Probably the most innovative FIFA in years, that leaves the door open for further improvement in the next gen – even if the grim shadow of Ultimate Team is never likely to leave.

An unexpectedly involved space combat simulator that manages to replicate the thrills of the 90s X-Wing and TIE Fighter games with surprising clarity – and an excellent VR mode.

A good looking and competent retread of a second rate original, which improves on everything from the graphics to the driving model, whilst maintaining the game’s cinematic essence.

Super Mario Bros. doesn’t suit the battle royale formula as well as Tetris, but this is still a fun novelty that neatly demonstrates the ageless virtues of the original game.

A simple but enjoyable party game that’s very easy to pick up and play with friends – and a considerably better video game than last year’s WWE 2K20.

Serious Sam is looking seriously tired, with a new sequel that makes only the most perfunctory attempt to doing anything new for the franchise or shooters in general.

Nothing less or more than what was promised. Still the best football game around but its problems feel more glaring a year later.

A hell of a good roguelike, supported by a surprisingly strong narrative that provides just as much motivation to persevere as the excellent combat system.

Not at all what you’d expect from the makers of Dragon’s Crown, but as well as the expectedly beautiful artwork this has some of the most engaging high school melodrama this side of Persona.

An excellent sequel to one of indie gaming’s most enduring stars, that changes just enough to keep things interesting without losing the magic of the original.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is not a very good compilation but two of the three games it contains are exceptional, one more from a historical perspective, the other from every angle imaginable. These are games that everyone owes it to themselves to play, and if the medium for doing so is this rather underwhelming collection that’s still far better than nothing at all.

A staggeringly inept attempt to clone Super Smash Bros. and populate it with indie characters, whose only achievement is to make you appreciate the real thing even more.

It would be one thing if this was just NBA 2K20 with some minor changes but this rips the heart out of last year’s game solely to appeal to competitive online players, with many much-loved features stripped back or not included at all.

It’s a strange and beautiful game, although one you’ll need to approach with an open mind and absolutely no sense of hurry.

Elite Squad is a blandly generic gacha game, with tedious, tactics-free, but mercifully brief gun battles tacked onto the front end.

It’s a good looking game, but without the capacity to make enough of your own decisions in the opening hours, each attempt feels identical to the last, holding back the possibility of any real strategic experimentation.

Although all the combos, stances and weapons make it to the small screen, the touch controls are no match for a proper controller, instantly putting mobile players at a disadvantage in the game’s all-platform cross-play matches. Still, for a totally free game with only cosmetic microtransactions, you’d have to be an inveterate choosing beggar to complain too loudly.

Surprisingly dark, despite its protagonists’ youth and manga cuteness, the narrative branching in all sorts of semi-lethal directions as you test the game’s capacity for characters to lie, manipulate, and double cross their junior school chums.

The in-your-face visuals distort and strobe when you collide with walls or objects, giving the whole enterprise a migraine-inducing quality that actually goes quite well with its savage difficulty level. If you suffer from photosensitive epilepsy, this is a game you might want to avoid.

It’s a surprisingly expansive mobile interpretation of its older sibling, your clone pilot gradually earning and learning new skills, and with that the ability to fly better spacecraft. Ship-to-ship combat takes place at huge range in the empty blackness of space, but it’s nevertheless satisfying blowing away space pirates with your slowly improving arsenal.

Gorgeous pixel art graphics and one of the best turn-based combat systems of recent years can’t quite make up for an obnoxious script and frustrating role-playing elements.

A jumbled mess that’s trying to be at least three different types of game at once, drowning out the enjoyable combat with a tsunami of repetition and meaningless loot.

A stripped-down, glorious-looking remake that updates the original two games in just the right way to make them feel fresh and exciting again.

A terrifying vision of future America, that already seems worryingly accurate, and also one of the most open-ended role-playing games of recent years, with a smart line in dark comedy.

An inferior experience to PC and Oculus, not in terms of graphics but the frustrating PlayStation Move controllers that make wielding a lightsaber more a pain than a pleasure.

A stale series stuck in its own Groundhog Day almost redeems itself with The Yard and will entertain casual football fans, but mediocrity seeps into almost every mode in another backwards step for the franchise.

Technically impeccable and fantastic to behold, 2K’s first PGA Tour game is already the best golf sim currently available.

Dontnod continues to lead the world in terms of character diversity and representation, and while Tell Me Why’s story can sometimes lack drama it’s still engagingly interactive.