While there is a lot that has gone awry with Eternity: The Last Unicorn on Xbox One, there is still some enjoyment to be had. The game is by no means terrible and the main meat – that being the combat – is more than serviceable, and although it is dragged down by some serious issues with backtracking, the world itself can look nice. Overall though this feels like a frozen relic of the Xbox 360 era.

Performance issues relegate League of Enthusiastic Losers from a visual novel/point-and-click with potential, into little more than achievement fodder.

A sadly undercooked game that shows sparks of promise and a real passion for the source material. Unfortunately it is tough to recommend The Lord of the Rings: Gollum in its current form, especially at full price.

We expected big things from Love Kuesuto because the presentation and setup were so intriguing. What we didn’t want was a personality test lacking in personality, and answers that Mystic Meg would have called vague. Love Kuesuto is a curio, then, but not a particularly satisfying one.

Whether you should buy this game very much comes down to what kind of gamer you are. Are you desperate for more Gamerscore? Did you play Avatar: The Burning Earth? If so, this game is for you. For the rest of us, I would suggest that Super Weekend Mode is going to be a disappointment, even for the super low price.

In porting Dog’s Donuts to the Xbox, the joy has ebbed out. It needs precision and multiple buttons, which the controller simply can’t offer.

The spirit of 1991 is indeed alive in World Soccer Strikers ’91 on Xbox; a time where football wasn’t about the money, instead more about the actual football. It is a no frills approach to the beautiful game with a fast, simple arcade kickabout. It’s fun for a few sessions with friends, and that’s about it.

It must be said that the story has the potential to be something special, however the poor implementation of key game mechanics and a lack of variation throughout makes Outcast: Second Contact the perfect example of an unneeded remaster.

‘Super’ Rebellion, in hindsight, feels like an exaggeration. Mediocre Rebellion’s more appropriate, but that probably wouldn’t sell as many units.

While the physics work well, the music is decent, and the bright colourful nature it emits is absolutely fine, without anyone to play Tricky Towers with, you're left with a game that is very much left wanting.

Null Drifter on Xbox One is, at the end of the day, a good experience. I’d love to see it grace the mobile scene, letting us scratch both itches of a quick and frantic gameplay experience and a relaxing, lo-fi soundtrack to listen to. Unfortunately and ultimately though, it doesn’t have the strength or stamina to exist on Xbox One beside far deeper and more rewarding video game adventures.

You know that feeling when you can’t wait to play something you’ve been so excited about, but you fast discover that it should have been left alone? I’ve just had that with DayZ on Xbox One.

Argonauts Agency 3: Chair of Hephaestus is the worst entry in the best series of 8floor resource-management games. It averages out at around ‘meh’.

New Tales from the Borderlands takes the core structure of what makes a Telltale game so good, but forgets to flesh it out with an interesting cast, intriguing narrative, or a reason to care.

Bringing an undercooked FPS to market with in-game purchases, via a new IP with no licensed cosmetics or single player campaign is a risky move, especially when there is more lag present than back in the Duke Nukem 3D/Quake LAN party days. But that’s what we have with LEAP.

Red Wings: Aces of the Sky on Xbox One is competent, workmanlike, and dull. So much about the chassis is well-made - the presentation, flying and arcadey maneuvers are immediate and satisfying - but the game does only one thing with them. You’ll be repeating much the same mission, with only the smallest changes of direction, and then you’ll have to do it all over again in the second, near-duplicate campaign. There’s a good WW1 fighter sim out there, and an even better one based on The Red Baron, but this isn’t it.

Lornsword Winter Chronicle attempts some new elements to the genre, but in this case loses the battle.

Roommates on the Xbox One does feel like you are playing through a teen/young adult sitcom, but that comes with all the negative tropes around that too - unlikable characters, cheap laughs, and not likely to stay with you after completion.

Wreckreation feels a bit like a budget Burnout. There are interesting ideas with the Live Mix stuff to completely make your world feel unique, but when an open-world racer feels this empty, should it really fall on us to populate it?

I love an Aery. It’s as suited to Sunday afternoons as an episode of The Antiques Roadshow. But I’ve got so little love for Aery - Calm Mind 3. The series has always been a little lazy, bringing out old levels like they were prized antiques themselves. But the laziness here is off the charts.

Aery - A New Frontier takes a punt at huge, sweeping science-fiction storytelling and misses.

In conclusion then, with the graphical glitches that are in place, I can’t with a good conscience recommend Verdun. If things were fixed, the pacing and style of gameplay would suit the more tactical, considered player and I can see that the Horde Mode could be fun with a few like minded friends.

I’m not going to try to oversell Buffet Boss. It’s basic to look at and play, and never feels like you’re preparing food - everything is reduced to standing on squares. It’s even a poor example of a tycoon game, with less interaction than the average.

Zombie Derby 2 looks to address the grind of the first game, but only ends up changing the flavour of it. It ends up being a three-point turn that takes it back to where it started. But still, there’s a couple of hours of joy to be had in flying off ramps and landing on a zombie’s noggin, should that be your thing.

Fishing Adventure is very much on the arcade end of the fishing game spectrum. It looks okay, the fish come across as just about alright and the gameplay is relaxing. The grind is far too real though and whilst the quests are a nice touch, they never have that feeling of jeopardy that you’d want them to be associated with.

Garten of Banban 1 isn’t a very good game. It looks fine, it’s short, but it’s far from scary. It is however, unsettling, complete with pretty decent puzzles, happily dangling the carrot just enough that you want to continue on.

We felt like we were playing the bare bones of a tactics game - from story to strategy to replayability - and those bare bones had sharp edges that kept stabbing us when we least wanted it to. If you’re bubble-wrapped by love for the genre then Vanaris Tactics might (emphasis on the might) be enough to keep you going to the end.

If Pupperazzi was a dog, it would be a pug. It’s cute in theory, but it huffs, puffs and has trouble functioning, stumbling over itself when it tries to run. It’s tough to control, and so small that you wonder where the rest of it went. Pupperazzi, unfortunately, is more like the runt of the litter.

Haunted House does a lot of roguelite things right, without straying too far from the formula. But with secret rooms and basements, a healthy dose of collectibles and plenty of stuff to do in the endgame, it is a fun addition to the genre. However, several frustrating bugs really do diminish the enjoyment and these cannot be ignored.

Common’Hood provides you with all the tools you need to craft a beautiful world with a vibrant community, but it needs a bit more than sandpaper to smooth out the rough edges.

With the pleasant and cathartic combat system in mind, Ruvato: Original Complex on Xbox might be all that some people are looking for. The game can be completed within one or two sittings, and the combat certainly is engaging enough to warrant said completion. But if you just don’t see the appeal of repetitive, unoriginal, overly dramatic anime stories, you’re better off forgetting this one.

The Last Rolling Hero will deliver you some enjoyment for the few hours it will take to complete. It's as cheap as chips, comes with a basic premise, looks okay visually but is never ever groundbreaking. The camera in the cutscenes and some other little bits do seem a bit broken, but gameplay-wise it works fine.

Garten of Banban 0 doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the puzzles actually require you to think. There are still elements of jank that lets you down, especially in the platforming sections and precise timing mechanics. But, if you like your mascot horror devoid of all horror, then this might be for you.

Love has clearly been lavished on Moto Rush GT. But underneath it all is a bike that’s simply not revving. The snazzy presentation and surplus of content applies spark plugs to the engine, but there’s just no saving it.

As a collection and a retrospective anthology of Bubsy games, Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection ticks all the boxes. The issue here though, and it is a fairly major one, is that the games weren’t ever very good in the first place. Even with the modern additions to make them palatable, these are bad platformers. And unfortunately, nice inclusions can only get you so far when the gameplay is sub-par.

Kart enthusiasts who want a high skill ceiling might find a home in KartRider: Drift. But casual players, or those who want immediacy in their racing will probably want to pull a u-turn and find something else.

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.

Panic Porcupine is a run of the mill platformer which cannot escape the shadow of that which inspired it. A problem all of its own making.

As an experiment - something that scratches the itch of whether games can work with one button - One Button Games 5-in-1 might be worth £4.19 to find out for yourself. As an exercise in accessibility, it’s noble and that price tag will have appeal.

Tour de France 2022 is left spinning up the steepest climb as the enthusiasm and energy fast drains away.

Should you be looking for a simple, casual little playthrough in which interactions are kept to a minimum, the mysterious world of Beasts of Maravilla Island may just about keep you quiet for two hours tops. But don't expect to be wowed by what could have been a magical journey into the unknown.

Do I recommend Lunch A Palooza on Xbox One? Eh … not really. It doesn’t do enough to warrant the relatively steep price tag. it’s too rough around the edges, with annoying glitches, overly-unpredictable physics and dropped inputs aplenty. You and a couple of friends will probably wring a few hours of fun out of it before things get too repetitive (or frustrating) to be enjoyable.

I’m going to have to use the most damning word I know in the context of a review: I have been left disappointed by Animus: Revenant. The promise of what Animus - Last Stand first delivered has been let down by a lack of polish and a new game style that just doesn’t work. The fixed camera is the biggest issue, but control problems and a dodge that moves you six inches are the final nail in the coffin.

I had high hopes for Danger Zone 2 following the first one, but as it is in its current state, I cannot recommend it at all over the initial offering. It has features such as real-world locations and Run-Up Objectives, but these cannot disguise the many bugs and overall haphazard state of the game. Patches have been promised, but it will take quite a few to get this game up to speed.

Quantum: Recharged feels like a disappointing callback to some of the earlier Recharged games. It is a one-trick pony in terms of its basic premise, leaving little room to modify in a modern remake

Kao the Kangaroo was an underplayed gem of 2022, so we would have taken any old reason to come back to it. But the Kao the Kangaroo: Oh Well! DLC really is ‘any old reason’.

If you are a hidden object addict who has - somehow - reached the end of their backlog, then Dracula’s Legacy Remastered feels familiar and satisfying enough to generate enjoyment. For anyone else, may we point you to the hundreds of Artifex Mundi games that do a far superior job.

Should you fancy yourself as a commercial fisherman and want to prove it in the virtual world, Fishing: North Atlantic is the new game of choice. However, this is a very niche genre, the competition isn’t awfully strong, and saying that feels like faint praise.

I wanted to completely zone out and enjoy the zen-like peace that From Earth to Heaven promises. And at times it allows this, but in other moments it frustrates, with basic controls and floaty jumping at the heart of it. I think the lack of purpose is what the game is aiming for, but some will need more from their games.

Stranded Sails – Explorers of the Cursed Islands on Xbox One is probably the best pirate-themed exploration game which has some farming and crafting in it. But then again, it doesn’t exactly have much competition.

The final stages of The Expanse: A Telltale Series episode four create a real buzz for the finale, but the rest of it kills all enthusiasm.

If you’re a fan of FPS adventures and are looking for something different, RICO may not be the best way to go. Whilst the initial concept is one that has plenty of potential, a lack of interesting and meaningful content, bland design and poor gunplay make this an experience that is easily forgettable.

There’s not enough of a difference to materially change the experience that Synchro Hedgehogs offers versus the Butterfly games - it’s more of a slight tweak of the gameplay. As a result, the game has more than a strong sense of deja vu about it.

MeteoHeroes Saving Planet Earth is a copycat kids’ platformer that has more than a passing love for the PAW Patrol and PJ Masks games. When it adds anything new to that formula it only ends up diminishing the original. Sure, the ‘save the planet’ message is laudable, but we struggle to find anything else that makes MeteoHeroes Saving Planet Earth stand out.

In Beholgar we have a game with some good ideas that is marred by poor execution. The combat feels samey and yet frustrating, the jumping will have you chewing your joypad, and while Beholgar looks fine, things like platform piercing axes are the nail in the coffin.

We’re discerning adults, and we expect value for money. My Friend Peppa Pig lasts about as long as a bag of Percy Pigs, but costs about twenty times as much. And when a six-year old, far less discerning than we are, complains about how often it repeats itself, and how much it tends to take control away, then we tend to listen.

Daydreaming about the ideal Color Pals gets us nowhere. We’re stuck with the reality: a game with a great idea that failed to exploit it. Then it implemented controls that would have been dismissed as clumsy on a ZX Spectrum. Colour us disappointed.

In a world where Cake Bash exists to deliver a multiplayer treat, Beat Me on Xbox is an irrelevance. It's okay in short bursts - and I mean short - and I imagine it would be fun with a group of drunken mates sat around the place, but as we all know, 2020 hasn’t been kind in that regard. That said, this is a game that is hamstrung by its own controls and combat system, and all the clever stages in the world aren’t enough to save it.

If you’re looking for easy Gamerscore, it may be worth looking into this one. But for those looking for a great precision platformer, Explosive Candy World is just okay. There are much better options on the market.

Alice Sisters is a mediocre little platformer that can’t figure out whether it’s made for a single player or two players in co-op. In the end, it doesn’t work well for either.

0 Degrees’s two big guns, the creation and freezing of ice blocks, are loaded with blanks. By applying physics to its ice blocks, and not tightening up the ways in which you create them, it feels like you’re climbing a mountain with all the wrong tools. Somewhere in all that snow and ice, there’s a fun puzzler with precision controls. We chipped away as much as we could, but couldn’t find it. Then we went back to playing Celeste.

Persian Nights 2: The Moonlight Veil on Xbox is best described as an anticlimax. It starts well with a wonderful setting - magical lunar eclipses and techno-Persian backdrops - but then fumbles them completely, reverting back to all the usual Artifex Mundi cliches.

Heavy Duty challenge is an odd duck. It looks rough but the actual driving experience is engrossing, even if it is not exactly a laugh a minute. But then, this is meant to be a simulator, not a fun game! The lack of guidance in stages may put you off, but if driving a truck aimlessly at a heady 13mph for hours on end is your idea of fun, then Heavy Duty Challenge will feel like a dream.

Cybarian: The Time Travelling Warrior on Xbox One is let down by a limited combat system and the knock-on effect that has on enemies. The short run time also means the game never gets going and there is no element of replay value to speak of.

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.

It’s possible that we have finally found the edge, the genre fusion too far, and God of Rock is it. The basic premise of the game is misguided, and when the graphics are so incidental to the gameplay, it strikes as a bit of a mess. If you want to fight, play a fighting game - if you want a rhythm action, choose one of them. This is a mash-up too far.

Monster Jam Steel Titans is fun for a time, but you’ll feel short changed for what you get considering the premium price tag.

Presenting itself as a game to appeal to sim fans and board gamers, Dice Legacy Definitive Edition offers up an interesting prospect. The reality though is far more tedious, with frustrating gameplay elements and an incredibly slow pace throughout.

Puzzle by Nikoli W Kakuro is inelegant, and far from the quality we expect from the masters at Nikoli. We’re going to leave it for only the rainiest of rainy days.

It’s been more than 25 years since one of the first Rugrats games released in the form of Rugrats: Search for Reptar. Unfortunately, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland feels like a massive step backwards from that game.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for in life, and with Bullet Beat on Xbox One costing very little it is just a tiny amount of gaming satisfaction that you will discover in return. There is nothing wrong with it per se, except for the fact that things are over fairly swiftly; there is absolutely no reason to go back in for a second, third or twentieth attempt.

It may well be the most historically accurate frontier duelling game on Xbox One, but with that comes its own pressure. Pressure that should at least see more content available for the pistol duelling fans out there to embrace, instead of seeing a few minutes of button mashing fun before it all ends. But it doesn’t. And that’s a big problem.

Surf World Series is a major disappointment. To compare it to other extreme sports games from far bigger studios – games like SSX or the Tony Hawks series – may seem unfair, but this has fallen way too short for me to enjoy and I can’t ever look past its problems.

If Blue-Collar Astronaut allowed for a bit more in the customization stakes or just provided more diversity, then things would feel much more worthwhile. But hey, to its credit, I did get to experience an astronomical amount of debt to pay off.

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.

Crypto by POWGI on Xbox is perhaps the easiest title from the four now available from the Lightwood Games team, so achievement hunters can rejoice. For those looking for an exciting word puzzle game, this doesn’t really offer anything new or unique like some of the others do. Once you have got the hang of the puzzle tropes, Crypto then just becomes a rinse and repeat exercise with very little difficulty.

Mustache in Hell is the very definition of middle of the road. It isn’t the worst twin stick shooter, but it does commit an almost unforgivable sin in the world of video games - it is just bland

Strip some of the excess fat off of Shapeshooter, cutting it down from an awkward polyhedron to something more elegant and powerful, and there would be a good game here. But it’s overburdened, and we found ourselves dreading playing at its slow, ambling speed for too long.

Spencer is an alright platformer that just so happens to come in at a very cheap price. It might be great for the young kids out there and should appeal to the frustrated parents who want to find something for them to do without breaking the bank, but for me it’s a game with a mobile port feel to it and that doesn’t allow for any groundbreaking new experience.

Many, especially those who grew up with the original, will be able to find some fun in Little Big Adventure - Twinsen’s Quest, but a lack of polish may put others off.

Shootvaders The Beginning takes one too many leafs out of Space Invaders’ book. It makes each level near identical to the last, just with more incessant bullets coming your way.

Both the combat and class system are solid additions to the genre, but the balancing and questionable design choices hold it back from fully reaching its potential.

Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero gets the balance just right in terms of difficulty, something that previous games struggled with. It also brings the melee attacks back, but it would have been nice to have had a choice when playing solo.

By all means check it out if you can grab it in a sale and have some mates over for a night of fun and games, but otherwise Guilt Bullet Arena misses the mark. Even with that one deadly bullet it plays on.

Sky Roll! is a very, very basic game with absolutely no original ideas of its own. Yet it is still half decent and for the sake of 79p, I dare say you’ll have a bit of fun with it.

Chipmonk! is an incredibly basic beat ‘em up which fails to innovate or excite in almost every way. What results is a mediocre callback which does nothing to stand out from the crowd. It would be nuts to recommend it.

If you are determined to play a vertically scrolling shooter, then Exo-Calibre may scratch an itch for a little while. But don’t expect to get too excited by what it delivers. There’s no way this is awful, but Exo-Calibre does commit the cardinal sin for a game - it is just a bit boring.

For the low price and promise of a full Gamerscore haul coming your way within a matter of a few minutes, Ball laB could possibly find a place within your gaming sessions. Unless you have controller throwing tendencies - in which case you should stay well away.

Somehow, Paleo Pines has managed to make dinosaurs dull. They’ve achieved it through a cozy sim that makes every one of its many systems as inconvenient to use as possible. We just wanted to catch ’em all, but Paleo Pines hands you too many chores and makework before you can even get close.

Garfield Lasagna Party is not the first party game that we’d direct you to. It sits somewhere below the average thanks to its slow board game mode, which desperately needs more than one layout to keep things fresh, and a collection of minigames that are as mixed in quality as Garfield’s own comic strips.

If your eyes are set on an indie platformer to give you a challenge, I’d recommend the likes of Celeste or Super Meat Boy. Had you played these, and only then, you might just find something in Journey of Johann: Snowy Mountain that is enjoyable.

Primal Light is a retro-styled platformer that should only really be considered by serious masochists. You may like a challenge, but this can often feel like a step too far.

When CORE.SYS is firing on all cylinders, you are dodging Firewalls left, right and centre, praying that the next checkpoint hurries itself up. At that point, it just about becomes good enough to warrant a purchase.

Should you be coming to Tour de France 2021 looking for a proper bike racer which will let you replicate the real-world grand tour, this isn't the game for you. And unfortunately unless those behind it take a season out to prepare themselves for future years, it’s hard to see how this franchise can ever begin to appeal going forward.

The whole money-making exercise being such a prominent feature of Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare takes away from what is good about the game – fun, addictive, zombie beating madness with plenty of content and challenge.

The concept and originality is something that shows signs of promise, but with a lack of interesting content, simplistic and repetitive play, and no real reason to be doing any of it, there isn’t too much of Socketeer that you’ll be thinking back on fondly.

Free, or not, UFL is full of the kind of poor gameplay mechanics that have been weeded out of other football games over the last ten years. It’s a blast from the past, just not in a good way, and so it’s probably not worth your time right now.

Paper Flight - Beyond Time is a good-natured attempt to reinvent the franchise, but it doesn’t half feel like someone gave up halfway through that attempt.