The main quest is totally underwhelming and can be completed in a fraction of the time it took to complete last year's full game. When combined with some severely dated visuals and an almost thrown together storyline, there's little reason to pick this up.

One of the most generic, bland and uninspired shooters I've played in a long time, and in turn has potentially sullied the work done on the series in the past.

Spider-man: Friend or Foe is another title that clearly isn't made for experienced gamers, and certainly won't please anyone aged in their teens or older.

The dull, repetitive gameplay is what hurts it the most, leaving some merely average visuals to pick up the pieces.

Submerged feels like a concept rather than a complete game. What's here is so slight, the story so flimsy, that it left almost no impression on me. I didn't enjoy it, but neither did I hate it.

There are the origins of a fast, exciting new combat system buried underneath all the mess, and the gorgeous animations and zippy takedowns provide an immediate buzz. Yet its problems vastly outweigh its positives, and it's hard to come away feeling anything other than disappointed. This was supposed to be a bold new beginning for the series, but ultimately Ninja Gaiden 3 feels like a false start.

We expect something special from Far Cry and, frankly, Vengeance just isn't up to scratch. Like a Z-list celebrity, leave this one in the jungle.

There's no denying that Dark Messiah has a certain bloody charm, with battles against numerous enemies being both challenging and rather gory. By the end though, things do become a little repetitive, and this prevents the game from being anything truly special.

Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires isn't terrible, it's just totally uninspiring.

Lethal Alliance is not a total dud and, if you can forgive its repetitive nature, there is a fair amount of entertainment to be had when played in short bursts, but fans still deserve much more than that from a Star Wars game.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey replicates the fumbling, trial-and-error progress of evolution, which often isn’t fun, but there are monkeys in the game, and that is brilliant.

If you can find a friend, Little Nightmares 3 is a moderately enjoyable, if bland, diversion. However, co-op joy is required to insulate you from the otherwise forgettable and tedious experience at the title’s core. While fans of the wider franchise may find nuggets of lore to chew on here and there, Little Nightmares 3 provides little groundwork for those new to the franchise. Even long-time series fans will need to brace for Little Nightmares 3’s dip in quality.

It's just about good enough to entertain kids who must see more of the characters from the movie, but everyone else should stay well clear.

It’s not bad, but it lacks imagination outside of the singular gimmick that you can change vehicles at any time, and ends up just being rather average.

A game that simply doesn't feel right on the PSP. It's slow (and even slower when played wirelessly with a friend), lacks a quick play mode, and has an uninspired story mode.

What's most galling about the whole exercise is that you find yourself wanting nothing more than a graphically-enhanced version of the Mega Drive originals.

If humanity ever builds a time machine, once we've finished debating the ethics of killing Hitler and so on, we should use it to go back in time and make the first season of The Walking Dead all about Michonne, before the zombie thing got boring. Right now this miniseries will have to pull some serious surprises out of its hat in the next episode to make it worth buying the whole lot.

In an odd way, then, Glass Bottom Games has captured the truth of the situation; contrary to its mission of cuteness, it has made a game that feels hollow-boned, caged by unflattering mechanics.

While the core mechanics of Order of the Phoenix are verging on excellent, the game that's been built around them is basically a series of chores in disguise.

Despite plenty of issues, A Knight to Remember isn't a terrible start to the adventure, just a rather unnecessarily tedious one. If The Odd Gentlemen can increase the overall game speed and introduce some smarter puzzles, future chapters could indeed be a lot of fun.

Spider-man: Friend or Foe is another title that clearly isn't made for experienced gamers, and certainly won't please anyone aged in their teens or older.

The camera is a nightmare, often getting stuck behind some invisible barrier or randomly switching to new and more disorienting angles. The collision detection's had a nervous breakdown, the puzzles are as laborious as a two-hour queue in the freezing cold and the combat has about as much depth as the shallow end at your local swimming pool.

It seems that Omega Force either can't be bothered to breathe fresh air into the franchise, or it feels it doesn't need to because anything in a game box with Dynasty Warriors on the front is guaranteed to make money.

It constantly rips you out of the experience, whether that be from frustration at the mechanics or outright bugginess. You'll want to forgive it its flaws because it does Victorian London so well, something you just can't get elsewhere. But leave it a few minutes and it reveals itself to be as utterly flawed as its forebears, a beautiful facade on a rotting core.

It has a lot going for it, from its superb visuals and style to the rather excellent character creation tool, but the button-mashing gameplay and easy exploits ruin all the good work.

Yes, there are 30 B-movie scenarios, and plenty of mini-games, but the game isn't structured well enough to keep everyone interested and the end results aren't worth the effort.

With five extra achievements and 11 new assignments to chip away at, there is enough for experienced players to sink their teeth into, but you can’t help but feel that it’s simply more of the same, and it's still blighted by technical issues.

There's no multiplayer functionality at all, so an impressive single-player campaign was vital, but numerous control issues make the experience far less enjoyable than it is on other platforms.

Ultimately, Fallen Angel’s thin narrative and unimaginative mission design does little to justify the £8 asking price, with the best fun coming from the new weapons on offer.

Each cutesy character is matched by a plodding task.

As disgusting as it is of me to say, if you're reading this and have a family to play this with then sure, you'll probably enjoy it more than most. With that said, having kids doesn't make you a moron, and even you shall eventually tire of what's here. There's just not very much depth.

For every good moment there's a handful of annoying ones, with everything from the Wii-mote controls to the game structure causing problems at some point or another.

For the most part, however, it's a game with a lot of explosions and not that much excitement.

It’s a shame, because there are parts that are genuinely excellent, like one level where Sonic is a giant snowball; awkward controls, a clump of dreadful levels (including insta-death grind-rail nonsense) and some horrendous, unfunny boss encounters, though, make you wish he’d genuinely get lost.

Harmony of Despair tries to hop onboard the contemporary co-op bandwagon, but in doing so it sacrifices almost everything that makes the series good to begin with.

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.

The driving loses its appeal quickly, coaster creation stages become dull, and the destruction is only fun while it lasts. As a downloadable £15 game some of these issues could have been easily overlooked, but at double that price it's a harder ride to sell.

There's an absolutely excellent Ridge Racer game to be had with Bugbear's occasionally thrilling mix of speed and action, but unfortunately Unbounded is far too muddled and confused to be it.

Mass Effect: Infiltrator is a generic third-person shooter that leaves out the best aspects of the franchise. While the combat is occasionally fun, it can quickly become repetitive and fiddly.

It's nice to look at it and is amusing for a short while, but as soon as the presentation gloss wears off you're left with a dull hack 'n' slash that makes use of an overly simplistic control system. Without the substance to go with the game's amusingly twisted appearance, Fairytale Fights never really gets past the opening chapter.

Listen, as dystopian and mostly monochrome platform puzzlers go, Black the Fall isn't bad. But I can't tell you it's great either.

A lacklustre story, the complete focus on dull space combat and a lack of checkpoints makes Legacy a game that simply didn't live up to its potential.

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.

While mildly amusing to begin with, Big Willy Unleashed ultimately falls flat. Pox might go as far as to say his Big Willy is limp, but we're just disappointed that yet another Destroy All Humans! game has woefully underused the excellent idea behind the game.

At £19.99 Little Deviants might seem like a bargain, but on a platform that promises to deliver proper console gaming experiences (and does so decently at launch with a number of other titles), it feels like nothing more than a series of hit and miss tech demos.

A passer-by who saw someone playing At World's End could be forgiven for thinking the game is worth a look, but beneath its next-gen gloss lies nothing more than a basic action game.

A foray into the beat 'em up genre isn't exactly straying too far from Joe's roots, but the game hasn't been pulled off with the same high level of polish that the other Joe titles exude.

Spider-man: Friend or Foe is another title that clearly isn't made for experienced gamers, and certainly won't please anyone aged in their teens or older.

The controls and lacklustre level design are the biggest problems you'll have to overcome in order to enjoy Revenge of the Fallen.

'Wasted opportunity' is a phrase that keeps rearing its head, whether it's thanks to the garbled translation, a broken hints system, or completely absent puzzle logic. Anna has some great ideas, but it's the game's carelessness that'll stay with you, not its moments of inspired horror.

Woody Woodpecker is a fairly successful (if brazen) attempt at nicking off with Tiny Wings' formula, but Tintash's decision to dirty its waters with a wonky racing element leaves a bitter taste.

Regardless of how much you like the Mega Man series, in Mighty No.9 you're unlikely to find a game that comes close to that legacy.

Insomniac’s initial plan has devolved into a conglomerative representation of the military-shooter market’s complete saturation, a blueprint of a lack of imagination. Although fun with friends, the developer’s first step away from PS3 exclusivity is just one more time around the world of this generation’s most habitual design choices.

If anything can be said against the Battle Mode, it is that by modern standards, it feels a little slight.

A brain numbingly dull title that is only partially saved by its above average presentation.

Licensed games can get away with a lot, but this doesn't even reach mediocre quality, with its core mechanics becoming woefully boring a fraction into the campaign.

Ultimately, this was an ambitious game for the DS, and it's reaching just slightly too far.

The sad thing is that every once in a while you get a brief sense of what this game could have been. The trick-based gameplay shows occasional flashes of potential, and the board peripheral could have worked. Maybe somewhere in a parallel universe there's a reality where Robomodo pulled it off; unfortunately, we're stuck here - and in this world Tony Hawk: Ride falls on its arse, big time.

A mess of a game in all senses of the term. Its gameplay is at least one generation behind the competition, its presentation is like a collection of every graphical effect thrown into a mixing pot and poured onto the screen and the online implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

Incredibly, this is an in-house attempt and a £40 launch window title. If Steel Diver is an example of how the Big N is planning to treat first-party 3DS games in the months to come, the future is bleak indeed.

Total War Pharaoh is a fun game, but one that lacks ambition. It squanders its potential with meagre gameplay, story, soundtrack, and performance, and fails to add anything of note to the Total War series, or leave an impression of its identity.

It’s messy, it’s stale, and traces of it will linger with you for days. And the worst part of it all? You paid for this garbage.

It's really hard to understand how anyone thought such a meagre selection of mini-games and a lacking single-player component warranted such a high price tag.

While We Happy Few's story contains some genuinely wonderful twists and turns once it gets going, it's dragged down by frustrating survival systems, shoddy combat, and an empty world.

With this winter full of high profile shooters it's almost certain that Midway felt a summer release for Hour of Victory was essential, but what's been released is hugely disappointing - especially on a console that has been relatively dross free.

For all its promises of representing a change from the usual (supposed) shoot-bang zeitgeist, Beyond is just as nonsensical as any Call of Duty. It's a thriller without any intrigue, a character study bereft of character, and a game short of actual gameplay.

If you want scripting and performance, go see the movie, and unless you are a Marvel devotee, you'd be wise to steer well clear of this friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

It all handles as you'd expect – although it has a tendency to be finickety and difficult when trying to manoeuvre precisely - and being in the Lego mould tries to give as much leeway as possible (in this instance you can 'lose' and have to start a level again, mind). However, it's all so boring.

With the core gameplay being dull, the mini-games uninspired and the presentation severely lacking, this is a game that only the most die-hard Nintendo fans will find any worth in.

If you want to work up a sweat pretending to be a superhero, you're probably better off dressing up and running around the local park saving endangered squirrels. Ubisoft's Kinect game means well, and will certainly appeal to younger gamers, but its execution is sadly what we've come to expect from Kinect titles - a bit too messy.

It's not an offensive-looking game, but the brief CGI character introductions are the only area where the game looks to be making an effort; the actual character designs are fairly annoying, although there is at least the option to use your LIVE avatar.

The sad thing is that every once in a while you get a brief sense of what this game could have been. The trick-based gameplay shows occasional flashes of potential, and the board peripheral could have worked. Maybe somewhere in a parallel universe there's a reality where Robomodo pulled it off; unfortunately, we're stuck here - and in this world Tony Hawk: Ride falls on its arse, big time.

All in all Who's Watching Who? is another disappointing video game entry for Scooby and the gang, but this fact is unlikely to affect sales to the kids that lap up anything with Scooby's face on it.

Problems with the reload system and a general lack of excitement or surprise mean this is a shooter almost as lifeless as the zombies you're shooting.

Licensed games can get away with a lot, but this doesn't even reach mediocre quality, with its core mechanics becoming woefully boring a fraction into the campaign.

Despite such audiovisual wizardry, all the technical sheen the PlayStation3 can muster can't mask a dud game, and as a result Lair is little more than verisimilitude.

It's really hard to understand how anyone thought such a meagre selection of mini-games and a lacking single-player component warranted such a high price tag.

ooka-Laylee would fit right into the late 90s with its vague puzzles, wakka-wakka voices, and confusing levels. Time has moved on since the N64, and while there are a handful of bright spots, this sadly isn't the catalyst for a 3D platformer revival.

It's just...so...boring. Go here. Get this. Wait a while. Come back. And when it's not being dull, it's being infuriatingly imprecise.

Now I'm off to dust off my most recent copy of Tetris and play a real arcade puzzle game for a while.

It's fun for all of 20 minutes, and then you'll either be ready to delete it forever or will have moved on to a better fighting game. Either way, don't bother. You'll have more fun watching the brilliant-but-awful TV show and then playing something - anything - else.

But by attempting to generate its cash by making progression a slow grind, by repeating the same boring levels over and over again until you a) delete the whole thing, b) use real money, or c) die, Glu Games has made sure you'll likely choose the former and latter before you open your wallet.

Another Wii game that seems content with offering little more than a series of half-baked mini-games, with the lure of motion controls seemingly being enough to draw in users. But when those controls are clunky and only work half of the time, the game as a whole falls down.

The fairly generic presentation and cheating AI could be overlooked if the core gameplay was great, but it's not. The motion sensitive controls are fiddly and at times completely broken, making Jet Race mildly fun for about an hour at most.

If you're looking to dabble in a bit of retro gaming I'd advise looking at the far more entertaining "Capcom Classics Collection," which includes superior games and has been created with far more care.

Below’s moody gloom and atmosphere is spoiled by mechanics that really cramp its central quest.

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.

Madden 25 is the latest game in a series that appears to have either run out of ideas or simply has no interest in coming up with new ones. Small new additions do little to inspire excitement and a major overhaul feels desperately needed, and is the least that fans deserve.

Shrek the Third's main problem is its complete lack of spark.

Golden Axe is the latest classic franchise to disappoint on new hardware, and we can't help but think it's a huge wasted opportunity. Beast Rider even fails to include multiplayer support, something that was core to the original game, confirming its fate as a sub-par hack 'n' slash.

The two-player cooperative mode may keep a duo of youngsters quiet for a handful of weekends, but otherwise this mismatched game has very little to offer.

Time Crisis: Razing Storm does a splendid job of being a bit of throwaway fluff you might be able to pick up on the cheap a couple of months from now, but anyone expecting something more than yet another tired throwback will be sorely disappointed.

On the one hand it's a bold attempt at creating a real action adventure game using your body as a controller, but on the other it's an awkward, ugly mess that doesn't use its horror setting nearly as well as it should.

The experience as a whole is entirely forgettable.

A maddening example of a game that was ruined by a lack of focus in its design stages - had it been released with a wider scope it may have made a great RPG, or had it been a little faster paced and involving it may have made a mediocre RTS.

More serious are the numerous bugs: players are often forced out of shadow form for no reason, making the platforming and puzzle-solving a chore, and Dawn frequently gets stuck on boxes, in walls, almost anything. Infuriating, and so common as to be inexcusable.

Kingdom Hearts III is overflowing with heart, and mostly unconcerned with the head; as such, it’s in dire want of wickedness.

It looks and feels terribly dated, has next to no creative spark, completely lacks imagination and is certain to be forgotten very quickly.