It's just that, somewhere along the line, they forgot to add any enjoyment or sense of reward to the actual game.

Orcs & Elves is no revolution. It's Western role-playing the way it used to be - hidden passages, mountains of gold, dead dwarves and a temperamental dragon. It's perfect fodder for the geek in you, and a half-an-hour train ride, but don't expect it to rock your world.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows ends up being a disappointment despite a lot of potential. We reckon the combat system, the web swinging and special moves are about the best we've seen in a 3D Spider-man game, but the city feels lifeless, the graphics lack spark and the missions range from OK to dire.

The wonderfully designed characters and intriguing plot do just enough to elevate NIER above much of what is coming out of Japan these days. It is, in many ways, the kind of game critics of the Japanese RPG have been calling for: different, fresh, and in parts distinctly un-JRPG. Not all of it works, but it's a commendable effort, and a memorable experience.

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.

The DJ system is unique and intuitive, the visuals well polished and, even with my rock/punk roots, the soundtrack is a commendable mix of uncensored beats. Nevertheless, the broken fighting mechanics and sluggish pacing are enough to keep this game from reaching true icon status.

It's not without its faults, some of which are more serious than others, but Splash Damage achieves the impossible: a game that feels fresh in the stalest of genres.

The sensitive controls are a huge hurdle that needs to be crossed for newcomers, but existing fans of THQ's extreme sports series will soon ease into a competent handheld game.

It feels like a completely different experience with real players at your side; an experience that betters the original and features some of the most intense, visually stunning battles we've seen on this generation of consoles. Just know what you're getting yourself into. It's hard, frustrating and at times a very unfair.

Although it's based on an idea we've seen before, the use of SpongeBob gives it a much broader appeal and the gameplay here seems slightly more refined.

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.

Strike Suit Zero is a wonderful reintroduction. Though its obviously-not-AAA budget is betrayed by the lo-fi storytelling device of dishing out exposition via radio chatter, and it has an obsession with making you take out turrets on things, it’s pretty fantastic, and one of the best titles on next-gen right now.

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.

It feels like a completely different experience with real players at your side; an experience that betters the original and features some of the most intense, visually stunning battles we've seen on this generation of consoles. Just know what you're getting yourself into. It's hard, frustrating and at times a very unfair.

Yes, Deadly Premonition is flawed. It's unhelpful, outdated and highly irregular - and I should probably give it a lower mark, but I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to thank Rising Star for bringing this game to the UK, and I'm going to suggest that if you're even remotely curious, that you give it a pop.

Ultimately, Rag Doll Kung Fu comes across as something of a tech demo, the kind of thing you might expect Healey and co showed to Sony executives when trying to get LBP off the ground.

The Ball won't lure many people away from the triple-A hits of the year, but if you're in the market for a spot of first-person puzzling, it's well worth the entry fee.

It's an ambient experience stuffed with a very simple puzzle game, not a complex chicken cordon bleu as much as a comforting pig-in-a-blanket. Possibly the best looking pig-in-a-blanket you'll come across.

Combat is a breeze and the four playable races create some intriguing situations. Yet, for a game of this type, the interface issues are almost inexcusable and the relative simplicity of the game only makes these problems all the more frustrating.

A well-produced sequel to the original that manages to repeat many of its problems. It's still fun, but it's a shame Ubisoft Romania feels little inclination to challenge its established mould – doing so could have yielded a far more interesting end product.

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

Kingdom Come: Deliverance has some nice ideas and pretty countryside, but is ultimately still buggy, broken and, perhaps worst of all, boring.

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.

A Shadow's Tale tries too hard to be subtle and artsy; qualities that Ico pulled off so effortlessly. It's endearing to an extent, but the experience as a whole is marred by poor visuals, uninspiring level design and dated platforming.

Please Eden, next time just focus on the driving.

In The Ascent, which offers a menu of main and side missions and runs to over twenty hours, there is only one strategy: shoot those in front of you until they are in front of you no longer. True, we get the standard stream of skill points, to feed into our preferred areas: aim, balance, movement speed, etc. And you can upgrade your cyberdeck, the better to melt the circuits of enemies and locked doors. But it all comes back to open-plan gunning, and it takes more than ballistics to persuade us of real freedom.

As fun as it is in short bursts, it's nowhere near as complete and enjoyable as one of the home console games when played with friends.

Although the game offers little in the way of innovation, Hijinx Studios has refined the traditional SRPG with great success. The fact that it has the words 'Vandal Hearts' in the title really doesn't do it any favours though; if this was a new IP, free from the shackles of the series and the scrutinising eyes of its fans, the game could have reached much greater heights.