On consoles it's merely good, but with a full complement of 64 players this is the best, and biggest, that Battlefield has ever been.

It doesn't even try to reinvent the fighting game genre or itself, but this is still the most enjoyable – and accessible - Tekken has been in years.

Don't let its low price or simple visuals fool you, this is the most demonically addictive game of the year and it takes no prisoners.

One of the best stealth games in years and an accomplished 2D platformer in its own right, with a near perfect balance, of depth, accessibility, and bloodshed.

Another quietly competent downloadable compilation, with five new competitive maps that show Call Of Duty at its close quarters best.

Hearthfire is certainly a download that shatters preconceptions, but only in the sense that it never really allows you to do any of the things you thought it would.

A superbly effective combination of the very best of Persona's storytelling and character design, with one of the best 2D fighters of the modern era.

For a Japanese role-player this is a fun, accessible romp, but it stops short of reinventing its ways out of any of the genre's more long-standing issues.

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.

Despite some interesting visuals and world-building BioWare just can't escape from the shadow of Mass Effect 3's ending, or the now overfamiliar action.

The best episode yet, that ups the ante in terms of not just the zombie threat but how you interact with some of gaming's most convincing characters.

The new content is exactly as good as you'd hope, but the PC version of From Software's classic is also exactly the sort of technical mess you probably feared.

Easily the best Transformers game ever, but also a tantalising glimpse of how to transform current action games into something more inventive and imaginative.

It doesn't even try to reinvent the Counter-Strike formula, but this is easily the best version for consoles and a refreshing retro alternative to the modern military shooter.

It's not original, and its often unfocused, but the willingness to always offer just one more piece of loot and one more giant boss battle makes Darksiders II a hard game not to enjoy.

The end result still doesn't have the personality or verve of Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, the novelty of Assassin's Creed, or the crazy acrobatics of Just Cause but it's a better action game than any of them. Clearly that's not necessarily a priority for open world games but it's nice to see it can be done all the same.

A Diablo clone set in a Fallout style world sounds like a great idea, but the changes this makes to Blizzard's formula are genuinely apocalyptical.

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.

Clever puzzles, immersive presentation, and an intriguing plot combine in one of the most ambitious and original smartphone games of the year.

Getting such an odd idea to work is worth praise alone, but Hybrid feels more like a hypothetical experiment than a genuinely useful innovation.

The PS Vita finally gets something to sing about with a beautifully conceived mix of platform action, striking visuals, and perfectly orchestrated music.

It looks like Cannon Fodder, and to a degree it plays like Cannon Fodder, but this bizarre sequel lacks the heart, soul, and mind of the 16-bit classic.

A clever spin on the MOBA genre that strips away the complications and nerdy presentation to create a fast-paced but deceptively complex action strategy game.

An impressively silly mishmash of game styles and historical references that still manages to entertain despite its lack of depth and variety.

One of the very few pre-smartphone games that is still worth playing, even if this new update only does the bare minimum to keep it relevant.

Rather than fixing the issues with the PC original the console versions only seem to add more problems, as a pirate's life is made to see even more frustrating and repetitive.

Somebody must still love Spy Vs Spy given the amount of effort that's been put into this remake, but the retro charm wears off extremely quickly.

Arguably the most disappointing Super Mario game ever made, and one that certainly doesn't deserve the world 'New' at the beginning of its name.