Transplanting its action from the snow of Alto’s Adventure to a desert makes less difference than you might imagine to this beautiful-looking, almost meditative sandboarding game. Sharing a great deal with the first outing, you’ll once again be sliding down undulating, procedurally-generated terrain, popping tricks, hopping over rocks, chasms and bonfires and occasionally racing stray lemurs. Its perpetual magic hour lighting and immaculately drawn visuals complement the serene action, in which you can now wall-ride to extend your chain of tricks, even if players of the original may feel they’ve seen much of this before.

An utterly charming and perfectly paced mini-adventure that packs in more character, emotion, and sense of wonder than most 30 hour epics.

A fantastically strange and unique first person adventure that manages to make touchscreen controls seem fresh and interesting again.

A near perfect segue from console to iPhone, and a game that understands the pros and cons of touchscreen controls a lot better than most.

An excellent follow-up to Monster Hunter World, which expands the formula in a number of useful and exciting ways, without streamlining the heart out of the franchise.

Minimalist gaming at its finest, with graphics and presentation out of the Stone Age but evocative sci-fi action that’s tense, tactical and instantly addictive.

The greyification of gaming continues, but this new age Super Metroid is more fun than it looks.

Nothing less than a whole new genre of video game, that evolves the interactive movie into something that feels dynamic and excitingly different.

Easily the best toys-to-life game so far, with a great new gimmick that makes for one of the best family friendly titles this year – even on iOS.

As substantial as they are the changes won't silence committed critics, but for accessible, content-rich action this is still the best first person shooter of the year.

A compelling story well told, and although it’s still not very interactive the variety and artfulness of the presentation feels like something only a video game could do.

Arguably the definitive version of one of the most famous, and enduring, video games in history, with some very welcome new multiplayer features.

Bravely uncompromising in terms of the freedom it offers the player and its willingness to go against current trends in gaming, Dishonored is adult video-gaming at its best.

A gloriously surreal third person puzzle game, set in a hotel where everything from its rooms to its artwork is part of a multi-layered mystery of time travel, mazes, and the occult.

The best Mario Kart has ever been, with a near perfect blend of features and frequently astonishing visuals – despite some unnecessary repetition in track settings.

If you accept its purposeful limitations this is one of the few successful attempts to ensure creating your own games is as much fun as playing them.

It's a better shooter, but the overfamiliar plot and setting makes for a less interesting game overall.

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.

One of the most complex and rewarding strategy games of recent years, hidden behind a mask of weird humour, ugly visuals, and a lot of random number generation.

The original was good enough that a Definitive Edition seems unnecessary, but the small additions and improvements only make this gorgeous platformer even more essential.

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.

It was already a worthy follow-up to the Tomb Raider reboot, but with all the DLC, and some interesting new extras, this is not only a good game but also a great bargain.

A joyful, colourful, and hugely inventive cavalcade of co-op antics that makes superb use of having two players for both its unique challenges and unscripted hijinks.

Another masterful mix of interactive story and brutal action, and which despite the short running time still packs an emotional punch.

Wii MotionPlus delivers once more, turning the solid but flawed game into probably the best golf sim ever.

The graphics are absolutely stunning but the gameplay is predictable and surprisingly uneventful, as the game fails to leverage its technical achievements for anything more than straightforward spectacle.

The landmark script and puzzles override the bland artwork as the classic graphic adventure returns.

The quintessential tactical role-playing game is revived for a new generation and while it still has its flaws, the bedrock of both the gameplay and the narrative remain as solid as ever.