Elder Scrolls Online; Dr Mario: Miracle Cure; Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, gaming reviews

Action-orientated combat is a nice change from standard MMO combat

Elder Scrolls Online is a middle of the road experience

Elder Scrolls Online

***

PC, PS4, Xbox One (£59.99)

It has been historically difficult to port MMOs to consoles due to the range and depth of inputs required to play them properly. Here, ZeniMax have done a reasonable job of translating the complex range of inputs needed to the controller. Combat can be undertaken without constant pausing which makes for a more entertaining experience. The more action-orientated combat is a nice change from standard MMO combat, but is not enough to save this middle of the road experience

Jack Fleming

Dr Mario: Miracle Cure

***

3DS (£8.99)

The multi-talented plumber is back – this time in a lab coat – in this Tetris-style puzzler, where coloured pills fall for the player to move and match up in order to defeat the viruses. To update the much-practised style, Miracle Cures have been introduced, which are obtained when groups of pills are secured. Racing against the AI makes things much trickier and more entertaining, and although nothing pioneering is developed, it's certainly enough as an antidote for boredom.

Laura Davis

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley

****

3DS (£34.99)

There's rarely much new between Harvest Moon games. The main aim of the game is to tend your farm and make money so you can upgrade your house (while looking like a baby version of a Nintendo Mii). There are little additions to the gameplay: it's the first 3D Harvest Moon where you can dig and build on terrain, and it's also easier and quicker to choose your farming actions with "context-sensitive" controls. In the end, though, it's just entrancing farming fun and you can easily slip away hours waiting for the harvest to come in…

James Tennent