Activities such as poker tournaments, capturing felons, gold mining, animal herding and hunting provide variety but their appeal is short-lived.

While this is an arcade racer, skill still plays a big role. Shifting the rider's weight, proper use of the clutch and preloading the suspension are necessary for clearing jumps and effective cornering.

Funny and inventive, free from challenge or punishments and with just enough content and collection to keep you engaged, Epic Yarn is one of the prettiest and finest stress-free platformers around. The 3DS version makes some sacrifices, but it's just as heart-warming.

Combined with the familiar and accessible action, the unexpected and delightful handmade stages in Yoshi's Crafted World not only give a new context for many old favourite Mario enemies and Nintendo ideas, they inspire a spark of childish creativity and wonder as well.

Controls are incredibly precise, although real Street Fighter diehards might want to ditch the joypad and invest in an arcade controller, such as NubyTech's Street Fighter Arcade Stick or an X-Arcade.

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.

The creatures themselves remain the coolest and most interesting part of the Pokemon games, so it’s always wonderful to explore their natural habitats purely for observation rather than for poaching and battles. New Pokemon Snap is an extended and ever-changing expedition through an enchanting world, with limited interactivity but plenty of opportunity for surprise and delight.

Owners of an Xbox 360 have a right to feel a little miffed that their version isn't identical to the PS2 but Pro Evo 6 is still top of the table.

Excited though I am for next year's fully-fledged Gen 7 Pokemon games, which will surely return wild battles and bring a slew of new monsters, Let's Go is a worthwhile adventure in its own right, and in fact I hope the main games benefit from some of innovations in this simpler but more modern experience. The original genius at the core of Pokemon — replacing the spreadsheets and stat charts of the standard RPG with cute creatures you nurture and grow — still shines through here, it's just in a form that anyone will be comfortable playing in 2018.

This slow-paced strategy game is just as successful on console as it is on PC - in fact it's hobbit forming.

These pinball tables are well-designed, the ball action realistic with familiar Metroid elements smartly integrated.

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.

Despite a flimsy storyline that's riddled with cavernous gaps in logic, Prey's rollercoaster ride of gun-toting action delivers the punch of a blockbuster movie.

Much of the game's undeniable thrill stems from the giddy car handling, which enables players to slide gracefully around corners at ridiculous speed.

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

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.

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.

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.

Volta is a great, nostalgic innovation for the series that alone is enough to justify jumping back into FIFA, even if it comes off as a pleasant afterthought given the continued focus on Ultimate Team. Other offline modes like Pro Clubs and Career continue to be ignored.

Owners of the latest tycoon title can expect a wealth of fresh features from this timely expansion pack.

With simple yet inventive time manipulation puzzles and charming, evocative art, The Gardens Between is a short and sweet meditation on youthful memories and friendships. By abstracting the personal, relatable story of neighbours Arina and Frendt into a procession of colourful, nostalgia-inducing scenes to unpick, it delivers plenty to reflect on even if it will only take you a few hours.

Mechstermination Force has a cutesy look but an unmistakably retro feel, and will speak to those who like to throw themselves at a challenge again and again until they understand it well enough to complete it blindfolded. The difficulty is balanced by some brilliant designs and an overall charming package that's much friendlier than the robots it houses.

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.

Warriors fans know what they're in for. It's an entertaining power fantasy with lots of bad guys and explosions, heaps of different characters to learn and all sorts of diversions on the side to power up your teams and weapons. But for all Age of Calamity's painstaking adaptation, it lacks almost everything I loved about Breath of the Wild. It's a skin deep approximation with the aesthetic and characters the only thing intact, mostly concerned with turning the existing areas into linear bombastic shooting galleries and sword fights. All that would be fine if the story or themes were meaningfully expanded here, but they aren't.

Having to wait until the game lets you solve a riddle even though you have grasped the solution long ago is particularly galling. Players too often feel like passengers on a scripted ride, rather than individual auteurs directing their own unique experience.

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

The potty humour will not be to everyone's taste but many films are hilariously lampooned.

If you can get past the dated graphics and sound in many of the games, you may discover that the gameplay is still as dastardly as ever.