Trials Fusion, like its predecessors, is a super-charged, neck-breaking blast of a motorbike game, and solidifies the franchise’s status as the Excitebike of our time.

Titanfall is perhaps the most accessible competitive multiplayer shooter ever, while still maintaining a fun competitive reward system for skilled players.

From the character designs and the narration, to the tactical game play and challenging difficulty, there are few games out there quite like what the Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation has framed for us. You’re not quite at the level of M from the James Bond universe, but this might be as close as you get.

My recommendation: Play the campaign, then wait a few days before diving into multiplayer. This might be the best way to avoid cross-contamination and get the most out of these two deeply incongruent gaming experiences.

Rave in the Redwoods is only the best part of an all-around solid bit of DLC. If Infinity Ward can keep it up for three more instalments it ought to have no trouble retaining fans’ attention all the way through to the next Call of Duty this fall.

On the subject of breathtaking scenery, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a showcase for what an Xbox One can do.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide isn’t an entirely new game, but it’s not far off. It gives fans of the original game plenty of reason to dive back in for not just one, but hundreds or thousands more turns.

This web of interconnected systems is, in truth, a tad bewildering. But everything just seemed to keep developing and refining itself regardless of whether I knew how or why, so I never felt overwhelmed. I was just sort of along for the ride sometimes, and I didn’t really mind. Because, in the end, I just wanted to spend time with some familiar faces, listen to a new generation of artists cover some of my favourite game music, and see how a world I haven’t visited in decades had changed while I was away. I’m happy to say I had a great time catching up. And I got to stay at some lovely little B&Bs along the way.

Its carefully crafted story and dialogue rolls back and forth between the farcical lunacy for which the series has always been known – outlandish military science, over-the-top villains, and a heaping helping of gore – and moments of authentic emotion in which Blazkowicz is downright soulful, musing to himself on the afterlife, love, and family as though he were a character in a Terrence Malick film.

To be sure, much of what players encounter will be familiar, and usually pleasantly so. But there’s also a satisfying dribbling of concepts and ideas here that you won’t find anywhere else. If you’re a fan of any of the games I’ve referenced over the course of this little essay and you’ve enjoyed Arkane’s past work, then Prey is a pretty safe bet.

Believe it or not, I found the added depth helped breathe life into the adventure. Going back to the flat 2D presentation removed much of the world’s vivacity.

Tacoma might not quite manage to live up to the unrealistically lofty expectations left behind by Fullbright’s full game, but it’s still neat proof that the American studio knows how to tell a good story, and that the medium of games is far from exhausted when it comes to new ideas about how to weave an interesting interactive tale.

While I can’t tell you whether Injustice 2 will be a hit with hard core fighter fans, I can tell you that it was a ton of fun for a guy like me, who generally doesn’t spend more than half an hour with any of the fighting games that cross my desk.

Mario Kart 8 was a great game, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive edition of that experience. But I’m not sure it’s worth an extra 80 bucks for anyone who already owns the original.

Much like Koru, The Last Tinker is made up of a little of this and a little of that, but it provides some good fun through variety and unique design.

I give this game 8.5/10 for being one of details and for so frequently surprising me. Were I a little older and had I played the original, I would likely give this title an 11/10, quit my job, and go LARPing in the desert for as long as the cities remain standing, or until I realize that I’ve taken every modern comfort for granted; whichever would happen to come first.

At some point — I can’t say exactly when — my interactions with the GamePad screen became natural and intuitive, an organic part of the game that I didn’t find myself consciously thinking about. It just felt normal and fun. This is a crucial step forward in changing players’ perception of the GamePad from novel gizmo to worthwhile, game-enhancing peripheral.

What really impresses me about Rez Infinite, though, is that its immersive cacophony of light and music often manages to pull me out of the physical realm so completely that I find myself forgetting meatspace even exists. That’s what VR is all about, really. Losing yourself in another world.

It might contain a racial stereotype or two, and it is certainly lacking a strong female presence, but Gears of War: Ultimate Edition reaffirms Epic’s classic third-person shooter as a titan of the big-men-with-big-guns genus.

A weirdly engaging game that can easily eat away a long evening of couch lounging.

Thing is, it injects so much dopamine into my little monkey brain that any intellectual qualms I may have are effectively quashed as long as a controller is in my hands. Put more plainly, Nintendo really knows how to make a fabulously fun run-to-the-right game.

The good news is that players whose gaming palates DO lean toward slaying nightmarish minions with tongue-twisting weapons are finally getting the game they probably wished Diablo III was to begin with.

The first act of Kentucky Route Zero will take you about an hour to complete. It’s well worth your time to do a second play through and a third and maybe even a fourth just to experience what it’s like to live a life on the road.

Ninja Theory didn’t just overhaul Dante. It also infused the series’ plot with some big — and surprisingly timely — ideas.

The Wii U version of the game isn’t perfect, however. The bigger screen and 1080p HD graphics do add to the flair of the game — the textures are redone for the more powerful Wii U, while most of the game models are the same — but no one would mistake them for something that wasn’t also designed to be played on a handheld. The framerate is much better and, most importantly, you can play online with other players.

There’s just something about its robust creation modules that makes sense to me in a way most other game-making games don’t.

It may not be what everyone wanted, but it happens to be almost exactly the sort of Assassin’s Creed game for which I’ve been pining now for a few years.

Complex, sometimes unwelcoming (though less than in the past) — and utterly satisfying when you beat your way past the walls it puts up.