Sonic is still straight up one of the most aggravating characters in any game on any platform.

It's nice to see such a rich franchise reinvented, but lets hope for more ambition and invention in the episodes that follow.

The very purity of purpose which makes the game such a fine arcade killbox also renders it unengaging on any level that isn't soggy and littered with stray organs. So while as a destruction simulator Prototype 2 scores very highly, there's a chance that, just like those toddlers in the dirt, you'll get bored after a short while and wander away.

This year builds on that quiet evolution but also brings a wealth of new and exciting additions, with its Legends of the Majors mode alone making it a worthwhile purchase.

MoH is certainly better for its shift from WW2 to modern warfare, but veterans who recall the salad days of the series may be expecting more.

Capcom's intentions are simple: to move Resi into the mainstream action zone, and give players as much bang as possible for their buck. It is an unsophisticated experience. If you want to be terrified, or use your brain, Resi 6 isn't the game. But if you just want to spray monster brains all over the place, while occasionally cooing at some gorgeous scenery, Resi 6 delivers in several spades.

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.

Everything gets a laugh at least first time, followed by the satisfaction of figuring out how to do whatever you've been tasked with. The really stupid thing? This brilliant piece of idiocy is a freebie, available as a launch title for the pre-order crowd and then to everyone (for nothing) come May.

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.

PowerWash Simulator is currently in early access (you pay a reduced premium to play a game not yet finished), but even now this is an irresistible example of so-called “playbour”, and further evidence that a shit job often makes for a sublime game. [Early Access review]

And while it doesn't have the universal appeal of its more mainstream counterparts, the potential of its online feature means it could well become a huge sleeper success.

A bright, shining gem of a game.

If anything, this fictionalised version of his life is less dramatic than the reality, but it’s a lively and surprising comedy that portrays a weird slice of Shakespeare’s London with modern wit.

With X-COM, Firaxis took a punishing, impenetrable strategy game and made it slick, cool and thrilling; a dynamic sci-fi beast with muscular jaws. Phoenix Point has double the number of teeth but a less effective bite. The devil may be in the detail, but the drama is in the edit. Phoenix Point feels like it’s a draft short of greatness.

But it’s all just so damn charming. The animations are superb, and zooming right down into the city to watch your robot citizens go about their business never seems to grow old. The move tool means that the perfect city is always within your grasp, inviting endless adjustments in the quest for maximum efficiency. It’s easy to lose hours in reverie, tending to your steambots’ needs. Who else is going to keep them supplied with roboburgers?

With rewards for completing each stage within a set number of moves, there are incentives for perfecting your approach too. But the game’s tutorials linger well into the game’s 40-hour runtime, and combined with a bland storyline, basic environments and a persistently low challenge, it’s a game that will only appeal to the series’ most committed followers.

You leave this stylish, compact and clever game feeling relieved to be free, but then an hour later as you sit at your computer answering endless work emails or grinding in some identikit live-service fantasy game, you have to ask yourself – am I really?

There's more mileage in a Tamagotchi, and one of them would never ask you to shame yourself by acting out "play dead" on the living room floor.

Despite a messy start, this spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead becomes more challenging and characterful the longer you spend with it.

While the music and gameplay have evolved with the times, in terms of narrative, Scott Pilgrim EX plays it way too safe. Though written by series creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, there’s none of the edge that secured Scott Pilgrim its original cult following. Our cast have, for the most part, worked out their differences. There’s no David v Goliath here, no antagonist that forces Scott and his pals to grow amid the messiness of bad relationships. Scott’s other friends appear in fun cameos and cat-meos, but the story is a silly, shallow adventure that feels like a side quest, the kind of game Scott would stay up all night playing before missing his shift at work.

Strangely, for all the noise Savage Planet makes, its strongest moments are its quietest. There’s an element of silent theatre to the way your character communicates his goofy personality through his hands, while the world design is spotted with pleasing flourishes, such as trees bearing foliage that transforms into butterflies. In the end, it’s little touches like this, rather than the more in-your-face moments, that lend Savage Planet the dash of flavour it spends so much energy searching for.

Cris Tales isn’t without some endemic role-playing game frustrations – grinding, uneven difficulty, overly simple puzzles – and it’s not a landmark revitalisation. But it exudes so much authentic passion and character that it’s easy to forgive a few relics from the past.

Phantom Doctrine may find an enthusiastic audience with strategy-game masochists. It is complex and open-ended; there are multiple ways to finish missions, and they’re are not always about taking out targets. But it’s also punishing and opaque, poorly explained and hampered by a flummoxing plot. For most of us, it’s a confused and very niche experience.

Despite the enjoyable premise and high production values, Peach’s long-awaited star turn feels disappointingly patronising, one-dimensional and forgettable – the polar opposite of the Super Mario Bros film’s capable heroine. As the Nintendo Switch enters its twilight years, this was the perfect moment to give the Mushroom Kingdom monarch the celebration she so thoroughly deserved. Yet where Kirby received a Mario-worthy, Iliad-esque epic in Forgotten Land, this is more akin to a flimsy pop-up book.

This horror game creates great atmosphere with its acting and visual design, but is regularly brought to its knees by uninspiring gameplay.

The Ascent is an atmospheric power fantasy, a cinematic cyberpunk escape where you can disengage your brain and indulge in copious virtual violence. If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, it’s worth a try – at £25, it’s harder to recommend.

As a fitness regime, Just Dance ranks a fair way above the execrable Zumba game, and it cannily offers its own Latin-style workout.

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.