The experience is enjoyable but once the basic formula has been established it’s just a case of repeating what’s come before on an increasing scale.

For people who are alright with playing fifteen hours or so of Helm’s Deep-style carnage, Shadow of Mordor is a delight – and even for people who couldn’t care less about Lord of the Rings, the exciting combat and unique Nemesis System are more than enough to make the experience worthwhile.

Strider isn’t the lightning-in-a-bottle remake that Bionic Commando Rearmed was. That was a clever reimagining, where the updates enhanced the experience rather than detracted, and every new armament felt like a natural requirement of the combat mechanics. Here, it’s overstuffed with nary a worthy challenge in sight.

It’s a fun, introspective and occasionally exhilarating ride from one end of the solar system to the other. It’s worth the trip, even if you only want to make it just the once.

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a solid collection for anyone still nostalgic for Duke’s brand of gory antics or those wanting to test their mettle against the corridor shooters of old.

While it’s not really much of a looker, and non-fans won’t find much here besides a series of fights, there’s a ton in here for fans of the series to dig into and enjoy.

There’s a spark here, though, and certainly a handful of memorable moments. There are just as many that require restraint, lest you put a controller through your TV.

Ultimately, that’s why Super Mega Baseball succeeds. It doesn’t sweat the superfluous stuff. It has great teams, good difficulty scaling, approachable gameplay and a phenomenally addictive rendition of pitching and hitting.

Hardline is the archetypal spin-off, then; the victim of a franchise treading water until the next big advancement.

And while the story is fun enough, the plot isn’t the centerpiece. This expansion to the Saints Row universe is here to give a new sandbox to blow things up in. It is a sandbox to play around, without either worrying or carrying about the direction of any overall plot.

I simply wish there was more of it. Not necessarily in terms of length, but more combat, a more fleshed out story and more player agency. It has the ingredients to be great but it’s too restrictive and those aspects of its design are used so sparingly or aren’t yet fully formed, that it’s simply disappointing.

It’s a shame those moments aren’t more frequent, though, because I really wanted to like Dying Light more than I did. I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it if you’re in need of some schlocky fun, there are just some caveats clutching on to this recommendation that even a bloody hatchet won’t fix.

All in all, Entwined is a flawed game with some good ideas, but none of them coalesce in a cohesive, interesting way.

If you’re not on board with the series’ mashing of shooting and RPG elements, there’s nothing here that’s going to dissuade, and even casual fans might not feel the need to pick up this interquel after they’re still stuffed from Borderlands 2, but for the hardcore fan it’s hard to deny the formula is still plenty of fun and taking things to the moon provides enough of a difference in the mechanics to justify a play-through.

While its myriad of technical issues are certainly detrimental to anyone’s enjoyment, it’s the lack of ambition in reinventing its aging mechanics and tired mission design that leave Unity treading water.

It’s just so cluttered by other stuff that it ends up being a slog to get through once you’re nearing the home stretch.

This War of Mine is a soul crushing thing to consider as entertainment. It is going to make you feel bad and absorb the consequences of your actions. It exists as a piece of indie expression that shows the actual grayness that is inherent in all conflict. There is no winning.

A spit-shined re-release of one of the most ambitious games of last generation is nothing to be flip about, especially with just how polished this version feels.

All in all, Dead Rising 3 is a fun, open world zombie-splattering experience that is notably let down by a weak narrative, derivative boss fights and too much emphasis on using crazy weapons to obliterate scores of undead.

As solid as ever and the best it’s been in quite a while. I just won’t be holding out hope for next year.

For better or worse, The Evil Within is essentially Mikami’s survival horror greatest hits.

If you are a Hatsune Miku fan… well, you already bought this game. If you’re a fan of rhythm games in general, this is one of the best around and very much worth recommending.

Alien: Isolation is a triumph and one of my favourite horror games ever. That it features such an iconic antagonist is the cherry on top of a delightfully terrifying cake.

Although it’s DLC, Dragonfall is an improvement on the base game, Shadowrun Returns, in every aspect. The campaign is superior, the narrative more engaging, the characters well fleshed out and the quests more compelling.

To take a game that was supposedly complete and yet seamlessly expand it in such a way is laudable, and overall, this is a bravura performance.

Murdered is a game that does a lot of things sub-par, but what it does offer is an engaging, well written story. You just have to look past the mess.

While not as revolutionary as Mario 64 or Galaxy, 3D World manages to feel simultaneously fresh and nostalgic in a way the New Super Mario Bros. series never quite realized.

Though the mystery of what happened in Mount Massive was already discovered, developer Red Barrels has shown that there are plenty of new horrors that can be built, even more grotesque than then those left behind.

There might be an interesting game in this engine, but it’s not here, not yet, and as a result Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is at best a very expensive demo that should only be approached with the lowest expectations.

If you look at that game it’s difficult to see how this has taken such a giant leap backwards. With any hope the next iteration in this series will gravitate towards previous successes.

Here we have a game that borrows too heavily from others – entertaining as those mechanics may be – robbing it of its own unique identity. The hacking rectifies this somewhat, providing that differentiating hook, but even that’s not enough to elevate Watch Dogs above the sum of its derivative parts.

Mario Kart 8 is the end result of years of refinement. It zeroes in on exactly what we want from Nintendo.

This is still a thrilling shooter with a refreshing fondness for its old school roots, but it’s the characters, storytelling and the horrifying themes it explores – ambitions that far exceed anyone’s expectations – that makes it such a memorable experience.

The latest take at JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a fair and accessible fighting game that offers something different from the crowd.

Daylight is just another copycat horror game; not terrible, just uninspired and incredibly dull. Its selling point will be its procedurally generated levels, but a game designed around replayability should at least be worth playing the first time.

In the end, though, what really carries The Stick of Truth along is its innocence, something that may surprise people who have read the stories about Euro censorship but is unlikely to come as a shock to fans of the show itself, which has always offset its raunchiness with an odd sweetness. This is, simply put, pleasant to play.

Yaiba is weird. It’s dumb, insanely frustrating and to be honest, kind of insulting. However, regrettably, it’s also a bit fun.

The flag bearer for a new generation of shooters, finally giving players a different way to shoot the living hell out of each other and doing so in the most enjoyable way imaginable. The shortage of content might be a tough sell for some, but if you’ve grown tired of this current shooter rut then Titanfall is the perfect game to make you fall in love with the genre all over again.

With a little patience and practice these challenges can be overcome, and that’s what makes Calculords a wonderful strategy game for all but the most ‘mathophobic’ players.

Tearaway may not be the best first-party game currently available on the Vita, but it certainly is beautiful, ambitious and worth a look, if you’re willing to weather the foibles mentioned above.

An unfortunate conclusion to a once promising trilogy.

There’s an adherence to old design tropes throughout much of Broken Age, but there’s also a yearning to find a way to tell this fun story.

It is ART, god damn it. And it’s wonderful.

An underwhelming conclusion for Sony’s duo on the PlayStation 3. It’s a fine game; it’s pretty, it’s got the series’ trademark weaponry, and yet, it’s just another Ratchet game.

It successfully mixes elements from its own genre and simple but addictive endless runners.

Fans of Telltale’s knack for coming up with impactful character interaction will find Faith to be up to snuff and find plenty of excuses to replay while choosing a different approach.

Despite its late-game flaws I’m just so surprised the team at Young Horses managed to make this ludicrous concept work as a fully-fledged game that I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

Each choice feels incredibly meaningful because it affects everything.

Need for Speed: Rivals is nothing if not ridiculously dumb fun, but that just makes its multiplayer failings all the more disappointing.

It’s difficult to imagine Assassin’s Creed ever leaving the sea behind.

If you’re a lapsed player this is a perfect reason to return; Enemy Within significantly improves a game that was pretty damn excellent to begin with.

It never quite feels like you get as much bang for your buck as previous expansions.

It’s a brilliant piece of interface design, the defining moment for which will come when the player realises that they’re giving a massage to the device they read their e-mails on.

Changes both big and small across the board make Pokémon X and Y the most polished Pokémon game to date.

For the first time in a long time, Pokémon has taken a real step towards pushing the series forward.

You might have been to the city before, but in Burial at Sea, it remains as alluring a creation as it ever was.

The game’s utter oddness is enough to grab the attention of the average gamer, but its on-and-off mission structure isn’t going to keep them for long and once again fisticuffs in first-person proves problematic.

Even before I really understood why the things on screen were doing the things that they were doing, it was clear that the developers had done a fine job of coupling the visuals with just the right sound.

Very little of what Football Manager 2014 adds to the series is radically new. Aside from the simplified tactics system, most changes are small, refining the user experience rather than dramatically changing the way you play. That said, these minor changes are impressively numerous and universally welcome, and they come together to make this the best, most addictive (only) management simulation available.

Quite simply, it’s hard to tell much difference between this and the 360 version. Textures are muddy, lines are jagged and it lacks the smooth anti-aliasing of the PS4 edition. It’s hard to tell exactly what this version provides that justifies labeling it as a next generation game.

Its story amounts to little more than misfired jokes about an obnoxious perv trying to look up as many skirts as possible.

It’s just a terrific experience, somehow managing to gratify with choices that seemingly mean nothing, achieving this feat with a phenomenal central performance, expert writing and ceaseless creativity.

There’s a lack of tension and attachment to these characters. You feel like you’re watching rather than playing and contributing to a piece of interactive fiction, dampening the effect of even its most affecting moments.

The sort of game for which the journalistic cliché “hidden gem” was invented.

It achieves everything one could ask from a pilot and on the strength of its setup, Telltale have room to execute what’s looking to be yet another genre defining adventure.

It’s simply a repetitive Skinner Box but without any sugar pellets along the way to an anticlimactic conclusion.

It’s a game full of hits and misses, whether it’s the boorish comedy, uneven pacing or erratic level design, but its combat hits more often than not, simple as it may be.

Rain’s emotional potency is progressively diluted by tiresome design, but there’s no one particular grievance that completely ruins the experience.

Really, the whole experience makes for an apt coming-of-age parable: a childlike wonder of space supplanted by the disappointing realisation of its cruel, unforgiving brutality.

It is a game that imitates what works from its console big brothers and does enough to also stand out on its own.

Grasshopper has made one of their more mechanically satisfying titles, but to enjoy it you have to put up with all of the other muck. You’ll have to choose whether Killer is Dead is the loveless romance for you.

For some, it may be enough to simply have a new Nascar experience, but as a game, it’s not going to hold an appeal for anyone beyond those who simply want a straightforward replication of the sport.

It isn’t as nerve-shreddingly terrifying as its predecessor, but A Machine for Pigs purveys a different kind of horror, revelling in the power of suggestion rather than the substance of real threat.

Clash in the Clouds is a decent enough diversion until the main event, Burial at Sea, eventually arrives. For as long as the leaderboards and museum can keep you entertained, there’s nothing inherently wrong with what Clash in the Clouds is offering.

Part of what makes the game so generally appealing is that, for the most part, it drops the nagging feeling of “good for an open world game."...Grand Theft Auto V is a good shooter and a good driving game with responsive character control. While some of the extras might be spread a little thin, there are no compromises with these central mechanics, which is a feat for a game of this breadth.

It’s an overly tough cookie to initially crack into, but like Tetris, it’s a game with a simple base interaction made compelling through intelligently constructed sub-systems.

This reckless, half-cocked release is not just insulting to the thousands of gamers who’ll pay full price to receive an inferior product that others will buy cut-price a few months down the line when it’s finally been chopped and changed into a playable state, but detrimental and damaging to a team of developers who clearly have a real passion and love for the games they create.

So much of it is so immensely charming, loveable and inventive that it’s hard to stay mad for too long. You just always feel hamstrung in your ability to extract the full potential out of a conceivably phenomenal game. You want to love it, you do love it, but not its whole, and that’s incredibly disheartening.

Play it for the laid back narrative and faithful recreation of 1970s rural Japan, not for a deep monster-battling system or a well-told story.

Blacklist isn’t a revolution for the Splinter Cell series but a refinement of everything that came before, enticing new players and welcoming back those who enjoyed all of Sam’s previous escapades.

Lights off and headphones on is a must. Allow yourself to fall deep in Red Barrels’ asylum and the reward is a frightening descent into the bowels of man’s search for greatness. The sound design is exceptional – even more so when considering this is a lower budget production – and the weight of the world is tight.

Guncraft is addictive and ambitious. Exato has achieved a real feat in utilising Minecraft’s template in such innovative ways. The potential for creativity and its pure gameplay should make Guncraft a hub of imagination once it becomes more populated and utilised.

Despite Paradox’s best efforts, it’s still not a game that everyone will be able to love, but for those that can, it’s a juggernaut of a title that will keep them occupied for the duration of the Hundred Years War.

There’s a good game here and it’s certainly the contemporary title 2K was looking for, but it’s Firaxis’ “outdated” effort that comes out on top if you want a modern taste of XCOM.

Maybe it’s worth checking out for the average ’90s Gamer and a new generation but the original remains the primary experience.

Even if it is at times too orderly and directed, Shelter remains admirably blunt in its emulation of life throughout its short, two hour length.

It might lack the brisk sense of mystery that propelled the first half of Daud’s story, but it ends on a far more satisfying and conclusive note that both expands upon the possibilities of the universe and sheds new light onto the events of the main game.

Beatbuddy has style and charm in abundance, but lacks the mechanics to be truly enjoyable.

It may have slightly deviated from its original design to welcome the uninitiated to the genre – the many, many knowing references reveal a game that’s meant for the fighting game community more than anyone else – but the added depth proves welcome, even if it requires a little more understanding.

If you can look past Divinity: Dragon Commander’s shortcomings, you’ll find a charming and unique experience.

Saints Row IV doesn’t play like a sequel so much as an expansion pack, substituting huge quantities of diversions and weaponry for an engaging campaign. With Steelport recycled and the lack of challenge, it doesn’t offer much beyond short-lived thrills through wanton destruction and the occasionally humorous moment wrapped in science fiction tropes.

The awkward touchscreen controls forced upon a 2D platformer cause physical discomfort and turns the difficulty ramp up from a hard incline to near vertical. Instead, a low-key PC release with controller support would have been better suited. It wouldn’t have resolved all issues, a straight port never will, but it would have lowered the hurdles that cause a barrier to entry here.

Where the modern FPS has become bloated with features and alternate gameplay styles, this is focused on delivering a simple experience that’s true to its origins.

Uninspired, dull, and pestering for more money, this fits in nicely with the volume of film tie-ins.

It does something no other medium could accomplish, and while it suffers the occasional misstep along the way, what comes before is an endearing and wholly accomplished adventure that makes Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons a powerful experience recommended to all.

Ill conceived and illogical if following orders, Heavy Squad is the weakest slice of this anthology.

Without reservation, Guacamelee is easily DrinkBox’s finest game to date. It subscribes to the design that made Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night the classics that they are, but it offers its own unique spin on the genre.

Similar to its more experimental bretherin, Proteus and Dear Esther, it’s a triumphantly successful demonstration that narrative doesn’t need to be funnelled down the barrel of a gun, balanced on the edge of a blade or relegated to a background cut scene for the sake of gameplay. Instead Gone Home actively embraces the unique possibilities of interactivity, laying out a breadcrumb trail of fascinating trinkets that leads to its touching crescendo without ever withholding control.