This short series ought to be all about its mesmerizing heroine and her struggle to harness her regrets. Instead, it seems to be shaping up as a short-form version of a story we’ve already seen plenty of times over.

I don’t know where the series goes from here – perhaps a lone astronaut crashing on an inhospitable planet filled with alien animals who think he looks pretty tasty? – but after Primal I’m suddenly excited again to see what Ubisoft Montreal’s Far Cry team comes up with.

It’s bigger, better, and more robust than many would have expected while maintaining the series’ wonderfully silly spirit. Not quite essential, but definitely worth investigation.

Fire Emblem: Fates is more iterative than revolutionary, but with three years between releases I was happy to return to the franchise’s familiar action and experience another fantastical saga filled with memorable heroes and villains. It’s another terrific entry in one of the very best turn-based strategy series currently going, handheld or otherwise.

For those not interested high-level competitive play just yet – those who want to watch a fun anime-style story while mashing some buttons, or at most learning the characters’ special moves for a gaming night with his or her friends at home – there’s no point picking this up at least until March. At that time SFV might very well be a casual-friendly game with all the tools to teach you the fundamentals needed to unlock the most rewarding levels of play.

Firewatch establishes Campo Santo as a visionary studio with some interesting ideas on its mind. And while its first game doesn’t quite muster the authentic emotional resonance of a first-person narrative masterpiece like Gone Home, it still successfully draws us into its world and makes us care about its characters.

What does matter is that in Unravel Coldwood has succeeded in creating a beautiful, poignant, and compelling game interested in going beyond mere entertainment. It wants to make us think about the what and why of everything that happens.

But regardless of how one happens to feel about the cast switch, Awakening still makes for a pretty attractive bit of DLC for anyone who’s still playing – and would like to keep playing – Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Bottom line, if you’ve already played Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox rest assured that you need not buy it again for PC. But if you’ve yet to dive in and choose to play on PC, take some satisfaction in that you’ll be getting the best version of the game currently available.

As with pretty much any Lego game (except perhaps Dimensions), what it really comes down to is whether you’re tired of the Lego game shtick, whether you happen to be a fan of whatever pop culture property TT Games happens to have on tap, and whether you have someone to sit beside you on the couch so you can play and laugh together – these games are always much more fun experienced with a friend of family member.

It’s pretty much the best puzzle game ever created.

Don’t even bother registering your Amiibo. That way you won’t be tempted to use them. And you’ll be able to play the game the way it was meant to be played for people who have to muddle through without any Amiibo. Do that, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam has potential to prove as satisfying as just about every other game in this great series.

Amplitude is destined for most people to become that slightly off record from their favourite band. You spun it a few times the day you bought it, and you really did try to love it. But now it just sits there, rarely played, a reminder that even those you admire most are capable of mistakes.

Even a remastered version of a more or less forgettable prequel from the franchise’s heyday is infinitely preferable to what Capcom gave us in Resident Evil 6. It’s got its fair share of issues and isn’t the nostalgic walk down memory lane that was Resident Evil HD Remaster, but at least it’s a bit more of what this Resident Evil fan really wants.

And I have to admit, Telltale has finally made me feel like I’m a member of team Forrester.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege knows exactly what it wants to be, and it’s not necessarily something that will likely appeal to a particularly broad swath of players...It’s a small, focused, and intense game with but a handful of maps, modes, and playable characters. Clearly designed for a niche group of first-person shooter fans interested in teamwork, tactics, and authenticity, it entertains with the challenge of honing skills and strategies rather than jamming a mountain of mostly middling content down players’ throats, as so many other shooters seem eager to do...But that means it won’t be for everyone – especially not those who want to play alone.

This sense of freedom combined with the game’s unbridled love of destruction and mayhem is what will earn Just Cause 3 a spot on millions of gamers’ shelves. It’s not particularly polished, pretty, or innovative. And no one would make the mistake of calling it intelligent or vital. It’s just a bit of stupid fun. And sometimes stupid fun is all we really want.

They may have to fight their way to liking the game instead of it capturing their imagination from the very start. Xenoblade Chronicles X is probably the best RPG on the system, but your mileage, much like your Skell’s, will vary.

as it turns out, Yo-Kai Watch is pretty fun. Weird. But also fun.

The only truly game-changing ability I encountered is a jump pack that comes available early on and greatly enhances your ability to quickly move around the battlefield and dodge enemy fire. Beyond that there’s just not much driving us to keep growing our avatars.

Tennis fans should wait for Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash to hit the bargain bins. Everyone else can safely skip it, and hope Nintendo takes our collective refusal to purchase as a message to fatten up future versions of its Mario sports games.

A good game with good timing is hard to refuse. And X-Mercs is a fun bit of strategy that managed to come along when I wanted it most.

Fellowship of Evil is a mediocre stopgap between now and whenever Codemasters gets around to releasing Overlord III.

Fallout 4 is not the bar-raising, generation-defining post-apocalyptic RPG for which players like me might have hoped. But – and this is a great testament to Bethesda Softworks’ ability to transport us to fantastical worlds in which we become utterly engrossed – it is nonetheless a great piece of end of the world entertainment that’s managed to keep my hands firmly on my controller and my eyes glued to the screen and for dozens of enjoyable hours over the last week...Just don’t expect to be blown away with how it looks.

There are few video game adventures that are as good as this one.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III isn’t the best game in the series by any stretch, but it provides some safe and familiar shooting action and plenty of bang for your buck. So long as you aren’t a franchise hater, you’re probably not going to go wrong.

Anno 2205 is a solid city builder, albeit one that doesn’t feel like the full Anno experience to me. If you’re someone who has been interested in the series but has been a bit scared by its fussiness and micromanagement, I’d recommend it. Ditto if you just want a city builder with a heavy resource-management angle...If you’re a long-time fan of the series though, you’ll probably be a bit put off by some of the changes and a very real drop in difficulty.

The Xbox One edition I tested stuttered noticeably about once or twice per race, sometimes more. Even the slightest frame rate hiccups in racing games can result in collisions with potential to send you from first place to last in a blink – especially if they happen on a corner versus a straightaway. Frame hitching cost me a number of races in Need for Speed, and each was a maddening experience.