Demon's Souls is a pitch-perfect example of how great risk can make the rewards taste all the sweeter.

It is one to enjoy, to soak in, to escape into and enjoy every moment you have with it.

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.

Where it succeeds isn’t in how close it scrapes to the level of prestige TV, or to films. Its coup is not, “Look how closely we can make games resemble highbrow art.” It’s more, “Look what previously fenced-off realms we can get interactivity into."

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast might just be the best arcade racer available on all three systems.

Resident Evil remains a game as odd, unsettling, and unforgettable as its setting. The HD remaster only emphasizes this.

The fact that there's no custom soundtrack support is odd, considering every PS3 comes with a hard drive.

Starfield is the enchantment and wonder of space bottled and fleshed out into something grand and ambitious, thoughtful and attentive, janky at times, often funny, but always charming.

Whilst the concept is there in the title, the intricacies of Ape Out’s are revealed the more you play. Every aspect creates a dazzling jazz mixtape that reverberates from eyes, to ears, to thumbs. And you’re an ape. Which is great.

It would be easy to dismiss it with the cutesy Miis and two games in one approach, but in spite of this, FIFA has been given what it needed to draw in the first timers and the old hands, snatching the title of best football game on the Wii with a last minute flick of the remote.

LittleBigPlanet may well save the PS3 (if it indeed needs saving), it may be the most creative game of all time, it could well usher in a new era of user-generated gaming, and has a chance of bringing about a 2D platforming renaissance, but all those things are down to you. The game Media Molecule has created won't do these things alone, but if gamers create the levels we think they're capable of, we might be looking at one of the most important games this console generation has seen.

For now, what we can say unequivocally is that FIFA 10 is the best FIFA ever created. And, maybe, the best football game ever created.

There's something about World Cup's appeal, though, that works on psychological levels. We all feel compelled to play it not because of a game mode we can play, or improved graphics we can see, but because there's something very special about the World Cup, and playing the official World Cup game taps into it.

This long standing series makes an outrageously good current gen debut. The size and scope of the environments, and the monsters in them, is awe inspiring, making Monster Hunter: World a true (lizard) king of games.

This is not the most adventurous action RPG on the market, then, but its razor-sharp and uncompromising focus on structure and mechanics ensures it's one of the most playable. Diablo III quite simply revels in being a video game, and when a game is this well-executed it's impossible to resist those charms.

Its mixture older-style exploration with LoS' combat results in not only a truly great Castlevania game, but also a great action title and one of the best offerings on Nintendo's console.

Oblivion will consume you. It'll consume your life, your performance at work will suffer and you might not see friends in weeks. With hundreds of hours of gameplay, and an unprecedented amount of quests to be completed, I couldn't possibly recommend Oblivion enough. Great job Bethesda. Sorry social life.

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.

Another fine, fine episode that I wish more people were talking about.

The storyline is intricate, there's depth beyond the main quest, the presentation is wonderful, and the action is incredible at times. We've had some stunning single-player experiences this year, and Ubisoft has given us another gem to add to the list.

Few games offer up as much as Gears of War 3, and even fewer manage to do it this successfully. This is quite easily the best Gears of War yet, weaving excellent core mechanics together with the renewed perception of an ever-maturing developer. Once again, Epic has successfully iterated on a series that most other developers are still desperately trying to imitate.

Experts will tear through the campaign quickly enough, but it's just the starter, whetting the palette for the main course, a hugely engaging multiplayer extravaganza. World In Conflict is brilliant RTS fun for experts and newcomers alike.

Do you like first-person shooters? If the answer is yes, buy Battlefield: Bad Company 2. If there's a weakness it lies in the slightly brief single-player campaign, but the brilliant, potentially Modern Warfare 2 beating multiplayer more than picks up the slack.

If you wish to see what your new console can do, this is the game to get; it provides the most whimper for your buck.

Although a new setting, Call of Duty 4 is everything we've come to love about the series and continues its tradition of stunning visuals and thrilling gameplay. The single-player is short but the Arcade game mode and brilliant online multiplayer combine to create one of the games of the year.

Race Driver: GRID is tearing up the tarmac this summer without a challenger in site.

BaSS is a genuinely funny game, boasting the kind of clever humour that we all too rarely see these days.

Beautiful, unsettling, challenging. The fungal growths in it are cute little creatures rather than mushrooms (which are horrible). What's not to like?