Summing up Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is tricky. While the fighting action is as spectacular as it ever was, and still remains fun, the management side of things just seems to slow everything down. It feels like a slog and you’ll want for nothing but the next battle. Basically the battles are good, but the rest of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is poor.

If you’re a fan of off-road racing, have an appreciation for bikes, or simply want something a little different from a racer, then MX vs ATV All Out Anniversary Edition is certainly no bad way to go. If you’re after a polished experience then you may find slight disappointment with a few areas that are in need of some extra work, but that doesn’t mean this is one that you should be avoiding, especially when you take into account the amount of content on offer.

High On Life: High On Knife is not as funny as the base game, but it is just about as good in every other way.

While there are elements to like in Unknown 9: Awakening, it doesn't feel particularly innovative, except for the enemy possession mechanic.

Super Bomberman R is just a bit of a non-starter. The lacklustre campaign is only good to hold your attention for so long and the modes that really matter are criminally held back by a low player count.

Lost Grimoires: Stolen Kingdom delivers an interesting adventure involving alchemy, transmutation recipes, mini-games and a new take on Hidden Object scenes.

If you want to take a little trip down memory lane and are ready to get your platforming skills working again then Wenjia just about gets the job done.

If you’re looking for a new twin-stick shooter and fancy firing some destruction towards a bunch of pink aliens, then you could do a ton worse than to fill your boots with It Came from Space and Ate our Brains on Xbox One.

Citadel: Forged with Fire on the Xbox One doesn’t get off to the best of starts, throwing you in at the deep end with nothing to cling onto. The tutorial does a terrible job of explaining anything, even causing you to re-assign many of the buttons on the controller. But it’s worth sticking with. Figure out what you’re supposed to do and the game becomes a delightful sandbox for you to become the mage you were born to be.

A local two player run isn’t going to save 8DAYS from the mid table mediocrity that it’ll find itself in for the vast majority of gamers. If it wasn’t so damn annoying and completely irritating, then I’d happily be gifting it a bigger, better score, but the truth of the matter is that many will find too much they dislike for it to ever be a fun little title...And that’s a shame, because it could well have been pretty damn neat.

If you are a big fan of horror games and enjoyed the first Layers of Fear then you are in for a bit of a bonus with Layers of Fear 2. The developers have enhanced their storytelling skill, their puzzles and their fright-night tone in the making of this new game, and I’ve loved the writing, the visuals, and the amazing sound design.

There are definitely better co-op games out there, and there are better space shooters for sure, but RiftStar Raiders can still be a fun game.

It’s a novel game for the first few tries, but its slow drip feed of progress prevents you from getting anywhere near the end, failing to really entice you to return after logging out.

A proper storyline from the perspectives of both the DEA and Narcos could’ve elevated the base game into something far more sumptuously involving too, but what’s here is serviceable and will readily satisfy anyone who wants to sink their teeth into a quick-fix strategy game.

60 Seconds! features some great dark humour, interesting stories and fun references but its overall presentation and amount of content included lets it down, seeing things done and dusted rather quickly.

Neighbours back from Hell on Xbox One has a style and a tone that is going to split the community - you're either going to fall in love with it straight away, or it will just make you cringe. The humour and style is cartoony while the game mixes stealth and point and click adventuring to a reasonable degree. However, after a while the game doesn’t do enough to keep interest levels high, and it needs to switch up the gameplay dynamic.

Within the Blade has a lot of promise. Sneaking through levels, dispatching enemies silently and then fighting big bosses sounds like ninja game heaven. At least on paper. It’s when that idea is translated into an actual game that the issues seem to have crept in and spoiled the party.

Steel Seed is a solid new IP of a game; one that does mostly everything okay. There are some good action sequences, platforming mechanics that are fun, stealth, combat and skill trees to invest in. The story is good too, but fails to ever wow or do anything to keep your attention for the long term.

Serial Cleaner is a very good stealth game. It controls well, the levels are well thought out and a real challenge, and the level of difficulty is just short of pad biting.

Skull and Bones is a live service game that has arrived in a world where that kind of trend seems to be dying. There’s no doubt that it starts off great, but very soon it all becomes a bit of a grind, not helped by a weak story and too much time at sea.

Aside from answering questions, the atmosphere and overall presentation of the game certainly makes a decent fist of engaging players, but that short play time hamstrings The Station before it can ever really get going.

It is always an exciting time to see a new release from the guys at the Virtual Air Guitar Company, but Air Guitar Warrior for Kinect isn’t one that I find myself as happy to recommend as I had hoped. With a shocking motion detection system that messes with the controls when aiming directly above or below, and an incredibly tough difficulty curve for the later levels, the early fun never really continues.

While playing Morphite I had to keep reminding myself that this is a low budget indie game, because the developers have crammed in an awful lot. Yes there are moments when the mechanics jar, the space travelling can get tiring and it sometimes looks too old fashioned. But there’s a lengthy campaign, a lot to explore and a good story.

Maid of Sker on Xbox One is a very good horror experience; one that manages to create an extremely creepy atmosphere and delivers a good story throughout. The whole sound department needs a round of applause, especially the renditions of the hymns, but it is the entire save system that dampens the enjoyment of the game.

Youtubers Life 2 may be tacky and noisy, but sorting through the mess begins to approach fun. Fewer and fewer of the keywords are confusing. The open world starts to make sense. And then the game’s loop emerges: make videos, get cash, buy equipment, make better videos, make more cash. It’s Animal Crossing in designer headphones.

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.

Aztech Forgotten Gods is not a perfect game. There’s a lack of entertaining side-content. There’s no voice talent. It’s relatively short. But does that mean you should avoid it? No. Because it largely delivers with its story and its core gameplay - the two most important elements of any good video game.

With the majority of the game able to be pushed through without paying any real attention, there’s not enough on show to keep players engaged for long periods.