One of gaming’s best and not to be missed.

The standout factor for Grand Theft Auto V is that each character not only offers a unique perspective on the GTA world in which you’re taking part, but on gaming as a whole. Franklin is new to the ‘game’ -- he looks sharp and listens and learns. Michael is as I’ve painted him to be: a reluctant master in an ever-changing dojo clinging to a wall of arbitrary yet important-to-him trophies, while Trevor is the wild side in every gamer (thanks Joab) -- the sort of yes-man we inevitably become because pain and reward exist on a blurred precipice in modern narrative-driven gaming.

Super Mario Odyssey isn’t just the best platformer to come around in years, it’s also one of the most essential releases of the year. Period. A showcase for Nintendo’s development talent and Mario as an iconic character that can still deliver surprising and transformative experiences even after all these years. It’s a game that not for a second lags or starts to feel like more of the same. It rewards players in ways that we rarely get to see, and even when it’s over it begins anew and invites you to keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep reaching for the moon.

Sure, the Rockstar Social Club is an annoying hoop to jump through, and hardware fragmentation poses problems for some. But for those with the hardware to run it, GTA V serves as a testament to the PC platform's superiority, and a reminder that good things come to those that wait.

Breath of the Wild can’t be compared to the likes of The Witcher 3 or Skyrim because it’s not trying to be those games -- it’s a Nintendo game -- and series -- all grown up. It has a lot to offer and will keep you engaged for lengthy periods of time. If you’re playing on Switch as you absolutely should be, then you can also Zelda wherever you go. It’s arguably not the best Zelda game, but damn, it might be the most polished, and the most ambitious.

If you can only buy one game this holiday season and want your absolute money's worth, there's no looking past what is arguable the industry benchmark for sandbox and emergent gameplay with player-choice at its helm, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. A work of sheer genius.

Know this, at the very least: I get the sense that this is it. This is now the The Legend of Zelda blueprint, and from here on out, we live in this version of Hyrule, and we couldn’t be happier about that. This is both a true sequel and a hoisted flagpole on what this series is and where it’s going into the future…

As the credits rolled, I found myself missing my time with Joel and Ellie, yet completely comfortable with the thought that Naughty Dog has forged a new IP where there doesn’t need to be The Last of Us 2.

Portal 2 is a triumph in every sense of the word, a wonderful experience from start to finish and one that you won't soon forget.

This is a God of War game, and it’s f.cking brilliant. It has old-school game-design coupled lovingly alongside a modern storytelling tilt, and it marries the two in a contemporary and meaningful way. And playing on PS4 Pro on a setup like my Samsung QLED 65” Q8C with HDR, it just screams quality.

A perfect sequel, and a near-perfect action game. It's stunning to look at (seriously, just watch the snow flakes hit his suit for a minute), plays as smooth as they come, offers an unprecedented sense of player-choice in an open-world, despite being caged in a makeshift prison, and harbors among the best voice-acting and scripting the Batman universe, and games, have ever seen. It's dark, brooding and relentless in adult themes, yet requires no gore to relay any of this.

I could have written an essay on its brilliant design, but instead I let it take me on a trip down memory lane while also feeling lucky to be playing a game in 2023 with such gravity, that it sinks everything else around it. Metroid Prime Remastered is perfection.

Ocarina of Time's poise and pacing were utterly perfect, and that hasn't changed at all for this iteration, despite the passage of time since release being some 12+ years (it's not quite 13) - a testament to the timelessness of the game.

I don't know how else to tell you that this is the game videogames were made for. It’s the game every other designer wishes they could make. It’s a watershed moment for our industry, and I’d be hard pressed to tell you that anything that came before is better. More so, however, I can’t imagine that anything else, in my lifetime, will top this. All bold statements, I know, but this is it and I’m reviewing it. BioShock Infinite is the sort of game we dream of reviewing. It’s the Ocarina of Time of this generation (only infinitely better), and will be talked about and analysed for years to come.

Elden Ring is among my favourite games ever. Those frame hitches, while significant, marred mere moments in my playtime with From's masterpiece. I played 95 hours of Elden Ring, and I could have played oh-so-much more. I will, probably. I railroaded myself with my weapon choice, but I found dozens of amazing looking spells that I'd love to try out. And I can't PVP at level 150, so I'll need to start a new character if I want to invade people. And there are two other endings that I didn't achieve — you aren't thrust immediately into NG+ in Elden Ring once you achieve an ending, but I don't think you can achieve other endings later. I already kind of know how to do them, I think. Well, I think I know, anyway. But I don't know what I don't know, so…

Honestly, the whole thing is just the complete package.

Where does this leave God of War Ragnarök when stacked against its Game of the Year foundation piece? That’s a hard question to answer. Diehard fans will eat this up, no doubt, but we can’t help but feel it could have gone to another level. There’s just a lot of familiar content and not enough new, from a gameplay sense, to really elevate it above God of War (2018), despite there being room with this iteration of God of War as a generational franchise to do that… unfortunately God of War Ragnarök’s fate wasn’t to be that game.

It’s not for the faint of heart, and takes the post-apocalyptic formula to new brutality heights, but you’ll have dreaded fun while plotting your course both through the game, and for revenge. After all, it’s a dish best served cold, and more often than not you’ll be shivering outside in the rain-drenched black of night, bruised, bloodied and battered. Staring at the last two rounds in your weapon, wishing you had a fuse for your near-completed molotov while hearing the echo-location clicks of the poor bastards swaying in the corner, the pandemic turned into living purple 1-Down mushrooms.

Too often Half-Life: Alyx feels like baby's first VR shooter and for many — especially those who purchased VR hardware to play it — this isn't a dealbreaker. But trading off the Half-Life name for an introductory course to VR relegates HL: Alyx to spin-off territory when the characters involved and the story it tells could be so much more. Alyx Vance deserves better, and so too do VR gamers.

The game is at odds with itself for not being as inventive as it should be, but being so good because of all invention that's come before it. Mario, in this sense, is his own worst enemy.

God of War remains an utterly brilliant action-adventure, where the former is as good as the latter. The bond between Kratos and Atreus is wonderfully handled, nuanced, funny, and heartfelt. A sentiment that speaks to the overall narrative, an engaging slice of Nordic mythology that also paves the way for the sequel - God of War: Ragnarok - due later this year on PS5. Really though, all you need to know is that one of the best games of the last decade is now available on PC.

It’s been nine years since the MOTU race has had to read, listen to or watch the couch warriors carry on about this “amazing Western gaming experience”, but now, finally, it’s here and you can strap yourself into your desk chair and uncover the world of New Hanover and beyond. Just… take your time. It’s honestly still worth it, even over 1000 hours in single-player on.

Never before has a game felt like so much was on the line.

I don't know if MGSVTPP is the best game ever, but it's certainly the greatest. It's too large in scope and design to inspire anything other than awe -- even Metal Gear haters can surely appreciate the majesty of the game.

Skyward Sword holds dear to a lot of things we love about the series, but quite frankly just doesn't do enough to move things forward, leaving us with a merely good game that should have been great.

As an avid fan of Diablo III’s transition into a build-your-own action-RPG superhero, Hades is often reminiscent of that Blizzard classic at its best - where weapon choice can then inform skills, variations, and switching things up based on what you’re presented with. There’s so much surprise in store and the narrative and mechanics are so intertwined that to discuss some of it in detail would feel like spoiling it. In the end though, persistence is what drives it all. So much so that reaching the surface and overcoming that final obstacle presents a feeling so monumental, that it borders on deeply emotional. But like any Greek tragedy or work of classical fiction that too opens the door to more questions, more answers, and more challenges for you and Zagreus to tackle head-on - with a little help from the Gods.

If I can sum up my experience and thoughts on the game at all, it’s with the above metaphor. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is an enjoyable romp, but it’s essentially an interactive movie with very little player-choice over what any of that interaction is.

Quite easily the best Smash game of all time. It’s got it all, and the Switch only helps compliment what makes Smash Bros. so damn fun. It’s the perfect console for the fighter, and is one of the best value for money propositions I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking on. It’s been an arduous wait, but it’s been well worth it — Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is absolutely brilliant.

This is a solid game built off an old experience that brings videogame horror to the visual contemporary. It can be frustrating and grinding at times, but this is how games were designed and played back in the day. We just may have come too far for a presentation of this calibre to be tied to game-design so long lost. Plenty of value if you’re a survival-horror/horror fan, or just a Resident Evil fan, but for mine -- a brand new experience would have been more welcome.

At some point you get the feeling Playdead maybe didn’t know how to solve their own mystery and the game wraps up in a messy, unusual and unsatisfying way.

It changes the game beyond visual sheen and charges players with new ways to think about races; about their cars or their car setups (if you’re so inclined). It makes the racing even more visceral this time around, which when you consider the heritage here, is no small feat.

Drake's Deception is driven -- like previous Uncharted games -- by the compelling and flawlessly executed story which is matched perfectly by the stunning visuals. Without doubt it's at the pinnacle of storytelling in video games. The puzzle solving is also a boon, intricate in detail with enough leeway to let you do all the thinking. It's a little disappointing then, that the shooting mechanics have the same shortcomings as Uncharted 2 and that it takes too long to get going.

Bloodborne is, overall, one of the best games I've ever played. There's no small amount of genius involved in taking a winning formula and skewing it into something which is similar but distinct in a way which forces players to relearn a game system they already fundamentally understand.

Forza Horizon 5 is so stacked it’s hard not to feel a little overwhelmed with options. But there’s never really a sense that you need to do any of it, or progress through a series of checklists before moving on to the next thing. And in the end this might be the genius at the heart of Horizon, you’ll want to keep moving, keep driving, simply because you want to. Because it feels right. And in creating a vast, beautiful open-world in which you can do that very thing, Playground Games lives up to its namesake.

It’s a story worthy of a place in the more accepted subculture of dark fantasy ruled across media by Game of Thrones. First-timers will easily love this facet but may also be surprised to learn that this series, and the books it’s based upon, have been the at the fore of adult and mature storytelling for a long time. Wild Hunt is both at times brutal and sexy, with a juxtaposition of hard-edged steel (or silver), blood and death being met with soft, naked skin; passion, lust and even love.

There's no question in my mind that some elements could have been improved upon without negatively impacting the overall experience, and the blind pursuit of flawless recreation comes at what I feel is a heavy cost. You will find no better looking or better running game than Demon's Souls with the launch of the new consoles. But I think you will find no worse (From designed) Souls game.

Handheld gaming doesn’t get much better than this.

In short, because it’s short, you get a more bite-sized piece of the whole Cuphead experience, but its upped challenge sort of makes up for that. I definitely found myself banging my head against the wall, which was to be expected, I just hadn’t wanted to be getting that headache so early on in the piece. It didn’t stop me from keeping on going though, which should give you an idea of the draw and pull here. Part tantalisation, part revenge, all in good fun. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course has certainly sated my hunger and I only hope that while this is meant to be the last service here, that the kitchen isn’t closed for good.

It still astounds me that a couple of hours of gameplay left such a profound impact.

It’s a “sit forward” game that demands you be mentally present and adaptable. But for those who like to earn their victories -- really earn them -- this is a game in which winning means something more than “I went through the motions and witnessed the end”. If you do seek misery then on release, when the community is scrambling to uncover the mysteries of Drangleic lore, will be the most exciting time to play.

The miracle of flight is something to savour, no matter your seat. Microsoft Flight Simulator not only captures that feeling, it manages to put the entire world in your hands.

There’s something to be said about a game that does one thing well, and in the realm of online shooters that’s more important than tacking on a string of different modes or story content.

If, like me, you’ve always just shied from games that punish for the sake of punishing, but thoroughly enjoy a story with mystery, excellent dialogue and unique fantastical components, Sekiro will punish, but it will also deliver in damascus folds. Folds upon folds. Prepare to die though, and much more than twice.

If you’re looking for a game that will keep you playing throughout the year in a variety of creative, engaging and freeform ways, Forza Horizon 3 is definitely what you’re after.

From progression to combat to its strange world filled with secrets to find and items to discover - Dead Cells is a game one could easily savour and come back to for months. And when compared to the classics that inspired its design, that’s just about the perfect outcome too.

Shadow of the Colossus has its place in videogame history. It’s not indelible, but it is much-loved and for a number of good reasons. It’s just a barebones experience that can get tiring quickly, and feels like it needed just a little bit more “oomph”. I’m not here to rag on what it meant as a game back in 2005, but I am here suggesting that a visual overhaul of this nature -- in that it is glorious -- could have also come packaged with camera and gameplay fixes, at the very least. You’ll need patience and determination above all else, but if you’re an eye-candy sort of person, Shadow has it in spades. I just wish it also had a little something more as well.

As a remake, I think Resident Evil 4 Remake kind of falls flat. As a game with shiny new visuals, a more cohesive on-brand story and a darker tone, that also doesn’t change much of what made it brilliant in the first place… well that’s the thing, it’s awesome. How you take that will fall directly into the columns of whether you wanted fundamental change, a basic Remaster (which is what I think this ultimately is), or something entirely new. For the newcomers, you’ll love this and it is an absolute buy. BUT. If you’re into the root of all things; how things started; what came before; genesis and that type of thing, I honestly think I’d recommend giving one of any number of the original re-releases or remasters a go. And if you don't first, and I get that because ‘next-gen’ and all, do yourself a favour and go and play the OG immediately after.

An incredibly great looking game that is just as much fun to play.

Gears 3 is filled with plenty of wow moments not just visually but also in how the story is driven to its climatic conclusion.

Even the most stalwart, traditionalist series fan should be able to appreciate A Link Between Worlds for what it is: the most interesting new Zelda game since Wind Waker.

With the inclusion of all the NBA legends, as well as the exceptionally deep and addictive My Player mode, NBA 2K12 is a great game to play and an improvement on last year's version. It is an able substitute until the NBA lockout ends, and the real basketball games begin.

Despite early frustration, Animal Crossing: New Horizon is not only a game I’ll be returning to but also a life worth revisiting. With time comes maturity and now that I know the rules and how to break them each visit can be a holiday or a monetary expedition to create a hoarder’s paradise. Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets you do what you want, at your own pace, as long as you’ve got the Bells to pay for it.

This is what Diablo III should have been at launch, a beautifully constructed, tightly honed experience designed to capture players and not let them go until it's 2am and they have work in the morning. With couch co-op, randomised dungeons, randomised enemies and a loot system worth actually using Diablo III: RoS: UEE on PS4 is the best way to play Diablo III.

A fantastic game which showcases why this series is at the top at the moment. It includes several great additions but no major overhauls from last year, which isn't a bad thing as FIFA 11 was a superb game.

Trials Evolution is one of the most complete packages on the Xbox Live Arcade. Were it a full retail release, I'd still have no qualms recommending it. As a cheap downloadable release, it's an incredible reminder of just how good we have it as modern gamers.

There's so much depth and scope to Monster Hunter World that some aspects I've only lightly touched on, or haven't even mentioned; the Canteen and its bizarre cat-chef, the Special Arena, Investigations and Bounties, the Hub's numerous activities. NPCs and provisioners, the marvelous Palico gadgets and so on. After 60+ hours and having just recently finished the bulk of the main story and hitting High Rank, there's still so much more I've yet to see. For the sake of getting this review out before Christmas 2142 all you need to know is that Monster Hunter World is an amazing, complex, and beautifully realised evolution of the franchise. It's been made extremely accessible to new hunters, whilst also being an enjoyable and thoroughly rewarding game for existing fans.

With more coming on the horizon, Microsoft Flight Simulator still stands as one of the most impressive technical and artistic achievements we’ve seen to date. No matter if you’re playing on PC, Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S.

Perhaps the biggest problem with a game that is simply this gorgeous to look at, is that even the slightest of frame-rate hitches feels like a betrayal. A betrayal to the expectation of perfection you get as soon as the adventure begins. Ori and the Will of the Wisps isn’t perfect, but its issues are mere momentary lapses in an otherwise stellar action-adventure. An experience that feels monumental in both scope and presentation.

For a downloadable game this offers amazing depth and replay value – almost as much as a full-priced title. If you love stealth games and have a competitive streak, Mark of the Ninja is a must buy.

Super Mario 3D Land isn't quite on par with many of the forefathers it tries to emulate. It lacks Galaxy's endless wow-factor, 64's commitment to being grand and impressive, and the general near-perfection of Super Mario Bros 3's gameplay philosophy. But it's still a damn fine bit of jumping action, and one of the 3DS' very best games.

Whether it's letting China succumb to public panic as you divert resources to cover the American continent, or sending in a rookie to soak up damage on a suicide run so that your veterans don't die, XCOM will give you a scary appreciation of the harsh realities of being a leader in a time of crisis.

It's an amazing game - technically outstanding, showing all of Valve's usual polish and attention to detail, especially in the all-important multiplayer aspects. The continual balance tweaks and new heroes combined with the vast amount of content in the game offer countless hours of enjoyment. It's hard to master but good wins with your teammates are incredibly satisfying. It took me a long time to warm up to, but I'm helplessly addicted and every day look forward to getting home to fire this up with my friends. If you can spare the time - play it.

I would be reasonably loathe to consider Guild Wars 2 a "revolution" in MMO mechanics, since at its core there is still a theme park here, albeit an extraordinarily well-designed one. But it's obvious that its creators took on and smashed existing tropes with an aim to significantly improve on that experience that many millions of players currently fork out money for every month.

With other games offering multiple story paths and upgradeable characters Deus Ex no longer stands alone in its field, and it's not perfect by any means. But, with the mix of different choices, multiple paths and wholly addictive game play mechanics it's hard to put down.

The most fun new feature has to go to the new Skill Games, these fun little games will have you trying to master skills such as free kicks and dribbling via a series of mini games like kicking the ball into a bucket.

It combines the simple elegance, bountiful content and colourful enjoyment of so many indie works with the production values and design genius of the generation’s best Triple-A titles into a game that feels fresh and contemporary, but also mindful of what has come, and worked, before.

Borderlands 2 is a FPS/RPG fusion the rest of the videogame development world should stand up and pay attention to, because Gearbox has backed a real winner in this IP. A must-buy.

Xenoblade Chronicles is as grand and all-encompassing as Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and this Definitive Edition presents a wonderful remaster of an already excellent RPG. From the expansive and gorgeous worlds to explore to the memorable story and the stellar soundtrack.

Majora’s Mask is a bold game from a series known for its tight gameplay and expected occurrences.

Skylanders will be an influential series in years to come and successfully combines real world collectables with a fantastic platformer to deliver a rich and engaging experience.

If you're into Dark Souls games, I can tell you right now that Dark Souls 3 will probably be your game of the year. It's exactly what you want from a Dark Souls game. It's a lot of Dark Souls with a touch of Bloodborne, a dash of Dark Souls II and a hint of Demon's Souls. It's, admittedly, not a lot of anything new. But it's brilliant nonetheless.

Playing the game is not an entirely nostalgic experience. It conjures up a genuine need for this style of RPG -- isometric, hand-drawn, party-driven, stat-heavy, and a whole lot of fun.

The story that revolves around the divorce of Cody and May feels, well, a little divorced from the vibrant co-op platformer that makes up the bulk of It Takes Two. Where new and exciting fantasy locations and interesting mechanics are introduced regularly with a story that fails to keep pace or even reach a satisfying conclusion.

By itself, as just a game for someone that has no interest in learning guitar, it’s probably no more or less engaging than past rhythm games, but for those who dream of shredding, I can’t think of a better starting point.

Underneath all of the pyrotechnics is a tale that deals with life, death, and the meaning one can find or cling to. Xenoblade’s story is also as fun as it is heavy and heartfelt, as sad and somber as it is cinematic and action-packed. With a cast of series-best characters and some of the best exploration and combat to boot - it’s hard not to look at Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as anything but a game of the year contender.

Bowser's Fury has the effect of pushing the pretty good time that is Super Mario 3D World into the background - it's that good. So much so that a better title for this release would have been Bowser’s Fury + Super Mario 3D World.

Fez is engrossing, but it is not perfect. The puzzles are quite difficult, and more vexing still is the map screen, and the obtuse way the game world has been slotted together. No doubt after five or so years weaving the labyrinthine maps of the Fez multiverse, Phil Fish has an instinctive grasp of precisely where all the games warp gates will take you. A newcomer greeted by a 3D lattice of cryptically annotated cubes my find things a tad heavier going.

It’s still a relatively short game, about three hours or so if you’ve got your Portal brain switched on - but still a remarkable experience. The puzzle rooms and pacing toward the big GLaDOS reveal, and iconic end and credits sequence is still spot on. Portal is as finely tuned, deep, and fun as ever. Case in point, after firing it up I couldn’t stop until the epic “last room” was cleared. As a visual showcase of what a remaster meets remake can be, as a re-release of sorts, and as a reminder that classic design and pacing will always be just that, Portal with RTX is a triumph. Now bring on Portal 2 with RTX, and maybe some Half-Life 2 with RTX whilst the Source engine is still fired up inside NVIDIA’s labs.

It is strange to talk about pacing and bloat and a slow-moving plot when the turn-based battles are built on a foundation of ‘taking your time to make the right move’. But in adding so much and painting on such a large canvas, it’s hard not to eventually feel a little lost or stuck in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Like a student sitting at the back of classroom, watching the clock, wondering just why this hour-long lecture is beginning to feel like an eternity.

There's certainly room for improvement, but there's no denying that so many different aspects of the first person shooter experience being dished out here are best-in-class. The multiplayer component alone is more than worth the price of admission and the solo campaign and cooperative offerings thankfully bring more to the table than they detract. With Battlefield 3, DICE have at long last raised the bar of PC gaming above the long-held bottleneck of console-parity, to bring us a game that's finally worth upgrading for and I dare say it carries with it a potential for a renaissance of the PC first person shooter.

Dreams is unlike anything I’ve played before. It’s a game that will only continue to grow and I’m very excited to see where it’s headed. As a platform, it encourages and celebrates creativity in all manner of ways - whether you want to create a piece of music, animate a small short or make a fully-fledged game. You can do it all. Minor performance issues aside, Dreams is a masterpiece in game design that I hope flourishes over the next decade.

It's love that makes The Walking Dead not only Telltale's best game by a mile, but also one of the best adventure games ever.

Though it may be thin on the extracurricular activities, Cole Phelps' journey from flatfoot to crime-buster is the interactive equivalent of a good whodunit book. Once it begins, you won't be able to put it down.

While the main storyline was lacking, there's a reason good world-building is critical to good fantasy, and like I said, this game nails it. I loved about the game was the way it used Aloy's Focus to force you to examine things. Each new area becomes a crime scene as Aloy examines and analyses what's been left behind. It's a clever way to blend the idea of technology into this otherwise primitive world.

It's certainly one of the most difficult games I have ever played, but it's clear that every single element of it has been designed meticulously to reward the cautious and clever participant.

Fallout 4 is a game that will spark conversation and a huge amount of love, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t follow in the footsteps of Skyrim as something of a cultural phenomenon. The game’s only real issue is in the dated visuals, but the engine serves a purpose beyond eye-candy, and hey, we’re mostly walking through irradiated trash anyway, right...Fallout 4 is impossible not to recommend.

Full of memorable moments, fast-paced action, moody set pieces and surprising narrative twists and turns - Dusk may look like a long-lost gem from 1998, when it’s actually one of 2018’s best.

It's a sure sign of a solid platformer when deceptively simple core mechanics and basic controls result in hours of gameplay without feeling stale or repetitious. N++ achieves this splendidly. The triumph and accomplishment as you solve just ‘one more level’ of deadly physics and diabolical design is sublime and a heady swirl of emotion. Reinforcing the obsessive gameplay are instant restarts after death and virtually instantaneous level loading. Like a true platformer.

Familiar-yet-new territory comes in the form of AC-130 missions, only these are far more robust, and desperate. You're clearing a path on-the-fly for teams on the ground, but equally switching between the two. And it's not just decimating ground forces, either. There's no arguing Infinity Ward make a chopper crash look the best in the biz, and you'll be swatting enemy helicopters from the sky like so many flies under your fly-swatter.

A rare kind of game that waltzes into a field of debonaire company yet wows the room regardless. You may not know much of his past or even what his intentions are, but you'll be damned if you don't let him take you for a spin around the room. And at the end of your dance, he'll leave you dizzy and giddy, wanting only for more...One of this generation's best efforts.

The greatest compliment I can afford Black Flag, though, is that I wanted more at the end of my time with it. With such an expansive map to explore and so many alluring distractions on offer, this is the kind of game a player could easily lose scores of hours exploring.

A haunting experience, in a very good way. It's a damn shame the main campaign didn't live up to the potential of what was teased and the sporadic appearance of sloppy anti-Far Cry linear levels jarred with what the game achieves when at its emergent best. Faults aside, Far Cry 3 is an open-world shooter that's not to be missed, and a dish that's beautifully served on PC.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is ultimately a visual showcase for the PlayStation 5, a thrilling dimension-hopping adventure, and a next-gen experience that feels like it could only exist - in this form - right now. In an age where realistic visuals, that is real-world settings and characters with proportional features to our own, are often the barometer for fidelity, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart reminds us that a heightened animated or cartoon-like look can offer a greater sense of immersion and believability than just about anything else.

All in all this is a sequel that builds on the original in impressive ways, and a timely reminder of why the rogue-lite genre has taken off in the way that it has.

Torchlight II succeeds in being a truly viable alternative to Diablo III. The action is faster and thicker and rewards are set to a quickened treadmill pace, resulting in an experience that is immediately rewarding and increasingly addictive. Its seamless co-op (which includes player trading) openly gives Blizzard the middle finger as it allows players to decide whether to play a solo game offline or open it up for drop-ins.

Overall XCOM 2 hits that sweet spot between paying homage to the previous games, but acknowledging and improving on their flaws. It's a brilliant sequel and a masterful game in its own right, and a must buy for fans of the turn-based genre, or fans of games in general.

If you’ve ever played either game or the series before, you know what you’re in for, it’s just more. If you haven’t and this is your first time dropping in -- don’t be scared, the opposite transition awaits and gravity will take hold in that this series will launch you to new, fun and endearing heights.

As an action-adventure, an RPG, a narrative, and open-world sandbox, and a way to simply spend time exploring a breathtaking world – it falls short. Engaging at times, thrilling too, but also disjointed, clunky, and unfocused in ways we didn’t expect.