A welcome revival of a much-loved franchise, although Banana Blitz was never the best entry and Sega has had to accept too many compromises in porting it from the Wii.

It’s a pleasure to wander around, the input of American artist William Chyr evident in the expansive and mildly trippy building designs that trail off into infinity. And it’s no shrinking violet on the challenge, which rapidly becomes deliciously tricky.

Developed by Simogo, whose spine-tingling Year Walk, and expectation subverting Device 6 have rightly become landmarks in mobile gaming, this is another one. It’s a shame it will be denied to Android users, but for Arcade subscribers it’s possibly the first unequivocally essential download.

It’s weirdly hard to concentrate on what the text is actually saying, rather than simply spotting which sentence fragments go where, so it’s not much of a reading experience, although it is a gentle and long term challenge that turns out to be pleasantly relaxing without a timer.

Unfortunately, its reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, and even on the latest iPhone it suffers from frame rate stutters when the action gets busy. Its unremittingly generic sci-fi characters and setting also conspire against it.

It’s a joyous affair, even if aiming can prove a bit frustrating, especially as the farmhand, with his limited water reservoir and three naughty porkers to keep track of.

Elegantly balanced so that using a controller is no advantage over touchscreen, its developers promise regular updates of new mazes, game modes, and challenges.

Nowhere close to a reinvention of the series but the more serious tone is mostly successful, with an ambitious story campaign and some entertaining new multiplayer modes.

It leans too much in the direction of the original when it comes to the puzzles and difficultly level but this is still an utterly charming romp, with wonderfully inventive set pieces and gorgeous visuals.

After several patches and months of waiting this may, possibly, become a halfway decent wresting game, but at launch this is the gaming equivalent of Doink the Clown.

A remake that is loyal to a fault when it comes to honouring the original, with gameplay and design mechanics that were barely acceptable 21 years ago, let alone now.

Garden Warfare 3 in all but name, but while it’s not an emphatic improvement on the previous games it’s still a highly enjoyable, family friendly online shooter.

A deep, funny, and intricately designed RPG reminiscent of the golden age of Fallout, when conversations mattered and comedy-grade cynicism came fitted as standard.

A few unfortunate backsteps make the first native PlayStation 4 entry something of a disappointment, but Trails Of Cold Steel is still one of the best old school JRPGs around.

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.

The best detective game ever made, that tells its unpredictable story through a mix of idiosyncratic visuals and equally unique puzzle gameplay.

A fantastically imaginative, time-bending puzzle adventure that makes full use of one of the most enjoyably interactive game worlds in a long time.

Overwatch is still an excellent title, even this far from launch, but the Switch version is notably inferior in terms of online performance.

An immersive and engrossing trip to the seedy underbelly of World War II era Los Angeles, the police procedural work enhanced enormously by being in virtual reality.

An impressively ambitious attempt to make a VR-only action game that is both a visual spectacle and a highly enjoyable role-player, full of imaginative ideas.

The Switch is clearly not the game’s natural home and yet even with the graphical downgrade The Witcher 3’s innate quality shines through.

In other words it’s a clone of 1983 coin-op Spy Hunter, but unfortunately what you see in the first minute of the tutorial is all there really is to it, with relatively little nuance to uncover. As mindless entertainment its daily missions are a brief diversion, but little more.

If your ball-like warlock slips between the flippers he falls, taking damage equivalent to his height up the tower. You can recharge health with heart containers, and by getting him through the exit in time, but progress is cemented with the treasure and XP you earn, which permanently unlocks new skills, helping you get even higher next go. All of which is enjoyably addictive.

It’s very simple, but there’s a level of learning involved in when to boost wood and gold production; when to upgrade your defences, barracks, and walls; and which path your raiders should take. It’s very throwaway but the lightly tactical gameplay is still breezy fun.

Video game and cultural references abound in its playfully inventive courses, which jauntily switch from portrait to landscape in a game that revels in its continual ability to surprise.

As you progress words get longer, featuring far more abstruse letter groupings, and although it can’t quite muster the rampant addiction of Alpha Bears, it offers a decent word-based challenge.

The splendidly named Dread Nautical is a turn-based roguelike set on a spooky, zombie-infested 1930s cruise liner. Choosing one of four survivors, you spend action points to move, pick things up, and attack, either melee or ranged depending on what makeshift weapons you’ve managed to purloin.

On a phone, the screen can feel a bit cluttered with icons used to crouch, jump, lob grenades, and more, but on a tablet it’s perfect. Controller support is weirdly absent, but there’s very little else wrong with this excellent console conversion.