At number 5, we’re still seeing iteration rather than revolution. Everything that’s great about Tropico 5 is built on the same foundation that all the previous games have built on. That’s a solid foundation, of course, but it’s become a bit too familiar.

With its awful characters, inconsistent voice acting and combat hampered by problematic enemies, what little there is to enjoy is whittled away. It’s something to be tasted when absolutely starved for RPGs and could provide enough sword and sorcery shenanigans to tide one over until something more appetizing comes along, but it’s unlikely to prove fulfilling.

Wargame: Red Dragon is more of the same excellent, very serious strategy that experienced players have come to expect. If you’ve exhausted AirLand Battle and still want more, it would be silly to ignore Red Dragon. But if you’re looking for an entry point into the series, then this is not it. Pick up AirLand Battle instead. It’s still one of the best modern RTS titles you could have the good fortune to play.

It’s a marriage of phenomenal world design and impressively tight mechanics.

Smite is invigorating. It’s not another MOBA. It takes one aspect of a MOBA’s structure and builds on it until it's something else entirely. Smite has developed into an action game. One with lanes, creeps and towers, all the things you’d expect from a MOBA, but even the familiar looks different when viewed from Smite’s refreshing perspective.

Warlock II might take place in a silly universe where narrators like to impersonate Sean Connery and kingdoms are ruled by regal rats or chatting skeletons, but Ino-Co has taken its construction very seriously. It’s exactly what a sequel should be, keeping the spirit of the original but improving every aspect.

The Elder Scrolls Online is frustrating. It has moments of sheer class, but they’re consistently tainted by bugs. I love the PvP, but it’s pointless playing when the rewards are so slim. I like the questing, but huge numbers of quests are simply broken. I love the world, and the lore, and some of the systems they have produced. But my enjoyment of them was undermined by poor design.

The recipe for a good adventure game is there, but the measurements are all wrong. Rector is too flawed, the puzzles are too easy, the metaphysical elements get too ridiculous are not well explained - everything is just off.

I’m completely invested now. I worry about Bigby. I’m pointlessly going through the decisions he made, I made, attempting to figure out how they will change the way the rest of the fables’ view their protector. But most of all I want to finish this case and catch whoever is responsible for this titanic mess, and then rip his limbs off. Bigby’s indignation and quest for vengeance is infectious.

It’s almost absurdly simple. The thing I’ve always liked about twin-stick shooters is a sense of escalating chaos - the idea that you’re only just keeping a lid on waves of baddies. Spartan Assault never manages this: there just aren’t ever enough enemies on screen, nor do they ever feel particularly dangerous.

Betrayer is an FPS where the shooting is lackluster and the enemies annoying.

Here’s the thing. I can sort of appreciate Goat Sim, but it leaves me a little cold. However, I showed it to some pre-teens, and they thought it was the greatest game they’d ever seen. Their sides still hurt from laughing.

It integrates the fighty and the talky enough to make Rapture feel a more dangerous and believable place, discards the impenetrable conceits with which the first DLC began, and brings an almost seven year old series full circle and to a satisfying end. What a wonderful trick, and a fitting note for one of PC gaming’s best loved studios (as we know them, at least) to bow out on.

It’s the best that Age of Wonders has ever been.

Eventually, you’ll probably find that Mighty Quest is not worthy of your whole attention. But play it with a podcast on, stick to the Ubi-designed castles early on, and you’ll be happy - not least because you’ll avoid the self-consciously loopy screech of its trad fantasy characters. Rayman this is not.

You have to admire Blizzard's approach to Diablo III. They fixed it. The game itself now absolutely superb. Reaper of Souls finishes the job.

In TowerFall Ascension, there are no inevitable deaths. Every time you stare down the shaft of the Grim Reaper’s arrow, there’s always a way out. You just have to be smart and quick enough to put a plan into action before someone nails you to the wall first.

In The Fall, NFusion have taken a scalpel to to Human Revolution’s template, collected together a pile of game meat - the essential giblets of a Deus Ex game - stitched it together and presented you with a serving. It’s recognisably Deus Ex but it’s not very appetising.

Simple in almost all respects, Luftrauser is one of Vlambeer’s biggest triumphs because it strips back everything in the name of exposing the fun at the centre of the game. It’s almost as if the designers were engineers of the rauser itself; reducing weight and tweaking fuel lines to ensure the most effective deliverer of death possible.

This is a big planet and there are a lot of caves needing clearing, think of raids as housekeeping.

And that’s maybe Titanfall’s biggest, and most forgivable flaw: it looks less interesting and novel than it actually is. It’s such a fresh take on the military shooter, splitting the difference between the more deliberate pace of games like Battlefield and Call of Duty and the kinetic excitement of games like Tribes or even Counter-Strike. It just takes a while to see that, because Titanfall’s presentation is so conservative.

Hearthstone is a wonderful game. Nostalgic, simple and best of all: fun. This is the best online collectible card game you can play. Just be careful how much you spend in it.

Any doubts I had during the first episode have been washed away. This is Telltale’s storytelling ability at its very best. Filled with emotionally resonant dialogue, painful scenes and a cast that’s quickly matured, A House Divided makes it seem possible for The Walking Dead Season Two to eclipse its celebrated predecessor.

In fact, of all the games I’ve been in, this one is definitely the worst.

Where other South Park games have utterly failed to capture the crude, offensive, absurdly entertaining spark that has kept the cartoon running for 16 years, The Stick of Truth succeeds utterly. Not only is it series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker - who co-wrote the game - firing on all cylinders, it’s Obsidian’s most polished RPG. Not just a great South Park game, the Stick of Truth is simply a great game.

A fumbled finale puts a notable stain on the experience. They say one of the key rules in comedy is to leave the audience wanting more, but as Jazzpunk’s credits rolled I was left feeling a little indifferent. But the game is something to be admired. Few titles dedicate themselves to comedy as wholly as Jazzpunk does.

Minecraft is beloved because it’s a celebration of creativity. CastleMiner Z is the antithesis of Minecraft: it’s a depressing, cynical cash-grab almost wholly designed to hijack gamers’ excitement for Mojang. For 69p, its survival horror elements are a nonsense novelty. But at the price demanded on PC, we should be throwing it out to the creepers.

Consortium is a tragedy. There’s an extremely clever game to be found within, but only when it works. It’s just the first part of a planned trilogy, and I have so many questions that I won’t be able to help myself, I need to play the second part. But I can only hope that it’s not held together by chewing gum and sellotape again.