Call of Duty Black Ops 7's multiplayer is some of the finest the series has had to offer in years. It's just a shame it's tied to a baffling, turgid, ridiculous campaign that makes a great argument for stopping Call of Duty campaigns all together. 7 games is plenty. The Black Ops series has run its course.

Mario vs Donkey Kong offers a notable step up in visual quality from its 20-year-old source material, but the same can't be said for the gameplay mechanics, which remain largely unchanged. While it will no doubt appeal to purists who loved the GBA original, those discovering it for the first time may find it too easy and not up to the same standards as modern, similarly priced Mario releases.

Fast, colourful, robustly made... but Team Sonic Racing’s seven-year-old predecessor was more transformative in every sense.

As an RPG, Miitopia is about as light as it gets, meaning anyone looking for a modicum of depth will be let down. It's content being a light-hearted, laugh-focused piece of entertainment that doesn't require much thought or skill, and as long as you're content with that too you should have a good time.

There’s nothing wrong with a game about doing simple things, and enjoying a relaxing journey in between, but in Sable, we could never relax.

New Colossus fans will probably dislike its unfocused narrative and fussy levelling system, but Youngblood offers plenty of blood and thunder if you give it time.

With improved presentation and controls, Donkey Kong Returns is the definitive version of a classic platformer. Though it lacks the variety and bold ideas of its sequel, and offers little new content, it's a worthwhile experience for those who missed it the first time around.

More of a side-step than an evolution from Nioh 2, Wo Long is inventive and an adventure worth taking even if it’s technically suspect on PS5, but won’t live massively long in the memory once you’ve slain your final boss.

A clever and neatly crafted puzzle game that could do with some richer presentation and another layer of intricacy. Not quite a blinder, but worth a peek.

It seems backhanded to say that a game is only worth playing if you can find people to distract you from the actual game, but if your group wants something mindless to wind down after an intense night on Warzone or Rainbow Six: Siege, Back 4 Blood is ideal.

Judgment is plenty entertaining, but it is just a muted Yakuza game in disguise. And after so many games of smashing faces into concrete, we hoped for a little more than that.

TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a perfectly servicable beat 'em up that hardly redefines the genre but is solid enough, particularly if you can find some like-minded TMNT fans to play local co-op with you. Given its arcade origins it's extremely brief, so players will need to be pwilling to replay it multiple times to get their money's worth.

Dying Light 2: Stay Human feels like it lost its direction somewhere along the way. It begins as an interesting zombie game wherein the threat feels tangible, your character feels weak, and the world feels primed for a dynamic story. However, the further you get into the game, a lot of its early ideas feel sidelined for a generic zombie plot, uninspiring combat, and the absence of any kind of danger.

As a sequel, The Outer Worlds 2 doesn't strive to reinvent its past foundation and does little to stand out in the RPG genre. If you're looking for new toys to play with, you'll find plenty of weapons and a much-improved gunplay to boot. Just don't expect to carry many memories of your time in Arcadia with you.

At its core, Ultimate Sackboy is a fun mobile platformer with charm and responsive controls. Its progression system, however, has that tell-tale restrained feel of a free-to-play game, where progress is slow if you keep your wallet in your pocket.

South of Midnight is a gorgeous adventure with wonderful performances, striking visuals and solid platforming gameplay. Its combat, however, is repetitive and reductive in equal measure, letting the overall package down considerably.

Solar Crown is a perfectly enjoyable open-world racing game with solid handling and plenty to do, but its world map is too large to maintain a consistent level of detail and it loses some personality as a result. This, combined with occasional frame rate issues even in Performance mode give the game an unpolished feel. If you're looking for a new open-world racer we'd still recommend it, as long as you don't expect anything particularly innovative.

Hellblade 2 is a mechanically dated game carried along by its incredible presentational flair. For a game shown alongside the debut of Series X, it's not reflective of the story Xbox is trying to tell with its first party. As a result, it's disappointing.

At launch, Call of Duty Vanguard feels like a solid step-up from Black Ops Cold War, but falls short of the benchmark that was Modern Warfare 2019. Together, Vanguard's three pillars make for a game that we’re frankly surprised is as cohesive and enjoyable as it is.

It will take time, but if the teams at Hardball Games can add some variety to the formula, Outrage: Fight Fest has all the makings of a champion. For now though, despite a strong idea, the experience is pulling its punches.

A charming and entertaining resurrection for a much-loved retro series, with a fun multiplayer mode and clever level design. It’s a very short adventure, though, which makes its premium price point difficult to justify.

Fire Emblem Engage is a great strategy game, but we don’t think it’s a great modern Fire Emblem game. Whether the reverence for the social elements of Three Houses came as a surprise to the team or not, the dearth of those moments in Engage makes it feel like it’s missing half of its core at times.

If you can suffer through the clunky menus, endless dull dialogue and 100 visits to the cafe, then there’s an excellent racing game somewhere hidden in Gran Turismo 7. It’s baffling that the game does its best to impede you from getting to the track, but when you actually get there, there’s a lot of fun to be had.

Elden Ring Nightreign is an overly clumsy attempt to graft multiplayer antics to one of the best RPGs ever. While its rougelike elements may entertain, a lack of variety and uneven combat system ultimately make for a curious sideshow that doesn't come close to the series that shares its name.

An entertaining wrestling game buried underneath a mound of technical issues.

Stalker 2 could be a great game in a few years, but what's presented at launch is a technical mess that doesn't capitalise on its best ideas. Compelling side stories and a brilliant setting do a lot of the heavy lifting, but at launch Stalker 2 isn't an adventure we'd fully recommend embarking on.

Scorn has one of the most beautiful worlds you'll see in a game (if you can see beauty in the grotesque). It's just a shame that world is also home to a frustrating puzzle-heavy adventure filled with aimless wandering.

Out of the 4 modes available at launch, 2 of them feel redundant and unbalanced. The single-player content is slim and if you want even a crumb more, you’ll have to pay, which leaves Destruction Allstars feeling like a clumsy, hollow product whose fun moments go by in a blur.