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.

One of the best multiplayer experiences of the year, but the cost of entry and the lack of content make it a harder sell then it should be.

There’s a disappointing lack of invention in the paper thin story and characters, but the combat and witty dialogue is as good as the series has ever been.

The core action is explosively silly in all the best ways, but the controls, missions, and story structure are all disappointingly underdeveloped.

The best Japanese role-player of the generation and arguably the best open world environment of the year, despite a disappointing story and some arcane systems.

The visuals still impress, but for a game obsessed with storytelling at all costs the dopey plot and underwritten characters in no way make up for the lack of gameplay.

A new low for Nintendo and for Animal Crossing, in what is the least amount of fun you can have with an amiibo without needing urgent medical attention afterwards.

It’s a sad state for dinosaurs in video games when this shoddily-constructed, and almost irredeemably shallow, shooter is almost the only sign of a T-Rex we’ve had all year.

A great idea ruined by some very strange design decisions, that turn what should be a fun platformer puzzler into a gloomy and illogical word game.

An excellent expansion to what is not only the best game of the year, but one of the best action games of all-time.

A microscopic improvement on Football Manager 2015, that is as addictive and engrossing as ever but seems to have run out of steam in terms of new ideas.

Treat it as an HD remaster of the N64 game and this is actually one of the best Mario Tennis games since then, but the lack of features and extra content is a real turn-off.

An unsatisfying end to what has been Telltale’s weakest game of recent years, with Game Of Thrones proving a poor fit for their usual formula.

One of the best-looking video games ever made and although relatively shallow the spectacle and excitement of the Star Wars universe comes across superbly well.

A solid end to StarCraft II’s five year journey, although beyond the co-op missions it offers no real clue as to the genre’s future.

A tragic failure that attempts to revive the wonder of NiGHTS and Sonic The Hedgehog, but falls victim to publisher melding and terrible controls.

A minor entry in the venerable city building series, which has some interesting ideas and visuals but too little in the way of gameplay depth.

Call Of Duty’s most concerted effort to break the usual formula is unfortunately the most unsatisfying sequel in years, especially the badly flawed story campaign.

Its technical faults and lack of innovation are frustrating, but the game underneath is as enthralling and compulsive as anything Bethesda has ever made.

The old style Tomb Raider is never coming back, but this is a more satisfying compromise than the reboot and a fun alternative to the Uncharted series.

It’s not original, and it’s often unfocused, but Darksiders II remains one of the better Zelda clones – even if this slipshod remaster does it few favours.

A tragically misjudged series reboot that gets all of the fundamentals wrong, while adding absolutely nothing new to the franchise except flashier graphics.

A mediocre rhythm action game that is not made any better by tacking on a silly and insubstantial Persona story mode.

Despite the name this lacks any kind of zip at all, in what may be the most mundane and unexciting platformer Nintendo has ever put their name to.

The best WWE game for years, which may seem like faint praise but WWE 2K16 works as both a sports sim and a quality fighter in its own right.

The best computer role-player of the modern era, whose fantastically complex world and combat works unexpectedly well on consoles.

One of the best strategy role-players on any format, especially with the brand new scenario and mountains of content in this new 3DS version.

One of the best retro homages of recent years combines the choicest elements of older 2D games with plenty of new ideas of its own – as well as a completely free expansion pack.