Tales of the Shire has a lot to do in a sleepy, cozy way, from foraging to farming to cooking up elevenses and second breakfasts. I tried to play as much as I could, but the performance on Nintendo Switch saps the magic out of it and really dampens the fun.

It looks the part, feels the part, but is lacking essential features to make this a genuine Crash Bandicoot experience.

A standard gacha RPG that suffers from the same issues as the genre in general, so will only appeal to those that already like it and Game of Thrones.

Tales of Crestoria is a gorgeous and highly-polished Gacha RPG that's marred by incredibly greedy microtransactions.

AEW Fight Forever on Nintendo Switch has such promise thanks to a fun career mode and unique match-types, but poor performance, dated graphics, and stale gameplay all come together to create a trying experience.

Kingdom Hearts is a beautiful, classic series that I would recommend to anyone. However, the Cloud version suffers severe performance issues, server congestion, and a level of restriction that sucks the appeal out of playing it on Switch. If you can, pick it up elsewhere - you’ll be grateful you did.

The House of the Dead still holds up as a campy and action-packed pastiche of the zombie genre, but this remake struggles to bring the gameplay competently to the modern-day. Issues with performance and motion controls hamper what could be a dead-good reanimation of an undead classic.

Deep Paths does away with many of the harsher features of those early dungeon delvers - there is no need to worry about starvation, or losing health by walking into walls. Nor is there a need to trouble yourself managing your supply of torches to avoid being plunged into darkness, as the lantern in Dark Paths seems to have an unlimited supply of fuel. Yet in other ways it is stubbornly old school, which may be a little too much for more mainstream gamers to enjoy. The good news is that the designer is obviously open to improving the game, he has already released an update with an option to make the monsters easier to defeat. A bit of time polishing the interface and introducing an auto-mapping function would really help Deep Paths appeal to a wider audience.

A charming aesthetic and a few fun ideas are held back by repetitive gameplay and some performance issues. Anyone wanting to play something spooky might get their kicks, but there are much better rogue-likes for anyone who wants to enjoy some action.

Underneath its unique plot device, Elrentaros Wanderings is a fairly standard JRPG, with interesting build mechanics but a severely lacking overworld and overarching story.

A competent game, but one that seems to have hit the market three years too late while still demands a premium price.

Ultimately, the Switch offers a unique way of playing Apex Legends on the go, but one of the best battle royale experiences is seriously hampered by the limitations of the hardware.

Sports Story is essentially unplayable in its current form, with issues such as softlocking, out-of-bounds areas, and perpetual crashing. Outside of the technical issues, much of the mechanics and story feel disappointing too, with the tongue-in-cheek humour still present but struggling to breathe among the various issues. The disappointment is real with this one.

Despite its chill and charm, SkateBird fails to capture the basic essence of a skateboarding game, leaving you wanting something more.

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed on Switch is an odd little title with some really unique and interesting ideas, but overall falls short with its visuals, combat, and clunky controls.

Roller Drama provides a short experience that gets your wheels turning, but has a couple of bumps in the road. I recommend it for those of you who want to play roller derby from the comfort of your own home.

A decent multiplayer time-waster hamstrung by technical issues, Skyforge's Switch port is simply not fit for purpose.

While perhaps not vastly in need of remaster, Commandos 2 is still an excellent tactics game, and its improved visuals and Switch controls are a welcome trade for portability.

With loads of moreish worlds to explore and a lot of charm, Clive ‘N’ Wrench is a real treat for fans of 90s era 3D platformers.

A3: Still Alive is a confused mess of a game that doesn't do anything particularly well.

A fun mobile racer that suffers from balance issues and a lack of innovation.

Empire of Sin is a great mafia management simulator with some fantastic ideas, but sadly the Switch version specifically is currently too graphically compromised.

Despite the cumbersome controls, lack of scares, and somewhat mundane puzzles, Ikai has a fantastic atmosphere, and can offer Japanese horror fans a strong story that keeps you hooked throughout.

While the gameplay isn’t for everyone, the world is intriguing and delightful to discover. Those who are fans of visual novels, social simulators, and battles against mysterious monsters will enjoy Loop8: Summer of Gods.

While the campaigns are nostalgic and fun to revisit, the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is largely disappointing. The multiplayer mess feels inexcusable, robbing players of the basic fundamentals of a Star Wars multiplayer game. Not being able to finish matches due to crashes, struggling to even get into a game, and a lack of servers make this one of the worst multiplayer experiences I’ve had for some time.

Session: Skate Sim is a buggy and low performing mess on Nintendo Switch that’s likely to make you run back into the arms of Tony Hawk. The controls are funky in this port and the bland world only adds to an already skippable experience. However, should it perform better on other platforms, it could be worth a try based on the freedom of world exploration with what could be intuitive controls.

A shocking mishandling of three beloved classics, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition on Switch is a poorly ported mess of frame rate drops, popping, ugly characters, and bad decisions. Time to dust off the PS2.

Overall, Elite Squad does follow a familiar gameplay loop; particularly for those that already play Marvel Strike Force. However, we thoroughly recommend Elite Squad, not just to Tom Clancy fans, but to those that are looking for a gacha RPG that offers something a little different. Battles are actually something to look forward to here, rather than something you just get out of the way to earn the reward.

Balan Wonderworld is an otherworldly disaster: tedious to play, visually repellent, and – at least on Switch – stomach-churning to control.

It is a competent entry-level affair that nary puts a foot wrong. But in a world of Panzer Corps, Wars & Battles, Commander, and myriad other all-singing, all-dancing mil-sims, Frontline: The Longest Day doesn’t exactly pull a Fred Astaire. This is a bog-standard wargame.

Stalag’s problem is that it feels like it learnt too well the lesson that catch-up mechanisms need to be weak in order to allow the advantage of skill to matter. That’s true, but in a game with some randomness and a relatively low skill ceiling, advantages often come from luck.

Battle Worlds: Kronos is a fine, if somewhat unremarkable strategy title that does justice to the lineage. It doesn’t rock the boat, but might not do enough to float one, either.

The Magnificent Pixel Dynasty isn’t a case where more is better, or even a case where more is unobtrusive—rather, these half-baked mechanics that have been bolted onto the same construction toy as All Glory to the Pixel King! only serve to detract from the core experience that lays at the heart of both games.

In the world of home electronics, I’ve never been interested enough in apex experiences to bother with 3D, but puzzles are dearer enough to me that I’m quite glad to have played those final levels.

In a complex genre where games like Unity of Command and Battle of the Bulge are like precision-engineered Gothic cathedrals, Russian Front comes across like a Las Vegas one-hour wedding chapel. It seems to have the basic form and function of an operational war game down, but it’s missing the nuance and subtlety of a truly good one.

That’s not a deep criticism, of course, and as a logic puzzle Ento is clever enough, but I find myself reflecting back to Zendo with a bit of nostalgia for the forthright inaccuracy of calling the rule the Buddha nature.

XCOM: The Board Game is an elegantly presented and thoughtfully executed game that pumps out tense atmosphere like a neurotic smoke machine.

This is the Enlightenment in video game form, and that’s a perspective I can really appreciate in moderation.

In its current state it’s a better-than-average digital that’s fun to play until you pull off the AI’s fake Fidel beard and realise that it was Woody Allen all along.

Hadean Lands is an endlessly clever experience.

It’s truly a fantastic gamebook, and one I would recommend to anyone.

Corto Maltese is a visually diverse, moderately well-designed adventure which simply fails in a few key areas.

Marble Age can sit alongside other quirky tactical takes like Empire: The Deck Building Strategy Game and provide a snappy, short­-term bit of strategic jerky.

The most interesting lesson Pentaction: Medieval has taught me is that there are some game mechanics I genuinely like which respond poorly to refinement.

The game translates a board game of the same name which itself borrowed very heavily from Kingsburg, a well-regarded Euro. Like the joke, there’s very little about the result which is original, and the new expectations created by the digital format create requirements it fails to satisfy.

It’s not going to knock off Agricola or Galaxy Trucker as a full-blown euro, but as a quick diversion, Pickomino is an excellent choice and another really well made board game app for iOS.

From the perspective of a licensor, Coup is just about the perfect iOS adaptation: it’s polished, with some genuinely interesting value added (including probably my favorite game art in memory and a satisfying achievement system), and introduces the game very well without making a physical copy seem superfluous.

Atlantic Fleet retains the endlessly playable turn-based combat of its predecessor, but now it’s been fitted with a thoughtfully designed open-ended strategy game superstructure.

It’s a marvelous structure, easily allowing players to learn the game’s basics and discover whether the interface suits them better than it did me.

Infection is one of the good ones, a board game port that will live on my iPad for a long time, and one that has me excited to see what other board games HexWar might be bringing to the platform.

For all its pretension about history, Spirit of War is a disappointingly generic experience that could be set in any time period. Even on an App Store that’s chronically short of hex-based tactical games, it’s not particularly noteworthy.

Like its predecessor, this is a complex game with a lot of interesting ideas — but possibly a few ideas too many.

Cyber Hacker is definitely worth a try if you’re into (fake) cyber security or lite-sim games, or if you just want the barista at your local coffee joint to think you’re toppling “the corps” on your tablet over a nice espresso.

An approachable beer-and-pretzels wargame like this one needs to have an inviting user experience that makes it more rewarding to play in short sessions and less of a management chore.

As negative as I’ve been about it, Arcane Magic isn’t far from being a pretty good game. Its card mechanics are an interesting idea, but there’s just nothing of substance underneath it.

As bad as the user interface is—and it is completely horrible—I still can’t hate too much on XenoShyft. Much like those old VASSAL modules of mine, once you get over the learning curve and figure out how the UI works, it’s manageable and the game underneath isn’t hurt by it.

Advance Wars fans looking for a fix could do much worse, as could anyone else looking for a game that balances the simple and the cerebral.

Cublo managed to take a game with a lot of information and complex interactions and turn it into a fantastic digital edition that both fans of Brass and newcomers to Wallace designs can enjoy.

Because of the use of monetization shenanigans, that feels like a deliberate attempt to push players to be more committed to the game so that, when their carefully-developed Dice Monster expertise no longer avails them, they’ll shell out for some extra boosts. It’s like the twist ending of Frankenstein, in which you discover that the real monster is the creator.

Overall, it’s a lot to enjoy. But you need to know what you’re getting into. There are dragons here. Sometimes they are logical ones, sometimes iron. Either way, there’s a lot of satisfaction to be had in slaying them.

SRPGs don’t generally have very strong or interesting AI, but Templar Battleforce is trying to be a deeply tactical SRPG, and the one-trick AI can break one’s sense of immersion even as it presents a rough-edged challenge. Even so, the varied maps, missions, foes, and extensive character customization keep things interesting throughout the extensive campaign.

Pea Ridge by HexWar has some blemishes but it offers an interesting gameplay experience with different problems for the Union and Confederate player.

Aural nitpicking aside, and despite a distinct lack of multiplayer, Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy is a quiet gem.

Silent Night isn’t quite as good as the original Lifeline…, but it’s still worth playing.

In the end, if you’re in the market for Hearthstone with tanks, or just looking for a new deck-builder, World of Tanks Generals is worth a try.

While Hex Mechs has some good elements to it, ultimately it isn’t enough to make up for sloppy QA, mediocre art and some very quirky design flaws.

Though the interface isn’t quite as natural as I’d wish, you do get used to it pretty quickly, and what’s left is a genuinely wonderful game.

Puzzle Strike gives you a few distinct characters and access to 20 possible opponents and it is still a challenging game even if you don’t want to invest a time playing it or you want an interesting game to fill some free time.

It’s a fantastic game, even for those of us who aren’t big sports or baseball fans, and having it at my beck and call is a good thing.

It’s still quite approachable to children, and the bright colors and yesteryear pulp theme may give the impression that it’s suited only to them. But, on the higher difficulty levels, it manages to wring quite a challenge out of its simple rules.

All things considered, I would recommend The Daring Mermaid Expedition only to diehard CoG fans, to someone who is looking for a light, entry-level gamebook or who doesn’t have a lot of time on their hands to really delve into a complicated and multi-layered story.

If the developers can get it to work reliably, Patchwork: The Game has the potential to be one of the most-enjoyed boardgames on iOS of the year. Until then, the weak AIs and online frustrations leave it as only a tempting appetizer.

If you are a fan of 4X games though this is an easy purchase.

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys the battle systems of JRPGs but couldn’t care less about the story, Quest to the Future is for you.

It’s not overly complicated to learn (it’s actually quite easy to pick up) but presents the player with a wealth of gameplay options and possibilities and allows for multiple strategies to win.

Even with these minor issues, Super Tribes is close to being a perfect mobile title. It takes the essence of a more expansive type of game and creates a 4X au jus which has left me clamouring for more after each game.

If you can ignore the goofy name (and actually find it on the App Store), The Game offers a fun and challenging puzzle game and a faithful recreation of the cardboard version.

It’s harder to recommend this game to a general RPG audience, but the problems with Petticles in Peril are mostly correctable, so the next episode of ChemCaper could very well fulfill the dream.

Part of the problem is that, though the characters are pretty interestingly varied, with a variety of effects on movement, action points, damage of different types, teleportation, an array of summoning abilities, healing, and board control, there's a substantial element of linear design.

I still enjoyed the majority of my time with Tormentum. It’s an enjoyably grim adventure that can be finished in a lazy weekend. If you’re into the art style and settings and can handle the anemic ending, you’ll probably have a good time. Just don't expect anything profound from it.

Michael Brough has struck gold yet again with Imbroglio, one of the best iOS games of the past few years.

Bézier Games have an innovative approach to allocating development resources, with an engaging campaign but no online multiplayer in this adaptation of the highly-regarded tabletop successor to Suburbia.

Fans of both Talisman and Warhammer 40,000, will like this one, fans of neither should take a different warp jump.

Star Realms follow-up Cthulhu Realms brings a zany take on dark summonings and evil magic to the deck-building genre. It's not exactly chocolate and peanut butter, but if pineapple and ham pizza can be good, so can this.

Interface and multiplayer issues aside, Battlefleet Gothic translates so well to touchscreen that it seems a marvel more miniatures games haven't followed suit.

A quick-fire RTS held back by a lack of depth and the inevitable F2P grind. Some smart ideas that hold promise.

Stripped down strategy mechanics that are both interesting and fun, but the game is mired by a ham-fist attempt at comedy.

It's a bold, punchy and handsome tactical combat game that just works.

A decent game that doesn’t make enough of an effort to stand out in any way.

Regicide features impressive animations of Orks and Space Marines blowing each other to bloody chunks, but is fatally bug-ridden and lacks a strategic core.

Short little romp over the skies of England with some nice replay value. Well worth the asking price.

It's a short, rough-edged experimental indie game with alt-comics art, and it's about interrogating circus performers. It's either your cuppa, or it just isn't.

Decent game that’s worth a try with friends. Feels a little light though.

It should be enough to keep you busy for a good long while, so long as you don't tire of the cookie-cutter mechanics.

Galaxy of Trian feels very unpolished, but the core of what here is an enjoyable tile-based strategy game.

Star Nomad 2 is a desktop game ported to mobile, and other than a few clunky UI design choices, it pulls it off in spectacular fashion.

If you enjoy wartime strategy games but either don't want to or don't have the time to micromanage every unit and territory under your control, Legends of Callasia is a great way to spend an hour or an afternoon. You can get that fix without a huge commitment. By keeping the action focused on generals the game moves quickly and you can play a full campaign in a couple hours.

I always thought my first one star review at PT would be something so offensively bad that it would leave me frothing at the mouth. Head of State disappoints rather than angers as seeing a good idea done badly is always worse than witnessing something that was a failure from the get go. Were it a cake Head of State would be a solid, if slightly underdone base missing all of its top layers, icing and decorations.