Sadly, it's just not engaging enough overall.

It’s a pity that such a fun, arcade adventure requires grinding so early on, because it serves no other purpose than to hinder progress. Pirates is an enjoyable jaunt played in short bursts, but one that promises a little more than it actually delivers.

More serious are the numerous bugs: players are often forced out of shadow form for no reason, making the platforming and puzzle-solving a chore, and Dawn frequently gets stuck on boxes, in walls, almost anything. Infuriating, and so common as to be inexcusable.

Gran Turismo 6 ends up feeling stubborn to adapt to modernity. Its myriad landscapes are barren and unexciting, while the music sounds like it’s been ripped straight from a Ron Jeremy compilation VHS.

Killer Instinct possesses the fundamentals to be a crowd-pleasing title, and certainly does a decent job of inviting less experienced players into the genre, but its limited modes and insistence on milking your funds KOs a game with potential.

Comparing it to the real Mega Man X, I'm not sure what's more frustrating: how much it gets wrong, or how much it gets right before falling short. Nevertheless, I'd still recommend this over Capcom's own interpretation of Mega Man X on iOS. It was at least good enough that I wanted to stick with it through the end, warts and all.

It's a game where focus is rewarded, and as such there's a welcome emphasis on using the PS4's hardware to relay information to the player without compromising their concentration, such as the pad-based speaker barking instructions.

Ultimately this is pretty yet uninspired.

The new lick of paint is nice, but it’s the changes under the hood that make the significant difference.

The fighting genre has always been about precision, variation and uppercutting roid-addled maniacs into the sky. Developer Daoka has scooped each of these quintessential components into the bin, leaving behind a spectacularly poor experience.

I advise anybody picking the game up on Xbox One to turn Kinect off in settings before playing it. You can’t switch off Kinect commands in-game, and if you like to chat with friends while playing, you’re in trouble. Many times Rivals mistook my conversation for commands to change view, look behind and look around, leading me to scream obscenities and lose thousands of SP.

It'll vanish from your brain as soon as you've finished it, but before that, Ryse is oddly fun.

Every moment is exhilarating, and Drivatar isn't just a buzzword but an example of what the next-gen can do.

Tearaway is a beautiful title. It represents the importance of stories, manages to create friendships, and is capable of exciting and entertaining regardless of its simplicity.

With a secret world so good it'll make long-term fans (and me) squeal with glee, and how easily it oozes personality and skill, Super Mario 3D World is the best entry the series has offered up in years. It may not hit the highest of highs that the plumber has done in the past, but it's awfully close.

In the end it felt a lot like playing Kinectimals, and that was almost three years ago.

If you're looking for a weird update to the likes of Road Rash or Carmageddon then LocoCycle is certainly of that mould. Just don't expect the sheen or polish of the developer's older titles.

From the moment it starts, subdued colour palette aside, this is the series as you know it. By the time you find and build the dildo gun, you'll wonder what the fuss was about.

The flight controls are clunky, and the character switching is nonsensical, leaving several buttons seemingly perfect for the job completely unused, but none of these tarnish what is the strongest Lego title yet, and the best Marvel game ever made.

Along with some of the best music I've ever heard in a game, its intelligent dungeon design, incredible use of 3D and the merge mechanic - which will constantly trick and challenge your mind - and the numerous nods to the entire series meant I thought my heart would burst from my chest in joy. This deserves its place among the great Zelda games of yesteryear.

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.

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.

Outside of multiplayer, the campaign is a po-faced, nonsensical rehash of greatest hits long past. Extinction (Left 4 Dead meets Zombies) is a lot of fun, and Squads feels like a well-marketed shell for Black Ops' Combat Training mode...Multiplayer is still the star then, but it's diminishing with every return, its addictiveness tempered by over-familiarity.

Dual Destinies won’t convince skeptics, as it’s still more visual novel than game and about as linear as it gets. But after a couple of disappointing spin-offs, it’s the closest the series has come to the greatness of the original trilogy.

A well-rounded spectacle that serves up something for most wrestling fans.

It may not pack the same shock and awe as its next-gen cousin (the visual concessions made during multiplayer and occasional bug smack of an engine cracking under pressure), but the top-drawer gameplay makes Battlefield 4 a deeply enjoyable title regardless of platform. As one of the best multiplayer games available on 360 and PS3, DICE’s shooter offers a delightfully destructive send-off to the current-generation.

There's only so many times, however, that you can tolerate the poorly-defined stealth and terrible AI.

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.