Playing Ninja Gaiden 2 is a very different experience to playing the majority of games. Whether it's for simply beating a wave of blood-thirsty bats or for finally slaying a boss you've been tearing your hair out over for more than an hour, the sense of reward and gratification is practically unrivaled.

With a cast of well-realised characters, and a story that captivates from start-to-finish, Subsurface Circular's robot mystery will have your attention from the moment the train leaves the station.

Hypnospace Outlaw is a perfect recreation of what the internet once was, and in some ways still is: a glorious mess of friendship and anarchy. It’s probably good we don’t have auto-playing music anymore, though.

Stacking rarely treks toward the outskirts of the playroom, and not as far into alternative humour territory as some Schafer fans would hope. But instead it offers a fully-formed, self-contained world of colour and quaintness, charm, and more importantly an individuality of its own.

Spore: Creature Creator tells me a few things: creating new species is great fun, creation tools can be simple yet deep, people will always make the rudest things possible, and Spore is going to be a massively popular PC release.

In a genre resplendent with elegantly refined scoring systems and mechanics, Luftrausers lands a little short of brilliance.

Depth way beyond that of any other action game released this year, sleek presentation and some of the best levels ever created in a video game.

Guitar hero 3 should most definitely be praised - for its almost entirely original recording song list, for its attempts to introduce something new into a near perfect formula, and for picking up where Harmonix left off effortlessly. The songs are diverse, hard-rocking and challenging, but in all honesty, these new tracks are the most exciting new thing about GH3.

Remedy and Microsoft haven't made a perfect masterpiece, but Alan Wake may well be one of my favourite releases of 2010 – an escapade I'm going to remember for a very long time. It's a stunning action game, a superbly scripted adventure and a technical showcase for the now-ageing Xbox 360 hardware.

Helldivers 2 delivers hilarious fist-clenching moments with rock-solid co-op shooter fundamentals but is held back by repetitive missions.

It's undoubtedly a fun game, packed full with humour (although this does tail off towards the end), metal references, amazing encounters and memorable characters. It's the RTS sections that really let the game down for me, feeling like a good idea that hasn't quite been implemented well enough to gel with the rest of the game.

GTR Evolution is definitely an evolution of the series, as opposed to a revolution, and while the game is in need of a graphical overhaul, the rest of the game is all you could ask from a racing simulation.

Endlessly creative and playful, The Plucky Squire's effortless hop between intertwined 2D and 3D worlds is an ode to the illustrated delights of storybooks.

Imagine Contra meets Kid Chameleon via Super Meat Boy, with a touch of Sensible Software's irreverence, and you're there. One the most enjoyable couch multiplayer games I've played in quite a while.

Whatever category you happen to fall into, though, be prepared to sacrifice all of your free time; Dark Hero Days is a bottomless pit of gameplay that will command your attention from start to finish.

Lies of P is a masterclass in utilising passion and inspiration to create something distinct. While its execution isn’t perfect, the enthralling grimdark world of Krat and the overall excellent gameplay make for a fun experience many Souls-like fans are sure to enjoy.

There are better 2D brawlers out there, better ones on Xbox LIVE Arcade in fact, but probably none prettier. And it seems like that's probably just enough to make my weird old brain smile.

Civilization IV: Colonization takes a classic game and updates it for 2008, without screwing around with the things that made it great in the first place. Because it does this, we like it a lot. If you like absorbing strategy games, then you probably will too.

A solid first effort, a great start for Konami's genre-scrambling control system and, with practice, extremely rewarding. I won't go as far as to say it's revolutionised the series - for me the traditional control scheme is still the best way to play PES.

Swap Force is a brilliant, imaginative game for kids of all ages. That shouldn’t be such an anomaly, but outside Nintendo no one is making games for a younger audience that are as polished, as thoughtful and as substantial as this. It’s a genuine delight.

The incredible scope, combined with the awkward menu system and lack of tutorials just serves to make this game completely inaccessible to the grand strategy novice. [Score originally posted as (50)]

FIFA 19 is the finest playing game in the series. The Journey may be after running its course, but the fluid representation of football, the added element of Dynamic Tactics, and the madness of the updated Kick Off mode are all wonderful.

Ms. Splosion Man might not have the same immediacy and freshness of her orange-hued male counterpart, but with more variety and intelligence in the level design she's definitely more fun to play with.

There's plenty of things to like about today's modern shooters, but Counter-Strike is the only one of its kind designed to be anything other than a throwaway novelty you replace every year. It's the Audi compared to Call of Duty's Fiat.

Helsing's Fire has inventive levels and immediate charm, making it an instant iPhone classic you'd be a fool not to pick up post haste.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey sees the franchise at its strongest and most ambitious yet. With a compelling story, solid RPG mechanics, and heaps of content to soak up, you'll be spending months immersed in its sprawling Greek sandbox.

The variety on show is exceptional; one second you're throwing water balloons at burning rope bridges, the next you’re being hounded underwater by a kraken in a mad dash to the surface. The weight of Donkey Kong (accompanied by Diddy, Dixie and Cranky now, who appear in power-up barrels or as a co-op partner) means the pace of the jumping is more deliberate than Mario and less forgiving than Rayman, but this is still a game of flawless control and deliberate design.

Forza Motorsport’s refined handling, next-gen visuals, and responsive physics tempt you with an accessible yet familiar thrill, especially when you avoid spiraling into a bend.