Though I'm glad it exists purely from a historical interest point of view, these aren't the best X games or the best early-to-mid-2000s action games, and the commendable packaging and cleaning up here can't change that.

With a cinematic story filled with personal drama, subversive twists and likeable characters, but set in a fantastical universe much more akin to the one seen in print, this is the best of Spidey's film and comic book iterations combined. But it's also a sensational game, blending open world acrobatics with more focused linear areas, and a well-realised protagonist with the freedom of fun upgrades and customisation.

For all its intriguing story beats, stylish techno-'60s aesthetic and well-presented characters, We Happy Few can't hide its origins as a run-of-the-mill survival game.

Offering more of the same delicious, diabolical co-operative cooking that made 2016's Overcooked so amazing, the sequel adds new kitchens, new dishes, new chefs and a whole lot of new reasons to do that thing where you scream in frustration and laughter at the same time. With even more friendship-testing challenges and hilarious culinary cock-ups, this is a welcome second course, even if it doesn't stray very far from the original game's recipe.

EA Sports' latest offering doesn't really bring a whole lot of new elements to the table, certainly nothing as ground-breaking as the new catching mechanics that Madden 16 brought. The game is smoother, and with a few minor positive tweaks, and overall is still a fun, solid football sim. But the continuation of the story mode Longshot, which was a big deal in 18, is a huge let down here.

Packing four incredible action games from the mid-'90s into one nostalgic package, Mega Man X Legacy Collection might not feature the entire X saga but it's certainly the best of it.

This beautiful metroidvania roguelite strikes a near-perfect balance between what persists and what is totally randomised each time you die. And when you eventually run all the way from the beginning, through the bosses and to the final encounter in one go, it's not because your character is more powerful, it's because you know the game so intimately from all your previous lives.

With an amazingly addictive battle system, interesting stories and a beautiful world that I wanted to (and was encouraged to) explore inch of, this is a special adventure that feels like playing a classic Final Fantasy for the first time, but with the gameplay and presentation benefits of an extra 20 years or so of progress.

Summerset follows Morrowind's lead of excellent writing, good voice acting and interesting characters, with a main storyline tackling surprisingly contemporary issues and focusing more on the plights of individual characters than the protagonist becoming a wizard god. Though the multiplayer structure still keeps the storytelling here from reaching the heights of the single-player games, it's about as good as it gets in the MMO space.

Taken as a full package this is arguably the best Sonic game there is. Mania mode is fun as ever, the cast is fuller, and the bonus challenges, unlockables, Encore mode and multiplayer makes for a game that earns its spot on the retail shelf. Some existing owners might wonder whether two extra characters, remixed singleplayer and revamped splitscreen is worth the upgrade given there's no substantially new levels to speak of, but I think it's a fine way to extend the experience.

While the game is well put together I have to question whether this franchise is a good fit. With only two films' worth of content to work with it's clear TT had to really stretch to get this much stuff out of The Incredibles, and that lack of depth doesn't do any favours for the obviously ageing Lego format that's been largely unchanged for more than a decade.

Mario Tennis Aces is a lot of fun and probably the most technically sound arcade tennis ever. I only wish its options and modes were as deep as its mechanics.

Capcom may be a little late to its own creation's birthday party, but this is an extremely impressive collection which has been put together with a great deal of care.

Detroit wants so badly to be an interactive Hollywood blockbuster, but its amazing visuals and cinematic presentation can't make up for some really lame writing, weird performances and an overall lack of grace. But in spite of that, it can be a fun interactive B-movie.

A tabletop-style survival sandbox that you can take on alone or with friends, State of Decay 2 packs in enough scavenging fun to make the occasional malfunctioning weapon or levitating enemy easy enough to endure.

This is a thoughtful collection offering dozens of very good games, and they look and play as well as you could expect without retro hardware or a CRT TV. The games aren't all classics, but there is something for everyone and chances are there's a brilliant game in here somewhere you never managed to catch the first time around.

Pulling obvious influence from a very popular and similarly-named cartoon series, The Adventure Pals stands on its own strengths as a fun, whimsical platformer for the whole family, even if it's a bit less complex than you might expect at first.

With beautiful visuals and sound, some of the most imaginative stage concepts you'll ever find in a platforming game and a heap of secrets that are rewarding to find and even more so to conquer, Tropical Freeze is one of the all-time greats. It's disappointing that Funky Mode, the only Switch-specific feature besides technical upgrades, doesn't feel as polished as the rest of the experience, but this is an unassailably brilliant game no matter how you play it.

The half-baked narrative, annoying characters and tonal inconsistencies are disappointing, but they don't ruin the fun. For the most part this is a collection of the best elements of Far Cry's past, complete with compound bows, parachutes, fire and hilariously deadly animals (look out for the bush turkey!), with a few quality of life tweaks for good measure.

Like Tomb Raider before it, God of War has managed to keep something of its heritage while grounding its previously inaccessible main character and filling the whole experience with depth and feeling.

Though it looks stunning and is an impressive achievement in open world multiplayer gaming, a lack of variety and completely frustrating single-player mode keeps Sea of Thieves from staying afloat.

Some will feel it’s asking a bit much to charge close to full price for this one. The core of the game is functionally identical to the Xbox 360 version, which is playable on Xbox One, and other similar games have been upgraded to 4K on that platform totally free. But taken on its own merits it's hard to argue against the amount and quality of the content. Paradise remains one of the most successful blends of action and driving ever, and the included add-on packs provide hours of tire-spinning, chassis-destroying fun.

When the minigames here lean into the object creation tools (lifted entirely from the old games) there's fun to be had. But not enough of them do. There are so many options available for shallow rhythm-based dance games or Flappy Bird clones that it's disappointing to see them shoe-horned into a franchise that's already sitting on one of the most unique and enjoyable gimmicks there is.

Whether it's the opportunity to recruit a mini-boss like Bugzzy after defeating him, or the puzzle rooms that test your skills like not many Kirby games before have done, Star Allies is the freshest the series has felt in years, and certainly the most fun to play with friends.

While the deeply relatable narrative, sketchy art and evocative music could all conceivably be delivered in a short film, it's the brilliant metaphors of the touchscreen play that make Florence truly special. It's breathtaking and emotionally affirming little game.

While the gameplay might not be very deep or precise, Frantics succeeds as a pick-up-and-play game that anyone can enjoy regardless of age or gaming experience. The funny characters are ideal for slapstick violence, and the frequent alliances, backstabs and sabotages keep things interesting.

As beautiful as some moments in Fe are, and as vast and disorienting the forest seems, beneath it all is a very linear and basic game with ordinary platforming and a competent but forgettable story. Worst of all, it just doesn't seem like it has a whole lot to say. It gives all the signals of a game with an emotional story and a powerful message, but in the end it just doesn't communicate one.

An insuppressibly charming journey of sky-high exploration and Metroid-style underground dungeon crawling, Owlboy offers a whole lot of heart alongside its innovative takes on tried-and-true adventure game staples.

Aiming squarely at gamers' nostalgia for mid-90s roleplaying games and hitting nothing but a vast white void, Lost Sphear is a fun game bogged down by a muddle of throwbacks and a cacophony of unoriginal, competing ideas.

This remake is an excellent way to experience an outstanding game, although returning players may find some of the magic lacking if they remember all the answers, or have a specific fondness for the indistinct graphics of the original. Conversely new players will find this version much more palatable from an aesthetic point of view, but may find some design quirks annoying and outdated.

Incredibly thoughtful and mechanically near-perfect, Celeste marries impeccable game design with a touching and relatable story in a way I've never experienced before. It's simultaneously an excellent platformer and an engaging meditation on the perils and methods of tackling depression and anxiety, and the fact that those two aspects are so naturally integrated is amazing.

With a story of boundless optimism, dozens of huge, living worlds to investigate and one of the most satisfying battle systems seen in a Japanese roleplaying games in years, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a charming and engrossing long-form adventure.

Comprising the most complete version of the original retro minimalist masterpiece Mudds, its tough but fair sequel and the unremarkable but fun multiplayer puzzle game Mudd Blocks, Collection is an excellent value and a welcome return for the series to where it all started: a Nintendo handheld.

With more ways to influence the outcomes in your favour, a greater variety of chance-based gambits and a structure that almost (but not quite) eliminates the frustrating repetition of the first Hand of Fate, there's a lot to like here for tabletop devotees and action-adventure fans alike.

The Top 100 does a good job of collecting and remastering a large number of minigames from across the entire series, but neglects to tie them together in any meaningful way. By focusing almost wholly on the minigames, the game tends to become a relentless slog of loading in and out of overly simplistic challenges over and over again.

With more than 200 characters and settings from dozens of different comics and films, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 is one of the most comprehensive LEGO games ever produced, even if the actual gameplay is starting to feel old.

For players that skipped Sun and Moon, there is more than enough new stuff here to make this the ultimate way to play. Returning players will definitely be left with a strong sense of deja vu, but if they finished everything last year's game had to offer and were hungry for more they could still get their money's worth here, especially if they're up for a big dose of nostalgia.

For players that skipped Sun and Moon, there is more than enough new stuff here to make this the ultimate way to play. Returning players will definitely be left with a strong sense of deja vu, but if they finished everything last year's game had to offer and were hungry for more they could still get their money's worth here, especially if they're up for a big dose of nostalgia.

This is another fun, fleeting, exceptionally good-looking Call of Duty game, but its World War II theme doesn't add much besides bringing some of its mechanics back down to Earth.

There's no escaping the awful loot boxes and ham-fisted progression system here. The much-anticipated single-player mode has its moments but it's not as strong as expected, leaving the online play to serve as the core of the experience. Though there are some smart tweaks and changes that could have potentially improved the game over Battlefront 2015, funnelling all your upgrades and levelling through random boxes massively misses the mark. The production values are sky high and in the moment it can be amazing, but Battlefront II's economy keeps me from wanting to jump back in.

This is a stunningly successful modernisation of the franchise, a beautiful representation of one of the most engrossing societies in history and great story. The old bones of the Assassin's Creed series are definitely here, but for the most part the game's been reinvigorated with RPG mechanics and a more thoughtful, exploration-based style.

At its core Shadow of War is a tremendous amount of fun, but its good mechanical parts are under constant threat of suffocation from its gormless framework. The player's own story of an endless struggle against (and alongside) powerful orcs is enthralling, but the game's actual narrative is a boring trudge. The loop of killing powerful enemies for new loot is a great motivator, and building your army piece by piece to take strongholds seems like a perfect fit for this game, until you hit a wall and are faced with its app-style payed-for incentives.

Mario Odyssey is an inventive, playful and incredibly polished experience that pays constant homage to the storied series' past while never feeling redundant or old. From the creative way classic characters and styles of play are inserted into the worlds to the brand new capture mechanic that gives a new perspective on what an open-world Mario game can be, this is a timeless journey I'll keep coming back to for a long time.

Anyone who enjoys South Park is bound to love this game, as it's essentially a 20-hour-long episode where you get to direct some of the action. The video game aspect of the experience isn't perfect — aside from still-pretty-basic combat system navigating around the town is a bit clunky and the crafting system is mostly an excuse for you to find humorous things in people's trash — but this is a cool RPG wrapped in an excellent and uniquely South Park adventure.

From entry to entry, the biannual Forza Motorsport series doesn't change a whole lot at its core. But this latest entry strips back some of the bloat, fixes some missteps of past games and pushes the envelope further than ever before when it comes to graphical proficiency.

Cuphead's running and gunning is strong enough that it would have found an appreciative audience even with more video gamey art, but it's the perfectly executed 1930s animation style that makes it something special. From terrifyingly transforming beasts to the occasional fully-voiced character song, every element here makes it obvious Studio MDHR really knows and loves its source material.

With a flimsy-but-fun narrative premise and rock solid platforming gameplay backing it up, the rhythm of exploration and upgrading here is about as addictive and satisfying as they come. I'd go so far as to say Dig 2 out-Metroids Samus Returns, but on top of that its mix of free-form exploration and self-contained puzzle rooms makes for an original twist.

Offering a fresh take on Super Metroid while updating the franchise for modern audiences and supplanting the sluggish (but narratively important) Metroid II, this return to form is everything a 2D Metroid game should be. Not every modernising addition to the classic formula is as well-polished as it could be, but this is still one of the best entries the series has to offer.

With all the same frantic scrambling and triumphant comebacks of the 2014 game — plus more variety then ever before thanks to customisable avatars and a bevy of options to tinker with everything from weapon lineup to gravity — Nidhogg 2 is a must for any games night or multiplayer marathon.

Overall, Madden 18 offers some fun new additions. 'Longshot' isn't perfect, but it's a big step in the right direction. If you buy Madden every year there's enough fresh content to satisfy you, but if you had Madden 17 and only buy the game once every few years, nobody could blame you for holding off.

Beautiful, weird and unexpectedly complex, there is at times a deep reverence for gaming's most famous brand here, and at other times an overwhelming urge to pull it apart and make fun of it. At the same time though, Kingdom Battle sets itself apart by avoiding the running and jumping that made its main character famous, focusing instead on an impressive strategy shooter design that would have been great on its own but is made even better with the addition of Nintendo's familiar properties.

This smaller-scale adventure looks and plays a lot like last year's excellent blockbuster, but with the personal journey of a pair of new protagonists offering a refreshing change of perspective. Even when the action got a little too familiar, my affection for these two women and their fractious journey together, as well as the beauty of ancient India and its treasures, made for an engrossing experience.

This is a game that will thrill long-time fans and introduce brand new ones to what Sonic is like at its very best. Far from the tone-deaf reinventions and cynical cash-ins of Sonic at its worst, this is a love-filled celebration that also proves there is life in the 25-year-old original concept yet.

Though the game only takes a few hours to play through, the multiple layers of story — which each unlock additional meaning in the others once uncovered — make for a groundbreaking narrative system unlike anything else. But more impressive is the emotional impact of the stories themselves, not just the tale of a crisis aboard a space station and the perils of corporate-controlled AI, but the intertwining stories of six people's lives, loves and losses.

Splatoon 2 has a lot of substance, and every bit of it is literally oozing with style. Keeping everything that made the original game great while expanding on modes, fashion, weapons and features, this is a powerfully addictive family-friendly shooter.

Lacking the various vehicle types, long list of stages and single-player Challenge mode of the older games in the franchise, World Series bets it all on multiplayer and doesn't deliver. There's a kernel of a good idea in transforming Micro Machines into Overwatch-style personalities that each have their own special skills they can use to work together, but if there's a way to jam that complex, strategic online play into the zany, top-down design of 26 years ago, this game isn't it.

For all ESO's recent improvements in general and the smart, nostalgic design of Morrowind in particular, I can't overcome the sense that the world is just less fun and impressive removed from the single-player focus of the main Elder Scrolls games. This is an MMO caught between two very different RPG styles, with the world and its quests begging for solo exploration and heroism but without the depth or focus to back it up.

While so many retro revivals either just give the original game a coat of paint or completely remake it from the ground up, this is a return that feels like a perfect middle ground. On the one hand it does allow for some of the less good parts of the classic design to shine through (especially in the original game), but on the other hand the commitment to accuracy works to preserve a series that remains incredibly influential and often overlooked. Combined with smart touch-ups and a beautiful modern presentation, this is a blast for old Crash pros and newcomers alike.

ARMS is a breath of fresh air for casual fighting game fans, a beautiful, interesting fighter with a killer roster of characters and that trademark Nintendo twist on established genre conventions. But unbalanced control schemes and an emphasis on fun over fairness may make it a hard sell for the hardcore competitive set.

Valentia's old-meets-new approach is an interesting twist on the series, with the juggling between two parties, free exploration sections and simplified combat balancing out the lack of relationship options and the occasional killer difficulty spike. While the next mainline Fire Emblem game will no doubt return to the more fantastical, romantic themes of recent games, Valentia has me hoping Nintendo continues to dig into the series' back catalogue for more modernised versions of unfamiliar classics.

If Farpoint was a standard shooter it wouldn't be all that interesting. The weapon selection is pretty light, it's fairly brief compared to other shooter campaigns and there's nothing unique about the sci-fi setting. But the thoughtful VR design paired with the awesome gunplay provided by the PSVR Aim controller makes it well worth experiencing.

Prey is a mixed bag. Its setting is derivative but pretty, with its emergent storytelling often making for an eerie and atmospheric good time. But shallow enemies punish the player for their curiosity early on and only become annoying bullet sponges later. That, combined with an ultimate failure of the narrative to follow through on the psychological promises of the excellent opening, make for an experience that is, above everything else, conflicted.

Just about everything in Ultra Street Fighter II that isn't 25 years old is divisive at best, and at worst seems outright lazy. None of these features take anything away from the excellence of the core game though. The portability of the Switch and its instant two-player chops means not only can you defeat M. Bison on the train, but you can bring out the machine to settle a grudge match with a friend absolutely anywhere, at any time.

Beautifully strange and gleefully morose, What Remains of Edith Finch is a singularly amazing work of video game magical realism. Though brief and lacking any gameplay challenge, this is an incredibly special game by virtue of its narrative and creativity alone.

This is certainly a Puyo Puyo game at heart — with chatty cartoon characters and fast-paced competitive fun prioritised over high scores and analytical block-dropping — but Tetris fans shouldn't be too quick to dismiss it. After years of attempts to freshen up Alexey Pajitnov's formula, with incredibly mixed results, this game delivers the most fun puzzle experience to bear the Tetris name in a very long time.

This is a practically perfect iteration of a game that was already stellar the first time around. The satisfying rhythm of powersliding, gliding and boosting is more or less the same as it always was but the new content and tweaks paired with the connectivity and versatility of the Switch console means the deluxe version is streets ahead.

Many games have presented a "go anywhere, do anything" structure, but few have been filled with places, challenges and mysteries as intriguing and charming as Breath of the Wild. The massive land of Hyrule, from beautiful grassy plains and craggy mountains to marshy swamps and long-forgotten ruins, is rife with wildlife, monsters, villages and all manner of suspicious landmarks that tug constantly at your curiosity, and demand to be investigated.

Horizon is a special game, one which puts forth a very confident spin on action-RPG conventions and on the idea of a post-apocalyptic survival tale, but also one that will engross you in its mystery and poke at common humanistic ideas from an angle we don't see a whole lot. That said, it certainly doesn't hurt that it's amazing to look at and has heaps of cool robots to blow up, and its actual game mechanics are just as engaging as the story it tells.

Creative Assembly has deftly crafted an excellent RTS that sits somewhere between the worlds of consoles and PC, but it's clear that both worlds have to stretch a little to accommodate.

From the swampy bayou location to the more intimate brand of horror on display, RE7 is the result of some unexpectedly excellent creative decisions for a series that has long suffered from identity crisis. It's a polished, confident horror game, and I can't wait to see more.

This sequel repeats just about every mistake the original made, but in spite of that I fell in love with its sprawling world, goofy characters and thrilling aerial acrobatics all over again.

To say that I had fun playing Beholder isn't really accurate. The game world is characterised by oppression, decisions with no good choices, objectives that just aren't obtainable without taking huge risks, and the ever-present need for creating detailed, precise paperwork. It's exhausting and sad. But if the goal of the game's developer was to provide a depressingly captivating moral accountability simulator where hardly anybody ever wins, it's a massive success.

One of the most enjoyable romps through Gotham in years.

Half-Genie Hero is a masterclass in small-scale game design, packing hours of gorgeous, hilarious, brilliantly-crafted jumping and hair-whipping into just a handful of stages. The series has changed a lot in the past 15 years but this latest entry, which seems designed as a soft reboot to attract new fans on new platforms, has only strengthened my belief that it's one of the best and most under-appreciated there is.

In practice the hacking works intuitively and — assuming you suspend your disbelief that you can use the same network to steer a car or explode a sewerage pipe from a phone — it's a huge amount of fun.

Pokemon games are in a unique spot. They have to change significantly from game to game in order to keep casual fans engaged, have to stand on their own enough to entice new players in and also have to maintain a certain degree of continuity so that dedicated players' collections of monsters work in the new game and will continue to work beyond. Sun and Moon are the first games in several generations that I've honestly felt have nailed them all, and should provide hundreds of hours of entertainment for fans new and old.

Pokemon games are in a unique spot. They have to change significantly from game to game in order to keep casual fans engaged, have to stand on their own enough to entice new players in and also have to maintain a certain degree of continuity so that dedicated players' collections of monsters work in the new game and will continue to work beyond. Sun and Moon are the first games in several generations that I've honestly felt have nailed them all, and should provide hundreds of hours of entertainment for fans new and old.

Whether or not you feel the mechanical issues will be enough to ruin this sweet, impeccably realised, emotive game is up to you. For me, they're annoying but ephemeral. There were a hundred games released this year that are more fluid and fun to play minute-to-minute, and dozens that perform with a silky smooth frame rate, yet I'll remember this adventure with Trico long after I've forgotten those.

This is one of my favourite games of the year and it's one I'd encourage any previous Final Fantasy fan to consider. Besides the brilliant nods to the series past — adorable retro touches like pixel art character menus and classic game soundtracks you can buy in servos and listen to in the Regalia — this is a game that's doing something new and great with what's come before. It's the fondest I've felt about the series since VIII.

The relaxed, largely goal-free nature of the game has the potential to wear thin, but personally I found the controls fun enough, the environments and music beautiful enough, the various animals smile-inducing enough that even after the three hours it took to reach the end I was happy to dive back in, ready to search for more clues and uncover what it was all about.

There's not a dud song in Legends, so this is easily the most consistent SingStar game so far, even if it might be geared a little more to thirtysomethings.

It's stylish and entertaining to watch, but this boy just ain't got no rhythm.

The simple nature of the games is a double-edged sword. Anyone can play, but the lack of depth means there may not be any lasting appeal.

Even amateur sports lovers will find it hard to fall for this slice of lightweight tennis action.

You'll have to be bad to be good but Infernal is sometimes so bad it's difficult to see what good can come of it.

The biggest annoyance is an erratic camera, which never reliably displays the best view of the action and requires constant adjustment.

The biggest annoyance is an erratic camera, which never reliably displays the best view of the action and requires constant adjustment.

There's no option to edit the keyboard layout; the way your soldiers navigate the terrain can be erratic; tight map designs feel tactically restrictive; building armies is a slow process; and the overall presentation is extremely rough around the edges, including clumsy dialogue and grainy cut-scenes. "Total War" or "Supreme Commander" are better options.

Spectacular sequences include bombing foes as an eagle and battling in the midst of a buffalo stampede. Some tasks feel like players are being asked to jump through arbitrary hoops, but it is the occasionally wayward camera that will cause the most grumbles.

Few strategy games are more accessible. Players of any ability will find the interface simple to navigate and advisors constantly remind you of mission objectives.

It's great that fielding is interactive but you'll become frustrated with how often the wicketkeeper drops simple catches because your timing is marginally off.

Patient players looking for a unique experience ultimately will be rewarded by this atmospheric and ambitious shooter.

Without a doubt, the best tennis game you can get your hands on at the moment. If only it came with a set of sweat bands.

So addictive it should come with a warning sticker on the box.

So addictive it should come with a warning sticker on the box.

It feels much more suited to a low-priced download such as Xbox Live Arcade's "Marble Blast Ultra" rather than a $79 [AU] release.

It was radioactive ooze that spawned the Turtles, but it's your brain that will turn to ooze trying to get some decent entertainment out of this sludgy beat 'em up.

It was radioactive ooze that spawned the Turtles, but it's your brain that will turn to ooze trying to get some decent entertainment out of this sludgy beat 'em up.