Two Parsecs From Earth on Xbox One comes with a great, cheap price and does a good job of delivering a solid Metroidvania-type platformer that is hard as hell; it’ll certainly challenge the lunatics out there who get their thrills from a test of their skills.

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout on Xbox One has an audience, but I can't imagine it's a very big one. The title is perfectly serviceable but there are so many options that are of higher quality and more worthy of your time that it’s tricky to want to get involved here. However if you are a fan of this franchise, it will be a fun romp through the world of G.I. Joe; something which is perhaps all it was ever trying to be in the first place.

In recent years, EA Sports have added plenty of new modes across their licensed games, and NHL 21 on the Xbox One is no exception; there is a lot of ice hockey on offer. The variety will offer something for everyone, but there are issues with the gameplay on the rink that mean some modes work better than others.

Transformers: Battlegrounds on Xbox One offers a nice, simple set of virtual toys that you can play with, with a campaign of decent length and some interesting choices to make about customization and which characters to use. It lacks, of course, the deep customization of something like XCOM or XCOM 2, and there is something to be said that without permadeath the model doesn’t quite have the same tension.

If you are in the market for a very hard but rewarding shooter, GROOD on Xbox One could well scratch that itch. The action is non-stop, the sectors that you fight through are all very different, and with both the time of day and weather dynamically changing, it’s unusual to play the same looking stage twice.

The Jackbox Party Pack 7 on Xbox One is a solid entry in the long-running series. Two games need an in-person or private chat to be enjoyed to their fullest abilities, but the other three titles not only fit well into streaming, but they are also delightfully fun to play.

Raji: An Ancient Epic on Xbox One is a game I wanted to love from the off. From the moment I picked it up, right through to the telling end, I have to say I haven’t been left disappointed. It is a beautiful, epic journey with some fabulous storytelling and amazing visuals. Yes, occasionally the combat drags a bit, the waves of enemies grow dull as you progress to the latter stages, and the price is a tad high for the six-hour or so experience, but I think it's worth it for the quality on show here.

School Teacher on Xbox One is stuck in that awkward middle-ground of being too simplistic for older kids and not hand-holding enough for the younger crowd. While some of the mini-game ideas are creative, the short blasts of fun they could deliver is curtailed by repetition. Sure, credit is deserved for the attempt to ensure a varied mixture of mini-games is present, but everything else just kills any kind of momentum it could gain.

It’s hard to be critical of Brotherhood United on Xbox One and its many bruised edges. Sure, it looks like a knock-off, and the platforming stinks, but it sets such a low bar that it clears it. It wants to give you three hours of no-nonsense action, switching out difficulty for a sense of momentum, and it does it all for a budget price. It’s more Seagal than Stallone, then, but some days are Under Siege days.

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge - Director’s Cut on Xbox One is a fun and unique game that I can definitely recommend picking up. Again, it’s not going to be a hardcore platformer with a crazy elaborate story, but it will be a relaxed adventure with incredibly catchy music.

Cloudpunk on Xbox One is something I have loved spending time with, mostly thanks to the beautifully designed future city. It's a big old journey for an indie game, however if you’re not particularly a fan of narrative and story, needing more action in your games, then I don't think this is going to be for you. Even if you are happy to take in a ton of lore, there are still times when it needs some pace injections, and I could have done with more to involve myself after the main focus finishes. But if you want to get lost in a cyber world then you can't go wrong by delivering some packages with Cloudpunk.

If you've been living under a rock for the last 20 years and have never seen a driving game, you may get a bit of fun out of Street Racer Underground on Xbox One. If you have played anything after, say, Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 on the Amiga, you won't.

Remove the stealth from Clea on Xbox One and you have a delightful little Resident Evil puzzler, hunting for keys, navigating mazes and pushing the right switches in the right order. The story amps the mystery up, and you’ll want to know what Clea’s neglectful parents were thinking. But that wouldn’t be Halloween, would it, so we need baddies to skulk and scare. The problem is that these enemies are more like coming across umpteen traffic lights and diversions on a road you just want to get down.

It is simplistic and more than a little tedious but, for its price point, it’s hard to expect any more from it. If you need something cheap to kill the time and want to get frustrated at an RPG, maybe Nexoria will satisfy you.

If you’re after a Puzzle Bobbler, Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure on the Xbox One will give you the bubble-hit you need at a budget price, but only if you’re after a simple, colourful two-player local experience. In almost every other way it misses the mark, with a grindy and punishing campaign, a lack of online multiplayer and only two-player couch-play. For a lot of social bubblers, it won’t matter, as Rusty Spout’s heart is in the right place, me hearties.

TY the Tasmanian Tiger HD on Xbox One definitely feels like a product of its time, both from a game design standpoint and especially in its true blue, albeit stereotypical, depiction of all things Straya, but it’s no dramas really. Back then and even now, with all the remastering bells and whistles in place, the game is far from being an absolute ripper of a platformer, but it’s still a gnarly beauty all the same.

Pumpkin Jack is both timely and welcome on Xbox One. As a Halloween-themed action platformer, it fills a niche and void nicely and delivers a brilliant adventure in its own right. From its great pacing, solid gameplay, and consistently engaging design with only a few minor annoyances, this is one spooky adventure that can potentially achieve cult status.

Katana ZERO on Xbox One and through Xbox Game Pass offers another simplistically violent video game at first glance, but before long the game starts playing with your perceptions, and by that point you are invested until the conclusion. And with several different endings and speedrun abilities to unlock, you could find yourself coming back more than once.

If you have a team of friends who are always online, I can almost call Cake Bash an essential purchase, as it is truly bonkers, and different each time. It’s just a shame that for single players, whilst there is fun to be had, it’s reduced down a smidge.

Tears of Avia on Xbox One is the very definition of an underachiever. It feels unfinished in almost every regard, and the combat is functional at best but offers nothing compelling in terms of gameplay variety or depth. There is a tactical turn-based RPG at the core, but nothing about it is designed to reel a player in or make them want to stick around.

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.

Put on your toque blanche (that’s a white chefs hat), maybe grab a bottle of wine and begin your culinary journey across the States in Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! today. It’s bigger, better, slightly pricier, and absolutely worth the stress.

If you have an evening free and a partner to play with, Biped on Xbox One is a jolly good time. If you don’t have a co-op partner, well, it’s still worth jumping in two-feet-first. Just don’t expect to be challenged, nor be in its world for particularly long.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin on Xbox One is a great fighting game. Using the skills you learn, deploying the right attacks, dodging within a hair's breadth to allow you to attack faster; these are all great gameplay moments. The visuals do a superb job of showing what's happening, multiplayer on the couch is just as fast and furious (if you really want a challenge, turn friendly fire on), and the online multiplayer side of things - while suffering from a severe lack of players - works just as well.

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.

Torchlight III on Xbox One is by no means a bad game. It functions fine and gives the same satisfaction that your traditional ARPG will. That being said, it feels just a bit lazy. The gameplay, story, visuals and mechanics are fine but that’s about it. It is rather fun with friends and doesn’t have any major issues, but it fails to live up to the light set before it.

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.

Jet Set Knights’ heavy reliance on inspiration makes it feel altogether too familiar, with some aspects being replicated like-for-like. It’s not quite as entertaining as those games that inspired it, however if you’re not too hung up on originality you’ll find that Jet Set Knights on Xbox One is plenty of fun to play.