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

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

Lazy, amateurish, and half-finished are not how you usually expect to describe a Rockstar game, but this easily avoided mess shows three classic games in the least flattering way possible.

Skyrim is back yet again, with a graphical makeover and new user generated content, but at full price even fans of brazen commercial cynicism will find their eyebrows quietly reaching for the sky.

A bigger and better sequel which works as both a compelling management sim and a celebration of the Jurassic Park franchise.

The battle system is excellent but the Shin Megami Tensei series once again misses a golden opportunity to reincarnate itself, with its sparse plot and sky high difficulty.

A reliable entry full of variety and worthwhile content, that simultaneously leaves an aroma of staleness that is beginning to taint the whole Call Of Duty franchise.

Brought to life with high quality voice acting that adds to its eerie atmosphere, there’s some decent puzzling and 2D exploration on your way to its final showdown, in what is quite clearly a labour of love.

It’s intensely satisfying when you get it right, with strings of good decisions leading to lengthy but increasingly precarious survival. Unfortunately, its slow drip feed of rewards means it takes too long to unlock new cars and especially tracks, making it a protracted grind even if the gameplay itself remains compelling.

It may lack some of its inspiration’s subtlety and finesse but it looks fantastic, plays a reasonably balanced game, and has certainly got scope for further refinement as it settles in.

It’s gently whimsical and considerably less mechanically complex than either Pokémon Go or Wizards Unite and while it does offer some encouragement to go out and get some fresh air, it’s almost more pedometer than game, and is all but pointless on a tablet.

While it’s undemanding and not a game in the conventional sense, the high production values, tactility, and level of detail make Townscraper a delight to interact with for those who fancy a break from all that touchscreen twitch.

Sports Interactive have done it again. The match engine roars into the modern era with significant and overdue AI tweaks, and whilst there are still some stale features the game feels deeper and easier to navigate than ever.

The best in the series so far, that embraces the open world approach in a way previous entries never quite did – while also being an endlessly enjoyable and highly varied arcade racer.

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.

An unasked for remaster of a tedious, badly written survival horror that is even less effective now than it was seven years ago.

Riders Republic is exactly the game it is trying to be, with a modern take on early 2000s xtreme sports games that works in terms of everything except the corporate-mandated ambience.

Remakes of old N64 Mario Party boards may not sound the most desirable release of the season but in terms of easily accessible party games there are few better options.

A highly competent but disappointingly unambitious real-time strategy that fails to move either the genre or the Age Of Empires franchise forward.

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.

There’s no question that effort has gone into making it though, and that kids of an appropriate age will enjoy it – but that enjoyment is only likely to last a few sessions at most. At that point you will have spent £35 on something that isn’t really that much more interactive, and certainly has less educational value, than a free mobile or browser game.

A surprisingly ambitious cosmic space adventure that excels the more it diverges from the movies, offering robust action, impressive visuals, and unexpectedly sophisticated storytelling.

Easily the best of the Dark Pictures Anthology series, which finally manages to serve up some interesting characters and effective horror scenes, with an appealingly gothic atmosphere.

The Japanese role-playing game stripped back to its bare essentials and yet rather than an exercise in nostalgic pandering this is one of the most compelling and sharply designed dungeon crawlers of recent years.

A work of devilish cleverness that’s both a mockery and celebration of collectible cards games and an increasingly disturbing horror story about the cost of victory.

The series may no longer be the graphical tour de force it once was, but all three Crysis games remain highly playable, your nanosuit’s suite of powers adding a distinct twist to the shooter action.

A hugely disappointing mess of a game that magnifies all of SWERY’s worst tendencies and fails to compensate in terms of the unengaging characters and script.

While it never forges its own identity, or escapes the shadow of Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood provides a great cover act, that captures all of the original series’ magic.