Rivals is an arcade racer through and through. Despite the near-photorealistic graphics, action is as over-the-top and arcade-y as it comes. You’ll deploy awesome Bond-like gadgets to give yourself an edge, put your car into perfect drifts simply by tapping a button, go faster than any sane person would go and make a laughingstock of the laws of physics.

For its vibrant visual design, wonderful music and sheer whimsical weirdness, Hohokum is well worth experiencing. But at times it seems to be meandering back and forth between a video game and a piece of interactive art, unsure of which world it belongs to.

Ground Zeroes probably won’t alienate fans of the series, and in terms of giving players a taste of what to expect in the as-yet-undated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, it delivers. But between its poor value proposition and its jarring darkness, it’s not likely to make Snake and company any new friends.

Simply put, if you’re playing with a friend who’s sitting beside you on the couch – the campaign has no online co-op – you’ll likely love Revelations 2. If you’re stuck relying on the mostly-useless AI, you’re in for a far more frustrating experience.

It’s really good. Just not, ironically enough, all that original...What ultimately keeps Arkham Origins from being as exceptional as its predecessor is the weight of the franchise itself. Origins has the disadvantage of being a prequel to a game that’s nearly impossible to top, by a new studio that understandably doesn’t want to drop the ball.

While the more-than-the-kitchen-sink approach to customization and content provides plenty to do, it’s clear that until the entire combat system is overhauled, gamers won’t be able to create art on the canvas.

It’s tough to get excited by video game zombies these days, but by blending a detailed open world, cool parkour moves and a satisfyingly deep system for character and weapon customization, Dying Light has clawed out a novel space in this crowded genre. Long live the undead.

It adds that element of strategizing, especially in online play, where a player can knock out all three of their opponents in fell swoop. Plus, much to my amazement, a character I had no experience using won me my first online match – thank you, Jak.

In fact, here’s a handy metaphor for Killzone: Shadow Fall’s ending: Imagine finishing a meal in a restaurant, and then for dessert having the chef drop his pants and take a huge, steaming turd on your plate. I don’t care how good dinner was – and in this case, it wasn’t anything to call the Michelin Guide folks about – but when the very last thing you’re served is easily the worst part of the entire experience, it can’t help but leave a lingering bad taste.

It’s rare to see a compelling hack-and-slash dungeon crawler work as well as Pandora’s Tower, but this game needs to wear its accomplishments proudly. You very well may never go back to your Wii after this transition between console generations.

Just Cause 3 doesn’t hold too many surprises, particularly if you’re familiar with the previous titles in the series. But it offers an almost unlimited number of ways to create your own flavour of mayhem, and is a source of constant “did you just SEE that?” moments. If the next Michael Bay movie features a dude hanging upside from a helicopter while blowing up a bridge with a missile launcher, you’ll know where it came from.

If you're a fan of battling bots, Hawken is definitely worth checking out, and you should certainly have some free, fleeting fun with it right off the bat. But as the game lumbers towards an official release, I really hope they dial down the mechanized money magnets.

Massive Chalice’s personality and ingenuity ultimately win out over its shortcomings, and it’s certainly worth a try for strategy fans who don’t want anything too ponderous or serious. But its cup does not, as they say, runneth over.

I love games that experiment with a unique visual and emotional palette. But compared to amazing PlayStation indies like Journey and The Unfinished Swan, Rain is just a passing shower that fails to soak through to the skin.

I’ve never played anything quite like Guild of Dungeoneering, and while its lo-fi look took some time to win me over, it’s become my go-to game for quick, bite-sized gaming that still satisfies an overall sense of achievement.

There’s nothing unexpected about this journey, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.

True to its name, Unity is a cohesive collection of the fundamental elements of the Assassin’s Creed experience, and feels like a much-needed reset for a franchise that was starting to become bloated and scattered.

The technology works consistently well, assuming you’re sitting on the floor in a reasonably well-lit room. But just as importantly, Book of Spells has clearly been crafted with the Potter fan in mind, featuring incantations, settings and characters taken straight from the books.

The Lego games have shown that kid-friendly games can have a fantastic creative spark, but Disney appears to err on the side of safety.

COD players, myself included, will still play Ghosts for the sake of having 20 or so new maps to play on over the course of the year, but in a franchise that’s the same year after year with slight changes, it’s reasonable to expect things to materially improve, not to take even a small step backwards.

Clever, colourful and weirdly comforting – there’s little to dislike about The Lego Movie Videogame, even if it feels assembled from the same bricks as its predecessors. Not everything is awesome, but it comes close enough.

Long before high school physics cast its shadow over my childhood, I used to build complicated plastic models just to douse them in lighter fluid and blow them up with firecrackers. Screamride, clearly, is aimed at me.

I’m convinced you don’t have to be the world’s biggest fan of the series to enjoy Lego Jurassic World, though it certainly helps. I’d actually bet that people who have dismissed the second and third films as nothing more than cash grabs will gain a new-found appreciation for the movies after playing the Lego-themed campaigns.

Much like Quantic Dream’s gritty 2010 PlayStation 3 title Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls fuses traditional film-based storytelling techniques with video game elements to create a new way of getting players emotionally invested in its characters and story. It doesn’t always work – and sometimes it feels a bit cheesy or ridiculous – but when that connection does happen, it’s something quite amazing.

Like the stories from which the characters are borrowed, Code Name S.T.E.A.M. truly is the video game equivalent of a page-turner, and I dare anyone not to be sucked in by its charisma.

Clear Vision 2 almost feels unfinished. The large city map and hugely expanded stock of rifles available suggest you’re in for a much longer experience this time around, but it all ends with a weirdly shoehorned-in first-person shootout, after which the plot is tied up and credits roll.

Fury Road was a big, expensive, risky film that paid off because of the irrepressible will and talent of its director, George Miller. In video game form, Mad Max lacks that same kind of originality and danger. It’s familiar and formulaic, competent but rarely exceptional. This Max could have used a little more madness.

It’s the game world’s attention to detail that makes Thief’s frequent immersion-shattering moments that much more jarring, from A.I. characters who zone out or repeat the same dialogue over and over (yes, guy on the street, you’ve mentioned your favourite whorehouse literally 20 times now) to the fact Garrett can pocket dozens of golden candelabras but can’t carry more than one empty bottle.

Like the dusty old Monopoly board buried in the back of your closet, Mario Party 10 offers familiar, predictable enjoyment, although the fun factor really boils down to who you’re playing with more than the game itself.

Unfortunately, there aren’t enough "suck" puns in existence to properly illustrate how badly this game misses the mark.

We need more game developers and publishers willing to gamble on made-from-scratch worlds and ideas, but The Order: 1886 feels like it might have fared better as a film, graphic novel or TV series. As a game, there’s just not enough propping up this shining suit of armour.

For those who love the Dynasty Warriors game franchise, the latest instalment may leave them feeling as hollow as the terracotta warriors of the Qin dynasty.

The game allows for user-created mods, and downloading new levels and tweaks might give this kid some extra legs. But I suspect most players will have a few hours of fun and then file this game away as an occasional novelty to pull out when they’re especially bored, drunk or just need to give their goat a good thrashing. That’s not a euphemism. Probably.

The Chase Begins might have too many imperfections to be the standout masterwork its console big brother was, and given the choice, you should play that one rather than this one. But it’s still worth picking up and playing, especially if you love Lego, have younger children who need something to keep them busy in the car, or generally lean towards cute rather than blood-soaked.

A new face and name certainly brings a sense of freshness to Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, but the novelty isn’t enough to make up for the lack of content. While there’s a decent game of golf here, it won’t be occupying the top of the leaderboard any time soon.

I almost feel like Ryse wants to be the Xbox One’s Gears of War – a new intellectual property by a studio known for visually stunning games, and a title that can perhaps kick off a franchise. But Ryse is too shallow, too simple and too familiar to be anything more than a fleeting bit of fun.

The Army of Two games have always been overshadowed by Call of Duty and Gears of War and the other shooter juggernauts, but they had unique co-op gameplay elements and a goofy charm that set them apart. Both of these things are mostly missing in The Devil’s Cartel, and that’s a damn shame.

The characters, for instance, are equal parts annoying and forgettable, and the writing is genuinely laughable.

If you can overlook the horror of it all – something that’s surprisingly easy, given that Hatred is far more toothless than it thinks it is – there’s several hours of mindless if mechanically competent gaming here, artificially lengthened by a punishing degree of difficulty.

Seduce Me might be a way to ease us into the notion that sex in games isn’t necessarily harmful. But next time, it wouldn’t hurt if it was a little more fun, too.

The variety of enemies is ludicrously thin, and their attack strategy usually consists of standing in place and waiting for you to charge up and clobber them with a couple of swipes.

With its gorgeous visuals and seldom-explored historical setting, Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a beautiful and original game, one that taxes our brains while stirring our emotions.