Yakuza: Like a Dragon impressively pulls off the switch to an RPG in style, providing an excellent combat system supported by loveable characters, and a tantalising main storyline with meaningful side quests.

With spectacular comic book presentation, some of the most chaotic action in any game ever and sufficient technical depth to keep even ultra hardcore fight fans happy, this is the impossible - a worthy successor to Marvel vs Capcom 2.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a gorgeously grotesque and endearingly cozy adventure that offers a gorgeous setting along with a satisfying blend of tower defense-style strategy and hack-and-slash combat.

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.

If you're not big on multiplayer, there's little reason to pick up Most Wanted over, say, heading to the bargain bin for a copy of Burnout Paradise. If you're willing to invest a few hours to learning the game's quirks, however, and are at all interested in racing against your friends online, this suddenly becomes one of the most recommendable arcade racers to come along in the past few years.

Nine Sols is an enthralling combat gauntlet with death-defying moves and sleek systems for a rapturous experience, let down only slightly by its somewhat lacklustre pacing and focus, and tired fat-shaming quips.

Correcting seemingly every complaint critics had about Killzone 2, Killzone 3 is visually impressive, relentlessly entertaining and far more fun than we expected. This is everything a good sequel should be.

It's hard to see how core F1 gameplay can be done better on current-gen and there's a wealth of gameplay challenges to explore. If you passed up F1 2011 because it was too similar to F1 2010, you'll find F1 2012 a massive leap forward.

If you love just messing around within an engaging world and you aren't merely single-mindedly driven toward a goal, Stacking will delight you. But if you're one of those impatient people who can't be bothered by anything other than the task at hand, there's a chance you'll be disappointed with its lack of difficulty and emphasis on collection and multiple solutions. Even if you are of the second group though, Stacking could very well win you over with its charming presentation.

Every major issue in F1 2010 has been addressed, making an already great game even better. We'd still like to 'live the life' a bit more off the track, but in terms of racing, it's just an absolute blast, whichever skill level you approach it from.

NBA 2K9 is the closest thing yet we’ve seen to a total hoops package. Other than a few minor quibbles – the visuals get choppy during the cutscenes between play and the Blacktop mode is a throwaway collection of uninteresting minigames – we’re utterly delighted with 2K’s latest ode to the hardwood.

This complexity demands your total concentration, resulting in an all-consuming gaming experience. You're gonna lose hours to this game.

Football Manager 2020 continues the series' winning formula, but there's still plenty of aspects that need work alongside overpowered tactics and methods to win games.

A successful sequel that both reboots and redeems the wayward series, though it's not a flawless victory. Character balance, inconsistent detection and a stingy coin reward system drag down an otherwise bloody good time.

All of the elements that have made the series great are here - the sense of humor, the slick sense of style and the ridiculously over-the-top action - and the game is at once instantly accessible and surprisingly deep, thanks to a more-elaborate-than-it-lets-on combo system.

While the action sequences might feel like old hat, there’s no denying that Chloe and Nadine’s very personal adventure will go down as one of Uncharted’s best.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is an incredible revival for a venerable series. Pitch-perfect controls, fantastic encounter design, and a tough-but-fair challenge elevate this well beyond a sea of other retro action games. If there's any room for complaint, it's that I simply want more - more levels, and more reasons to come back to them.

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.

Dungeon crawlers may still be something of an acquired taste for most gamers, but Atlus has done its best to make Etrian Odyssey IV more palatable for a wider audience.

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

Exactly what anyone craving an eclectic director's cut of Rise of Nations could want, and just as playable, thanks in part to three well-balanced antagonists. If it's not terribly inventive, well, there's always "Rise of Nations 2," right?

Forget your preconceptions of Bulletstorm as a foul-mouthed big dumb action game. It's an intelligent, nuanced design with fathoms of depth, which marks a return to the importance of player creativity in shooters and simultaneously evolves the concept of interactivity in an FPS world. And with two cleverly complimentary secondary modes, it will have serious legs for a good long while to come.

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.

Faster Than Light is the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica game you've always wanted.

The current-gen versions of Superstar has the best cameras of the bunch. Next-gen is too close and too claustrophobic.

DQ V is a missing link for western gamers, a step forward in RPG design that, when played now, puts many design choices in later works into perspective. And though current titles have built on its innovations in the years since its release, this advancement in storytelling is still captivating now.

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.