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.

The Fast Journey didn’t feel like a complete game. It felt like a stepping stone for a dev who will probably go onto better things in the future. For now, you can consider this as the barest scrap of a game, and move on (fast).

I enjoyed my time revisiting Providence Oaks in Lake: Season's Greetings. The loveable characters, heartwarming story and classic Christmas tone make this well worth a pick-up over the Holiday season, even if some technical qualms hold it back from tree-topping star status.

If you’re on Team Artifex Mundi and are hungry for another hidden-object experience, then The Myth Seekers 2: The Sunken City doesn’t do much to disappoint. It’s dull and bland, but it does all the puzzling stuff well and with minimal fuss. But if you’re a tad more discerning or are looking for a decent entry point to the masses of similar games - well, this is about the last game we’d recommend to begin with.

As a one-shot, Excessive Trim is incredible fun. You will go from confused to dumbstruck in roughly thirty minutes. But, like the alien in the game, it only functions in short, sharp bursts. Once you start asking what’s next, what will keep you playing Excessive Trim, then it shrugs and holds its empty hands out wide.

Pier of the Unknown did something important. It gave me a reason to return to Cassette Beasts, to fill out that monster catalogue and hike up my levels.

Grace of Letoile is very much another KEMCO RPG. There isn’t anything ground-breaking here, but the story is better than most. It is just a shame that things are hidden away, there are too many random encounters and the slow combat means that the excitement of the narrative is somewhat diluted.

We didn’t dislike our time with Evil Diary: while it’s some throwaway monster-killing, it’s also frustration free. If this holiday period is a little too jolly and colourful for you, then say ‘bah humbug’ with Evil Diary.

There isn’t a lot to complain about with The Last Faith. I would have liked a little bit of signposting as it is very easy to get lost, but the style and the crunching combat more than make up for this. With a bit of a better map and a couple more clues, The Last Faith would have been very close to a perfect score.

Heads Up! Phones Down Edition is not a bad game: it’s just an unnecessary one. Slap £33.49 on that unnecessary game and, well, we creep slowly out of the room to play The Jackbox Party Pack games.

Trash is Fun is a wholesome (if brief) experience that just goes to show that recycling can indeed be fun.

Ultimate Solitaire Collection might be a little sterile, but it plays well with a pad in your hands, and there are more features and modes than you could possibly exhaust. By rights, a collection this big should have cut corners somewhere, but Ultimate Solitaire Collection only has a few usability nobbles. It’s a modest triumph, then, and while it might not be the sexiest of purchases, it might be one of your most played when you look back in a year’s time.

Train Valley 2: Community Edition is a superb railway management puzzler. Initially complex, it all begins to come together in the most delightful of ways. When you consider the sheer number of levels, variety in objectives and strength of missions, we’re not sure there’s much that can beat it - especially not at the price.

You may well applaud the basic story setup and retro visuals in Diorama Dungeoncrawl - Master of the Living Castle. But the gameplay loop gets too frustrating at times, more annoying than anything as we are left to repeat levels.

Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai is one that you will enjoy a lot. Numb feeling combat aside, the way that our heroes grow and evolve as we go is classic Dragon Quest, whilst the finding of the Bond Memories soon becomes an obsession. The presentation of the story using scenes from the anime will draw you into the narrative more than you may expect and so this is most definitely a game worthy of the Dragon Quest moniker.

Football Manager 2024 Console Edition allows you to create a story of your own, dealing with your destiny across one club or many, all as you get to oversee every last detail.

EA Sports UFC 5 is probably the best iteration EA have made. It embodies the essence of the sport, which makes it easy to recommend for both seasoned fans and newcomers alike.

You have to get over the hurdle that this is clearly Lemmings, but with some annoying barbs. And you need to ignore the rough presentation. Clear all of those, and Jujubos is an ingenious riff on a classic

If you have played them before, and you’ve grown frustrated that 8floor Games never seem to release a coherent, bug-free and ambitious title, then stop the Argo for a moment. Argonauts Agency 1: Golden Fleece is the one.

We can’t help but feel that developers Cosy Computer hit upon a winning formula and then didn’t know what to do with it. Is Pizza Possum a roguelike? An arcade rush game? A campaign? The answer, we suspect, is a little bit of all of them. And that confusion left something of a bad taste in this possum’s mouth.

The technical hiccups and the lack of interaction in Bluey: The Videogame caused our four-player team to scream “awwww” in disappointment. But it’s testament to the game’s authenticity that they often wheeled away and played with something else in the world instead. From the art to the voice-acting to the painstaking recreation of the Bluey house: it’s all exactly as it should be.

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.

Brilliantly designed with a different slant on the genre, Wordless has a unique style and some amazing visual storytelling.

Alien Hominid Invasion is animated, anarchic and full of attitude. Sure it’s tough, but more importantly it’s an absolute blast.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is a bit of a mixed bag, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with. "DMZombie" is not quite for me, and the campaign's short length and varying quality are worth noting. However, the linear campaign levels left me quite satisfied and most importantly, the multiplayer suite has been an absolute blast to play.

Thirsty Suitors may not boast the best mechanics or the flashiest gimmicks, but it more than makes up for that by telling a wonderfully evocative, charming and often funny story. In my mind, it achieves exactly what the developers set out to do. And that is something that should be celebrated.

Not for Broadcast: Bits of Your Life is a great piece of DLC for an already well-established universe. The narrative is strong and the writing is very clever. When you consider all the different playthroughs, there is a lot of content to discover and examine in Bits of Your Life.

True Virus is most definitely a solid adventure with some hard puzzles and a lovely art style, but a clumsy UI and lacking story don't ever let it stand out.