Both single and multiplayer offerings giving you enough reason to spend hours upon hours simply collecting new uniforms and trophies. The 3DS-exclusive Smash Run offers something different from the rest, too, adding a five minute side-scrolling spree before a four-man brawl.

Some of the new puzzles effectively show off ZeptoLab's creative energy, but for the most part we're being sold another slice of an admittedly entertaining game. Still, it's hard to feel short-changed when considering the weenie price and, more importantly, it's impossible to discount the entertainment derived from its content.

A stunning game that doesn't miss a beat from start to finish and includes one of the most feature packed multiplayer components of any game released this year.

These games still hold up, and this remaster is worth a go if you’re willing to put up with the potentially fatal combination of unskippable cutscenes and that Tidus laugh bit.

Strange refereeing aside, none of those issues are more than oddities and PES 2017 is a wonderful football game that just begs to be played. Give me another 200 hours and I'll tell you definitively how PES 2017 ranks against the series' best, but right now I'm enjoying it an awful lot. Fun yet unfair, thrilling yet at times borderline broken, but it just wouldn't be PES if it was perfect.

A contemplative adventure that won’t set the world on fire, but its logical and tactile climbing mechanics are genuinely fun and present a compelling proposition to keep exploring in spite of its relatively short length.

Silent Hill f is a visually striking evolution of Konami’s beloved horror series, packed with cryptic lore that’s a treat to unpack. While the pace of combat struggles to feel sleek amidst the atmospheric story, macabre enemy designs, and a spine-chilling soundtrack more than make up for what it lacks.

It's a gorgeous fighter with vast depth, but it slightly lacks the tightness and coherence that made Street Fighter 4 such an instant classic.

With Nioh 2, Team Ninja has done a better job than anyone else at making smart innovations to a treasured design template.

Nioh 3 has nothing to offer that hasn’t already been put out by other, better soulslikes. Outside of the occasional interesting boss fight, I found nothing but tedium in Nioh 3’s bland and deeply unengaging world.

The core gameplay mechanics are as good as ever, the presentation has been toned down for the better, there are some brilliant new multiplayer options, and everything feels more streamlined than before. Well worth adding to your playlist.

Danger fuelled TWD right from the start, but episode 1 of Wolf feels much more like a TV show pilot – setting up all the pieces it needs to tell a compelling neo-noir story. An initial lack of emotional connection left me feeling disappointed, but when given the time to shine, it does. Episode 2 can’t come soon enough.

Graphically, as PSN games go, Super Stardust HD is superb, and it nicely combines the neon glow of Geometry Wars with the detailed retro pixel work of the first Stardust. The difficulty level is spot on, providing a challenge without causing a headache.

Nothing but brilliant. But we're already looking to the future. Our minds are already spinning at what Ubisoft Montreal might come up with for the inevitable "Far Cry 3."

The story gets more mature with the solving of each puzzle, the puzzles themselves will have even the brainiest flummoxed and the art design is up there with anything, and I mean anything, on the console. It's the perfect DS game, it's the perfect puzzle game, it's what everyone should be playing on the tube instead of Brain Training, or some generic Sudoku clone.

Even with its problems, Dead Rising is a ton of fun to play, offers a respectable narrative, and come on, you can use a lawnmower for cryin' out load. Enough said.

Marked improvements in style and story, coupled with Bungie's always excellent shooting, make this continued space epic a winner. But that never ending grind, though.

It's not brave, it's not innovative, but neither should it be casually dismissed as 'more of the same'. That winning formula has been prodded and poked and buffed until it gleams, leaving us with a game that is, at the very least, the finest Mario Kart since the original. For some, it might be even more than that.

While the campaign, UI and added value of betas and TV shows give Halo: MCC a lot to shout about, shoddy matchmaking means one of the biggest talking points for fans is being discussed for all the wrong reasons.

Skate Story is an allegorical love letter to skateboarding that expertly captures the essence of skating’s humbling mechanical vocabulary like few other games do. Thoughtful and inventive in unexpected ways, Sam Eng’s boundlessly creative dive into an absurdist underworld is as nourishing as it is refreshing.

Boom Blox is the type of game that innocently eats up time, with you playing with a smile on your face until you realise you've been sat in the same position all evening.

The most realistic football experience on consoles. It also happens to be the most challenging Madden since as far back as I can remember.

And it's also through experimentation that you'll experience the magic moments you'll not find anywhere else.

To my mind, BattleBlock Theater is (a crude) Adventure Time to Super Meat Boy's Ren And Stimpy: just as crazy, but more forgiving.

With a combat system that cleverly overcomes button mashing, wonderful design work and a story that spans far longer than your average video game, Lords of Shadow is exactly what the Castlevania franchise needed to find popularity with a new generation of gamers - and us oldies too.

Regardless of such niggles, Diamond and Pearl are among the best Pokémon titles so far, if not the best. Visually the game is fantastic, ably juggling 2D and 3D elements, and the soundtrack is catchy, upbeat and distinctly Pokémon themed.

It's just a massive disappointment that this PS3 port is so bare bones.

A game that's best enjoyed with likeminded fight fans, on the same couch and with the same competitive spirit. There's still room for the perfect MMA game, one that's more organic, more convincing and probably even more violent, but for now, just strap those gloves on and enjoy the madness.

Despite this Rogue Legacy is an excellent game, and one that is certainly deserving of your attention. With Cross-Buy and Cross-Save functionality, it’s a perfect companion on the train, too. I just hope the Legacy family can forgive my exploitation, as once I (of course, I mean we) finally overcome Castle Hamson, it’ll all be worth it.

FM 2014 allows you to do more in less time, but it doesn't mean you won't spend as many hours as you do every year playing the game. Whether you're desperately trying to avoid relegation or win that all-important cup final, this year's entry will once again keep you invested for a long time.

Blowing things up is cool, and no game lets you see the destruction caused better than Volition's latest.

Ratchet & Clank is an easy recommendation. It's great fun, looks lovely, plays well and almost serves as a palate cleanser to the usual video game releases. Newcomers to the series will likely find a fresher experience (even though it's a proper remake, familiarity does creep in), but fans will love what Insomniac has done here. A remake done right in a series that rarely puts a foot wrong.

Capcom’s called it “the best fighting game net code ever created for consoles”. We’re inclined to agree. When all is said and done, if you’re a fighting game fan MvC2 is an essential purchase.

The action in F.E.A.R. is relentless from start to finish, and the AI of enemy soldiers is about the best you'll find in video games at the moment. Bar an ending that will leave you wanting a lot more, there's little not to enjoy.

A lot of games are about killing. Far Cry is about hunting. They're not the same thing, and it is as disquieting as it is enjoyable.

The only notable absence here is a multiplayer mode, but then Tetris always worked better as a lonely, consuming experience. At £3.99 this is one of the more expensive releases in the Minis range, but considering what you actually get, this still represents excellent value for money.

Ubisoft Montreal has come tantalisingly close to creating a real masterpiece.

The key is that you can get a hell of a lot of enjoyment out of Civ Rev without getting completely bogged down by the game's statistics.

If you're short on patience or have a nervous disorder, then you should approach Rearmed with caution. If, however, you love the genre and harbor fond memories of the original, then this game will seem like a gift from the Eighties God of Shooty Bang-Bang.

While all of these positives remain a huge plus, though, Tomb Raider still has plenty of flaws, the story being its biggest misstep. Incredibly obvious and packed full of cliches, you can't help but cringe at some of the dialogue as people speak to each other as if they were reciting a GCSE play. The Last of Us would laugh Tomb Raider out of the playground.

Despite its obvious muses, Tunic manages to rise above mere flattery, by paying deeper homage to the medium itself.

EA introduces FIFA's best new mode in years and delivers an excellent game on the pitch. The Journey may well bring back lapsed fans.

Had the first half of the game matched the far more entertaining later sections (where the super powers really come into their own) and the story been a bit more engaging throughout we'd be looking at one of the best open-world action games of all time.

The high-score hunting gameplay makes for an incredibly addictive retro gaming experience, and the sleek presentation gives it a modern appearance and feel.

Not only are the controls and attributes of the gameplay itself consistently representative of the chosen sport, but everything from the gloriously dynamic soundtrack and the competition commentary through to the selection of legendry skaters and the division of challenges into schools of skating hits the nail on the head with prowess.

While Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle may have been the crossover that no one wanted, it's materialised as a really good one with some interesting systems, despite its smattering of shortcomings. It shouldn't work, but it does.

And it's also through experimentation that you'll experience the magic moments you'll not find anywhere else.

Whatever the antic designs of Dr. Tropy, there is a deeper story here, and it’s one that centres on a far sadder subject: it’s about time.

Other than those minor complaints, and the aforementioned issues with some of the less inspired mini-games, Size Matters is a truly brilliant platform game, and while it does nothing new, it does most things very well.

The levels are massive - although there are only seven of them - and the sense of being in a conflict can only currently be matched by CoD4.

A stunning game that doesn't miss a beat from start to finish and includes one of the most feature packed multiplayer components of any game released this year.

In almost all respects, it's a better game than Chaos Rising, and from a campaign perspective, the best since Warcraft III. Heart-pounding, cool, and relentless, Chaos Rising is a must-buy.

Despite the numerous bugs, New Vegas is a magnificent RPG, one that stands head and shoulders above its predecessor. More importantly, it's also the game that Fallout fans have been waiting for.

It looks great, plays smoothly, has decent multiplayer functionality and will keep you in the driving seat for some time. The audio is a letdown, but if you want another quality iDevice racer that isn't reason enough to give this a miss.

Crytek's fourth game is their most confident to date, carefully balancing silliness, seriousness, and spectacle, and despite looking like a laundry list of bad shooter clichés at first glance the end product is surprisingly fresh-faced and triumphant. Switching to New York gives Crytek what it desperately needed: a credible sense of menace to go alongside gorgeous technical fortitude and impressive artistic direction.

Deathsmiles is Cave's most successful iOS port yet, however, and while hardened bullet hell veterans will find the difficulty level far too low for their personal liking, this is the perfect game to sit around on an iDevice for occasional high-score runs.

It seems a bit petty to be moaning when what's here is such incredible value, but we have some titles at their very peak and others simply emulated. The 360 games not being tied in with the same milestones and launching via backwards compatibility seem slightly disconnected from the rest, too, even if a handful of them show Rare at its best.

As much as Hitman III was a pleasure to play, it left me longing for the mood of the old games—for that European concoction of sirens and splashing rain, drenched in Jesper Kyd’s cold scores. I’m as excited as anyone for Project 007, but I wonder how long we will be left looking for 47—a wraith in a red tie, who has proven elusive enough to slip IO’s grasp.

Anno 117 Pax Romana is a structurally sound colony builder set in a Romanized world filled with flair and gravitas. For those who struggle to find joy in expanding their influence, the busy UI may disrupt the experience and confuse. It’s a game designed for risk-takers who won't hesitate to make tough choices to reap the rewards of a tantalizingly broad array of intuitive city-building mechanics.

Whether OlliOlli World charms you or chafes at your patience will depend on your appetite for such whimsy.

GRAW 2 is unquestionably a huge success. A short campaign aside, it does everything GRAW fans would want from a sequel and once again confirms Ubisoft as one of the leading next-gen publishers.

Shadow of Mordor is a triumph, its final irony being that it's arguably the best and most pure Assassin's Creed game to date.

The overriding feeling you'll get from Viva Piñata is one of depth. It's a far more involving and time consuming game than I expected.

Okay, so the main bulk of it is yet another rendition of a game we all know by now, but it's easily the best rendition of that game that we've seen so far. When you factor in the Music Studio and all the creative doors that it opens, it's clear that this is by far and away the best rhythm game available on the market today.

As an experiment and a sequel... Street Fighter X Tekken is still a resounding and admirable success, and further proof than Ono-san is hiding true genius behind those scruffy cords and pudgy cheeks. In this battle of Street Fighter and Tekken, Capcom has landed the first knockout blow. I can't wait to see how Namco responds.

'Splosion Man has come out of nowhere, with little to no hype surrounding its release, but it easily ranks as one of the best XBLA games we've played. It's a remarkably simple idea that's been turned into a truly devilish platform puzzler, and it's full of charm and humour without coming across as cheesy.

While its frantic gameplay is compelling, and the scoring simple, TxK’s initially a confusing beast. It introduces its modes and nuances with a bewildering lack of clarity, frustrating players at the very point it is debuting some terrific ideas...Ultimately, though, TxK is tremendously enjoyable

It's not better than FIFA 09 next-gen, and it'll take a bit of getting used to, but with time and effort you'll find it the most rewarding virtual game of football around.

The new character models and HD visuals do a great job of bringing Hillys to life, but only serve to contrast how far game design has come in eight years. We're more critical of camera issues and interface problems these days, spoiled by the likes of Uncharted and Mass Effect. Considering the effort gone into revamping the character models, it strikes me as odd that Ubisoft hasn't addressed these issues too.

It's one of the best games released this year.

Is this the best F1 game this generation? Without a doubt, and it's the biggest advancement the license has seen for a very long time.

I found it mightily upsetting to have something in my hands capable of such beauty, such triumphant gaming bliss, only to have that thing ultimately turn into disappointment and frustration. It's almost more upsetting than playing something that was never up to much in the first place.

The Coalition has slightly fiddled with the formula, and whilst some adjustments need to be refined for future entries, Gears 5 is ultimately the gorgeous third-person shooter you want it to be.

There's just not quite enough meat on Fight Night Champion's bones to recommend it to owners of previous games, however, and Champion mode itself is little more than a brief diversion you can bash through in an afternoon.

With a whole heap of content to unlock, including the brilliant Mercenaries mode (playable cooperatively off and online), a campaign that begs to be replayed and top of the line production values there's very little to be disappointed with.

Volume 2 isn't as impressive as the original HD pack due to not including the modern classic that is God of War 2, but these two PSP games still stand up well on the PS3. The HD remastering has been handled extremely well, and thanks to the improved controls these are the definitive versions of Kratos' smaller outings.

Top Spin 4 isn't flashy and doesn't come with any gimmicks, but it's an incredibly competent and in-depth tennis sim that the sport's fans would be foolish to pass up.

Battlefield 3 isn't quite the Call of Duty killer many were wanting, then, and it's especially jarring to view EA's 'above and beyond the call' marketing brouhaha in light of the fact Battlefield 3 falls to its most damning lows when it's trying hardest to compete with the latter.

It's most telling, however, that the game is still at its most enjoyable when you're simply smacking seven bells out of a friend. Undisputed really comes alive when you're playing with another human, particularly one who's sitting right next to you.

It brings the tried and tested formula to the Wii without as much as a hiccup, offering the most user-friendly experience yet. The game still requires patience and a solid investment of time, however, meaning that Tri is still very much reserved for the core gamer.

This is a quite beautiful game at times: attractive, detailed, and beautifully lit. The soundtrack is less noticeable, though the main theme, with driving rhythms and a strident melody that recurs in other tracks is an instant classic. But ultimately the quality of the mission design has taken a huge nosedive from the series peak of Assassin's Creed II.

And any game that features characters who perform one-arm pullups to go up ladders is automatically in my good books. Gears of War 4 features such characters. There's no doubt that the long-term appeal of Gears 4 lies in its suite of multiplayer modes, but I would 100 per cent recommend playing through the campaign. It's some of the best fun I've had in a shooter for quite some time.

The core racing is thrilling yet accessible and the amount of content on offer will keep players enthralled for some time.

Halo 5 Guardians hits all the right notes in a campaign that is thrilling from end to end and delivers a multiplayer suite full of many delights that play impeccably.

Lone players could spend months in the Association mode, and the online options are excellent for players wanting some human-on-human play.

It's painfully addictive, screen-shatteringly frustrating at times but so moreish it's like the computer game equivalent of Chocolate Fingers. The improvements are significant without breaking the fundamentals, and it seems that Sports Interactive has thought long and hard about how it can implement changes that would bring back the disillusioned without enraging the devotees. Roll on FM 13.

With a little more effort, DMC4 could have been a genuine contender for 2008 game of the year. As it is it's a brilliant, addictive, just plain cool hack and slash action game which goes some way to bringing the series back to its initial lustre.

What you essentially get here is 49 tracks metal and heavy rock tracks - 28 of them culled from Metallica's back catalogue, and a further 21 selected by the band themselves.

While there's no denying that the Guild Wars franchise is both popular and technically superb, unless you're after dedicated PvP thrills, it's hard to see it genuinely competing with games like World of Warcraft in the long term.

Perhaps No More Heroes 2, like its predecessor, works on a level our feeble brains aren't capable of comprehending. Perhaps it's so post-modern it's post-post-modern.

It's a nice touch to actually have to build things in a game featuring building blocks, and adds to the game's overall tongue-in-cheek feel.

This is the crux of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It is fascinated by the way that games lurk at the soft verges of life, vesting our days with dreams.

The key is that you can get a hell of a lot of enjoyment out of Civ Rev without getting completely bogged down by the game's statistics.

SoulCalibur VI is an addictive and satisfying fighter, and more importantly the strongest the series has been in years.

This is the major problem with the Space Stage: in the beginning, it's just too hard. All you want to do is to quietly learn the ropes, but the more advanced races of the world have no intention of leaving you be.

It's a gorgeous fighter with vast depth, but it slightly lacks the tightness and coherence that made Street Fighter 4 such an instant classic.

Games like The Walking Dead are rare, and if you've played the first episode you'll be compelled to pick up Starved for Help, but prepare for the possibility of frustration and at worst, incompletion.

In going for detail and variety it often overshoots into complexity; where it wants to be insightful it's not as clever as it thinks it is. Mankind Divided isn't bad, but it already feels a few years old.