable port fans have deserved for a long time

While it has occasional bright moments, Smash Bandits just isn't interesting enough to hold your attention for long.

The smartest looking entry in the series to date, Real Football 2011 loses its grip when it comes to actual gameplay, making matches less fluid in practice than they might look from the sidelines.

GemCraft is an unusual tower defence game with a wealth of content and some clever twists to the usual formula.

A great control scheme and cute concept, but teeth-gnashingly difficult. One for the masochists.

Clever, pretty platforming that's let down by repetition and slightly flaky controls.

While it is a lot of fun to begin with, Pinch Peeps loses its spark pretty quickly, and a serious lack of content only adds to its problems.

Gorgeous visuals and a fun Fruit Ninja mini-game help liven up this city-builder.

A great visual style and a whole heap of retro charm can't quite lift Recess Riot to the top of the playground pecking order.

Captivating art and fun gameplay come together in this runner. With a few tweaks to the controls, this will be an extremely solid title.

The iOS port of Liberation Maiden is a little prettier than the 3DS original, but the same faults remain firmly in place - joined by some irritating touchscreen controls.

A stripped-back and accessible approach to card battling is Rocket Patrol's selling point, but also its weakness as it lacks the depth and variety necessary to hold your attention.

While it's neither cheap nor shy about trying to hawk its wares, Pinball Rocks HD is an undeniably solid pinball sim.

The Impossible Line is a puzzle/memory game that should keep you entertained for a little while, but it won't make any lasting marks on your soul.

A dull, sparse endless-runner that proves to be as lifeless as its post-apocalyptic setting.

Any Landing's fly-by-the-seat-of-its-pants gameplay is both fun and challenging, but structurally it's a bit of a mess.

Not for the casuals, Dual Survivor is a puzzle game that requires quick reflexes and limitless reserves of patience.

An immediately fun multiplayer scrapper that requires an injection of depth and content if it's to remain on your playlist.

Roll Back Home has a daring and arresting visual style. Boring and irritating gameplay, however, means this is the worst waste of paper since the Daily Mail.

The Firm is a twitch game and therefore lacks depth, but it still manages to make a mark - like a corpse hitting the pavement.

A huge and hefty basketball experience, NBA 2K15 has its problems, but it's still worth a look.

A fast-paced and engaging tappy shooter that looks stunning. It might be a little too simple for some, but there's a neat high score chasing rhythm here that's hard to ignore.