More than any other studio, Ubisoft is willing to mutate its existing IPs until they scarcely resemble what they once were.

Basic crafting, unlockable abilities, exploration, and shootouts with looters all provide some structural complexities. But unfortunately, still hidden underneath that crust is an astonishingly boring apocalypse.

Despite getting a name check in the title, the cats are at best some sort of bizarre comedy foil for the canines.

If you fancy a game that is a unique experience, Bound is certainly one that will get people talking even though it doesn't entirely meet all its goals.

It's visually appealing, easy to pick up, and the combat has a nice competitive edge to it. But this feeling doesn't last as long as perhaps it ought to. Once you've plundered your way through all the game has to offer, the lack of variety is clear to see and the story isn't good enough to hold things together.

It lacks polish, but Dead by Daylight is a genuinely tense ode to 80s slasher movies.

We can't help but feel that Burst Limit is an opportunity lost.

If you can get past the fact that it isn’t the best looker, you’ll have a good time with Styx. It’s particularly recommended for hardcore sneak-em-up fans looking for a genuine challenge: a stealth-action game in which the emphasis is unapologetically on the stealth, and not the action.

Mindless entertainment is all well and good but, at its worst, Shank's gameplay is as ugly as the underworld of thugs, drunks and violence that make up the game's universe.

While Afterlight is a definite improvement over its predecessors, it still lacks that je ne sais quoi which would push it towards "classic" territory. Despite an iconic sci-fi setting and competent execution, Afterlight somehow fails to really spark the imagination.

The chief pleasures on offer are those of the power fantasy and of the newly burgeoning subgenre that we might call the zoological misadventure.

You have to give Yuke's credit for aiming high. The wealth of content and customisation options on offer is absolutely staggering and wrestling fans that wish to ignore the game's main campaign mode will certainly find plenty to entertain them here. WWE 12, however, isn't in the same league as the series' high-water marks. It is the nucleus of what could be a great game.

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues was always going to feel a bit desperate, making the most out of a small amount of new content, but Traveller's Tales has done a decent job.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet take the long-awaited step into a fully open-world, but one poorly implemented and marred by frustration. A compelling story and characters are a saving grace in what is ultimately a fun game, but Pokemon's attempts at modernising continue to fall disappointingly short.

Despite getting a name check in the title, the cats are at best some sort of bizarre comedy foil for the canines.

Where Little Orpheus differs from its predecessors, and what marks it as a curious mobile game, is that you appreciate it most when you aren’t playing.

Basic crafting, unlockable abilities, exploration, and shootouts with looters all provide some structural complexities. But unfortunately, still hidden underneath that crust is an astonishingly boring apocalypse.

Far Cry New Dawn is your regularly scheduled stop-gap Far Cry, with some lovely tweaks like the ranked enemies and weapons, and a fantastical element that reaches its natural conclusion.

Days Gone is a grim, beautiful B-movie; its action and writing are full of pulpy thrills, and by the end of it, I found myself liking a character called Deacon St. John – an achievement in itself.

Bangkok feels naturally more immediate, more knowable, than Italian coastal towns or Swedish consulates, and it's dense and devious even if it doesn't quite hit the heights of Sapienza: that familiarity moves against it eventually, and for all its good work there's not quite the feeling of discovery as found before. But it is a delightful mission, in the way that smothering people in birthday cakes or hitting them, Torrance-style, in the chest with an axe ever can be.

While things do get a little repetitive after a while, there's a huge amount here for your money, and though it will likely be little more than a passing fad, Pain deserves plentiful success. With several planned expansions, Pain is another gem in Sony's underrated PSN crown.

The new control scheme is, for me, a change for the better. I for one wouldn't mind a similar system employed for SDvR10, although I'd imagine hardcore fans might not agree. At the end of the day, though, what's most important is that Legends does exactly what it set out to do, and that's provide a rose-tinted nostalgia trip down 80s and 90s wrestling.

Bionic Commando will frustrate many gamers, but get past the initial swinging learning curve and you'll find a highly entertaining action game that tries to do something a bit different.

Technically accomplished and mechanically sound. But unfortunately that's not enough in a world of Dead Spaces and Gears of Wars. Aside from marvelling at the odd collapsing building, there's little here to hold your attention for more than a few hours. It's not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination; it's just an entirely forgettable one.

Here's a game that raises a glass to the past, and while Retro City Rampage is never as good as the strength of its references there's still plenty here for lovers of nostalgia to get involved in.

The 2005 edition lacks a few of the extra features found in this year's release, but it allowed you to play lengthy matches that mimicked real-life cricket; the aggressive and often stupid AI in 2007 makes this almost impossible.

Phantasy Star 0 doesn't quite live up to the memory of Phantasy Star Online from 2000, which if nothing else, highlights just how far the genre has come in the last ten years.

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.