Ultimately the most memorable and enjoyable parts of Village are all contained in its meaty middle section; a melting pot of inspirations and inventive all-new horrifying scenarios that, in certain moments, marries the best parts of the series’ two greatest entries. Unfortunately those moments are fleeting, but the game manages to frighten and excite throughout.

With super-satisfying combat and an ever-growing arsenal of weapons, powers and abilities, Rage 2 is one of the best-feeling singleplayer shooters around. Its inconsistent tone, ho-hum story and uninspired open world missions keep if from achieving true greatness, but it never stops being a whole lot of fun in the moment.

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.

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.

This joyful 21st century reintroduction for the Battletoads might be a bit too beholden to the difficult brawling action of the past, but it's also stylish, creative and funny in ways that so few 2020 games can match.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The modernisation of the visuals, music and customisation options are top notch, but the actual play has managed to resist being brought to the current decade at all. This means casual kart fans might find the game unfairly cruel, but old fans will appreciate the fact that it stays true to the spirit of the original in that regard.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The learning curve is steep but mulling over the rules becomes part of the addictive charm.

With intensely interesting lore and characters, an awe-inspiring aesthetic and one of the most mind-crushingly dull gameplay loops I've ever experienced in a high-budget video game, Hideo Kojima's supernatural epic is pretentious and profound, filled with tedium and terrifying wonder.

Puzzles are kept to a minimum but due to the repetitive ship interiors and the absence of a map, players will spend plenty of time meandering.

Some locations are dreary trudges through dull space-station corridors, but others show more imagination, such as giant pinball tables and underwater in Atlantis.

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

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

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.

Freedom offers countless missions and roleplaying elements such as mining, fishing and gardening.

This flashy package makes great use of Nintendo's classic catalogue to spark nostalgia, break the games down for a new audience and make the joys of speedrunning accessible. But once you've given your best effort in the 150 or so challenges there's not a lot to do, besides local couch competitions and checking in for the weekly trials.

Combat is instantly gratifying, reminiscent of the spectacular fight scenes in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Simple controls let players concentrate on timing, with extravagant moves unleashed as countermeasures to clumsy enemy advances.

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.