Your mileage with WarioWare: Move It will inevitably vary. What do you want from this game? If you want the classic microgames experience, it isn’t really here. If you want a killer multiplayer game to play with the family over the holiday season (assuming everyone is able-bodied), it’ll be ideal. I can’t wait to play this more with friends. But I don’t see any reason to boot it on my own again any time soon.

Those that have seen the secret ending for Kingdom Hearts 3 know that Kingdom Hearts 4 could very well be series director Tetsuya Nomura's attempt at making his vision of Versus 13 made real, but I'm so glad that we have Reynatis as another interpretation of that vision, and to be honest, I hope even more developers make their own interpretations of Versus 13. Reynatis is a reality based on fantasy, and though it's far from perfect, that's enough for me.

There’s a good game under all the rubble and perplexing business decisions (such as not giving it out in PS Plus Extra), but why should you put up with all these frustrations when the game doesn’t a have distinct identity and there are better alternatives available for free right now?

Wild Hearts often feels like a game that doesn’t want to be played. It’s fussy, it’s janky, and it constantly trips itself up. An erratic gameplay loop, an absolute bastard of a camera, and some ill-conceived weapon gimmicks prevent Koei Tecmo and EA’s experimental hunting joint from ever really succeeding where its genre rivals have. It’s ironic that building is such a core part of this game: if this is the start of a series, Omega Force has laid down some important groundwork, but it needs to do make some serious structural revisions from the foundations up if it ever wants to look eye-to-eye with Capcom’s imposing juggernaut.

However you feel about Evil West, the $50/$60 asking price is too steep for what’s on offer: the nature of its level design, limited enemy variety, and forgettable story will get in the way of your enjoyment, even if you’re only there for the combat. As engaging as it is, that action just doesn’t make up for Evil West’s shortcomings elsewhere.

Warzone is, like its skull-masked, kevlar-tucking “operators”, entirely solid. It bloody well should be, given its pedigree. But there is remarkably little interesting here – aside from flourishes like the sinister gulag section – to command our attention. It’s not particularly beautiful, and makes up for that with enormity. Sure, this is a CoD game we’re talking about, so fantastical theme park aesthetics were never an option, but nevertheless there’s a lack of character here that is in no short supply in other games of this genre.

Solar Ash deserves props for its world design, the fluidity of movement when you're in the groove, and the sense of scale on display, so it's somewhat painful to be down on it to the degree I am. It's not far from being a bit special, the kind of indie gem that everyone has to play, but it's unfortunately just not quite there. There's still a great deal of fun to be had here, and your mileage with the mechanics might be better, but for me Solar Ash is so focused on delivering flow, it forgot that you don't want to go on the same walk every day.

Slicing through mobs to trade up my weapons is fun, and sometimes an amusing line of dialogue makes everything seem great again. Gearbox could’ve done a lot more with the next installment in the Borderlands' series than this. It all got old, too quickly, and it made me just want to boot up Borderlands 2 with my friends again, instead.

Exoprimal will be a rollercoaster of surprises for the majority of players. Making your way through the fifty-or-so matches it takes to hit credits, experiencing all the spectacle on display in this curveball of a game, is in my opinion worth the cost of admission for Game Pass users, and perhaps at a discount for all others. It'll remain a presence on my PS5 home screen, for now at least.

Resurgence is the best Star Trek game since Elite Force. To expand on that, I’d say that Elite Force is the better video game based on Star Trek, because it’s a decent shooter (and there’s a handheld photon launcher, which is basically the most gleefully stupid thing ever conceived). But Resurgence is the best Star Trek Game. As an interactive adaptation of the popular television franchise, it succeeds. And though there are areas where it could do with more polish, where better decisions could have been made, and where I wish there was extra money to spend, all of that melts away when I consider that as someone who grew up watching The Next Generation, playing this game felt like returning home.

All that matters at the time of writing is the launch experience, though. Minecraft Legends is gorgeous-looking, and is thrilling in how it presents the Minecraft world from another angle. It also has a solid backbone for a captivating RTS. It just doesn’t go far enough, however - and the final result is a game that struggled to hold my attention the deeper in I got. It’ll be decent Game Pass fodder - but I can’t help but feel like this should’ve been so much more. It certainly won’t be for everyone, though I expect Minecraft-obsessed kids to have a blast regardless.

But whether you’ve grown up with Goku and friends, or you’re a first timer who’s never fancied sitting through 300 episodes without getting to play a part in the action, this is still a great way to experience the classic story.

As it stands on release, the best parts of Crimson Desert are buried deep under layers of absurdity.

It’s the sort of arcadey sports experience that doesn’t really happen any more. Most sports games now are simulations – so I’m so glad to get another game that carries the spirit of older, arcadey, more silly sports games. The adventure mode’s shortcomings don’t dent that significantly enough to stop me from recommending Mario Golf: Super Rush – but just don’t go in expecting an all-time-great sports story mode.

Disintegration is a warts-and-all exercise in genre nostalgia. The squad shooter has been missing in action for so long, and it’s a pleasure to have it back, with an even greater emphasis on tactics. But the gruff storytelling and rough edges are a reminder of what we were happy to leave behind in the mid ‘00s – along with ugg boots and The Black Eyed Peas’ My Humps.

Phoenix Point is all a little too like XCOM to move the genre forward in any huge way.

One thing I really appreciate about DioField is its length, however. Which is to say: it’s relatively short. By strategy RPG standards, anyway – Disgaea this ain’t. You can blast through the main narrative, with a smattering of side content, in around 20 hours. You probably won’t want to do much more side content, anyway, as it’s relatively uninspired. In this, to me DioField reads as a relatively short and experimental game. Which I’m fine with. To some, however, this might instead come over as bad value for money.

It’s clear that Respawn still has the chops to make a quality Medal of Honor game. There’s a lot of heart here, and an attention to detail that must be admired. With that said, it’s clear the studio had troubles accomplishing its goals in VR – and the result is a curious VR experience that’s worth experiencing, but equally is nothing like a VR system seller. It stands strides behind Alyx – but then again, so do most VR games.

Ultimately, though, it’s down to a breathlessly dynamic battle system to provide Gears Tactics with surprises. Something as safe as setting your soldiers to overwatch, so that they can shoot at moving targets in the enemy turn, becomes endlessly watchable when those enemies can pinball between killzones, knocked about by bullet spray.

For all its inconsistency, Outsiders still boasts some of the most intense and exciting PvE shooting around - just sometimes it’s you in a puddle on the floor instead of the waves of nameless goons. It’s silly and nerdy and dark and takes no prisoners as it violently demands your attention from start to finish.

It’s a suspense thriller that could’ve been written at any point in the last century, were it not for the gripping addition of player choice. In a month that’s seen Man of Medan push interactive fiction into multiplayer, and Telling Lies build on the investigative purpose of Her Story, there’s no comparable innovation here beyond those tactile controls that feel like you’re manipulating scenes in real-time. But there are shocking truths buried at Delphi House, and maybe that’s enough to soothe the soul on a long Sunday.

There's a lot to like in House of Ashes. It can look great (but also a bit ropey at points), the acting is largely excellent, and your actions (or lack of) can really impact the story. Yet, the game element is lacking, which in turn makes the gameplay sequences where you're in proper control end up lacking in scares. This is a fun time, especially if played in a group or online with a friend, but I was more afraid of button prompts than the monsters.

Armored Core 6 is the essence of a soft reboot. It has the unenviable task of drawing newcomers to a niche, sometimes overly challenging series without changing too much of what made fans like it to begin with. The result is a mixed experience that, while it has some shining moments of brilliance, feels a bit loose and never plays to its strengths.

The presentational and balance problems ultimately don’t take too much from Bravely Default 2. There’s a brilliant game here, with heart, smarts, and an admirable adoration for the classics of the genre. Its charm cannot be denied – and it provides a helpful cushion against those uneven and rough edges. With that said, to embrace a cliché – this is absolutely one for fans of the genre, who want a difficult, system-driven RPG – and aren’t as worried about the visual presentation.

If you buy Immortals of Aveum, know that there is a good time here waiting for you. However, I deem it likely that it'll be on sale rather soon. If you're starving for some magic in your FPS pick it up, but even with some mystical flair and an admirable attempt at bringing mystic arts to a very gun-heavy genre, Immortals of Aveum ultimately fails to reach the heights of your Bulletstorms or Wolfenstiens.

The Master Books are bursting with interesting tidbits that helped me to contextualise each game and the storyline as a whole better than ever before, but there’s relatively little within the games themselves to make this a real must-have if you still have access to previous collections and releases.

In the cut-throat race for your attention, Forspoken feels like a new IP that’s trying to run full pelt alongside heavy-hitting franchises from other big publishers. But it ploughs, shin-first, through every hurdle along the way. Its stuttering start belies a combat system that’s worth investing the effort to learn, but takes so long to get up to full speed that it’s already on borrowed time.

It’s safe, but very welcoming. I can even see it developing into sequels if Microsoft chooses to support it and the fans embrace it, which I have no doubt will happen – some games are just made to cosplay. For those that were disappointed with Fallout 76 going online multiplayer, this is the single-player RPG you’ve been looking for. If you’re hankering for somewhere you can while away the hours talking shit, chuckling and prodding at the locals, you won’t be disappointed.