S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a pretty big mess. In its current state, this is a badly-judged game in almost every way. The new zone is incredible to behold at times, for sure, but it's a world at odds with itself; full of gear and guns, but with precious little in the way of enemies that challenge you to use them. The story is terrible, the A-Life system is AWOL, and the acting and writing is atrocious. Stalker 2 is cheap in how it kills without warning, is packed full of bugs and performance issues on Series X, and is devoid of mostly anything that makes it feel worth playing for very long.

Square Enix has successfully revived Dragon Quest 3 once again with this HD-2D Remake – making it more accessible than ever for newcomers with an array of quality-of-life updates and offering up more than enough new content for veterans to make it worthwhile revisiting. Even if it has aged, this is another great addition to the company’s HD-2D line and well worth playing if you’re a fan of old-school JRPGs.

Death Stranding Director's Cut is a phenomenal experience that, five years on, is still as incredible, mechanically, narratively and graphically, as ever. A top-notch cast do their best with what is an admittedly bonkers story (bonkers in all the best Kojima ways, you understand), whilst this incredibly haunting world, this emotional tale and its incredible characters, absolutely hook you in for one of the most memorable journeys of the past few console cycles. It's so good to see this masterpiece finally arrive on Xbox.

Overall, then, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a massive success for Xbox. This year's COD is packed with content across its three main modes, and Game Pass players will be able to enjoy this one for months - especially when additional seasonal content starts to release. Raven Software's campaign mode is a blast, multiplayer is the best it's been in years, and while Zombies isn't what it once was in our book, it's still a fun third mode to mess around with. If Call of Duty can continue to remain this high-quality each year, Microsoft has a winner on its hands, but for now let's just enjoy Black Ops 6 for what it is - a cracking COD game and a fine example of a console FPS.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a triumphant return to form for BioWare. This is a top-class action-RPG that lives up to the Dragon-Age name whilst laying to rest the ghosts of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. With a roster of amazing companions to recruit, a mind-bending world full of exquisite regions to explore, and combat that raises the bar in every possible way for the franchise, this is the good stuff, thank you very much. We were worried, for sure — it's been a long time since the glory of Inquisition — but we've been served a follow-up here that improves on 2014's game in every way - and that's really saying something. How very exciting.

Shadow's latest chapter is arguably his best video game outing yet and easily the definitive experience in Sonic X Shadow Generations. The remaster of Sonic's existing campaign tops it all off, even if it has aged a bit in 2024. Fans of the ultimate lifeform (and the blue blur) should have a blast with this one.

Alan Wake 2: The Lake House is another brilliant slice of Remedy goodness. This expansion certainly veers more into Control territory, so if that's your Remedy jam, you're going to have a great time with this one. For us, we'd have liked the game's final DLC to feel a bit more like Alan Wake in its concept and execution, so The Lake House doesn't feel quite as accomplished as the base game or its previous Night Springs expansion. At just $20 / £15 for both DLC packs though, you really can't go wrong in opening up your wallet for some fresh Alan Wake action.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead delivers plenty of spooks throughout its roughly eight-hour adventure, but it does run out of ideas somewhat during the back half of that runtime. When called upon, the cast is well-acted (even if the story is quite threadbare) and the whole thing does enough to cement itself as a worthy entry in the 'A Quiet Place' universe, which is a nice achievement for Stormind Games. Some more late-game variety and additional options for dealing with the enemy could have made this a horror great, but as it stands, The Road Ahead is just a decent romp through what's becoming quite a popular movie universe. Horror game aficionados and A Quiet Place superfans should definitely consider this one, but for those less experienced, there are better options out there on the horror game market.

Aaero was a fun surprise on Xbox Games With Gold a few years ago, but it definitely still had room for improvement. The sequel takes all the best bits of the original title while also enhancing the weak areas, delivering improved combat, another fantastic soundtrack, the debut of local and online multiplayer, and various other quality-of-life tweaks. If you're a fan of rhythm games, we think you're going to have a great time with Aaero 2.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a pulpy, schlocky and suitably violent take on the Starship Troopers universe that gives you big beefy guns and a ton of exploding alien bugs to get busy decimating in online warfare. There are some big old hordes to take down, thanks to some impressive tech on display, and everything looks and feels properly great when you're in the thick of the acid-spewing action. However, there are way too many technical bugs just now, this doesn't feel like a game that just left a prolonged early access, and so for now it's a janky-but-fun experience that, with a couple of patches and content drops, could become a great one.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is the team behind the best of the Persona series at the very top of their game. We were a little concerned we were in for a quick reskin of Joker's past glories, if we're being fully honest (we'd probably still have gobbled that up, let's face it), but what we've actually ended up with is a monumental JRPG. This is a coming together of everything that's been learned, honed and perfected over the years, presented through a phenomenal core narrative that's full of emotion and hope, amazing characters, some of the most warped enemy designs we've ever seen, and enough slick combat and style to do us until they make the next one. They better be making the next one already.

It’s been an incredibly long wait, but this series is arguably more super than ever on the current generation of hardware. Goku’s 3D battles with his friends (and enemies) look stunning, the roster is stacked with an updated cast, there are seemingly limitless match-ups, and the combat feels great, even if it might be a bit simple for some players. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero may just be the ‘ultra instinct’ entry fans have always wished for.

After 14 extremely long years, we're so glad to finally be playing a major new boxing game on Xbox. Undisputed isn't necessarily the perfect follow-up to Fight Night Champion, but it's a more realistic take on the sport that delivers a good amount of entertainment inside the squared circle, and we're impressed by what the Steel City Interactive team have created with their first video game ever. Let's hope we don't have to wait another 14 years for a sequel! [Review in Progress]

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game feels like another excuse to cash in on the SpongeBob name. The game doesn't do anything offensive, but it's so barebones that it doesn't even really feel like a complete experience, particularly for seasoned gamers. If you absolutely have to try anything with the animated sponge's name on it, then frolicking around in Jellyfish Fields for a few hours or so could be fun - but otherwise, don't bother. It's probably worth just booting up Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated again if you're in the mood for some SpongeBob gaming in your life.

Starfield: Shattered Space is a big disappointment in almost every way. We loved the base game, for all its flaws, and we were willing this to be the big, exciting DLC drop that'd make us love it all over again. However, what we've got here is a very average narrative expansion that fails to add any big choices, upgrades, new enemies, biomes, loot or anything that could potentially excite or draw in new players. It's buggy, janky, badly acted in places, and there are a myriad of bugs and performance issues to be ironed out. What a missed opportunity.

Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns is fun to play through but the quick runtime and light amount of gameplay on offer means you’re far better off waiting until it’s at least half-price or less. Part two only lasts for a handful of hours and Havik's timeline shenanigans never really feel like a high-stakes main mission. The new fighters are a redeeming aspect of this expansion, but the whole package seems overpriced at launch. For now, you might want to save your koins.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is a mediocre collection that does a few things really well - such as the overall presentation and its fun rendition of golf. What drags it down are the other three sports, which are functional but arguably too clunky to attract long-term attention, as well as the lack of online multiplayer and any kind of a proper single-player mode. This game has charmed us for sure, and we'll keep coming back to it now and again, but it's definitely hard to recommend paying £39.99 / $49.99 for it.

We feel like we’ve only scratched the surface with Ara: History Untold even after thousands of turns and multiple games, but this is a fun take on this type of experience and a great choice if you’re looking for an engaging PC game to pull you in. If you don’t mind history with a bit of a twist and want a game where you can sink hours into each session as you overcome all sorts of challenges and triumph as a nation, Ara is well worth a look.

The original Disney Epic Mickey was a good game that evidently suffered from an issue or two on the Wii, and those have been successfully thinned and repainted in Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. We're really impressed by just how much effort has gone into this remake (especially the new visuals), and although it's arguably a bit too pricey at launch, there's definitely fun to be had with this one if you're a Disney fan or just a fan of platforming games in general.

EA FC 25 still plays a fine game of football in all of its online and offline modes, but it's fairly hard to get excited about any of it this year. The new depth to tactics, and ability to switch them up on-the-fly, are welcome additions. However, Rush feels a bit flat and forced, whilst the rest of the modes on offer are overwhelmingly familiar. We can see what EA was going for, and it's worked in some respects, but the focus on Rush, and a lack of big changes elsewhere, make for a bit of an uninspired year in the land of football/soccer.

The Plucky Squire is a delightful kids adventure with a fun and unique core mechanic that's been realised incredibly well. Jumping in and out of Jot's storybook to explore the "real" world, engage in light puzzles and face off against Humgrump's minions is a constant delight and, even though the game is never as challenging or as devious as we'd have liked, it's got a ton of heart. A must-play for kids, then, and a breezily nice time for any adults playing alongside them.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster pretty much does what it says on the tin, but we were hoping for a little bit more from the game's 'Deluxe' moniker. The new visuals and performance improvements are nice, and the game's fresh control schemes and autosave options make this the best way to play Dead Rising in the modern era. However, the game's ever-controversial timer feels even more restrictive in 2024, and we feel like other dated elements such as the constant load screens could have also been brushed up for this new re-release. If you're looking for an excuse to replay the original Dead Rising, this is it, but if you were hoping for a big modernisation of this Xbox 360 era zombie-slayer, Deluxe Remaster falls short of delivering on that.

Don’t get us wrong, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a fun fling from start to finish but it was never really a role model student when it arrived on the scene in 2012. Despite the enhancements and improvements in this latest release, the core gameplay and level design can feel quite outdated at times, and the chapter-breaking bugs have been hard to look past. If Dragami's updates resolve these glitches, or you're just a longtime fan of this one, maybe consider giving the zombie slayer an extra star for her efforts.

NBA 2K25 is the best the series has ever been on the court. This is slick and addictive stuff with improved passing and defending, hundreds more animations and a ton of big modes to sink your teeth into. Eras is a standout again, it's great to see the women's game included, and fans of digging deep into stats and shoes, badges and builds will be more than happy. We'd love to slap a higher score on here, we really would, but there's gotta be a penalty for such egregious and constant microtransaction badgering when players have already coughed up a bunch of cash for the game.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a really tough game to sum up in its current state. The game's vast open world and asphalt driving physics give the title a solid base to launch from, and we definitely think this series still has something to offer that differs from the likes of Forza Horizon and The Crew. However, Solar Crown's issues run deeper than launch-week server load, and the game needs quite a bit of tweaking to feel properly finished. Nacon and KT Racing are intending for this to be an ongoing live service game, and as long as the teams stick with it, we definitely think this new Test Drive game will be hugely improved months down the line. We can't recommend Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown right now, but if you're into your big open world racers, we definitely think this one is worth keeping an eye on as it gets fixed up and improved - you should be able to get it on discount that way as well. Solar Crown is yet another rocky launch for the franchise after similar issues plagued TDU2 back in the day - but that game did go on to become a bit of a cult hit, so there's hope for this Test Drive Unlimited title yet. It just needs a bit more time and attention for its solar crown to start to shine.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions plays the best game of Quidditch we've ever seen in video game form. There's good fun to be had both solo and with other people online, and the customisation aspects are pretty cool too - especially considering there are no paid microtransactions to be found. We have concerns about longevity considering the limited campaign and singular 3v3 multiplayer mode, but the quality of the gameplay should be enough to keep our brooms from getting too dusty in the immediate future.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a spectacular achievement that gives Warhammer fans everything they could possibly have wanted when it comes to roleplaying their favourite chonky space boys. Saber's swarm tech is deployed to dazzling effect, and with purpose and context, too. This is the Tyranid swarm of your nightmares, and you've been given all the slick melee moves, sick finishers and great big shooty guns you'll need to stave it off. Think Gears of War with hundreds of enemies onscreen at once, with the cumbersome cover system removed and the speed dialled up and you're in the right place. And what a place to be, whether solo or with pals online, this is one of the best action games we've played in a long while.

If you've played pretty much any Supermassive game in the past — from Until Dawn to The Quarry — you'll know what to expect from The Casting of Frank Stone. This Dead by Daylight tie-in doesn't quite match the lofty heights of those two games in particular, but it gets pretty close, delivering an engaging popcorn horror experience along the way. We'd have been well up for a few more hours in this universe, which certainly says something, but ultimately results in The Casting of Frank Stone sitting just below greatness.