Revenant Dogma feels like a game of missed opportunities. The story is either much too confusing or later all spoonfed to players. Spelling mistakes and subpar visuals make the game feel too rough around the edges. The characters' conversations only tell, never show and the gameplay soon gets repetitive. For genre-deprived fans, it may be enjoyable enough, but for anyone looking for a great Xbox JRPG, Revenant Dogma falls short.

The central concept is as mindlessly addictive as ever, while the audiovisual update is pleasing to the eyes and ears. Unfortunately the game is let down by being too short and too easy, while some unnecessary platforming gimmicks frustrate more often than they entertain.

Pix The Cat offers some truly frenetic gameplay and finds modest success in being the Snake/Pac-Man crossover as which it's billed. Sometimes the game presents itself as too busy to allow for focus on what you're actually meant to be doing, and when you are focusing, the controls don't always respond how you'd want.

There are a few anti-fun mechanics and sometimes the collision can seem almost random, but it's not enough to totally kill off the fun factor. Like most physics entries, your enjoyment of the game — as well as how much content you're able to squeeze out of it — is heavily dependent on your like or dislike of this style of game, so be sure to know your own preferences before proceeding any further with this one.

Conan Exiles is a game that is rewarding to survive in, considering you start off with nothing at all. Going from an exiled criminal to the owner of a large riverfront property is a great feeling. Learning the ins and outs of how to thrive in the Exiled Lands is enjoyable, especially when doing so with other players. These positives tend to be forgotten though, and can be completely eclipsed by the game’s main pitfalls. The frame rate is unacceptable at times, which then affects the already subpar combat.

The first of three post-launch chapters, Isle of the Dead takes no risks whatsoever, giving players a little bit more of exactly what the game was already. If you want a new level to explore with friends, this will give you that, but if you were hoping to see Strange Brigade in a new light, episode one of The Thrice Damned campaign is not for you. Like the base game, it's a no-frills experience, but this time a few frills would've been welcome.

The campaign is the best part of the game but is halted in its tracks by gates that require players to grind before they can pass. The sole purpose of the game's open world is to be filled with collectibles, while the optional dungeons are inferior versions of their campaign counterparts. Long loading times and other smaller bugs interrupt flow and disrupt the player experience. Then there's the problem of the missing content. If ever a game felt like it was rushed to release, it is this one.

It breaks my heart to criticise Sable so. The first few hours are truly remarkable, packed with moments of beauty, creativity, and childlike wonder, but the more you play, the more the mask slips. Despite the technical issues, it's testament to the abilities of the small team that it has been able to create a world so inventive and interesting, if one whose sparseness starts to work against it once the initial sightseeing tour is over. It's a crying shame, though, that those who want to see everything that this captivating setting has to offer — whether through inherent completionism, chasing achievements, or simply being drawn in by the lush playground itself — are those who will suffer Sable at its worst, even if the highs should still prove strong enough to carry you through the lows in the end.

Young gamers are the target audience of Prospect Games' Unbox: Newbie's Adventure. There's nothing wrong with that, but there isn't much here to appeal to the older and more experienced gamer, something at which other kids' titles have succeeded. The developer holds your hand throughout the adventure, which is annoying unless by chance this is the first video game you've ever played, and Unbox's one-trick combat and easy tasks won't captivate an adult's attention for long. Unless you plan to collect all 800 Golden Tapes, it's also a brief experience, clocking in at roughly 5-7 hours. The graphics are lackluster with a noticeable difference between advertisements of the game and how it actually looks. Provided the developer fixes the broken achievement, the list of 15 achievements is straightforward and simple with not much to it, much like the game itself.

Right now, Battlefield 2042 is offering plenty of new features and gameplay elements that will benefit the series’ veteran players, although I’m not sure if there is enough there to hold the attention of players that don’t already have a vested interest in it, at least while they wait for the various problems to be fixed. That really is a shame because even though the persistent issues are frustrating, unnecessary, and annoying, underneath it all is a game that is brimming with potential, and one that I’m enjoying much of my time with — combat is tense, challenging, and unpredictable, and it offers the very best Battlefield experience in recent years... when it hits right.

Shadowgate is very easy to recommend to fans of the original game or of the early days of point-and-click in general. For modern genre enthusiasts, it may be a tougher sell thanks to basic presentation and lots of opportunities to get a game over. Regardless, this is the best updated version of a thirty year old game that one could hope for, and it should leave nostalgic adventure gamers hopeful for more classic revivals in the same vein.

Spellspire takes a simple word game and spices it up with some interesting RPG elements, adding some tactical thinking to the usual “spell big words to win” formula. Upgrades actually feel useful rather than being tacked on and don't end as an afterthought. Unfortunately there is very little variation in the actual gameplay and the move from mobile to console does come with some drawbacks, mainly when it comes to inputting words quickly and precisely. It is, however, a fun game to play in short bursts; with an entire tower to climb, there is plenty for people to sink there teeth into here.

Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame certainly captures the atmosphere and the essence of the high-adrenaline sport. The arenas are well-crafted reproductions of their real-life counterparts, and out on the track, the bikes and riders look decent. It gets slowed by jarring moments such as strangely routine lag or sometimes frustrating handling and physics. There is a feeling of the game being not quite finished, with a little polishing still needed in places. That all said, when it works, it works well and there is plenty of content to keep players entertained, especially with the advent of community created tracks. In short, it feels one patch shy of being a great racing title.

Anoxemia has a wonderful sense of tension and a dark atmosphere with an interesting enough plot highlighting Dr Bailey's isolation and possible decent into madness, but it begins to lose its charm as you progress. The lack of checkpoints can make repeating the areas very tedious if you die from any of the hazards or from your supplies running out, but the short levels do make up for this. There is some incentive to exploration and it does provide you with some helpful upgrades, but your main objectives rarely differ from collecting a number of items or reaching a specific location. There is enough to keep players entertained for a few hours, but the repetition and lack of variety in objectives holds back what could have been a far more exciting game.

oOo won't appeal to everyone, but for those willing to accept the flaws as well as the challenging nature of the game, oOo can be an addictive experience and a fix for that satisfying, 'just one more go' experience.

Serial Cleaner is a fun stealth game that doesn't hold one's attention for long. Despite the changing environments and balanced approach to ramping up the game's difficulty, the title can become quite frustrating with no checkpoints or ways to save on harder levels when you're sent back to the very beginning, no matter how much work you've accomplished along the way. The 20 challenge modes are more like on/off switches for making the game more challenging in different ways, not really different modes of play. It has a retro 70's vibe with good music and a fun pixelated art style and does a great job of being easy to pick up and play, but it doesn't add enough variety to keep you coming back for more. Bob Leaner is a seemingly cool cat who ends up being a rather boring dude in the end.

2Dark is a mildly interesting stealth-horror fusion sadly dragged down by some bizarre narrative and visual decisions.

Ultimately, GRIP has fun gameplay at its foundation, I'm just not sure this first attempt takes the game everywhere it needs to go.

Narcosis is neither a great nor terrible horror title — it's simply fine. The premise is so strong but the full experience only partially achieves that potential. Its place as a quick completion will attract many of this community, but if you need more than narrative from your games, look elsewhere. It delivers a brief but interesting story with a greatly memorable ending, but in several other ways, most notably atmosphere, Narcosis is dead in the water.

Use Your Words is the latest in Xbox One party games, but it is by no means the best. Its lack of variety makes the experience repetitive and boring after only a few games. Furthermore, while Use Your Words is priced cheaper than other party games on Xbox Live, its competitors have greater variety, depth, and replay value. Unless you're aching for a new party game and have already milked every last drop of fun out of all of the others available, Use Your Words is worth a pass.

Episode 3: More Than A Feeling isn't Telltale's best work. The pacing is poor and the dialogue is a repeat of emotions you've already seen in prior episodes. At least we get an interesting look into Gamora and Nebula's past with Thanos, their now-deceased father. There's also an impactful decision requiring your attention at the end of the episode. Once the whole series is released, Episode 3 won't be memorably bad, but when you've been waiting months to progress Guardians' story, it's a short and disappointing installment at best.

No one said survival would be easy, but since it's still a game, it should ultimately be more fun than it is.

The bright and innocent atmosphere here gives off a walk in the park vibe that is undermined by the game's deceptively challenging puzzles. With seemingly no incentive given to each level's time and unlockable stars, however, Skyling missed out on an opportunity to challenge the player to continually outdo past runs and perfect each level.

Exploring the facility and discovering the nuances of the plot are certainly the highlights of this game, but the lack of direction is a double-edged sword, giving players the opportunity to discover as much as they can but often leaving them unsure of what exactly they are supposed to be doing. The survival elements of this survival-horror also aren't as fully realised as they could have been and only appear during the short second half of the story. With a length of only one to two hours, it’s easy to finish a single playthrough in one sitting and still have plenty of time to go back in for more, but once you have discovered what secrets are lurking in the basement, there is very little to entice you back other than finishing up any missed achievements, of course.

Overall, Somerville has a fantastic and intriguing world that’s begging to be explored from the off. Wonderful art and sound design compounded with excellent character animations really bring this narrative adventure to life, but a smattering of bugs, lacklustre puzzle elements, and an ambiguous story that left me feeling unrewarded after posing so many initial questions, really hampered the experience.

The Ascent is a beautiful and entertaining action-RPG when everything is working as intended, but those moments are sadly much rarer than they should be. We know the team already has several patches planned so hopefully, a lot of the issues we encountered will be ironed out by the time you dive into the game — I'll be keeping an eye on these updates and will look to update and/or modify this review should things be significantly improved, because I'd have liked to have scored The Ascent higher. Combat is frantic and fun, the world is amazing, and there are some really satisfying abilities to bust out against foes, but you need a hell of a lot of patience to put up with all the technical nonsense going on with the game in its current state.

Extinction isn't what it could have been. The story is a complete afterthought but in its throwback sort of way, it doesn't feel out of place. Frequent camera problems get in the way of battling the Ravenii, and overall Extinction fails to deliver on the one thing it must get right, its man versus beast moments. They might be giants, but they're definitely boring.

Tumblestone is a fun game for the first several hours but then it starts becoming tedious from the sheer number of puzzles that you face. For puzzle lovers, the promised 40+ hours of story mode will be a boon. For more casual puzzlers, the hundreds of puzzles that are required to complete the game could be a trial, as well as the difficulty of some of the puzzles.

Kung-Fu for Kinect can occasionally suffer from problems with reading the more complicated moves that are required from players, and navigating through the side-scrolling levels is a chore, but players will feel like a kung-fu superstar with even the most basic of moves. Or they'll feel like a physical wreck.

In virtually every way, the series has improved in important ways since V2 – from a more intuitive control scheme to better level and mission design, more varied environments, and improved gunplay across the board. All of this makes it hard to argue that anyone new to the series should try V2 Remastered. It offers too many 2012 issues in a prettier 2019 package. However, if you're already a fan, these poorly aged issues are more forgiving, making Sniper Elite V2 Remastered worth aiming for.

NASCAR HEAT 2 is packed full of content for the fans and to get the most out of it, you really need to be a fan of the motorsport. The visuals are the weakest link and are the only thing to really complain about. Underneath, there is a solid racing title that is good fun especially when racing in the pack surrounded by other cars. Monster Games has done well to capture all of the glamour of the sport whilst keeping it authentic at the same time. For those looking for more diverse disciplines in their racing, other titles will be better suited, but for NASCAR fans it's a great title that pays homage to the sport.

If shoot 'em ups are your thing, you're probably going to like this game, but to love it, you're going to have to enjoy the variety of other genres thrown into the mix. The schmup gameplay itself has solid mechanics, but sometimes the side content can be made a tedious thanks to a menu system that wasn't optimized for consoles and some functions that require more waiting than playing.

Ultimately, this pack can make a player's city look the part of a modern capital trying to tread a difficult ethical line between industry and eco-friendly practices; it's just a shame that there isn't more of a progression and reward incentive for all players to properly interact with it.

Very little player interaction is involved, but conversation options can allow players to shape the characters so that it feels like they are creating their own story. Unfortunately, that feeling is short lived when all choices lead to the same story conclusion and characters are left underdeveloped. The puzzles that are intended to add extra gameplay end up falling flat because they're too easy. The result is an experience that is satisfactory for a single playthrough but becomes repetitive and boring across multiple playthroughs, which is something that the achievements encourage.

TowerFall Ascension is an addictive archery-based multiplayer death-match with a simple concept and competent design. An absence of gameplay differences between characters is frustrating and the solo campaign mode is far too insubstantial, but the versus arena is engagingly chaotic, if short-lived. Online multiplayer would have elevated this game to another level, but local play is still a lot of fun if you and your friends like to duke it out once in a while.

Wanted: Dead is very much an acquired taste, but those for whom its eclectic nonsense clicks will likely love it, even if it's not technically a great game. It's a throwback to a bygone age of gaming that's clearly made with passion, with the team just doing whatever the hell it likes rather than sticking to typical gaming standards to create something that certainly stands out in the modern landscape, if not always in the way it intends to. Stingy checkpointing can kill the game's momentum should you fall foul of a tricky encounter and have to replay large portions of a level, but there will be some folks who like that extra punishment for failure — just as with more or less everything else about Wanted: Dead, it's all going to land for someone out there, and I can see this one going down as a bit of a cult classic.

With a short completion, excellent main characters, and good production values, the highs reach far higher than the lows. It’s an altogether lovely experience, especially if you have siblings to relate to, and it stands clearly among the better adventure games available on Xbox One. The only issue is its cost. This is a game that would firmly benefit from a sale, so I suggest you keep your eyes out because you won’t want to miss this memorable experience.

Vesta is a quaint title that provides suitably challenging environmental puzzles for those who decide to take a shot at it. The story isn't anything special, but the gameplay is more than enough to keep you playing. Despite this, you may still find yourself getting needlessly frustrated at a few deaths due to the awkward controls that occasionally bubble to the surface. When everything works as intended, though, Vesta and the droid work well together, allowing you to comfortably test your brain to a satisfactory degree.

Degrees of Separation opens like a touching fairy tale complete with well-written narration and a soft tone of lovers determined to find one another. Sadly, the game betrays them and the player alike by structuring progression exclusively around collectibles. It results in a world that is pretty and pleasant to look at, but often tedious to move through. Still, it's better in co-op and won't take more than one or two date night sessions to see it all, leaving it a flawed fairy tale, but still one with heart.

Whether it's quest givers taking an age to actually appear, murder targets similarly not showing for a while when you travel to a town, or simply the screen constantly jerking whilst you try and travel, all of these ruin what should be an enjoyable, if not slightly disturbing killing spree.

As a strategy game, it offers enough depth and complexity to stand out from the crowd. As an RPG, it's simply burdened by too much complexity to reward the player. Sadly, thanks to a story that is difficult to appreciate and a heavy focus on run-of-the-mill missions, the gameplay becomes repetitive far too quickly as there are not enough interesting story missions to breathe life into the experience.

While Gas Guzzlers Extreme attempts to fill a niche that is seriously lacking in today's marketplace, it falls short of success due to performance issues and a complete lack of multiplayer capability.

Xuan-Yuan Sword is gaming’s homage to a so good it’s bad B-movie. There are some really great aspects to the game. The combat’s potential depth is realized in boss fights, the story is engaging, and it has strong characters with depth. It’s got all the essentials of a good JRPG, but it's mixed with a poor localization and shoddy technical work to create a game that is almost enjoyable at first. The technical issues and translation are comical at the beginning and you’ll find yourself surprised at the absurdity, but the humor slowly erodes as the hours pass by. Eventually you’re left with a paper mache house built around a solid framework. It’s a game that could have been good with another few months of development and a better translation, but what we got could still be a fun romp if you approach it with the right mindset.

The brightest spot in the whole game is Lola's flaming pink hair.

Mount & Blade: Warband features some innovative ideas that many other games in the genre haven't explored. The focus on the political nature of warring countries as well as the actual combat gives players multiple ways to play. It is unfortunate that many of these features are left largely unexplained, though, and they require more than a small amount of trial and error to figure out exactly how to proceed. The steep learning curve and low production values may put many people off, although its open-endedness offers players far more replayability than many other games in the genre.

Jump Force somehow only achieves mediocrity at best despite the star power found on its roster and the potential that comes with that cast. The characters are indeed faithfully recreated, stylish abilities and all, but nothing feels seamless. From the horrible cutscenes and choppy combat animations to the struggling frame rate, everything feels cut together haphazardly. Jump Force looks like an excellent idea on paper as a crossover containing over 40 characters from various Shonen Jump series, but in practice, the vision falls flat due to a serious lack of polish.

If Avalanche can improve the inventory system, fix quest tracking, and get it so the enemies can't cheat through walls and other physical spaces, they'll have repaired most of what ails these dysfunctional machines. Generation Zero isn't the game I wanted it to be today, but in a world where games are alive and changing all the time, I'm hoping the singularity is still near.

While it's a fun for a while, the game soon becomes frustrating and repetitive.

Human Fall Flat is a physics-based puzzler with a pleasant sense of humor, a cute main character, nice puzzles, and clean, inviting environs, but all of these positives bite the dust when the basic mechanic of the game makes you gnash your teeth with frustration. Controlling Bob is like trying to get ooze to stand at attention. He flips and flops around until you'll jump off a ledge just to end the pain. The items he handles flip and flop around in the much the same way. Once you get the hang of the basic controls then you can get the job done, but it isn't fun and isn't that the whole point? It isn't Bob that falls flat here so much as the game itself.

Ultimately, the game falls between two stools, not realistic enough for the hardcore enthusiasts and not gamified enough for the gaming community. If a better balance could be found, then there is great potential here, but sadly, at this moment, the title just can't reach its own lofty ambitions.

Despite its name, Layers of Fear 2's main problem is that there isn't anything going on under the surface. It's a competent enough walking simulator with a few decent jump scares and a little bit of mystery, but with no interesting mechanics to speak of and no effort to help the player feel attached to the vague story it's hard to justify the play time to anyone. If you were a big fan of the first iteration and need more in your life, you won't find anything particularly wrong with Layers of Fear 2. For anyone else, there's simply too many better examples of both horror games and narrative walking simulators to recommend stepping aboard.

There's certainly room for difficult and frustrating platformers that eventually reward you when you succeed, but Bounce Rescue! rarely feels worth the trouble because it's challenging for all the wrong reasons.

Fans of the genre might be able to enjoy Van Helsing's latest adventure through the city of Borgovia and its surrounding areas, but only if they have the patience to wade through its many problems.

Morphite's attempts to capture the adventurous spirit of the final frontier mostly fall flat, but its simplicity of approach may win over the casual gamer — possibly more so in its mobile ports than on home consoles. Muddled art direction, abysmal dialogue and uninspired side quests prove to be the greatest obstacles to enjoyment, but the main quest missions have a few moments of classic platforming entertainment. Ultimately the game boils down to exploring randomised planets and scanning the stuff you find there, which some will find pleasantly meditative for a while. Morphite fails to be a shining star in a crowded market, but at least it's an easy-going place to visit for a short refuel on your journey to greater discoveries.

Gunscape's aim to give users a simple way to create and share their own arenas and campaigns is no small feat, but Blowfish Studios has managed to achieve it using an editor that is already familiar to gamers. The main downside is that the game's stability issues can be a major hindrance and lead to more frustration.

Nickelodeon: Kart Racers squanders its should-be exciting premise of combining a fun genre and beloved characters. It's a bit of a feat for a game with this sort of head start to end up so poorly. With so few characters, unattractive audiovisual design, and a Nickelodeon license that feels almost tacked on in the end, it's very hard to recommend to anyone other than families with low expectations who just want a kart racer with SpongeBob or the Ninja Turtles in it. That's a small target audience, and for the many more outside of it, Nickelodeon: Kart Racers definitely isn't worth the ride.

It's not a pretty game and it lacks in content as well as having slightly awkward mechanics. However, there are decent maps to be seen and a couple of the modes work very well for the game, namely Team Objective and Free for All. You'll get frustrated with the game deign, but also laugh out loud at how ridiculously entertaining it can be at times.

For the grand price of £1.99, Battle Cars adds three new cars, two weapons, three new modes and a brand new season to play through. It is a decent amount of content for such a cheap price, but unfortunately it just doesn't add that much to the actual gameplay. The weapons, though limited by overheating and unlocking after a certain time, tend to cause more chaos than anything else and take away from the actual racing. The game didn't really need weapons adding to it, leaving the DLC basically a moot point, but no doubt it will bring a little bit of fun amongst the frustration.

The gameplay is strong enough to make Space Hulk: Ascension worthy of consideration, but technical issues stand in the way of being able to give it a general recommendation.

The level design and watered down combat leaving the game feeling more like a button mashing grind than the deep combat intensive hack and slash that it could have been.

It pains me to have to score Rematch so low. As an online action game fan, my heart was an open goal here. However, a rushed launch has led to a mountain of problems that make this a recommendation only for Game Pass subscribers. Do not spend money on this game in this state. My hope is that we can revise this score at a later date, should Sloclap address the issues.

If you're in search of a game to play "pass the controller" with in a group of shooter-loving friends, Lovely Planet may be worth checking out, but is otherwise easily worth a pass.

Die-hard fans of early 90s platforms have been finding their own ways to play these games for decades, and without a substantial display of additional features, it's hard to point to many reasons to purchase – except if you want a relatively easy achievement completion.

Clicker Heroes styles itself as an idle game in the body of an RPG, but it is really just all of the RPG grind without any of the interesting plot that helps drive you. In the end, the game, if you can call it that, pretty much plays itself. Despite this, it has a surprising amount of depth, though a lot of patience and a great deal of time is needed to uncover it all.

If you're looking for a short burst of fun and Space Invaders holds a special place in your heart, then Super Destronaut DX is perfectly playable. There's a handful of modes on offer to keep things entertaining for a while, but it relies too much on the nostalgia factor and ultimately offers little else. With nothing to keep you coming back after you've earned all the achievements, the game will sadly only be played for an hour or so before it is put back on the shelf and forgotten about.

Think of the Children is carried by how fun it can be with friends. The silly situations, crazy cosmetics and chuckle-worthy court dialogue are best enjoyed with others. But the flaws become overwhelming in single player where levels aren't balanced for the lack of players, leading to a lot of frustration to merely beat the game, much less be eligible to get the coveted A+ rankings. Local co-op only and lacking controls and mechanics are other reasons that make Think of the Children a niche recommendation to only those dying for couch co-op experiences because the game is a disaster for solo players.

Cobbled together from parts of previous games, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is one of the worst entries into the series. From the vapid campaign with those woeful DMZ-like open combat missions to the Multiplayer that relies on nostalgia for anything interesting and the toothless, uninspired Zombies mode that is just an awkward version of DMZ, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III absolutely nowhere near justifies its $70 price tag.

Deadbeat Heroes is an average game that is made far worse by poor design choices. At a quick glance, it's a simple brawler with a neat comic book art style that doesn't take itself too seriously. Upon further inspection, it's a frustrating game that encourages — no, forces — replaying missions with its minimum score requirements and strict punishments for failure, but it's excruciating to do so because dialogue, level intros and enemy introductions can't be skipped. Despite the emphasis on reaching target scores, the mysterious scoring system is never explained. Replaying levels isn't as bad in the early levels of the game when failure isn't as prominent, but the unfairness of the later levels may have players stuck in a painful cycle of dying and having their hard-earned scores wiped because of it. Do yourself a favor and leave this comic book on the rack.

What's there in the game is quite good, the issue is that there isn't very much of it. Once you've had your fill of the challenges in the main game, there's nothing else to do except speed run those same levels again. That on top of a complete and utter lack of production value of any kind leaves the game feeling more like a prototype of a cool idea than a full game.

Sadly, poor handling, catch-up AI, framerate drops and a general lack of polish to all aspects of the game render what could have been a success into a middling arcade racer that is less than the sum of its parts.

Numantia's setting is unique, the story is interesting and allows you to make important choices, and the gameplay is challenging and strategic. However, this turn-based title is wrapped in an unpolished package that doesn't let the positive traits shine: frequent bugs and glitches are off-putting, inputting commands feels sluggish, the controls aren't well-suited for console, and there are lots of missed opportunities to guide and educate the player more. Despite the fact Numantia might not be the pinnacle of strategy games, if you're an Xbox player craving the genre, you might be willing to put up with the flaws.

MercurySteam promises Raiders is a living platform that will look very different a year from now. Thankfully, that means a lot of these issues could disappear by then. Nothing the game does wrong, outside of its characters and story, is irreversible. If you like third-person shooters it's worth grabbing a team and trying out the free prologue for yourself. Just be aware that there are parts of this game more broken than the planet on which it's set.

This game is probably only for enthusiasts of the twin-stick shooter genre or for those with a large enough streaming audience to keep the game interesting.

JackQuest attempts to blend genre features together with its platforming and metroidvania elements, but it ends up being quite average in execution in almost all aspects. The art style and catchy, albeit short, soundtrack are positives, but they do little to eliminate the middling feel of the game. The plot doesn’t make me care to learn anything about the characters or what will happen to them, and the gameplay, while serviceable, doesn’t compel me to recommend JackQuest to fans of this style of game. It isn’t a terrible game, but there are far better options for those who are looking to for a fun retro romp.

At the beginning of the season, I called The Council the new benchmark for narrative adventure games. In some ways that's definitely still true, and with any luck we will see this series inspire other studios to go deeper. Sadly, those developers will also come away with a clear example of how not to close out a storyline.

The online pursuits and chases are genuinely good fun, more fun than possibly any other part of the title to date. Ultimately, splitting the difference between the highs and lows of the new content leaves the expansion feeling a little middle of the road.

Man of Medan is a game we want to love – for all of its B-movie nonsense and cookie-cutter characterisation, there’s a “so bad it’s good” vibe that would be entertaining for playing in couch co-op. Unfortunately even this slight praise is undermined by some frustrating gameplay and a host of easily avoided accessibility issues. Players will probably find themselves rattling through the game just to see things through, and might even get a kick out of tweaking some outcomes – but the first Dark Pictures tale is unlikely to linger in the memory for long.

Brief Battles can be very fun if you have local players of comparable skill to play against regularly. It feels great to play, it's visually clean and distinctive, and it's got a high skill cap. Unfortunately, most of us aren't so lucky and the lack of online or even AI gameplay really hurts it. As an alternative, the game offers up both single player and co-op challenges. The co-op challenges are short and easy while the single player challenges are long and brutally difficult if you're going for gold medals. Knowing all those caveats, the challenges are fun and the game itself is designed very well. That's commendable in its own way and means platformer aficionados might find something to love here.

The Sun and Moon has great mechanics and very creative level design, but the game is hamstrung by a brutal difficulty curve. When the game is so difficult you need to stop playing, it better have something else to back it up like a story; The Sun and Moon doesn't have that.

Echoes of the Fey: The Fox's Trail succeeds in a couple of areas but largely fails in others. The story is genuinely interesting when you manage to get your head around it, and presumably the successive episodes in the series will expand on the game's lore in ways that will clarify things better. The various quests and side quests help you paint a brighter world and the clues are fed to you through this . However, the game does not look like a 2017 release, with poor graphics and minimal locations. Couple this with unlikeable characters and overall the game is largely disappointing. If you adore visual novels, you'll probably find something to enjoy from The Fox's Trail, but otherwise probably give it a miss.

Purely as a game, it is mediocre at best, but for fans of the show, there is something quite entertaining and quite enjoyable about the title. Fans will have a smile on their faces as they work through all of the content and events, and if that is what the title is aiming for, then that is probably more than enough.

Micro Machines once meant something to many people. In fact, today it still does carry a nostalgic allure for many who have been playing this series since it first hit consoles way back in 1991. This title carries the name of the famed toy and video game property, but it offers surprisingly little of what makes that name memorable. It abandons its legacy in crucial ways as part of a gamble to stake its claim as a worthwhile competitive multiplayer experience, but it misses that mark so greatly that there's nowhere left for players to seek consolation. If you're interested in preserving the shiny aura that surrounds the brand name, don't play Micro Machines World Series.

There's a definite sense of curiousity felt when playing 'n Verlore Verstand, but ultimately it just doesn't hit the mark. The game just has too many negatives that outweigh the positives, like a dodgy camera, lack of direction or a collectible tracker, and frustrating elements throughout the enigmatic title. It does redeem itself slightly with a thoroughly listenable soundtrack and some lovely environments, but sadly these are not enough to make this game any better than just okay.

The addition of multiplayer feels as though it comes at the expense of Fallout’s memorable story-driven moments. What good is a vast map full of players if they're given little to no purpose? When no other players are around, the game’s world feels almost empty. The attention-grabbing locales and landmarks add to Appalachia's charm, but it's difficult to not wish for living, breathing characters to inhabit it. Post-apocalyptic West Virginia is described as a wasteland, and this term paints an inadvertent but accurate picture of what Fallout 76 is right now.

SkyKeepers is going on the short list of Xbox games that are easy gamerscore but just aren't very good.

Lightfield has succeeded in creating a new take on an old racing subgenre that is worthy of your time. The “omnidirectional” racing allows you to think creatively about how you approach each track and can lead to some very rewarding time trial runs. With good level design and solid game mechanics backing it up, there’s a solid foundation here. If a game can thrive on being unique alone, then Lightfield will be a runaway success, but there are significant blemishes that can’t be overlooked. There are only seven tracks and “three” game modes where two are functionally the same and the third is not enjoyable at all, leaving racing as the only real element to the game. It might be visually explosive, but the music sinks your energy and will have you searching for something more fast-paced to suit the game. At the right price, Lightfield is worth investigating, but at its current price it’s hard to recommend.

Currently, it's a great idea dragged down by poor implementation. Patient players may be able to look past the game's less than optimal menus and mechanics that the fun new features are built around, but for most players, it'll feel pretty frustrating to have to play it in its current form. It's like when you get a new toy but first must remove all those ties and straps keeping it displayed in the package. Dynasty mode often feels like you're stuck removing those straps. There's a toy right there before you, but it feels like you never get to finish unboxing it all.

As a saving grace, the game can be fun when you’re throwing out abilities into hordes of enemies and the boss battles are interesting, if not difficult. ZAMB! sounds like an exciting pop, but I’ve come to realize that in this comic book it signals one deadening idea: boredom.

Ultimately there's not a lot to say about Drift Zone. It does one thing serviceably, but that one thing is done better in bigger games in abundance on Xbox One. As an Android title, you may have fun on a bus or in a waiting room with Drift Zone, but on your home console, it's hard to overlook just how sparse the gameplay suite is. Diehard fans of tuning and tweaking cars may enjoy a half dozen hours or so here, but for most people, Drift Zone is simply an unremarkable experience that makes a strong case for curation of the Xbox digital storefront.

Dear Esther is a boring slog with little narrative payoff. Although it does encourage an ideal of "interpret as you will", it lacks the foundation and support to drive discussions of death, life, and grief to the point to which it strives. Fortunately, the experience is short, cheap, and a good boost to an achievement score, but beyond that, is worth a pass.

Asemblance is the type of game worth rooting for because it dares to try things in its own unique way. Having said that, its execution leaves far too much to be desired. You can't commend the game for being weird, because it's so weird that it fails to connect at all. It's one of the shortest games you can find on the Xbox One, which should not inherently be an issue, but in this case it is. There needed to be a few more breadcrumbs to help players care about the bizarre sequence of events that unfolds over the game's 30 minutes. Lacking all resonance and intrigue in its playthrough, Asemblance is a decent story once you look it up online later, but more of it needed to be expressed in the actual game.

Unfortunately, the game offers nothing innovative or entertaining; it's simply a way for the company to make a quick buck based on better games in the series.

If you're aching for a throwback to Belmont's heyday and don't care about your achievement ratio, give Slain a shot, but otherwise, give it a pass and catch some z's.

Past Cure is a game that tries to do too much at once to the extent that it ends up doing none of it well. To varying degrees, it lacks polish in every area. Shooting needs some help in the options menu, melee is borderline broken, stealth is missing key features, and the story abandons a strong start and gets worse with every chapter, all while it weaves in and out of several genres and forgets to make it coherent by the end. In one light it's commendable for a rookie studio to aim so high by designing a game akin to Max Payne or Quantum Break, as they obviously intended to do here. Sadly, Phantom 8 seems to have rejected reasonable restraint in their design aspirations, which may have been the cure for what ails this game.

If you are a fan of The Sims and desperately want it on your console, you will probably be able to overlook this console port's abysmal user interface and controls in order to get at what is essentially the same game you've always known. The Sims themselves are still charmingly over-animated and the audio-visual design is pleasing enough. For anyone else, the struggle to overcome the nastiness of even the basic controls and menus only leads to the same old gameplay loop, albeit with a couple of interesting features bolted on. As a series, The Sims has simply failed to evolve enough.

The world is large, beautiful and full of content. The gameplay itself is exciting and fresh, with plenty to offer in terms of depth and accessibility. But TERA on Xbox is not a great MMO. In its current state, it's not even a good one. In a few patches, TERA might be good. As it is, any other MMO on the marketplace will offer a better experience.

Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles can be a great game if you look at it through a particular lens, that lens being from the year 2000. The game has managed to replicate the original survival horror mechanics that elevated games such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil to success almost perfectly, but its beguiling allure sadly melts away the more you play.

It’s hard to recommend this to anyone unless you’re sorely desperate for a new Burnout game. If anything, Dangerous Driving might leave you pining for a decent sequel more than ever.