MachineGames have done a wonderful job capturing the essence of the old-school shooter while avoiding its pitfalls, and presenting it in a way that will attract new audiences. The result is a game that’s as good as you remember its forebears being, even though it facilitates the player in ways that games from a decade ago didn’t. This is Wolfenstein for the new generation, and it’s worthy of the legacy.

While there are certainly some issues holding MLB 14: The Show back from being a classic in the sport game genre, there’s far more good than bad. The attention to detail, the plethora of content and the rock-solid gameplay make up for any problems.

Despite the solid core golf mechanics and snappy visuals, Mario Golf World Tour feels a bit scatterbrained, which is surprising given Camelot’s pedigree with Nintendo sports titles.

Trials Fusion, the latest title in the series, offers the same experience as previous entries – great for fans, but it all feels a little too familiar for those who have already spent many hours racing, crashing and restarting in previous Trials games.

Kirby is a legitimate stalwart in the Nintendo pantheon, and while the series has had a lot of ups and very few downs, I’m willing to go on record and say that Triple Deluxe is one of the best, and can stand alongside any of the Kirby classics.

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

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.

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.

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.

What’s odd about The Stick of Truth is that for all its irreverent humour, it’s a strangely conventional role-playing game, with combat styled after the turn-based battles that have been around since the original Final Fantasy days. Once the novelty of the South Park wrapping wears off, it spends more time obeying gaming clichés than parodying them.

This sweaty, intertwined combat threesome – Pilots versus Pilots, Pilots versus Titans and Titans versus Titans – gives Titanfall a unique energy and fluidity that I’ve never seen in a shooter before.

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

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.

What ultimately makes Left Behind special is the same thing that made The Last of Us one of the best games of 2013: characters we can relate to, care about and invest in. It’s well worth the pain of one more goodbye.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If I want serious adult drama, I’ll watch The Walking Dead. But for sheer, unadulterated fun, Dead Rising 3 has my thumbs, eyes, brain and heart. Or, as a zombie would call it, a well-balanced breakfast.

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.

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.

While it’s clear Traveller’s Tales has some kinks to work out as it ambitiously continues to tackle the open-world genre, there’s no doubt it knows how to craft a title that lovingly honours whatever the subject matter is.

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.

As the most successful and dramatic HD upgrade ever, and of one of the better adventure games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD seems like a no-brainer if you own a Wii U and have any love for Zelda games.

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.

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.

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.