For returning players, Madden NFL 19 does exactly what you’d expect, offering a fantastic rendition of the NFL experience with improved graphics, tweaked modes and other minor improvements. However, if you’re not a franchise devotee, 18’s introduction of the new engine, full training mode and Longshot’s superior first season makes it the better option for newcomers.

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.

Reanimal is bold and uncompromising evolution of Tarsier’s signature style, darker, stranger, and far less forgiving than anything that came before. I was repulsed, I was unsettled, and I loved it.

Wasteland 2 is an excellent game, but at the same time does nothing particularly new or ground-breaking within the RPG genre. It’s easy to see why PC gamers have become so enamoured with it, yet it’s hard to imagine Wasteland garnering the same appeal on consoles. Despite inXile’s valiant effort in bringing the game to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it never feels quite at home.

An infectious, frantic multiplayer blast, Super Bomberman R Online’s major caveat comes from its place amongst the current raft of Stadia exclusives. It doesn’t seem to be the place that people are choosing to play major multiplayer games, but in the case of Super Bomberman R Online, that’s a crying shame.

Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2 is a great opportunity to play an incredible game on the go. While there's compromises to the game on more powerful consoles, and it needs a performance patch, my commutes got a lot more interesting having this in my bag.

Pokémon: Let’s Go’s nostalgic charm and interactive gameplay will have both newcomers and returning trainers hooked as they explore the beloved Kanto region. Let’s Go mashes together these two different styles of Pokémon game into one streamlined format, and despite some slight annoyances, these remakes provide an intimate take on the classic Pokémon journey, especially when played with the Poké Ball Plus accessory. If you’re looking for a refreshing take on the Pokémon RPG, then this one may keep you invested until you catch ’em all. It probably won’t take long though.

It’s easy to say that The Turing Test gets a passing grade. Lots of thought has clearly gone into how the story plays out, while the puzzles are designed to teach the player without overtly telling you how a new gameplay mechanic works. Little details at the end of each zone and side puzzle flesh out just what’s going on, while the puzzles will test your logical thinking. It’s not without its flaws, but it’s certainly worth a look at for those wanting to scratch that First Person Puzzle itch.

A port that’s far more breathtaking in its presentation, even if it’s the same game from nearly five years ago. It’s a shame not to see anything new here for the gameplay, but the 4K visuals and orchestral soundtrack do a lot to drive home the point that VanillaWare make good looking and sounding games. It’s a decent sign that their next original project will be stunning in its design.

Not just the best re-creation of Space Invaders I have played, it is also one of my favourite downloadable titles of 2010. This is an absolute no-brainer recommendation to anyone who played the game or its clones in the '80s, and for anyone who hasn't played it, you will enjoy a very quirky and unusual top-down shooter.

There aren’t many games with such a surety of visual design as Pixel Ripped 1989, but while it’s deeply referential it retains its own unique character and flavour. It’s perhaps aggravatingly tough at times, and fundamentally you’ll be playing a Game Boy game for a good portion of your time here, but it’s undoubtedly a VR experience you won’t have seen before.

Blacktail is a beautiful adventure steeped in Slavic dark fantasy, though this setting sometimes sits at odds with its pan-Atlantic voice acting and script.

Blood West is a great addition to the horror western genre with level design and a range of approaches that would be fitting for an immersive sim. The chapter bosses can be a little underwhelming, but after nearly 30 hours spent in this world, I highly recommend you do the same. Just don’t expect to come back alive…

Shotgun Cop Man is fast-paced and fluid platforming bliss that evolves mechanically through the game, but it lacks any kind of visual variety to help make the hundred or so levels stand out from each other in any meaningful way.

After a decade of games that sought to reinvent and renew the series, Mario Party Superstars rewinds time for a reminder of what made Mario Party popular in the first place. Five gorgeously recreated boards, 100 cherry-picked minigames, and countless opportunities to plan and scheme your way to victory... so long as the dice roll in your favour.

It doesn’t stray off the series’ beaten path too much, but there are enhancements in terms of gameplay and some stunning effects put to good use to create the PS4′s most fun and best looking game yet...While the narrative might not have the same impact as previous games, it’s somewhat more of a down-to-earth tale of an ordinary man with extraordinary powers, and that’s an exciting new direction for the series to take.

Guitar Hero Live is exactly what the franchise needed after its five-year hiatus, and I’d go as far to say it’s what the whole genre needed. Although naysayers will lament the lack of more instruments or complain about the non-permanence of extra songs, for many, Live will become the quintessential party game and is already set to be a permanent fixture in my sitting room.

Heave Ho is the life of the party: wild and magnetic with a few surprises up its sleeve. Play it on your own, however, and it’s not quite as much fun to hang with.

Ghostrunner 2 is undoubtably excellent. While it's a tough and challenging game, the quick reloads help alleviate frustration and replace it with the "just one more try" drive to overcome it. There's a handful of small control niggles that might annoy, and if repeatedly dying is a pet video game peeve of yours, it might not be for you, but if the game gets its hooks into you, it's a sheer, visceral delight of dude slicing, shuriken flinging, laser dodging, taking a bullet to the face, reloading, and trying it all again.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a fantastic anime adventure, and one that will delight fans of the series.

Excellent stuff. For newbies this is a decent introduction to electronic music construction, and a brilliant little portable test bed for the experienced producer. It even exports MIDI.

The minor combat encounters are engaging but brisk, while the boss battles are urgent, hellishly difficult, and very memorable. Best of all, with such a short runtime for a JRPG, I was done with the game quickly, but never felt rushed or unsatisfied. Ys Seven is like a crackhead on a dirt-bike. It’s fast, and loud, and something you’ll probably never forget.

Smooth combat, seamless exploration and a set of well-executed mechanics makes Lies of P an excellent Soulslike. When you add in the gorgeous visuals, desolate world design, stark sound design and engrossing story, it raises the experience above a lot of its contemporaries. All in all, although Lies of P is essentially Bloodborne featuring Timothée Chalamet, it does more than enough to mark itself out as a unique title worth your time – and I’m not lying.

My complaints about the scenario editor and the slim number of bundled scenarios aside, Natural Disasters is great. This is another big step forward for what was already the best city builder around, lending it a fresh impetus and giving you more reasons to keep playing.

A tale of high stakes con artistry in the early 1700s, Card Shark never lets up as it teaches you card trick after card trick, has you run con after con while immersing you in a conspiracy that'd make a royal blush.

By and large, The Division lives up to the years of hype and high expectations. At its core, it marries solid cover-based shooting with a loot heavy RPG and an enticingly beautiful setting, but it really comes together when you can team up with friends and take on enemies, whether rebellious AI factions or other agents in the fraught and tense Dark Zone. There are a few foibles, but it’s a game that can easily draw you in and have you playing for hours on end.

Although PLUS is a competent port of Dead Or Alive 5, it doesn’t add quite enough to warrant a re-purchase.

Having the original Lumines soundtrack on modern consoles is a nostalgia trip for fans of the 14-year-old PSP puzzler, but the core block-dropping gameplay hasn’t aged a day. It’s still just as addictive now as it was back then, but it’s a shame that as a remaster it ignores some of the game modes introduced in later games. As remasters go, Lumines is impeccable, but then it was always going to be.