The lack of a chat feature just ends up making Splatoon a game that rewards smart teamwork but doesn’t give players tools to communicate.

The Old Blood is just OK. It’s a great deal for the price – as a $25 digital download via the PlayStation Store, the Xbox Games Store and Steam, it’s a rarity in an era when 25 bucks might get you a couple map packs’ worth of downloadable content – but I’ve discovered there’s such a thing as too old-school.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another rampage through Los Santos in the eyes of your character, rather than looking over his shoulder, is both a surprising and surprisingly impressive feature that adds a lot of value.

It may not be deep, nor entirely original, but it’s ridiculously fun.

In a holiday season rife with games that are riddled by bugs and glitches of all sorts, it’s beyond refreshing to know that I can sit down and repeatedly wail on Mario or pummel Samus into submission to my heart’s content in lag-free glory. Smashing truly never felt so good.

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.

Advanced Warfare brings some new elements to the experience that make it stand out, but some of these changes only serve to remind us how rigid the Call of Duty box is, and how unwilling the franchise is to think outside it.

At its best, The Evil Within offers a few scares and decent, if bland and predictable, combat; at its worst, it’s unoriginal, uninspired and plodding.

Sunset Overdrive is a welcome response to the gritty, drab and deadly serious shooters that make up the majority of this genre. It sometimes tries way too hard to be funny, but more often than not it’s a riotous riff on things that gaming holds dear, and an intoxicating action saga in its own right. As long as you can survive the woozy cough syrup hangover the morning after.

Do not start playing this game if you have somewhere to be – work, school, surgery, your wedding – in the next several hours.

Perhaps fearing their game would be too short, development studio The Creative Assembly have artificially stretched Alien: Isolation’s length far beyond necessity or logic. From the endless backtracking to and fro across the Sevastopol to alien-free sections that have Amanda dealing with difficult-to-kill rogue androids, the game’s pace ebbs too low too often.

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

This is a smashing return to form for one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises, endlessly energetic and electrifying.

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.

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.

But this invigorating combat and intriguing enemy hierarchy system exist in an empty-feeling world, and not even the lovingly written lore in the game’s appendices can inject much personality into Mordor.

It has strengths. It has weaknesses. And whether or not it burrows its way into your own psyche depends on your tolerance for familiarity, that breeder of contempt, that warm blanket of comfort.

Dare I say, Ultimate Evil Edition feels like it was built for consoles.

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.

It’s tough to recommend for PS3 players who have already played the game, as the $55 price is a bit steep for some enhanced visuals and a bit of added content. But PlayStation 4 owners who haven’t yet experienced The Last of Us absolutely owe it to themselves to pick up this modern classic, and take a journey with Joel and Ellie across the heartbreakingly beautiful ruins of our world.

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.

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.