AO Tennis 2 is a greatly improved second instalment to the franchise. Trying to overshoot your hits is a satisfying experience. Career mode is the best part of the game, building your character to be a dominant force and trying to get that world number 1 ranking and winning all 4 Grand Slams. If you are a tennis fan, I would recommend buying this game as you’re unlikely to be disappointed. It’s a shame more big tennis players didn’t put their name into the hat, but with the brilliant editor and the ability to publish your creations this can be overlooked.

Man of Medan is an absolutely brilliant take on the interactive horror genre, with excellent acting and story telling, amazing visuals and plenty to warrant multiple plays. The fact that you can now also do this with friends adds to the experience greatly, lending an extra air of uncertainty to proceedings. Some slight technical and presentation issues aside, I’m glad that more people get to experience Supermassive’s work. Here’s hoping the rest of the anthology can keep up the good work.

Earth Atlantis’ blend of exploration and side-scrolling shooting remains tense, invigorating and well paced throughout the entirety of play. Its unique old-sketch visuals provides a theme that widely sets itself apart from its peers, ultimately producing an adventure that’s as fascinating as it is enticing. There’s a few niggles here and there, but these are easy to forgive in the face of everything that this game gets right.

Sea of Thieves offers a stunning world for players to explore and uncover its secrets. It’s fun, often hilarious, and unique. Though, the lack of meaningful structure and its simplistic gameplay really do hurt the experience. The game needs to offer more than cosmetic stature and acquisition if it wants a lengthy lifespan. Still, this is one of the few exclusives that Microsoft can, and should, be proud of.

The Spectrum Retreat’s greatest achievement is how engaging, challenging and unnerving the whole experience can be. The drawback however, and the bane of most puzzle games, is that there really isn’t much longevity to it. That said, Dan Smith’s debut project is certainly a game that any fan of the genre should try out, and for his first attempt, Dan shows a great deal of promise for his future in game development.

Aftercharge’s fun and unique cat and mouse-like concept is both neatly structured, and finely balanced. However, whilst the game offers a decent amount of depth through its well designed and diverse cast of interesting characters, it’s greatly held back due to its lack of gameplay variation. The bottom line here is that distinction alone will only go so far, Aftercharge needs to cover more ground, and soon.

Bleach: Rebirth of Souls had the potential to be a great game for fans of the anime, but it falls short in several key areas. Way to many cutscenes disrupts the flow of gameplay, and the combat, while solid, lacks the depth and excitement needed to keep me wanting more. It’s a game that might appeal to die-hard Bleach fans just to try it out, but for others, it may not be worth the time. Watch the anime instead, it’s so much better!

The Occupation’s compelling story sits rather well with its intelligent framework. This is, for the most part, an intriguing real-time detective game that sports some solid features and robust mechanics, collectively putting forward a tense and constantly exciting affair. Indeed, there’s a few persistent technical flaws present that tend to interfere with the game’s flow, but in the face of everything that The Occupation gets right, they’re easy to overlook.

Blacksad: Under The Skin is an enjoyable detective game and the gritty noir story is very gripping. You care what happens to your cat-man detective and you’ll want to get to the bottom of the crime. All the other characters in the game are interesting and varied and the fact they are animals makes things a bit more entertaining. But the controls when moving Blacksad are so slow and clunky that they let the game down a tad, ruining the will to explore the world fully.

All in all, REKT! is a fun, arcade style stunt game that is best played locally with others. Solo players have a lot to unlock but the repetition might mean that it’ll take some time to get everything available. Snappy, easy to pick up controls and fun level design mean that even then, it is still fun in short bursts.

The Crew 2 is much bigger and much better than its predecessor. It’s not perfect by any means, but it does tick many of the boxes that it desperately needed to, nevertheless. Issues with the lack of map engagement and the T-800 AI to the side, The Crew 2 offers a robust and gorgeously detailed racing experience. It’s accessible, fairly deep, well rounded and thoroughly entertaining, for the most part.

Odium is one hell of a challenging side-scroller, so much so that it walks a very fine line between being fun and being irritating. That said, Odium does a wonderful job at keeping its gameplay fresh through the steady flow of new, tricky additions. Furthermore, the game offers quite a decent chunk of replay value, and, thanks to its gorgeous monochromatic art style, together with its epic techno music, it rarely grows tiresome.

Cinders is a stunning game with colorful characters and deep storyline to immerse yourself into a newly constructed version of a beloved fairy-tale. With many paths to take and choices to be made, will you wear the slipper, or throw it all away? The choice is yours.

My Memory of Us, despite its stellar narration and its wonderful visual design, is a game that’s far too simplistic for its own good. The game’s puzzles rely on tired concepts that take little more than common sense to overcome, with added stealth elements that remain equal to that. The end result makes for a journey that aims to be both deep and emotional, but ultimately fails to meet its intentions.

I think that the biggest thing that will hurt this game is the versions that came before it. I’m not sure people will spend the money on the latest edition if they’re still having fun on the last few entries. The career mode is worth the jump I think, and the more people that do will ultimately find themselves filling up multiplayer lobbies too. While the base price of the game is $49.99, ten dollars cheaper than most triple A titles, it should be an easy buy if you haven’t played a NASCAR Heat title before. But if you’re still having fun with any of the previous iterations you may choose to wait for a sale.

Final Vendetta is exactly what it wanted to be; a side-scrolling beat-em-up that can sit with the likes of Streets of Rage and Final Fight. And it does a pretty good job in doing so. The graphics have a great retro feel, the music is great, and the characters have different and interesting moves. It’s just a shame it’s so hard, missing continues and lacking online play.

It might not live up to its inspiration, but Doublehit Games have gotten pretty damn close. Some slight stodginess on the controls can lead to unwarranted failure at times, but it’s a small slight on an other wise charming, dark, and enthralling puzzle adventure that gives those heart strings a good old tug.

Heartworm is a love letter to survival horrors of the 90’s, with a great look and feel that apes those older games brilliantly. Boring boss fights, an uninspiring tale, and some user interface niggles stop this being a full-hearted recommendation, but if you’re in the market for old school Resident Evil-like gaming, then this should fit the bill nicely.

Raging Justice comes tethered to a particularly steep difficulty curve, yet ticks many of the boxes that it needed to to stand out as a solid beat ’em up experience. This may not be the next Streets of Rage II, but it’s certainly worth a visit if you’re on the market for a modern day version of that formula. It’s fun, brutal, often unfair, yet ultimately satisfying in the long run.

GRIP isn’t a bad racer by any means, but it could have been a lot more than what it is had the developer spent more time refining track consistency. Furthermore, the campaign itself feels nonsensical by design, and there’s certainly some population needed for its online component. Nevertheless, and despite those faults, GRIP is one of the most fun, intense and unique combat racers in recent memory.

I had high hopes for the original game but came away underwhelmed. Danger Zone 2, however, rights some of the issues with a much better visual style and far more interesting courses. Some wonky physics, repetitive, bland background detail and a lack of things to do, lets the game down on occasion. Though, the core gameplay loop is still as fun as it’s ever been, smashing through traffic and causing carnage is a blast.

Combat is hard, often unfairly so, but get into the groove and it’s also very satisfying. Exploring the environments can yield extra challenges, with powerful rewards for success, but a few more tantalizing glimpses of areas beyond your abilities wouldn’t have gone amiss. If you enjoyed the previous entries and have been waiting to see what Fury can do, you’ll find the wait has mostly been worth it. Just be prepared for a challenge.

Overall, if you like Overcooked! and are looking for more of the same that isn’t cheap and nasty like the several other options currently available on the store, Cannibal Cuisine isn’t a bad shout. It’s not overly priced, it’s got a fair challenge to keep you going for a while and the co-op play is seamless. Sure, meal variety could have been a little more exciting but for what it is, it’s not a bad effort and will certainly do the job until we hear from Overcooked! 3 at some point.

Serial Cleaners expands on the original game nicely, with a good variety of missions and characters to play. It has its niggles, but for the most part this is a fun way to spend a few hours.

Monster Energy Supercross isn’t the best game that we’ve seen from Milestone, but it’s certainly well worth a visit. Despite some problems with the framerate, and issues with the difficulty of play, there’s hours of fun to be had here. That being said, this is a game that demands perseverance. Lesser patient players may find this more frustrating than it’s worth.

Although somewhat unusual in its theming, the level of detail and extensive research that has gone into the making of Felix the Reaper is vast and perhaps this is why it stands out so significantly. If anyone was wondering how to incorporate the artistic portrayal of Death in a mentally stimulating puzzle game with humorous and light hearted theming, they certainly need look no further than Felix the Reaper.

As narrative adventures go, Last Stop is easily one of the best I’ve played. From setting and characters, to story and presentation, it is a joy to experience from start to finish. Whether you’re a Game Pass subscriber or not, this is one title not to miss out on.

Hellpoint is a challenging and interesting RPG in a similar vein to Dark Souls, but maybe not as difficult. It is still unforgiving though, and best played with others to stand a real chance of progressing. The online multiplayer needs some work to iron out some issues, but if you like games that pose a real challenge then this could be for you. The fact that I couldn’t find any real strategy to take down difficult enemies made this hard for me to play by myself.