A fun distraction for a bargain price, and does a great lot of things very well indeed. It just lacks that little bit of polish that sets the great games apart from the good.

Slender: The Arrival is a must-play for any horror fan who hasn't played it on PC. You may get frustrated with it at times, but overcoming any cheap moments makes beating each chapter and the overall game all the more rewarding.

Battlefield 2042 is a bit of a mixed bag as things stand right now with the excellent Portal mode overshadowing almost everything else on offer. The futuristic large-scale battles are spectacular stuff, for sure, but it's all a little disjointed so far with the all-new Specialists underlining a feeling that solo soldiering has somehow taken precedent over the series' signature teamwork. There's still plenty to enjoy in this meaty package for early adopters, and we've no doubt DICE will be busy improving things as the months roll on but, outside of a mode that celebrates the series' history more than it embraces what's new in this latest entry, what's here struggles to feel absolutely essential at launch.

The lack of any real multiplayer and the repetitive nature of the story mode mean that despite numerous challenges to complete and upgrades to collect, it lacks the 'just one more round' appeal that would make it a real contender in the arcade marketplace, though.

Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, despite all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth pre-release, has arrived in perfectly fine form. This is, at launch, one of the most polished looter shooters we've played, an action-packed superhero adventure that dishes up top-notch combat, tons of fan-service, excellent traversal (important for superheroes!), addicting loot, and plenty of surprises and shocks to boot. Yes, the story is artificially dragged out, mission types are repetitive and the store is a right royal rip-off, but the writing, the performances, core mechanics and incredible attention to detail here ensure that this is one squad of misfits who've managed to take the heat and survive intact.

Cyberpunk 2077, in its current form on consoles, is a hard game to recommend getting involved with. There's a strong narrative here, brilliantly written characters, some excellent side missions, fun combat and an astonishing setting but, as things stand right now, it's an experience that's in need of some serious TLC. The Series X backwards compatible version may well perform better than the frankly shocking last-gen console efforts but this is a game that we had constant problems with, one that doesn't feel or play like a fully finished product and one that is truly quite hard to recommend in its current incarnation.

Modern Warfare 3 is quite a tough game to judge. Its campaign is good old Call of Duty fun, even if it's too short, and the game's multiplayer is a great time - built on the solid foundations of two different versions of Modern Warfare 2. However, Zombies is a complete miss this year, and the admittedly-great multiplayer is based on past triumphs more than anything else. If you love playing some CoD multiplayer every year then MW3 is another solid entry in that regard, but if you usually stick to one of the other modes or are looking for a more complete Call of Duty experience, we don't recommend picking this one up just yet. Either wait for a price drop, or bide your time in anticipation of its eventual arrival on Xbox Game Pass.

Bike Mayhem 2 is the opposite of going mountain bike riding. There's no exhilaration to be had, just boredom, as the game never seems to end.

Wanted: Dead is an incredibly disappointing action effort that presents some decent ideas but fails to execute any of them properly. The idea of fusing hack and slash combat with shooter mechanics has lots of potential here, and the cyberpunk setting is initially intriguing. However, in practice it's all very clunky and janky and frustrating and beset by performance issues. There's a bunch of odd side activities thrown in to try to lighten the mood between battles, but it's just not enough in the end. With a very weak narrative, poor voice-acting, rubbish action and drab level design, this is one game that's best avoided.

A tad more polish would have seen this become a real benchmark for the genre, but a number of missed steps mean that it will likely just fade into the darkness.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest could really be something great but unfortunately choppy performance, uninspiring missions and a repetitive single player experience put paid to this. The licensed properties present in the game aren't enough elevate the game to anything more than a very workmanlike version of your favourite childhood moments.

Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is the weakest of the Fatal Frame games and this remastered version fails to address its biggest issues, namely clunky traversal mechanics and a seriously wooden cast of characters. However, look past these shortcomings and, especially for fans of the series, there's still a lot to enjoy in the solid ghost-snapping action on offer here. It may not be the best game in the franchise, but this remaster will still give your spine a good tingle if you let it.

Beyond Eyes is an breathtaking accomplishment. It's a game that not only entertains, but that also gets across some of the difficulties that a differently abled person would need to contend with, in a way that is entirely understandable by everyone.

As an almost full-price title, things had to be pretty much on point here and though it isn't perfect, the development team have done well to provide a game that does the sport proud.

And in the case of Xbox specifically, it's really hard to find a reason why you'd pay that kind of money when Crazy Taxi is backwards compatible on the platform, and can be picked up for significantly less. That's not to take away from the work that's been put into Taxi Chaos, because it's a competent enough take on the formula, but SEGA's 1999 original has more content, more attitude and a better soundtrack, so it's hard to recommend this one.

There's no denying that there is potential here and there are some very touching moments, but the flaws are so game breaking that at times it's just not any fun to play.

Tetris Ultimate is decent, but if you've ready access to any other version of Tetris, then there's little reason for a purchase.

Matchpoint: Tennis Championships deserves your attention on Xbox Game Pass, as it's genuinely one of the better Xbox tennis games we've seen in years. It has its drawbacks, particularly in the presentation department, but it's also good fun when you get out on the court. Unfortunately, some of that enjoyment has been taken away for us because even on the highest difficulty, the game just feels far too easy at launch, rendering a lot of the strategic elements and Career Mode's features somewhat useless for now. It's still a pretty good game regardless, but definitely in need of a couple of balancing tweaks over the coming weeks and months.

NHL 15 plays a great – if somewhat atmosphere-free – game of hockey, but the sheer amount of modes missing from the package as a whole mean that unless you become obsessed with Ultimate Team or enjoy playing severely limited career modes, there’s very little to actually do.

Bedlam leaves a lot to be desired. We were really intrigued by the game at first, but the more time we spent with it, the less appealing it became to us. That, along with technical issues that shouldn't be present ultimately left a bit of a sour taste.

If you are a long time D&D player or have played any fantasy action brawlers in the past, you’ll likely enjoy this game – either with friends, or even if you go for the more challenging route of playing alone. It certainly doesn't revolutionise the genre, but considering it’s available on Game Pass at launch, there’s no reason not to give it a go. There’s also some free DLC and a paid expansion on the way, giving Dark Alliance a chance to level up in the future.

There's definitely something here for fans of both Adventure Time and Zelda, but because of its familiar design, and because there are consistent imperfections to put up with, the adventure isn't as mathematical as it clearly could've been. We suggest waiting for a price cut or sticking to a rental if you're on the fence.

Starfield: Shattered Space is a big disappointment in almost every way. We loved the base game, for all its flaws, and we were willing this to be the big, exciting DLC drop that'd make us love it all over again. However, what we've got here is a very average narrative expansion that fails to add any big choices, upgrades, new enemies, biomes, loot or anything that could potentially excite or draw in new players. It's buggy, janky, badly acted in places, and there are a myriad of bugs and performance issues to be ironed out. What a missed opportunity.

We Are Doomed makes a good attempt at being a compelling and addictive twin-stick shooter, getting a lot of things right along the way. There are some problems with the basic design though and the very limited amount of modes on offer means that unless you're hooked by beating your own best scores or unlocking the limited (but tough to obtain) number of achievements, it'll be over way, way too soon.

It isn't a bad game by any means and will provide entertainment for a while, but some will find the shackles and repetitiveness to be all too much, not to mention the fact that the all-but-identical mobile version is a quarter of the price.

More than two decades later, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a tough one to recommend. If you do have fond memories of this game, you might be more forgiving of its dated design and gameplay, but ultimately there are much better Star Wars offerings out there. Aspyr hasn't changed much beyond adding the modern controls and camera, so unless that's a big enough reason for you to return, this might not necessarily be the Bounty Hunter game you’ve been looking for.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is a mediocre collection that does a few things really well - such as the overall presentation and its fun rendition of golf. What drags it down are the other three sports, which are functional but arguably too clunky to attract long-term attention, as well as the lack of online multiplayer and any kind of a proper single-player mode. This game has charmed us for sure, and we'll keep coming back to it now and again, but it's definitely hard to recommend paying £39.99 / $49.99 for it.

We're stuck between a rock and a hard place with Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood, because while it definitely has its downsides (some of them potentially deal-breaking, especially if buying it at full price) we also enjoyed our time with it. Everything is built around its destructive combat, which remains engaging to the last, and if you're willing to deal with some average-at-best graphics, a mediocre story and a short running length, we still think you'll have a good time with this one. Give it a try, and it might just surprise you.