Ultimately SWORD ART ONLINE: Alicization Lycoris takes too long to get to the point both in its combat and story, leaving the player disinterested before it even really begins. There is a good game here if you do commit to it, with some great character and world design, enjoyable combat, and interesting game systems, but it’s just not worth the slog to reach it.

While Road Redemption does have its issues, it did more than enough to keep me playing. Following in the tracks of Road Rash, it nails that one more go feeling that you can lose so much time to. However, while the core gameplay is entertaining, the surrounding package could have been better with basic online and and a roguelite structure that some may find uninspired. Road Redemption is a mixed bag that is fun to play, but it could have been so much better.

Most people probably won’t mind Lost Sphear’s nostalgia tinted approach to game design, but there’s surprisingly little to write home about. Despite a rather intriguing premise, the characters come across a tad too bland, while the quest itself is too linear. It’s hard to knock it too much, but after the thoughtful journey at the heart of I Am Setsuna, this is a pretty average showing and certainly not a fresh take on the JRPG.

After years and years of waiting, Test Drive Unlimited is back. Kind of. Solar Crown is an open world racer for gamers who don't need constant gratification, but can be patient and work toward a key unlock and crowning car. It's just a shame that the game at launch will require patience while KT Racing fix, improve and hopefully expand it to meet more of its potential.

It feels as though Creat are trying to emulate the success of PopCap with Germinator, but they can’t quite get there. It’s simply not as addictive, fun or as well presented as any of PopCap’s titles, no matter how hard it tries. Still, there are a few good features and if you’re a fan of the bubble popping genre this provides a unique twist on the classic formula along with a bit of a challenge.

From the vibrant visuals and the pitch perfect 70s cop theme to the fast and snappy buddy cop action, LA Cops has a lot of great ideas, but hasn’t really done enough with them.

There's much to love about Sparklite, and it's clearly been a passion project for the small development team, but my overall experience was a frustrating one. It's hamstrung by its half-formed and unnecessarily repetitive roguelite structure that undermines the positives of the aesthetic and challenging boss fights. A good roguelite gets better and more complex with repetition, but Sparklite just increasingly overstays its welcome.

Although the gameplay mechanics are solid, there is no challenge whatsoever even on the highest difficulty setting.

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.

Outriders juggles some truly captivating ideas for the looter shooter genre, yet fails to deftly execute them. While it succeeds in combining traditional third person shooting with rewarding dungeon crawling, its messy matchmaking, repetitive mission design, and a dull sci-fi story hold People Can Fly back from delivering to their fullest potential.

For those who aren’t too hot on their strategy role playing games, however, Natural Doctrine is a risk, yet one still worth taking if you’re looking for something testing and out-of-the-norm.

A functional but disappointing experience.

Gal Metal has some great ideas, but fails to execute them soundly. It tries to break the mould of rhythm games by giving players more agency over how they play. There’s a big difference between removing the training wheels and removing the headlight though, and with a lack of proper guidance and feedback on what the player is doing, Gal Metal feels more like cycling in the dark than it ought to. Charming characters and a cute story redeem the package somewhat, but it’s still a bit of a chore to play through the music segments between those narrative beats.

It’s Quiz Time has all the basics of a good quiz game, and can be plenty of fun with a group of friends. However, the host is unlikeable, rude and annoying, and you’ll be doing everything you can to give her as little screen time as possible, while the accuracy and difficulty of some of the questions can rob some rounds of their enjoyment.

Bye Sweet Carole is a curate’s egg of a game, with the presentation being truly superb and the storytelling excellent, but the bulk of the game experience just isn’t fun. The frustrating platforming and stealth, combined with the review build being quite buggy, led to me finishing the game with gritted teeth rather than enjoyment. The bugs can be fixed (and the devs are working on patches) but the imbalance between the two gameplay styles is a more fundamental issue. If you can see past this then the game has a lot to offer in terms of aesthetic and story but, ironically, these can be enjoyed through watching a playthrough without subjecting yourself to the frustration.

A fun and very well-balanced game with great potential but it is let down by a repetitive stunt mechanic and a scarcity of content.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is a small-scale affair, both in terms of technical scope and dramatic themes, when compared to its award-winning inspirations. It’s not especially memorable but it has just enough warmth and wit to get you through a spare Sunday afternoon.

Criticising a party game like Infinite Minigolf feels a bit like kicking a puppy with cute, big eyes that’s super enthusiastic and just wants to be your friend, but I must. Infinite Minigolf lacks the gameplay variety and polish to take it to the top of the party tower. It’s mostly solid and dependable fun, but it only really comes to life in local multiplayer, so just don’t buy this game if you haven’t got any friends who like to visit.

The major issue here is one of expectations; Pacific Rift falls well short of them. Motorstorm was a stellar introduction to the PS3 and the sequel feels like a watered-down, consumer-friendly game that doesn’t add up to the sum of its parts. If you’re looking for an arcade racer there’s more on the market than back in March 2007, and many of these have made advances while Pacific Rift is stuck in Motorstorm’s beautifully realised mud.

Going into Sniper: Ghost Warrior with fairly low expectations, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised. Despite some of the heavy-handed mechanics and under-developed online portion there is still an enjoyable experience to be had.

The Witcher: Monster Slayer is a slow grind that feels like it's still in beta. It's not refined enough to take the augmented reality crown from Pokémon Go, but with a lot of polish, we could one day have a new AR game for those who want something a little more grown-up than Pokémon.

There are definitely some much-needed additions that come with the Isle of Armor, but it still feels as though it's the least amount of content possible. I love Pokémon, but this expansion has left me feeling a little bit cold on the whole thing. There's fun to be had, but unless you're committed to catching 'em all or grinding every Pokémon up to a competitive standard, it won't last very long.

While I enjoyed playing Faeria, and will continue to enjoy playing it, the laggy gameplay and required internet connection creates enough friction for me to know that I won’t be playing for hours on end. It’s a fairly decent game, but with its flaws on Nintendo Switch I don’t think it’s going to be a classic CCG anytime soon.

Compared to recent attempts to try and revive the on-rails genre, Blue Estate probably comes out on top. The DualShock 4 serves as a perfect replacement for PlayStation Move and, when paired with intuitive mechanics and stylised visuals, makes for a solid downloadable title.

Madden 24 takes some big steps forwards in terms of the underpinning technology, and it continues to play a good game of American football. For all those steps taken technically, it feels as those the rest of the game has stayed firmly in place, and there are far too many bugs to hinder the experience at launch.

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.

Thymesia is a game that show’s the developer’s potential, but doesn’t reach the heights of its opening promise. While the combat is fast paced and fun, it is marred by hitbox and timing issues, and the story and lore lack depth to draw you into the mystery of Thymesia.

Hellclock is a solid game that offers something new to both the roguelike and Diablo genres but may not have the wider appeal of titles such as Hades due to its focus on min-maxing and DPS over skill. The confused approach of offering game modes that actively undermine the title’s central gameplay mechanic, and the current performance issues in the latter stages, are real negatives but the first can be avoided and the second is being worked on. If the idea of a roguelike Path of Exile appeals, then Hellclock may well be the game for you.