I’ll happily trade 10 minutes of frustration for those brilliant instances where everything just slots into place.

GalCiv2's sandbox mode is a control freak's delight.

Animal Crossing is less of a game than a way of life; and life is something you have to experience for yourself, rather than have it described to you vicariously.

Some games just feel like they are a perfect fit for a device, and Rayman Fiesta Run is an example that proves the point. Lowering the barrier of entry to simple touch based controls, this is casual gaming done right: inclusive, immediate, and great fun.

It's a game that's more respectful to the ethos of the series than its narrative canon, and as such it's more sure-footed in its systems than its storytelling. That's a surprise coming from Ninja Theory, which waits until the very end to match that early moment of daring. It's likely to prove every bit as divisive, but would a developer this ballsy want it any other way? Not in a million years.

Still, the presentation is as charming as ever, and bar a few niggles, the experience as a whole is extremely enjoyable.

What's brilliant about Football Manager is how accessible it is, and how it caters for so many people, and this is about the most accessible version of the game yet.

The best dance game out there. In terms of visuals, features and competency of controls, there's nothing better. It slightly bothers me, though, that I had more fun with Just Dance 3.

The visuals play more of an important role than just eye-candy.

Bastion is the perfect game to kick off Microsoft's Summer of Arcade, capturing that certain something that Limbo and Braid had in previous years.

Complex systems are made simple, by committing their clutter to muscle memory, and play—good play, at any rate—requires that you, like Selene, ride its enigmatic loop.

It took two decades and change, but a team of developers has shown they understand what made the old Sonic games great with Sonic Mania, even if nostalgia is sometimes too much of a driving force.

An impressive PSP game and a considerable improvement over the first GTA outing on the system.

Part puzzle game, part retro experience, part mindfuck, I haven't played anything as engaging and interesting as Pony Island in a long time.

Mortal Kombat 11 sees the franchise at its strongest yet, with finely-tuned scrapping and an ample amount of content providing one of the most rewarding fighting games of the generation.

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.

In Max Payne 3 the risk of death and restart is often too great. Why do something that makes you look and feel like an action hero, when holding back behind cover means you're more likely to survive? The shame, then, is that the difficulty encourages over-cautious play.

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.

There are some fantastic environments and old school style puzzles in Resi 7. The final section stops being survival horror and becomes a bit of a clunky linear shooter, but the first few hours are scary enough to put you off Louisiana for life.

In an era when triple-A blockbuster games often drown beneath a desire to make things more explosive or complex than before, Rise of the Tomb Raider shows how it should be done. This is captivating romp that should cement Lara as a modern gaming icon.

Given your avatar's snazzy new wardrobe, base of operations, minions and the righteous euphoria associated with being a force for good, The Knights of the Nine is well worth the 800 Microsoft points.

Dark Conflict remains one of the best games on the DS, is perfect for a lengthy commute, works brilliantly online and, for us, comes out on top compared with Dual Strike.

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.

DJ Hero is possibly the best rhythm action game I have ever played. There's not a dull track in the entire game - hardly surprising given how much superstar DJ input FreeStyleGames has enjoyed.

It lacks variety, both on and offline, and sometimes it strikes a difficult balance between arcade racing and simulation. (It's also far too easy to abuse the rewind function, a problem made worse by the sometimes unclear checkpointing). But there are very few other racing games that can boast such impressive fundamentals, and certainly not very many with a world like this wrapped around them.

This is an XCOM refresh – resetting the rules of the game you once knew, and encouraging you to play it in ways you’d never tried to. In my mind I’ve merely dabbled with these changes, and still have so many ideas I’d like to try. I’ve played it for 27 hours.

Luigi's Mansion 3 is a beautifully animated adventure with satisfying puzzles and gadgets; it suffers slightly for its length, but a deep well of charm and humour win the day.

Luigi's Mansion 2 is a joy, showcasing a love for characterisation and wonderful attention to detail that gives the game an inimitable personality. It never outstretches the limitations of the 3DS, but continuously proves the system's lofty capabilities.