Darwin's Paradox! is a lot of fun, the octopus and aliens theme is suitably absurd and comes with plenty of useful abilities that make the experience consistently unique and inventive. It is a short experience, which you should take into consideration, but it's one that's certainly worth playing.

An absorbing, interactive Doctor Who-style time mystery, which is, without a doubt, wholly unique.

Bringing motion controls back with a bang, ARMS can feel surprisingly retro, yet it also fits in perfectly with Nintendo’s modern twist on gaming and the Switch. ARMS exhibits Nintendo’s flair for game design to its fullest, confidently taking a well-known genre and injecting it with colour and character to craft something that’s inimitably their own.

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.

Mad Rat Dead offers an entirely unique rhythm action platformer experience, one that is so good you’ll want to surgically attach more ears to your body. Original, addictive and tremendously thrilling, Mad Rat Dead will make you love 2D platformers again.

PowerWash Simulator is a rare example of a game that more than lives up to its expectations. If the calming loop of the gameplay gets you then you’ll easily find hours of your life disappearing along with the dirt and grime. Add in some interesting challenge modes and a story that caught me by surprise and you have a game that more than deserves your time.

Alienation is a slick and polished twin stick shooter, filled with huge explosions and seemingly endless enemies to kill, but it’s let down in a lot of little ways. It’s still a great game, but I didn’t fall as madly in love with it as I did with its predecessor.

A pleasantly stress free puzzle game with a weird story and boss battles to boot. The level editor ensures there will always be something new to tax your brain, and it's a good addition to the PSVR 2 library as well.

NBA 2K17 is on par with 2K16, making improvements in some areas, but with a few drawbacks alonside them.

Earth Defense Force 2 is a great Vita title, and whether you want something to play for a couple of minutes on a toilet or in-between classes, this is a must have. If you’re looking for a new game that you and your friends can have some fun together in, this is also definitely worth checking out. It’s dumb, silly fun, and even though the lack of a story can kill your motivation to progress sometimes, at the end of the day it’s still way too much fun to just drop into Tokyo and blast away dozens of giant mutant ants from space.

Warlords of New York is a welcome addition to The Division 2 and it probably marks the most fun I’ve had with the series to date. While some content falls a little flat, each one of the special encounters is a manic and explosive experience that will bring you to the edge of your seat. The quality of life changes, including the refined loot systems, also breathe life back into one of last year’s more enjoyable looter-shooter titles.

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.

Although the touch controls need a tiny bit of tightening up to allow better targeting, and the difficulty curve can be a bit steep at times, it’s still certainly worth a play.

Stories Untold is a very interesting and engaging horror title, building a huge story that taps into your imagination before expertly drawing that scope back in. A couple of puzzles don't quite stick the landing, but the game is engaging over its three hours.

It’s a huge relief to find that Tales of Vesperia hasn’t just aged well, but continues to prove itself to be amongst the best games in the Tales series. The enhancements made to the Definitive Edition tidy up and expand on an already enjoyable game, bringing the characters to life more effectively than ever before and making it more than capable of enthralling both returning players and newcomers alike.

Anomaly Agent is a fun and furious action platformer, mixing fast-paced combat with an awesome soundtrack.

Watch Dogs Legion is a different type of sequel to Watch Dogs 2, contrasting in its approach to creating a hackable open world playground, but with no less impressive results. Playing as any citizen in London leads to some less-than-engaging story moments, but the web of relationships and activities that crop up as a result of the systemic design is mind-blowing. I rarely did the same thing twice in Watch Dogs Legion, and if I did, I wasn't doing it the same way twice. Watch Dogs Legion truly feels like a living, breathing world, and it's a world that I plan to revisit often, even though I've seen the credits on the main story roll.

DIRT 5 strips away the more serious elements of the franchise and puts all its eggs in one, arcade cabinet shaped, basket. At times a riot, in other areas a little repetitive and lacking in finesse, it nevertheless delivers on the concept of an adrenaline-fueled off-road racer. It’s a game that makes you sit forward in your seat and savour the joys of jumping a Dakar Rally Peugeot 3008 over a ravine.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla effortlessly plants its banner as the best open world RPG available for the new consoles. This Viking epic flexes its gore-soaked, tattooed muscles when it comes to world-building, and medieval England wows with its enchanting untamed vistas. It’s also portioned out at a steady pace and, if not for the repetitive, limited combat, Valhalla could have ranked even higher among our favourite games in the series.

The Bureau has occasional problems with pacing, it could do with a little more polish and it doesn’t revolutionise shooters but it does adroitly step sideways into a totally unfamiliar genre and it expands the greater fiction while doing so. Another successful XCOM mission.

How much you get from Transformers: Devastation will depend entirely on how fondly you remember the original cartoon. Non-fans will find an competent, if short, beat ’em up which is perhaps a little over priced, but die hard fans will be yelping, punching the air and reliving their childhoods by transforming in to a semi truck and chasing Ravage as he pounces across Cybertron.

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.

It Takes Two is a great rom-com romp filled with action, oodles of variety, and more than a few twists and turns. No, you won't like Cody and May for much of the game, and some segments do feel a touch drawn out, but grab the right co-op buddy and this is a hoot.

As confusing as it is entertaining, Superliminal constantly uses unique mechanics that go against your expectations, even once you've adjusted to what it did last time. It might be short, but it's a genuine delight.

There’s a fair amount of fluff and filler spread throughout the lengthy RPG, but its tail end features some great nostalgia trips and fun character moments. It’s a great celebration of the legacy of Final Fantasy that’s a blast for fans old and new.

Aliens: Dark Descent is a fantastic Aliens game. It absolutely nails the feel of the films and brings exactly the kind of tense and thrilling strategy combat you would want. The iconic motion tracker and creature design fit perfectly with the genre and there is even an interesting narrative that introduces some new perspectives to the series. While game over can come far too swiftly at times, there is always something to draw you back in.

Love Eternal is an experience that lingers, with a story that can be interpreted in many ways depending on your own views. It's both unnerving and tough, which will appeal to those who enjoy the challenge of precision platformers, but it may prove frustrating to those with slower reactions than the game demands.

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes does a great job of wrapping the 2004 TV series aesthetic around a tense and fraught roguelite battle for survival.