New arcade racers have been few and far between over the last half decade, and Gravel is just one attempt to reignite the genre. There’s some good racing to be found here, with plenty of licensed cars to take through some lovely scenery, but it doesn’t get your heart pounding with excitement. Gravel might be a fairly decent racer, but its biggest sin is that, despite the fireworks and exotic locations, it’s just a bit boring.

While we would have preferred to see an adaptation of the grunnier 90s tabletop game, Necromunda: Underhive Wars is still a thorough, faithful adaptation of a Games Workshop classic. Its strategic skirmishing gameplay can prove rewarding, but it's clunky and gets bogged down by technical issues and stodgy pacing. Necromunda fans will delight in being able to create their own Underhive mob though casual fans of the genre may want to stay clear if they’re not particularly fussed about Warhammer 40K.

Despite it’s flaws, I still found Need for Speed: Payback quite a likeable arcade racer. Just having a narrative sets it apart from the other, more serious offerings this year, even if it’s not delivered with much panache. Sadly its attractive visuals, and alternate take on the genre, can’t disguise a gamut of poor design decisions, some of which serve to make the enjoyable racing less than enjoyable.

Sonic Superstars is a decent Sonic game, but it is not the return to former heights that some would expect. It offers entertainment and fun, but is marred by the action being slowed down quite a lot, interrupting the flow, and boss fights that drag on and feel like a throwback instead of an evolution.

Structurally, Blaster Master Zero is a significant step forward for the franchise, but provided you are actively avoiding getting hit, the game is just too easy. Mildly more interesting when driving around in a tank than gunning down mutants on foot, it’s probably a great entry point to the series for more inexperienced gamers. It’s just a shame that this reintroduction doesn’t provide much of a challenge.

I am left conflicted with Hotel Barcelona. It absolutely oozes the kind of style you’d expect its leading creators and there is real potential in the setting and story, but the actual game just isn’t that fun to play. The clunky controls stand out against the many similar action platformers and the multiple currencies make upgrades an unwelcome grind. I can’t help but think the story would be better suited to an anime rather than its current form. It’s worth a look if you can see past the jank (and many longtime fans of Swery and Suda51 are well used to that) but its shortcomings make this a booking you might regret.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins - Visions of Four Heroes galvanises the rebirth of a fan favourite franchise that had started to show signs of fatigue. The expansion helps to further expand the story through additional character perspectives while supercharging the hack n’ slash gameplay with new features. However, with the DLC costing almost as much as the core game on some platforms, it's a tough sell, only suitable for those die-hard DW heads who simply can’t wait for a sequel.

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.

It’s not a taxing game by any means, but the asynchronous flow and bold unusual will rub against common multiplayer mindset.

Detective Pikachu is a deceptively small game with simple cases and not a heck of a lot else. As someone whose detective itch is usually scratched by the Phoenix Wright games, this felt like solving the really easy introduction cases in each, rather than challenging logic and reason. It certainly has the presentation chops, but the people who’ll get the most out of Detective Pikachu are diehard Pokémon fans and younger gamers.

Conway is a solid detective game that ticks a lot of the right boxes and fulfils standard sleuthing expectations. It leans well into the crotchety-old-protagonist stereotype which more often than not creates an interesting tension between Conway and his ensemble cast of neighbors, as well as with you as a player. It’s not tremendously challenging in terms of hard solves, but it’s more about the journey. You could do worse than spend 10 hours immersed in the small and all too human miseries of Dahlia View.

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.

There's a satisfying strategy experience to be had here though one that comes with quite the learning curve. Even once you have a grip on the basics, tangling with ROTK's new grid-based system and overall pacing can often put a few awkward steps between you executing your next cunning plan.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves struggles not only to understand what it wants to be, but which audience it wants to be for. While the game can be a sweat-inducing treat at its highest level of play, casual gamers might not get a lot out of it and the bevy of distracting guest characters and stage song composers in the game make it hard to see the title for its own merits.

Hungry Giraffe is a fun game. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a compulsive, replayable game in which you'll always be aiming to beat your high score. If it were an expanded game, it would be much better, though for what it is – a minis title – it manages to do what it set out to.

Lara’s original trilogy has been lovingly restored with the launch of these remasters, offering a definitive collection that bundles the core games and their expansions. However, dusting off these old relics in the name of nostalgia may come with a nasty surprise. Don’t worry, there are no mummy curses, snake pits, or swinging pendulum axes, though the clunky controls will definitely take some getting used to (again).

Monster Truck Championship bravely tries something new and very nearly succeeds. The movement of the trucks is difficult at first, yet ultimately rewarding, but what's built around the driving is sparse and unimaginative. I could see this developing into a fun sequel that rewards patience, but this first effort is a little rough around the edges.

Phoenix Point is a good try at capturing some of that XCOM magic, but it falls short of being great. I found myself enjoying the experience, but at the same time, couldn’t help feel that something was missing. Hopefully it’s something that can improve in a sequel, if it ever comes.

Hellboy: Web of Wyrd will delight fans with its visuals and Mignola-certified tale, but its roguelike nature and slow combat don't make the most of the source material.

There are moments in Gauntlet: Slayer Edition that shine. Whether it’s successfully taking out a room full of enemies with your three co-op partners or, even better, single-handedly, because your friends already died and now they owe you a debt. These are the moments that people will play for despite its repetitive nature, but that repetition is ultimately the deal-breaker and the other issues only serve to reinforce that there are other games in the genre that do it better.

Beyond Galaxyland shows a lot of potential and has a very good battle system in it. Unfortunately, it is let down by bugs, some poor platforming, and racing. The bugs can be addressed in patches, but a bit more focus and refinement would have helped elevate this experience.

No Place For Bravery has some real strong points and I really enjoyed the story in particular, but they're counterbalanced by weaker elements within the combat that meant I wasn't really excited by the whole package. It's a decent effort that will kill a few hours, but not much more than that.

The combat system remains completely untouched since Samurai Warriors 4 and for all its minor tweaks and nuances, time’s running out for this ageing brand of battlefield action. Even long-time fans will agree that, after being pulled in just about every direction, the series desperately needs to move on. No pressure, then, Dynasty Warriors 9.

Silver Chains feels like an homage to every popular horror game and film. While this isn't necessarily a negative, I feel like the potential and individuality of the game was lost amidst the references and tropes, making it feel forgettable. If you have a love for horrors, then I believe you’ll thoroughly enjoy Silver Chains, but I’m not so sure you’ll remember it.

There’s a calming sense of satisfaction to be had from Bus Simulator, though you’ll have to work for it. This is the very definition of a slow burner - it’s deliberately repetitive in a way that will irk most gamers, yet caters perfectly to a specific niche.

The lack of balance between platforming and tower defence coupled with a handful of under-featured game modes and unstable online multiplayer prevent it from being a "must have."

NIER is far from perfect – in fact, it's decidedly below average at times – but for every sloppy design decision or hackneyed rehash there are charming and often unique aspects that are worth the investment.

While it gets plenty of the fundamentals of right, the dimension hopping, character roster and some of the extra modes don't quite stick the landing. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds isn’t the best karting game out there, and thirteen years on from Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, it’s not even the best karting game with a blue hedgehog in it.