Dream Team follows the same basic formula found in the past three games in the series, but molds all of the different mechanics together into a title that just gets better with every passing hour.

Titanfall 2 rises to the challenge of building something worthwhile on its predecessor’s foundation, and it’s fresh, fun and full of surprises. Happy endings aren’t always common in boy-and-his-’bot stories, but here’s hoping these mechanical marvels will stick around for a good, long time.

Although storyline is a little thin – Crane is in search of the leader of a mysterious cult which seems immune to the zombie virus – there’s enough variety in this new rural locale to make the game feel entirely fresh.

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.

Yoshi’s Woolly World doesn’t do much that we haven’t seen before in Nintendo’s long history of these sorts of games, and its exceptional cuteness factor helps overcome some of its slightly derivative design. But in a season so focused on doing vicious harm in virtual worlds, its lovely to take a whimsical stroll with this delightful dinosaur daredevil.

Let’s call it a game of great breadth, if not depth.

In any other year, we’d probably be more in awe of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. But in 2016’s heavily contested battleground, its just one powerful combatant among many.

Unlike the previous downloadable content, though, Citadel seems designed very much as a send-off for the Mass Effect crew, a final chapter that shoots mainly for the heart with some collateral damage to the funnybone.

It's a throwback to the good old days of gaming, when fun mattered more than anything.

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.

Despite the occasional jarring juxtaposition between its story and its gameplay, The Last of Us is a landmark piece of interactive entertainment, proving that even action games can tell mature, thoughtful tales, with characters who don’t feel like an assortment of tropes and clichés.

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.

Luigi may be a little bit clumsy, and sucking up a ghost with a glorified vacuum may not be quite as satisfying as unloading a clip of bullets into an expletive-screaming terrorist, but the newest adventure starring Nintendo’s second-most-popular brother is still a heck of a lot of fun. It’s even head-and-shoulders above Mario’s latest handheld title, New Super Mario Bros. 2.

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.

Really, it’s all a shallow excuse to get players into as many different vehicles as possible, and that’s perfectly fine, because just like the Fast & Furious movies, no one plays Forza games for the engaging plot.

While I’m not sure any game will replace my nostalgic, rose-coloured memories of the original Deus Ex, Mankind Divided is a small but satisfying step forward for the franchise, offering tons of player freedom in a dark, dangerous and intricately detailed future.

As a technical showpiece, Infamous: Second Son doesn’t disappoint: it’s an absolutely amazing-looking game, and edges out Killzone: Shadow Fall as the PS4’s most visually impressive title to date. But it doesn’t have quite enough substance to balance out its sizzle, like exquisite icing slathered on a cake that turns out to be lacking an ingredient or two.

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.

Even though the story arc is guided, playing through Wasteland 2 engenders a real sense of ownership.

The seafaring aspect of Black Flag is where much of the fun lies, but things feel a little too familiar every time Kenway sets foot on land. Climb buildings, collect items, infiltrate fortresses, assassinate targets. If you've grown weary of this formula, you'll count the minutes until you're back out at sea, plundering ships, harpooning sharks and diving for sunken treasure.

It’s bizarre and funny and quite unlike anything that’s been done before by a major video game studio. And for the most part, it works.

I’m impressed by how well The Coalition has remained faithful to the core of Gears of War while putting their own mark on the series. A memorable single-player experience blended with a robust suite of co-op and competitive multiplayer options, Gears of War 4 is a surprisingly great return to a franchise I thought I could live without...Genre-defining? Not quite. Maybe that will come with Gears 5. Or Gears 6. That’s the thing about a Fenix – they always rise again.

It’s very clever and exceptionally well-designed, but it’s not a wildly innovative game, and in the years to come I’m not sure it will be as fondly remembered as the games that inspired it.

But aside from the solid and deep fighting game mechanics, my biggest kick came simply from taking control of these familiar heroes and villains and seeing how their unique and iconic abilities had been translated into game form.

The puzzles, while never exactly difficult, are for the most part clever and satisfying. But just as Vella finds a way to confront the maiden-eating monster, and just as Shay starts to unravel the truth behind his space-faring daycare, and just as we start to see how these two wildly different worlds might be connected… boom, the first act comes to an abrupt end.

Possibly the best thing about Gunslinger, though, is how little it costs. At just $15, it’s one of the best bang-for-the-buck games I’ve seen so far this year, and has a slickness and confidence that belies its budget price.

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.

It often works, but there are points in the game where taking the stealthy route is so difficult or tedious that success feels like a punishment rather than a reward, as well as moments when players are forced to put the guns away and rely on trial and error to suss out the proper path through an environment, no matter how itchy their trigger fingers may be...Still, Blacklist is a polished, confident and frequently thrilling shot in the arm for a franchise that was in danger of being left behind with gamers’ shifting tastes.