Having hundreds of different weapon mods and customisation options are great if you’re a gun nut, but when everyone dies after a few hits it starts to lose its appeal. Instead it’s the stuff where strapping a vehicle or chopper with C4 and letting it glide into enemy territory before setting it off should have been encouraged more in the overall design. In the end, Ghost Recon Wildlands suffers because it plays things a little too safe and fails to make proper use of the gorgeous fictional world of Bolivia in a way that offers more than solid stealth shooting, fun co-op, and small bursts of player-created fun.

There are memorable flashes of brilliance when playing the multiplayer modes, and you come up against another player. And through sheer skill and understanding of the combat, you’re able to gain the upper hand in a heated and intense exchange of metal.

Like with the original Halo Wars, what we have is an experience that can appeal to fans of both the Halo franchise and those who would enjoy your typical RTS experience. But, appealing to everyone can have its detriments, with some of the RTS elements in Halo Wars 2 feeling like they could have been fleshed out just a bit more, and some of the more action-oriented scenes feeling like they would have benefited from a perspective that wasn’t so far removed from the ground. But even so, it’s still an often-thrilling experience, and a great entry in the Halo franchise. And, a friendly reminder that there’s always room in the market for a good RTS game.

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.

Okay, so technical issues aside Batman – The Telltale Series is worth checking out. If you happen to live inside the Venn diagram of people who enjoyed Rocksteady’s Arkham series and like to play Telltale-style adventure games, then it’s a must. Or, if you’re simply a fan of the comic book series.

There’s a different kind of emergent gameplay that surrounds Steep, and it’s the game’s strongest component, and it falls back into that freedom gameplay pillar I mentioned earlier. You couldn’t possibly have this playspace with linear, game-directed objectives. And while Challenges offer you pathways to complete them, and obviously have finish lines, the freedom you have to just do all of the things, as you please, is the game’s number one strength.

With a combat and customisation system that was on par with the narrative, Tyranny would be one of the greats. As it stands though Tyranny is a narrative triumph, and thanks to the freedom it provides reinforces the notion that the RPG genre can be one of the best places to find rich multi-layered and rewarding story experiences. And few games handle player choice as well as Tyranny.

What Watch Dogs 2 has done for the newly-minted Ubisoft IP, and for the hacking culture they so enthusiastically embrace, is prove above and beyond that the concept and foundation are sound. They’ve injected more fun and diversity this time around, and they’ve done so with a city backdrop that is truly alive, and is utterly inviting.

At just $20-odd dollars on consoles and Steam, and with so much replayability with friends, it’s hard to go past this charming little indie title. It’s as simple as they come in terms of what you need to do, but actually doing it is an entirely other thing and you’ll find yourself wanting to wave your cleaver at your teammates in pure, ecstatic frustration, such is the sum of its basic ingredients.

There's so much to explore, to experience, that I think it's essential playing — despite the slightly disappointing stealth.

Infinite Warfare was two things: a triumphant return to form for Infinity Ward, but also a return to safety and sameness in at least two of the three pillars. Multiplayer, while solid and highly replayable, is fraught with deja vu and I have concerns that some of the OP, built-in gun perks will devolve this into pay-to-win.

The campaign is worth checking out, Operations delivers clear forward thinking for Battlefield as a series in a way I think Rush never really did, and the maps are absolutely spectacular. Battlefield One is utterly brilliant.

Titanfall 2 is worth playing, but it's not a must-play game right now. The two levels that I think will influence game design for years to come--they'll still be there next year. But therein lies the rub--with a playerbase split over multiple pointless variants of team deathmatch and a handful of other standard multiplayer modes, the population might not be there next year when you get it.

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.

I am thoroughly enjoying this new expansion for World of Warcraft. From the new additions to the enemy tagging system, to the way the new zones dynamically adapt to the player's level, and the way that the dungeon instancing system can now select players anywhere from Level 98 to 110 to fill a group, makes this new expansion one of the most player friendly experiences in WoW yet.

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.

Given an empty block and the freedom to do what you please, Project Highrise doesn’t quite reach the heights of SimTower.

The audience in Australia isn’t that large though, purely because we’re not as exposed to the sport, but Madden 17 is definitely a solid place to start if you’re considering jumping in on one of the oldest and most respected sports franchises in gaming history.

Of the ‘all-time classic’ variety. Before the release of 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a lot of fans of the 2000 original were left wondering if it would be a watered down Deus Ex-lite. It wasn’t, with many of the core tenants of the original, from being able to choose how and when to engage in a combat situation, through to deciding which skills you should develop, carrying over to Eidos Montreal’s surprise hit.

In the end if you’re a fan of explorer, filmmaker, and scientist Jacques Cousteau or feel at home watching the deep sea documentaries of David Attenborough, then ABZÛ is something that you’ll definitely want to check out.

But story is what you pay for, and ‘Realm of Shadows’ will certainly leave you in a position of wanting to see more. The episode ends in a position far more confident than where it begins, and with equal focus placed on both Bruce Wayne and Batman, we’re probably in for quite a ride.

Headlander may be a mixed-bag, tonally speaking, but in terms of everything else there’s a clear sense of purpose and intuitiveness to it. From the level design, to the combat, to the puzzle solving, to the secrets, to the progression system and power-ups you can unlock. It’s probably be the best severed astronaut head game you’ll ever play.

The Technomancer isn’t a great RPG, but it’s close. There are issues with the combat that pop up from time to time, and the whole setup of the side-quest system quickly devolves into a matter of running back and forth between places you’ve been to over and over.

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.

A train of thought born from the fact that Asemblance isn’t an experience built on scares or thrilling moments. It’s more interested in posing mostly subtle and open-ended questions about the nature of memory, mood, and what is real.

Part ‘80s love letter, part Trials game, part mash-up of new and mostly terrible play styles.

Honestly, the whole thing is just the complete package.

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.