Two Point Hospital has a terminal case of total brilliance.

From the digital-crack gameplay to the ocean-deep customization to the enjoyable Subspace Emissary, it's completely jam-packed with Nintendo love. The sights, the sounds, everything is an unfiltered pat on the back and incessant in-joke for longtime fans. For everyone else, it's a dependably solid fighter that destroys its predecessor in every way.

Intelligent, involved, and relentlessly exhilarating, now, just as in '93, the most exciting FPS around is a game called Doom.

Intelligent, fun, challenging and beautifully realized, DX:HR is an incredibly polished game that lives up to the impossibly high standard of its predecessor.

An astounding masterpiece that reaches new heights of brilliance thanks to the Nintendo Switch.

It will be like playing "SFII" for the first time all over again, only with the years of love and experience you've since gained already built in. To long-term Street Fighter fans, everything old is new again. To the new players, we simply say welcome to the party. You're going to have a hell of a good time.

With its riveting story, beautiful visuals and surprisingly lifelike world, Assassin's Creed is an incredibly deep, enjoyable game that kept us addicted from beginning to bizarre end.

Super Mario Odyssey successfully brings the series up to date and opens it up to a new audience, while still retaining every ounce of its nostalgia and retro charm.

For $10 more (and if you can find it) the Special Edition of Subsistence includes a third disc with all of Snake Eater's cinematics re-cut and re-edited into a three-hour movie, complete with new narration. It's an extra special bonus for an already extra-amazing game.

Beenox has managed to take the original Crash Team Racing, and somehow made it better. 20 years ago, this was the kart racer to play, but Mario Kart gradually usurped it and since the early 2000s, Crash has been laid dormant, waiting for its time to seize the throne and become the king of kart racers once more. That time is now, because Crash is back, baby.

Haunting, confrontational, and deeply cathartic all at once, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is a stunning feat of video game art. Ninja Theory doesn't tiptoe around its heavy themes but welcomes them with well-honed empathy, tempered by an even keener creative edge this time around to deliver an unforgettable narrative adventure experience that's hard to watch, yet harder to turn away from.

Aside from moaning about the shortcomings the Wii's technical limitations force upon the game, the only thing to complain about with Rock Band 2 – and it’s barely even a complaint - is that it polishes rather than reinvents.

Spelunky is for the West what Cave Story represents for Japan: the maximum expression of the indie philosophy. You shouldn't ask yourself if you want to play it. You absolutely have to, if you haven't yet.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was the greatest superhero game of all time. The sequel, Batman: Arkham City, is five times bigger and about a billion times better. You do the math.

The streamlined, focused structure eliminates potential tedium without dumbing anything down, and the battle system strikes an elegant balance between strategy and fast-paced action. Stunningly beautiful graphics and a pervasively meticulous level of polish throughout only add to the experience.

Sad Owl Studios has delivered a puzzling experience that's both instantly approachable and inventive enough to keep you guessing throughout. Viewfinder is simply wonderful – a breath of fresh air that shouldn't be ignored.

Half-Life 2: Episode One demonstrates how games ought to be made, forged by dedication, imagination and risk-taking. It's an outstanding, stirring experience.

What does make it great is that it actually delivers on nearly everything it promises while still being fun to just pick up and play.

What does make it great is that it actually delivers on nearly everything it promises while still being fun to just pick up and play.

Hilarious, heartfelt and high-octane, Tales from the Borderlands is a must-play game that sets a new standard for comedy games to come.

Adding so much as to be a little intimidating at first, LBP2 brings a slew of impressive new creator features, while still offering plenty of cool new things for those who just want to play. The basic, flawed platforming of the original is still there, but compared to the possibilities LBP2 opens up, it's insignificant.

Elden Ring is both a refinement and evolution of the Dark Souls formula, presenting an expansive world that's as hostile as it is inviting. Despite the occasional excess, suffering has never been as much fun as this.

No game is perfect, but the HD redux inches Wind Waker ever closer to that ideal.

Its storytelling is peerless, as affecting and multi-layered as it is grounded, underplayed and real. In terms of everything the modern action game has strived to be, The Last of Us is the full-stop at the end of the sentence, leaving no more to be said. Until next-gen. If this is our starting point for that, then the next five to ten years could be truly amazing.

A potent cocktail of authentic 1930s aesthetics, jazzy tunes, ingenious boss designs, and gameplay founded on the fundamentals inherent to the best 2D shooters. Cuphead sure is swell.

Anyone who already has issues with the single-player ‘style’ of IW’s games will still find fault with the scripted, linear experience, but in terms of sheer drama and show-stopping set-pieces accompanied by laser sharp FPS controls, Modern Warfare 2 is your daddy. And that’s without Spec Ops and Multiplayer.

Mario Kart 7 is THE game the 3DS has been in dire need of. Sadly, it raises the bar so high for almost everything else, most 3DS games don't even look like they belong on the same system.

Forza Motorsport 7 addresses every issue of its predecessor, turns the visual flair up to 11 and handles like a dream. An essential purchase.