Sadly, the slow pacing, repetitive combat, and awkward jump mechanics let the gameplay down in places, and prevent it from reaching its full potential.

Do well and everyone is happy and they might leave tips. You can spend your hard-earned coin on new cooking equipment, décor for your bistro, furniture, that kind of thing. As you progress, you learn new recipes, and you can add new flourishes to old ones. Eventually you get more chefs you can lead to help you out. And if you're really struggling there's options to lower the difficulty significantly, which makes the game quite chilled out if that's more your thing.

The 7th Guest VR's intriguing story and great variety of enjoyable conundrums make it a competent VR reimagining of a classic 90s gothic puzzler. With visual, audio and puzzle bugs aplenty, it's a shame Stauf's mansion isn't just riddled with cockroaches.

NASCAR Heat 2 is a well-built racer with honest intentions and intense action. The robust Career mode conveys the toils of a real racing career – sometimes a little too accurately as it can start to drag. Nevertheless, with three disciplines and suite of offline and online modes, this is an entertaining experience – just be aware that it doesn’t have anywhere near the budget to rival the various other racing games you can buy.

Just Dance 2017 may be a good dancing game for anyone who doesn't take themselves too seriously or wants to have a good time with friends, but if you bought 2016, then don't bother. The new Just Dance Machine mode is fun, but it's hard to justify a purchase unless you're a big Just Dance fan.

For the cat lovers and the curious amongst you, Catlateral Damage is pretty much purr-fect, but anyone else may want to give it a hiss.

With a little more polish, this could've been one of PS4's better indie platformers. As it stands, Unruly Heroes is a beautiful game with gameplay flaws putting a dampener on things. It's largely a fun game to play, especially in co-op, but controls aren't as tight as they should be, and combat devolves into button mashing territory all too easily. The result is a decent, if unremarkable, side-scrolling action title.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit thoughtfully examines a troubled childhood through the eyes of the 10-year-old living it. This non-linear episode encourages you to explore, refraining from beating you over the head with its difficult subject matter. It’s building into something, and it’s hard to determine exactly what that is with DONTNOD being so coy about its plans for the sequel. You need to really dig into this to get anything out of it, and while we found the backstories of the small cast to be well thought out, it’s hard to know what purpose they will serve yet.

All Zombies Must Die! is cute and quirky in tone, and there's a lot to like about its self-referential narrative and bonkers arsenal of augmented weapons - radioactive sword anyone? - but the game's unwillingness to extend further on its own great concepts leaves the experience feeling a tad repetitive.

This is surely a game that'll only improve as its community stabilises, but right now it's hard to recommend unless you've got a group of willing friends.

CoolPaintrVR is a fine alternative to Tilt Brush for PlayStation VR, although the limitations of Sony’s technology mean that it never really hits the same highs. We would have appreciated a larger palette of objects and effects, but budding artists should find more than enough to make a masterpiece with here.

If it all proves too much, at least many of the vistas and scenes will soothe your mood with lovely visuals — especially as the sun sets. They don't quite look photo-realistic; there's a dash of flair and care that makes for a very pretty little title. It won't set the world on fire, but A Juggler's Tale has a pleasing aura that may resonate with folk who know what they're getting themselves in for.

Wild Bastards is good, but it didn’t quite hit as hard as we’d hoped. That said, the studio's fantastic art direction and writing continue to shine through, enough to make this a title worth looking at.

Fans of the franchise will love the change of pace, as well as getting up close and personal with Noire and the other generals. Everyone else, however, may not be wooed quite so easily.

Jailhouse Block is a big step in the right direction for Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two and is far better than the first two episodes with a really well-paced and fast flowing plot. The more impactful decisions and a humorous appearance from a well-known artist keep your attention from start to finish – although that’s not saying much with a running time shorter than an hour.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey has a huge gene pool of potential, but endless repetition and clunky controls need to be removed from its DNA. For die-hard survival and exploration fans there is a worthwhile experience here, but for everyone else this is a game that’s so repetitive it’ll drive you bananas.

Life Is Strange: Episode 2 – Out of Time has an excellent ending, but it's letdown by pacing issues that make the events leading up to that point feel inconsequential.

London 2012 is frequently within touching distance of a podium place, but it sadly stumbles at the final hurdle. A lack of refinement in a number of the events mean that, while the title captures the atmosphere of the Olympic Games well, it crosses the finish line sandwiched somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Blood of the Werewolf is a faithful throwback to the days where platforming was king, and it’s a challenge in and of itself as well. Even though it does all that well, it does little else to make it stand out.

While you shouldn’t expect it to linger in the mind to the same degree as comparable titles like Home, Seduction: A Monk’s Fate offers a one-sitting experience at a reasonable price, while getting just enough right to make it worth the low price of entry.

It's colourful, there are collectibles, and it's got a rotten camera: Yooka-Laylee is a 90s platformer to a tee. Unfortunately, rather than a rose-tinted look at the titles of yore, this game falls into all of the same pitfalls as its predecessors: it's rough around the edges, often annoying, and at times even a chore. And yet for all of its flaws it's still packing the most important ingredient of all: the compulsion to collect everything is strong here – and it'll remain even when you're grinding your teeth.

Curiously, not everyone can be absorbed on your first attempt, and so you’ll need to collect brains and invest cash in order to unlock the more powerful hosts. This obviously adds to the release’s replayability, but when paired with its punishing difficulty, the formula begins to grate. Local co-op doesn’t really ease the repetition, although your pals will certainly appreciate the pop culture references.

If Digimon Story Time Stranger just sat back and allowed its largely fantastic RPG systems to breathe, it could be counted amongst the finest of Digimon games. But instead, it gets bogged down in disappointingly linear design that limits combat and party-based progression at almost every turn. Despite being packed with such clear potential, Time Stranger ends up feeling like a frustrating misfire.

A curiously compelling gameplay loop makes Bus Simulator much more entertaining than it has any right to be. The presentation is poor, but the act of actually picking up passengers and taking them to A-to-B in an expanding open world is moreish, and the title has a self-aware sense of humour that’s easy to appreciate.

While it's not as unique or charming as its predecessor That's You, Knowledge Is Power is a solid, fun quiz game for when you've got friends or family around. While it's a little light on actual quizzing, the Power Plays allow for plenty of game-changing moments and inject some tension into the game as everyone scrambles to wipe virtual goo off of their phones and answer first. With another solid game added to its lineup and many more coming over the next few months, Sony's PlayLink service won't be going away anytime soon.

With the ups and downs of the many licensed LEGO titles having been well documented by now, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting with LEGO The Incredibles. Even knowing full well you’ll be contending with dodgy controls, and occasionally repetitive gameplay, you’ll somehow find yourself propelled through the story by an overwhelming compulsion to pick up literally millions of studs along the way. Even stretching The Incredibles source material close to breaking point doesn’t put too much of a dampener on your time with the Parr family, and while it doesn’t come close the best the LEGO games have offered over the years, there’s just enough here to make you reach for your super suit.

Although it's not on the same level as other, more popular tactical titles, Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers is a fair attempt at a strategic spin-off. A lack of depth does hurt the release as bigger battles drag on, but there's fun to be had in gathering allies and creating unique teams of your favourite officers.

Table Football isn't the deepest, most full-featured game, but that's no foul; it's an addictive little slice of fun that hits the back of the net nicely. It won't sustain you for too long in single player due to its lack of structure to progress through, but with a friend it's an amusing throwback to simpler times.

TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is a game that had the potential to be as superb as last year's Transformers: Devastation. Instead, due to a movie releasing this week in theatres, it's clear that Activision rushed Platinum Games to push it out quickly.

The ideal accompaniment to a short spell on the throne, Men’s Room Mayhem is bursting with charm – but its poor progression system and novelty-driven gameplay means that it ultimately pees on the potty seat. The title definitely scrubs up well, and there’s an unusual allure to its overarching concept – just don’t expect this water closet excursion to come up smelling entirely of roses.

While not perfect, Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is fairly impressive to look at. It has a beautiful and intriguing world, so it's a bit of a shame that you don't get to learn more of the history behind it. Still, there's a tough but fun battle system to get to grips with and plenty of puzzles to solve. If you prefer your RPGs to be more relaxed and serene then you may struggle with this one, as the fast-paced combat system means that button mashing your way through it will quickly lead to the game over screen. But for as much as we enjoyed our time on Mahera, a poor combat camera and plethora of bugs let it down – here's hoping for a quick patch.

Gameplay is where things start to rot, though. Combat devolves to waiting for an enemy's green outline and then spamming X to send your zombies in for the kill. There's not much more strategy to engagements than that, really, although you can opt to regain some lost health by consuming a bad guy's brains before they kick the bucket. There are batteries to find to increase your health, and gravestones to read, but the levels themselves bounce from small combat zones to simple puzzles. Unfortunately, poor performance means controls are sluggish and the frame rate dips like mad when the screen is busy. There's some fun to be extracted from this, especially given that Halloween is upon us, but sadly this is a game that won't live long in the memory.

There's surprising scope in the game — you can dismantle items to get materials, which you can then combine into new weapon modules. There are side missions and mini-games, like serving cocktails to earn money. It's also kind-of open world, albeit a very small one. While the ambition is admirable, overall we feel the game comes across as quite unfocused. It's an enjoyable experience, and everything here is reasonably good, but the result is a game that doesn't really shine, save for its rainy, neon-infused aesthetic.

With clever puzzles, solid writing, and a smashing sense of style, Syberia remains a fantastic illustration of how a point and click adventure game can tell a deep and interesting story. However, this console port absolutely does not do justice to the original title, ultimately resulting in a fickle and frustrating experience.

Perhaps the main takeaway here is that FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is safer than its name suggests. There's not a lot to criticise in terms of its execution, but its ambition feels firmly rooted in the PlayStation 2 era. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, and if you're looking for a distraction to occupy between juggernaut releases, then the PS4 isn't host to many destructive racers that are better. But while there's fun to be had while you're playing, don't expect this above average car crash to live long in the memory at all.

Madden NFL 21 is stagnant, and while football fans will find things to enjoy, it’s not like there’s an alternative option available. The Yard is a genuinely promising addition, and we’re looking forward to seeing how it evolves over the course of this season – and future games. But an embarrassing story and an untouched Franchise mode mean that it’s the only real reason to upgrade. And while Madden Ultimate Team continues to be a time sink, the stale state of the on-field simulation means that this year’s game fails to find its intended receiver.

There are some neat moments on offer, and the Raid mode is a surprisingly enjoyable addition, but it’s a largely forgetful title, lost in a sea of much more memorable adventures.

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive has all the components of an addictive, satisfying beat-'em-up, but it just doesn't harmonise them as well as it should.

Traversal is fluid and fun, combat is enjoyably simple, and the level design is often lovingly crafted, but it never comes close to stepping out of its comfort zone and trying something remotely memorable.

Rainbow Six: Extraction's core gameplay is decent, and its level variety is great, but the game definitely has some blind spots. While a zombie title focused on stealth and tactics makes for an interesting experience, anytime the game strays from that, it’s less successful. It draws extra attention to weak spots, like unimpressive AI and an obnoxious RNG progression system. Go in with a couple of friends, though, and you will get some fun out of this. All the levels are visually distinct and interesting to look at, and three squad members stealthing their way through a field of enemies can be immensely rewarding. It’s just unlikely to hold your attention in the long term.

Along Together serves up a fun virtual reality experience that doesn’t attempt to do anything new, but rather refines mechanics introduced by others. It's mildly challenging puzzles won’t present much of a roadblock in your path to progress, besides the unintuitive junkyard location, and so an afternoon’s worth of enjoyment is around about where your expectations should lie.

You can't really go wrong with Unfinished Business if you enjoyed its underrated predecessor, but expectations need to be kept in check. This standalone follow-up is disappointingly rough around the edges, and although its comically violent combat remains satisfying, it's not varied enough to elevate the entire action-heavy campaign. Still, we're never going to say no to more Rogue City. Teyon still manages to capture the campy 80s spirit of RoboCop here, and that'll drive most players to the top of OmniTower.

The Last Worker’s principal problem is that it’s a game made for VR that’s better without it. Fulfilling online orders in a capitalism-induced apocalypse is an excellent idea marred by inconsistent execution and confounding restrictions placed on VR movement. It’s short enough not to overstay its simplicity, but it’s not smart enough to make any astute thematic statements.

What you get out of the game is what feels like a really great artistic idea, which the team committed to fully. And after the art was done, they tried to place their gameplay ideas anywhere they happened to fit. The end result is a visually arresting, but haphazardly designed experience.

Arashi: Castles of Sin Final Cut is a competent VR stealth sword-fighting action title with solid gameplay, gorgeous story cutscenes/setting, and an enjoyable array of weaponry that makes the open-ended levels a joy to complete. Unfortunately, its last-generation visuals, underwhelming AI, and occasional bugs and crashes cause this shinobi to stumble. With a little more time in training to learn some advanced moves, Arashi could have been a must-buy title.

InnerSpace feels like it rewards players more as a relaxation tool than as a game that grows and evolves through core progress. Indeed, its story is stimulating, the gameplay itself is serviceable, and the presentation is mesmerising, but it just feels a little too lacking as a full package. InnerSpace is worth a look if you find yourself intrigued, but be prepared for an experience that doesn’t quite feel fully realised.

While it presents itself well and has some neat ideas, Jett: The Far Shore never launches into the stars. Flying around, soaking in the atmosphere, and gathering info on a foreign planet is relaxing fun, but it's scuppered by messy combat scenarios and a story that falls flat. You may get some enjoyment from this, as does have its moments — just don't expect it to hit the stratosphere.

If you yearn for the days of, say, Camelot’s Mario Golf on the Game Boy Color, then the fusion of sports and statistics may hold your attention here. But it’s best enjoyed in short bursts, as the tedium sets in quick, and will take a slice at your interest.

An incredibly erratic framerate, little replay value, and the lack of any real challenge throw a few wrenches in the gears, but overall, it's not a particularly bad game, even if you'll never look back once the adventure is over.

SwapQuest is a fun little title that successfully blurs the lines between RPG and the puzzler Pipe Dream. While it does have some drawbacks, its addictive gameplay remains entertaining throughout, which really comes into its own in the final few hours. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but what SwapQuest can provide you with is an enjoyable distraction on a quiet summer’s day.

Each chapter of Stories Untold is framed like an episode of a Twilight Zone-style anthology television show, replete with a killer John Carpenter-esque synth-backed intro. It pays more than a passing nod to the introduction to hit show Stranger Things, but it's undeniably cool, and we'd love to see an Untold Stories 2 that continued the theme, only with a more consistent episode quality.

Fans of the show will probably have a blast here, and even newcomers may find some value in its retro RPG structure – but don’t expect this adventure to last a very long time.

Ultimately, you have a game with one masterfully designed core element — the rhythm gunplay — surrounded by a number of elements that, while not terrible, are mediocre at best.

Krinkle Krusher is a competent tower defence title with a colourful theme, but it's best played in short-bursts and doesn't really excel on the DualShock 4.

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku!'s bite-sized stages are best suited to quick stints of dungeon delving. Stay much longer, and you might stumble across the frustrations that lie in its depths. Bouts of trial and error gameplay drag down an otherwise addictive release, and convoluted upgrade systems keep you from getting straight into the action. Still, the process of powering up your pixelated protagonist is a rewarding one once you find your groove.

DC Comics fans will get a buzz out of some aspects of the release, while those that really enjoy LEGO titles may find fun here – but everyone else should try the demo first.

A visual novel that cares more about its presentation than its writing, Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme is about as shallow as a reality television show – but it never pretends to be anything else. Irrespective of your personal appetite for underdressed 18-year-olds, this is an impressive looking game, with vivid oversaturated visuals and some brilliant animations. It’s a lot tamer than its screenshots may imply, but without the minigame hooks of its predecessors, it feels a little lightweight as a consequence.

In this enhanced re-release, you can increase the rate at which your stat gains occur (by up to four times), making the whole process way more tolerable. These additions alone arguably make this the best version of a divisive Final Fantasy.

Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter HD has some glaring flaws that refrain it from reaching prize catch status, but its accessible mechanics and decent sense of progression ensure that there's still room for it on the trophy wall – especially if you're a fan of overgrown lizards.

For all its style and silliness, Dead or Alive 5 is a fairly conventional game. The ridiculous story mode is an enjoyable distraction for an afternoon – but it's not enough to keep you hooked. Unless, you're a fan of the fighting mechanics in general – which, aside from a few minor tweaks, are largely unchanged – there's not a lot to get excited about here. Well, certainly not from a pure gameplay perspective anyway.

Beat Cop is a strong effort to create a compelling police-themed adventure. Patrolling your street and building relationships with various characters is engaging, and it certainly looks the part with nicely done pixel art visuals. Its open ended design can lead to multiple endings, which makes it surprisingly replayable, but in practice, it all quickly becomes a little too complex for its own good. With your attention so scattered among numerous calls to action, it can be confusing. Still, there is some fun to be found here if you don't sweat the details.

Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 1: Order of the Stone is a lacklustre start to Telltale's latest series.

Needless to say, you probably won't be playing Legend of Mana for the plot, but there's a charm to how carefree the game feels. You'll stumble across character-driven side quests that open up new paths through the world, and there are loads of different locations to discover and explore. Honestly, it's a difficult game to explain in just a handful paragraphs, but know that there's fun to be had in its lack of structure.

EDENS ZERO is a competent adaptation and a very basic — but often fun — action RPG. Generic in its design and held back by some seriously rough visuals, it's the kind of game that's barely going to appeal to those outside of the established fandom, but there is a charm in how breezy it is to actually play. The bottom line is that if you're looking for an easygoing anime-based adventure, you could do worse than EDENS ZERO — although it does take a few hours for things to feel mechanically interesting.

The game pitches itself as FMV horror, and while the experience does incorporate those two elements the more you play, it never amounts to anything more than cheap jump scares and creepy episodes of breaking the fourth wall. It's effective enough the first time, but diminishing returns weaken the tactic dramatically. The same can't be said for some of the horrific voice acting, however, which is cringeworthily terrible on almost all fronts. Although, Simulacra offers just enough of an intriguing, narrative reason to put up with it all.

We really wanted to like Black Mirror more than we did, but a few too many technical hitches put a cap on our enjoyment. This mystery is absolutely one worth solving thanks to the captivating plot and engaging characters, but be prepared to wrestle with poor controls, glitches, and frequent load times.

The RPG elements mean you'll nearly always be making some forward momentum. Finding treasure, sinking ships, and completing missions rewards you with XP, and you can upgrade and customise various parts of your boat to ensure your vessel is ship-shape. What's more, each town has its own side missions to tackle, and a market where you can trade goods in a shifting economy. These parts of the game are its strengths, but working through somewhat confusing menus and engaging in predictable battles take the wind out of its sails.

Moon Hunters is certainly an ambitious idea from Kitfox Games, and for the most part it hits the right notes.

There’s some fun to be had here, spread across dozens of different events, and some vibrant environments. However, this isn’t an especially ambitious outing, so don’t expect it to drive away with your heart like the classics that it’s so clearly inspired by.

SwapQuest is a bright and breezy release that's well suited to the PlayStation Vita. We didn't especially appreciate the release's decision to make us rush, but there's an appeal to the simplistic gameplay that will keep you venturing the land of Aventana – especially if you've got a bit of time to kill.

Ragnarock is a rough-around-the-edges rhythm game that's super fun to begin with, but the appeal may start to wane after a handful of sessions.

It all just needs a little more polish: the execution isn’t quite tight enough, the pace not quite brisk enough to achieve that addictive, rapid-fire feel of WarioWare. It’s close, and certainly another entertaining idea from Atari, but unless you’re from the era of the 2600 and its ilk, you’ll probably struggle to look beyond the sloppy feel of this otherwise likeable release.

Life Is Strange 2 feels like it’s flying under-the-radar, which is unfortunate because this sequel has all of the hallmarks that made its predecessor a success. Episode 2: Rules is slow, but DONTNOD is still easing its new cast of characters in. There’s definitely something good brewing here, but for whatever reason we can’t shake the feeling that the developer has utterly failed to capture the imagination of Arcadia Bay’s biggest fans.

This is the same old Torchlight, but somewhat diminished. Classes are full of character and lots of fun to play, while Relic abilities encourage experimentation and significantly change combat. However, there's nothing especially new or exciting about this third instalment.

Once you get to grips with how it handles, V-Rally 4 is a competent and lightweight arcade-style off-road racer with a fair bit of charm that harkens back to the series’ foundations. Aiming for spectacle and variety in design, it looks and feels like a 2018 V-Rally game. However, a shallow and disappointing career mode, irritating music, and a handful of visual and gameplay bugs means you’re likely to grow weary in a short space of time.

Just as enjoyable as it is frustrating, Romeo Is a Dead Man is an incredibly uneven experience. You’ll love it one minute and hate it the next. Persevere with its more annoying elements, and you’ll discover a unique and entertaining hack and slasher at the end of it all. It just takes a lot of effort and restraint to get there.

It's disheartening a previously Japanese exclusive Mega Drive game, patiently anticipated since 1994, is now known for poor presentation due to Version 1.00 releasing with gameplay breaking emulation errors — like Stage 2's missing scaffolding obstacles, and invisible enemies. There was a narrow window for Halloween 2021 hype, and even though thankfully a week later Version 1.01 patched in the omitted sprites, still Panorama Cotton could be haunted by the infamy of Ratalaika's conversion. Since many gamers never experienced this rare game, it'd be a shame if they believed an initially bad PS4 port directly correlates with the quality of the original.

If you're looking for a game that will show you just about every in and out of the Vita's control experience, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more thorough showing than Little Deviants. Of course, if you're looking for a game that will keep you engaged for the duration and coming back for more, you might want to look elsewhere.

Across the board, the emulation is excellent, and the package has been enhanced by beautiful 3D renders of the original Famicom cartridges, as well as artwork and high-resolution scans of each game’s manual. This is a well-done and loving bundle, then, but the games themselves are ancient and demand a very specific mindset if you plan to extract any actual entertainment value from them.

Tangled Up in Blue lacks the narrative heft of many of the best Telltale games, and the individual Guardians aren't given enough to work with in the short running time to help distinguish them from the versions seen in the 2014 movie. There are flickers of hope – usually involving Rocket – that the characters will come into their own in future episodes, and some of the flashbacks and backstory hint that the storyline might go in interesting directions, but it feels like Guardians of the Galaxy-lite, lacking the irreverent humour, swashbuckling action, and the occasional heart of James Gunn's surprise hit.

Although the gameplay feels a little on the shallow side, Wandersong is a disarmingly joyful game. Singing your way through this cutesy adventure may not offer much of a challenge, but mixed in with a varied cast of characters and a sweet story, it's definitely a hard game to hate.

The Council has impressive ambitions – even if its execution is not up to scratch. You’ll already know whether its alternate history backdrop appeals to you, but it’s the RPG elements that threaten to disrupt the narrative genre. We already like what this series is doing, but the writing and voice acting leaves a little to be desired. That said, this is a solid start, even if it is a bit too early to come to any conclusions about the overall story just yet.

If you've been burning with anticipation for a fantasy RPG on Sony's newest console, Bound by Flame may be worth a look – but be sure to keep your expectations lukewarm.

The most ridiculous Call of Duty has ever been, all of Black Ops 7’s multiplayer strengths are overshadowed by the silliest campaign in the franchise’s history. It’s still quality online, and the Zombies mode is as solid as ever. They don’t matter quite as much, though, when a co-op campaign manages to reframe an entire release into one of stupidity.

The core of Deceive Inc. is good; deducing who might be an opponent while trying to blend in is a tense, fun experience. It's in need of some updates before it reaches its full potential — adjustable text size would be nice, and it's going to need a wider variety of maps and modes going forward. It's a solid starting point with a great premise; hopefully it can evolve into something really worthwhile.

City of Brass is a fantastic starting point for newcomers to the roguelike genre, but those that know a thing or two may leave feeling a little short-changed. The core gameplay loop at its heart is very satisfying, thanks to its experimental nature, and with the genies’ perk selection, there’s a decent amount of variety when you’re in the thick of it, but there just isn’t enough here to keep you coming back past your first couple of completed runs. There’s definitely fun to be had here for a few hours, but it’s nothing you’ll remember with a great deal of affection in six month's time.

There's absolutely fun to be had here, and the more you delve into it, the more potential strategies you'll discover. However, finding those satisfying moments is made tougher by a lack of opportunities to adapt. Luck Be a Landlord is an interesting roguelike to explore, but it didn't hook us in the way that many others in the genre have.

While its competitor MLB: The Show swings for the fences, R.B.I. Baseball 16 is happy to bunt this year round – and that's okay. The controls are easy to pick up, the games are short and sweet, and the simplicity of it all is what makes this year's edition appealing to casuals. Still, its lack of innovation and modes mean that the title gets to second base – but not much further.

If you can look past the repetition and the roadblocks, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a largely solid shooter. It nails the visuals, the guns generally feel great, and the sound design is suitably punchy — just don't expect it to push beyond those foundations.

There's so much exploding clothing in this game that you'd be forgiven for thinking it's another instalment in the Senran Kagura series. Fortunately (or, depending on your opinion, unfortunately) it's just the unbelievably fragile armour of enduring Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection protagonist, Sir Arthur.

Vault-Tec Workshop is Fallout 4's best settlement DLC, but that won't mean much to those who don't enjoy building settlements to begin with.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is in no way the failure that Colonial Marines was. It’s a fun squad shooter with just about enough features at launch to keep you coming back to replay missions and tackle the horde mode. However, it’s not the strongest game of its type and really doesn't seem to fit the license.

Star Wars Battlefront 2’s saving grace is its multiplayer. A strong offering provides you with a number of ways to play and a variety of locations to battle on, and if it manages to stick to a level playing field once the infamous microtransactions are added back into the game, it’s an experience we’ll continue to return to. But this is not enough to excuse the abysmal campaign. Any uniqueness dissipates all too quickly, and what follows is a boring set of missions that often feel misguided and unrealistic.

Extinction had the potential to be something special, but a few too many flaws and frustrations hold it back from true greatness. Despite that, we still think this adventure of epic proportions is very much worth a purchase if the grand scale even slightly grabs your interest.

Star Wars: Squadrons has its heart in the right place and a comprehensive, in-depth set of flight mechanics go a long way towards realising that childhood dream of piloting an X-Wing. It achieves the vision in some ways, but in others, the package lacks excitement and content. While excellent PSVR support will be enough for some, a boring story and inadequate multiplayer modes leave a lot to be desired.

The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character isn’t a bad game by any stretch of the imagination. Its quirky name, visuals, and music are a joy to behold, but that was already the case with the original. The standard option can be incredibly frustrating, but the challenge mode does at least take some strides to redeem it. However, there are plenty of Vita games that are far more deserving of your attention.

Stick with it long enough to see Agatha create her meaty religion, and the writing really starts to shine. This is a game in which it’s not out of place for a hamster to start talking to you, while trash TV transfixes its drooling owner. Nerdy references pepper the dialogue and hide in the lovingly crafted background art. Agatha herself is a wonderfully complicated character; we see things from her innocent and skewed perspective, for good or ill. The puzzling is relatively simplistic -- there's nothing here to match the nonsensical item combinations of the genre's luminaries. But this is a game more about story and tone than pixel hunting, and the result is a decent, bizarre experience.

Another double-edged sword is the brevity of the game. While we'd argue that a lot of visual novels pad out the running time and get a little long in the tooth, the eight hours we spent with Harmony weren't enough to effectively flesh out the world or the characters. That said, the story moves at brisk pace, and we never found ourselves bored even if we were sometimes a little confused.