The gameplay needs more polish, better balancing and more finesse and the same goes for the presentation. If or when it gets that it could be a contender, particularly if you love the franchise, but until that happens you might want to stick to something else.

Like Sonic? Play Sonic Mania. Played Sonic Mania? Play it some more. While Sonic Forces looks fantastic, it’s one of the least engaging games in the entire series...True, it doesn’t have the broken controls or half-witted camera of the worst examples, but there’s very little here to actually play, enjoy or discover – bar a cool custom character designer and a whole bunch of costumes to unlock.

Black Forest Games' remake of Destroy All Humans is a worthwhile adventure for fans of the series and those who grew up with Crypto's antics on the PS2 and Xbox. However, you'll need to make peace with its outdated gameplay mechanics alongside tired dialogue and story beats, many of which feature a number of offensive stereotypes.

There’s space out there for more games in the Left 4 Dead mould, and Earthfall tries its best with limited assets and a limited budget. Sadly, it lacks the things that could have made up for both: imagination, invention, thrilling pacing, suspense and brilliant level design. Even without the current – and frankly unforgivable – matchmaking problems, it’s a game that struggles to match the ten-year-old classic it’s cloning, let alone surpass it.

There are good ideas at work in Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days, but it’s a shame that one of the most intense and shocking indie movies ever made has spawned a game that’s neither. At its best, it’s a tight, engaging twin-stick shooter with an element of strategy and a cool rewind mechanic, but it never manages to be anything more than that.

It’s a painful reminder that we have it and had it so much better, even if the remaster seems to be far more prone to crashing than the original. Games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Mad Max, and even Bad Company 2 do almost everything better than Red Faction ever could.

Has-Been Heroes is an interesting attempt at a new kind of puzzle/strategy/brawler hybrid, but it’s never as much fun to play as it looks like it should be. It’s a game that has good ideas and strong visual design in its favour, but it never manages to balance the high difficulty level with rewards that make the hardship worth your while.

Obviously, Surgeon Simulator isn’t meant to be taken seriously, and as long as you can keep that in the forefront of your mind, there’s some fun to be had here. I should imagine it would make for some great streaming material and a few comical sessions with friends. Beyond that, however, the game is light on content and the added Switch features don’t add anything worth the price of entry.

Journey to the Savage Planet offers an atypical open-world feedback loop with some small bits of clever detail but there’s not much else going for it. The writing is tired while the combat is uninspired, with pea shooter guns and a variety of frustrating enemies. Despite this, there’s still no sense of difficulty or tantalising mystery to distance it from its peers or keep you exploring beyond the short narrative – and the addition of co-op feels pointless.

Metal Gear Survive is a brave move for Konami and a decent survival game – it’s just not particularly fun. If you like the more abrasive side of the medium, give it a go. Everyone else should probably stay away.

Some will relish the gruesome spectacle and challenge, but Execution manages to transform giant-slaying into something of a chore.

It’s never that V-Rally 4 is actively bad, but the 16-year wait since V-Rally 3 is no way near worth it.

Yooka-Laylee is a nostalgic old-school adventure, but it’s too retro for its own good. Frustrating game mechanics, annoying boss fights and the complete lack of guidance become infuriating as the game progresses...Hopefully, in Yooka-Laylee 2, Playtonic finds a balance between new and old – because it’s quite clear the magic isn't lost; it just needs a few new tricks.

Compared to open-world rivals such as GTA, Assassin’s Creed or The Witcher, there’s simply far too little to do in this world – and what little you’re asked to do, you’re asked to do so much it becomes bland and uninteresting.

Considering all the amazing Wii U games still yet to come to the Nintendo Switch, I could have happily seen Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze moved much further back in the queue. It’s simply an average 2D platformer that doesn’t deliver the level of fun or excitement you’d expect from a Nintendo-exclusive title – particularly one featuring some of the company’s most iconic mascots.

Episode 4 of Batman’s Telltale series continues to tell a good story, but the lack of progression and pay-off does hamper it quite significantly.

Although Resident Evil: Revelations remains a great game in its own right, it’s hard to recommend this HD (HD-er?) version to even staunch loyalists of Capcom’s fright fest, especially if they picked up the home console release in the last hardware generation. The exception would be those who really loved Raid, as the new Chaos mode might prove reason enough to revisit. Instead, this is probably best suited to those who’ve never played Revelations before, or who came to Resident Evil off the back of Resi 7 and are curious about the series’ history. Even if you fall into that camp, unless you’re a one format gamer, holding out for the Switch release seems wise.

Batman’s third episode from season two does enough to keep the overall story ticking over, but a crowded narrative and confusing relationships mean this is the low point so far. Episode four will have to do much better.

Sonic Colors Ultimate is a faithful remake of the 2010 game that you’ll probably enjoy if you’re either a dedicated Sonic fan or a child that doesn’t mind the easy difficulty and childish dialogue. Otherwise, there’s not much to love here, with floaty gameplay and an unengaging story.

It isn't clear why this real-time game was created at all, when the world would be far happier with another BLiTZ system title. It makes it tough to recommend, even for a Chronicles aficionado, because the other things that went into making the earlier game so enjoyable – a jaunty alternative history/fantasy plot populated by an interesting bunch of characters – feel half-baked here. Everything, from gameplay to graphics to the storyline, is worse.

It’s fun for a bit but quickly runs out of steam. The more casual fan, looking for something to have a laugh with their mates with and little else is almost certainly going to be better served by hanging on for Nintendo’s new Smash Bros game because there’s simply not enough interesting content outside of unlocking clothing accessories.

PSVR is screaming out for another big-hitter to give early adopters something to dive into, but its short and uneventful campaign, weak design and dull visuals mean it won't live long in the memory. We can only hope that future VR shooters take full advantage of the excellent Aim Controller.

Serious Sam 4 repackages, rather than reimagines the iconic shooter’s core mechanics in a way that will amuse fans of the original games. Sadly, a lack of innovation and outdated sense of hmour will undoubtedly put off newcomers.

I love PaRappa and his ‘I gotta believe’ attitude, but this early rhythm action game no longer holds up. That’s no slur on its charming visuals, great music and superb animation, all of which look great in this HD update, but the gameplay just doesn’t really work. Enjoy PaRappa in your memories or on YouTube if you must, but this remaster will leave you thinking bad of the rapping pup and, really, who wants that?

What Miitopia lacks in actual game it makes up for in how weird and wonderful it is. If you’re easily charmed by Nintendo, this will eat you up and spit you out.

Talk about a squandered opportunity. There’s nothing much wrong with the graphics or the rough-and-tumble arcade racing, but the new Micro Machines hasn’t got the single-player mode to pull players in or the multiplayer content required to keep them there. There’s a sorry sense of ‘will this do?’ about World Series. While the nostalgia factor is high, the rest is a letdown.

Payday 2 continues to maintain a very dedicated audience, but even fans of the game are unlikely to enjoy what’s being put forward for Nintendo Switch. Stripped-back visuals, poor performance and a lack of adaptation to the console results in a shoddy port at best...It’s ironic that a game about heists is trying to jump on a bandwagon and rob you of your hard-earned cash.

Without the bugs, The Bard’s Tale IV is okay at best. With them, it’s perhaps best to preserve your nostalgia and play the HD remaster of The Bard’s Tale I to III instead.