It’s a damn good real-time strategy game and a damn good StarCraft game.

With all those dungeon randomisations, boss events, challenging difficulty, co-op play, loot gathering and the general mayhem of monster slaying, Diablo III is a ride that may tire if binged on religiously but one that'll haunt your dreams long-term to get back to it, just like its predecessor.

Capcom perfected the combat formula over countless releases, but it wasn’t until Monster Hunter: World that they stripped away what ultimately was never much fun to begin with. You spend less time spent preparing, and more time actually fighting. And sales figures suggest, as we all expected, that Capcom really had something special sitting under all that bloat.

To many it'll still seem ludicrous that sports games are worth the purchase every year, but for anyone who's ever kicked a football in their life, this is the definitive choice.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is as close to the perfect RPG as one can get. The fantastic setting, grand story, exceptional writing and voice acting, engaging combat all coalesce into an exemplar of its kind. This is the game that sets the bar. This is the game that needs to be aspired to.

Doom Eternal’s combat encounters are, quite possibly, the best in the genre. Snappy movement, a varied arsenal and executions, alongside a soundtrack that mixes atmospheric synths with pounding drums and devastating downtuned guitars all feed into the game’s trademark frenetic action. There’s unrivaled euphoria in crushing a demon’s head underfoot before moving on to kill hundreds more of his friends in equally brutal ways. Really, the only thing holding Doom Eternal back from reaching its full potential is its platforming which – although improved – take up too much time that could have been spent doing what Doom Eternal does best: letting you shoot the literal Hell out of scores of demons.

As far as the 360-specific additions are concerned, there are a few extra environments and characters for you to get your teeth into, but the core of Joe Danger is resolutely the same as its PS3 cousin. And for once, that's a fantastic thing. If you enjoyed Trials, and if you like Sonic or even Tony Hawk, you owe it to yourself to give this a try.

The decision to let Criterion tackle the Need for Speed franchise has paid off massively. They've produced one of the simplest, yet endlessly engrossing racers of the generation, which is all down to their superb ability to balance how each race plays out.

The Witcher 2 can be frustrating, but it's also a game that will suck you in and keep you talking about it for years to come...Frankly, it's the best game ever just for the giant chicken in the forest of penises. Stick that as our quote, Metacritic.

The best survival game ever released, and an indie game that goes toe to toe with AAA titles out there.

Yes – the campaign is probably the weakest element of the game on balance, and one needs to look towards future Spartan Ops episodes to see what will become of that mode, but taken as a package this is a game that Halo fans, including this Halo fan, can seriously enjoy. Plus, it looks amazing.

Outside of Championship Manager’s excellent scouting system then, Football Manager 2010 has left the pitch under a banner that displays yet another convincing scoreline.

Hitman III is a fascinating finale to the franchise that shyly continues the series’ tradition to iterate and improve on each entry.

There's issues and niggles here and there in the amount of Career Mode repetition of event types and environments, as with many racers, and the game is almost devoid of innovation in all modes other than the brilliant Gymkhana – but perhaps an evolution rather than a revolution was all that was needed for DiRT 3.

If you're a casual gamer then steer clear, but If you have both the time and the inclination to devote a lot of time to learning the sometimes over complicated set up then you'll have more fun than some kind of space pun I can't think of at the moment.

An excellent game in its own right, Heavy Rain lingers in the conscience long after the final credits, but it feels less like a revolution, more like a precursor to something genuinely fresh and groundbreaking.

Just perfect game pacing, splendid atmosphere and top-rating production value.

The Yakuza series is one of the best at what it does, being an Action-RPG with explorable locations. The games in this collection are dated, but even so, they perform well today and are still enjoyable to play. For players who have played before on console, pick this up if you want updated graphics and the ability to play through the series again without having to worry about backwards compatibility on consoles. For fans on PC who haven’t played the full saga, I highly recommend the Collection as it’s important to understanding the story of Yakuza, and is plenty fun to play, even if it’s dated. For any players who are new to Yakuza, I recommend first checking out Yakuza 0 or Yakuza Kiwami, they are better starting points, the Remastered Collection is not the best place to jump in.

There's issues and niggles here and there in the amount of Career Mode repetition of event types and environments, as with many racers, and the game is almost devoid of innovation in all modes other than the brilliant Gymkhana – but perhaps an evolution rather than a revolution was all that was needed for DiRT 3.

Indiana Jones’ triumphant return to video games is a memorable adventure that gives fans everything they wanted while concocting a delightful mix of systems and design philosophies that no one had anticipated.

What we have here is a refined and extremely confident product from a studio that has found its feet in the FPS world.

Deathloop turns both succeeding and failing into learning experiences and never makes you miss the lack of a quicksave option. It’s a mean feat that sets it apart from other games, and one of several reasons why it should be on the list of any immersive sim fans out there. It might not be Arkane’s best game and Blackreef may struggle clearly defining a personality for itself, but it’s certainly no stranger to great moments.

Dead Space 2 is a more than worthy successor to the original, adding plenty of oomph to the series and a solid multiplayer experience to boot. We would have preferred more puzzles and a little less linearity, but that doesn't stop us wanting a third Isaac outing.

DiRT 2 is without doubt the most comprehensive and utterly playable off-road racing game we’ve ever played. The overall racing experience is never anything but pleasurable, the depth and range of challenges on offer lending massive longevity and the presentation is also nothing short of exceptional.

Dragon Age: Origins is much more than a game – it’s the glorious revisiting of Bioware’s past and a look at where they are going in the future.

Reaper of Souls, in conjunction with the Loot 2.0 patch, finally brings us the Diablo III we want and that fans deserve.

Rayman Origins is the best 2D platformer this year, one of my favourite ever made (it's up there with Yoshi's Island), and the one game out in November everyone should play. I don't care if you've got other games to play – this one will make you feel good inside.

While in my opinion it has a few flaws that hold it back from true all-time-classic status Divinity: Original Sin is an excellent, beautifully designed and engaging RPG that absolutely never gets boring.