With Rise of Iron, Bungie has finally learned what the Destiny fanbase actually wants, and seems on its way to giving it to them. Now it needs to work out how to convince others that they need to be in the Destiny fanbase in the first place. That task, I think, is one that this latest, and last, update might struggle with.

Sadly, games that aspire to be cinematic will inevitably draw comparisons with film, and Virginia is a narrative game without a memorable narrative. But its goals were admirable and hopefully other developers will experiment further with this format.

In the areas that really matter – on the pitch – this year’s model is by far the best version of PES yet, and easily matches its rival.

EA has shown a desire to create a more welcoming Madden for beginners, which is admirable and works as newbies can learn advanced techniques by playing the game rather than studying a manual. Just make sure you don’t leave the stabilisers on for too long. Let the real fun begin.

Reigns offers a pretty, innovative and charming diversion, then, but don’t let yourself care too deeply about what actually happens, or the charm will give way to frustration fast.

Quite a few of the later puzzles rely on reaction times alongside forward planning, and since they’re often bigger than those earlier in the game, it’s far more frustrating to have to restart because of a mistimed jump-and-switch or accidental misfire. For the first few hours, however, Hue’s puzzles are concise, inventive, and surprising. For that, at this price, Hue is an experiment worth experiencing.

Eidos Montreal’s near-future thriller presents a visually impressive dystopian playground, but a wonky narrative and some shoddy touches tarnish its potential.

Hello Games has created a gorgeously realised, constantly regenerating universe for players to get lost in, where the incredible journey trumps the destination.

It might be too short and a bit clunky, but Blendo Games’ newest effort finds joy in the weird and wonderful retro-future world of 1980s coding.

Final chapter in intriguing narrative adventure series brings back favourite characters, but fails to go out with a bang.

The sheer volume of quests and weapons and monsters also means that, quite apart from being a brilliant game, this has incalculable longevity. The life of a hunter isn’t for everyone. But if killing something massive, carving it up, and making a snazzy hat seems in any way appealing, then Monster Hunter Generations might be your game of the year.

To put it bluntly, Pokémon Go is not good as a game. Until it gets updates which iron out kinks and offer content promised in early trailers, such as trading Pokémon, group battles, or even just more interesting combat, this isn’t likely to change.

Inside is constantly surprising, introducing new elements without ever overwhelming, maintaining an excellent pace over the course of about four hours.

When you’re flat-out sprinting, Catalyst feels wonderful. When standing still, in the Grid Nodes, it’s great too. It’s only in that mid-region, either gaining or losing momentum, that you end up clumsy and infuriated.

Blizzard’s take on the team-based shooter is as polished as you’d expect, marrying tactical breadth with an emphasis on variety and inclusivity.

With its open-world environment and emphasis on crafting, this is an interesting sequel, marred by glitches and frame rate issues.

Fantasy tabletop warfare meets historical strategy simulation in a game that should be inaccessible but ends up exciting.

Beneath the monotony of the dingy corridors, identikit jaw-flapping monsters and endless lava streams, the game routinely offers a masterclass in level design.

With our video game reviews we reserve a five-star rating for games that we think everyone should experience, that are so interesting or impressive in certain areas that they transcend any flaws, limitations or genre concerns. Uncharted 4 is certainly in that category. [Official Verdict - 5stars]

The cute monster battling fun is extremely familiar, but Yo-Kai watch has plenty of its own charm.

In general, 2016’s Ratchet & Clank is a successful mixture of old and new, improved by the inclusion of features that came in later games in the series, and with a modern polish, but retaining its core of silly fun.

Its concept may seem silly at first, but the latest title from prodigious indie developer Stephen Lavelle is one of the most difficult puzzle games ever made.

In truth, Dark Souls is un-replicable precisely because of its individuality. Yes, many of its best moments have been felt in other games through the years: the joyful surprise of opening an unlikely shortcut, the rush of dopamine at defeating a long-standing boss, the thrill of upgrading a character and evening the odds, the sense of aesthetic wonder at a piece of grand architecture. But no game has combined them in such an alluring and memorable way, or with such adherence to cohesive vision.

Codemasters has been making rally games since the original PlayStation era, but it is now closer than ever to perfecting its craft.

With this time-spanning opus, Remedy Entertainment hoped to unite narrative gaming and linear television for its Xbox One title. But neither comes out of the experiment well.

If you’re old enough, if you love Nintendo enough and if you have enough friends who fall into both categories, Miitomo is an inventive and fun, first mobile app for the company. Everyone else? The wait will continue for Nintendo to make some more ambitious mobile games based on its most-loved brands.

Of more importance is how this world will evolve once enough players have completed all the current missions and find themselves in an end-game that is effectively a treasure hunt in an anarchic moral wasteland. Even at this early stage though, The Division is an experience that’s worth having if you’re at all interested in mainstream action games, or role-playing adventures, or co-operative online play. You will not be bored as you blast your way through.

There has never been a better way to confront, or indulge, your inner assassin.

Like the similarly experimental Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Primal takes a torch to the established Far Cry template, yet it still feels every inch a Far Cry game. The graphics, controls, hunting, map and resource-collection are all recognisable – to such a striking extent that it makes you wonder what it would be like to play through an old version of Far Cry, using just the bow and ignoring all vehicles. Whether by accident, design or an emotive response to criticism of Far Cry 4, Ubisoft, via Primal, has given the franchise a huge new shot of vitality and freshness.

Like throwing a punch in the dark, buying Street Fighter V today is a speculative gamble.

Yarny’s journey might have its ups and downs, but it’s brief and beautiful. It is a mostly wordless message of love.

It tells a simple, effective story using its keenly developed sense of location and by binding us to Henry through smart writing and dialogue choices. The question of whether these choices can substantially impact the outcome of Henry’s story does niggle: were we just witnesses or active participants?

XCOM 2 is a perfect example of how iteration should work for games: it takes a great original, fixes and streamlines the problems, and doubles-down in unexpected areas. Among its greatest achievements is adding a sense of pace to the overall campaign and the moment-to-moment combat. This is an about-turn from the principles of the original that could have gone wrong but instead is the making of the experience.

Final Fantasy Explorers most certainly isn’t the game that will turn those who have always wondered what Final Fantasy is all about onto the franchise. It does at least provide something new to play on the legions of 3DSes out there, at a time when owners have been particularly ill-served. For confirmed fans it offers a nice, gentle, if non-archetypal, means of re-entering the Final Fantasy universe, whetting their appetites for Final Fantasy XV and VII.

Darkest Dungeon is something fresh in one of gaming’s most overdone genres, and the stress system is a winner – a particular delight being how a long-lived character will accumulate various mental scars.

Some fans of Blow’s earlier work seem to have been hoping that the mazes they saw in the trailers are just a veneer for a deeper, mind-blowing experience, but really the world and whatever narrative you can find in it are dressing for an incredibly impressive collection of puzzles. Whether or not you find a deeper meaning at the end, the journey will have been worth it. After all, only those who actually enjoy solving the puzzles will make it that far, and even after 41 hours and 358 solved puzzles I’m eager to go back for more.

That Dragon, Cancer shows how video games can create empathy, both through the simple method of allowing the player to experience unfamiliar situations – and by twisting what is real and not-real within them. It’s cut through with human resilience and humour but ultimately defined by a determination to leave a mark on a little boy’s behalf – something to show he was here, and real, and mattered. An unforgettable experience.

Despite retailing as a full-price game, Siege contains microtransactions which can speed up the levelling process and unlock cosmetic items, which on top of the ‘season pass’ (for future DLC) feels more than a little mean. Counter-Strike GO looms large in the background of much of what Siege does, and that game supports a miniature economy of skins and other items – but also built a following for a dozen years over several entries before this. Ubisoft has actively harmed this game’s chances of success by pushing such stuff when what it should be focusing on is building a player base.

It’s testament to Just Cause that I had no hesitation pushing through its annoyances; the surroundings are so exquisite that sometimes it’s worth enduring the slideshow for the canapes and champagne. This is a sumptuous world teeming with stuff to do.

Just like a certain big budget Activision sci-fi shooter, Battlefront is simply the opening skirmish in an ever-expanding galactic conflict. Star Wars fans: it is your Destiny.

Few game franchises have ever gripped like this one, and its symbiosis with the real sport remains rather staggering. For those who recall the heady days of Championship Manager, but who became alienated by the increasing complexity of its Football Manager replacement, FM 2016 represents an opportunity to come back. Your loved ones and work mates, however, may regret it.

A crowd-pleasing game, which offers only glimpses of what could be if this team were only allowed to take some braver risks with Croft’s next expedition.

Fallout 4, then, is a paradox, delivering in many of the areas that matter most but undermined throughout by poor combat, technical problems, and what feels like a lack of focus. So here we go again. It’s not war, but Bethesda that never changes.

Black Ops III is the classic fan game: if you still love the series, you’ll love this one. But if the relationship is fading into routine, if the spark has gone, those old habits and nervous tics are really going to nag at you. You will go through the motions, but quietly – guiltily – you will already be looking elsewhere.

MGO’s fundamentals are great, and the experience it can create in the best modes is nothing short of exceptional. But these are high points in what is otherwise a polished but meagre offering, a multiplayer mode that feels lacking in depth and longevity. MGSV’s singleplayer saw Kojima Productions over-deliver and leave with a bang. In such company, the LA studio’s MGO is little more than a whimper.

With so much at stake, Halo 5 needed to be a new perfection of old triumphs, or a landscape-altering revolution. In terms of its campaign it falls short of both of these ideals. Online, however, 343 has taken more significant risks, of the sort that first convinced Apple and Microsoft to place bets on the series. Warzone, in particular, is a kind of bold design that we almost never see in expensive FPS game-making any more.

That dearth of fun is the crux here. As the series finally begins to carve out an identity for itself, shed the dead-weight of its futuristic fluff of a sub-plot, and really let fly with its caricatural depiction of human history, it’s simultaneously failing to keep up with even middling mechanical, technical and design standards. With searing irony, the series feels more historic with each profit-driven iteration.

It remains a brilliant social game in the classic sense of the phrase.

A new story in the world that they love, but one in which they’re participating, not just watching – which isn’t afraid to raise some sensitive issues around topics such as friendship. Roll on episode two.

Once you’re in, you will – unlike many of my own early inmates – find it very difficult to escape.

The completist will have to spend hundreds of pounds to experience Dimensions in its entirety.

Just like the numpties on Grand Designs, Happy Home Designer doesn’t really know what it wants, and it suffers for it. It can’t possibly be the newest Animal Crossing – it’s far too small. It’s a pretty good, if simple, home decorating game, but not as a full, standalone release.

If you see PewDiePie as an annoying bell-end who deserves a sceptic toe, you’re unlikely to shell out £3.99 on his game – even if its quality means you’d probably enjoy it much more than you do his videos...Equally, if you’re one of his fans, this is £3.99 well spent, with plenty of potential for replayability using the different characters and power-ups, as well as taking on the higher difficulty levels.

Soma tells an affective tale and carries the horror genre a few steps forward. Had Frictional shown the courage to shake off tradition entirely, it could have carried it further still.

The most fully featured Skylanders offering to date. The combination of new modes, online play and backwards compatibility is unparalleled in this sector. It seems competition really is a good thing.

The Taken King is the first time since launch that it’s been possible to say to new players that now is the time to start playing Destiny. The flaws have been ironed out, and the future’s bright.

While on-pitch matters between these two old foes are too close to call, Fifa’s breathtaking scope secures yet another silver pot for an already heaving trophy cabinet.

Forza 6 feels like a worthy apology for the misjudgements it made with Forza 5. With competition from the likes of Driveclub and Project Cars, the franchise isn’t quite the benchmark it once was, but it’s damn good to see Turn 10 back on track with such impressive flair.

Madden 16 is an authentic, challenging simulation that explores key facets of the sport in new ways and adds much to the experience in the process.

It’s not cheap, and will undoubtedly result in ongoing spending as more content is released, but there is a lot of play value here for fans of the films as well as the younger audience.

Metal Gear Solid V is a game-changing triumph. It is comfortably the best stealth game yet made. But that accolade sells the game short. This is the final evolution of a video game director’s singular vision, one first painted in the crude pixels of the 1980s and now fully realised, fully resplendent.

An abundance of rough edges, and a weak story, mean that it doesn’t quite go the distance. Avalanche has tuned the engine of the open-world driving genre, but this is certainly no revolution.

Despite the beautiful detailed environment and the promise of entertaining soap opera-style clips, Rapture is a real test of patience – because it’s just so damn slow.

Angry Birds 2 looks great, from the level backdrops through to the little touches: pigs quivering as you prepare to launch a new bird, and then zooming out of the screen towards you as nearby objects explode.

This feels 80% of the way to a great game, but that missing 20% soon comes to dominate the rest. With a little more fine-tuning who knows how The Swindle may have turned out but, as things stand, it feels a little like being short-changed.

What has made this game special is the extra layer of polish on an idea that was already refined, and the resistance to adding unnecessary extras: in this way, it feels like a Nintendo game. Rocket League is simply a joy to play, win or lose. And with friends? Wow. This is the most fun you’ll ever have behind the wheel of a rocket powered football playing car.

Perhaps those overpriced but desirable toys will turn more people’s attention towards this delightful game.

It’s disappointing that, for licensing reasons, the Augusta National course is missing so you don’t get a chance to play at the Masters. Indeed, there are far fewer courses than the 2013 version of the game (with 12 real-life options against the 20 in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2014), and the roster of players has been culled too, with no LPGA stars at all.

What Lego Jurassic doesn’t do is innovate on the previous Lego games a great deal – nor does it really need to. This is aimed squarely at children – or more specifically at parents who want to share some nostalgia with their kids while making use of the perfect drop-in/drop-out co-operative option.

Players able to look past the flaws will find one of the most pure, visceral action games available on current machines.

You could look over videogame history and pick out antecedents for some of what Her Story does but, even so, I’ve never played anything quite like it.

Arkham Knight triumphs as a richly empowering comic book fantasy that sees its hero fail almost as much as he succeeds, making him the most believable, the most occasionally unlikeable, and ultimately the most heroic he’s ever been.

What this game brings is something that remains startlingly elusive in the modern canon: a co-op experience that genuinely requires you to work together. For a wildly violent first-person shooter, Payday 2 sure does promote a heartwarming spirit of unity.

At its worst, it’s the gaming equivalent of a drunkard shouting abuse from a park bench. At its best … well, the drunkard has leapt up and now he’s wielding a plastic knife. Rage against political correctness if you like, but don’t support this tired game as part of your ideology – there are so many better uses of your spare time.

Splatoon is a breath of fresh air – or more accurately “splodge of fresh ink” – for those who like to shoot stuff, but have grown tired of the endless bloody churn of gritty, realistic shooters. It is the coolest game on the market.

It’s difficult to think of a driving game on console that engages you more fully than Project Cars.

Crypt of the Necrodancer may not be for everyone, but if the idea of a steamy love-in between two seemingly incompatible genres turns you on, you’re gonna love it.

The way in which the developers manage to wrangle the various, divergent threads of your unique journey, with all of its composite choices and outcomes, while entirely concealing the seams is masterly.

Mortal Kombat X is many things. It is mechanically refined and stylistically muddled; it has a sometimes unpleasantly violent, sometimes charmingly hammy commitment to the traditional fighting game template. It has thrust the series forwards and succeeds in delivering nuance while offering a welcoming genre gateway for inexperienced players.

It’s been a long time coming, but Grand Theft Auto V’s PC debut is a triumph...The Rockstar Editor is endlessly entertaining. The online heists are, with friends, some of the most fun you can have in a multiplayer game. The single-player story is an exhilarating series of increasingly absurd missions. And it all takes place in one of the richest, densest, most atmospheric game worlds ever built.

This game may be beautiful, but it is also deadly.

Its elegance, precision, humour, and challenge make Bloodborne irresistible. Ultimately, the horror is secondary; wonder is the true transfusion on offer here.

It’s a game you can complete, and when you do, you’ll want to start playing again immediately, perhaps bumping up the difficulty level or increasing the map size. That’s exactly the same kind of replayability spark that Civilization had all those years ago.

Hotline Miami 2 is a messy, aimless sequel and a step back from the original. Many of its levels feel like crafted set-pieces rather than playgrounds for violent expression, and your scope for creativity is stifled as a result.

The main Hunt gametype is an exceptional experience that, although featuring some familiar mechanics, feels unlike anything else in the genre. The matches have huge diversity, and all create some thrilling rhythm from the mix of hunting and chasing and fighting.

Indeed, one of the best things about Sunless Sea, apart from its beautifully crafted elder-horror stories, fantastically drawn artwork and generally creepy atmosphere, is the feeling that the decisions you make within the game are shaping the narrative, and that by playing, you are writing yourself into that story.

A zombie scenario which is entirely plausible and believable and that, in itself, takes Dying Light to a higher plane, reaching toward the role-playing depth of State of Decay and the sheer nastiness of DayZ. Factor in the giant sandbox of a huge city, and the end result is a scarily immersive experience.

It seems likely that the depth and scale of the experience is only going in one direction: to the stars.

The Crew offers these moments of emergent gameplay for those willing to go find them but, tragically, doesn’t have them naturally stitched into its design upholstery. As such, the potential is too often unpicked by the game’s frustrating shortcomings.

Never Alone is quite a short game, but its charm, coupled with the opportunity to explore a culture you might not know much about, makes it utterly captivating.

Inquisition gets under your skull like red lyrium.

As a complete package, Fifa 15 still rules the roost. But where it matters – on the pitch – PES 2015 is far superior.

Far Cry 4 truly shines in the almost bacchanalian sense of freedom it bestows on the player as they traverse through its environment.

If you like games that are so big you can immerse yourselves in them for months, The Master Chief Collection offers excellent value. It’s an absolute monolith of a package, beautifully presented for the 21st century. And with the remastered next-gen GTA V due to arrive shortly, it seems that, at least as far as video games are concerned, nostalgia is the future.

Advanced Warfare is the best that Call of Duty has been for years, a successful negotiation of that troublesome creative and commercial tension.

Despite these creative flourishes, Sunset Overdrive never quite surpasses the chaotic physics of Just Cause, the coherent style of Blood Dragon or the assured sense of place of GTAV – nor does it manage to draw its story and systems toward a coherent, impactful point. In the end its hero escapes the purgatory of a boring job and successfully wreaks revenge on the judgmental consumers he once served. But the game itself does little to undermine the increasingly over-familiar, open-world establishment, instead quietly celebrating the status quo.

Freemium quibbles aside, as a game Angry Birds Transformers does a great job of appealing to Transformers fans old and new, while also providing yet more proof that Red, Chuck and crew are characters flexible enough to fit neatly into new stories and game genres.

The Evil Within will give survival horror purists a rare contemporary pleasure fix. But be warned: if you prize smooth, silky action above all else, it will drive you insane.