It does exactly what it sets out to do. But what it sets out to do is boring, bland, unimaginative and thoroughly dull.

The fun of playing these games, especially these days, lies in the director, Ryuchi Nishizawa, whose approach to genre was one of precise and genial disregard.

A surprisingly competent and occasionally very entertaining little game.

The ideal family game. It's quick and simple, but has charm, character and inventive little puzzles galore.

Fun for the most part, but infuriating control issues, crazy bugs and various omissions make you wonder why a game that isn't an untouched HD port wasn't bolstered and expanded upon in some way.

The werehog levels reek of an idea born out of trying to turn Sonic into something that kids like, instead of just giving them the Sonic many of us grew up with. We didn't need gimmicks back then and we don't think kids need them now either. Ultimately we can't help but feel disappointed... yet again.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is one of the most visually unique titles I've ever played, glossing over a fairly by the numbers third-person shooter. The deranged duo's return is worth experiencing and is far more accomplished than its predecessor, but the gameplay on offer still doesn't match the quality of the characters IO has created.

If you're expecting (or demand) a makeover similar to that seen in last year's Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, though, this is a long way from being that.

This won't replace Wii Sports as the mini-game collection of choice, but it's another option should Wii Tennis and Bowling start to feel a little over played.

In the end, Gotham Knights is, like the studio’s earlier contribution to the saga, Batman: Arkham Origins, a decent game haunted by the notion of not being the main event.

The jointed Tokobot moves work well, and the opening sections are good fun, but the ideas soon run out, leaving a game that isn't brilliant as an all out action platformer, nor as a puzzle-based adventure.

Everything a downloadable title should be: simple, addictive and well priced. Those still in a strop that it isn't the 'proper' Crash mode that we've seen in Burnout games previously are missing the point. It is what it is, and it is jolly good fun.

EA hasn't done that bad a job here, but I'd personally rather stick with the real thing.

Be prepared to hit that A button a lot over the course of the adventure. But while this latest Kingdom Hearts has its fair share of problems, long-term fans shouldn't find it too hard to forgive and forget.

As much as it pains us to say it, having been big fans of the original GameCube game, the control issues in this Wii port make Mario Power Tennis hard to recommend. Had there been support for a traditional controller this would have been an excellent party game, but as it stands it'll really only be acceptable to gamers who don't know any better - who may well find many of the issues nothing to worry about. For that reason Mario Power Tennis on Wii gets a pass, but we really expected a bit more from Nintendo.

A very enjoyable action romp, which also contains plenty of accessible customisation and strategy, and has a feel about it that screams hardcore, without demanding players trade in their social life for Achievement points and a monitor-kissed, pale skin tone.

This is the most disappointing thing about Too Human. Not the repetitive combat, or the technical issues, or the frustrating, endless death, but the plot. While the issue may be explored further in the next game, we expected more from the first. It's a big let down.

This is a frustrating game, not just because it can be occasionally unfair but because these guys clearly have an idea how to promote fear. Running around playing kiss chase with a trans-dimensional being doesn't really cut it.

As an introduction to RPGs Dragon Quest Swords might find an audience, but anyone hoping it will be a proper entry in the hugely popular series will be severely disappointed.

Ultimately, die-hard fans of the series or devotees of traditional RPGs will find a lot to love in Children of Mana, while the rest of us will yearn for something that doesn't rely quite so heavily on hackneyed game mechanics and endless button-bashing.

On balance, the new Extinction map is probably the best thing here: cohesive and rewarding, it's everything the main game isn't these days.

It's a skill-based game that manages to be surprisingly technical, but never at the expense of fun. It's hugely rewarding, too: after several extended spells on the game, Mr Gaston had the balls to perform Gold Digger on stage in a Croydon nightclub - and round there, they kill people who suck at karaoke.

Fans of the show are likely to get a kick out of the solid virtual representation of the key characters and locations and will probably enjoy the combat for a few hours. Problems will become more and more intolerable though, especially towards the end of the game where bosses are bordering on unfair, and platforming sections repeatedly make you want to quit the game there and then.

Loco Mania's basic premise is absurdly simple but good design means there is plenty of complexity and depth to be found. If you have a deep seated love of trains then Loco Mania will be a treat, but at this price it represents great value for money for almost anyone looking for a logical puzzle game.

Immortals of Aveum has the potential to be great, with its fun and varied combat, but is ultimately let down by a lacklustre story, poor writing, unlikeable characters, and dull side content. The game frequently introduces interesting concepts, but repeatedly fails to capitalise on them, leaving behind an underwhelming mish-mash of underdeveloped mechanics and uninteresting story beats.

A more taxing challenge that required real thought and detective work would have been preferable, but MillionHeir does what it sets out to do very well.

Despite some charming touches, and the slightly amateurish but strangely appealing voice cast, it's an inescapable fact that Barrow Hill adds very little new to the genre.

As an arcade blaster it does a reasonable job, but repetition ensures that even the ridiculous-but-fun Ace Kills get old quickly.

Last Stop is most enjoyable when it isn’t going anywhere. The end of each episode may hook you with a cliffhanger, but, when you look back on the game, the story fails to hang around. Instead, the scenes that stick in the memory don’t mean much at all.

Aliens Vs Predator is a great deal of fun, but there's no getting away from the fact that it feels somewhat dated and that the marine campaign is head and shoulders above the other two.

It would be nice to describe the game as Dynasty Warriors meets Monster Hunter meets Dragon Ball Z, but because there's no online play the Monster Hunter bit is redundant.

This is "GoldenEye" for a new generation. And praise doesn't come much higher than that.

Overall, Madden 24 hits all the right spots with exciting gameplay, incredible graphics, and fun new game modes. It is extremely difficult to put the controller down regardless of its flaws.

There are some choice moments across Arrival's duration, but it's just a shame that Mass Effect 2's final piece of DLC is undoubtedly its weakest.

Buggier than the virulant masses that besiege you, frustrating and, story-wise, uninspiring, this isn't worth anyone's time or money.

Between a dire campaign, samey multiplayer, and a pervading sense of stagnation, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is a disappointment and serves as, perhaps, the worst Call of Duty title in years. Save yourself some money and play Battlefield 6 or Arc Raiders instead.

Smarty Pants is exactly what you'd expect it to be, but nothing more. It's basically an interactive quiz, with none of the frills seen in rival titles from Sony and Microsoft.

It does, however, offer plenty of gameplay for your money, particularly with the inclusion of bonus levels that offer a slightly different challenge to the main game. My only complaint is in the lack of any multiplayer mode.

Decent ideas married to some questionable execution. In short doses Godfather II can be an absolute hoot, but sadly its shortcomings become more and more obvious the longer you spend with it.

As entertaining as the game is, it's abundantly clear that things could have been a whole lot better.

F1 2015 represents the best driving seen in the series to date, but sadly doesn't provide the graphical leap it should, nor does it come with the feature list fans rightly expect.

This all sounds a bit doomy and dour, but the truth is that Operation Anchorage is neither brilliant nor terrible: it's simply a sidestep that doesn't quite work. It's linear, simplistic and extremely un-Fallouty, but it does have couple of decent items and it offers a fresh change of scenery.

If you enjoy games with decent plots, developed characters and brilliant dialogue, this violent, offensive and witty action game is probably worth your attention, and if you're a shooting game purist, try not to expect too much and you'll still have plenty to enjoy.

Opoona is stuck in a rather unfortunate position. The problem is that hardcore RPG fans looking for Wii RPGs will grow bored quite quickly and newcomers to the genre might not even want to play an RPG in the first place.

It's all a bit sad really. Flock! is an enjoyable game when it all works, but it's far too easy to encounter one of its many soul destroying problems that'll make you wish you were playing something else. It's certainly something quite unique on the current crop of systems, but that doesn't stop if from being a disappointment.

The Bradwell Conspiracy is a quiet exploration of resistance under capitalism, and the repercussions of a 'better' world. The environments are extravagantly detailed and the puzzles become increasingly intricate, towards a denouement that's shocking yet grounded in our own experiences.

A very enjoyable action romp, which also contains plenty of accessible customisation and strategy, and has a feel about it that screams hardcore, without demanding players trade in their social life for Achievement points and a monitor-kissed, pale skin tone.

It's hard to recommend the PS3 version though. With its slow frame rate and other graphical glitches it's nowhere near as polished as the Xbox 360 game, making this yet another port that hasn't been given enough care and attention.

Never a challenge, never that exciting, and never really that good, Yoshi's New Island is the first blip on the 3DS' radar for some time.

As with the rest of the game, outside of the more focused platform sequences, I was boosted through by the breezy mood more than anything else. Skelattack is a masterpiece in the art of the pleasant.

Far more than the combat—whose charm ebbs away on a tide of repetition after the first few hours—the draw of The Falconeer is its suggestion that, while we may be shaped by our stories, they don’t pin us down, that the mere act of living is to take flight from the past.

Minecraft Legends is a worthy spin-off from the main game, but doesn't break any new ground in the real-time strategy genre, instead acting as an accessible entry point for the younger generation.

Out of all the Pixar and Dreamworks games, it is absolutely among one of the best, and would make for a brilliant Christmas present if you're looking to satisfy the kids over the festive season.

Fans of the show are likely to get a kick out of the solid virtual representation of the key characters and locations and will probably enjoy the combat for a few hours. Problems will become more and more intolerable though, especially towards the end of the game where bosses are bordering on unfair, and platforming sections repeatedly make you want to quit the game there and then. Hardcore fans of the genre are even less likely to get anything from the game.

If you are a rookie to the series then by all means sign up for combat, but everyone else should probably just wait to stroll down "Hell's Highway" if they want a new experience.

WRC 2 is a minor improvement on last year's game, but that isn't good enough. Other than the official WRC license all the game has going for it is a decent (but not brilliant) driving model. Everything else here feels dated and pales in comparison to numerous other games in the genre.

Tekken Hybrid is an interesting experiment in marketing, but it's also an overpriced, vestigial product released in a digital age, and its confusing trinity of titles simply cannot justify its existence as anything more than a shallow, gluttonous attempt at cashing-in on the series' most devout fans.

The new online mode makes multiplayer gaming all the easier and gives players a greater chance of playing the game in the best way possible, but other than that it feels like a slightly tweaked, albeit newly clothed and well polished, version of the first game.

While a crippling lack of ambition serves to dampen any fledgling hopes of entertainment, even the cutthroat aspirations of Katie Waissel couldn't hide the fact Blood Stone is a product built on shaky foundations.

Mothership Zeta is a let down. It's nowhere near as good as Point Lookout or The Pitt. It's slightly better than Operation Anchorage, but only slightly. It's a linear, repetitive slog through an alien space ship and nothing else. Is it a fitting finale? No. Is it worth 800MS Points? Just. If only for the Samurai Armour. Sniff.

Without any truly brilliant missions to balance things out, the single-player campaign never really gets off the ground. Multiplayer games are a lot more fun, but if you have no interest in taking to the skies with other people, this isn't a squadron that you want to be part of.

Eat Them! taps in to what makes mindless destruction addictively fun.

Harms Way is a free game, and a very good one at that, but it feels like it's lacking the content to make it anything more than a fun way to spend a few hours and then never come back to.

This is "GoldenEye" for a new generation. And praise doesn't come much higher than that.

Dynasty Warriors 9 still has the 'levelling hundreds of dudes without breaking a sweat' core loop so you feel like a badass, but the open world removes some of the depth. Fans can still enjoy, but it won't win any new hearts this time.

If you're not entirely sure whether you're going to enjoy The Mercenaries 3D or not, ask yourself this: is £35 too much to spend on a mini-game ripped out of Resident Evil 4?

If only Dalcò, rather than honouring his heroine by smothering her search for truth in confounding gloom, had abided by her love of illumination.

Juiced Eliminator attempts to simulate what it's like to be a street racer, but it simply lacks the flair and excitement that other games in the genre offer.

If you can forgive its failings you'll unearth a good Da Vinci Code-style detective story that should keep you going for a weekend at the very least.

On paper, Alpha Protocol sounds incredibly alluring, combining the best elements of the role-playing and action genres with a refreshing concept. In executing that concept, however, the game falls apart at the seams.

EA hasn't done that bad a job here, but I'd personally rather stick with the real thing.

If you're a Wii owner you could do far worse. And for some crazies out there, the whole constant death replay entire stages thing will be like vanilla milkshake: aka as good as it gets.

It’s a good thing the fundamental gameplay is addictive, because the missions are tedious.

Star Wars fans will drop the cash on it regardless, but there's enough here to satisfy the urges of serious tower defence players too.

There's little to no challenge present throughout the entire game, the story only makes sense if you already know the plot and there's a lack of things to do outside of the three main gameplay mechanics. Buy if you're a mega fan, but avoid if you like your games with even a tiny amount of depth.

Shadow of the Beast is enjoyable, its combat smooth and rewarding, but high-score chasing isn't going to keep many players around for long once the credits roll.

While some Phantasy Star fans will lament the stripped down nature of the game - from SEGA's point of view, this was unavoidable - overall it's complete fan service. The lack of online play (something that may be rectified by the PSP's linking with the PS3) is a disappointment, as is the overall sense that it's not quite as triple-A a product as it could have been, but as a PSP game it's certainly up there with the best of 2009.

Starts strongly, but soon fades into a slog through samey puzzles and ever-weaker environments.

Aliens Vs Predator is a great deal of fun, but there's no getting away from the fact that it feels somewhat dated and that the marine campaign is head and shoulders above the other two.

Outside of the odd frustrating stage, the only criticism I have of Sonic Rivals is its brevity.

Gat out of Hell gives you more stuff to do, and is mildly entertaining while it lasts, but it's not a patch on the core game it comes with. If thought of as the side course to the main dish, this is fine. Newcomers will find a lot to enjoy, but there's little reason to return if a dive into Hell is what you were looking forward to.

Movie licensed titles are often less than satisfactory, but The Spiderwick Chronicles manages to pair decent gameplay with impressive production values.

This is a standard Facebook game in iOS' clothing that ambitiously tries to make use of the iPhone without ever really doing anything at all.

Entertaining in places, Killer is Dead will only appeal to players who enjoyed Suda51’s previous titles, particularly Lollipop Chainsaw. If you’re not convinced by now, this will do nothing to alter that mindset, unless objectifying women is your thing.

If you don't fondly remember the first wave of Crazy Taxi games, steer well clear of this. However, if you fancy a taste of some retro driving action, this may be worth a purchase, but approach with caution and low expectations or prepare for a shock.

The Run certainly isn't terrible, and a big improvement on Black Box's previous effort, Undercover, but it needed more moments like the avalanche and less monotonous freeways. With the campaign over in an afternoon and the rest of the package failing to offer anything to keep you playing, The Run is some decent throwaway fun that will be forgotten as soon as you move on to something else.

The Golf Club is functional. That is a huge plus for many people wanting to do away with the flash and gimmicks found in EA's golf series, but this isn't an excuse for the presentation to be as sloppy as it is.

Chief amongst the offenders is a combat system so outdated I wouldn't be surprised if Vetra games had it shipped it in especially from 1999. Fighting monsters, which is done by mashing your attacks and occasionally blocking, feels clunky and detached, with weapons that all feel like they've got the wrong weight.

London 2012 is likely be another piece of licensed memorabilia for anyone who already has the dinnerware, tea towel, and bedspread, but it'll struggle to convince any of the Olympiad unconverted who have a picture of Sebastian Coe affixed to a dartboard in their kitchen.

One day someone is going to combine the RTS with another genre and pull it off really well; Rise & Fall isn't that game.

The Wii version, however, suffers from a point drop simply because it's a lazy port that's got no effort behind it. So, as with so many Final Fantasy games, Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is one for the fans.

White Knight Chronicles isn't a bad game; there's a decent amount of content on offer and some interesting innovations, but – and returning to this ongoing theme of expectation - it should have been something better.

If the DNA of Biomutant sparks a re-evolution of some of the genre’s dull spots, perhaps we can forgive the dull spots present here.

There's just enough F1 style though to make it stand on its own. Yes, it perhaps should have been an XBLA game, and yes it's not really the type of game that sets the world ablaze with innovative audacity, but like most of the lineage it nods to, F1 Race Stars is just good, clean fun. What else was it ever going to be?

AEW Fight Forever title is a solid debut for the rapidly rising wrestling company, offering a healthy mix of gaming nostalgia and outright chaos. But whilst their debut title is a fun pickup for wrestling fans, unless Yuke’s keep on top of their updates, there are doubts as to whether this title will stand the test of time.

The more I played the less the goings-on of the narrative bothered me, and the more I relished the wavelike rhythm of the action: the roll and crash of sailing and breaking to alight for supplies.

If you enjoy games with decent plots, developed characters and brilliant dialogue, this violent, offensive and witty action game is probably worth your attention, and if you're a shooting game purist, try not to expect too much and you'll still have plenty to enjoy.

Despite these niggles, Yonder is obviously a fantastic game for adults to play with their children, and for slightly older children to be allowed to play unsupervised. Even for adults it's surprisingly beautiful, and a soothing breath of anxiety-calming non-violence. But the older you get, the less mileage you might receive from Gemea.