MotoGP 17 could be seen as a last hurrah for Milestone’s ageing game engine, but even with new modes and technical improvements, it feels more like they’re treading water while waiting to revitalise the series next year with Unreal Engine 4. Get it if you absolutely must have 1080p60 MotoGP, but otherwise, there’s something better on the horizon.

Sadly, a rather major flaw in Drifting Lands’ level design really brings down a game that is mostly well crafted. Looting has all the well-thought out tropes that similar games have in spades. It’s just a shame that each level is essentially a miniature horde mode rather than featuring proper level design, and that the number of levels could have been cut drastically to make for a more coherent experience. These hang-ups sadly prevent me from recommending Drifting Lands for diehard fans of the genre, but it’s otherwise an alright effort.

Nex Machina is the pinnacle of all things Housemarque, with concepts and ideas that have been refined over many games in their purest form. That’s both its strength and its weakness, as there is nothing you haven’t seen before in one of their previous games. If you are a fan of the Finnish developer’s game, this is still an essential purchase, but if you’re a newcomer, this is the best place to join the party.

Whilst Spellspire is not a bad attempt at a word game, adding in the interesting layer of dungeon crawling gameplay on top, but it seems somewhat ill-suited to consoles. The central typing mechanic of the PC version is lost and the clumsiness of navigating an onscreen keyboard causes frustration.

Despite the promising names behind the title, Dark Rose Valkyrie stumbles over its own ambitions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the parts of the game that were the responsibility of the Tales series veterans, the art and the writing, were the most successful, but where other collaborations have been able to balance each party’s strengths an diminish their weaknesses, that’s not the case here.

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.

The Town of Light isn’t a game you play for fun. There’s nothing enjoyable about the true face of mental illness nor the fear and isolation it engenders. Instead of aiming to reward players with a sense of enjoyment, LKA.it strives to help them empathise with the character of Renée and the unspeakable horrors she’s forced to endure. There’s a sobering, meaningful story to be witnessed and while its delivery is imperfect, The Town of Light still makes for one of the most thought-provoking games of this year.

Dirt Rally was just a glimpse of what was yet to come, with Dirt 4 bringing this long running series back with not just rallying, but more full-on wheel to wheel action alongside it. In going for a more focused style of game and a more demure attitude, it’s lost some of Dirt 3’s hyperactivity and fun, but with a limitless supply of new stages to send you car hurtling along, Dirt 4 is a rallying game for the ages.

Wipeout Omega Collection pulls together some of the series’ most recent highlights and uses the power of the PlayStation 4 Pro to keep the franchise on the technological bleeding edge – and it does so in spectacular fashion. This feels like far more than a tentative step towards a fully-fledged new entry, proving that as long as there’s PlayStation, there should be Wipeout.

I wanted to like Lock’s Quest. For a fan of strategy, RPG, and puzzles Lock’s Quest could have been one of those titles that brought the three together properly. Nine years ago on the DS, it probably did it fairly well, but this port has a number of issues that could do with addressing. The camera and lack of explanation for your abilities are the most glaring ones, and once you settle into a tactical groove early on, things soon become dull. Lock’s Quest is a game that had potential, but it feels squandered.

Tekken 7 is a phenomenal fighting game experience and one I’d highly recommend. It’s by no means perfect, as the game is not without a few technical issues online, some long loading times, and minor continuity errors, yet as far as most people will be concerned, it delivers a stunning, up-to-date fighting game experience from one of the masters of arcade fighting games. A solid return to form.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker is an extremely polished text adventure that you absolutely must experience. Its characters can invoke a deep curiosity that only tunnelling down that rabbit hole will ever satisfy, and the multiple endings and randomly selected elements help flesh a game in a genre that’s usually a “one and done” affair.

A colourful and silly VR shooting gallery, Dick Wilde is simply let down by being too difficult. Stick with it and, over time, you might start to see some progress. But those players wanting to kick back, throw on their headset, and have a shoot up in virtual reality may want to reconsider.

As far as debut projects go, Tokyo 42 is a great game with a fascinating sense of style and a confident swagger, let down by a handful of little things. Controlling how to shoot takes some getting used to and that sharp increase in difficulty was unwelcome to say the least, yet I had a fantastic time sneaking around and assassinating targets however I wished. A great effort.

Playing Star Trek: Bridge Crew is every Trek fan’s dream, giving you the opportunity to sit on the bridge of a Federation starship. It’s a great co-op game for VR, but takes a few direct hits when played with AI and when you think about the balance between roles and the mission structure. Even so, with the Trek license lending this game an awful lot of atmosphere and the paucity of must-have VR games right now, this is still a near essential buy.

Vanquish does have its problems, but very few of them are tied to the PC port, which incidentally makes this version the best one by default. It’s B-movie nonsense at its best, with a science fiction setting, and very cool action sequences. It could definitely do with a bit more variety in enemies at times and it’s a little on the short side, but it’s still a great romp seven years later.

While Way of the Hado feels tacked on and ultimately a pointless gimmick, this is still a great version of Street Fighter II and currently the best way to experience the classic game on today’s hardware. The additions to the main game are minor at best for the astonishing price tag, with Evil Ryu and Violent Ken just being amped up clones of existing fighters, but it still plays like the classic arcade fighter. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary.

Good games make headlines and bad games will also generate column inches, the one thing you don’t want you game to be is average, but sadly that is what Demon’s Crystals is. It plays perfectly well and is free from problems and bugs, but it’s totally forgettable without a speck of originality. At just £3.99, it’s a good price for a few hours entertainment if you have some friends on the couch to play with.

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is an fantastic game, there’s no doubt about that.

Tequila Works’ efforts these past few years have delivered a game that’s full of beguiling charm and beauty, one that can stand up to many of the comparisons with some of the most fondly remembered games of the last decade. It doesn’t always meet those high standards, but Rime has been well worth the wait.

Whilst I loved the meditations on life and identity, the game never really felt polished enough to avoid detracting from the overall experience. It is by no means a bad game, but ends up as perhaps the very epitome of average.

Even, if for some reason, you happen to take a liking towards VR Karts, it’s not worth £34.99 of anyone’s money and exposes the imaginary premium that studios are putting on games simply because it says VR in the title. It’s such a sour point to end on, but even if it were priced accordingly, VR Karts rarely peaks above mediocrity.

While there’s a distinct appeal to Steel Division: Normandy 44, this is a game that caters to a particular niche audience of hardcore strategy fans. Its depiction of the Second World War focuses on realism, with a reliance on ambushes and weight of fire in infantry combat and a surprising fragility to the tanks, but this difficult to master game won’t be for everyone. There’s some clever ideas in the shifting front lines, the fog of war and Battlegroups, but there’s problems with the presentation and some elements that feel unbalanced.

The combat system remains completely untouched since Samurai Warriors 4 and for all its minor tweaks and nuances, time’s running out for this ageing brand of battlefield action. Even long-time fans will agree that, after being pulled in just about every direction, the series desperately needs to move on. No pressure, then, Dynasty Warriors 9.

Injustice 2 has built upon the original in every way and then added a whole host of content on top, setting a new standard for fighting games.

Shadow Warrior 2 stands on its own as a frenzied yet fresh blending of genres that can easily enthral groups of players for hours at a time. For lone wolves, the looting and shooting will be slightly less appealing. This, and a few smaller hitches, hold the game back from greatness, though die-hard fans of the genre will certainly get their fill.

Skylar & Plux does an exceptional job at giving us a beautiful 3D platformer with truly fun platforming sections, delightful puzzling elements and one-liners that had me laughing. The problem with the game is that it needs a bit more polish.

NBA Playgrounds gets so much of the setup right, often reawakening the spirit of the NBA Jam series, but it fumbles some of the finer details with needless complications and lacklustre AI. As a solo experience there are much better ways to spend your money, but when it comes to multiplayer NBA Playgrounds is so very nearly shooting nothing but net.