While a fun distraction, there’s little to recommend wholeheartedly when it comes to Kirby: Battle Royale. Its mini-games are well designed, but with a short Story Mode and limited replay value for its other modes, it becomes clear that this is not a stellar addition to an already bulging line-up. Kirby fans are probably better off saving for a Switch as the pink puffball is heading there next year.

Typoman’s appeal boils down to whether or not you’re willing to invest in shorter games that are content light, yet have genuinely interesting ideas that are beyond what’s come before. By using words as an aesthetic and gameplay device, it writes its own reasons for why it is unique. My only wishes were that the platforming was tighter and that it had a few more levels. Typoman is over far too quickly for my liking, but this is high praise for what it did in its short time.

The saying “Too many cooks spoil the broth” certainly rings true with Sonic Forces. It’s a game where despite it’s many level types none of them quite leave a lasting impression. As a result, it comes off as merely average in all departments with the sole exception being the visual design. Sonic Forces is far from the train wreck that Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was, but it doesn’t come close to reigniting the series’ magic in the way Sonic Mania did.

Landit Bandit is quite short and it is limited to a few basic mechanics used to accomplish very similar tasks. The mechanics are solid enough to make it a taxing and entertaining distraction but you might be left wishing there was a little more substance and a bit more polish.

Without a doubt, Dynasty Warriors 7 is Omega Force's finest game to date. Long-time fans of the series will fall in love almost instantaneously, the redesigned gameplay being just as welcoming to new players.

Although there’s a niche that will no doubt revel in the game’s eccentricity, those who cringe at otaku culture will find very little value here.

For every good point there is a bad. It's definitely an opinion splitter, and some will absolutely love it and forgive its problems, whilst others will pick it to pieces in a matter of minutes. Personally I enjoyed the story and could live with its old school origins, add in the fact it's a rather lengthy affair for a downloadable title and you have something that is worth playing.

The Princess Guide is an adorable, energetic game. It has gorgeous art and fun, well-written characters. It's just marred by grinding through messy and poorly designed combat. The AI squad-mates that are so integral to the action have terrible AI that make it impossible to consistently coordinate any of their actions. There's massive heart and care put into the narrative and visual design of The Princess Guide, but that is weighed down by how frustrating it is to play the game.

Of Orcs and Men has so much potential and when you get into the game you'll experience flashes of brilliance, but those flashes are gone as quickly as they come, leaving behind a game that came out before it was ready.

The shine is somewhat diminished by an engine that just can't seem to cope with what it's being asked to do.

Calico is a wonderfully weird and whimsical game. With a few tweaks to the rendering of the game, a few glitch fixes, and the ability to customise the controls, it would be an ideal island to visit for a few hours at a time. If only I could get my Animal Crossing island to have the same atmosphere…

Black Legend evokes a brooding atmosphere thanks to the fog covered streets of Grant and has some good ideas around party and class management, as well as its turn based battles. However, bugs and awkward camera controls, plus a lack of a strong narrative or lore makes Black Legend feel like a fog has descended obscuring its potential.

A throwback to the bad old days of movie tie-ins, this uninspired and dull reskin of LEGO Worlds takes all the good parts of the LEGO games and tosses them in the bin. This is the game that President Business would have designed, full of static environments and boring construction. Everything is far from awesome with The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame.

Skater XL softens some of the more technical aspects of the sport, but empowers players with the ability to pull off stylish tricks with a swish of the analogue sticks. Even with a lack of content and polish, Skater XL stands on its own four wheels in a soon-to-be-crowded marketplace, providing players with an experience that prioritises fun over simulation.

Foamstars is a vibrantly inventive take on the hero shooter and Splatoon, though the bubble will quickly burst for those who can’t gel with its floaty, fluid-based gunplay.

Look, I'm going to be honest with you, despite its flaws I still really like One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, it's just so far removed from what it feels like it could have been. There's a vast gulf between the unique ideas that make this feel special and the basic gaming stuff that it doesn't quite get right. It's a real shame because this could have been one of the best anime games to date.

It’s a shame that more time wasn’t spent on Gear.Club Unlimited 2 as there are a glimmer or two of hope amongst the horror. However, appalling loading times, terrible handling, and moronic computer AI all contribute to a racing game that rolls its way off the assembly line and straight into the scrapyard.

There are definitely plenty of similarities when comparing it to Pokémon, yet labelling Fossil Fighters Frontier as a clone would be perhaps a little too harsh. Its developers have made genuine attempts to spice up the JRPG blueprint with vehicles, mini-games, and other interesting features. However, many of these feel tacked on with no real impact on the overall experience.

Tamsoft may have upped the ante on a number of fronts, yet it’s the core gameplay where this sequel suffers most. It’s all well and good creating an offbeat world in which to put players, but Onechanbara is missing the depth to keep them there.

Unlike the invention of the wheel or the utilisation of fire, Caveman Warriors is hardly likely to revolutionise our world, but then it wasn’t intended too. Instead you get a solid and fun side scrolling platformer that harks back to the console classics of yesteryear. It’s gorgeous to look at, and whilst frustration can be caused with several technical issues, I nonetheless enjoyed my time with Caveman Warriors.

This child-friendly dungeon crawler has brief moments of brilliance, but descends too often into dull drudgery. Plus, for a game about flying a dragon, actually flying your dragon is a lead weight.

With its wonderful hand-drawn aesthetic Death or Treat looks like it should be fantastic. Never judge a video game by its visuals however, as those visual delights disguise a bland and repetitive roguelite. Death or Treat? More like Death or Trick.

With only a few hours of focussed gameplay, this is a little light on lasting appeal. Don't let that put you off though, Michael Jackson's music has a timeless quality and the presentation of this game is top notch.

Challenging but without the same painstaking depth as most fighting games, Griefhelm neatly distils the thrills of facing your opponent in a mortal melee. The campaign has some clever ideas to help extend longevity with multiplayer being a welcome addition, though the core gameplay can grow repetitive after a while. Still, it's a fun take on the genre and one that will hopefully grow and galvanise over time.

G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra is a total and complete waste of a classic license. Avoid the unrelenting pull of the nostalgia tractor beam and give this one a miss.

If you can overlook the somewhat unyielding game design and slump in visual quality, there's a satisfying strategy game to be found with hours of potential replay value. However, it's hard to ignore the fact that the Vita has an oustanding launch roster, most of which outweigh Army Corps of Hell in almost every aspect.

Gungrave G.O.R.E is a decent game. It's not the best shooter, but it is often very entertaining if just for the spectacle. It has a few issues, mostly in level design, and the story isn't particularly memorable, but there's plenty of fun to be had in chainsawing your enemies with a transforming coffin.

As an experiential piece of software, and one with a fantastic sense of place, Eclipse ticks a lot of PSVR boxes, but don’t be surprised to come away wanting for a bit more.

As someone with a lifelong soft spot for the medium-specific charm of video game glitches, Cyberpunk 2077’s botched launch just ain’t it. Even overlooking the rushed rollout, after an eternity of being bludgeoned in the face with hyperbole, running through 2077 feels like five different games stitched together into an entertaining, passably decent, generic behemoth.

Despite the flaws of Epic Mickey 2 I’ve found myself enjoying the game more than I would have thought. The story is charming enough to keep encouraging you through Oswald’s idling and the poor depth of field, with the Mad Doctor’s songs arguably the best moments of the game. The touch screen abilities don’t quite work and you’ll find yourself quickly reverting back to old fashioned buttons.

For all its flaws and lacklustre looks, you can tell that Phosphor were really onto something in the way it experimented with superpowers here. Given more time and resources – and without being weighed down by the Heroes license – the studio could have created a truly special comic book adventure.

It is difficult to recommend City of the Shroud. It offered so much but delivers very little.

Bloodshore is another great example of interactive movies that shows Wales Interactive shaping up to be the masters of the form. They have taken the core aspects that made the early Telltale adventure games so compelling and married them with well cast and decently acted stories. The depiction of game contestants with greedy or noble motivations while at the whims of mysterious overlords makes this an interesting counterpoint to the phenomenon that is Squid Game, Battle Royale, The Hunger Games.

Little Deviants is an easy game to like. It plays well, for the most part, looks nice and demonstrates what the Vita can do. It's just a shame that there's not more to it, and although the scope is there to replay beaten levels, I'm not entirely convinced you'd want to.

Fans will no doubt appreciate the new gameplay features but, as a whole, Mugen Souls Z feels too exclusive a game, even for a sequel. Its niche narrative focus and penchant for superficiality make it a hard sell for newcomers.

It's exactly what anyone would expect of a film tie in game. Functional but underwhelming. The smattering of effective ideas is eventually overwhelmed by mediocrity.

Gigantosaurus is exactly the kind of licensed tripe that made licensed games practically extinct in the first place. There’s the occasional glimpse of fun, but it’s hidden amongst a cretaceous tar pit of mundanity.

The story takes a weird turn in the third act which made it seem less like LocoRoco and more like Rise of the Planet of the Apes, making the game a somewhat strange and interesting experience despite the incredibly frustrating levels and annoying control issues.

Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhanced Edition does the bare minimum as it brings the game to consoles. It looks a bit better, but that's about it. It's still buggy and rough around the edges, but it is at least Neverwinter Nights 2. If you really want to sit back and play it with a controller, this will do it for you. If you want anything more, the original is more than playable on pretty much any PC, and has deep mod support.

Raiders has some interesting ideas, but slips in its execution. While the gunplay is solid and the graphics and voice acting are both good, the repetition of the missions combined with the need to replay them for what little character customisation there is quickly takes the shine from it all. What remains is a middling game that misses its potential.

Warplanes: WW2 Dogfight is a pretty decent aerial combat title with engaging battles and a bit of variety, but it also becomes repetitive quickly and the grinding nature when it comes to unlocking new planes is a bit too impeding. Perfect for those short bursts of gaming when you have little time.

Short and succinct, there’s nothing about Theseus I strongly disliked. That said, beyond the occasional picturesque moment, there isn’t a lot here worth shouting about either. It succeeds in bringing a brutal slice of mythology to life, but lacks the depth or impact of similar action adventure games, putting too much emphasis on style and presentation.

Although fans will appreciate Deep Silver bringing the series back from the dead, some will no doubt find themselves alienated by the amount of omissions and alterations found in Sacred 3. With that said, it’s still a competent game, even if a little too shallow for fans of the genre.

Fort Solis aims for big-budget horror but fails to deliver on all fronts. I don’t mind short games in the slightest, in fact, I welcome them, but Fort Solis felt like four hours of my life I will not get back. Unless you have money to throw away, you should probably give this one a miss.

Crossover games are nothing new to Bandai Namco or Shonen Jump, so it surprises and disappoints me to see that none of the good aspects or successful mechanics of these previous games made their way into Jump Force at all. Jump Force is a visual mess, It lacks the fun and charm that a wild crossover like this should embrace, and It's just a technical mess from top to bottom. Jump Force is a huge celebration of some of the most iconic manga in history, but it fails to do any of them justice.

Ultimately Behemoth is a good VR combat game that's a bit too easy, and with its impressively huge boss battles too few in number. Whilst the combat and exploration is enjoyable enough, the puzzling is too simple and, in a game about killing giants, you'd expect there to be a few more giants.

There’s a lot of depth to the combat and managing your party in Tears of Avia, whilst still remaining user friendly. However, while the effort put into the game's design can't be denied, it has a large amount of problems and rough edges. If you can get past the initial lacklustre visuals and pacing issues, Tears of Avia is a solid turn-based strategy world to explore.

Body of Evidence has a quirky premise for a game, but it doesn't live up to it. It gets repetitive very quickly and new mechanics just make the game more fiddly and in turn more of a chore, murdering your spare time.

It’s hardly complex and far from essential, but Lethal VR is a fun and polished romp while it lasts. Shelf life may be a concern, but the minimal setup time needed makes Lethal VR easy to slip into whenever in need of some brief ballistics training.

There are some great ideas in Perception, but the execution is somewhat lacking. Wandering around a haunted house with no vision should be a tense, methodical, creepy experience, but this game has a sprint button. You are given a lot of help to navigate and solve puzzles because if you did not have your sight and were trapped in a mansion with moving walls and keys to find you would be utterly helpless. This means the whole premise to the game quickly becomes pointless, which is a real shame.

In short sessions, preferably with other players, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in tearing through each level like a bull in a china shop. That said, the longer you play Dangerous Golf, the harder it becomes to overlook the game’s shortcomings. It’s a respectable debut from Three Fields, if one that doesn’t quite live up to its full potential.

Although barren, its gameplay systems operate well enough, going hand-in-hand with developer Swordtales’ minimalist approach. That said, mechanically, it fails to do anything that truly immerses players any more than the game’s pretty visuals.

A competent tactical combat game with an interesting setting that promises more but never realises it.

While Hardware Rivals is fun to play in chunks it gets repetitive quickly, and its great visual design isn’t enough to cover the cracks.

Deadly Premonition 2 feels like a step forward from the first game. It still has the same quirky and unusual humour, but this sequel brings with it improved combat and better visuals. It's a shame it's held back by poor performance on Nintendo Switch, but fans of the original are going to love Deadly Premonition 2, the city of Le Carrè and the story it has to tell.

Neptunia Virtual Stars is a great new direction for the series. It's weird and unexpected, but it's a breath of fresh-air compared to the familiar territory the last few games have been treading. There's a massive amount of love for vtuber culture in this game and it helps lift up the fun and refreshing story. It's a shame that the combat couldn't reach the same highs as the rest of the game, but while it's a major wrinkle, it doesn't ruin the entire experience. Any hardcore vtuber fan needs to play this game, and some clunky combat won't change that.

Verdun’s goal is an admirable one, to capture the feel of warfare on the Western Front, on occasions it manages to do that and be fun. The rest of the time, it’s an unintuitive slog. It might be a better game on PC, but on PlayStation 4, it’s almost certainly not going to be this year’s most fun or engaging WWI shooter.

Rise of the Slime ticks all the boxes of a bad game. Not only is it a roguelike that crashes regularly to ruin your run, but the game has little explanation of basic mechanics, too much variety in the deckbuilding for consistency, little meaningful longevity, and a poorly considered port to Switch. If you’re desperate to play it, get the PC release, but do yourself a favour and save your cash for your next run at a deckbuilder.

Recompile definitely isn't a perfect game – its combat and platforming have issues and it's easy to miss important things – but if you put the effort in, it's a rewarding and enjoyable experience with stunning visual and audio design and an interesting storyline.

At times, Ary and the Secret of Seasons can be a fun if not particularly memorable new action adventure game, but what will really stick in your mind are the various gamebreaking bugs you can stumble across. I would certainly wait a few seasons for patches before considering picking this up. There is the skeleton of an enjoyable family-friendly title here but it just isn’t ready.

As much as I wanted to fall in love with Submerged, it’s standing proof that a game needs more than good looks and a unique angle to win me over. With the ’emotional’ story-driven approach slowly receding from the frontline of gaming, I’m left craving fun and challenging experiences that have us do more than haplessly roam within the confines of a digital sandbox.

Tennis World Tour 2 is a solid all-round tennis game, and the inclusion of the wildcard system offers an additional and entertaining tactical layer to consider as you play. It's just a shame that some minor issues hold it back from being great.

Unless you are a big RPG fan who is desperate for a fix, then this title is certainly not good enough to warranty your attention. The fighting is tedious, the story is not well told and the menus are clunky and awkward.

Old Time Hockey is a slog that tries to masquerade as a pick up and play arcade hockey title. Throughout the main campaign you feel like you’re dictated to play in a particular way instead. The devs have done everything right with the presentation and the commentary yet slipped up in creating a fun game. Arcade hockey games from a decade ago, even two decades ago, laid the perfect foundations to build upon but it feels like the devs of Old Time Hockey wanted to dig those foundations upon and build a series of poorly signposted office blocks where the ice rink used to be.

Winter Ember begins feeling off and gets worse from there. The opening doesn't give you enough information to get you interested in the story and then the game itself spoils the fun that can be found in the stealth and stealing. It had potential and perhaps if you're a stealth purist then you can look past the poor combat and put up with the others, but it's undoubtedly a missed opportunity.

Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness retains very little of the heart and soul that made the anime and manga it's based on so appealing and engaging. There's a promising survival RPG campaign in the Deep in Abyss mode, hampered by some annoying game design decisions, but the fact that you're forced to trudge through a barebones adaptation of the anime in order to unlock it just makes a bad experience even worse.

If you’re a big fan of snow-based sports and don’t mind the dip-in and out feel, then give this a shot.

Predator: Hunting Grounds is a decent multiplayer romp with just enough content and ideas to make it worthwhile. It’s a huge improvement over Ifflonic’s last game, Dead Alliance, and one that’s definitely pumped up thanks to having a popular license to lean on.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 isn't an outright bad game, but it's also not a particularly good one. Taken on its own, it's a slightly above average first person shooter with a poor campaign, but in context, you can see how hurried and limited in scope this game really is. The multiplayer is effectively a classic map pack, Zombies and Open Combat Missions are game modes built within the existing Warzone map, and the campaign's pacing and story come up short. It all adds up to a lacklustre experience and even a sense that Call of Duty is at risk of losing its identity.

Table Top Tanks really isn't the killer app for AR gaming, but to say it's a disappointment would be unfair. Despite being simplistic in most respects and offering little replay incentive, it also happens to be one of the cheapest games available on the Playstation Store at a surprising £1.59.

Run Like Hell! offers a good amount of content here for players – the main Story Mode took around 2 hours to get through and of course the Arcade and Online modes will go on for as long as you want to play them. I wouldn’t recommend this title to everyone, but if you’re looking for a smaller game to play in short bursts or if you’re a fan of the runner genre, then this is probably worth checking out.

Whilst never breaking any new ground, MUD offers a good chunk of challenging content, coupled with an official licence and solid online mode. It won't convert those who have never played Motocross before, and it does have a few issues, but fans will find lots to like.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures is a pretty big disappointment for me. As a fan of the series for most of my life, a portable, fully fledged, modern version of the game on a portable console is a dream, but that isn't what this is. This casual approach is too dumbed down for it to be fun for more than a few hours. With the rollercoaster building being so awful, it's difficult to recommend even for casual users, but it might work as something to distract from the drudgery of a bus ride.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint should be the breaking point for Ubisoft's open world design by committee. There's an entertaining experience buried somewhere under the bloat and I had some fun at times in the game – I love infiltrating bases, but everything surrounding that is a pain. Maybe, just maybe, not every game needs to be open world? Maybe not every game needs a gear score? Sometimes simplicity is key.

Arkane Austin should never be underestimated for putting their own spin on a genre, with Redfall offering enough surprises and memorable moments so far to set it apart from the open-world crowd. [Review in Progress]

It's not going to change the world and the fact that it's one player at once is a real shame, but it's highly likely to get the grandparents giggling like kids, and, to be honest, when you're buying a game like Start The Party, that's all you can ask for.

The relatively unique Georgian setting and the brewing civil war are all but set aside for a by the numbers story of revenge and betrayal, while Jon isn’t a very likeable protagonist. The various bugs and crashes also need to be addressed in future patches, as they can ruin the experience. Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 has the sniping down to a tee, which should be expected with the number of years CI has been working on the series, but the surrounding package could be better.

Although very enjoyable in small doses, Table Top Racing: World Tour doesn’t carry quite enough substance to make it past the finish line with flying colours.

Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventures isn’t a terrible game, but it is so old fashioned and average that it is difficult to recommend. If you have kids of the right age range and find it on sale, then it's fun enough. The lack of a movie to tie into leads to a particularly weak story that feels like it's tacking on a license instead of a genuine entry in the Ice Age series. Scrat may find his nut, but I was left unsatisfied by a functional but mediocre tie in.

While there is some interest here for fans of cosmic horror and an atmospheric opening setting, The Shore is difficult to recommend for the frustrating second half.

It's not a technical showcase by any means, but The Incredible Hulk is a decent enough game for Marvel fans and we can't deny that we had some fun with the physics; Hulk's later powers can be devastating. But when you've leveled the same building five times and caused 10 car pile-ups the fun wears thin.

VR Ping Pong VR's inconsistent physics are a constant issue that stops you from ever feeling comfortable whilst playing, as at any moment something might behave oddly. Add a few bugs, missing or poorly implemented arcade modes, and multiplayer that's already lifeless and it's difficult to recommend the game. Once it's been updated, if all you want is a very pretty ping pong game, this might do the job.

What Jedi Power Battles really needed was a remake, not a remaster, so that the gameplay could be brought up to something worth playing in this decade. If you want to be a Jedi these days there are way, way better options out there.

There isn't a website on the planet that knows the particular politics behind some of the changes to what appeared to be an exceptionally promising shooter, but it's turned out to be a real stinker: Haze is as average as beans on toast, and the biggest disappointment is that it didn't have to be.

The Amazing Spider-Man on Vita is at heart a good game, with all of the content of the home console versions available to you on the move. However the technical flaws and shortcomings that occur could potentially diminish your enjoyment depending on your outlook on such things.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is an ambitious addition to the Elite formula that doesn’t quite hit the highs it should. It instead serves as a preview of what the game may be like in 6 or 12 months from now, and is hard to recommend as it currently is. Personally? I’d wait and see how Frontier Developments improves the game. Let’s face it, there’s still plenty to explore in Horizons.

But you’ll find that behind the bad animation and dodgy plot is a game that has sound ideas at its core.

In spite of its occasional frustrations, Ninjamurai is one of the most compelling PSP games released this year. The fact that it's a Minis game, at that price point, just make it all the more enticing.

Those wanting a great squad-based shooter or a truly essential Warhammer 40,000 game will have to keep searching. At a glance, Deathwing seems like a solid adaptation and it nails that distinctive Space Hulk look and atmosphere, but there’s just not enough variety or depth to keep players engaged beyond those first few encounters.

The VR Pool at the heart of this is great, and the other games are fun to try out as well, but your fondest memories will be of pushing the game’s limits and seeing what shenanigans you can get up to.

Bright Memory is a rare good-bad game that's enjoyable partly because of its oddities and flaws, but there's signs that its sequel Bright Memory Infinite could actually just be good.

I’m certainly eager to see where nDreams take us to next, as they hone their craft in developing for virtual reality, but The Assembly is sadly just a first step on that journey. It does some interesting things, with a nicely constructed story split between two characters and contrasting styles of gameplay, and it gets the controls right for first person exploration in VR, but without that, it would struggle to stand out from the crowd. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Akiba’s Beat is a bad game, but it’s an even worse sequel. So many aspects of the previous game, Akiba’s Trip, are abandoned or watered down in this title, from the downgraded graphics, to the lack of customization, the poor characters, and more. Akiba’s Beat abandons it’s roots, instead trying so desperately to fill shoes far too big for it. Like the Chinese knockoff Transformers toys in my local deli, Akiba’s Beat attempts to emulate many big franchise without the budget, skill, or style of any of them.

Cast of the Seven Godsends will find its audience among those wanting that Ghouls n’ Ghosts experience, but in its current state it is largely unplayable thanks to the frame-rate working against you all the time.

It’s a real shame that the first Touhou game to officially come out overseas is Touhou Genso Rondo. It really doesn’t capture the appeal or the magic of the mainline Touhou series, and there are plenty of other fan-games in vastly different genres that are at least much more mechanically polished than this one. Touhou Genso Rondo is a mild disappointment for fans of the series, but despite the broad marketing efforts of NIS America, it should simply be absolutely avoided by newcomers.

On initial appearance Dusty Raging Fist looked like everything I wanted from a game, but that just goes to show you should never judge an anthropomorphic 2D side scrolling beat ’em up platformer by its gorgeous anime graphics. Unresponsive combat, atrocious platforming and game breaking bugs, crashes and frame rate issues ensures that Dusty and his cohort will soon be gathering dust on player’s shelves.

Limited tools aside, the construction process is the best thing the game has going for it, while the multiplayer just seems to play second fiddle; there’s too much focus on the creation and not enough on making the game fun. I’m sure they’ll add things to it, but the progression is just a tad on the frustrating side.

I have no doubt that those who are into motocross and its associated sports will get some kicks out of MX vs ATV All Out and its numerous modes and racers, but it does come across as a cash-grab with poor graphics and performance on Switch. If you’re simply looking for a racing game to play on the go, look elsewhere.