We’re in danger of making Strike Force 2 - Terrorist Hunt on Xbox sound so bad that you might want to buy it. There’s some truth in that, but the laughs are all in the first level. The rest of Strike Force’s routine is re-tellings of the same joke, and for £15 you could get more from buying a whoopee cushion and burning the remaining tenner. Undoubtedly, there are people who have completed the COD campaign and are looking around for the next shot of military head-shottage, but you need Strike Force 2 like a hole in your own.

60 Parsecs! on Xbox is a game that is easy to pick up and easy to come back to. The mechanics are great, comedy is woven into all of the writing, and each playthrough feels different enough where the experience doesn’t just feel like a repeat of the last. If you want a space-themed survival comedy that can easily pass the time, then do yourself a favor and get 60 Parsecs.

60 Seconds! Reatomized on Xbox is a fun, challenging game, but it lacks the refinement it needs to make it a great game. If you like the post-apocalyptic aesthetic though and are in the mood for a dark comedy survival game, then this isn’t the worst choice in the world.

If you’re in the market for a new horror title, and just so happen to love a puzzle or two, I’d highly recommend you spend some time with DARQ: Complete Edition on Xbox. The main game with added DLC brings together a decent chunk of gameplay for the price, and whilst it’s not a huge game the Complete Edition seems to deliver exactly what is required.

When The Past Was Around on Xbox is an alluring point-and-click adventure featuring a wonderfully told tale exploring the highs and lows of love. You’ll no doubt feel for Eda while attempting to understand her suffering as well as the moments she’ll never forget. Yes, it’s sad at times, but also heartwarming and charming. Thanks to the puzzles, it’s very engaging too, with a real sense of achievement garnered from solving them.

Autumn’s Journey on Xbox isn’t long, bombastic or even particularly interactive, but it is a well-crafted visual novel that endears you to its characters. Expect nothing more than a fantastical short story with a hint of romance, and you’ll be on track for a couple of hours of swooning entertainment.

Car Demolition Clicker for Xbox is a cheap way to pass the time and it’s hard to grumble about a game that lets you annihilate vehicles till your heart’s content. But grumble I shall, with a targeted damage feature that’s flawed from the outset and a fairly pointless New Game+ style reset offering little incentive. Fortunately, wrecking cars is enjoyable, with a decent range of upgradable weapons in your arsenal and a welcome support system of drones to give those fingers a rest.

Panzer Dragoon: Remake on Xbox is very much a product of its time, but give it a chance and it will grow on you. The challenge of keeping your dragon alive and kicking to the end of the level is a tricky one, and the desire is always there to go back and do better on the level than you have before, especially on hard mode.

Roundout by POWGI on Xbox by Lightwood Games is another successful and unique word puzzle game, and this time provides a decent challenge in comparison with others. It is still a little light on features – a problem across all three titles – but due to the nature of it, having a crossword-type puzzle up on the main screen of the house can offer interaction between family members.

The world and atmosphere of Goetia on Xbox is something to love. It's a very cerebral, clever, and originally designed point and click adventure. The story and writing are excellent throughout and the puzzles are both interesting and unique. I do however think that it can all become needlessly complicated at times and you really do have to think outside the box in order to find some of the solutions.

Whilst improvements have been made to overall presentation and data analytics in Madden NFL 21 NXT LVL Edition on Xbox Series X|S, this remains largely the same disappointing entry. It is severely hampered by shallow game modes such as The Yard, Superstar KO, Class Franchise and Face of the Franchise. In the months since the initial release these could have been fleshed out, but the only major update comes in the form of Next Gen Stats.

On Xbox, Oniria Crimes’ greatest successes are in the rich world it’s created, and the uniqueness of interrogating the crime scene to come to a conclusion. But neither are enough: the experience tumbles into a nightmare, as poor controls, bemusing design decisions and bugs overwhelm everything.

Empire of Sin has a lot going for it: a jazzy soundtrack, a lovely idea and a nice map. But at present, it is far less than the sum of its ambitious parts and falls short in a highly frustrating fashion.

10tons have managed to recreate that feeling of running out of time, surrounded on all sides, and even sometimes fares better than many games in recent memory. While Tesla Force on Xbox is lacking in variety, especially upon repeat playthroughs, what it does have to offer has continuously dragged me back in for more.

Habroxia on Xbox is an average game which is reasonably priced. It winds up being a pedestrian affair which, whilst offering some thrills in its couple of hours of gameplay, never quite manages to live up to those which inspired it.

While Shady Part of Me doesn’t quite reach the heights of a Limbo, Inside or Little Nightmares, it more than belongs in that illustrious group of puzzle platformers. For a game that arrived with little hype or fanfare, it’s a welcome and unexpected light at the end of a dark 2020.

Despite the handful of drawbacks, Landflix Odyssey is still a pretty fun journey into the realm of streaming services and it’s worth a punt if you’re interested in any of the shows parodied.

Mørkredd on Xbox is hugely enjoyable in co-op, delivering a delightful game full of mystery, magic, and wonder, complete with puzzles that test both your brain and your friendship. In the single player it’s a little more of a struggle though. My advice? Grab a buddy and play the wonderful Mørkredd right now - It’s both challenging and unique.

If you’ve been waiting for Brain Training on the Xbox, Professor Rubik’s Brain Fitness delivers exactly on those terms. It’s fully featured and well presented, with tasks that stretch your brain to its limits, even more so than Dr Kawashima’s did. There may be a hole at the centre of the cube where a personality or identity should be, but for the puzzle enthusiasts who want to keep their brain limber, this is ideal, cubed.

Microtransactions and frustrating matchmaking issues aside, Rogue Company on Xbox Series X|S is thoroughly enjoyable. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s so snappy, action-packed, and easy to get into that I regularly convince myself to play just one more game over and over.

Despite the host of new features and ideas, Yakuza: Like a Dragon on Xbox is still quintessentially a Yakuza title. The humour is still here, as are the plot twists on plot twists, and of course the karaoke, which all add up to make it one of the stronger ‘launch’ titles on the Xbox Series X|S. There is a noticeable graphical improvement over previous titles on the Xbox One too; Ijincho is a gorgeous addition to the city roster and returning cities have never looked better.

Who said that single player games were dead? Call of the Sea on Xbox was made for Game Pass: a fantastic story stunningly told, full of well-pitched puzzles, with almost zero replayability. It’s one of 2020’s most surprising genre-reboots, taking Myst and transplanting in a heart, and we’re all for it. You’d do well to buy a ticket to its shores.

NBA 2K21 Next Generation on Xbox Series X is a great addition to an already packed amount of content. It’s visually more stunning than anything that has come before it, with a complete sheen to the gameplay and stunning work in how the players move and react. Everything is just topped off by some amazing work in the audio department.

While the Pokemon structure gives Duck Life Adventure on Xbox some joy and depth, the rest betrays its roots as a mobile game. You’ll be tapping the A button repeatedly in countless casual minigames, all in the name of grinding up levels. Before long, realisation will dawn that you could be doing something, anything else, rather than succumb to its yawning emptiness. Unless you’re a Duck Life fan, it’s best to duck this one.

Wildfire on Xbox is bursting with ideas, and there is a deceptively deep stealthy adventure on offer. Sometimes the pacing can feel off, but once you get your head around it, there’s plenty to enjoy here.

It might seem like I have had very little positive to say about Brawl Chess - Gambit on Xbox, but that’s because it enables players of all ages to play chess, and that’s about it. There are better options out there for the avid player, which makes this very hard to recommend. Don't let the funky visuals fool you: what's on offer here is a skirmish as opposed to a brawl.

In a way, the soundtrack for Katamari Damacy REROLL on Xbox is a pretty good interpretation of the game itself. It’s eclectic, fun, weird and charming but perhaps a little antiquated when looking at it now. With better technology, this could lead us to a great sequel, but for now it’s just a short, pleasant experience.

Twin Mirror on Xbox is a good game, if a little inconsistent. It's not the best adventure game out there, but for fans of the genre, it's still a solid experience. For those who aren't as keen on the genre, nothing here is going to change your mind. Still, this is a good experience with a gripping story, some great characters, decent gameplay and moments of brilliance. It's just held back by some unfortunate issues, and the shadow of its better Dontnod adventure siblings.

For fans of games like Overcooked!, Out of Space: Couch Edition on Xbox will likely hit a sweet spot, though there are question marks about the game’s longevity as there’s a limit to how many houses you can be bothered to clean up. There’s not really a campaign as such, but you do get to unlock new things each time you play and progress.

In many ways My Universe – My Baby on Xbox just feels like a tutorial that never ends and you’ll end up repeating activities far too often; activities which aren’t even that good in the first place. It’ll only last you a few hours maximum, proving there’s not much longevity here either, but the mini-games do occur one after the other to ensure there isn’t any unnecessary downtime.

Mad Tower Tycoon on Xbox is an entertaining and addictive sim game that can well be enjoyable for a good few hours, particularly once you get to grips with the control system. However, the asking price may well place it out of reach of many, and I would suggest sim fans give this a go when it drops in price a little.

If you want an easy 1000 Gamerscore and you have an hour or two to kill, then More Dark on Xbox might be a game worth picking up. It’s nothing special but it’s not an entirely miserable experience. Everything works fine, and at this point in time that’s more than can be said for some triple-A games.

With no properly new features, just new songs, Just Dance 2021 doesn’t come across as a completely new game - just an expansion pack to the previous one. Saying that, the new songs do show a better range of genres than the previous couple of titles and the free month of Just Dance Unlimited means that there is something to get everyone dancing over the festive season.

Unturned on Xbox is very much a game of two halves. If you go into it looking for a challenging survival game, and you aren’t too worried about polish, or lack thereof, there is fun to be had here. Staying alive is hard, and keeping healthy is even harder. However, it’s not going to be for everyone, as the lack of explanation about the mechanics of the game soon becomes tiresome.

Micetopia on Xbox is a cute platformer that doesn’t dare to try anything new, difficult or deep. It’s what happens when you cut all the flab from a Metroidvania and then keep on cutting. It feels bad to dunk on such a harmless little game, but your money really is best spent elsewhere.

Sleepin’ Deeply on Xbox is attempting to be funny with the main character being a drunk and the level designs being as wacky as they are, but for me it’s just not humorous; a bumbling alcoholic walking around burping and mopping up poop just doesn’t do it for me. But you may find that stuff hilarious, and if you do then Sleepin’ Deeply might be just the game for you.

You’ll emerge from John Wick Hex on the Xbox bruised and a little scarred, but ultimately satisfied. It ambushes you with more randomness than you might like and then kicks you while you’re down, but you’ll dust yourself off and get into a flow that makes you feel like a badass. It may not be the game you expected from the John Wick universe, but it’s got enough peaks to make it worth a shot.

Just put down the ball and walk away from Handball 21; unless you’re super curious, then possibly grab it at a sale price.

One Word by POWGI on Xbox is another clever take on a classic puzzle idea, and improves on Word Sudoku by giving the words you are looking for a bit more meaning as you try to complete the famous quotes. Once again, if you are looking for a word puzzle with a bit of something extra, plenty of good puns or just easy Gamerscore, One Word by POWGI easily fits all three criteria.

Warhammer: Chaosbane Slayer Edition on Xbox Series X is a game that will appease its fanbase massively. With this new updated version everything feels great to play and is extremely good to look at. There is a whole load of content all packaged together, and even though a single adventurer may find repetition coming to the fore, those who can find like-minded fans to join them will discover this to be a blast.

I, AI on Xbox is a decently accomplished shooter that will happily whisk away a few hours of your life. It’s well-priced, it delivers a decent little challenge, and even though the grind is real, for the most part that is okay. If you are looking for something to fill a Sky Force gap, this could well be the vertical scrolling shooter for you.

Losing yourself in Haven on the Xbox is a sedate joy. You can wile away hours, clearing Rust from the world and pocketing alien produce. Then it’s back to the Nest for a night’s kip and one of the more endearing romantic relationships in video games. But as you skim across the surface of the Source, you’ll be left wishing that Haven could have trusted you a little more, and let you dive deeper into its shallow systems. It may not quite reach the heights of its inspirations, then, but Haven is an alien holiday that might just blow your troubles away.

Should you be in the market for a fun puzzler that never takes itself seriously, PHOGS! on Xbox is the game for you. It works well as a solo experience, but goes up a level when split across two players, whether they be sofa or online-based. A few issues crop up from time to time but for the majority of the playthrough Red and Blue are two of the most well-behaved doggos you could ever wish to meet. You’ll most certainly want to give these two dogs a bone.

With instantly gratifying multiplayer game types and also a substantial single player mode to top it off, Ponpu combines entertaining gameplay with an excellent stylistic presentation like very few games can.

Nine Witches: Family Disruption on Xbox doesn’t reinvent the graphic-adventure wheel, and you won’t find it on any end-of-year lists. What it does do, though, is tell a spooky, kooky story, tickle your ribs as it does it, and wrap it all in a frustration-free experience. Having saved the world with them, we’d happily follow Alexei and Akiro to other supernatural jaunts.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat on Xbox is one offering that will satisfy your appetite, thanks to the wealth of content on offer. It’s a hugely entertaining bundle of games that, despite the occasional niggles, will see you coming back for seconds, and thirds, and fourths…

Did I have fun with Towaga: Among Shadows on Xbox? Yes. Do I wish that there was more to it? Even bigger yes. The alternate game modes and unlockable spells all feel pointless, and the story is lacking in many ways. Yet, despite these flaws, I couldn’t put the game down. Though it doesn’t feel like it lives up to its true potential, Towaga: Among Shadows is a unique shooter that I hope to see more of in the future.

Wunderling on Xbox is a fun little puzzle platformer, and even if you’re not too blown away by its bite-sized casual platforming action, then the rest of the presentation will be something that genre fans will appreciate and enjoy.

Speed 3: Grand Prix on Xbox promises an exciting concept that it simply fails to provide. The main Tournament mode doesn’t offer much longevity, the actual gameplay is a messy affair – although not in the way it’s intended – and it lacks any sort of fun factor.

Having already established itself as one of the best fighting games of the previous generation, in its upgraded form Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate on Xbox looks set to wear that crown into the new generation of consoles. The combat is some of the best in the genre, and you can make your favourite character – from the generous offering of 37 – completely your own with the amount of customisation options.

Chronos is simply a good, not great, hardcore action-RPG – one that is a little too light on features.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on Xbox you get a hell of a lot of game for your money. It’s a game in which you could easily spend hundreds of hours in, and then you can throw Warzone on top. It's a great package and one that provides a thoroughly enjoyable campaign, a deep multiplayer mode, and tons of the usual Call of Duty theatrics.

If you haven’t had a chance to play the original, this is the perfect time, but if you have previously played and liked it, and can’t see yourself going back, this won’t change your mind. Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition on Xbox is, quite frankly, the best way to play the game - but it won’t convince you to part ways with your funds if you were lukewarm on the original.

Esports Life Tycoon gets off to a flyer on Xbox thanks to a great array of customisation options, ensuring the branding and players are how you want them to be. In fairness, the gameplay is nice and relaxing too, but just becomes repetitive due to the everyday life and matches being so samey. The wheels come off when the crashes, sluggish inputs and awkward menus start to grind on you. And don’t even bother with the buggy Challenges, for they’ll almost instantly disappoint.

Liftoff: Drone Racing on Xbox is a Gordian knot of a game. Mastering even the simplest manoeuvres takes time, and that’s before you’ve mastered the improbably difficult racing. Master the racing, and you’re left with a slow, precise racer in an ugly environment.

Although it has been part of the Xbox PC line-up for quite some time, having Star Renegades on Xbox consoles is a great thing. For most this is a combat-focused RPG with an addictive battle system, smooth pacing, and fantastic neon presentation. If you are a fan of Battle Chasers: Nightwar then Star Renegades is the perfect game to fill that niche.

Mars Horizon on Xbox is an excellent and approachable but deep game that will scratch the space exploration itch for a lot of players. Whilst it’s not an adrenaline rush, it’s got a lot of heart and its excellent UI and design will mean you spend many hours crafting and preparing your missions and then tensely watching them launch.

Observer: System Redux on Xbox is an example of the ideal remaster. The best bits are amplified; in this case the mangled, filthy cyberpunk visuals and the immersion in a grotesque horror story. Equally, the worst bits are excised, as the terrible stealth sections and the thin exploration are left on the neurosurgeon’s floor. What you’re left with is an emphatic horror title, an easy recommendation to the acquainted and unacquainted, and an experience that will live long in the memory.

Poker Club on Xbox does promise long-term updates and new features coming soon, but it has launched with a few too many issues to consider a purchase right away. Patches are incoming for the bugs and glitches, but the whole package needs tightening up in multiple areas in order to make it a bit faster and less laborious in its current guise. It may be best for you to hold on for a bit before going all-in with this one.

Having originally launched five years ago on other systems, it comes to the Xbox family in a great state as well; I haven’t encountered a single issue in my time with the game. Friendly communities, unobtrusive microtransactions, and a hell of a lot of fun - my biggest frustration is that The Four Kings Casino and Slots didn’t make the jump to Xbox sooner.

While Destiny: Beyond Light on Xbox does axe more content than it adds, it is still worth playing through. The new world is an interesting place, and with a lot of post story content coming from Variks, the scope to have fun is large. A new Raid makes me happy indeed, and with new exotic quests and Hunts to take part in the future does appear to be bright.

At first glance, XIII looks like a video game. It has graphics, sounds come out of the speakers, and a character moves when you touch the pad. But sit down to play it, and you’ll realise that it’s held together with sticky tape and paper clips, collapsing into scraps when you play for more than five minutes.

Unrailed! on Xbox is fresh, clever and loads of fun to play. You’ll only realise its full potential when playing with friends locally, which is unfortunately very difficult at the moment. However, online play does the job despite being temperamental at times, yet the support of an ever-growing community should keep this one on the right tracks.

It’s more a chipolata than a full blown sausage, then, and Dark Sauce is tasty for the single hour of entertainment that it offers. It’s up to you whether that’s enough of a meal for the £4.19 outlay.

So what do we have with Persephone on Xbox? Quite simply, a game that is brilliant both in design and execution. The world our titular hero finds herself in is beautifully designed, with puzzles that make full use of that unique central concept of death as a means to progress. By using a ‘show, not tell’ approach, the game places experimentation at the forefront and encourages the kind of lateral thinking that is so often missing from indie titles in the genre.

At the end of the day, Tetris Effect: Connected on Xbox is just Tetris. It’s the game we’ve all played a million times over, it’s a game we all know like the back of our hand, and it’s a game in which we can rack up the highest of high scores with our eyes closed. And that, that feel of familiarity, is quite possibly the only thing that is holding Connected back from utter greatness. Yes this version looks great, it plays brilliantly, it sounds awesome, and it could well be the best Tetris experience yet, but at the end of the day it’s still Tetris... yet it is still as stupidly addictive as it ever was.

Despite some minor gripes, Star Kings is the best expansion for Age of Wonders: Planetfall on Xbox so far: Paradox has only improved their output with every new content drop and this latest addition keeps to that trend. If you enjoy Planetfall, Star Kings is a no-brainer pickup. It truly adds to, and improves, the game in ways that feel almost necessary now for the full experience.

Family Feud on Xbox brings that Saturday evening gameshow vibe straight to your home. A huge library of questions, combined with a relatively fair price at launch, means there’s good value in this party game. The different modes cater for almost every situation, even for the cold winter nights on your own, and the fact it can enable 10 players to play using a single controller is music to the ears. It’s only really held back by the bizarre questions that pop up a little too frequently, a lack of imaginative items to buy, and dated looking models.

Planet Coaster: Console Edition is quietly one of the best launch titles for the Xbox Series X|S, and made all the better by being available through Game Pass. For a park sim, it is incredibly easy to pick up and play as everything is explained and designed as this version was built up for consoles, as opposed to a simple port. The effort gone into that is noticeable in every single menu and button press; nothing is restricted by the controller.

Despite some familiar elements on the surface, Evergate on Xbox brings plenty of original ideas to the table. It’s clever, charming and a real joy to play. Stick with it, because there’s a deceptively large adventure on offer here.

It may be ugly, it may be a clear PC port, but 50 Years on Xbox can be a budget-priced addiction machine if you let it. It somehow manages to cram the joys of Civilisation into a twenty-minute game, and then has the gall to make it more-ish. We’ll take a prettier and slightly more varied version for the sequel, but for now 50 Years is well worth settling on.

Bright Memory is a very impressive achievement from one-man dev FYQD Studio, and is a great sign for things in the future. As it stands though, it has far too many issues and is far too short to offer an experience worth the price of entry. If you are anything like me, you will open it up to test out your shiny new Xbox Series X and finish it in the same time it took to install.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on Xbox is possibly my favourite entry in the series - stunningly glorious, fluid as you like, and full of mammoth amounts of content. If I had to be negative, then at times it can feel a little bit buggy, but I don't think I've played an open-world game that hasn't had this problem and at no point has it affected my enjoyment of the game.

If you have ever wanted to smash police cars/racers off the road then Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered on Xbox is the game for you, and that goes double if you've never played it before. It’s fast, furious and will have you on the edge of your seat as you hurtle round corners, inches from disaster, winning a race by the skin of your teeth. If you played the original then there’s not a lot new here, but it looks and plays great - that in itself means it’s got to be worth a punt.

Family Mysteries 2: Echoes of Tomorrow on Xbox is prime nonsense; a retelling of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines but peppered with spot-the-difference puzzles and hidden objects, as if Arnie was sent back in time to tidy someone’s room. It’s supremely camp, but the best hidden object games are, and you’ll likely forgive the dodgy animations and script by the time you reach the end of its entertaining three or four hours. Ignore the ‘2’ in the title: this is a strong entry point for the genre, and one of its best to boot.

Gears Tactics on Xbox is one of the best attempts to craft a new turn-based squad shooter game. A rough-hewn, challenging game with a long campaign and lots of options to customize your characters, along with a whole new game-mode, means that Gears Tactics is a must play game for any fans of the Gears universe, turn-based strategy titles or squad tactics games.

Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S plays it far too safe and ends up offering an experience a little bit worse than the original. Its new visuals don’t compensate for some of the puzzles and this only really works to express how mediocre the original truly was. Its long playtime and dated gameplay make Asterix & Obelix feel one of the only things a game shouldn’t - tedious.

My Aunt is a Witch on Xbox One and Series X|S is a treat for the eyes; never less than beautiful. But it’s a witch’s glamour, as the story underneath is stodgy, mistranslated and boring. Give an editor a hatchet and some freedom, and the brambles might clear enough to make the path to a sequel more appealing.

Exit the Gungeon on Xbox One is a good game; not quite up to par with Enter the Gungeon but still fun. But I also think it can only be truly enjoyed if you’ve played the original. The caveat is that you might not enjoy Exit the Gungeon as much, which can lead to it feeling like a disappointment.

Knights and Bikes on Xbox One is one of those rare beasts that everyone can enjoy. It may be simple and straightforward to play, but that’s no bad thing. It’s an utterly charming tale that’s loads of fun to play and is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Let’s Sing 2021 on the Xbox One and Series X|S is a cover version of last year’s release, and it hits slightly higher notes. In all other respects it’s the same song, so it’s appeal to you will largely be down to the track listing. As with other years, the production is strong and slick, and with eight players and smartphones all welcomed, it’s one of the most inclusive music games out there.

Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S has taken on a huge, well-known franchise and managed to gel it with the architecture-based problems better than you’d imagine. Killing walkers by conjuring up weird contraptions is fun, while the new hero commands add a whole extra layer to the strategic affair.

If you have money to burn, are missing the party scene or just want to attempt to head off on a mixing career for nothing but personal entertainment, FUSER on Xbox One nails what is required. The control scheme has been well handled, the visuals are bright and colourful, and the plethora of tunes included will hit the spot for many. With a deep career being the highlight, and many other options available for those looking to go beyond that and into the online scene, Harmonix have hit the sweet spot with their latest music franchise.

Crystal Ortha on Xbox One is one of the better KEMCO games of recent times. It’s a long way from groundbreaking, but has enough nice touches, and some decent puzzles, that make it worth playing. The story is good, most of the characters are endearing, and as such it’s an easy game to recommend to the JRPG fans out there.

Pangeon on Xbox One feels more like a demo than a finished game. It has some strong points to be sure; nice visuals, great enemy and level design, and perfectly adequate combat. Yet the horribly brief runtime, useless character classes, and complete lack of replayability make it difficult to recommend.

While the combat may not be super engaging, and the story is a bad egg, the gorgeous world of The Falconeer on Xbox is a triumph. Paired with the spectacular music and breathtaking feeling of flight, this game provides what feels like an exceptional concept rather than a complete game.

Five Dates on Xbox One is a well-written, funny and endearing FMV game that manages to turn dating into a game without making it crass. Once you get over the awkwardness of choosing options based on what dates want to hear, you’ll be in the thralls of some fantastic actresses with engaging stories to tell. Swipe right on this one.

There’s plenty to commend in PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. It’s that rare example of a game that can be played by under-7s without help, and a strong co-op feature means that you can share Adventure Bay with them. Kids might not care, but it’s indefensibly slight for the price. Kids WILL care that they don’t get to play as the titular Mighty Pups for more than a few moments, though. It’s a long demo that kids will love for a time: if that’s enough for you, then go fetch.

On the whole, Sig.NULL is a daunting sokoban puzzler that drops you in at the deep end without much aid. But that, coupled with the steep difficulty curve, is the only real off-putting factor. There are loads of cleverly designed problems to solve and you will be darn happy after each completed level. It’s great to see new mechanics thrown in to freshen up the experience, combining to create even more complex puzzles.

Ord. on Xbox One is a game that I hugely enjoyed spending some time with. The concept and execution are highly original with a great take on the ‘choose your own adventure’ theme. You won’t mind dying here either, because you’ll always be left with a smile on your face. With five different story arcs to play through, all very different in their themes and scope, there’s plenty to get involved in and these make up for the simple visuals.

There should always be room in our lives for fun, pulpy rubbish. Sometimes you just want a Nic Cage movie, a packet of prawn cocktail crisps, or the works of Limp Bizkit. Video games can definitely be in that category too, and Vera Blanc: Full Moon could be classed as so-bad-it’s-good. In places, it’s in danger of teetering into just ‘bad’.

The weakest of the LucasArts remasters, Grim Fandango Remastered on Xbox One has aged the most in terms of its visuals and obscure puzzling. There’s a fantastic story being told here, with Glottis, Manny, Chepito and the rest being absolute belters. But they’re stuck in a limbo of bloated sandboxes, plodding character speeds and puzzles that should have come with a pre-packaged walkthrough.

Whilst the visuals are nice, some of the writing is okay and the music is palatable, there is little else to like here with The Language of Love on Xbox One. When it isn’t relying on a romance story by numbers, it plays into very creepy tropes and strange dynamics in ways that made me feel rather uncomfortable.

In the simplest terms, Dead Dungeon is an incredibly affordable game that will provide a few hours of fun. It’s by no means perfect, but it does a good job of providing a variety of challenging levels to get through. If you’re looking for a challenging platformer that can be beaten in a weekend, then Dead Dungeon on Xbox One might be the game for you.

Sparkle 4 Tales on Xbox One is a great example of how a video game can never simply just be a piece of art, as it needs to have gameplay substance which goes beyond just superficial fodder to make players pick up a controller. There is certainly an attempt to evoke some sort of existential wonder, but it all comes across rather pretentious, especially when the game design as a whole just feels rather superficial.

Despite some good ideas, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? shows that as a full price title, there’s not enough here to justify to cost. Fans of the show will get some enjoyment here, but even they will feel short-changed by the price tag.

There’s a lot to like about Outpost Delta on Xbox One; despite the rough edges, I've had a blast playing through. The exploration keeps you guessing, with various keys needed to progress and upgrades that are required to advance. As a Metroidvania, it is firmly on the Metroid end of the scale, but as a target to aspire to Metroid isn't a bad one. It is a little glitchy, there’s no getting away from it, but it’s challenging and, above all, fun to play.

Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues on Xbox One gets about as many aspects right as it manages to mess up. There’s a surprising amount of depth to the movesets, the enemy variety is smashing, and the RPG-like skill trees are an added bonus. When the hit detection and technical accuracies are lacking though, it’s very annoying and off-putting. Throw in the phoned-in voice acting, budget graphics and bang-average story, and you find that most of the good work comes undone.