Ultimately, Skater XL on Xbox One offers a vision of something that could be excellent in the future. It has a great but lonely atmosphere and downright revolutionary controls, but this is brought down by the sheer lack of content and mediocre performance. It is too messy to be able to call it technically good, but it is definitely a game that is worth keeping an eye on. As a full experience, you might be let down, yet as a demo of what it could become, it is very promising.

There’s no doubt that LoveChoice will take you on an emotional rollercoaster. It’s sensitive and wistful, and you will feel the highs and lows of its characters through the three visual novels. But too often the rollercoaster judders to a stop, and you have to guess what illogical thing the game wants from you before it restarts again. By that time, that sensitive, wistful feeling has gone.

Pandaty felt too much like homework we didn’t want to do. Its levels are washed out, the humour seems to come from another planet, and it demands patience and skill without giving much back. What’s black and white and grey all over? Yeah, it’s Pandaty.

If you’d like to try a new approach to horror and like a slow paced game then go right ahead, but personally I want something with a bit more variation and bit more speed.

Even when we were in its idle clicker thrall, we couldn’t help but feel the yawning, encroaching void. Dig Deep isn’t good for us - yet the balls keep beckoning us back.

On the whole, Bloodfall provides a few bonus features and a few worthwhile maps for a multiplayer scene that’s just hanging on. As I said with the previous DLC, this isn’t Bethesda’s fault, but it’s still a pretty sizeable downside. The decision you face, at the end of this all, is whether the content and limited play time is worth the cost. And it pains me to say this – because Doom was one of 2016’s most impressive releases – it’s not.

If you like The Grand Tour, then this is an easy sell. It puts you pretty much in the show, doing what the presenters have just done and allows the chance to drive the very expensive cars in a stupid way. If you hate the show, or aren’t a fan of Clarkson et al, then this isn’t strong enough to make sense as a standalone purchase.

Bunny Park is cute, then, and simple in its idle game appeal. In a sale, when an ‘80% off’ label is attached to it, Bunny Park might even look tempting. But right now it’s an £18 marshmallow. It’s finished in no time at all, it has almost zero depth to it, and the sweetness can’t override the feeling that we’ve been shortchanged.

Ultimately, there is a deep sense of regret from playing Waking on Xbox One because I feel there is something brilliant and life-affirming underneath all that is presented. The meditative sections and use of your personal details are unique and something I enjoyed, and there are certainly some great ideas within. However, Waking will divide gamers, with some loving this intriguing premise and others being put off by the overly long, randomly generated areas.

Those looking for something a bit more, a complete experience, will be left disappointed by PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs. There is one game mode split across two ‘different’ mode types, no real sense of progression, an archaic menu and simply not enough here to keep fans playing long-term.

Raging Bytes can be enjoyably tense, but the most fun comes from the chance to spot all the references than as an actual game. The gameplay is adequate, without ever breaking into the realms of “must play”, but it is a good way of killing a few hours.

Trailblazers is a hugely interesting concept clearly borrowed from Splatoon, but its execution here is lagging far behind. Weirdly though, I feel the developers have done their absolute best with the concept, but it just hasn’t worked well at all, especially in the solo mode. This then has a knock-on effect for the online lobbies – because no one is willing to try it because of the disappointing single player.

There isn’t much in Arkanoid Eternal Battle to entice new players; nor battle royale aficionados looking for something different as those new mechanics are very basic.

The story is whimsical and sets the stage well. There are some solid elements included like keys, chests and collectible items. The puzzles and enemies are simple enough for the difficulty level that Milo’s Quest is aiming for. And its presentation is charming, vibrant and well done. This is certainly a game that the kids will enjoy. Unfortunately, there’s no real challenge for anyone else.

Forgotten Fields is a game with heart, but this alone is not enough to carry it. Just like Sid’s fantasy novel, it feels like a rough first draft - full of great ideas but lacking the execution to truly bring them to life.

Classic Snake Adventures definitely comes across better in a visual sense than the archaic Nokia version and delivers a ton of levels to work through. The ideas aren’t bad either, especially the monumental boss battles present. Unfortunately, the randomness of item placement makes proceedings unnecessarily difficult and the erroneous hit detection doesn’t do anything to help matters.

There’s no doubt in our mind that, as a one-developer game, Aztec Tiki Talisman is an achievement. But if we could choose one other person to help out, we would have chosen a QA tester.

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.

Midnight Deluxe wants to come across as a calm and relaxing game and tries its very best to do so. Unfortunately, it suffers from some fiddly controls and an over reliance on luck rather than a well-placed shot.

A simple tile swapping puzzler, much like other games from Afil Games, you'll be done with everything Bee Flowers has to offer in just an hour or so.

There may be a masochist who enjoys the endless running of Running on Magic. It certainly has plenty that’s pretty and charming, particularly in its art and characters. But you’d have to pay us good money to play it again.

There’s no doubting that Ominous Tales - The Forsaken Isles is an inferior example of the hidden object genre. Very little is up to par: the art, the puzzles and the logic are all a bit skew-whiff. We found the enthusiasm to finish it, but we were thinking longingly about the hidden object games of Artifex Mundi as we did it. Only for the most hardcore of hidden object fans.

Nickelodeon: Kart Racers is a bit all over the place. While the maps that focus on boat racing suffer from bad controls and difficulty issues, this game offers enough variety to occasionally bring a reasonably good time. The release price will be a bit steep for most, but when the game clicks together, the kart racing experience is satisfying enough to warrant a try.

Don’t expect anything that will wow you, but for less than half a pint of beer, Dig Dog is a game that will keep you busy for an hour or so.

At the end of the day, if you liked Overwatch, you’ll like Overwatch 2, or Overwatch 1.5 as it should probably be. If you didn’t, you won’t, and with the game playing community seemingly more toxic than ever

It’s a niche game with hyper-difficult gameplay that on its own isn’t a bad thing, and hardcore puzzle-solvers would probably enjoy working through Reflection of Mine on Xbox One. But the issues with the writing and plot, as well as the use of mental illness stereotypes for shock value, just rubs me the wrong way.

We would go as far as critically (Peter) panning this take on the little green guy, but J.M. Barrie’s creation deserves more care than what’s on offer here. Peter Pan: Hidden Objects comes across as an unfinished hidden object game.

Matchpoint - Tennis Championships is less of a winning smash and more of a missed dropshot.

Save your cash and buy some new lycra instead. I promise you it’ll be more fun.

One Hell of a Ride has an identity crisis. It presents itself as a carnage-filled Twisted Metal, yet hasn’t spent enough time on the weapons to make them anything other than an afterthought. As an arcade racer, it’s too precise and simulation-like, without offering variety in races or tracks. To top it off, it’s single-player only.

The repetitive gameplay and unrefined controls of Get Over Here on Xbox make it very difficult to enjoy. It’s cheap, and throws a fair bit into the mix, but despite this it will struggle to get its hooks into you.

The inclusion of dabbing in a game about ninjas tells you a lot about both the experience itself and the thoughts behind it. Is it serious? No. Is it worth bothering with? Not unless you’ve got some friends over for a party.

I don’t think there is quite enough content here to really warrant a purchase, even for the cheap price. But then, if you have always wanted to shoot a giant emoji, Emoji Battlefield – Origins could (just about) be for you.

If you like a good sokoban puzzle game, then Shivering Stone does it all with a nice snowy theme brushed on top. It doesn’t go out of the way to change up the formula, and sometimes it will leave you frustrated if you try to deviate, but it does what it sets out to do. It is cheap, cheerful, basic and pretty.

The finished quality of Aery - Flow of Time is a shame, because you can see the game underneath. It’s clearly better than what came before, but you’ll need a swatter for all the bugs that obscure the view.

There’s no doubt that The Red Exile – Survival Horror is well put together and it does deliver an interesting concept and thrill ride, but there are plenty of other games in this genre that provide a more diverse experience.

It’s not a horrible game by any means. In fact, it has a lot going for it: refreshing level design, a solid art direction, a set of easy achievements and a time trial mode. But the controls let it down completely.

Given the price, the tedious gameplay and the way it hurts my eyes, I can’t in good faith recommend NASCAR Heat 2, unless you enjoyed the previous installment. In which case, this is better. But that’s not saying much.

Dead Ground has a lot of cool tower upgrades, skills and guns to show off; perhaps a lot more than you’d expect for under a fiver. Sadly, the gameplay slams on the brakes before you even get to experience them.

Dungeon Defenders II is free and when it works it’s pretty darn fun, but the UI, the steep difficulty curve and the online problems make it tough to recommend as the experience is really hindered.

We’re apologists for 8floor’s titles because, while they are almost complete copies of each other, they’re still mindlessly entertaining. But even we can’t excuse Crown of the Empire 2: Around the World. It’s so broken that it can’t have been exposed to someone with the word ‘tester’ on their name badge.

All in all, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris on Xbox One is hindered tremendously by far too many problems and it’d be a tad foolish to consider a purchase until it’s had a much-needed patch, or two. Only then will the exciting combat and the infinitely more enjoyable multiplayer aspect be appreciated.

King of Ping Pong: MEGAMIX reminds of those days of going to the arcade, where something brash and loud would entice us into dropping coins. But like those times, this is an incredibly hard game and anything resembling fun becomes a struggle. Nail it though, and you’ll gain a proper sense of achievement.

NASCAR fans may continue to look for the chance to breakaway from the pack, but they won’t be doing it with NASCAR Arcade Rush.

The Adventures of Elena Temple on Xbox One feels like an artifact in a museum; beautiful, interesting, but ultimately throwaway.

Garten of Banban 7 is a step backwards for the series. It features a few too many sections that feel similar to previous entries; generic chase sequences and a school-like situation. It has an exciting conclusion, but once again that comes at the cost of really progressing the story.

Feeling like a bit of a grind and hugely frustrating, we’ll instead applaud the sheer number and variety of races included in Super Woden GP. Occasionally a tense race can be had too, but for the most part this is a little indie racer you’ll be best off leaving on the starting grid.

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.

We can see what Bricky To Me could have been. It’s a proof-of-concept, a pilot episode for what a platformer might be as a roguelike, and it just about does enough to make it seem like a good idea. But there’s no getting round the lack of content and variety in Bricky To Me, which makes it an unconvincing game on its own.

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.

An absolutely fine RTS game which has things to like about it, but that is all that 8-Bit Hordes is. It does not venture beyond this mediocre territory because of its limiting gameplay, uninteresting factions, poor interface and difficulty spikes. I wish I liked it more than I do, but I don’t.

We know that pester power is a thing, and fans of the movie might be harassing you. In that case, your sprogs should know that this is a cooking sim, and not the nestrian adventure they might be expecting. It’s also fiddly, complicated and - on occasion - difficult to make the right meals on tight deadlines, so we would suggest that it rules out the under-sevens. Should your little chef still be interested after all those caveats, though, then there’s the slightest hint of fun to be had in Ooops! 2. Just make sure they graduate to Overcooked! afterwards.

Any memory of Lonely Guardian will puff away immediately, even while you’re playing. It’s so easy, short and uncomplicated that it will barely touch the sides.

There may be someone, somewhere, who can master the counter-intuitive controls of Rift Racoon and have a good time. But we are not that person. It’s a puzzle-platformer that demands precision with its taut levels, but then hands you teleporting abilities that are chaotic at best, cruel at worst.

For a seasoned hidden object player – particularly those who feel oversaturated with the horror and fantasy themes of the Xbox One library – I can give a Kevlar-guarded recommendation. And if you haven’t played a hidden object game before? It’s hard to make a case, as there are better examples from the same publisher.

There are clearly fans of path-making games on the Xbox, otherwise why would there be so many. But that creates a problem for Tiny Biomes: when there are so many competitors, many of which have more challenge, variety and breadth, then why pick this one up? For the annoying screenshake, clearly.

Speed or Death is that rare example of a game that demands a sequel or rework, as the idea is great, but the execution is way, way off.

The advantage that Football Mini Stars has over its rivals is its very cheap price, which ensures that it feels good value for the amount of content included. But that doesn't mean it's not a very basic take on football.

Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher Console Edition does have a strange kind of draw that will keep you playing, but it’s hard to say why. The combat is basic and rudimentary at best, the puzzles aren’t terribly puzzling, and the characters that you meet are more two dimensional than your average cardboard policeman. But even with all that said, you’ll feel compelled to finish the story.

Rust Console Edition is shonky, feels unfinished and looks like an Xbox 360 title. It is stuffed with the most hostile player base ever, and even surviving for five minutes feels like a win. However, there is fun to be had, particularly if you enjoy grinding for materials and living on your wits.

For a relaxing, chilled out game you can probably stick a podcast on to play, Tiny Lands – Deluxe Edition is worth a look. And if you want a modern take on a spot the difference puzzle, this will just about sort you out. Just don’t expect too many frills or anything special.

Billy 101 too often opts for some simple dodging and shooting, and it’s not particularly great at either. Like Billy himself, we wanted to blow everything up and start again, rebuilding it with a focus on the puzzles that it is perfectly capable of doing well.

Terminator: Resistance on Xbox One does nothing to create an identity for itself. Much like the machines in the game, the whole campaign feels manufactured using resources from other games that did it better – five years ago.

King of the Arcade is missing a ‘why?’. Why are you returning to the games? Why should you persist through endlessly repeating levels? King of the Arcade can’t find a half-answer. Global leaderboards, hard-fought achievements or CPU rivals would have at least rewarded our persistence. But King of the Arcade is too busy creating game after game to care.

Unlike the tasty looking food you are making, Cuisineer on Xbox is a very bland game. It’s definitely a looker, with some really pretty visuals and a very cute aesthetic throughout. But the gameplay itself is basic with little substance to it.

Sadly, for all its premise, Elex has to be one of the most uninspiring RPGs I have experienced in a long time.

We hoped something would shake Brave Soldier - Invasion of Cyborgs up and give it some zest. Bosses and explosive barrels tried, but were never going to be enough.

Ultimately, Quintus and the Absent Truth sets out to be a horrifying tale, but doesn’t do anywhere near enough to put fear into the player.

We didn’t expect much of SETTRIS and not much is exactly what we have. If you’re spatially aware in terms of visual puzzling, then crack on and make your way through the eighty levels in place here, enjoying the ping of the achievements as you go. If not, this could well be one that turns you away from the get-go.

Wasteland 3: The Battle of Steeltown is the very definition of “okay”. The story is good, choosing which side to champion does add a bit of replayability, and the weapons are fun to use, if only really relevant in the DLC bubble. The problem is, the bugs that seem to crop up regularly now spoil the taste somewhat. If all you want is more Wasteland 3 story to follow and play through, this is an easy sell, but the rest of us should think a bit more carefully.

Blue Angels Aerobatic Flight Simulator may give the correct appearance for each of the planes in the squadron, but very little else has been faithfully recreated. Unrealistic handling, a lack of detail and a severe lack of content sees the whole experience provide nothing more than a couple of hours of disappointment and is a poor showing for a game tied to the official Blue Angels U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.

The pictures don’t suit the format, the controls are awkward, and it’s lacking the joy of pieces snapping together. Save yourself the stress of Hatsune Miku Jigsaw Puzzle and pop into your local charity shop for a Ravensburger.

Direction Quad feels a little like Frogger, but with the frog’s shoelaces tied together (we know, frogs aren’t big shoe-wearers). To some, that might sound like an intriguing extra layer of difficulty. To us, it was rage-inducing. If you’re fond of a little masochism, give Direction Quad a go.

Long Live the Queen is an odd one. A visual novel with delusions of grandeur, it folds in some kingdom management and lesson timetabling with mixed-to-poor results.

What Bratz: Flaunt Your Fashion amounts to is a static playmat. Your kids can dress up their doll and wander about it, looking for treasure chests, and there’s some enjoyment to be found in that. But once you start engaging with the world around you, talking to interviewees for the Bratz magazine, you realise how flimsy everything is.

If you want an Artifex Mundi game, I’d point you in the direction of any other one of the market. They took a risk with Dark Arcana: The Carnival, and it didn’t pay off.

Despite some grand promises of strategic and challenging gameplay, Immortus Temporus instead offers an inconsistent experience which isn’t all that puzzling after all.

As a quick tower-defence shot in the arm, Listeria Wars just about works. There’s a cracking immune system theme, which makes a change from all the towers and turrets that we are used to. But it’s so overrun with minor issues that we eventually had to put it down.

Eventide 2: Sorcerer’s Mirrors could quite possibly be one of the worst puzzling adventures from Artifex Mundi. It’s still not awful though, just nowhere near as good value for money or as stimulating as others.

Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders has a bunch of fascinating character designs, an interesting location to explore and an intriguing premise. Sadly, it fails to capitalise in terms of the narrative, whilst the artwork and animation is below the usual standard of these hidden object adventures.

Age of Solitaire: Build Civilization is one of the best-looking solitaire games we’ve played, but it’s a fancy wrapper on some unmitigated tosh.

Wizards: Wand of Epicosity is a tower defense game that will surely create laughter with its humorous storytelling, as well as bring excitement through the usage of cool spells. The problems come in the form of the overall shortness, the repetitive feel after merely a few levels, and the inaccuracies while casting spells. Furthermore, it comes across as a mobile game in terms of visuals, the UI and the way it encourages in-game purchases.

Avoiding jumps, plowing through obstacles, ignoring weapons and respawning like your life depended on it: these are not the actions of a sane karter. But master Rubberduck Wave Racer's arcane arts and you have a surprisingly well-stocked racing game. It’s still nowhere near worth that £24.99, though.

Loading up Truck Driver for the first time gives a real sense of interest and intrigue, this being the first ‘trucking’ game on consoles. But then afterwards, every little thing that the game presents will dampen your spirits, leaving you to drive with no passion through a bare-bones game that needs to visit the nearest petrol station for a refill and tune-up.

Dyna Bomb is a likeable action-platformer built on two of gaming’s great staples: the jetpack and the bomb. But while it’s a reasonably pure arcade experience, it gets undermined consistently with terrible presentation, a refusal to let you loose with your tools, and levels that refuse to change things up in a meaningful way.

There is nothing pro, gymnastic, or simulator about Pro Gymnast Simulator. But, some gamers will live for this kind of stuff.

Aery - The Lost Hero looks better than any Aery before, but it’s also a regurgitation of the same levels, often in a row. We’re not inclined to open the beak and accept it this time.

Void Vikings on Xbox One has some questionable design choices that really hamper the overall experience of the game. There are many 2D space shooters out there – some that have been around even longer than I have – and I would still recommend them over this jumbled up experience.

There are twenty-or-so decent levels of platform-puzzling in One Escape on Xbox, but it’s surrounded by another forty levels of filler. With more ways to get caught, and more options to avoid getting caught, this prison escape might have warranted a purchase. Without them, it can feel more like a sentence than an escape

Blind Men on Xbox One offers a rather interesting concept of playing as a supervillain but is let down by downright creepy writing, spelling mistakes and a bland story. Whilst fans of boy’s love visual novels might find something to like here, there are plenty of better choices out there.

I have to roll out the worst word I can use in the context of a review - Phantom Fury is disappointing. The gunplay is weak, levels are confusing and the lack of a map is criminal. Thankfully, the mini games add a touch of class to an otherwise poor package.

Tamarin on Xbox is a game that does not know what it wants to be, one capable of completely blindsiding player expectations. It’s simply a weird game, perhaps one of the weirdest in the platformer genre. Still, the real disappointment is just how boring and bare the third person shooting action is, with no real sense of rewarding level design or progression.

Taking things for what they are, the whole Caretaker experience on Xbox One isn’t a terrible one, but it isn’t an awfully fun one either. Instead, it's a solid walking and hiding horror game at its most basic level.

Whilst the story can engage during moments, the ending is lacking in anything substantial. SENSEs: Midnight is one for the survival horror diehards, and even then, only the OG diehards.

I’m tempted to say that you should vote with your wallet: Fennec Fox is Hungry shouldn’t be encouraged, with its litany of bugs and control issues. But if you’re determined and you have a Fennec Fox fan in the family, then we won’t hold it against you. The problems may be many but they’re all minor, and it’s easy enough to scamper over them.

Alphadia Genesis on Xbox One is a game of two halves, and I don’t just mean the 2D/3D interface. One the one hand, the story is good, and does have certain echoes in the events that are playing out in the world today – you will want to see it to its conclusion. On the other hand, the grind is very real, and while the first time you use a skill that you’ve earned brings about some novelty, the rest of the time it’s very much just “some RPG”.

In a very crowded genre, Ziggy comes up short, mostly thanks to mechanics and features that we’ve seen many times before.

A lovely art-style and precise platforming isn’t enough to carry this teenage boy through his adventure.