It's no classic, but this is still better value, and in some cases better quality, than shop-bought games.

Microtransactions all but ruin this unusual real-time strategy and its flawed collectible card game.

Clever and consistently inventive platformer, with a disarmingly powerful storyline… plus some of the strangest visuals this side of Katamari Damacy.

Rather than the future of survival horror this is merely a retread of its defining moments, and even then it rarely manages to equal what has gone before – let alone exceed it.

The co-op mode saves it from complete failure but this is a disappointingly timid update of the original, that squanders its potential in both gameplay and storytelling.

There's nothing even slightly revolutionary here, but five decent new maps – including one for Zombies – is perfectly welcome anyway.

In many ways the best game on the Wii U so far, at least in terms of using the GamePad for something other consoles would find very hard to replicate.

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

A fully-featured mid-generation slab of enjoyable Nazi-shooting, that has only a few unique ideas but still manages to remain compelling throughout.

A peculiarly underdeveloped riff on Jet Set Radio that never manages to find anything interesting to do with any of its many gameplay mechanics and story ideas.

A fun, funny, and wonderfully gory 2D shooter, but it’s not quite as tightly designed as OlliOlli and certainly lacks the same longevity.

A highly enjoyable action romp, with a winning sense of humour and a hugely entertaining range of unusually varied weapons.

This may be a VR dream come true for Trekkies, but it’s one you wake up to discover is severely lacking in variety, depth, and value for money.

A traditional turn-based role-player which utilises its tabletop disguise with charm and polish, but isn’t long enough to fully capitalise on its ideas.

A short but sweet VR romp that replicates the Peaky Blinders universe perfectly, even as it runs up against some of the intrinsic limitations of VR gaming on the Meta Quest 2. [Tested on Meta Quest 2]

Dating sims and giant robots really do mix in this compelling cocktail of Japanese obsessions.

The idea might offend veteran DiRT fans, but the reality of this arcade style racer is hard to hate - especially when you're smashing your best friend off a jump ramp.

Another perfectly crafted adventure that puts to shame most other retail games at five times its price.

A very different kind of survival horror, that despite a few flaws is both scarier and more thematically interesting than most of its contemporaries.

A fine attempt at turning 80s cop shows into a video game, that wisely uses PS1 era GTA games as its gameplay template.

A mostly successful mix of the best of classic and modern era Resident Evil, with some of the most enjoyably unique co-op options of any recent game.

An inspired mix of real science, sandbox gameplay, and space simulation – that is both a lot more entertaining and a lot more accessible than you’d expect.

A classic example that sometimes less is more, as a deadweight of mini-games and side characters dilutes an otherwise fun, if unambitious, platformer.

The formerly classic arcade racer gets a high resolution makeover, but 10 years later and the one note driving model now feels functional rather than exciting.

A pared back turn-based strategy that successfully replicates the action of XCOM but is so lacking in originality and variety it feels like half the game it could have been.

For a game that won an amateur game design contest, this lacks in both imagination and implementation.

Square Enix finally gets the Crystal Chronicles formula right with this great multiplayer action RPG.

An improvement on the earlier echochrome and another abstract but engaging puzzler for the PSP.

A disappointing follow-up to Life Is Strange, that tells its story in the most frustrating way possible, but there’s some signs it could turn things around in the second half.

Fans may feel a little short-changed but this still features some of Rock Band's most effective moments.

An uninspiring start to the season, that even fans of the show will find stilted and tedious. Although they can still foster high hopes for later episodes.

A better game than the earlier spin-off but Travis Touchdown’s time is clearly over, even if he is still able to provide some entertainingly odd boss battles.

The Walking Dead finishes much as it began, with believable characters making heartbreaking choices, interspersed with flounderingly inept, QTE-laden attempts at action.

If you play it for free this is an excellent introduction to the concept of Total War, but as a paid-for product it’s a sometimes awkward mix of fact and fiction, old problems and new.

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.

Yu Suzuki’s classics remain as unique and fascinating today as they ever were, if you can tolerate the painfully slow pacing and wooden dialogue.

A successful restatement of everything that was great about the early Suikoden games but many of its old school affectations will only be excused by existing fans.

2001 is hardly the most obvious movie to use as inspiration for a video game and perhaps predictably the end result suffers from slow-pacing and a lack of meaningful interaction.

Not the deepest wilderness survival game in terms of gameplay, but certainly one of the most atmospheric and thought-provoking.

A 3D platformer which wears its inspirations on its sleeve but manages to offer enough individual style and unique platforming dynamics to stand on its own.

Super Mario Bros. doesn’t suit the battle royale formula as well as Tetris, but this is still a fun novelty that neatly demonstrates the ageless virtues of the original game.

Big dumb fun doesn't have to be quiet this witless, but this is still a fairly competent arcade update.

The best Lego game so far and one that defies both its simplicity and familiarity for an almost effortlessly entertaining co-op experience.

As competent as the last two updates but still a fighting game held back more by its creepy designs and boring characters, than its purposefully simplistic action.

A great idea in theory, but in practise the novelty wears out extremely quickly, with a serious lack of variety in game modes, maps, and tactics.

It may stimulate nostalgia glands just as intended but this is the best modern day Sonic game by only a surprisingly small margin.

A needlessly stringent remake of the original two arcade classics that is just as frustratingly difficult as ever, although it does have a neat co-op mode.

It might not honour the series’ creator, but Metal Gear itself is paid due homage, in one of the best, and most complete, retro compilations there’s ever been.

One of the best narrative-based games of the year, that tackles a number of contemporary issues in an original and entertaining manner and whose main fault is merely a lack of budget.

The best tech demo so far for PlayStation VR, but with some better storytelling it could also have been a good game in its own right.

It sounds, and to a degree looks, like the movies but so far this run of the mill graphic adventure lacks the soul of the film franchise.

Still the same lacklustre combination of Left 4 Dead with a twin-stick shooter, where only the status of PlayStation Plus freebie prevents further criticism.

Inconsequential and frustratingly restrictive, this is by far the worst episode of the season – and you can only hope the finale will be good enough to make up for it.

It hasn’t aged particularly well, and there are serious technical issues with the remaster, but the sequel to Chrono Trigger is still one of the original PlayStation’s best Japanese role-players.

The action requires little real skill to control and although gaining new powers is a strong impetuous for continuing it's all extremely shallow and inconsequential. In small doses Prototype 2 is a perfectly enjoyable game but in the end, because Heller and Mercer don't care about anyone else you never end up caring about them.

A host of small improvements helps this action strategy hybrid edge ever closer to classic status.

Colourful golfing action with a fascinating complexity to each swing – and a stealth workout – but relatively few courses.

The new professions are a fun idea but there aren't enough of them to justify the high asking price.

An unremarkable and derivative first person shooter that uses the cover of controversy to hide a game severely lacking in courage and ambition.

A short, surreal roguelike puzzler that proves a video game doesn’t have to be 60 hours long or feature photorealistic graphics to be entertaining and thought-provoking.

A welcome reminder of the origins of Pokémon and while the game’s age is obvious in more than just its graphics the unbounded sense of exploration and experimentation remains as compelling as always.

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

An unexpected gift for fans of the SNES original and while the remake is seriously flawed in terms of both graphics and gameplay its sheer oddness is still highly compelling.

The once inspired mix of rhythm action and real-time strategy becomes further diluted by obscure rules and needlessly high difficulty.

Much more than a poor man's Ico, the low tech presentation hides a consistently charming and well constructed puzzle adventure.

A missed opportunity to both evolve the Famicom Detective Club concept and allow Nintendo to experiment with more adult-oriented content, resulting in a game whose only real appeal is nostalgia.

An accomplished and darkly witty first person puzzle game that’s predictably not as good as Portal, but does come surprisingly close at times.

As admirable as the single-minded design is it feels a lot more interesting in theory than it does in the endless repetition of actually playing it.

Mountains of game modes and content but only a molehill amount of personality, this does nothing for either Tetris or the 3DS's back catalogue.

Fantasy enemies clearly work very well with Far Cry, but this abridged version of the main game really should be having more fun with its characters than this.

Breathless horror that efficiently recreates the look and feel of Aliens, but is let down by clunky motion sensing controls and reloading mechanics.

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

A historical supernatural role-player whose portrayal of Warsaw under Russian rule is highly compelling but where the combat and simplistic detective elements fail to engage.

A muddled mess of good intentions and corporate greed that ruins a promising space adventure with needless repetition and horribly expensive toys to life gimmicks.

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.

An entertaining and agreeably clever remaster of the classic puzzle platformer, with added 3D bonus levels that give the formula a welcome and devious shake-up.

An innovative combination of voice-controlled mechanics, combined with simple puzzles and an engaging story, that is short enough to not outstay its welcome.

A very slight improvement on the original but this is still a deeply flawed and unlikeable role-player.

A Total War game proves not to be the best way to explore one of the most fascinating periods in ancient history, with boring real-time battles dragging down positive changes to the grand strategy elements.

Relying noticeably more on action, an automatic bullet time kicking in as you take aim with your silenced silver baller pistols, its colourful good looks and globetrotting look good on touchscreen, although its profusion of buttons are only really suitable for iPad. As ever with games that feature occasional frenzied action, a controller is your best bet. Its Achilles’ heel though, is that it doesn’t permanently save checkpoint data, so if you have to close the app and reopen it, you’ll need to restart the whole chapter from scratch, an egregious oversight for a mobile port with such long and involved missions.

Another excellent download that's arguably more entertaining than the main game, with an improved co-op mode and a more focused adventure.

In Asphalt 9, skill is a distant second to car upgrades, a situation that generates weary acceptance rather than excitement.

A fantastically polished Metroidvania, with some of the best 16-bit style graphics ever seen and impressively deep combat and role-playing elements.

A brief new slice of Monument Valley’s unique and minimally drawn perspective-bending puzzles, with the promise of more to come.

Despite playing the nostalgia card it’s newer players that will get the most from this streamlined sequel, although even they will be disappointed by the workmanlike script.

Bafflingly inaccessible Japanese role-player that still remains strangely engrossing despite itself.

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.

A well-crafted homage to Chrono Trigger, which isn’t scared to add its own ideas – ensuring this is far more than just a nostalgic novelty.

An interesting historical curio that has its charms, and some surprisingly good storytelling, but the old school gameplay and very modern pricing are not a good combination.

Ironically the beginning is by far the worst part, but once you’ve got some headway this is the best Harvest Moon for several years and a fun alternative to Animal Crossing.

A fun and fairly original pseudo flight sim that has more depth and imagination than most rivals.

A fun, funny, and wonderfully gory 2D shooter, but it’s not quite as tightly designed as OlliOlli and certainly lacks the same longevity.

Even without the controversies surrounding it, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a huge disappointment, with no useful changes and a worthless new expansion.

A wonderful throwback to ’80s style British gaming, that has much to teach modern titles in terms of player freedom and open world design.

The most approachable and the most realistic train simulator ever made, and it does a good job of making that more appealing than it sounds to non-fans.

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.

A poor man’s version of Arkham City, although that still leaves a fairly rich gameplay experience – even if it is the franchise equivalent of treading water.

A cut price puzzler that almost manages to make the periodic table seem fun and exciting, and is certainly better than recent Super Monkey Balls.