An extraordinary piece of work, with things to say about pacing, writing, world-building and the communication of emotion that feel profoundly valuable to the industry...Its sense of purpose is overwhelming.

It’s good fun, though feels more like a distraction, a shiny thing waved in front of our noses to stop us noticing the proper golf sim is so bare.

Knight, for all its foibles and frustrations, consistently gives you that injection of adrenaline.

Wooly World’s gentle accessibility, then, can be its biggest strength or most obvious weakness… depending on who you are. Either way, there is no doubting the craft.

This is a remarkable, progressive, absorbing game, one sure to prompt fervent discussion among its players, no two of whom will have shared the same experience. Your actions and deductions may not lead to a virtual arrest or conviction, but the curiosity of your inner Columbo will surely have been sated.

Splatoon looks and feels wonderful; it’s a satisfying, immediate, hugely entertaining and almost entirely original brand of shooter. Some players might hanker after more substantial nourishment, but the snack-sized morsels of action that Splatoon offers are absolutely bursting with flavour.

For those that have played through The New Order and are keen for more of its beefy action, this delivers around 7 hours of it for a decent price. I’d argue The Old Blood also makes a satisfying starter to The New Order’s more substantial meal if you haven’t yet had a taste. A well-priced piece of downloadable content that works equally well on either side of the main game? Clever.

There’s definite worth in this spin-off, and ample evidence that Climax can deliver, but a greater sense of adventure is needed if Chronicles is to truly soar.

Not A Hero thrives in its messy, hedonistic chaos.

A great package. While not all of it will suit everyone’s taste, it is worth the price of admission for Final Fantasy X alone. However, if you already picked it up on Vita or PS3, the jump in visuals isn’t quite worth the gil.

There is no saving the world, here, no great evil force pervading the landscape, or a doomsday clock ticking down to inevitable destruction, with only you to stand in its way. The story of Wild Hunt is a personal one, set in a huge and unrelentingly beautiful world.

There's little point in building suspense: is Project Cars as good as, or better, than Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport? That's the question most of us have been waiting to have answered...Put simply: yes, it's at least their equal.

Like its cast, it can feel like an unholy jumble of disparate ideas, yet that unpredictability is one of its greatest assets. Code Name S.T.E.A.M. represents a gamble on the part of both developer and player, then, but as long you’re prepared to accept its unconventional terms, there’s a good chance it will repay you quite handsomely.

Sure, you’re left with the nagging sensation of unfulfilled promise, but away from the circus of its development and that (perhaps unreasonable) weight of expectation, Broken Age will, in time, be a game many players remember with genuine fondness.

Like a zombie with all its fingers cut off, State of Decay’s reach often exceeds its grasp. Despite this, it feels like a game people should play, if only for the creeping moments of brilliance.

Underneath the blood and guts is a self-assured, generous and thoroughly modern fighting game.

What holds Titan Souls from greatness, then, isn’t the difficulty posed by besting its bosses - or even the lack of narrative elements - but the act of felling the foes themselves. What should be a momentous occasion - particularly following waves of near countless failures - is too often anti-climactic.

Given the frustration levied by its questionable level design, Hotline Miami 2 loses its replayability factor - something its predecessor delivered ever so well.

The payoff is something else. A euphoric rush of relief and heart-pounding glee, accompanied by the flourish of the forest returning to life, the colour filling the trees and the irresistible pull to carry on, even though you know more of those lethal bloody rocks lie in your way. The Siren call of the Xbox One’s best game to date.

Bloodborne is one of those experiences that totally consumes you when you're involved in it and working to see all that it has to offer. In that sense it's the digital edition of a round-the-world trip to foreign continents, each turning of a corner providing equal helpings of excitement and trepidation. That recipe brings it own rewards by simply being a part of it, the seemingly effortless delivery indicative of a design team and philosophy that is only getting sharper.

Type-0 is a consistently interesting experience despite not always being one that hits the notes it's aiming for. It's an example of how wonderful games can be when they focus on a particular form of design, but simultaneously, it stands as proof that even those mainstream games labelled 'mature' struggle to provide a narrative of wider cultural value.

There is still a great multiplayer shooter here, but it feels more like an expansion than a full sequel - if it wasn’t for the campaign, Hardline would be Battlefield 4’s version of Bad Company 2's Vietnam expansion - it even has the vehicle music. It just forgot to bring the personality.

As a story, it’s all deeply unsatisfying. And that’s a real shame, because a cogent narrative could have papered over some more of The Order’s cracks. As it is, that job is left to visual splendour, decent shooting and a marvellous, if squandered, setting. And, while it lasts, The Order is a game that entertains almost as much as it frustrates. But not quite enough to shake the feeling of a wasted opportunity.

It is scrappy in places, and often trite, but is well structured and compelling. Let’s hope Techland take this success and run with it.

Evolve is exactly as satisfying as the people you're playing with. It serves a concept that is so precise that anything less than perfect unison between participants results in a confused mess. But when it all comes together, when your fellow players are all singing from the same hymn sheet, there’ are few more striking multiplayer experiences to be had.

There is a lot that Life Is Strange does well. It is offbeat and interesting, if a little rough around the edges. And with the seed of a mystery planted by the end of the episode, there is enough here to be optimistic about the remaining episodes.

Newcomers should be aware that some of Resident Evil’s old-fashioned style can frustrate, but it is still a creepy, involving slice of bona fide video game history.

Indeed, its central mechanic feels rather like a statement in itself; perhaps this is Nintendo’s way of motivating its designers and players alike to embrace the idea of approaching the familiar from a fresh perspective.

One could still wish for a better story, for more choice and consequence in your actions or for an end to the nagging collect-em-up nature of the Ubiworld. But for sheer daft mayhem, this is now the action game to beat.

It is perhaps not the most comprehensive set of online options, with Nintendo still looking like they are feeling their way with online multiplayer. But there are flashes of inspiration, such as the involving spectator mode. But most importantly, Smash’s online mode works beautifully well.

There are a lot of good ideas here, but they haven't found a way of comfortably sharing a bed together.

FIFA 15 is an excellent game of football and its presentation and modes are peerless. PES 2015, though, is arguably the best pure representation of the sport ever made.

The additions are welcome, bolstering Black Flag’s excellent formula. The only thing that stops Rogue from reaching the heights of of that game is how its lack of new ideas isn’t replaced by a fresh setting.

Ubisoft’s insistence on releasing what is, frankly, an unfinished product is inexcusable. Players falling through floors, obnoxious NPCs interrupting cutscenes, characters turned into terrifying grotesques as they are rendered without skin. All have been exposed in Unity’s litany of bugs. You could be lucky and not see any of them at all, or they could come and spoil your fun entirely.

It might lack for Hollywood style extras (except for a few videos and a documentary that inelegantly punts you into the separate Halo Channel app) but this is as much a historical document as a video game. Halo is one of the few series with the gumption and legacy to pull it off. Now if only they can get it all working.

If you've felt that Call of Duty has been getting more than a little tedious in recent years, as I certainly have, then Advanced Warfare might just convince that it's something worth taking notice of once again.

In trying to be all things to all people, Dragon Age: Inquisition lacks the impact that it might otherwise have had if BioWare had imbued it with the same sense of purpose that its predecessors carried....Inquisition, on the other hand, offers an embarrassment of things to do but sometimes forgets to provide the motivation to do them.

FM15’s changes tend to contribute to gentle improvement rather than startling disruption, but should do enough to tempt you into starting that managerial journey all over again.

The final result is a brilliant alteration of an old friend, shining a new light on a proven structure.

It doesn’t lack for content, then, but those looking for something filling and nutritious may feel short-changed by the game’s adolescence and humdrum tasks. But sometimes you simply need a sugary, cathartic snack. Taken under these circumstances, at least, Sunset Overdrive’s giddy blasting often hits the spot.

For now Driveclub is a distinctly mixed experience; skeletal in some aspects, but breathtakingly complete in others.

It is a suitably bonkers introduction and wastes no time getting to the nub of the game: that glorious combat. It hasn’t lost any of its shine. A system of extraordinary layers, the combat begins as a thing of simplicity with buttons for punch, kick, shoot and dodge. It then unfurls itself as you play, teaching through action.

The Evil Within could be leaner and more technically sound, but the blemishes on its blood-stained carapace fade against its thick atmosphere and the frantic thrill of battling its monsters in the dark.

This is an unusually brave blockbuster, not prepared to compromise its vision in favour of chasing a larger audience; a credit to both developer and publisher. And while it may not be for everybody, those that are looking for a convincing interpretation of sci-fi's most terrifying monster will be well-served.

The take away from Shadow of Mordor is that it’s fittingly a game that should inspire games in the same way it has so clearly been inspired, taking strong systems from big games and adding a few new ones of its own. I’d love to see the nemesis system be applied in a more intricate way to the handling of intelligence assets in the world of international espionage, for example, or maybe even an interpretation of the interpolitics of mafia families in the mid century.

There’s no great revolution here and it occasionally lacks for visual variety and challenge, but Horizon 2 earns its stripes with a breezy determination to simply show you a ruddy good time.

FIFA 15’s biggest changes are cosmetic, and that will is absent. FIFA 15 plays, more than any other recent FIFA sequel, largely the same.

A nearly game; good ideas and intentions scuppered by a desire to cram in as much stuff as it can. Yet despite this, Infinity still provides a lot of fun.

Every single aspect of Hyrule Warriors is great fun and utterly compelling. I've easily been losing hours at a time to it. Everything it tries to do, it pulls off with aplomb; there's not a single aspect I've disliked, or found to be a misstep.

15 feels like a significant step forward. Not only in terms of mechanics, but in terms of improving players knowledge and skill at the game through finesse and feedback.

MachineGames haven’t exactly reinvented the FPS or even Wolfenstein here, but they have put together a consistently enjoyable, well-crafted action game and given you the motivation to blast your way through its stringier bits. If this is the New Order for Wolfenstein, then this is a promising start.

The sheer variety and novelty of what Hohokum offers, as well as the attention paid to making sure that something as basic as the movement feels great (the only game I think does this as well as Hohokum is another Playstation title, Journey), means that Hohokum is going to be something I come back to, on occasion, for a pleasant escape. And it’s one well worth your time.

It’s taken the long-ignored strengths of Interactive Fiction and Twine and applied them in the right way on the right platform to give the player an experience that feels wholly unique, and more importantly, wholly their own. Yes, you might share the odd story with another player, but not your whole trip. There are just too many variables, too many individual stories, for any one trip to be the same, and when you’re talking about a narrative-led experience, that’s a mighty fine accomplishment.

For a game made by a team of any size, Mind: Path to Thalamus would be incredibly impressive. For a game made by such a small independent team, it's a masterstroke. Stunning, intelligent, fun, with wonderful puzzle mechanics and a thought provoking denouement, Mind: Path to Thalamus is a game that deserves to be remembered for a long time to come.

That the action in The Last of Us stays contextual to its narrative and characters is no mean feat either, no cognitive dissonance here, and the lines between the game and its story are usually non-existent. And it is a fabulous story, riffing on Cormac McCarthy and other bleak post-apocalyptic fiction but keeping its own identity through its characters.

A few tweaks are needed, but things are on the right track.

It is a genuine shame. There is a real sense of creative energy crackling at the edges of Watch Dogs and a mechanical aptitude in its systems that make it enjoyable enough to play. Parts of the game irritated me greatly, but I rarely found it less than entertaining, and there were moments that brought a real thrill. Watch Dogs immediate success almost guarantees a sequel, and Ubisoft have plenty of strong points with which to build upon. But I would also like to see more conviction in their own ideas, rather than avoiding difficult questions and settling into a pattern of familiarity.

It’s a small step for Nintendo where its competitors have made deliberate and purposeful strides, but a step forward nonetheless. It might be too late to completely turn around the Wii U’s fortunes, but when Nintendo are releasing games as good as this, it may just have a chance.

As I played Child of Light for review, I found it to be a game that I wasn’t itching to play, but rather enjoyed myself when I did. A pretty, diverting yarn that I’m thrilled exists, but is perhaps a little too nice to recommend wholeheartedly.

Those looking for a breezy party game to show off their new machine will find a game with flaws and frustrations that cannot be ignored.

It's well worth a play for anyone looking for an intelligently told, challenging story, or anyone who's a fan of adventure games which happily bring you back down to earth with a thud.

it’s a touching and satisfying finale, with a lovely coda that brings a smile to the face. It’s that type of game, a warm-hearted collaboration’s of the DS’s most moral, smart and determined heroes. On this evidence, no-one could object if their paths crossed again.

The acid test will be if Telltale then carry these decisions through the remainder of the season...Which, fortunately, is set up terrifically by this second episode. A House Divided does occasionally suffer from its position as a bridge, rattling exposition off in order to set up the subsequent episodes, but it performs its role with real élan.

It’s enormously frustrating. Second Son feels so close yet so far to being the PlayStation hero Sucker Punch and Sony want it to be. It’s likeable, fizzy and nearly always moderately entertaining, but is held back by the mundanity of its missions and a lack of the ambition needed to make it great. A diverting superhero adventure that just isn't adventurous enough.

Almost all the depictions of women in the Metal Gear Solid series have been awkwardly sexualised, a fact admirers have sought to explain away by citing Japanese cultural differences or emphasising that these representations barely impinge on the gameplay. I don’t buy that, personally — it seems clear to me that the director just enjoys this sort of stuff — but it will be fascinating to see his apologists attempt to explain away the scenes that show up, quite unadvertised, on the audio tapes in Ground Zeroes.

Titanfall provides a thunderously good time; an accessible yet skilful, hulking yet ferociously nimble shot in the arm for a well-populated genre.

If it wasn't for the genius of that writing, the setting and the characterisation then Stick of Truth would undoubtedly be quickly sidelined as a generic RPG lacking depth and originality. That's really besides the real point, though. Stick of Truth features some of the most daring and explicit writing ever seen in a mainstream video game and it more than makes up for its by-the-numbers gameplay.

Even in offline mode, the game's a stunning example of world-building, adventure-finding and boss slaying.

It’s a great game in a slightly flimsy initial package, then, but Popcap has stated that it plans to release free bi-monthly DLC to thicken the crop of modes.

This blazingly intelligent and thoughtful addition makes me absolutely certain they could do it again if they tried.

I had more fun making my way up to bed in the dark after playing Thief than I did at any point during its benighted trudge across The City.

For those with the patience, Danganronpa certainly has its moments. And its pitiless, gurning despair-bear will haunt your dreams.

The terrifying debut of Red Barrels is a masterclass in the art of video game horror that is stretched a little thin.

What is here is a thumping, bubbly, precisely-engineered and consistently entertaining platformer, but one that lacks for ambition.

OlliOlli is, at its heart, a blissfully simple game. A focus on four wheels and a plank of wood, and not planting your face into tarmac. But for all of its channelled simplicity, it is a markedly clever piece of work, melding the best of trick-based sports games and twitch 2D platforming and executing it with poise.

Nidhogg is a game that is messy and finely tuned, at the same time. It’s certainly niche, definitely esoteric, but for those that it does tickle, (especially those who have a friend to play with in real, physical space), it’s the kind of experience that is unlike anything I can think of, and since first coming across it years ago, has been talked about with a sense of wistful nostalgia by anyone I know who’s played it. And that’s got to be worth something.

This enhanced edition is certainly the best version, with visual vibrancy and a small handful of extras just about justifying its existence. But perhaps not the extra outlay. Playing any version of Tomb Raider is no decision at all. Splashing out on this or picking up the original for a third of the price is a trickier choice.

A script that is not as elegant as the first season and one fears that, through hubris or complacency, Telltale has lost sight of what made The Walking Dead so good in the first place.

There’s a decent game beneath some unfortunate flaws and irritating business practice, and I would genuinely like to see Vanguard have another crack at a top-down Halo without such questionable deterrents.

As ever, the depth of the game is truly breathtaking.

Developers Plain Vanilla have taken every tried-and-tested gamification device and every social media lure and stuffed them into a fun quiz app, complete with a delightfully clear and cheery design.

It is brilliant stuff, always thrilling and constantly rewarding. There’s perhaps a lack of alternative modes, providing a straightforward parade of levels that perhaps look slim in the light of, say, Geometry Wars 2’s jam-packed fairground. But Resogun knits a timeless brand of skill-based arcade gameplay with a few neat tricks that we haven’t seen before.

Another terrific, if overly familiar, entry into the Zelda canon. It may not always match the epic sweep of its home console brethren —this is the leanest Zelda that I can remember— but its compact dungeons and fat-free exploration are perfect for a handheld. This is the best portable Zelda yet.

It’s a shame that its brains can not match its looks. If you want a visual tech demo to showcase your shiny new console to your mates, Ryse performs that role with some gumption. But at its core is a violent, shallow and desperately limited hackathon.

It really is a fantastic game. That thrill of hitting the top of the flagpole is still there after all these years, Mario and co leap about at the top of their game, it's colourful, friendly, joyful, and the most fun I've had with a platform game since Super Mario Galaxy 2.

At its best, it rivals anything in City. At its worst, it's comfortably the weakest of the three Arkham games. It was a lot harder to recommend a couple weeks ago, when it was a more broken, but now it's certainly worth checking out if you're a bat-fan. Just don't go in expecting anything fresh, new or groundbreaking.

To me, it feels more like an existential horror story, a deliberate blurring of the lines between the creator and the consumer, in order to tell a really good story.

To blow COD out of the water, they will need a more polished game than this. Perhaps the next-generation will provide it.

A campaign focused on spectacle benefits from next-gen heft (the PS4 game is comfortably the best looking console version) but hardly innovates, while the multiplayer game remains as fast-paced, responsive and downright noisy as ever. Yet if Call of Duty is, as some have suggested, the gaming equivalent of junk food, Infinity Ward has prepared it to gourmet standard.

Black Flag is a good game not because of its meandering plot or lumbering main missions, but because of its invigorating interpretation of swashbuckling on the high seas. A thrilling pirate’s life for us.

Device 6 is a short game, polished off in a couple of hours, but its effects will linger. Its narrative is sharp and engrossing and its style, while drawing on influences as disparate as Lost and Kafka, is quite unlike anything else.

That FM continues to build an enormous, cogent world out of a crazy, crazy sport continues to be a marvel. The romanticism of being able to mould a club to your own desires is the fuel of its appeal. And now, with its focus on the people that fill these clubs, this year it is its heart that impresses most.

It’s a coming of age story, essentially, with the saccharine beginnings of a jolly jaunt giving way to harsher challenges along the way.

But here is X & Y, finally dragging me in with added accessibility and a visual flourish. If Pokemon’s greatest pleasure is the joy of discovery, then I’ve finally discovered it. And hooray for that.

Provided families can restraint their children’s desire to collect them all, Skylanders Swap Force not only offers a huge amount of toy and video-game, but does so at a reasonable price.

It’s a mess. But a fascinating mess.

True, its slower pace may mean it’s more fun to play as Pirlo than Messi these days, but if PES has lost a little of its former flamboyance, it’s a more robust, complete game as a result.

The fact a project of this thundering size gets finished at all – let alone once every 12 months – is of course a minor miracle of hard work and management, but it can only be lauded for greatness if that's what it's reaching for. FIFA 14 seems content with better rather than best.