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.