A tight, funny, smart, focused, super-violent 2D cover-shooter that works a whole hell of a lot better than you might expect.

Solarix’s admirable goal to marry the mechanics of Thief to the setting and plot of System Shock 2 proves to be beyond the game’s capabilities. The intentions are exemplary, but the execution is marred by eccentric AI, bugs, and an unfortunate attachment to checkpoints.

The game formerly known as Double Fine Adventure is a fine adventure, but definitely one best taken as a whole rather than in two parts.

An extremely promising beginning is squandered in a mess of awkward puzzle design, structural dialogue oversights, and a truncated conclusion which, sadly, suggests Perils of Man simply ran out of time and money.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China is a wonderful setting for a competent, but fairly unimaginative, 2.5D stealth title. Hopefully this won’t be Shao Jun’s final appearance.

Not a komplete katastrophe, but you should employ kaution when deciding if Mortal Kombat X is right for you on PC. It's a great game, but one that's krippled by bugs.

Strong thematic hooks, well-written characters and reactive quest design, all resting on an original set of tabletop-inspired mechanics, make this a triumphant return.

An episode where plenty goes on, but neither story nor characters are actually advanced a great deal. The Ironrath Forresters are still miserable hostages, Asher still needs an army, and Gared is still doing Nights Watch duties. A few revelations, plus Mira’s dynamism, keep things from going stale.

Book One is a tiny taste of what's coming. It's delectably delicious and I'd love to rate it higher, but at this point, it's hard to say whether Dreamfall Chapters will be filling and satisfying - or if it'll leave us feeling a little empty.

The main plot starts moving into gear, and with it come puzzles, decisions, and a bit too much time-wasting... but not enough to detract much from the wonderful core experience.

The short version is this: Tales from the Borderlands' second episode is just as good as the first, and considering I'm not eager to pile on the praise for an episodic series that still has a long way to go, that's really saying something.

Definitely more bad cop than good cop, but LA Cops could at least be a fair cop, guv, if given a bit of post-release polish.

Assassin's Creed: Rogue is Black Flag with worse writing and (broadly) improved missions. Does very little to alter the formula, but is about as mechanically sound as Assassin's Creed gets and runs well on PC.

Less an endless voyage through the stars, and more a space-bus journey to the shops. If you're intimidated by Civilization this is an reasonable starting place for the 4X genre, but it's not for those seeking a deep or lengthy experience.

Hotline Miami 2 is certainly worth a purchase from anybody who played the original over and over, but don't expect it to hit the same heights.

The city builder is back! Colossal Order has succeeded where others have failed. Cities: Skylines is a brilliant game.

The shimmer of Central and South American gold may catch the eye for a spell, but the real substance of this DLC lies in the custom nation designer. A capable tool for all your bizarre alt-history fantasies.

An essential pair of games for your collection, beautifully remastered and enhanced.

In sporadic bursts, Evolve can be outstanding. But its design depends upon uniting players of idealistically equivalent skill levels, and it struggles to consistently do so. The game’s gated progression system is superfluous and, at times, actively harmful to positive team-play.

More of the same. Almost exactly the same, in fact. Cities XXL is only worth looking at if you have never played the previous XL titles. And even than, wait for a sale.

Episode two of Telltale’s Game of Thrones concerns itself with maneuvering pieces into position and foreshadowing greater conflict. It’s a robust foundational episode, shoring up Forrester character development for future pay-offs (and inevitable tragedy.)

A combat-heavy, side-scrolling jaunt through the wonderfully unhinged realm of Ancient Greek mythology. Apotheon unites presentation and theme to tremendous effect through its stylised, Grecian pottery worlds.

A solid opening to what could be a genuinely interesting episodic adventure. The mystery seems compelling, the characters are largely likeable, and the presentation is impeccable - but the emphasis is on "could" and "seems". It's still just episode one.

Pix the Cat isn't the sort of thing that'll keep you staring at your monitor until 6am, but it is the sort of thing that you'll open every half an hour for just one more go.

Grey Goo is an extremely well produced game. Fans of classic RTS games should sample the Goo for themselves because it's the best RTS released for quite some time.

Grim Fandango represents the pinnacle of 90s adventure games and is arguably the finest videogame noir created to date. This remastered edition stays largely faithful to the source material, preserving it in digital form with some worthwhile extras and tasteful improvements.

The unofficial NYPD Blue adventure game that Telltale never made. Aside from some pretty clear budgetary constraints, The Detail’s hard edged cop narrative has a compelling opening.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is a short, but mechanically very sound, sandbox stealth appetiser for The Phantom Pain. Just be aware that its value is in experimentation and replaying scenarios, rather than lasting narrative.

A "launch" build with some features still in infancy, Elite: Dangerous nonetheless offers terrific space flight ambiance and trading progression befitting of the once-revolutionary series. In a few months time, this title could be outstanding.

Rubbish controls, dull combat, and a general sense that it's not quite sure what it wants to be, let down an otherwise entertaining and regularly amusing world-saving romp.

A well-paced, well-observed and suitably vicious opening episode, showing that Telltale’s latest series is up to the task of matching the theme and tone of the Game of Thrones source material.

Putting a solid score on a game whose overriding ideology is a rejection of certainty is an act of high absurdity. But it’s also somewhat appropriate for The Old City: Leviathan’s other persistent theme of reconciling incompatible truths.

An enjoyable single player space romp with a steep learning curve. Ignore the campaign and persevere with the sandbox for a rewarding experience.

It could so easily have gone very, very wrong, but if this episode is any indication then Tales from the Borderlands might wind up being one of their better series.

Gentle RPG systems collide with robust pinball design, triggering a modest gaming jackpot.

It's Far Cry 3 again, for people who don't want to play Far Cry 3 again. Far Cry 4 doesn't innovate much and so there are a fair few I've-Done-This-Before moments, but it's still just as well-crafted and just as much fun.

HB Studios has tried to create an exciting rugby experience, but the game has emerged disappointingly under-developed. The wait for an excellent new rugby game continues.

Relic’s attempt to create a more dynamic single player campaign is partially successful, but the systems of company permanence don’t entirely gel with the inflexibility of an Iron Man save system, and the map is light on grand strategy.

An entertaining comedy adventure, but too many of the puzzles in Randal's Monday are too far from even its own internal comic logic to really make sense. It's a fun ride, but it's also liable to frustrate if you refuse to use any outside help to solve this time-travelling puzzler.

Advanced Warfare might not be advanced enough for my liking, but it's a return to the typical fast-paced, explosive gameplay of CoD titles that aren't called Ghosts – and it works alright on PC, too.

Assertive: The Sports Interactive lads have had a solid pre-season, I think Football Manager 2015 can really crack on for top honours from here.

A stealth-horror game designed, with precision, to make pretty much every single activity and objective as uncomfortable and tense as possible.

Lords of the Fallen isn’t going to triumph in a direct match-up with Dark Souls, but seeing the Souls combat system and level design transplanted with this degree of success into a shorter, more accessible game is really no bad thing.

This remake of the legitimately classic Gabriel Knight takes a few missteps, but succeeds in putting the 90s adventure in contemporary digital hands.

Ryse is a little better than its reputation as a tech demo in search of a game. But not much beyond a mediocre combat system in want of something more than its predictable, opulent story.

Styx is an honest attempt at a traditional stealth title that, like its protagonist, all too often grasps for the ledge and falls short.

A highly polished and generally entertaining romp, but it's missing a vital spark to bring everything together.

Arrowhead has managed to capture the essence of the original Gauntlet in this fast and fun co-op experience.

Crown of the Ivory King’s snow-swept ramparts are an exemplary example of intricate, looping level design. This third and final release wraps up the most consistent set of DLC I’ve played since Fallout: New Vegas.

FIFA 15 still plays decent football, but with the same (increasingly inexcusable) bugs and instabilities of the past few seasons.

Fun enough in its own right, but lacking in a number of ways when compared to its predecessor. There isn't much in the way of new stuff for Naruto fans to squee over, and as this is a game based around making Naruto fans go "squee", that's a bit of an issue.

Golden Realms provides plenty of hours of entertainment, but feature-wise there’s still some room to be filled in this Halfling’s stomach.

A sound concept that will attract some space strategy fans but currently lacks long term appeal.

Superb faction design and twists on 4x genre conventions, combined with rather passive AI (even at higher difficulties,) mean Endless Legend is a strategy title that falls frustratingly short of being sublime.

A nice idea that's just not ready for release. Do not buy this game until there's more to it and the major problems are fixed.

The Sims 4 is just like a dollhouse: it's pretty and polished and there are all sorts of possibilities, but in the end, it's really quite empty.

Dead Rising 3's world is grey and bland, yes, but those aren't words that can be used to describe the frenetic zombie-culling action which forms the game's core.

Hatoful Boyfriend’s goofy pigeon dating antics belie a smart, on-tone parody with a moment or two of sincerity.

Crown of the Old Iron King is another accomplished and well-constructed addition to Dark Souls 2, with a pair of bosses who rank alongside the best the series has to offer.

If nothing else, a game that contains three sewer/subway levels and then makes a joke about re-using assets deserves absolutely no higher than this.

A decent pool model that tends towards natural-style simulation, let down by several minor annoyances and one crippling problem. It’s a multiplayer-leaning title, and Pure Pool’s PC server troubles mean any online play is currently a non-starter.

Season Two's early promise has consolidated into sporadic flashes of greatness, but the consistent excellence of Clementine's character alone isn't enough to carry the series. It needs the lift of an outstanding final episode.

Gods Will Be Watching is an interesting and novel little game, but one that's quite horribly flawed in a number of ways.

Suitably self-contained and demonstrating some of the best level design in Dark Souls 2, Crown of the Sunken King suggests that FromSoft’s DLC team may well be up to the daunting task of creating three essential add-ons.

Unrest is a short narrative full of ethical dilemmas, presented through the eyes of an unusually diverse cast of RPG characters. Those choices have an isolated impact, but don’t expect them to alter the story to a radical degree.

ACE Team’s mastery of visual imagery finds a welcome home in solid Roguelike(like) elements and capable, cancel-heavy Fighting mechanics. Abyss Odyssey is their most impressive all-round title to date.

Unlikely to live in infamy. Quest for Infamy is a reasonable attempt at making a Quest for Glory game, but it's let down by dull combat and puzzle design.

I think I feel for The Wolf Among Us what most people feel about The Walking Dead‘s first season, insofar as I can forgive it pretty much every fault it has because of the way it perfectly blends characters, setting, atmosphere, and plot.

A touching and bold portrayal of World War One in wonderful animated style, Ubisoft Montpellier’s Valiant Hearts shows that videogaming doesn’t have to be an Anthem for Doomed Youth.

Perhaps a little short and a touch too narrow, but Sniper Elite 3 pretty much gives you a huge Nazi-filled playground, a sniper rifle, a satchel of explosives, and then waves its hand and lets you sort it out your own way.

Friendlier F1 handling in a Grid 2 wrapper, Grid Autosport is a tour through the Codemasters back catalogue. Single player is hampered by predictable AI, but tuning options and improved cornering elevates the multiplayer above Grid 2's.

If you like shooting infinite hordes of monsters from a top-down perspective, Crimsonland is one of the best options you have.

A change of focus from civilian to military engagement places a greater emphasis on firearms and offers neat thematic alternatives to scavenging resources. But Lifeline’s familiar urgency is restricted to Danforth’s rather mundane outskirts.

This particular episode is more a shaggy dog story rather than something that goes for the throat, but it's building up promisingly towards the season climax.

A simple to play but hard to master strategy game at an absolute bargain price. A must-have for strategy fans.

Watch Dogs is decent, but as the first entry into the series it’s still trying to find its niche and its style, and as a result it’s a little bland and all too repetitive. It successfully apes a lot of other games without ever really finding a way to stand out on its own, and the hacking isn’t really enough to push it past “me too” status.

A solid and surprising well-written shooter that should easily please fans of the genre. It doesn't do too much more than that, but that's not really a complaint.

Van Helsing 2 is a near-complete title that NeoCore are clearly racing to finish in time for release day. It’ll end up a better game than the first, but will almost certainly retain some deadline-crunch bugs until a couple of patches are out of the way.

Tex Murphy is back, and that's exactly as good – and as bad – as it sounds.

Digital happiness push all the right buttons with a game that will make you think and possibly even be a little scared.

An episode of grim, despicable moments and further fascinating tests of Clementine’s morality, but one which persists with some of the weaker aspects of this second season.

BattleBlock Theater’s second opening night (this time on PC,) is just as crude, unhinged and delightful as its first. Come for the platforming, stay for the absurdity.

A solid RPG experience offering everything you'd expect - but not enough surprises. Many enjoyable features but feels like playing part one of a two parter.

Child of Light perhaps doesn't shine as bright as it might, but it's nonetheless quite a dazzling sight.

Daylight is capable of doling out some shocks, but it’s far too reliant on a single trick and the writing covers too much well-trodden ground for players to be truly unnerved.

In many ways Dark Souls 2 is the technical and functional superior of the first game, but it does lack some of the semi-intangible magic of the original like its superlative interconnected world. Nonetheless, an impressive and essential sequel.

All is not perfect in the future, but Trials Fusion is another worthy entry in the series’ bizarre bike-bouncing world.

Splitting it into two parts didn't do it any favours, but when taken as a whole, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is a gorgeous, clever, and witty adventure that skilfully follows in the footsteps of its forebears.

Latency and optimisation issues hamper what is otherwise a weighty multiplayer melee title. War of the Vikings could do with more modes of play, but the ones already here reward the skillful combatant.

Not without its flaws, but very few of those flaws matter too much: Moebius is, on the whole, a well-written and interesting investigation.

Telltale's profanity-laced murder investigation continues to balance the fantastic and the horrific with aplomb, and this episode provides some of the strongest character moments thus far.

Diablo is back! This expansion is exactly what the franchise needed and the future looks bright for Blizzard's ARPG.

This is a bad Plants vs Zombies-esque tower defence game that requires absolutely no thought or strategy. If this is an April Fools' joke, it's a very cruel one on the public.

A precise, highly challenging parkour platformer with a heavy emphasis on replaying stages and somewhat unfortunate fascination with projectiles.

BioShock Infinite adapts to stealth with surprising ease, and the art design is as spectacular as ever. Irrational's final release may somewhat lose the plot, but if you've been on board this long you can likely tolerate the incredible leaps of faith it demands.

I respect the effort expended in trying to get Deus Ex onto a system that absolutely isn’t tailored for it, but it doesn’t matter how well it worked there. It just doesn’t work on PC.

Often frustrating and sometimes unfair, but the glorious flight mechanics, general compelling gameplay, and attention to detail mean Luftrausers is easily worth considering.

If you want a complete reboot of the multiplayer shooter genre, you won’t find it here...But if you want a fast-paced, frenetic shooter with a set of mechanics that mesh surprisingly well; a strong David vs Goliath vibe; and a ridiculously polished experience? If you want a really good multiplayer shooter – and that’s coming from someone who generally gets bored with most after a few days? If you want a game with a design ethos that isn’t focused on just aping what’s already there, and – while not revolutionary – shakes things up enough that it feels wholly unique? If you want these things, Pilot, then prepare for Titanfall.