It’s a game of magnificent vistas and embarrassing glitches, epic ambitions and humdrum work. The world is vast and beautiful, yet filled with dumb animals and even dumber enemies. While never less than absorbing, it can be hideously annoying too.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is a game you’ve played before, but it’s a blast nonetheless. The anime’s outlandish storyline ties together neatly with the hectic fun of a Musou game, ensuring this is an appealing and meaty package. It’s just a shame it doesn’t take more risks with the tried-and-tested formula.

Battle Chasers: Nightwars is a damn good update to JRPGS of old, carrying the genre into 2018 without sacrificing what made it so appealing to begin with. The fact it’s now portable on the Switch just makes it better still.

Despite its junior stylings and mountain of cosmetic items, Fortnite’s combat and construction fundamentals are strong enough to sustain weeks and months of play, and as it nears final release, it’s only going to get stronger.

As far as local multiplayer games go on the current consoles, Super Mega Baseball 2 is a great option. If you’ve got Xbox Live Gold, then you can grab the game for free as part of the May lineup. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the sport, it’s well worth checking out.

Raging Justice is ridiculous fun which is, at its heart, just an updated version of Streets Of Rage. It’s dumb, entertaining and well made, even if it can be horrifically hard.

The Swords of Ditto is an enjoyable RPG held back by its procedural world that hinders the potential creativity of dungeons and exploration.

I wouldn’t make it my first Total War – go for Atilla or Warhammer instead – but if you’re looking for a more serious, less knockabout saga, Thrones of Britannia is a winner.

Considering all the amazing Wii U games still yet to come to the Nintendo Switch, I could have happily seen Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze moved much further back in the queue. It’s simply an average 2D platformer that doesn’t deliver the level of fun or excitement you’d expect from a Nintendo-exclusive title – particularly one featuring some of the company’s most iconic mascots.

Punching, stomping and walking my way through a Star Fox-esque metropolis and destroying everything in my path for the high score, I couldn’t help being massively underwhelmed by the game itself. It’s an incredibly simple smash-’em-up where you simply have to destroy every building to earn a multiplier and bigger score. Lifting your arms in the air will make your bot fly, crouching turns it into a tank, and lifting your legs up and down makes it walk, while punching, naturally, punches. It felt like a mini-game from the ill-fated Star Fox Zero, and once the level was over, I had no desire to play it again. I hope the full game offers more for buyers than what there is here. You do get Garage mode again in this kit, though.

If the rest of the games in the Variety Pack, and the more expensive Robot Pack, can deliver the depth offered by the RC car and especially the Piano, Nintendo has created something that every child will love. And also something that every child will learn something from.

Overwatch remains one of the most compelling and experimental shooters in the world right now. Blizzard Entertainment’s commitment to innovative new heroes, modes and responding to community feedback is unparalleled – and a treat to watch. Like World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo before it, Blizzard has crafted something that will undoubtedly be around for years to come.

War Machine is a serviceable DLC map pack and nothing more. There isn’t anything here that alters the dynamics of the gameplay, no new modes or ideas – just good, solid environments in which to do the same kind of battling you’ve been doing for years.

Got a household of bored kids on a rainy weekend? World of Warriors has just enough charm and interest to keep them busy for a day or two. Yet while it has depth and a few good ideas, it’s not compelling enough or varied enough to hold their interest for any longer. It has a whole bunch of warriors, but not the heart or soul of a great fighting game.

God of War tells a wonderful tale through a beautiful spectrum speckled with more than a few drops of the blood of your enemies. It’s a shame, then, that boss fights have fallen by the wayside at every level to become terribly monotonous – but if that’s the cost of what Santa Monica has built, it’s certainly a price worth paying...The ending isn’t as grand I’d hoped for, but the setting up of a sequel makes up for this – and there’s still plenty left to do in the Lake of Nine. God of War is the best in the series.

It isn’t exactly new or original, but Masters of Anima deserves to be a sleeper hit. It’s a fun, polished fantasy riff on Pikmin, with the sort of visual style that made the Torchlight games so charming. Well-paced, thrilling and full of heart, this little gem comes warmly recommended.

Some will relish the gruesome spectacle and challenge, but Execution manages to transform giant-slaying into something of a chore.

Some fans may feel aggrieved at the removal of certain modes. Season mode is now completely absent, meaning you’ll have to battle through the entire 162 games if you want to complete a year in Franchise Mode, and some of the creation options have been stripped out of the game entirely. However, this is easily one of the strongest sports franchises out there.

Detective Pikachu ranks as one of the most interesting Pokémon spin-offs we’ve seen in years, and does an wonderful job of offering a fresh perspective on a world we’ve become almost uncomfortably familiar with in recent years. The lack of any real challenge is an issue – and one that seasoned gamers might find hard to stomach – but while it lasts, Detective Pikachu is quality entertainment that’s well written, brilliantly presented and sets the scene nicely for the upcoming Hollywood movie.

Telltale’s final piece of content for The Enemy Within is as surprising as it is crazy. And because of that, it’s the studio’s best game for sometime. Expect the unexpected and just enjoy the ride.

There’s still a sense that Far Cry needs to push things further, with too many mundane and repetitive tasks littering its map screen, and that more variety is needed in its core mission design. This is a phenomenal open-world shooter and an excellent Far Cry. With a little extra push, it could have been even more.

It’s packed with the studio’s trademark charm and humour, while providing endless opportunities for adventure. A touch more accessibility for solo players would be nice, as would more varied matchmaking for crews, but this is a game that’s set to evolve over time. A real treasure.

Mechanically, this is a very rewarding experience that deserves plenty of praise. There are some minor quibbles about some of its mechanics, but these stand in the shade of its achievements. Sadly, the same can’t be said for its narrative, which is poor and accompanied by sterile voice-acting of one-dimensional characters. It’s the most fun B-movie you’ll play this year.

If you’re a more casual fan of the series then this is only the fourth-best Assassin’s Creed on current-gen hardware, and there are other, stronger open-world games around if you just want more of this kind of thing. It’s great to see Rogue return looking so good, but it seems destined to remain a side-story, not a classic chapter in the saga.

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is a JRPG delight that embraces the best of classic design and combines it with some new and exciting ideas. The lacklustre plot and underdeveloped characters are unfortunate, but don’t distract from what is an otherwise fantastic package. It doesn’t reach the exceptional heights of its predecessor but remains an essential part of any hardcore RPG fan’s catalogue.

Attack On Titan 2 is by no means perfect, but the original approach mixed with a very satisfying combat mechanic makes this quite the March surprise. Just make sure you’re ready for something a little different. It’s not normal…

Kirby Star Allies is an entertaining multiplayer game that’s as Nintendo as they come. Played alone, it isn’t as fun, though.

A wonderful crime thriller that embraces everything that made the series great, refining it further with new technology – it blew me away. I’m not ashamed to say that the closing minutes of Kazuma Kiryu’s final chapter brought me to tears, acting as the culmination of a story in which I’ve lost myself for more than a decade.