A disappointingly backwards-looking expansion that rather than signal a new era for Destiny and Bungie is just more of the same empty teases and recycled content.

Rhythm action combat proves a fun way to get sweaty, assuming you like the style of music, but the extreme brevity is only slightly extended by online leaderboards.

The best-looking Lego game ever and the most fun Aloy and the rest of the Horizon Zero Dawn cast has ever been, in this cheerful but shallow spin-off.

The one LucasArts game that didn’t need a remaster gets one anyway, but it can’t do anything for the game’s brevity or lack of challenge.

Playing as an alien monstrosity is a great idea, and at times works well, but the fiddly controls and awkward mix of gameplay ideas doesn’t gel together well.

It's not the visual jaw-dropper that was promised but a virtual safari is better than none.

It’s amazing it runs on the hardware at all, but the performance is a huge compromise, especially in a solely competitive environment.

It still looks and sounds amazing but this sabotages and dumbs down almost everything the original game got right.

A stylish blend of rhythm action and dungeon crawler that misses a beat when it comes to satisfying gunplay.

A fun, attractive 2D platformer of the sort that can nowadays only exist on services like Xbox Live Arcade. Although it's not quite as distinctive as the art style suggests.

Too familiar, too easy, and too short but if you’re looking for an undemanding time waster on Game Pass you can certainly do worse than The Gunk.

A disappointing way to end an otherwise epic series (especially if you take into account Showdown) but the retro visuals and excellent 2D platforming can still delight.

Five fun, but paper thin, premises connected by perhaps the world's only no-button control system.

As a full price game it'd be a ridiculous con, but if you really must have a Wii Remote Plus then £5 for some half decent mini-games isn't the worst deal on the Wii.

Like the recent and mostly terrible, Tomb Raider Reloaded, Mighty Doom uses the well-worn Archero template, this time to somewhat more interesting effect.

Another uninspired expansion that features some enjoyable new enemies and encounters but fails to excite in the same way as the parent game.

A clear improvement on Heroes Of The Pacific, but IL-2 Sturmovik is still the superior fighter ace.

A laudable attempt to make a video game that is both entertaining and educational, but despite the interest it builds up for its subject matter the weak gameplay is hard to ignore.

As fearlessly unconventional as the rest of Suda51’s work, but even existing fans will have trouble deciphering the hidden depths beneath the surface level of surrealism.

In many ways an improvement on The Teal Mask but the tedious currency grinding and ongoing technical problems mean Scarlet and Violet’s DLC is far from essential.

Micro Machines remains to be beaten, but this top-down racer is still fun if you have enough friends.

The most shamefully obvious clone of recent years, but although this copies most of Lemmings’ tricks it falls short in terms of both personality and addictiveness.

The jokes and plot twists are more bizarre than ever, but even they don’t always hit their mark – and without them this is an even less interesting gameplay experience than its parent game.

A good recreation of the UEFA Euro competition but the lack of new options means this footy download is not value for money.

Combining Until Dawn’s style of mild horror with online multiplayer works great, but the actual story and characters fail to engage.

Harmonix are still the masters of their craft but this feels less like a rebirth for Rock Band and more like a cash-grabbing backwards step.

It’s still a dialogue-heavy adventure set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, and maintains its Broken Sword-esque sense of humour and charmingly British sensibilities. Sadly, it also suffers from the same peccadilloes as its ancient forebear. Chief amongst those is the need to figure out sometimes non-intuitive sequences of actions to solve its puzzles, and sitting through reams of chat that sometimes isn’t quite as amusing as it imagines. It’s still worth it for the sweet pang of nostalgia though.

The one note action might be pitch perfect, but the lack of variety or any real tactical depth soon drowns it out.

A competent and unexciting update to a competent and unexciting puzzler, which is not nearly praise enough to forgive the optimistically high price.

It's an obvious clone of 'Splosion Man, but it's also a pretty good one - and in the world of gaming that's all that's ever really mattered.

The weakest Lego game so far suffers from both a lack of variety and a movie license that fails to build on previous successes.

The Wii version is superior, but Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D has both the simple charms of a gimmick-free 2D platformer and a strong grip on nostalgic heartstrings.

A disappointing homage to the Mega Drive games of yore, that emphasises all the wrong elements in terms of both gameplay and game modes.

Although it means little given the lack of competition this is the best Wild West shooter for years.

An interesting attempt at a director's cut, but if anything the passage of time and remaining niggles make the overall experience less entertaining.

Although frequently compared to Zelda games, and indeed sharing a similar structure and pastoral charm, it unfortunately lacks Nintendo’s magic and feels plodding and workaday despite its undoubtedly lofty production values.

A wasted and over-egged sequel to what was an innovative mix of rhythm action and real-time strategy.

An ambitiously odd game that has an innovative take on Pokémon style gameplay and features some of the most intriguing characters of the year - but is rarely as much fun as it should be.

If only it had been considerably cheaper, or considerably bigger in scope, this could’ve been a fun ride, but as it is ScreamRide is not really worth the price of entry.

Disappointing superhero sim, whose meagre set of powers prove to be far less exotic than you'd hope.

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.

In their panic EA has made a game which has no place in the current market. Neither arcade racer, nor simulation it also pales next to the well-established rivals which manage to be both.

Slapping down a couple of mines and energy structures, then sending a massive volley of missiles to destroy the enemy base will get you through the first few levels, until suddenly it becomes overwhelmingly tough. The lurch in difficulty isn’t insurmountable, but also isn’t much fun, which is particularly disappointing given how perfect everything else is in Element.

It may look like any other tower defence game but this has just enough wrinkles to keep your interest.

It's a competent clone then, certainly better than others that have been attempted over the years, but nothing more than that. Clearly the PlayStation deserves a vastly more significant game to honour its influence on gaming. Copying Nintendo's own celebration seems not only wrong-headed but borderline offensive. In this case fans definitely deserve better.

Not a standout year for Call Of Duty, as while the campaign offers some fun action and minor innovation Zombies and multiplayer are beginning to feel very tired.

The old war vet is clearly past its best, but there's still much for younger conscripts to learn here.

It’s an improvement on the last game but as a franchise Just Cause is still squandering the majority of its potential with its banal mission design and dull storytelling.

A cheap-looking and unambitious remake of a generic Pokémon entry that seemed bereft of new ideas in 2006, let alone now.

While eFootball has made some great strides forward, it’s still held back by inferior graphics, gameplay, and game modes when compared to EA Sports FC.

A cheap-looking and unambitious remake of a generic Pokémon entry that seemed bereft of new ideas in 2006, let alone now.

Solid realisations of some superb, underexposed games from the heyday of the 2D shooter genre, that illustrate the immediate legacy of R-Type and the coming of the Metal Slug games.

Half-broken and needlessly obscure, but if you have the patience this challenging survival game can be extremely satisfying – and it’ll be even better when it’s finished.

Still the best party game on Kinect but the new sports are a mixed bag and the motion controls remain as inconsistent as always.

£35 for half a Kombat Pack and a three-hour epilogue is terrible value for money, especially as only two of the new characters are any good.

Technically inept in many ways but there's an earnest charm to the action that proves far more entertaining than higher budget rivals.

The incremental pace of progress and presence of numerous currencies are the remnants of its microtransaction-based original version, which is still available on Android, where its clean graphical style and slowly complicating interactions remain moderately entertaining.

A muddled reimagining of the groundbreaking Wii Sports, with an unwarranted focus on online play and new game additions that are never as much fun as the originals.

One of the best retro compilations ever made… for a collection of games that, despite the nostalgia, really don’t deserve the attention.

As a first person shooter, Rage 2 has some of the best action of the year but as an open world adventure it squanders everything on a listless story campaign and banal mission design.

Daring and provocative, but also poorly written and technically inept. PlayStation VR will no doubt get much better horror games in the future, but this is still a notable first step.

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.

The stuff that is genuinely new is very good, but there’s so little of it that the sense of déjà vu, in a game that is already so repetitious, becomes overwhelming.

There's an infectious insanity to the combat and mini-games that almost forgives the many flaws.

Part of the problem is clearly the budget, with low-tech visuals and poor sound quality, but that would’ve been a lot easier to forgive if the gameplay had been stronger. It’s not awful, and is a reasonable gateway game into other, better games, but the obvious danger is that if you’re unimpressed by the flawed experience of Narcos you might be even less likely to try out XCOM. And since nobody really expected a game based on Narcos to be any good, that would be the real tragedy here.

Battles are initially a walkover, almost never resulting in a loss, the only limit to your raiding being time and patience. The issue is that unlimited battles swiftly reveal the limitations of its game design, with ennui setting in far earlier than in the more polished Supercell titles that inspire it.

It’s highly inconsistent, but this is still one of the most daring co-op games of recent years and shows how well playing together can work for story-based games.

It's not Sonic and it's not meant to be, but this dowdy little platformer puzzler is uncomplicated to a fault.

Absolutely not a next generation Strider, but it is an unusual and fun co-operative platformer if you have the friends to hand.

Kinect is still a solution in search of a problem, and while this is an impressive tech demo it’s a largely uninteresting video game experience.

Certainly not the worst HD collection so far but considering only one of the games was ever any good it's unlikely to be enough to garner many new fans.

Civilization on a smartphone (or tablet) is still an enticing prospect but this so-called sequel shows very little improvement over the original and is now missing a major play mode.

A very peculiar online shooter that manages to be both quietly original and shamelessly derivative all at the same time. It does have dinosaurs in it though and that counts for a lot.

A competent but unsurprising slice of downloadable content that features a solid challenge and plenty of content, but too little in the way of new ideas.

A bizarre mix of Yakuza and hyper violent 80s anime that never really makes much sense but still offers some enjoyable surprises.

As charming and accessible as any Lego game but Jurassic Park doesn’t suit the Lego formula terribly well and the ability to play as dinosaurs is underused.

Atmospheric storytelling of the highest order, but the game itself is often a chore to play and abandons too much of what made the original so successful.

There’s plenty of potential here, to make a Monster Hunter clone Western gamers can really get behind, but all its best ideas are sacrificed to endless grinding and repetition.

Geographically speaking this is set in the real world but apart from the co-op options this still suffers the same delusions and deficiencies of previous Ace Combats.

Suitably outrageous and undeniably fun, but even fans of the source material will be disappointed at a fighting game that values spectacle over substance.

No insult to the series' legacy, but a workmanlike sequel that didn't need to be made (or ported).

A disappointingly timid reboot/remake that while competently made does little to add to the Contra formula or move beyond the original games.

Another promising game is ruined by the lure of procedural-generation, which is a particular shame given Sundered’s gorgeous animation and interesting gameplay ideas.

It's spot the difference time again, with another sequel that fails to offer any real improvements.

It’s a bit of lightly addictive throwaway fun, a sense that’s undermined by rounds against overwhelmingly more powerful computer-controlled snakes.

Not an especially good game but as an interactive compendium of pop culture references it's impossible not to be impressed.

For a game obsessed with OTT violence and knob gags this is a surprisingly charming and likeable shooter, if an unavoidably shallow and repetitive one.

The game’s love for Ghosts ‘N Goblins is obvious but its refusal to cater for anyone but hardcore fans results in a frustrating and tedious slog – especially in story mode.

A very disappointing sequel that features a few interesting new ideas but either streamlines the rest or leaves it out on purpose, for you to buy later as DLC.

It's a gift for fans of the show, but in terms of repetition and combat this is just a little too similar to the 16-bit games it seeks to pay homage to.

Sony’s big budget VR game has a lot of novelty value but only manages to combine the worst elements of first person shooters and lightgun games.

One of the more successful interactive movies of recent years, but that’s really not saying much given the lack of gameplay and horror thrills.

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.

The first Telltale finale where your choices carry true weight, but the inconsistent and contrived characterisation means it comes at considerable cost.

Some minor improvements to the formula, but the dull combat remains an unresolved problem in this lighting fast sequel.

A poignant, slow-paced but ultimately shallow exploration of memory and legacy in a changing world, that also manages to be the world’s first cycle-based walking simulator.

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

For a 27-year-old game with only minor changes this is still an enjoyably taxing tactical role-player but it’s new games this series needs, not more remakes.