A staggering achievement in indie gaming that offers almost too much value for its own good, with 50 superb indie games – many of which could be standalone games in their own right.

Rather than iron out the faults of the original this new platformer construction kit tries to hide them under a wave of useful but inessential extras.

As usual the new play controls add little, but this is still a good deal for such classic games.

A fantastic sequel, whose improvements may be relatively subtle but are more than enough to confirm Bayonetta 2 as one of the greatest action games ever made.

An instantly accessible control system opens the floodgates to satisfying gameplay, hilarious upgrades and highly replayable levels. Ridiculous Fishing rarely makes a misstep.

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.

The best Forza Horizon so far, and thanks to its huge open world and infectious sense of fun one of the best arcade racers of the current gen.

A stunning recreation of one of gaming’s most enduring classics, and what remains a towering example of the art of interactive entertainment.

One of the best looking games ever, but also one of the least ambitious in terms of anything else.

Its claim to being combat-evolved grows ever more tenuous, but Bungie's last Halo is still the most fully featured first person shooter ever.

An excellent portable version of one of the best strategy games of all-time, and one that could have a profound effect on mobile gaming.

Achingly beautiful, tyre-shredding action and enough new features to keep the faithful on board. Occasional frustrations, but is easily the most complete racing experience available today.

Another cracking co-op extravaganza that successfully blends collaborative puzzling and spectacular action sequences into a breathless, occasionally moving and often hilarious, two-player-only experience.

A good value compilation of two of the PS2's most technically accomplished action games.

If you’ve played other Michael Brough games, like Imbroglio or 868-HACK, the details of Cinco Paus may come as less of a shock to the system. It’s a fabulously complex and deep turn-based strategy game revolving around the use of five magic wands, each of which has complementary powers and limited uses. Discovering how they work and what each system does is left entirely up to you, because the game is only available in Portuguese and does not have English subtitles, making discovering its rules through a series of hard-won Eureka moments, fascinating and daunting in equal measure.

As far as we're concerned this is easily the best Gears Of War game, but it's also one that refines and exhausts every gameplay element to such a degree that it seems like a far more final end to the trilogy than Epic probably intended. If there are more games, and we assume there will be, they're going to have to be significantly different to seem worthwhile.

Most of the time when games overlap with art, the result is whimsical rather than fun. The delicious multi-layered puzzle you’re presented with in Gorogoa is quite an exception. It tells the wordless story of a boy’s quest to find a fantastic beast, via the usual collector’s set of glowing orbs. This time though, you interact with the game by rearranging four on-screen frames, panning, zooming, and playing with perspective until you wheedle out the solution to each of its mysterious and beautifully drawn scenarios, in a process that’s entirely unique.

Far more than just the best Batman game, this is a top notch mix of action, stealth and storytelling.

A worthy follow-up to Limbo, that challenges in terms of both its fiendish puzzles and its harrowing storytelling.

The best and worst of BioWare's excesses combine in this competent but unprogressive RPG.

Codemasters’ stewardship of the F1 licence finally gets into top gear with a thrillingly rigorous simulation that also makes every effort to make its appeal as broad as possible.

A fiercely original take on traditional computer role-playing games that often seems unrefined and self-indulgent but is still a welcome shake-up of genre norms.

One of the best Zelda games of all time and one which manages to quietly rewrite the series’ usual formula in some surprising, and surprisingly successful, ways.

A fantastic mix of explosive action and thoughtful storytelling, that results in one of the most unpredictable and ambitious action role-players of the modern era.

A carefully considered sequel that avoids upsetting existing fans and offers an olive branch to newcomers – but although the PC version is the best it’s by a slimmer margin than many would’ve hoped.

A fantastic big budget remake of one of Resident Evil’s most popular entries, that manages to look state-of-the-art but in terms of gameplay finds a perfect balance of old and new.

A triumphant return to centre court for Donkey Kong, with the best destruction effects in gaming and mountains of bizarre and wonderful ideas - and a surprising amount of jank when it comes to the camera.

Easily the best Far Cry game so far, with a near perfect mix of open world exploration, action, impressively ambitious storytelling, and one of gaming's best villains.