Following years of mysterious anticipation, Death Stranding delivers on all fronts. An accomplished, fascinating set of gameplay mechanics allow you to make deliveries the way you want to, while social features let the game live on once you've put the controller down. It may become slightly tiresome as you hit the halfway mark, but the phenomenal narrative is on hand to pick things back up again and its outstanding visuals are the cherry on top. Death Stranding doesn’t raise the bar for any particular genre, it creates an entirely new one.

When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is at its best, it's easily one of this generation's best entries in the series. The campaign makes up for a so-so story with a run of brilliant missions that offer up some astonishing moments. Multiplayer treads old ground but remains highly compelling, and Gunfight is a successful addition to the list of modes. Special Ops is disappointing, with just a few missions that are all far too difficult to be fun. Overall, this is an entertaining, high-octane shooter with highs that outweigh the lows.

The collection serves as a wonderful dive into a pair of early tie-in successes. If you're a fan of the games, the films, or both, you'll find something to take away here -- it's a fully featured and fascinating trip down memory lane.

Unfortunately, the minigames – a selling point for the first two entries in the franchise – flop harder than a gorilla on a trampoline. Their ranks – down from 50 in the original to 10 of the “best” here – include snowboarding and a terrible version of Monkey Target, but not even considerable effort can salvage these irritating alternative activities. The package is rounded out with various Time Trial options and the minigame-powered Decathlon, but not even the addition of online leaderboards can make the title’s awful adaptation of Whack-a-Mole entertaining.

With plenty of comparisons to BioShock just screaming to be made, Close to the Sun has some massive expectations to hurdle right from the outset. While it can’t quite avoid feeling like a tribute act at times, it does seem to be making all the right moves in its opening chapters, tantalising you with an effective blend of atmosphere and mystery. But when it comes time to make good on that promise and seal the deal, it misses the mark with frustrating frequency. While some nicely designed environments, and a scattering of enjoyable puzzles stop this ship from sinking without a trace, Close to the Sun doesn’t manage to reach the lofty heights of ambition it’s clearly aiming for.

What a mystery it is. We won't spoil anything, but as the Obra Dinn's adventure across the sea unfolds itself, you'll slowly learn about the relationships and tribulations of all its crew members and passengers. The post-mortem storytelling is compelling, and is never quite enough for your investigation -- or your curiosity. The art style is similarly withholding, offering just enough detail but maintaining an air of unease, and it looks utterly unique to boot. Some may struggle with the visuals as it can be a little too noisy in places, but if that's our only quibble, you can deduce that this comes highly recommended.

With a charming story at its core, surprisingly satisfying combat, and loads of neat secrets to find scattered across the map, it's easy to get hooked on Cat Quest II. It's a great little RPG that never outstays its welcome, offering bite-sized but addictive adventuring.

MediEvil's PS4 makeover sees the classic brought back to life, and it's an extremely faithful remake that fans will love. However, many of the old issues return as well, such as a dodgy camera and stiff gameplay. Sir Dan die-hards will be able to forgive these leftover problems, as this is otherwise a solid remake overflowing with character. If you've any nostalgia for this retro Sony title, or are looking for something spooky to play this Halloween, MediEvil has never been better -- just be wary of the skeletons in its closet.

The Outer Worlds is a role-playing triumph. With its sights set squarely on player choice, Obsidian delivers a brilliantly crafted sci-fi adventure that's packed with witty writing, great characters, and a fantastic degree of freedom. Add solid combat and rewarding exploration to the mix, and you've got the recipe for an RPG that begs to replayed time and time again. An essential purchase for fans of the genre.

Trails of Cold Steel III is the best game in the series so far. You're going to have to play the first two titles to get the full picture, but you'll be rewarded with one of the most enjoyable RPG sagas in modern gaming. This latest entry strikes a near perfect balance between story and gameplay, all while juggling an ever-growing cast of great characters and an in-depth, hugely rewarding battle system. Cold Steel III is JRPG joy from start to finish, and it sits alongside the likes of Persona 5 and Dragon Quest XI as one of the PS4's finest.

Pig Eat Ball is solid fun. With tweaks to the multiplayer, it could be a fantastic party game too.

It’s a moreish experience, buoyed by outstanding controller response and a compelling reward loop. Occasional framerate hiccups threaten to wrestle control out of your hands, but instances of this are generally uncommon. This is a very different kind of two-wheeled platforming to the recent Trials Rising, but it scratches the same kind of itch – arguably more effectively, too.

Everything from the art style to the storyline is fairly simple, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Even though we ran into the occasional bug (nothing that couldn’t be fixed by rebooting), this is a fun game if you just want to relax with something nice and easy.

If you’re looking for a fun, colourful team shooter with plenty to see and do, Battle for Neighborville could be just the ticket. If you weren’t swayed by the prior Garden Warfare titles, you’ll likely want to pass on this, but for the sheer silliness of its characters and the world they exist in, it’s well worth sinking your teeth (or vines) into. You may never want to leave Neighborville.

The visuals – which lean on block colours and cartoon characters – can be a bit flat, and the controls can be cumbersome when carrying out more complicated tasks. However, there’s a great business management experience here; the gameplay may seem shallow at first blush, but plunge a little deeper and you’ll find plenty of depth. Considering that this is an underrepresented genre on console, may we recommend you consider it as a complement to Two Point Hospital this Christmas, as you remember Theme Park’s infamous slogan: “Big business is big fun.”

To its credit, there’s so much off-the-wall content here that you’ll be willing to push through its drier segments just to see what oddity the developer has in store next. Whether it’s reviewing ramen recipes or watching on dumbfounded as the title tosses out a completely unconnected FMV sequence, this is a real rollercoaster of ridiculousness that needs to be seen to be believed. But it’s a three or four hour experience which lasts more than double that, and no amount of Boneface designed bossfights are going to prevent you from getting bored at points.

By keeping simplicity at its core, Monkey King: Hero Is Back offers an entertaining if somewhat mindless distraction to the blockbuster titles releasing around it. Sure, it’s a little bit too short, the narrative isn’t particularly gripping, and it looks like an early PS3 game, but that all falls by the wayside in the heat of battle. Thanks to fun brawling mechanics, Monkey King: Hero Is Back does just enough to deserve your attention.

It's not perfect; load times are lengthy, text is painfully small, and there are some unusual graphical glitches here and there. However, Children of Morta is overall a great success, and manages to forge a unique identity.

The Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Pack offers incredible value for money, with hundreds of hours of role-playing game action spread across two main games and various expansions. While players unfamiliar with the series may find the presentation or the sometimes finicky navigation unappealing, the narrative remains compelling, the characters engaging, and the combat challenging. More than that, it's the first opportunity for console gamers to play two of the greatest RPGs of all time, and it shouldn't be skipped.

There's fun to be had in either mode, but the game's ideas are squashed by some poor design. Combat is accessible but stiff; animations are likely to lead you into danger. Some random abilities are clearly better than others -- a shovel can dig up stat gems, meaning you can buff yourself as much as you want. Then there's the small matter of online matchmaking, which at the time of writing, doesn't work at all. Local play works, but this is a game where split-screen makes it much harder to play effectively. If ReadySet Heroes can be updated to overcome some of these problems, it has potential. There's imagination on show here, but right now, it's not something we can recommend.

The central puzzle mechanics are still clever and there are many different ways to tackle them. Crossing a perilous chasm could be a job for Amadeus’ levitation, Zoya’s rope, or some combination of everyone’s abilities. Multiplayer is back, so you can group and navigate the Rube Goldberg environmental design as a team. Aside from some impressive boss fights, battling the prince’s shadow creatures is the games weakest aspect. Combat feels stiff and imprecise, but that feels like a mild quibble about such a consistently pleasing experience.

While the game is an exercise in trimming the fat, there are a handful of bonus modes once the story mode is over. Despite the barebones menus, these extras are quite the sweetener. One of the modes is vertical-only, which means you essentially get Galaga shoved in there as an add-on, then a mode where you have to rescue trapped astronauts. But all of these modes feel like they build up towards “Shield Maiden”, which is where the real challenge in the game lies. With low health and weak weapons, your goal is to survive, and after finishing up the main mode, this is where we found ourselves wanting to spend most of our time. Overall, Habroxia is a neat little arcade title with some cool ideas.

Despite running into one too many difficulty spikes, Indivisible successfully blends the RPG and Metroidvania genres into one stunning experience. Its plot may be simple and some characters bothersome, but the 2D platforming that bridges the gap between those narrative beats is a dream. Indivisible is a little bit too forgettable in a couple of aspects, but it makes up for that when the tough gets going.

At its best, Frostpunk provides a tense, nail-biting experience like few others in the genre. It's not about building an empire, or creating a beautiful cityscape, but simply doing what you need to do to guide your people through what at first seems like insurmountable adversity. There's a few niggling issues, but the feeling you get from surviving the campaign is one of utter, unbridled joy, and it's that feeling more than any other why we have absolutely no qualms about recommending Frostpunk to you.

The Bradwell Conspiracy wants to reach the same heights as Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch, but thanks to woeful performance on PlayStation 4 and clunky, unreliable mechanics, it goes in the opposite direction.

GRID is a very solid racing game that harkens back to the 2008 original in some important ways. The action-packed racing itself is great and often unpredictable, and the handling strikes that balance between arcade and sim wonderfully. However, presentation isn't really up to scratch, and it leaves the game feeling a little cheap. We can't shake the feeling that the pursuit of that GRID personality has only led to a game that's, perhaps ironically, struggling for an identity. When all is said and done, though, there's still plenty to enjoy here, and it's certainly one of PS4's better casual racing games where it counts.

Concrete Genie is a warm, joyful experience that embraces creativity in a unique way. Painting your way through Denska is effortlessly fun, and the genies that help Ash through his adventure are delightful. While this main thrust of the game is well realised, combat feels like an afterthought, as it's stashed away right at the end. This and a couple of smaller issues hold the game back from greatness, but taken as a whole, this is definitely worth playing -- and pretty as a picture, too.

As an officially licensed instalment in a beloved franchise, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is still a resounding success ten years on. But as a third-person shooter with physics-based ghost capturing, it’s a bit one-note. The atmosphere, design, and voice cast are perfect, but the combat peaks early and quickly become a bore. The main campaign is enjoyable enough that it’s worth enduring the repetition, though.