Headbangers in Holiday Hell isn’t metal. It is barely even tinfoil.

It’s simple by name, simple by nature, and sadly you get what you pay for.

Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect fails to capitalise on its unique premise and setting by falling short where it matters. The writing is juvenile, cringe-inducing, and at times even offensively embarrassing. It takes some level of care and maturity to explore adult themes, and unfortunately the writing here just doesn’t feel appropriate.

I fully understand that it’s a super cheap game but that doesn’t let the team at Flyhigh off from the fact that the content included is bare bones at best.

There is probably a good game in here somewhere, but it feels like Stray Souls needed more time in development to iron out the bugs and hone the mechanics.

Geometric Feel the Beats draws you in with promise. The pulsing soundtrack, the Tron-like visuals, the quirky colour-matching gimmickry. But it’s an anglerfish, reeling you in with pretty lights and then eating you up. Because it’s a trap: Geometric Feel the Beats is one of the dullest of dull shooters that we’ve ever encountered.

Even the low price point and decent number of levels can't save Bouncy Chicken from being a frustrating puzzle experience.

I was having a brilliant time with Romancing SaGa 2 before the glaring issues of the battle system came to light. Its non-linearity was ground breaking at the time and as a result, it certainly stands up even today. Even the soundtrack was hugely enjoyable. But those battle mechanics have ruined this game for me.

It’s clear where its inspiration came from and if you are a fan of early 90’s hack and slash dungeon crawlers, then you will likely see some enjoyment from this. It is very basic and should last no longer than a few nights to complete, but with a price as low as this it is difficult to expect anymore.

Pixelcraft Dungeon is well-made but basic - the MDF board of puzzle-adventuring. The £1.29 cost might even begin to look like a wise investment. But the construction collapses in the last ten levels, as the bugs make everything unstable.

There is a lot of potential in a game adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and Ebenezer and the Invisible World makes a valiant effort. But this pudding needed to sing in the copper a little longer.

With dreadful controls, no map of where to go, nor any in-game speedo to see how fast you are going, Fast & Furious Crossroads on Xbox One is a massive let down. Online is messy at best, and while the storyline is a corker, the way that every mission seems to play out the same, just in a different place, makes me sad.

The Samurai Collection (QUByte Classics) probably didn’t need putting together, combining two fairly bad games and not an awful lot of fun.

Unless you’re dying for a scary fix which highlights how much one person can do in terms of development, I would probably steer clear of Whisperwood mental institution and the frustrations found within. You see, you might just end up submitting yourself as a patient.

It seems a plethora of physics-based games have hit the market over the last few years. They have gathered a large audience so it’s only predicted, but now it feels as though the joke has run its course. For the first time, the genre is starting to show its age in Totally Reliable Delivery Service on the Xbox One, with a repetitive and frustrating experience. While there’s some fun and laughs to be had with co-op, and inventive customisation options, the laughs stop there.

Kuroi Tsubasa is a visual novel that has a great demon-hunting concept and no intention of delivering on it. The overall effect of Kuroi Tsubasa was like being trapped in a room with someone aggressively reading their fan fiction. It’s meandering, boring, and desperately needs an editor.

Skatemasta Tcheco on Xbox One is stuck in the past in the best and worst ways, and half the battle of completing a level are its frustrating controls. For a platformer, that is the very last thing that you want. The amount of health pickups is incredibly sparse for a game that barrages you with damage, and the auto-scrolling levels compound the frustration. The best reason to give the game a go is to see the incredible work that was put into creating something that feels like it just arrived via a time machine.

Axis Football 2026 allows you to customise a team and playbooks and comes with a good-looking Franchise mode, at least on the surface. But it seems to forget the proof is in the pudding and it will be judged by some really bad gameplay on the gridiron itself. If American Football had a treacle mode, then Axis Football would have its gameplay speed nailed

Bones of Halloween is as hollow as a carved-out pumpkin. It works (albeit ploddingly), but that’s the best you can say about it. If you want a quickfire 1000 Gamerscore then please, go ahead, but, if you’re at all discerning, then this horde-mode arena shooter should be left out on the step to rot.

Give someone a thousand solutions, and they will pick the easiest one. Offer no reason to work together, and players won’t bother. Catty & Batty: The Spirit Guide is too often a toy and not a game, and the toy is just too ugly and chaotic to fully recommend.

Adrenaline Rampage fails to provide any appreciable adrenaline hit. It isn’t particularly rampage-y either. Unfortunately, Adrenaline Jump-and-shoot-a-bit doesn’t have the same ring.

Aery – Calm Mind 4 is about the twelfth regurgitation too far. The same levels arrive in the same arrangements, and we’re meant to pay for the privilege. When visual issues and game-breaking bugs reduce the playable levels from eleven down to eight, it’s hard to make a case for anyone to pay for it.

A Gummy’s Life is not worthy of being compared to Fall Guys, or even Gang Beasts. It is shallow, stupid and the controls are poor. It’s good that it’s sold as a party game with an online element, but sadly for the Gummy’s, there are others - such as Cake Bash - which are still the kings of the Xbox party scene.

We wondered whether a space-sim could be hammered into the shape of a racer, and Orbital Racer on the Xbox gave us an emphatic answer: no, it can’t. Without physical tracks you’ve got no sense of direction, speed, or points of interest. You get desperate for a chicane, a pit stop, anything to enliven the chugging space tour.

Pipe Dream has the barest whisper of a puzzle-platforming idea, and only gets ten minutes into exploring it. We wondered if we were missing something. Did we take a wrong turn? Did we download a demo and not the game? No, it really is a sliver, a crumb of a game - one that can’t even justify its low £4.19 price tag.

Those looking for a true flight experience are better off heading to your local airfield or waiting for the highly anticipated release of Ace Combat later this year.

Credit is due for the unique and daring storyline, however the way in which it, and the gameplay, come across gives nothing to allow Iron Wings to be remembered in a positive way.

Jeremy Paxman would turn off Planet Quiz: Learn & Discover for being a bit stuffy and boring. Don’t let the snazzy presentation or the Christmas Eve release date confuse you: this is a series of geography exams created by AI, and it’s absolutely as boring as that sounds.