Dark Sector just has so much unfulfilled potential. The ideas are there, they just aren’t executed well.

Need for Speed: Heat can be a ton of fun but is held back by incredibly questionable AI. The vehicle customisation and tuning is incredible and the games has plenty of content to keep you racing for weeks. The story feels a little silly but the racing itself is a joy to play. This is the course-correction the series so desperately needed, and I can't wait to see Ghost Games build on this solid foundation for their next entry.

Convoy name-checks some heavy hitting properties, but manages to be more than the sum of its parts.

Matterfall contains some welcome formula tweaks and the usual level of Housemarque polish, but it's much less inspired than the Finnish studio's better shooters.

Ultimately Greedfall is an OK game. It is neither good nor bad. It is however the best game Spiders have made to date, and that gives me hope that they do have a great game in them. I just hope they stop trying to emulate and instead try to innovate.

Remember when 2D side-scrollers were on the cutting edge of video gaming? Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero will appease both retro fans and current-gen gamers with pure, honest, no frills gameplay.

This is a great game, and plays as it should. If it weren't for the multiplayer it would be a near perfect score as Bizarre Creations are owed something for going out on a limb with the genre!

A platformer that admits it (probably) doesn't need an epic story.

This system works perfectly (and thematically) when you’re simply out to get past and away – a wall kick here, a shoulder-drop there, and on we go over the next railing without looking back. But too often, the campaign missions insist on dropping Faith into open areas filled with enemies and saying “Here, clear these guys out”.

State of Decay is a fun romp and so is this new-gen re-release. The lack of meaningful changes make it hard to recommend to those that own the older version, but everyone else should dive head-first into its zombie catastrophe scenarios.

WWE 2K16 pushes the franchise further down the sim path, to its detriment. It's also buggy and ugly – a fatigued veteran destined for the bush leagues.

While The Ezio Collection shows its age in some areas, the trilogy allows a welcome return to one of the franchise's best characters and storylines.

Rain won't tax players the way other puzzle-platformers might, but what it lacks in challenge it more makes up for in atmosphere and story. An aching, moody title, it will nonetheless charm those who brave its inclement climes.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is visually appealing and excellently paced, but its frustrating controls and legacy assets peg this as a game released a little prematurely.

The strain of realism that should run through this title is simply too weak to provide a point of leverage, and whilst the game is certainly admirable in many respects, it simply doesn't offer the kind of experience once associated with the franchise.

A mechanically strong stealth title with some of the most eye-rollingly awful dialogue I have ever been subjected to. Styx as a character is obnoxious, unlikable, and immersion breaking, but he does wield some of the most impressive and well-designed infiltration abilities in the genre. I just wish he would shut the hell up.

Grand in ambition but focused in execution, A Machine For Pigs is a terrific slice of Victorian industrial horror that will stay with you even as you try to sleep with the lights on.

While a disaster on the PC, this game shines on the next-gen consoles. It's a back-to-basics title that allows you to destroy pretty much everything around you, and you'll have no end of fun doing so.

Warhammer 40,000: Regicide is what every kid who played Battle Chess back in the day wished it could have been. It enthralls, but a lack of content and variety may see the majority of players move on far sooner than the game deserves.

Rise of Iron does a brilliant job in building up the legend of your Guardian, but offers very little innovation or advancement of the game's core features. Despite this, it stays true to what makes Destiny great – offering truly satisfying shooter encounters as a backdrop to a fantastic social experience.

Luckily for Dungeon Siege III, the loot – generally a major in games like these – and the flaws in the multiplayer can be covered for by the many other positives brought to the table. The slick action, the tidy levelling system, and the presentation all create a game well worth playing. Grab a friend, grab a couple of drinks and any problems seem to vanish.

Blood Bowl seems to be the result of a fiendish coupling between extremely inflexible Warhammer lore and a studio hamstrung by licensing requirements. It's not exactly intuitive, and requires significant investment and patience to see rewards.

His previous foray into videogames left the self professed P.I.M.P. more than a little L.I.M.P. But Swordfish Studios have pumped the lead back into 50 Cent’s pencil with the very respectable Blood on the Sand.

A real challenge to... you know, that other sandbox game... Saints Row 2 expands on the original with a dizzying level of complexity. Stilwater is back and bigger than ever - there's so much to see and do you'll be entertained for hours.

Despite a growing industry-wide acceptance that open-world games developed for the screen do not adapt well to VR – Gearbox bowled on ahead with their, years too late, adaptation of Borderlands 2. A port with unsurprisingly fails to fix the inherent problems with this transition – with gammy controls and gameplay not well adjusted for the VR medium.

Like most other VR games, Rush of Blood is let down by the somewhat flaky tracking of your choice of controller, but it's still a gem (and another great one to inflict on others while you kick back and laugh).

Not your usual Ratchet & Clank game, and although an interesting departure from the 'insane action' formula, it can quickly become an exercise in frustration. It's a good game, but one that will require patience to master.

While it's by no means perfect, Bond fans and nostalgic gamers alike will be drawn in by this modern recreation of a competitive classic.