A great alternative to Candy Crush and its clones, that’s just a few tweaks – and a visual makeover – away from being a classic puzzler.

WiiWare's most consistent series of downloads returns with a unique take on the 2D shooter and the most literal on-the-rails action ever.

Half the price it originally was, but now twice as good – this third person take on Metroid Prime has been remastered into the game it always should have been.

An infinitely better game than you'd expect, but one that falls just short of true greatness.

A walking simulator that’s also a love letter to The Thing, transplanting its blend of naturalistic realism and abject horror into an immaculately recreated 1970s North Sea oil rig.

A vast improvement on the previous console port and a sequel that seems less disappointing on the 360.

A fun, if slightly limited, retro reboot, that works very well as an arcade shooter even without the novelty of VR.

Putting all the best content behind a pay wall seems a very unwise decision but the breezy insanity of Trackmania still shines through and the potential of the track designer is immense.

It has its flaws but this is still one of the most interesting and original multiplayer games of the year.

A genuine improvement on the first game, although not without some obvious flaws - and the growing sensation that it's all shlock and no substance.

It spends too much time recreating the genius of Metroid rather than adding to it, but this is still one of the best examples of the genre in recent years.

There's a lot to admire in this role-playing classic, but still just as much to infuriate and bore.

It’s a battery annihilator, especially with the graphics settings turned up, and it needs some balance tweaks – casual mode offers no challenge, while hard and expert are possibly a little too slow burn – but this is the nearest we’ve ever been to a proper touchscreen city builder.

An utterly bizarre mix of influences that tries to squeeze in far more elements than would ever be deemed sensible, but somehow manages to work despite it all.

Fans of co-op shooters (and zombies) will love it, but the lack of modes and options does limit the appeal.

A perfectly good 3D remake of Ruby and Sapphire, the only problem being that Ruby and Sapphire were never that great – and this is still not as good as the recent X and Y.

An uneven blend of turn-based RPG battles, cooking, and skateboarding elevated by its excellent narrative and memorable cast of characters.

Clever, unique, and often pretty puzzling, Sixit is another title with no enforced microtransactions, although you can choose to support its developer to the tune of £1.99.

A surprisingly worthwhile slice of downloadable content, that is better paced and has a more interesting storyline than the main game.

An innovative and cleverly nuanced mix of race game and puzzler - albeit a rather pretentious one.

Gorgeous pixel art graphics and one of the best turn-based combat systems of recent years can’t quite make up for an obnoxious script and frustrating role-playing elements.

At times it feels like a reanimated corpse itself, but as mindless and predictable as it may be Dead Rising 4 is as much fun as the series has ever been.

A perfectly good 3D remake of Ruby and Sapphire, the only problem being that Ruby and Sapphire were never that great – and this is still not as good as the recent X and Y.

An odd mixture of the classic and the inessential, but there's no arguing over the quality of at least three of the maps in this relatively content rich download.

An unexpectedly daring mix of Jet Set Radio and de Blob, that may lack in realism or plausibility but certainly not in imagination and fun.

As hardcore as first person shooters get but fascinatingly distinctive as a result - if you have the resolve to endure its rougher edges.

Inessential but entertaining prequel campaign that offers a medley of enemies, weapons and set pieces from throughout the trilogy.

A sprawling action RPG with a poignant love affair at its heart, whose enjoyable combat and supernatural detective work is all in pursuit of a morally ambiguous goal of your own choosing.

Not everything works as promised but somehow that doesn’t really matter when the never-ending platform action remains as entertaining as this.

Still not quite essential, but the best of the three downloads and an effective final chapter for the most successfully difficult video game of the modern era.

A great concept with a perfect mix of retro modern gameplay and aesthetics, even if the idea never evolves to have real legs.

A twisting and engaging portmanteau tale of the unexplained, set in a London that’s refreshing in its finely observed normality.

One of the best Sonic The Hedgehog games never made, although the level design and combat isn’t quite up to the standards of Sega’s best.

Macabrely original murder ’em-up that defies categorisation, and its numerous rough edges, to make being evil more fun than in almost any other game.

In terms of pure gameplay this is perhaps the best serious detective game so far, but the issues with the script and characters remain more than a one pipe problem.

A partially successful soft reboot, with some of Telltale’s best storytelling – even if many of your decisions still make precious little difference.

Despite borrowing so much from so many different games Capcom’s Western style role-player remains very much its own game – with plenty of interesting ideas of its own.

Not quite premiere league but Nintendo’s unexpected foray into football management dares to do things differently, and in some cases better, than its rivals.

A good start to what is likely to be one of gaming's most important new sports franchises.

A New Frontier is definitely Telltale’s best attempt at serious drama since The Wolf Among Us, but it still makes mistakes that other series have already learned to avoid.

A perfectly competent Advance Wars clone, but until the free multiplayer DLC turns up it’s only the half the game it should be.

The story mode’s 100 levels offer a stern challenge, with the action quickly becoming frenzied but also a little repetitive.

Despite its obvious gameplay failings this is still one of the scariest video games ever made, and this Wii edition a surprisingly effective update.

An almost classic just misses out for a second time, but this is still a successful attempt to show that real-time strategy can be done differently.

It may be Far Cry by any other name but if you’re an Avatar fan, that’s always dreamed of exploring Pandora for yourself, this hits all of the right notes.

A worthy follow-up to the cult classic original, with a great mix of Japanese role-playing and beat ‘em-up elements – even if the storytelling is sometimes hard to follow.

Behind the bizarre concept is one of the best scripts of the year, and a game that subverts your expectations with effortless regularity.

While it’s undoubtedly accomplished and has console-grade production values, it’s never as feverishly gripping as its inspiration. Its viewpoint feels too narrow, and it has a nasty habit of letting the controller go unresponsive at the worst possible moments. It also only shows Xbox button prompts even with a DualShock connected.

The original Yakuza has been remade into a sequel to its own prequel, but although it’s perfectly competent it feels outdated compared to the newer entries.

A welcome return for the pioneering space adventure, but despite a solid start it will need a steady supply of new content and tweaks to reach elite status.

A stylishly presented, adult-themed adventure that explores the night life of Paris in thought-provoking but agreeably quirky detail.

It’s a good, solid game even if its central shoot/loot/craft loop begins to bore long before you’ve navigated your way home.

A modern day alternative to Gauntlet, whose innate shallowness and overreliance on random generation is balanced out by some fun combat and great co-op action.

An unexpected, but largely successful, change of pace as Norse melodrama meets strategic role-playing.

A decently tweaked iteration of EA’s domineering football sim, but while the changes might not be seismic they are all positive.

A fascinating cosy experiment, packed with memorable characters and sharp writing, but which occasionally stumbles in the execution.

It’s still as embarrassingly low-tech as ever but this is easily the best of the 3D games, with a surprising amount of ambition and invention, not to mention real-time combat that actually works.

There are spikes to avoid, water-filled areas that make your eyeball buoyant, enemies with shields and others that intermittently catch fire, falling rocks, sticky web-firing spiders, mid-level bosses, actual bosses, and lots more to spice up this highly unusual ocular adventure.

If you don't like Spec Ops or Face Off there's nothing for you here, but if you do then these new maps, and the excellent Chaos mode, are a lot more hit than miss.

Splitting half the content between a mode many players won’t be interested in is an odd decision, but short as it is the new area still has that classic Dark Souls appeal.

Although simplistic, the gradual upgrade path retains an addictive magic and you can unlock new traps and extra characters, although disappointingly the latter are only cosmetically different.

One of the best Japanese-made third person shooters of the generation, and one that doesn't just seek to copy the West but offer interesting new ideas of its own.

More a new episode than a full-blown sequel, but the clever blend of strategic, tactical, and moral decision-making is as compelling as ever.

Between managing individual outbreaks you use a world map view to spread the infection to neighbouring countries in your ongoing effort to kill all humans. But while the process is reasonably compelling, the relative simplicity of its mechanics eventually starts to undermine the fun.

The best and worst of Fallout in one giant-sized new expansion, with better storytelling than the main game but even worse graphics.

A heavy-handed but impressively sincere attempt to tackle a subject most other games would never dare, with the end resulting being both affecting and entertaining.

As unique a vision as video gaming has ever seen and one able to use its many incompetencies – including an unfortunate number of new ones – to entertain and surprise.

The core gameplay is as excitingly well-crafted as usual but some strange design decisions, and odd omissions, make this an underwhelming sequel.

Old school to a fault, but fans of the series – and anyone else that appreciates its honest charms – will find much to love in this simplistic but heart-warming role-player.

Insurmountable problems with the controls stop this from being another Platinum classic but it’s still a fun game, overflowing with charm and wonderfully silly action.

If you don’t mind splashing quite a bit of cash, this is a cracking old school adventure expertly refined for touchscreen.

The best portable Castlevania yet, with a long needed change of structure and a new focus on combat.

A Disney-infused Metroidvania Jr., with a gradually increasing challenge that’s ideal for children and, in its latter stages, offers enough inventiveness for grown-up players as well.

There’s plenty to do, it has a nice feel to it that works just fine with touch controls, and even though it can sometimes be tough to work out which small, fast-moving blobs on screen are incoming ordnance and which are collectibles, you do gradually get better at it.

A likeable, car chase-riddled sandbox crime spree that updates the original pre-3D Grand Theft Auto games into a more modern play experience.

A deep space shipbreaking simulator with a mellow feel and a satirical edge, that’s only let down by a gameplay loop that eventually gets a little too repetitive.

An inspired new point ‘n’ click adventure that proves impressively daring with its dark storytelling and retro style presentation.

It's still the best graphic adventure of the modern age, but the Xbox controls do it no favours.

The latest in a franchise that dates back to before the original PlayStation, Worms WMD fortunately eschews the series’ dreadful flirtation with 3D, returning to its good old 2D roots, and adding a fair few twists of its own.

In spite of its manifold similarities and some distinctly wobbly voice-acting it’s still good, its involving multi-stage puzzles taking quite a bit of teasing, prodding, and experimentation to figure out.

Despite borrowing so much from so many different games Capcom’s Western style role-player is still very much its own game – with plenty of interesting ideas of its own.

It’s not the fact that you’re controlling a perambulatory candle that’s the oddest thing about this game, but that its story is so oddly affecting despite its absurdity.

Not the most obvious portable game to bring to the PlayStation Network but it makes good use of Move and the gameplay remains as mesmerising as always.

Easily the best of the series so far, but the actual driving is still nowhere near as much fun as the tracks and the stunning 3D visuals.

The comparisons to Portal are many, and obviously intentional, but this smart and ambitious first person puzzler is no mere clone.

The pinnacle of arcade scrolling beat ‘em-ups and still amongst the best the genre can offer today, despite some change-chomping difficulty spikes.

A pointless rehash for series regulars, but if you've never experienced the joys of being a totalitarian dictator this is still good clean city-building fun.

By no means the lazy cash-in you might expect, although neither is it the complete reinvention needed.

Perhaps the closest there’ll ever be to a portable version of Dark Souls, but the unreliable controls make the punishing difficulty harder to bare.

For better and worse, a near perfect replication of mid-90s first person shooters, that makes you wistful for the old days… and secretly glad things have moved on in the meantime.

A football sim and role-playing game may be one of the oddest genre mix-ups ever attempted but this shoots and scores with surprising accuracy.

As much strategy game as it is sports sim, this enjoyably bizarre mix of influences and genres has much to offer the more patient gamer.

Even though this has the feel of a game originally built for freemium, and later converted to being genuinely free for Apple Arcade, it manages to be reasonably challenging, your upgrades sincerely needed to progress through its levels. It’s also the only game we’ve come across where you can level up the protagonist’s hairstyle. There’s not much punishment for dying, other than having to replay the current map, but its exceptional level of polish and a clearly talented art department make it a tempting distraction.

The least funny Disgaea yet, but arguably the best in terms of the actual gameplay – even if there is a lack of genuinely new ideas.

There are a few tricky puzzles in there, but the overall sense is one of gentle relaxation.

A blockbuster action movie in VR form that shows the abilities of PlayStation VR and Sony’s studios better than ever before, even if the experience is ultimately rather shallow.

If you love Persona, this supplies a new set of interesting characters and successfully translates the flair of Persona 5 into a portable format, although it also features cross-save functionality with the PC version.

A crossover between Persona and Fire Emblem proves to be just as peculiar as it sounds, but this is a surprisingly fun mash-up for Japanese role-playing fans.