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.