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.

Enthralling.

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.

Table Tennis offers surprising depth. Games against accomplished opponents are intensely gripping.

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

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.

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

The addition of smart and relentless police pursuers has reinvigorated this popular driving series.

The graphics are spectacular, rivalling the intense scenes in Top Gun, especially in the after-action replay mode. It's easily the slickest of the Ace Combat series.

The most striking aspect of the game is the stunning graphics, with a true 3D environment and controllable camera. Not only is everything extremely detailed but the environments are fully destructible, with pristine villages soon becoming smoking piles of rubble after particularly fierce battles.

Fans will enjoy the new gadgets, rich story and longer, more taxing challenge, yet the most revolutionary feature (a multi-player mode) is bland and dull.

From the constant challenge of bartering with your money and blood to maximise your loadout, to the awesome feeling of getting deep into the temple fully stocked with weapons and relics that complement each other to create a perfect playstyle, this is a seriously compelling roguelite. If you’re willing to make the initial sacrifice of time and energy to come to grips with the setup.

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.

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.

Perfect for a hand-held, Meteos provides an engaging challenge even during brief sessions.

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.

A psychological thriller with an impressively ambitious gimmick and some old-school leanings, The Medium crafts a gripping narrative with loads of atmosphere in an experience that’s unmissable for genre fans, even if frustrating design occasionally undermines the tension.

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.

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.

But where this latest instalment excels is in enhanced options and customisation for serious fans, while still offering pick-up-and-play access for those after a quick sporting fix.

Saints Row lacks the clever subtlety and fun-loving sense of mischief of GTA, with much of its humour falling flat. But there's plenty of fun to be had while waiting for the real deal ("GTA IV") to be released in October next year.

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.

The amusing story missions are fast and offer plenty of variety.

Exploring the labyrinthine citadel is rewarding, although backtracking and frequent deaths can be frustrating.

Armchair generals will find little innovation in this hasty sequel to last year's sadly overlooked World War II strategy game, but Phase Two is another absorbing challenge.

This exhilarating and atmospheric World War II action game does little to advance the run-and-gun genre, but it is a memorable experience.

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.

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.