It doesn’t move at the breakneck pace of most games nowadays, nor does it ever seem particularly concerned to address some of the plot points or character gaps it leaves dangling, but those that take the chance on the full Quantum Break experience (episodes and all) will find a quirky and unique experience waiting that you just won’t see replicated anywhere else.

Refined combat, excellent creature and world design and frequent shout-outs to series highlights make this, in many ways, the best of the lot.

Nights of Azure has potential, but unfortunately falls into too many tropes of the JRPG world.

Genuine creative potential, but lacks polish. [Issue#172, p.96]

Best with a team of heroes. [Issue#172, p.95]

Ultimate for fans, good for anyone else. [Issue#172, p.95]

A thoughtful experience with great gameplay. [Issue#172, p.94]

An interesting but frustrating space oddity. [Issue#172, p.94]

Intriguing game held back by a faltering script. [Issue#172, p.92]

Clever, unique, inventive but brief and repetitive. [Issue#172, p.91]

No masterpiece, but captivating. [Issue#172, p.88]

An offhand effort that adds little to the series. [Issue#172, p.87]

As it stands, this is a good example of how to do a DLC package.

What you’re left with is a short slice of horror that’s got a few genuinely brilliant ideas up its bloody sleeve, but one that dulls the edges of its own experience with a lack of subtlety.

Despite its pretty environments and swollen production value, Garden Warfare 2 feels a lot like its smartphone cousins, less a videogame, in the noble sense, and more a tar pit, swallowing down your time and providing little in return but useless virtual tat.

Despite some skinniness in the core mechanics, this is a strong game with a consistently charming aesthetic and challenging progression-based system: if you’re enduring enough to live through the first week or so, you’ll meet a slew of survivors, and you’ll uncover a glimpse of America that’s still celebrated.

It’s wonderful, evil, gorgeous, horrible, satisfying and merciless. You might hate its lack of checkpoints, or bad levels spawns that almost instantly kill you. It doesn’t care. Screw you. It hates you. But you’ll love it.

When it all comes together – and it often does – Unravel is an adorable game with a charming soundtrack and some gorgeous background environments. There’s still a sense of satisfaction each time you solve a puzzle and Yarny’s animations are enough to warm your heart. It’s just a shame that the game’s myriad frustrating moments ensure this warm heart is accompanied by heat under the collar.

Firewatch is a brief but enjoyable experience set in a stunning and lovingly crafted environment, but there is no real ending – there’s simply the place where you stopped reading the story.

If only Ubisoft Montreal had felt more confident in its wild gambit – if only it had gone further with the Stone Age concept – and we could have been looking at something special. Instead, we have a Far Cry game that feels fun in its familiarity, but is sadly lacking in many integral ways.

Despite these drawbacks, The Banner Saga is still a solid tactical RPG with a charming art style and a story that, while initially daunting, eventually becomes manageable and memorable.

What’s here right now is thoroughly engaging. With more time it could have done a great deal more and found more depth that would serve it well for the future, but what it has done is impressive and most importantly and lot of fun to play.

The question of why Capcom even bothered with this HD remaster does beg to be raised, because while it might look like a modern release it certainly doesn’t play like one. It’s time that might have been better spent on something else.

This situation isn’t helped by an array of dreary technical problems either: scenery is flat and lifeless, dirt and dust effects are disappointing, while the sound effects will leave you wanting. This, combined with a frequently erratic frame-rate, produces a game that desperately needed more time and money for the developers to fully realise its vision. It’s a shame, because Rally Evo boasts such an attractive feature set – and from a studio we know is capable of mastering simulation mechanics – but this year it just couldn’t compete with Codemasters’ stellar return to the scene.

Assassin’s Creed couldn’t afford another step in the wrong direction, and yet, here we are again. ACC: Russia is still a few weeks away, but Climax will seriously need to re-evaluate its core systems and mechanics to give it a chance to succeed. Chronicles was a leap of faith for Ubisoft; this time there isn’t a bail of hay there to break the fall.

Arslan: The Warriors of Legend doesn’t stray too far from the tried and tested Warriors formula. But, once again, Omega Force has done an excellent job of capturing the essence of a brilliant source material while combining it with a solid, combo-filled slasher – and arguably the best-looking Warriors-style game to date.

It takes a while for Explorers to really open up and reveal that shining crystal at its centre, but once it does, you can forgive the game its shortcomings and take it for what it is: a respectful homage to both Monster Hunter and Final Fantasy legacies.

Combat is gruelling. Exploration is intense. To that basic extent, Darkest Dungeon is a more emotional dungeon crawler than it aims to be. But its mechanics are familiar and soulless and above anything, it proves that an extreme difficulty curve is no substitute for finessed drama and smart visual design.

Fans of the Mystery Dungeon series will know what to expect from this latest offering: its new additions aren’t radical enough to ruin what makes it fun or, crucially, fix what makes it monotonous.

All that needs to be known is this is a beautiful, affecting and emotionally challenging title that acts as a truly fine love letter and monument to a lost loved one. It will open eyes and it will help people with their very real grief, and because of that it is a success.

It succeeds at providing enough of a compelling reason to try it out, but in failing to do anything else new it just feels like a rehash of once-standard ideas.

With multiple endings based on how you choose to play out your run, set pieces that can play out very differently based on your actions and so many incredible moments that we’d love to share but daren’t do so for risk of spoiling anything, Undertale is easily one of the indie standouts of last year.

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is about the purest and slickest LEGO game you could hope to play.

If you have the patience, the perseverance and the inquisitiveness, then, The Witness can be hugely rewarding.

Street Fighter V echoes the competitive mentality behind its enduring classic Super Street Fighter II Turbo – matches are about finding the right distance to be effective, using your normal moves well and knowing match-ups, rather than overwhelming your opponents with one-frame link combos and option selects.

Every level of the game’s design has not only been refined, but seamlessly interwoven to interact without you being any the wiser. It ensures that XCOM 2 always feels like it’s pushing you to try, to succeed in the face of what looks to be certain failure.

A fantastic finale marred by technical problems. [Issue#170, p.98]

Technical problems ruin a decent episode. [Issue#170, p.98]

Don't force yourself to play it. [Issue#170, p.97]

Interesting political jaunt, but can feel repetitive. [Issue#170, p.96]

Promises much, but just doesn't deliver. [Issue#170, p.94]

If you’re after a light and engaging time sink, look no further.

If you enjoy looking beyond the familiar and putting a bit of time in, you’ll find that Galak-Z is a well-crafted game that stands apart from its inspirations.

Somewhere buried within The Sky Soldier is the kernel of an idea that defies gravity, as well as our expectations. Sadly, despite Naka’s best intentions, Rodea never hits those heights.

Story Of Seasons can be laboriously repetitive at times, but it somehow manages to keep you playing anyway through a combination of charming dialogue and the eventual satisfaction of a farm you’ve sweated buckets to bring up to scratch.

This is a game for the fans, paid for by the fans, and limited only by its budget. The music won’t be to everyone’s taste, and of course doesn’t include any pop classics, but the precision and excitement of the moment-to-moment musical action has never been stronger.

Not since 2004’s Richard Burns Rally has there been a rally game that has approached the sport with the goal of definitively portraying it as it exists in reality: cars that require significant practise to master, terrain as difficult to memorise as it is to slide across, weather that makes ‘white out’ literal and opponents that punish even the slightest hesitation.

This generous package will sustain and deepen the competitive side, but Legacy Of The Void also does enough not to scare away the casuals once the closing credits role and multiplayer beckons.

There are good ideas in Sonic Lost World, and even fleeting moments of brilliance – the wide-open assault course of Desert Ruins Zone 1 stands out as a particular highlight. But for every bit that works brilliantly and provides the thrilling action we want from Sonic, there’s a weak boss encounter or an awkward stop-start stage that dents your enthusiasm.

Controls are Ultra Smash’s biggest problem.

Ultimately, with the antics of the on-screen characters, zany actions, video playback and favourite tracks, it doesn’t really matter even if Just Dance 2016 is making a very generous interpretation of your moves because there are enough layers of distraction in place to keep you happy.

Its platforming sections won’t be troubling Super Mario 3D Land, but if you’re looking for RPG Mario at his modern best, you won’t go far wrong with this.

Consistently, SAO:LS made us feel frustrated and a little ashamed with ourselves for actually sitting through it. Die-hard fans of the franchise may find something to enjoy thanks to the relentless fan-service but others would do better to go and actually play an MMORPG.

The finest game Sports Interactive has released. Games released annually tend to feel incredibly similar year on year, but a lack of progress isn’t something that can be claimed here. Yes, at its core it’s the Football Manager we know and love, only this time it’s a treat for the eyes as well as the head.

For the most part, Xenoblade Chronicles X is astounding. For all its faults it’s still an enormous RPG with one of the best worlds you’ll ever explore and an expanded version of its battle system with fights that, while longer, are still a joy to seamlessly hop in and out of.

Siege, for all its strengths and weaknesses, is a quintessential 2015 shooter. Each round is short and to-the-point to avoid any trace of boredom; the whole thing is geared towards online play.

It is an enjoyable game, but if only Crystal Dynamics could have resolved its conflicts by focusing its attention on what Tomb Raider does best and cutting out anything that got in the way of that, it could have been something far more special.

The lasting memories of Just Cause 3 will be the small moments where everything comes together to make the most insignificant action feel like a unique event. The fact that all of the mechanics work together so seamlessly is impressive, but the magic is fleeting.

It turns out that, so befuddled is Star Wars Battlefront, that simply celebrating it for what it is feels dishonest. It’s an extraordinary mess of brilliant ideas melded with utterly harebrained ones; of thoughtful and charming fan service doing battle against a piledriving Palpatine and idiotic dialogue that sounds like it was recorded in a toilet.

An unfortunate disappointment. [Issue#168, p.100]

Too much show and tell, not enough to do. [Issue#168, p.100]

Enjoyable mostly for its Persona heritage. [Issue#168, p.99]

Will be remembered for its potential, if at all. [Issue#168, p.98]

One of the most rewarding experiences on the PS4. [Issue#168, p.97]

The best episodic game out there right now. [Issue#168, p.94]

A fun game marred by bizarre design choices. [Issue#168, p.93]

Minor flaws, but still a contender for JRPG royalty. [Issue#168, p.92]

You'll have fun, but the flaws are too great to ignore. [Issue#168, p.91]

Nowhere near the level of 2K's NBA productions. [Issue#168, p.90]

Everything about it feels lovingly crafted. [Issue#168, p.88]

Between a clever mixture of single-player only score-chasing, fun co-op modes, light karaoke functionality, and a levelling-up system that’s incremental and actually pushes you out of your comfort zone, this is a game that repairs all the wrongs the peripheral-based rhythm action genre fell foul to last gen.

We were able to sit back and twiddle our thumbs more than we’d like – it all just feels a little dumbed down.

Ultimately, this new Need For Speed has rebooted nothing; it’s an open world racer the likes of which we’ve already seen many times last-gen, but when the mechanics themselves fall short – well, that’s not a message any new start wants to begin with.

There’s plenty to do, but you can’t rid yourself of the feeling that there has never been a release in this franchise more dedicated to a certain kind of player. If you’re part of that crowd, rest assured that you’re going to wholly entertained. Everyone else might want to think twice.

Halo 5: Guardians exists only because it had to. It isn’t a bad game, it’s just a catastrophically uninteresting one.

Fallout 4 feels more like a Fallout 3.5: an improvement on Bethesda’s last game but a compromised one that loses some of the core appeal of the series.

A genuinely feel-good example of what adventure games could be if only they'd think outside the box a little more. [Issue#167, p.97]

This game is about breasts. That's it. There really isn't anything deeper to it, not at all. [Issue#167, p.97]

A solid - albeit flawed - RTS. [Issue#167, p.96]

An improvement over its predecessor, but falters just enough to stop it from becoming an integral strategy title. [Issue#167, p.96]

A fine option for those on PS4 craving more strategy. [Issue#167, p.93]

A welcome outlier in the genre. [Issue#167, p.91]

Activision and Robomodo should, frankly, be ashamed of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5. If promises to fix the game are met and it, eventually, becomes a more faithful entry to the classic series, the Birdman’s last outing will still go down in history as an absolute hatchet job.

Neither offensive nor agreeable. [Issue#167, p.88]

A memorable indie title that shines in company but falters without. [Issue#167, p.87]

It’s a shame that the driving, flying and underwater sections quickly become so dull. There’s a fun game hidden in here – if you don’t mind trudging through a vehicular challenge every now and then.

NBA 2K16 is masterful at providing a re-creation of what we expect to see from a TV broadcast. [Issue#167, p.84]

For fans of the series, this is an essential purchase, and for first timers, this is a great opportunity to get hooked. [Issue#167, p.83]

As far as free-to-play goes, this is deeper than most and will become quite the time sink if you have the patience to master it. [Issue#167, p.82]

Serious gamers after a good mixture of challenge, story and mechanics may be left wanting. [Issue#167, p.79]

PES 2016 is inconsistently superb, but it can no longer be ignored. Football fans have a difficult choice to make this year. You can follow the money and glamour of FIFA or embrace the grassroots love of the game in PES 2016. Neither choice seems wrong to us, but neither is perfect yet either. What we do have finally though, after a decade or so of waiting, is a real contest.

But overall, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is a very difficult game to dislike. It was never intended to break the mould, it’s no kind of reinvention and it probably won’t win the series many new fans. It is resolutely more of the same, but robust and varied with it.

Considering the state of Platinum’s last licensed title, The Legend Of Korra, not to mention the clear budget and time constraints from Activision, Transformers: Devastation could have been much worse. But then again, it could also have been much, much better.

The expansive main campaign runs at a native 1080p/60fp, giving every ship, nebula and hyperspace jump a captivating presentation. The control scheme maps well to the Xbox controller too, providing access to every facet of your vessel. Elite: Dangerous offers an experience like no other, it’s just a shame the sins of the past still sting as painfully as they did on PC.

When you’ve wasted 15 minutes watching two pixel people chat each other up but never move to the bedroom to seal the deal; it’s these scenarios where getting caught by the cops or feds becomes a frustration instead of a punishment. It’s almost like some people don’t want to get murdered. Rude.

Ultimately, however essential we say this update is, it’s only relevant if you’re a Destiny sceptic and haven’t already upgraded. If this is you, pick it up – the price is steep but there’s a huge amount of content here, plus you won’t fall too far behind. If you’re a new player, thanks to this update this is now one of the best ‘shared-world’ experiences out there – one that you’ll find hard to put down due to its stellar FPS mechanics, enormous scope and undeniable progression.

While little has changed on the surface, it’s fair to say that Infinity 3.0 improves on both of the game’s core pillars without really wobbling either.

A great game hampered by a new model.