Most of the game is set on a moving train, ensuring the locations are very limited but your fellow travellers are intriguing.

The branching track system is brilliantly designed to challenge and thrill in equal measure. Giddy car handling enables skilled drivers to power-slide gracefully around corners at ridiculous speed.

It's accessible for beginners but has tactical depth for experienced warmongers.

A fun football simulation for newcomers and the best FIFA of recent years. Even so, competitor "Pro Evolution" still has the virtual World Cup firmly in its grasp.

We all know that war is hell, but this game often forgets that games need to be entertaining. At times the missions are just too frustratingly difficult, with your soldiers facing near-impossible odds.

A fun football simulation for newcomers and the best FIFA of recent years. Even so, competitor "Pro Evolution" still has the virtual World Cup firmly in its grasp.

Adapting one of Hollywood's masterpieces was brave, but it's a pity the game designers lacked the courage of their convictions, choosing to shoehorn Grand Theft Auto into the mafia setting.

A fun football simulation for newcomers and the best FIFA of recent years. Even so, competitor "Pro Evolution" still has the virtual World Cup firmly in its grasp.

A smart and challenging blend of action and strategy.

Terrific fun for youngsters, while amusing pop-culture satire will also have older players giggling like chimps.

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.

A very deep and realistic space simulation, but one that is too slow for most gamers to appreciate.

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.

With two styles of satisfying combat that stay fresh throughout the entire game, supported by a side of Zelda-style item-based dungeon puzzles and pre-apocalyptic series lore, this is a brilliant adaptation of Darskiders' signature brand of fun, even if it's not as grand or cinematic as the third-person action games.

Fans of racing games should look at picking this up, regardless of how many wheels they usually prefer to race on.

The original NFSU's city was a little repetitive, but now IT'S broken up into five distinct neighbourhoods, each is suitably spectacular. Most of the time you fly through these districts so quickly that everything becomes one big neon blur, but it's worth slowing down to soak up the sights.

The lovingly detailed graphics can be rotated and zoomed, but the core game mechanics remain intact.

Combat against dim-witted goons can become repetitive but missions offer diversity.

Little strategy is required for each stage, with abundant health packs and aggressive opponents of little intelligence. But there are many strategies and the use of cover is vital.

Our hero is usually equipped with a sniper rifle, complete with a brilliant targeting scope.

A good mental workout that can prove to be addictive, despite its punishing quirks.

While Street 2 is appealingly approachable, it gets monotonous, particularly for owners of the original. Solo modes are dull and arduous.

An intriguing mystery, but more mental challenge and lasting appeal would be welcome.

With a rather abrupt final sequence it does seem to rush to its climax, but despite its brevity, this is an unforgettable trip through the realm of Kong.

A simple idea brilliantly executed. Perfect for newcomers to gaming.

Pool Paradise is one of the best budget games in years. This is an addictive, near-faultless pool simulation, with the various games played in the surrounds of an idyllic tropical beach resort.

Pool Paradise is one of the best budget games in years. This is an addictive, near-faultless pool simulation, with the various games played in the surrounds of an idyllic tropical beach resort.

Battlestations: Midway has the potential to blossom as a multiplayer game, primarily online. With everyone free to jump between units, it can become chaotic, but that's half the fun.

You'll instinctively reach for the seatbelt in this aggressive display of reckless racing.

Some of the bombing runs in the solo campaign can prove quite arduous, but the dazzling pyrotechnics and adrenaline rush of flying your P38 Lightning through anti-aircraft fire make it easy to press the restart button if you fail your objectives.

Pool Paradise is one of the best budget games in years. This is an addictive, near-faultless pool simulation, with the various games played in the surrounds of an idyllic tropical beach resort.

Using the Nintendo wi-fi connection service, users can then send their designs to friends to solve, bolstering the game's long-term appeal.

The various combatants are well-balanced and there is a huge variety of vehicles and aircraft to pilot, including X-wings, TIE fighters, speeder bikes and hulking AT-STs.

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.

One of the most disturbing games of the year. In a good way.

While it does have its fair share of bugs, we're confident that with a little patching (something the developers haven't been afraid of in the past) Pacific Fighters will surpass "IL2" to become the top World War II flight sim.

Some of the bombing runs in the solo campaign can prove quite arduous, but the dazzling pyrotechnics and adrenaline rush of flying your P38 Lightning through anti-aircraft fire make it easy to press the restart button if you fail your objectives.

Our hero is usually equipped with a sniper rifle, complete with a brilliant targeting scope.

A fun football simulation for newcomers and the best FIFA of recent years. Even so, competitor "Pro Evolution" still has the virtual World Cup firmly in its grasp.

Like the film, Scarface is brutal and often ridiculously over-the-top. It uses the GTA template effectively but may feel too familiar for Vice City veterans.

Making brilliant use of the Switch console's various gimmicks while also finding several ingenious ways for four players to compete and co-operate in dozens of mini-games, Super Mario Party is the best this series has been in years.

The beginner's level is a breeze, but Konga later becomes deliciously challenging, with hilarity-inducing flustered panic as you start to fall behind and surprising levels of concentration required to clap instead of drum. Hysteria soon prevails.

The action can be hard to follow, but fans will appreciate the realism.

The story is engaging, enhanced by terrific characters, pleasing animation and memorable tunes. It's a pity there are not more puzzles to solve.

A streamlined and multi-planet take on Ubisoft's familiar open-world action, paired with an original-trilogy-era Star Wars tale that follows an up-and-coming scoundrel rather than a Jedi or Imperial, sounds like a recipe for an absolutely incredible game. Outlaws, though, is uneven. Some of the settings, exploration, heists and adventures are everything a franchise fan could want in a sandbox scum and villainy game. Unfortunately, a lot of rough edges and a severe lack of storytelling depth holds Outlaws back from its true potential.

Tight controls, inventive action scenes and solid artificial intelligence all combine to make the single-player mode an excellent experience.

A refreshingly innovative and unique multiplayer game requiring poise, cunning and paranoia.

The touch-screen combat, for the most part, works well. However, once the difficulty begins to increase, flying your craft through obstacles and shooting specific targets becomes frustratingly fiddly work, as you frantically tap and flick the stylus pen.

An enjoyable city-building simulation that lacks SimCity's depth but emphasises social cohesion.

Pikuniku is a game that's light on content but huge on charm and creativity. The locations and characters in the brief adventure mode are brilliant, the goofy physics make for grin-inducing platforming and the dedicated co-op mode has some of the funniest two-player puzzling since Snipperclips. You might be left wanting more, but it's hard to argue that what's here isn't pure joy.

With a colourful alien world, cheeky satirical story and heaps of potential for self-directed exploration, Journey to the Savage Planet promises a happier and more completable small-scale take on familiar first-person exploration ideas, even if the back half of the game funnels you more and more towards prescribed scenarios and combat.

A hilarious, inexpensive and highly competitive party favour.

Some of the bombing runs in the solo campaign can prove quite arduous, but the dazzling pyrotechnics and adrenaline rush of flying your P38 Lightning through anti-aircraft fire make it easy to press the restart button if you fail your objectives.

The story and dialogue never cease to entertain. Objectives include rescuing prisoners, killing fearsome scarecrows and playing Cupid. But, although the developers want to ridicule, the action remains conventional.

Purists may cringe at the pause option, allowing players to assess levels and assign abilities without fear of Lemmings bumbling into trouble, but it helps pinpoint creatures in a chaotic herd.

The freedom to create chaos is terrific but some missions lack variety.

Surprisingly, there is plenty of freedom for tactical experimentation. An occasionally wayward camera and the inability to save mid-mission can annoy but the reward of new firepower and the chance to improve your mission grades keep you playing.

The game is immediately likeable. The presentation is cheerful and anyone can pick up the joypad and have fun.

Dull mini-games are also available, with winnings used to buy items to improve skills. Each stadium has wacky hazards but the selection of parks is limited.

Though the replacement of authored characters with procedurally generated avatars has mixed results, Watch Dogs Legion is unique among GTA-style open world crime games as a result. The city is vast and beautiful, your options for vigilante havoc very broad and the potential for it all to explode into a memorably janky anecdote generally sky high.

One of the most disturbing games of the year. In a good way.

Highly approachable and hugely entertaining for all ages, Wii Sports serves as a great introduction and advertisement for the innovative Wii motion-sensing controller.

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.

Opponents cheat to keep every race competitive but it can be irritating, especially when rivals destroy your car within reach of the finish line.

It's a brief ride and the action can become repetitive, but the sharp humour keeps you smiling.

Adapting one of Hollywood's masterpieces was brave, but it's a pity the game designers lacked the courage of their convictions, choosing to shoehorn Grand Theft Auto into the mafia setting.

A captivating, story-driven fighting adventure with great characters, but not everyone will enjoy the violence and repetition.

Lacking any innovation, the best this game offers has already been done.

Though it's not without its faults, this is still an ace tennis simulation.

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.

The action can be hard to follow, but fans will appreciate the realism.

Our hero is usually equipped with a sniper rifle, complete with a brilliant targeting scope.

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.

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.

The biggest concern is that the game's conclusion leaves many unsatisfying loose ends.

Players have no real interaction with the despicable duties beyond sending out waves of underlings who can be attacked without warning. Progress requires patience, juggling priorities and micromanagement. Fortunately, the flaws are softened by many clever ideas; it feels good to be bad.

No long-term thrills unless you have lots of friends with the same consoles.

From restoring the soundtrack of Rock N' Roll Racing with chiptunes and CD-quality tracks, to highlighting the rare but ugly Sega 32X version of Blackthorne, to jamming the best parts of all Lost Vikings releases into one game, this is an exhaustive look at three really cool ’90s gems that goes above and beyond what you’d expect from Activision-Blizzard. Anyone who loves one of these games, or who’s a fan of modern Blizzard and wants a window into its past, will be satisfied here despite a handful of slight disappointments.

There are many improvements, yet fans of the game's ambitious predecessor will miss its free-form nature.

Streamlined controls make performing outrageous stunts easy. But car handling is overly rigid making tight bends are difficult to negotiate.

Back in the Groove might satisfy series fans that just want some new toys to play with, but the sluggish speed and obtuse design of the dated original remains.

But while the adventure is lengthy, the feeble multi-player modes will not sustain interest.

The quality of the 13 varied games is uneven, and most have little depth, but some of Spongebob's amusing EyeToy challenges are as fun as Sony's excellent "Play 2."

Completed mini-games can be played individually with increasing difficulty, but there is little long-term appeal once the delightfully barmy story has finished.

A solid and entertaining game with exciting dogfighting action and many planes, but offers very minor changes to its predecessors.

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.

A challenging, rewarding and innovative puzzle game.

Not as essential as the PS2 version, but terrific ball-rolling fun that you can enjoy anywhere you go.

It's clear that Concrete Genie is a labour of love made by a small team that really believes in the pro-tolerance, anti-capitalist leanings of the story, and the central interactive street art creation makes for an experience that looks and feels like no other. Yet while this is a vital and worthwhile game you're left to make your own fun a lot of the time, so your enjoyment will depend on how committed you are to painting virtual murals.

Like the film, Scarface is brutal and often ridiculously over-the-top. It uses the GTA template effectively but may feel too familiar for Vice City veterans.

The story and dialogue never cease to entertain. Objectives include rescuing prisoners, killing fearsome scarecrows and playing Cupid. But, although the developers want to ridicule, the action remains conventional.

There are a large range of weapons and opponents are smart. Unfortunately, the lengthy espionage sorties are often not as gripping and the change of pace is jarring.

The clever Comix Zone is a great bonus but the Game Gear titles are primitive and mere curiosities.

But beyond the odd wild ride on the back of a beast, negotiating the levels is a tame affair. This could prove frustrating for some, as the level of difficulty is often unbalanced.

It's a sedate, relaxing and simple platform-jumping quest suited to young gaming newcomers.

Sloppy vehicle handling, some bugs in the design of the missions and the endless travel means it doesn't hit the same high notes as GTA and others, but the mindless action is still good dumb fun.

A psychedelic puzzle-shooter with serious old-school appeal. It'll be lapped up by the cool crowd but it's a little too basic for its own good.

Sloppy vehicle handling, some bugs in the design of the missions and the endless travel means it doesn't hit the same high notes as GTA and others, but the mindless action is still good dumb fun.