Frustrating boss battles and cumbersome controls distract from an otherwise fun and isolating adventure.

For the first time since it went from being a good basketball game to a cultural touchstone, it's taken a step backwards. The controls have become far too complex for much of its audience, and there's no one mode that captures your attention as much as the now-absent Jordan and Greatest challenges.

Impossible to recommend ahead of the PC version because of some issues with the port, but nonetheless one of the most unique experiences on console.

As brilliant as it is infuriating, The Witness' ingenious puzzles all too easily have their shine worn away by length and a constantly extending complexity.

Visually and aurally it's a decadent feast for the senses, but its frequent descents into ham-fisted schlock and downright broken storytelling ultimately make it a clumsy case of style over substance. It's a likeable mess if you don't think too hard, but nevertheless, a mess it remains.

Nintendo saved the industry with games like this, so we’re sad to say the latest lacks the imaginative spark found in past entries. Easily the weakest of the 2D Marios, but even the worst Mario is better than most other.

This is a true showcase for Xbox One in every area except the racing. Inconsistent difficulty, random payouts and way too many dull events seriously spoil the party.

Fluidity is a game that's just plain fun. The puzzles aren't too difficult and absolutely gratifying to solve.

However you approach it, Silent Hill 2 is an atmospheric and rewarding horror game up there with the Resident Evil remakes for reinventing a classic. While its strict adherence to the past can feel a little constrained at times, and a few things are lacking as a result, it nails the feel of the original well. Despite a scattering of minor issues, any negativity comes more from a place of believing the new Silent Hill 2 Remake could have been better, than it actually being bad. The whole thing ultimately delivers and does a good job of making the series feel meaningful and relevant in a way it hasn't for years.

When the witch takes charge, this demonic fighter is better than ever. After eight long years, PlatinumGames has delivered a sequel which successfully celebrates the series, although it does have problems with pacing and a split-focus.

The difficulty may escalate faster than you'd prefer, but Crashmo is still an absorbing diversion for your 3DS. Like the best downloadables, it can be played for 10 minutes or two hours, satisfying players no matter how much they choose to invest.

Fantastic controls make an incredible first impression, and an execution-driven battle mechanic gives combat a unique feel. Unfortunately, the level design can't keep up with the quality of the basic gameplay, stretching a great core to its breaking point. The foundation of an incredible Shinobi revival is here, but bland levels can't keep up with the strength of everything else.

Like the original game, Dragon's Dogma 2 excels when you're out in its open world with your pawn allies – finding hidden caves and treasure, fighting monsters, and generally losing track of time. Also like the original, it falls short in terms of quest design, convenience, and general polish. A somewhat conservative sequel, then, but one that retains the charm of its predecessor.

The good news is OlliOlli2 retains the pure mechanics of skateboarding despite its increased absurdity. The bad news is, just like in real life, skateboarding here is hard, and sometimes the euphoria you feel at the level’s end isn’t worth the grind it takes to get there.

Cairn is a zen, meditative survival game defined by the intentionality of its movement and the way you interact with its world - when its protagonist can be prevailed upon to act like the elite athlete she's supposed to be. When it works, it's excellent, but its core system is often too clumsy to bring to bear with the precision required to ape top-level climbing.

Combat is incredible, and the cities of Boston and New York deliver some of the strongest open-world gameplay you'll experience this generation. And yet, it's still an extremely uneven experience, even if the strong gameplay outlives the issues to make for a solid package.

Don't buy Dead or Alive 4 unless you're willing to become its student. It's a great looker, but it's a sourly aggravating game until you learn its ways. However, if you take the time to get some technique wrapped up in those fists, you'll start to enjoy the depth behind the startlingly pretty face.

Using the GamePad screen to play gives the best experience and also frees up the TV for other use, which has proven to be an unexpected bonus of the Wii U overall. If it weren't for the choppy framerate of the standard game modes, NBA 2K13 would be a contender for the best sports game on the platform.

A highly polished iteration of Smash Bros. that plays great on its own. But when you're afflicted by latency problems in local multiplayer, you'll suddenly become painfully aware of the 3DS version's critical shortcomings.

The lack of map variety hurts Chariots more than a similar paucity has hurt previous episodes, because Chariots is, overall, a bit slow.

A well-functioning port of a brilliant game with an unexpected identity crisis. Given the availability of other platforms, the visual compromise makes this technical marvel a difficult sell to first-timers and veterans.

Shadow Gambit is a fiendishly fun stealth strategy game that does precisely what it says on the tin. With stunning voice acting, atmospheric maps, and no shortage of ways to solve the sandbox puzzles in each one, you'll be so bewitched by the world and its charming cast of characters that the muddy plot can almost be forgiven.

InFamous shows huge potential, but it’s ultimately held back from greatness by too-sticky controls and its surprisingly bland ruin of a city. It’s still fun, but there’s a lot of room for improvement in the strongly hinted-at sequel.

Worth buying for its superb rally sim alone. But the returning racing modes are bland, frustrating and unsatisfying.

True to its central idea, Ball x Pit is a great blend of Breakout-style combat and frantic, Vampire Survivors-esque progression. At its height, it's a flow state-inducing assault on the senses that makes great work of its Evolution mechanic to craft deeply stylish builds, but it eventually grinds to a halt thanks to a bloated progression system.

Guilty Gear Xrd Sign lives up to the high-speed standards of its predecessors, but doesn't bring enough of its own to the table to exceed them.

A game that has aged reasonably well. While there are a few hiccups here and there, the visual update is fantastic and the gameplay is still incredibly well paced and fun.

The game engine here is demonstrably better than Forza Motorsport 7's but, in terms of breadth of gameplay, presentation, general excitement, and enjoyment gleaned from racing the AI cars, the older, now-deleted Forza Motorsport 7 is clearly superior. More content including tracks and event series will be added over time, so it will certainly improve, but right now the career mode here is so sedate and one-note, it's hard to recommend Forza Motorsport's offline mode over any of its peers.

With a fantastic story (and some awkward controls and puzzles), Grim Fandango Remastered is still the same great game you remember from 1998. Those bugs, though? Those are all new.

Hogwarts Legacy is a solid first attempt. If Avalanche can be accused of anything, it's that the studio has tried to do too much all at once. Something was always going to give – between the massive open world, the messy RPG economy, exciting action combat, and adventure story that wants to cast you as a hero with homework due on Monday. But you can see a world in which a sequel sands down some of the rougher edges, and settles into a finer balance between the demands of an interactive experience and the lore of the wizarding world.

A strong start and okay finish makes this average out as decent but not amazing installment.

Tiny DS buttons make tight and efficient combos downright painful, and unless you set your sights on buffing your skater’s speed stats from the get-go, the pokey pace of play will put you to sleep.

Xenoblade Chronicles X offers a resplendent world, fantastic combat, and transforming mechs, but figuring out how everything fits together isn't always easy.

Resogun looks incredible and provides plenty of arcade fun. It's only held back by sudden difficulty spikes and some frustrating point-scoring mechanics.

Gran Turismo has lost its mojo and become a dinosaur among modern racing games. It still drives brilliantly, but it's also bloated, scrappy, unbalanced and majorly dull for prolonged periods of play.

Thimbleweed Park is like the HD remaster of a lost LucasArts adventure from the '80s, with all the hilarious, self-aware dialogue and sometimes frustrating design of the era brought forward into the 21st century.

At its best, Half Minute Hero is equal parts love letter and roast to the beloved RPG genre with a sprinkling of pop-culture references and self deprecation. It's definitely one of the most original games we've played on the PSP even if it is a short trip.

It's not a standout season, unlike some past hallmark Maddens that hold up well today. The guts are there for greatness, but there's still some work to be done until it reaches that high level.

FIFA 14 requires more patience than most of its predecessors, and even when your patience is rewarded, it often feels like it's flattering to deceive. Slow and stodgy in midfield but dynamic and physical at either end of the pitch, it's possible that some might think this the best FIFA ever--but you'd be splitting hairs, not defences.

Darwinia 's weird, but it might well not be your kind of weird.

While Doom: The Dark Ages is a solid game, the ways it differs from previous titles are largely to its detriment. Most of what's praiseworthy about the Slayer's 2025 adventures are what's translated from older entries, while new features like the melee focus and mech sequences feel like fumbled missteps the series would be well-advised to forget going forward. Still, the joy of blasting cacodemons with a shotgun is never truly lost, and the over-the-top aesthetic will always elevate the experience.

In many ways, Halo 3: ODST marks a bold departure from the franchise formula, with story, characters, atmosphere and multiplayer that are refreshingly, surprisingly different. Due to a short campaign and overly familiar gameplay, however, it fails to escape the “expansion pack” label.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a pleasing amalgam of first-person dungeon exploration and role-playing elements that injects just enough humor to keep things fresh.

A good game, though not necessarily a standard bearer for shoot em ups. It's got a unique art style, tinges of Grasshopper's profane quirkiness, and offers some rather challenging wrinkles on the genre formula. Don't believe for a second that "casual friendliness" means putting a controller in the hands of your game-dabbler buddies and expecting them not to either melt down or wave a white flag.

A superior collection, Clubhouse Games is one of the best portable solutions for card and board games.

Triangle Strategy is a great strategic battler, meshed with devilish politicking and weighty decisions. It’s just a shame the cast of characters never gets a chance to shine just as bright.

Sadly, these striking visuals only serve to exacerbate Winterbottom’s one true issue: some incredibly bland level design.

Pac-Man Championship Edition is awesome, but just doesn't feel like a full game. It feels like a bonus mode to a more full-featured title.

Mortal Kombat X has tons of polish, unique mechanics, and the genre's best story mode, but it doesn't do enough to keep players invested if they weren't already planning on it.

The quirky and sometimes innocent sense of humor is omnipresent. Why, even after a heated and bitter battle that ends in his tank being utterly destroyed, Rocket's rival will usually pay him a sincere compliment before scampering off in defeat.

Grounded has always been a solid idea on paper, but Obsidian brings that potential to full fruition for launch, delivering on the thrills and fun of its brilliantly Spielbergian conceit.

Global Offensive takes no chances and it's hard to tell who it was made for. Source and 1.6 players will feel at home with the tried and true CS mechanics and traditional game modes, but GO gives them few reasons to migrate, other than flashy graphics on a few of the old maps. Conversely, newcomers to the series will find Counter-Strike's steep learning curve rather discouraging.

The big selling promise was that you could be a villain, but the worst we could manage was to kidnap ... villains from other gangs. That's not a dark side, that's a shade of gray.

While still liable to take over your every waking hour, Football Manager 2018 takes the delicate balance of previous years and weighs it down with too many superfluous, or downright irritating, changes.

Featuring over 300 quests in total and a plethora of things to collect, monsters to defeat, and lands to explore, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is a meaty title worth sinking your teeth into. Its high learning curve may dissuade some players inexperienced with the series, but with enough patience and resourcefulness, you’ll be able to get through any problem and feel proud that you accomplished it. If you’re looking for a great reason to bring out your Wii U and play and online RPG with friends, look no further.

Madden 18 shines brightest with its new Longshot mode, but the lack of improvements elsewhere makes this year’s Madden offering an incremental – but still highly-playable – update.

How much you get out of Bejeweled 3 is ultimately going to depend on how much swapping colored gems on a grid still appeals to you. If you played Bejeweled, Bejeweled 2, Bejeweled Blitz, and the Puzzle Quest series, we wouldn't blame you if you decided to sit this one out, despite Bejeweled 3 being easily the most robust entry in the series to date.

Even though the game's pacing and long-winded conversations don't always make for the most ideal portable gaming experience, this is still a really solid adventure.

The quirks of what seem to be a last-minute rush out the door development strategy don’t detract from the fact that each Hitman 2 level is wonderfully crafted and full of potential for inventiveness… and silliness.

Kojima’s mysterious would be epic has its moments but can’t carry the weight of expectation.

At its core, Okamiden is a successful, shrunken-down Okami, but it's trapped on a system that can't entirely pull it off. The art style, music and mechanics, while lifted from the earlier game, are still captivating and worthy of exploration, though we couldn't shake the feeling this story would have soared higher on another platform.

It's a tougher recommendation if you're not into online play, since the other elements of the game are in sore need of a refresher. That aside, it's undoubtedly the most fun PES to play against friends in some time, and that's the reason you'll want to play it.

But let everyone, regardless of skill level, have the tables you’ve written on the back of the box with no strings attached. They paid for them.

Thankfully, these soldiers move with much of the fluidity of their PS2 counterparts.

If you’re in the mood for a perfectly respectable, undemanding weekend game, A Plague Tale: Innocence is for you, though fair warning: The sight of so many dead bodies might shock anyone watching over your shoulder.

No matter what - and as shocking as it is to say this - 2K8 is not a slam-dunk, no-brainer-this-is-your-next-gen-basketball-title this season. It's merely second best.

Another superbly entertaining basketball sim with some of the sickest visuals you've ever seen.

A strong park builder whose charm is generally enough to make you see past its issues. Jurassic World Evolution 3 could have been even better without the busywork and bugs, which hold it back just enough to stop it from being an instant classic.

Splatoon is a brilliant and unique shooter sorely lacking in maps and modes, and it desperately needs a refill.

If you were a fan of Supreme Commander, you've probably already purchased this expansion and will surely be pleased with it. For everyone else, check out the original first or nothing at all; this is not the beginner's RTS game you're looking for.

Though Tearaway Unfolded does wonders with paper, it sometimes leaves you feeling flat.

The battery packs offer a nice sense of urgency to controlling the vehicles in every stage, because as powerful as the fighter jet or the tank might be, there's a built-in shelf life they have now - you can either return them to the charger in time or risk them self-destructing and therefore waiting a few minutes before you can use them again.

Skylanders Superchargers is a competent sequel, but it lacks some of the charm of its predecessors by focusing too much on its collection of vehicles.

While it's good to see Nintendo stepping out of its Mario comfort zone, Captain Toad just isn't versatile enough to compete in the big leagues. What would be a budget eShop no-brainer is a little too slight at a higher price.

It certainly isn't the first case of a game holding its player's hand too tightly, but thankfully it's a difficult one to dismiss or, indeed, to adjourn.

Building on the excellent cyberpunk parkour of its predecessor, Ghostrunner 2 is the best freerunning game available, despite some ill-advised attempts to push the boundaries of its world

Coast 2 Coast is amazing fun, and for ten bucks, you can’t go wrong.

Very playable, quite robust, and if you can't find a control scheme you like, you've probably never played a golf game in your life.

Outside of a perfunctory multiplayer mode that's cute so long as you have friends nearby with a 3DS (there's no online play) , Star Fox 64 3D is a fine diversion, but at its full price of $39.99, it isn't a must buy.

A well-written story that doesn’t quite gel together properly and a lack of actual things to do make this a sub-par start to this potentially great sequel.

Intentionally prioritising flashy fanservice over competitive play, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero provides the most complete series toybox yet. But, with simple enemy AI and repetitive fighting mechanics, it lacks the depth of its more serious competition to the point of becoming rote.

Does it live up to the original? Heck no – we said it was impossible, remember? It is a damn fine, "serious" shooter on the Wii, and that's saying something.

The stripped down interface makes unit management much more immediate, and the nuanced gameplay, thanks to range of choices at hand, is simple to learn and satisfying to master. The campaign is on the monotonous side, but the engaging multiplayer mode, which lets you compete with players on any other Microsoft device, ensures that you'll always have someone to play against.

It might not make a great first impression, but it’s going to be awfully hard, even this early in the year, to find a downloadable game that can offer this much content. You’ll always find more and more excuses to just keep digging away.

All of this gameplay does come at a price: There are extremely long loading times to suffer through before each entrance video, before the actual match, and after the match is over.

Ambition may have outstripped ability, but there's no doubt that fans of the series will find much to love about this entry, flawed as any of the rest of them. That's the best we could have hoped for.

All this administrative juggling also takes its toll on a story that's hard enough to follow even when it has your full attention. With a cast of characters that can be difficult to tell apart, crucial details buried in reams of documents, and a penchant for surreal interludes, it takes some work to keep up with the haunting undercurrent of Signalis. At times it does seem worth the effort, because there are intriguing themes burrowing away behind the scenes. But then you find a key that prompts yet another trek across the current area, and perhaps it doesn't after all.

If you're willing to put a little effort into learning the rules and nuances of Catan, you'll be rewarded with potentially endless amounts of strategic board game bliss. Although the AI opponents are remarkably interesting to play with, your Catan experience will hinge on getting your real friends to play with you.

Oh how we wish that the PS3 Madden were as smooth as its 360 cousin. It's not all bad, of course, and there's a bevy of stuff to do across scads of modes to take up plenty of time. Unfortunately, the distinctly inferior product for Sony's pricey console will likely serve as yet more fodder for never ending flame wars.

SteamWorld Heist 2 is a great sequel. While retaining the aiming system and side-on perspective that made the original a joy, it features a generously redesigned class system and new overworld to explore. However, old problems with mission repetition and stingy XP rewards deter you from experimenting with classes, pulling the game down from excellence.

It has flashes of brilliance, but overall presents a shallow experience with gameplay unworthy of the 360's potential.

So those of us who aren't down with the difficulty level are going to want to play a game that utilizes the Xbox 360's potential with a balanced difficulty level that compliments the solid gameplay - and thereby restore self esteem - leaving Itagaki's insatiable bloodlust to the hardcore crowd that loves it so.

Great God Grove's system that has you sucking up speech bubbles remains novel throughout, with plenty of quirky characters and stories to uncover. With some fantastic highpoints, some more straightforward areas will have you yearning for a bit more depth.

Stellar Blade is more ambitious and varied than expected, but also about as clunky as expected, resulting in a stilted action RPG with a level of jank that you just have to accept. Meet it on its terms, and either tune out or embrace the odd sexual veneer, and it's a solid 20 to 30 hours of fun.

That parade of cathartic moments still makes God of War 3 worth playing, especially given the vividness and eye-popping destruction woven into every major battle. It peaks and drags and peaks and drags, sure, but God of War at its high point was never going to be sustainable.

There's a lot to love in Gears Tactics. The ebb and flow of the action is strong enough that it can be easy enough to overlook its flaws, but they are still there – present and accounted for. It's a game desperately in need of a little variety; perhaps the same can be said of the core franchise games too, but it's particularly noticeable when there's a degree of separation between a command and the resulting action.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes rides a great hybrid battle system while barely slowing down for its beloved characters.

Fire Emblem Engage resurrects the weapon triangle to great effect, making the turn-based combat feel like a game of death and dares, while an unmemorable cast of characters and an unexplored world sadly drag behind it.