Nostalgia fills the air in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl now that it is out on Xbox. On one hand this is the closest the Xbox will see to Super Smash Bros. and on the other hand it’s full of classic Nickelodeon cartoons and I love a good crossover. This will no doubt be a fun time with friends or kids alike as long as you know that the base content can be had very quickly and thus the repeatability could become a bore. If you are in it for the long time this is a fine brawler to pick up.

No Strange Roads presents something of an oddity – like a contradictory A-side and B-side. On the A-side you have a superb visual feast to experience, characterised by superb characters and bosses, coupled together with a solid soundtrack and a compelling yet simple premise that makes you want to ascend to the top of the music mountain. Unfortunately NSR’s B-side aggravates with unfair check-pointing, a tepid tutorial, a harsh opening level and a half-baked gameplay experience. Whether you can resist the ailments of the B-side depends on your tolerance for its shortcomings, but No Straight Roads still delivers a satisfying stage rush if you can avoid its pitfalls.

If you’re thirsty for a boxing game after all these years without Fight Night, then Undisputed does fit the bill well, but with so many areas that are unfinished, it’s a bit of a hard sell. Undisputed gets the fundamentals right though, and if the fundamentals are all you care about, this is definitely a good boxing game, but it could’ve been so much more than that.

Mythic Ocean surprised me as I enjoy a good dose of philosophy if done the right way. The game is very relaxing and not overly challenging when it comes to helping the gods or searching for the lost pages. The real challenge comes when you have to make a decision on which god should create the new world. It really does make you think, and that choice is not simple to make. I believe it was designed that way to show the power of influence you have in both this fictional world and the real world.

Great writing, with a perfect accompanying visual style, helps alleviate some of the slow pacing and retracing of steps that will occur to solve some puzzles. Airport for Aliens will reward those that stick with it.

Far: Lone Sails is a game that says a great deal without ever uttering a single word. Much like Dear Esther, it’s a journey that can be interpreted in many ways, and as such, your view of its gorgeously desperate world will constantly vary throughout. It’s a shame, however, that such a compelling canvas is slightly held back by its simplicity and its short length. Still, it’s a fascinating tale that deserves attention, just don’t expect too much from its gameplay.

There’s a lot to love about GORSD. It’s ugly-beautiful, rewarding and doesn’t put up with any of your crap. But it’s also unintuitive, and pushes the skill ceiling way up as a result. Some might enter a state of zen and master it, making it an indie esporter of the future, but mostly you will be hoping for good results, and that stops it short of being truly joyful.

Distraint might be too simple to a fault at times, but it’s clear that love and attention has been made to make an impactful game where players are positioned to think and relate to its characters rather than soullessly using them as mere portals for spooks and scares. The visuals and soundtrack do a magnificent job of evoking themes and the general ambience is dense and strange, which helps make Distraint 2 stand out from its contemporaries. An impressive effort and a wonderful little indie slice of psycho-horror.

Stela is a fun experience, if short, and deserves a place up there with such titles as Limbo and Inside. Offering a large amount of depth and atmosphere is a plus and most people would likely find enjoyment from this title.

Cats Around Us: Giant Cat isn’t going to win any game of the year awards, but it does offer gamers a good time for just a few dollars. Older gamers can expect an hour of relaxing gameplay while younger gamers may spend more time with the simpler puzzles and the ability to color screenshots.

Beholder 2 is something unique and different. It’s an easy and simple game revolving around becoming the top dog. In the beginning it’s dark humor can be pretty entertaining, but when it’s constantly forced it becomes bland. Gameplay can be the same way at times. Until you get promoted you’re pretty much doing the same thing day in and day out unless somebody has a special task for you. Until that happens though the game is pretty slow. Regardless it’s still satisfying screwing over everybody and watching as Evan gets promotion after promotion – of course, that’s only if you don’t end up with a bullet in the back of your head.

Deliver Us The Moon nails the feeling of being in space, and the tale being told is interesting enough to keep up gong through to the end. It’s slow and repetitive at times, and the linear nature means we often pass by seemingly perfect opportunities to explore, but I still enjoyed my time with it.

Crash Team Rumble is not the game fans of the bandicoot asked for but is the game we got, and I can say it isn’t that bad. The game in its content is a bit shallow with one main game mode but I hope that will change in the future as it is a games as a service game. I look forward to lobbies full of friends in the future versus randoms but this a fun pick-up-and-play (for a bit) game. We shall see how it’s future holds up.

Them’s Fightin’ Herds is a fighter at it’s core that didn’t wow me. The controls felt like they were made for a fight stick and the controller just got mapped after the fact. The game has an interesting story mode however that at least makes it stand out and is different enough than your standard fighting game fare. Online lobbies are existent but the population is almost not. Hopefully more players will fill them in the future.

ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove is a very faithful comeback. However, outside of some lovely looking visuals, things haven’t really kept up with the times. It’s fun in short bursts, but be prepared for things to get a bit too repetitive, a bit too quickly, especially in solo play. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is as brilliant and as funky as it ever was. When all is said and done, die-hard fans of the originals will find the most value here.

The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is a great horror experience. With hand crafted visuals and a passion for the development this title should give the player a couple hours of gruesome entertainment filled with blood, sweat and tears. It’s great to see a 2D side scrolling title like this. It works well and I hope to see more.

Soundfall can be fun and certainly offers a fresh look on rhythm action games. It doesn’t manage to find the compelling magic though.

Super Perils of Baking is a modern game with an old retro 16-bit soul. Tough platforming with even tougher challenges and secrets await you through these 50 stages. Overall Super Perils of Baking will test your skills and I do recommend it to 2D platforming fans. Gamers looking to get into platforming will find better games but Super Perils of Baking wouldn’t be the worst choice either.

Demon Tier+ is a fun dungeon crawler with some interesting ideas which worked well for me. This gaming style prevents over-grinding to allow you to breeze through, and the dual currency part of the game is interesting. It has a decent amount of challenge to it to keep it interesting too. I recommend this to dungeon crawler fans, as there is a lot to keep you coming back, aiming to get that much further each time.

Supermarket Shriek has enough varied content to keep you entertained for a few hours at a time, and although its control scheme is fairly hit and miss and tends to annoy, this is one kart racer you shouldn’t pass by. It’s outlandish, it’s crazy, and it’s relatively daft, but then, that’s the whole point. This game doesn’t take itself seriously at all, it merely wants you to sit back and enjoy, and despite its faults, it achieves what it set out to accomplish.

Ovivo, despite its technical drawbacks and its habit of frustrating its players, is one of those games that says a great deal without ever uttering a single word. The game’s artistic inkblot-like presentation not only serves its platforming structure remarkably well, but toys wonderfully with the senses. That said, the game’s aforementioned issues do pull it just shy of greatness in the long-run, but even so, it’s one platformer I can comfortably recommend.

Overload is a wonderful throwback that feels more like a true sequel to Descent than that of a spiritual successor. The content-rich gameplay is as constantly hectic as its inspiration’s gameplay, complete with tight and responsive feedback, and a host of varied upgrades and unique weaponry to utilize. That being said, the developer would do well to swiftly address the game’s rather distracting performance issues.

Effie is a decent entry into the third-person action-adventure genre, it features intricately designed levels and lots of satisfying platforming. There is a nice combination of old and new mechanics. The combat can leave a bit to be desired, and there were a few non-game breaking bugs/glitches but overall this is a nice call-back to a classic well-loved genre. Whether you want to get some feelings of nostalgia or you are new to the genre and are curious, Effie is worth a look.

Fans of tough platformers will revel in Through the Nightmares’ challenge, but I found the difficulty spikes a little too overbearing and far too quickly did I find my attention wandering to the next game.

The Valiant recovered from almost making me put my controller down to blossom into a decent entry in the RTS genre, it’s different take on the traditional RTS mechanics could well make it stand out against it competitors, but time will tell if The Valiant can turn into a franchise for THQ Nordic or be a one and done title.

We. the Revolution is a well written, decent narrative puzzle game that doesn’t shy away from the brutality of 18th century France. The game makes an intriguing habit of forcing you to face your actions head-on, with far reaching consequences that can alter the plot in ways you rarely expect. The only drawback is that it’s very convoluted due to its many systems and its abundance of relationship balancing, ultimately making for a lot of guesswork.

It takes something special for me to love a walking sim and trust me there are some really good ones out there. Arctic Awakening does fine, and I’d hear an argument to include it within top contenders. For me though, what holds it back is the length and the slowness that comes with it. Technical bugs aside, Arctic Awakening is worthy title in the genre however and fans should keep an eye out.

Whilst it would have benefited from some variation as far as its visual design is concerned, it’s easy to like Minesweeper Genius for its relatively straightforward and challenging structure. The game takes the classic Minesweeper formula and introduces some simple yet effective mechanics, which goes hand in glove with its randomly generated content. The end result makes for an experience that’s both fun and gratifying throughout.