It may a look a little basic compared to recent titles, but when it comes to gameplay Burnout Paradise still thrashes the competition. The racing is sublime, the stunts are spectacular, and there’s always something to do round the next corner. It has one of the best soundtracks of any game – and yes that includes Avril – it’s just a shame that some of the mechanics are dated and clunky.

Life Is Strange: Before the Storm isn’t a story that needed telling, and it was a risk for Deck 9 to try and add to a beloved series, but they’ve pulled it off. It answers the question of who Rachel Amber was and what she really meant to Chloe, showing something that feels more grounded like a TV teen dramas and speaks to the struggle to find your place in the world.

Ultimately, for all its storylines and RPG elements, Defender’s Quest is very much about the tower defence at its core, with all the other systems in the game either informing the core experience or accommodating it. That tower defence gameplay is exceptionally strong, full of options and customisation, and the other missed opportunities do little to take away from that.

Slice, Dice & Rice is an extremely competent fighting game. The core mechanics are sound, its visually interesting and it rewards strategic play. It’s just a shame that there’s no one out there to fight against online. With more support, this could be a genuine alternative to the big names of the fighting game scene. Without it, you’re only getting half a game for your money.

Bravo Team adds nothing to the VR shooter scene and it’s somewhat baffling to see Sony pushing the game so hard considering how it has turned out. If you were considering paying top dollar for that tempting Aim Controller bundle then don’t.

The aesthetics, soundtrack, and writing here are wonderful and more than reward the patience required to fully unravel the game’s mysteries. Playing it resulted in an immersion that went beyond my niggles with the gameplay. It is clear from my comments here that the game won’t have the universal appeal to match the political and social importance of its themes and message. It is a game that should be played by many, but that will probably frustrate as many as it ensnares. It more than lived up to my expectations and if you are interested in exploring the ways in which games can go beyond other media in their use of narrative then it is unmissable.

The Bridge Constructor series gets a lot out of being combined with Portal, resulting in a quirky and engaging new twist on this physics-based puzzler. It could have gone further, whether upping the challenge you can aim for or actually giving you the portals to play with, but what’s here is pleasingly inventive and has more than few tricky brain teasers.

Perhaps Iconoclasts just tries to do a bit too much of everything, which is stunning considering it has come from a single person’s creative drive, which is so compellingly impressive. A decent edit of the script, fewer bosses and puzzle repetitions, and the rest could have been refined even more.

At first glance, I really wasn’t looking forward to playing this. Drunkn Bar Fight looks like a lazily put together cash grab, the kind of cynical asset flip clogging the bowels of Steam’s online storefront, and yet, despite some glaring rough edges, I’m eager to see what The Munky could do with more time, money, and effort.

For fans of the anime, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a great use of the license that brings some welcome changes to the series. There are still the recurring issues of pacing and a number of technical flaws that diminish the rest of the game’s achievements, but this hopefully sets a new benchmark for the franchise going forward.

Moss is an absolute joy to play, proving that a great VR experience doesn’t always require that you flail your arms around while fending off bouts of motion sickness. It’s a wonderfully realised puzzle platformer with clever twists, beautiful backdrops, and an adorable hero, making PlayStation VR even more tempting for prospective buyers.

New arcade racers have been few and far between over the last half decade, and Gravel is just one attempt to reignite the genre. There’s some good racing to be found here, with plenty of licensed cars to take through some lovely scenery, but it doesn’t get your heart pounding with excitement. Gravel might be a fairly decent racer, but its biggest sin is that, despite the fireworks and exotic locations, it’s just a bit boring.

While I appreciated the insight into the folklore of the Taramuhara people, Mulaka as a game is about as average as an action adventure title gets. It’s got some great ideas lurking within, but the overall structure is incredibly dated and only really saved thanks to the subject matter. As a game, it’s not really doing much that hasn’t been done better before, but as a cultural insight, it has a lot to offer those interested.

A fun and challenging combination of old school first person shooter design and rogue-lite mechanics. It does require a great deal of patience and it’s easy to get frustrated when it feels as if the game is punishing you with the available drops, but when you get a good set of weapons and scrolls, you can breeze through the early levels with ease before the pyramids ramp up the difficulty. If you are prepared to make it through the cycle of looting and upgrade and have the patience to put up with the potential for horrible drops, then Immortal Redneck comes highly recommended.

It’s a sad truth that still puts a pit in my stomach, but Kojima and Konami are done. Konami still owns the Metal Gear name though, and they still want to make video games for it. Please let them. A new Hollywood reboot of your favorite franchise does not retroactively ruin the quality of the old movies, and Metal Gear Survive does not suddenly make the Metal Gear Solid series any less brilliant. Metal Gear Survive, instead, stands alongside those as perhaps the strongest spinoff in the franchise to date. Metal Gear Solid as we know it may be finished, but after having so much fun with Survive, I’m excited to see what Metal Gear looks like in the future.

Unwanted and unasked for, Secret of Mana does the bare minimum you’d expect from a remake, and when you consider the original’s beloved status, the fact that it’s been given such a lacklustre treatment is stupefying. There are some elements of modernity that are welcome – the dual language voice options for one – but taken as a whole, they’ve reassembled the base components of the game, but somehow lost the original’s charm in the process.

Payday 2 is definitely getting long in the tooth, but the game’s appearance on Nintendo Switch is a good, solid port of the game. All of the same quirks and quibbles remain the same, there’s the lingering question from how the game has been supported in the past, and there’s the simple fact that we’ve seen all of this in higher fidelity elsewhere, but if you’ve got a burning desire for some co-op heisting fun on Switch, then this will scratch your itch to live outside the law.

The adventure section is deliberately lo-fi and banal, the RPG is episodic to fit within the remit of the narrative, and the battle system feels a little under-utilised. But, despite all of these apparent limitations, the game as a whole is really interesting and deserves to be experienced. Whether you’ve faced depression, are living a stagnated life, or are just interested in the interaction between real life and the stories we use to try and explain things, Legendary Gary is a fascinating take on the immersive nature of games. It is the very definition of an indie game, and well worth playing.

Sprint Vector is a wonderful surprise and by far the best VR title I’ve played in 2018 so far. The feeling of movement is just so ridiculously fun and empowering yet precise and responsive at the same time. When it all comes together – the drifts, the jumps, and the well-timed manoeuvres – there’s honestly nothing else like it.

Dandara is a beautiful game with a fresh movement mechanic, but it doesn’t come together as well as I had hoped. Leaping across platforms is satisfying when it works, but aggravating when it doesn’t, and even when the leaping does what you want it to do, you’ll find annoying backtracking or bizarre navigation puzzles to overcome. There are some great moments in Dandara, but the headaches you have to deal with to get to them aren’t always worth it.

If you’re a fan of exploration titles then you should enjoy this. While The Station doesn’t reach the heights of some other titles in the genre, it is a good attempt and tells a slightly different story. Hopefully the audio and visual bugs can be ironed out, but The Station is an intriguing little mystery that has you guessing what happened to the crew on board right until the very end.

There’s clearly been plenty of love and attention given to the remastering of Age of Empires Definitive Edition, even if some of the less enjoyable elements of the original have also made it through the process unscathed. Twenty years later it still remains a hugely enjoyable RTS, and particularly thanks to its iconic soundtrack remains a joy to play, with hours disappearing as the eras pass you by.

Pop-Up Pilgrims is far from a must-have for PlayStation VR though helps demonstrate the tech’s implementation in terms of clever gameplay mechanics and not just immersive dioramas.

Fe is a thoroughly lovely adventure, full of wonder as you explore and lose yourself in this darkly wonderful forest. Its distinctive art style and the unusual creature designs conjure up something that’s both familiar and alien at the same time, which is only enhanced by the etherial lighting and the animals’ voices. A few nitpicking design issues and some shaky performance on Switch aside, it’s easy to recommend this charming game of discovery and singing.

With more depth to the combat, Crossing Souls could be a great game. As it stands, though, the lack of difficulty means that the only reason to drive forward is the story, so a recommendation relies heavily on your view of the 80s and reference-heavy stories set during that decade.

It’s clear that these are direct ports of the Wii U games, bringing across the touch controls that were added to the mix for those who wanted to tap at the screen of the Wii U GamePad instead of press buttons. Though not the best way to play the game, it’s actually nice to see some games making use of the Switch’s touchscreen instead of pretending that it doesn’t exist, even if it’s just because all of the hard work had already been done.

Sadly, this isn’t the breakthrough fans were expecting. Omega Force took a pretty big risk with Dynasty Warriors 9, and while its open world integration can be seen as a small triumph, this newest entry is marred by its heavily outdated approach to combat design.

If Kingdom Come: Deliverance has a ton of bug fixing to improve the performance drastically, it could be a hidden gem. It’s clear that the game, despite its grand ambitions, was simply not ready for public consumption. Shimmers of brilliance are there and had it seen more time in the oven, or set its expectations at a more reasonable level, it could have been brilliant and scored significantly higher as a result. Alas, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is another cautionary tale rather than a trend setter.

Long-time fans of Seven Deadly Sins might find some joy in seeing their favourite characters make the jump to a big, 3D action game, but that alone is hardly worth suffering through the rest of what this poor package has to offer.

Aegis Defenders is a title that totally delivers on its initial concept. It’s a game that built on the obvious passion of the developers, resulting in something that’s vibrant, fresh, enthralling and addictive. And when you’ve reached the end, you’ll be heading back to the start for more.

For any Final Fantasy fan, Dissidia NT has plenty to offer, with an array of the series’ best loved characters, and plenty of chaotic combat to pit them in. Unfortunately the lack of definition to those encounters, messy UI, convoluted single player progression, and a barebones selection of modes saps a good chunk of the fun away.

Exe:Late[st] takes the delicious Under Night cake and adds an entire extra layer of your favorite flavor, plus the garnishes and decorative frosting to make it stand out again, 3 years later.

EA UFC 3 is a good representation of the sport franchise, offering a well put together fighting game that represents the different styles and weight classes found in MMA. The action in the octagon mimics reality very well, with a decent career mode helping people to learn the ropes. On the online front, there’s a divide between Ultimate Team and standard online divisions with the latter winning out in both accessibility and fairness. If you’re a UFC fan in general, then this is a good game to pick up.

Strikers Edge has a strong and satisfying core, but there just isn’t enough surrounding that core experience to keep me engaged for very long. A lack of game mode variety would be excusable if there were some incentive for me to keep playing the one core mode this game has, but that incentive is nowhere to be found. Coupled with the lack of character descriptions or a proper way to practice their abilities, Strikers Edge is a lot like highschool dodgeball; you can only enjoy the same rubber ball hitting you in the teeth for so long before you decide to play something else.

For fans of fast-paced, over the top twin stick action, complete with bullet time and a score system that awards perfection, Bleed 2 is excellent. The only real issue is its length, which is remedied to an extent by additional characters, weapons, and modes. If arcade, Contra/Metal Slug action is your thing and you’ve been missing it, you could do much worse than Bleed 2.

I wasn’t expecting to have a good time playing Sairento VR because of all the movement, but once I’d gotten used to it I really enjoyed the over the top action. Even though it was just because of the ease of slaughtering enemies mindlessly, doing so in VR really helped with its appeal. It’s by no means perfect, with some structural and technical issues getting in the way of the fun, but from a small studio making a relatively ambitious VR title, they could have done a whole lot worse.

While you may not want to pick this up strictly for a single player experience, Shiftlings Enhanced Edition is probably one of the best co-op experiences there is on the Nintendo Switch, especially considering the recent surge in top-quality indie titles on the platform. If you like puzzles, platforming and have friends that enjoy video ganes, then this is for you.

Most people probably won’t mind Lost Sphear’s nostalgia tinted approach to game design, but there’s surprisingly little to write home about. Despite a rather intriguing premise, the characters come across a tad too bland, while the quest itself is too linear. It’s hard to knock it too much, but after the thoughtful journey at the heart of I Am Setsuna, this is a pretty average showing and certainly not a fresh take on the JRPG.

Black Mirror is a good story that suffers from a dated application of game styles. While this is interesting in a meta way, it is not much fun to play. The narrative itself plays out fairly successfully. but it is hard to recommend it for this alone.

Shadow of the Colossus isn't necessarily a game that needed to be remade in such an elaborate fashion, and yet, I'm so glad that it has been. Bluepoint's remake of this sublime and poignant adventure is phenomenal, both managing to stay utterly true to the original and bringing it up to date in glorious fashion.

Out of Ammo is a decent experience that blends RTS and FPS together, and if can be fun if you want something quick and not too taxing. However, it’s a game that shows its hand very quickly and doesn’t offer much beyond that.

2018 is off to a strong start with an Dragon Ball FighterZ early contender for this year’s best fighting game. By shattering some boundaries, Dragon Ball FighterZ has combat that’s more than worth getting into, but also a diverse roster and some phenomenal presentation. The Story Mode could have been improved if it were more streamlined, but it’s a mere blemish on an otherwise spectacular game.

Vesta was an absolutely delightful way to start off my gaming year. It’s hardly ground-breaking stuff but this is a solid, dependable and, most importantly, fun game. It’s all over rather quickly, but it’s a credit to the developers that this left me wanting more.

Full Metal Furies surprised me in just how diverse the gameplay could get in a brawler/shooter hybrid. Some experiments don’t come off, but upgrades change character play styles nicely and the game is a joy to play with others. The teething problems that online play is suffering do make it hard to recommend for those with online co-op in mind, but once it’s all fixed or if you plan to play locally, Full Metal Furies is a decent way to spend a couple of evenings worth of co-op brawling action.

Monster Hunter: World is the evolution the series has been waiting for. The giant creatures have never looked better, while the beautiful open world areas and the way Scoutflies assist your exploration have brought a newfound dynamism to every hunt. It remains brutally difficult and the unprepared may still be chewed up and spat back out, but this time it’ll categorically be your own fault rather than the game’s. Whether on your own, or in a group, now is the time to join the hunt.

I think it’s important to preserve old games for future audiences, or make them available for audiences that never knew they existed. Video games, like any other art form, have a long history behind them, and a longer history ahead of them. Releases like Zwei: The Arges Adventure serve as time-capsules to help keep old pieces of history from disappearing. It’s a game very much from its time. While I appreciate the effort put into making the writing stand proudly in a modern day, gameplay flaws and dated design choices make it a chore to truly get a satisfying experience out of the game.

ChromaGun is, for the most part, a great port, but it doesn’t fix issues like the difficulty spikes that have always been present in the game. There’s some truly excellent puzzle design in the sharp looking test environments that will keep you entertained, in what is likely the closest thing to Portal that the Nintendo Switch will ever see.

Rise of the Tomb Kings is a great first expansion for Total War: Warhammer II. Stepping away from the Eye of the Vortex campaign to embark on a book hunt is more than just a thematic shift, especially with the way in which the Tomb Kings can play on the campaign map, thanks to their free recruitment and only needing a modest empire to fill their armies with elite units.

There’s two sides to The Inpatient: the first two thirds are tense, intriguing, and gives games like Resident Evil 7 a run for their money, but then the final third is ponderous, dialogue heavy, and has very little in the way of scares. With a play time of three to four hours it’s a decent length for a VR game and does have replay value with it’s alternate story paths. Despite it’s flaws, The Inpatient is still much better than many of the VR horror games available, so it’s worth checking out if you have an expensive fancy hat from Sony.

A fantastic genre mash-up between hack and slash, boss rush and twin-stick bullet hell shooters, Furi is as unique a blend now as it was in 2016. It fits effortlessly onto the Nintendo Switch, but it’s a game that is waiting to challenge you and worth testing yourself against on other platforms.

Beholder is an intriguing concept and thematically rather strong, as it twists and exaggerates a Cold War totalitarian surveillance state into the form of a video game. However, with a sequel on the way, we hope that Warm Lamp can improve on an idea that’s rather rough around the edges but is dying to be fleshed out further.

InnerSpace manages to craft a bright, bizarre and beautiful world that is probably the best example of the phrase “eye candy” I can think of. Unfortunately, the act of exploring and navigating that serene, majestic world often times felt like a headache. The poor frame rate on Switch and no clear horizons made flying and swimming in InnerSpace far less enjoyable than the idea of those actions ever was.

Brawlout is fundamentally a great take on the Smash Bros. format, and they’ve nailed the weight of the characters, movement, and the pure fun that getting four players together for some combative carnage can bring. Unfortunately the limited roster and the unrewarding grind of the in-game store can temper that somewhat, but as a starting point for a new indie fighting franchise there’s a lot here to like.

The Escapists 2 for the Switch is a great prison escape game, which stays true to its intention of bringing 8-bit sandbox games into 2018 and while there may be other ways to create a game of this genre, it is still hard to imagine other prison escape games being as fun as this both for a single player and multiplayer experience.

Space will likely be the issue that prevents users from experiencing L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, but while it isn’t a perfectly controlled VR experience, it’s impressive that we’re seeing a VR game that utilises Room Scale VR in ways that make sense. To actually be part of this crime drama, investigating crime scenes and apprehending criminals, was more enjoyable in VR. Here’s hoping the next time we see something like this, it’s a dedicated experience.

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King is another indie game which feels right at home on Nintendo’s platform, despite also being available on Steam. The game will appeal to those looking for a bit of classic dungeon crawling, and it will be sure to please those that have missed top-down Zelda adventures. With a lovely kingdom to explore and a varied range of objectives, Blossom Tales shows us that this genre is still very much alive.

The Battle Royale game mode is so compelling, with each loss only making you want to do better next time, and each victory giving you stories of tense games of cat and mouse and frantic gunfights. It’s still lacking in terms of polish and optimisation, but after years of experimentation, this feels like the real start of a new paradigm in multiplayer gaming.

Tiny Metal is a great attempt at reviving the Advance Wars style of approachable military strategy for modern audiences, but while it certainly looks and behaves the part, the poorly balanced campaign and uninspired narrative only serve to emphasize just how special those classic games were.

Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package is perhaps the perfect Christmas game; stuffed to the gills with content that swiftly loses its novelty, with the overall effect being a kind of overfed sleepiness. In this case, less could have been more.

For those who have been following the game since long before it’s PlayStation 4 announcement, Gang Beasts really does come as a poisoned chalice. Its meathead multiplayer melees will light up your living room for hours on end, yet when there’s only one person in the hot seat, it loses that charm almost completely.

Gorogoa’s main problem lies with its outdated linear approach. It’s a fantastic, distinctive looking game with a solid hook for progression through its puzzles, but it ironically doesn’t take a lot of risks. If you want a good hour or so to play a unique puzzle game, Gorogoa will fill that void, but just don’t expect it to do much more than that.

Shooty Fruity is a fun arcade shooter for VR that will be enjoyable for many people regardless of skill. The simple control mechanics makes it easy to pick up for anyone. Shooting aggressive fruit with various weapons is absurdly entertaining, while the pressure to perform basic tasks keeps you on your toes. Shooty Fruity is a simple premise well executed.

ELEX is the very opposite of the accessible games that have revolutionised the open world RPG in recent years. I enjoyed it as a modern looking take on the Gothic series, but newcomers will have to be prepared to fight against the systems through the beginning of the game. This has resulted in the game quickly gaining a cult following who celebrate its obscurity and lack of accessibility. I don’t agree with this take and would argue that the best aspects of the game would only be improved by a more polished and refined presentation.

LocoRoco 2 Remastered certainly gets the job done and while it is shorter than the original, there’s a ton of side content present. Its charming, minimalist detail looks great on the whole and runs as smoothly as one could hope for. The omission to that is with the low resolution cutscenes, which is somewhat ironic considering the emphasis on 4K in the marketing, but LocoRoco 2 Remastered is more of the same, which can only be a good thing.

Cat Quest is definitely good fun for a few hours and can be quite humorous, but a lack of depth to the basic gameplay loop means it gets repetitive and it’s easy to lose interest. Once you reach that point, tolerance for cat puns wears thin and the bright, cheerful aesthetic, while nicely realised and attractive enough, isn’t enough to keep people coming back. The only thing left to look forward to is the quirky side quests, which can be written well enough but again, are based around cat puns.

Nine Parchments is a solid release. Its gorgeous art style, dependable controls and fun co-op play almost hide a multitude of sins. Almost. Unfortunately, with a poor save system and combat mechanics that never really develop from the first level onwards, Nine Parchments soon becomes a slog that is less than magical.

Monster of the Deep definitely succeeds in immersing players, though fans of Final Fantasy may be left sorely wanting. It comes with a hefty price tag and, gameplay-wise, there’s so very little tying Monster of the Deep to Final Fantasy XV even if it does feel like part of the universe.

It’s Quiz Time has all the basics of a good quiz game, and can be plenty of fun with a group of friends. However, the host is unlikeable, rude and annoying, and you’ll be doing everything you can to give her as little screen time as possible, while the accuracy and difficulty of some of the questions can rob some rounds of their enjoyment.

Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier is an exciting narrative adventure that fans of the recent film trilogy will love. Its biggest drawback is perhaps how little interaction you actually have with it and that some of your choices make no difference to the game’s direction, but as a fantastic-looking, branching story in a loved world, there’s nothing else quite like it.

Reigns’ devilishly simplistic game of Tinder-like kingdom management feels just as inventive now as it did in 2015, but Reigns: Her Majesty fixes some of its more poorly considered design choices while also putting a refreshing spin on the challenge you face by casting you as a (very powerful) woman in a man’s world. The king is dead. Long live the queen!

de Blob is a welcome remaster and will hopefully lead to those who avoided the Wii version enjoying a fun and vibrant platformer. The sequel was released as a multiplatform title, so it’s possible that some may be looking backwards to the series’ origins. The game itself still holds up in comparison to its sequel, though it doesn’t have the enjoyable 2D sections. If you’re after a splash of colour to illuminate the dark winter nights, de Blob is a good place to go.

Unlike the invention of the wheel or the utilisation of fire, Caveman Warriors is hardly likely to revolutionise our world, but then it wasn’t intended too. Instead you get a solid and fun side scrolling platformer that harks back to the console classics of yesteryear. It’s gorgeous to look at, and whilst frustration can be caused with several technical issues, I nonetheless enjoyed my time with Caveman Warriors.

As a VR experience designed from the ground up for the technology, Doom VFR is probably the best example of this to date. There are some improvements to be made with the movement, but it is otherwise a fantastic bit of the ol’ ultra violence that shouldn’t be missed. Bethesda have definitely shown they understand the potential of VR, so hopefully we’ll see more dedicated VR experiences in the future.

It might not be the best example of the genre, but if you’re going to play it then the portable option makes the Switch the best place to play.

The recurring theme here is substance. On paper, creating a wave-based shooter doesn’t sound all that inventive or ambitious, yet Raw Data is just that. In a bid to capitalise on the VR gold rush, we’ve seen plenty of smaller, lacklustre shooting galleries, but Survios effortlessly puts them all to shame.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a phenomenal RPG. It's a truly incredible piece of work that builds and expands on the series' staples, while turning into a unique and heartfelt adventure all of its own.

I’m really surprised just how much I enjoyed Sky Force Reloaded, the first time I loaded it up I was playing it for five hours non-stop and at no point was I bored. Adding grind to a shoot ’em up sounds terrible but it’s a genius idea to counter the shoot ’em up’s traditionally short playtime. By adding the challenges, the act of replaying a level twenty or more times never gets boring. I am now going to bestow on Sky Force the highest honour I can give it: It reminds me of SWIV.

Oriental Empires is a very well made strategy game that allows you to get through a campaign in a few hours instead of having saves that span days, though that is an option as well if you wish. Despite its smaller scope focusing on Ancient China instead of the globe, the stakes actually feel higher due to the limited resources and high number of factions fighting for them. While some of the systems require a lot of getting used to Oriental Empires is well worth persevering with.

League of War: VR Arena isn’t a badly made game – it’s well presented and looks pleasing enough in VR – but it’s very, very, limited. Play the game for twenty minutes and you will have seen almost everything. There is almost no strategy and half the time you can win by picking units up as fast as they are produced and throwing them onto the battlefield. Porting the simple mechanics of a mobile game to consoles rarely works, even if you add a nice shiny VR element. A missed opportunity.

Outcast: Second Contact is an eighteen year old game that’s been given a makeover. This is absolutely fine if you’re a fan of the original and want to play it again on modern hardware, but if you don’t have the nostalgia quality there’s absolutely nothing that you won’t find here that’s done far better elsewhere.

Mantis Burn Racing is a solid top-down racer that really just wants more tracks and less repetition to be considered great. As it comes to Nintendo Switch, VooFoo have done a great job with the port, making a handful of sacrifices to hit the 60fps target the vast majority of the time, and preserved local split-screen for which the Switch is so well suited. It’s just a shame that there’s barely a pulse when looking to play online.

More importantly, it’s proven that traditional games, no matter how big, can work in VR.

Sadly, there’s one control scheme for Worms WMD on the Switch does get a bit cumbersome, though really this isn’t the fault of the developers. Moving the camera if they’re using the Joy-Cons turned sideways requires players to adopt a rather interesting position with their hands, positioning one finger behind the controller as it were. It’s probably more convenient to have the game as a hot-seat experience if you’re running low on controllers.

There’s some good ideas in how PlayLink can be used to let a group of players (and non-gamers in particular) join together and shape a filmic story, but the actual interface feels clumsy, and the story and scripting leaves plenty to be desired. It’s safe to say that Hidden Agenda is an obvious disappointment.

Knowledge is Power makes good use of PlayLink to open the door to those more familiar with tapping on phones and browsing the internet than knowing where that Square button is meant to be, and that’s its real strength. Outside of that, it has a few other ideas, but ends up as a fairly middle of the road quiz game that’s easy enough to put on the telly and your phones for a quick test of knowledge.

The easily outrun and overly simplistic combat is a major blow that Road Rage never manages to recover from. The basic open world design, ugly visuals, and various bugs become harder to tolerate knowing just how deeply unfulfilling the core gameplay is, even when you factor in the budget price tag.

If you like charming platformers then Wuppo may just be for you. The game offers a fun, though at times frustrating experience with a number of challenges to overcome. The world of Wuppo is quite unlike any other and filled with a lot of neat little touches, and though the story may be predictable it is well-told, likeable and easy to pick up.

If the combat were just a touch more dynamic, Hand of Fate 2 would be essential. As it stands, it’s still a great sequel and perfect for anyone wanting the thrills of an RPG without feeling loss. Defiant constantly prod players into the unknown and the results are always fun and rewarding.

Being able to take this huge adventure with you everywhere you go is fantastic, and, if you thought that Skyrim took over your life before, now it actually can.

A Hat in Time has certainly been well worth the wait, and is easily recommended to platformer fans across all formats. It sits nicely alongside Yooka-Laylee and offers a different take on the N64 nostalgia that both titles share. It’s unlikely to knock Mario off his perch as king of the 3D platformers, but it is a more than acceptable pretender to the crown. It also has a central antagonist called Moustache Girl who is a girl with a bushy moustache. A Hat in Time opens up to be a real standout in the recent renaissance of the 3D platform game.

While a fun distraction, there’s little to recommend wholeheartedly when it comes to Kirby: Battle Royale. Its mini-games are well designed, but with a short Story Mode and limited replay value for its other modes, it becomes clear that this is not a stellar addition to an already bulging line-up. Kirby fans are probably better off saving for a Switch as the pink puffball is heading there next year.

Rocket League is still a fantastic game, and one that I’m glad I’ve taken the opportunity to return to with a port that ticks all the boxes. Playing online has been as compelling as ever, even if I’m just as vaguely bad as usual and spend entire matches marvelling at some people’s rocket car skills. Of course, then there’s the ability to pull out your Switch on the train and get a couple rounds in against bots on your daily commute.

If you can look past the steep difficulty curves, unimpressive visuals and unwieldy controls, then you will find a deep and compelling historical strategy experience that will keep you engaged for many weeks.

Despite it’s flaws, I still found Need for Speed: Payback quite a likeable arcade racer. Just having a narrative sets it apart from the other, more serious offerings this year, even if it’s not delivered with much panache. Sadly its attractive visuals, and alternate take on the genre, can’t disguise a gamut of poor design decisions, some of which serve to make the enjoyable racing less than enjoyable.

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon surpassed my expectations. There were things overly familiar in more ways than one, but it’s not fully covering old ground. Plenty of new features and details will make fans of the franchise very happy and while I still mourn for the DexNav to this day, the new content is well worth becoming Alolan Champion once more.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is a fantastic Lego game. A fun narrative, a list of well-known characters a mile long, and further refinement on the series’ classic gameplay mark this out as the best Lego game yet. Admittedly, it’s still another game in a well-trodden franchise, and one which doesn’t reinvent the (plastic) wheel, but few brands can claim the consistent quality on show here.

Having flirted with the dark side in the run up to launch, Star Wars Battlefront II has had its reputation sullied by its underlying business model and how that is tied to character progression. That distracts from how much it improves on the first game though, with much better variety in Galactic and Starfighter Assault, character classes and team play being gently encouraged, and a broader and deeper player progression. Perhaps the greatest irony is that fear, anger and hate were Star Wars Battlefront II’s path back towards the light.

I was so ready for an action RPG entry in the Neptunia series to come along and scratch my itch, but instead it puked on my lap and barely touched the itch. I had so much fun with the story and characters, but with better combat and more consistent performance, this game could’ve been something special.