Mars Mountain can be enjoyable, but sabotages itself with an unbalanced difficulty curve and poorly identified glitches.

Dragon Fantasy Book I sticks incredibly close to its early Dragon Quest source material, warts and all.

A lightweight and perhaps too relaxed puzzler that largely succeeds on the fundamentals, but won't attract the more hardcore puzzle game fans.

A charming entry to the genre, but one which adds nothing new and whose difficulty is pitched too high for its intended market.

A harsh and unforgiving game, GravityLine has its moments, but getting to them is pretty tough.

Like a martini with too much vermouth, Secret Agent Clank throws in more than its fair share of bizarre levels and mediocre stretches of gameplay for it to be a refreshing experience.

Bookworm is great for killing an hour or two, but only serious wordsmiths will play for longer.

Fans of historical pseudo-realism will find the format intriguing but a disappointing fighting system nestling at its core scuppers much of the potential of Gladiator Begins.

The NES Remix games are clever reinventions of classic games. It's just a shame this 3DS edition is so lazy, and far from Ultimate.

Prison Life RPG has an unexpected amount of depth and replayability, but the number crunching can get tedious. Plus, it's often deeply unpleasant.

It may not bear the closest resemblance to the sport it claims to simulate, but Ski Champion is a perfectly adequate way of wasting a few minutes.

From Eva With Green is a unique puzzle-slash-pinball game with lovely aesthetics that aims to provide an almost Zen-like experience on mobile. While the awkward controls weren't particularly intuitive for me, you might still want to give it a go if you're on the hunt for something casual and unique to help you pass the time.

War of the Fallen is an entertaining card battler for people who like card battlers, but there's nothing new here for anyone who's sworn off the genre completely.

Slow and saddled with a frustrating interface, Companions has a lot to say, but only the most patient will want to listen.

Switch & Drop is reasonably entertaining, but it's never going to trouble any of the puzzling classics the App Store has to offer.

Though its presentation is second to none, Get Outta My Galaxy! doesn't possess gameplay deep enough to keep you on board for long.

One for CSI fans only, sloppy mini-games and annoying dialogue mar what could've been an engaging point-and-click adventure.

Flying Hamster charms with bright colours and an adorable hero, but its shallow shooter gameplay is stuck in a wheel.

If you can see past StarDrone's awful Level Skipper DLC shenanigans, there's a decent little puzzler to spend an evening with.

A worthy film tie-in, but it lacks the vibrancy and action demanded by a team with this sort of rich comic book heritage.

Ministry of Broadcast, despite the gloom and doom, is fun for a few laughs every now and then, and the levels can be challenging enough to keep you going. Eventually, the whole thing becomes a tad too repetitive, and it’s a little like, “Yes, I know, society is horrible, life is terrible, we’re all nihilists here.” And then you just want to move on.

While it's unlikely to ensnare new players due to its plodding pace and labyrinthine rules, Caylus is a faithful adaptation of an award-winning boardgame that fans will adore.

A spirited attempt to do something different with the tower defence genre, though its presentation lets the side down.

With care and attention, Fun! Fun! Minigolf Touch! could have been great, but instead it feels restricted and poorly implemented.

Monsterz Revenge is too scattered to be fun, its colourful charm offset by oddball tendencies and disjointed gameplay.

Swordshot is a really challenging game that requires a lot of patience and a lot of exact movements - which is for a very specific audience!

Carps and Dragons is a fairly entertaining fish-'em-up, but the messy controls put a dampener on an already-water-filled experience.

A simplistic, reasonably captivating blend of turn-based exploration and real-time combat that's disappointingly hollow without additional investment.

A strange little game dressed up like a freemium title, Dragon Keeper suffers from a lack of impetus that inevitably makes it forgettable.

The gaming equivalent of a brussel sprout – despite being a solid experience, Harvest Moon DS' weak presentation leaves something of a bitter taste.

A solid, good looking, but ultimately forgettable hidden object adventure.

There is some entertainment to be had with this year's NHL 2K, but it has more than its fair share of problems.

Slow to start and difficult to invest time and focus in, Journey to Kreisia is only for the Kemco faithful.

An interesting take on the tactical role-playing genre, Blue Dragon Plus isn't quite honed enough to fulfill its potential.

Too short and a little unrefined, Reversion - The Escape has a lot of promise, but it doesn't manage to fulfill much of it.

An awfully simple screen masher, Mortal Kombat X looks the part, but it's all a bit flat

Attractive and fun for a short while, the unbalanced gameplay and lack of social features end up clipping the wings of this fairly pleasant casual game.

A lazy effort that adds little value in relation to last year's instalment, NBA Elite 11 offers only superficial improvements that fail to move the ball forward in terms of gameplay.

There are some decent ideas here, but Cartoon Survivor can't quite squish them together into a cohesive whole.

Not all the mini-games on offer here are winners, but the structure of 101-in-1 Explosive Megamix not only minimises frustration but spurs you forward too.

Touchdown Hero: New Season does what little it does well, but it does too little to be a fixture on your home screen.

It's a good story, but those looking to emulate their favourite Belgium detective will find the repetitive brainteasers and limited sleuthing frustrating.

It might try something a little different with the match-three puzzler, but Zookeeper Battle doesn't make enough changes to the basics of the game to really stand out.

Docking Sequence is an odd sort of reactionary arcade game that's not without its charm.

A solid autorunner, but one that doesn't really have any flare or swagger to it.

Rayman 3D takes a classic gaming experience and excites with 3D visuals, but fails to solve the camera and control problems.

With a great setting, storyline and characters, it's a shame Hector: Badge of Carnage Ep1 falls down due to overly complicated, frustrating puzzles.

Relying heavily on its franchising and not on the quality of its gameplay leaves CN Superstar Soccer on the sidelines.

Deadliest Catch: Seas of Fury has one boring idea at its core, and then fails to ever make it interesting.

A 'jobber' is a wrestler whose primary role is to lose to other, better opponents. It's what WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2008 feels like.

Super Yum Yum Puzzle Adventures demonstrates it's harder than it looks to bring good mobile puzzle games to portable consoles.

Splinter Cell 3D is a great game, ported badly. Some subtle 3D can't make up for controller and camera issues, or glaring missing features.

A few decent individual events but as a package International Athletics is less Linford Christie and more tedious Tupperware party.

Puzzler Collection does exactly what it needs and no more – a host of puzzles wrapped up in a frustrating interface.

Despite some striking visuals, Etherborn carries little weight; it's ultimately fleeting in both gameplay memorability.

There's a bit of fun here, but Kitty Pops is a slowly deflating balloon.

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D has the foundations to be exciting, but fails to build on them, offering simplistic, repetitive action instead.

Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion! is a disappointment with thoroughly shallow, unappealing gameplay. Avoid unless you're a big fan.

Compelling for a while, eventually Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team casts a powerful sleep spell over the toughest of pokéfans.

Some excellent level design aside, the rope-drawing structure behind Save Yammi tends to frustrate more than it does inspire.

The Next Space is a great display of just how far the shmup genre has come, and is a particularly generic example from the '80s.

Dream Chamber's great noir-style setting is wasted on annoying mini-games, illogical puzzles, poor writing, and a story that goes absolutely nowhere.

Very much a case of style over substance, Legendary Heroes looks like an exciting action-RTS game, but plays like a freemium PowerPoint presentation.

Ratchet & Clank: QForce is good fun - on the PS3. This PS Vita port is incredibly shoddy and not worth your time.

Planet Work may have charm, but its repetitive vacuuming becomes a chore after just a few short levels.

DevilDark: The Fallen Kingdom is a passable hack 'n' slash, RPG-esque romp that is worth the price if you're willing to put up with some heavy grinding and an imbalanced in-app purchase system.

Flip Runner! has a slightly novel approach to the gravity-flipping mechanic seen elsewhere, but it's unremarkable in all other respects.

Muscle Run is an adequate arcade racer-cum-endless runner that isn't quite slick or balanced enough to warrant repeat play.

It looks the business in screenshots, yet SpinCraft's half-decent 3D landscapes can't hide the tedious design and irritatingly floaty controls.

A by-the-numbers addition to the App Store, Zombie Bunnies does nothing to make itself stand out, and ends up another also-ran.

The licence promises so much but sadly Star Wars: Trench Run ends up clumsy, value-starved interpretation of one of cinema's most iconic scenes.

A rote, mechanical endless climber that lacks the tactile sophistication such a simple premise requires.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a predictably uninspired action RPG with too little strategic scope and a half-hearted multiplayer element tacked on.

A shallow experience that trades on its difficulty, Laser Hell is certainly a challenge, but it's never that much fun.

Billbong Surf Trip drowns in a flood of flaws including unintuitive controls, lack of instructions, and an erratic camera.

Crux: The Great Outdoors features precision climbing coupled with relaxing music and lovely visuals. It's a contradictory mix of sorts, which isn't my cup of tea - but if you can find a way to manage your expectations going into the game, then it might just be yours.

An entertaining, if unspectacular, mix of solo and multiplayer golf that simply isn't strong enough to warrant the constant in-app purchase demands.

A lightweight, odd action game that never makes you feel part of the fun, Bloodstroke is too muddled to really recommend.

There's a good game somewhere here, but Amateur Surgeon 3 tries too hard to make sure you don't see any of it.

Dull, repetitive, and just not that funny, Vote!!! won't keep you entertained no matter your political persuasion.

Too lightweight for fighting fans and too charmless for anime fans, it's hard to see this pleasing anybody.

While there's nothing painfully bad about Supermagical, the sum of its parts add up to a mediocre whole.

A game that wears its influences on its sleeve, but that's about it.

A shambly auto-runner that's just not that much fun.

Speedy gameplay in a slow, meandering package. Get Kung Fury instead for the exact same mechanics in a much more suitable set-up.

An uninspired game that gets old fast, Epic Meal Time's diet of fatty foods makes for an uninteresting, sweaty experience.

Drive Ahead! Carcade would be a really fun arcade PvP battler if not for the overly sensitive physics system, which makes it hard to manoeuvre.

Engaging to a certain degree, Silent Ops has all the flaws you'd expect from an overambitious mobile title. If you can ignore the lack of polish, then it offers up a fairly decent ride - just don't expect any surprises.

Bookstore Dream has the potential for being a brilliant management title, but aside from a couple of neat ideas, it ends up hamstrung by its own indifference to your presence, practically playing itself.

A by-the-numbers expansion of an underwhelming role-playing mechanic, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 unfortunately has little new and worthwhile to check out beyond an impressive visual presentation.

A perfectly adequate match-three puzzler that fails to add much to the genre beyond a different default block formation.

King of the Course starts out fairly strong, and implements an interesting swing mechanic, but the aftertouch controls ruin the fun as often as they enhance it.

A competent top-down shooter, but indifferent controls and an almost horizontal difficult curve keep it from fully taking off.

While there might be flashes of a decent game, more often than not Last Knight is disappointing.

Nelke doesn't feel like a celebration of Atelier, but closer to a cash-in.

Stunt Guy 2.0 is a simple auto-runner that's all screechy tires and crunching fenders, but it fails to engage thanks to a few too many gruelling takes.

A solid and entirely forgettable mobile game that does almost nothing of any note.

As a trinket for retrophiles to coo over it's fine, but as a game Kale In Dinoland will just end up making your blood boil.