In the end Saints Row The Third Remastered is a reminder that the style of action seen in Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown can find a cartoonish and juvenile middle-ground. A place where the concept of gangs and friendship is both comic and grounded. A place where player freedom lets you make your mark on the world with style and a distinct lack of grace. With the fourth Saints Row leaning ever more into the absurd, thanks to a plot that deals with alien invasions and virtual realities, Saints Row The Third Remastered is arguably the series at its best.

And that is Brink in a nutshell: the potential to traverse the digital battlefield in an entirely new way that affords the player more combat options. Couple this with the well-balanced classes (including the higher-level abilities) and the distinct lack of camping equipment (there's really only one sniper rifle in the game), and this is a different breed of first-person shooter: faster, sexier and made for online play.

If only it had banished even more of the claustrophobic corridor gameplay and had just a little more effort taken with the storytelling, it could have been a truly classic launch title. As it is, it’s still a sterling shooter that shows off the potential of the PS4’s powerful hardware, and an easy recommendation for PS4 owners looking for their futuristic shooter fix.

In the end though, perhaps what sets apart Project Warlock from the very recent old-school shooter renaissance we’ve been seeing is that outside of inspiration and certain elements it doesn’t look any one thing from the ‘90s. Which in the end makes it special, and something well worth checking out.

Do yourself a favour this Friday and grab a couple of mates, invest in four controllers, knock back a case of brewskies and work that arse groove on your couch as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is going to keep your interest for a quite some time.

In the end there’s a reason They Are Billions has received a groundswell of support and appreciation over the past year, and that comes down to it excelling as a defensive RTS experience you’ll come back to time and again. That mission to build up a little town and hold a position on the back of incoming waves of attackers, where unpredictability plays a role and you’re somewhat in charge of the pacing. Because when the horde arrives – they’ll be running.

The Walking Dead's first episode, 'A New Day', succeeds where some of their past adventures have failed not by fixing the issues that often hold their games back, but by placing a greater importance on the presentation and character work that the team handles best.

The vampiric tone is enough of a departure to reinvigorate interest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and tempt gamers back for another round but the same frame-rate issues and glitches abound taking a little bit of the shine off it. It's well worth a look, just know what you're in for.

With a solid roster of characters (and more yet to come), a robust online Tournament mode alongside Swing mode, the game is already pretty fun. The addition of a silly Adventure mode and extra trimmings and unlockables makes this a standout in the series and another great addition to the Switch’s growing library of Nintendo exclusives.

While not as immediately memorable as Gears 1, Gears of War 4 does a similar job to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens -- it takes positive and familiar themes from the first game and dresses them up in modernity and pretends it’s an entirely new, and fresh start. So it’s not bad, but it’s not groundbreaking either.

Despite the neat ending afforded by the epilogue, here’s to hoping Sucker Punch will give Delsin a sequel that addresses some of the detractors of Second Son and builds on the awesome foundation it’s laid down for the future of the series.

When the story enters the picture, Ghost of Tsushima’s world goes from problematic to picturesque to beautiful, violent, haunting, melancholic, and even divine.

A mixed bag of mythological tricks. The single-player wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped it would be with an anger neutered Kratos a little bland. It was all just a little bit off. The revamped combat wasn’t anywhere as smooth as I’d have liked and the difficulty spikes felt incredibly cheap, even for a franchise veteran such as myself. On the flipside, graphically it was astounding, the boss battles were epic and the multiplayer is something I’ll definitely go back to for sh.ts and giggles.

As a fan of all-things zombie, I went in with high expectations and found that the game ticked a lot of the right boxes. Throw seamless drop-in/drop-out co-op into the mix so all of this can be enjoyed with friends or randoms and the appeal is a whole lot stronger, particularly considering the clever variations between quests.

Whilst not being one of the coveted Ninty iconic characters in a launch title that fanboys are hungry for, it looks like this will satiate the hordes with its gritty realism (as much as it possibly can be in a title about fictional zombies), tense environments and an immersive control set-up thanks to Wii U's GamePad.

While the story may still leave something to be desired, the overall graphics, drool-worthy cut-scenes and improvements to the Active Time Battle system are necessary changes to a franchise that is still showing its age and struggling to embrace modern RPG conventions. It hasn't reached breaking point yet, but let's hope future iterations take a few more chances to breathe new life into the series before it's too late.

Ashes Cricket isn’t perfect, but that’s unfortunately to be expected from Big Ant cricket games at launch. But the stacks of little bugs aren’t enough to detract from the overall accomplishments of a fully featured cricket game, which is as appealing to cricket aficionados as it is to those looking to have a quick bash. If Big Ant follows the trend of its previous games, the subsequent patches will help to convert the game into a game with an even louder appeal.

From the animation to the visual effects, this is the best-looking Anno game to date. Something of a no-brainer when it comes to advances in technology. But with the expanded focus on trade, production, naval combat, and colonisation it’s also one of the most engaging entries to date – again, once understood. A city builder well worth visiting.

Delayed a bunch and certainly long-in-the-tooth in terms of its heritage, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp is still worth signing up and serving for.

Gears of War: Judgment is far from perfect and falls disappointingly short on the single-player front. But almost everything else about the game is well worth a look and goes a long way to showing that the Gears of War franchise still has the kind of allure that’s worthy of its reputation.

This episode is the beginning of this all-fictional spin on the main antagonist’s actions, and if it keeps up the pace is sure to offer a lot of diverse, exciting gameplay never before seen in the series.

In the end Tooth and Tail is a must for anyone that has enjoyed playing through any of Nintendo’s Advance Wars titles. Even though it doesn’t feature turn-based combat and instead opts for quick and simple build and attack mechanics. Where the two titles find common ground though is in the fantastical and comic setting they both apply to rather grim circumstances. Tooth and Tail may be a game with cute squirrels and mini-gun wielding badgers, but underneath that lies a great story about fighting for freedom. With equally impressive and inventive strategy too.

Even though it has its flaws, with progression tied to many upon many upgrades, the experience unfortunately becomes less about the bosses and cool new areas as it is the repetition. But, you’ll keep coming back. Restarting after dying mid-battle, picking up the pieces and heading back out. Doing the same thing again and again. But, somehow different this time. Slightly more health, a new skill, more damage output, a better understanding of enemy patterns. Sundered, from Thunder Lotus Games, is a Rogue Legacy meets Super Metroid experience that is well worth checking out.

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.

The tension and intensity can be felt throughout both the open-world sections, where you can choose where to go, as well as those where you’re simply walking down a hallway filled with framed pictures highlighting truly chilling acts of violence. It’s a thrill ride quite unlike any other, and as a survival horror release it will leave you shaking or at the very least on the verge of needing a nice long vacation.

The problem with PES is in the movement of the players, as it feels quite stiff and somewhat robotic.

The online career and Sport mode may signify a new direction for the series, but shows promise. With time, no doubt GT Sport will evolve with new modes, vehicles, tracks, and even additional weather effects. And when the day comes that we can witness all the wonderful detail and beauty of Polyphony Digital’s creation, via watching a replay of a crash-free online race set at night along the rain-soaked roads of Tokyo, this could become something truly special.

A true Multimedia Age pioneer the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection might feature a dated and creaky core, but the package is ultimately triumphant. And that’s the truth. From God, to Kane, to Seth, to you.