The Crew 2 feels like a missed opportunity for Ubisoft after what was a decent start for the franchise in 2014. It’s a racing game with some interesting ideas, but the new main additions frankly aren’t entertaining enough and there’s too much of a focus on quantity over quality.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is a disappointing conclusion to what should have been a barnstorming final chapter in the Final Fantasy XIII saga. Strong combat that's severely undermined, a feeble narrative and a veritable litany of hit and miss moments all conspire to make Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII an agonising missed opportunity.

A decent add-on pack, but one that has a rather sub par song selection and absolutely no new features of note. New players should definitely stick to the original game, though this does act as a rather cheap DLC pack for those people desperate for some new material.

Neatly presented to the gamer, with aesthetically pleasing menus and a generally tidy, easily accessible interface throughout. Over-sensitive controls are a major letdown.

Capcom proves once again that it's quite good at this remastering lark. Resident Evil Zero HD is a brilliant update of another classic GameCube Resident Evil game for a modern audience that demands to be revisited once more or discovered for the first time. It's scary good.

Surprisingly, controls are quite intuitive and easy to use, and the navigation menus are pretty straight forward.

Final Vendetta is so very nearly another scrolling beat 'em up revival that could have rubbed shoulders with Streets of Rage 4. Instead, it's scuppered by an egregious level of difficulty that slowly sucks the fun away. If you crave retro beat 'em up nirvana, then do yourself favour, and play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

If you miss Burnout as much as I do, then you owe it to yourself to take Wreckreation for a spin. This is about as close as we're ever likely to get to a sequel, delivering blisteringly fast open world racing, and superb track building tools.

Stupidly enjoyable and endlessly charming, LEGO Worlds is the gift that keeps on giving with different biomes – jungles, spooky forests, deserts, swamps, candy lands with gingerbread men and more - an adventure filled with quests and infinite scope to make whatever you want. LEGO Worlds is fantastic.

A fun LEGO game, but not among the best that the series has to offer, which is a real shame as the story going on around the average levels is top notch and probably one of the best. If you’ve seen the The LEGO Movie though then you can probably give The LEGO Movie Videogame a miss without too many regrets.

A retro-style beat 'em up without the retro charm, Raging Justice attempts to bring a dormant genre back to life with mixed results. Unfortunately, it just isn't as much fun as you'd hope it would be. So near, and yet so far, you'll be yearning for Streets of Rage in no time at all.

Darksiders III’s shift to a more Dark-Soulsy experience seems to fit perfectly within the Darksiders universe. The third outing in the franchise is a solid effort by Gunfire Games – one of my favourite gaming experiences of the year, in fact – let down only by some shaky traversal mechanics, a dodgy compass and some downright unpleasant frame-rate issues.

The Hitman HD Trilogy represents incredible value for money, and for the most part, it seems to have aged rather well. In terms of an HD remake though, IO and Square have seemingly done the bare minimum here to get it to market. A remastered soundtrack and some re-recorded lines would have been nice, but instead, the best you can expect is a lick of paint.

A well made, if slightly flawed, adaptation of the friendly neighborhood webhead that is sure to provide far more entertainment than it does boredom.

A wretched, annoying puzzle game that consists primarily of tedious busywork. While Felix the Reaper has bags of personality, a vein of dark humour, and the inimitable voice of Sir Patrick Stewart, it regrettably isn't nearly as fun as it looks. As far as I'm concerned, Felix can go dance off the edge of a cliff.

Kao the Kangaroo is a well-crafted game that pulls inspiration from several other platforming greats, but a lack of polish and an abundance of bugs end up dragging it down.

WWE 2K17 is a marginally better game than 2K16, as the core mechanics feel like they've been refined a bit, but with the fantastic 2K Showcase consigned to the bin and no new modes to replace it, this is a package that's now sorely lacking. You might as well play last year's game, unless you're a massive fan that has to have the most up to date roster possible. Otherwise, WWE 2K17 is an enjoyable wrestling game that could still do with a bit of a kick up the backside for next year's instalment.

I wish I could report that Zockrates Laboratories served up a playground of emergent sparks, but with such a promising trick I couldn’t help but hunger for more.

On paper, Wolfenstein: Youngblood should be completely brilliant. A stellar shooter imbued with RPG depth and open-ended level design? How could it possibly fail? By making the RPG elements meaningless; that's how.

Torchlight 3 is, by the very definition of the word, okay. It’s a perfectly serviceable ARPG that is just fine. It’s kind of fun, but gets repetitive rather quickly. And while Echtra's ARPG effort looks really pretty, it’s completely middle of the road stuff.

A solid game with a typically twisted story underneath all of the pretence. Still the gameplay mechanics are starting to show their age and there is a lack of genuine shocks and intrigue, it feels like familiar ground, albeit fairly well made familiar ground.

Zoo Tycoon’s biggest crime is its lack of ambition.

Stoked isn't for everyone. You'll either love it for the ability to freely explore five huge mountains, or hate it for the lack of variety in career mode and the rather steep learning curve. If you find yourself in the first group, Stoked has more than enough content to merit its $40 asking price.

Taking on some heavy subject matter, Black The Fall has moments that will live in the memory once it's all over. And while Sand Sailor's game might be on the brief side and occasionally frustrating, it's also perfectly fine. But that's about the long and short of it.

Not really a sterling representation of the Disney-Pixar alliance, but Kinect Rush will keep kids happy for a while – as long as they have the patience to put up with frustrating movement and handling. With a few tweaks this could have been a much smoother experience, but as it is there is just too little fun and too much effort involved.

Very simple controls, good tutorials and strategies that are easy to pick up. The AI doesn't ramp up the intensity like it used to in the old Blitz games which is nice as you can get a lead and keep it.

It took a while to come to consoles (over a year), but Cuisineer was worth the wait. As RPG roguelite social sim genre mashups go, this is about as good as it gets. It's lovely and colourful, too. Cuisineer is a tasty little morsel.

Billed as a game that will blur the line between single-player, co-op and multiplayer, Brink actually does the opposite and reaffirms the general consensus on Xbox Live that multiplayer is king. Frankly put, unless you're playing Brink with and against human players, the game is mediocre at best. Get into a game with players that want to co-ordinate as a team against a group of like-minded foes, and Brink will almost certainly satisfy on every level.

Destroy All Humans! is never better than when you're carrying out the remit of the game's title. When you're doing stealth missions, it's not nearly as fun. As far as its remake credentials are concerned, meanwhile, this is a perfectly solid, serviceable piece of entertainment, if somewhat unremarkable. That said, if you lapped up Destroy All Humans! fifteen years ago, you'll no doubt be more than happy to do it all over again.

You ought to play Slitterhead if for no other reason than its mood. It’s one of this year’s strangest and most striking games.

A lack of genuine innovation and the presence of persisting issues from the first game is unforgivable and frankly, we expected more.

HAWX 2 is such a letdown after the brilliant original and, if anything, feels like it has gone back a few steps rather than making any kind of progression. There is still plenty of fun to be had, especially in co-op or on the survival maps, but the first game has the edge in almost every regard. Bottom line: get your flight kicks there.

An impressive game that provides one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve had in a while, producing some of the goriest bloodbaths featured in a game to date.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is not completely awful. It’s just not very good. Sure, it does have some good ideas and some interesting mechanics, but for every good idea, there are ten that are just bloody bewildering. Warhorse seems to have valued realism over fun and enjoyment with Deliverance, but to be honest, it’s not even that realistic. It’s just a bloody boring buggy mess of a game, but one that isn’t completely terrible. Every cloud and all that.

If I were rating it purely on its artistic merits, I'd give it 100. As a game, its unique qualities mark it out as something that deserves to be played and experienced, but if you're hoping for something action-packed, you're barking up the wrong tree. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is a great game that transcends what a video game can be as a medium; a perfect marriage of artistry and ideas that you absolutely need to delve into.

Eden Games has successfully built upon the solid foundations laid by the first TDU for Test Drive Unlimited 2, creating a genuinely inviting and gratifying racing title, online or offline. It surpasses its predecessor with fantastic visuals, hundreds of extra miles of roads to speed along and more cars and races than you can shake a gearstick at.

A grim, dystopian future shock, The Ascent is an action-packed ARPG brimming with guns and ultra-violence. It's enormous fun, especially in co-op, but bothersome bugs and repetitive quests unfortunately put a dampener on things.

Chinatown Detective Agency is a disappointing miss, that, with just a little more time in the oven, could so easily have been a compelling hit.

While you have to give credit where credit’s due to developer Big Bad Wolf for not compromising in the complexity of its puzzles, it also means that Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss won’t be for everyone. It’s a challenging, flawed investigative puzzler that will drive all but the most patient to the brink of madness.

Turning its back on the options that made WRC 5 accessible to casual players and hardened rally fans alike means WRC 6 simply won't appeal to many people. It's a title resolutely aimed at the hardcore racer, with a stupid penalty system, twitchy handling and as steep a difficulty curve as you can get in a racing game. It's especially galling, as you can see some clear improvements here. I've played plenty of sim racers in the past and enjoyed myself, but playing WRC 6 feels like a thankless chore. Die-hard rallysport fans/masochists need only apply.

A little short on polish it might be, but there's no doubting Atlas Fallen's credentials as a decent slice of good (but not great) open-world fantasy action.

Golf With Your Friends is good for a laugh, and the more people you can get involved, the more fun you'll have. The concept is fantastic, but the execution is a little lackluster, resulting in a title that just about makes the par.

Yes, there are better co-op shooters out there, and many of those provide similar levels of relentless violence, but Killing Floor 3 deftly manages to conjure some pretty unique, gory thrills of its own.

A great opportunity to revisit the origins of a leading Xbox series, Fable Anniversary is an enjoyable trip down memory lane. Brought up to date with new visuals, extra content and a brilliant achievement list, its charms just about overpower its ageing, decade-old gameplay. A must for fans.

Derivative, repetitive and QTE heavy – yet still amazingly good fun. This game is more like Dynasty Warriors than Ninja Gaiden in terms of combat as you can eschew learning stupidly tricky combos in favour of button mashing good times.

Rango is a perfectly pleasant and enjoyable game that replicates the animated movie's style brilliantly. Younglings will love it to bits and won't notice its shortcomings or the fact that some of its voices sound ever-so-slightly off. Nor will they care that it's all over in the blink of an eye and there's no reason whatsoever to play it again ever.

A neat anime-style metroidvania with some well-realised ideas, Yars Rising is a smart homage to an '80s Atari arcade classic, and a perfectly fine way to while away a good few hours.

Biomutant is a scrappy and charming open world RPG, but despite its many systems and gameplay mechanics, there isn't enough depth and direction to make this game truly great.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified aims at combining Mass Effect’s combat with the trappings of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but it fails to live up to either. The action is capable of offering some thrills, but The Bureau is a poorly put together game with a list of problems that prevent it from rising above mediocre. Disappointing.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is simultaneously better and worse than its predecessor. While the core shooting gameplay against hordes of bugs and robots has never been better, Insect Armageddon lacks the humour and charm that made the original such a cult hit in the first place.

Racing across the USA for a cash prize is a great concept, and perhaps there's a Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay collaboration in there somewhere. Or possibly there's a sequel that can inject some variety and fun into proceedings, rather than a succession of thankless, exhausting rubber-band races against faceless opponents and stereotypical rivals. Need for Speed: The Run does generate some memorable highlights, but they're simply too few and far between.

A pleasing adaptation of a family-favorite franchise. All around good fun and despite the short length, there is plenty of extras to come back to. Not exactly a blockbuster title, but a nice addition to a child's catalogue for sure. The older crowd can at least appreciate it for a bit of fun and an easy gamerscore boost.

Armored Core V is certainly a deep game, but it's also one that is let down by an underwhelming solo experience and an overly demanding online mode.

There is fun to be had here, especially in some of the more ridiculous endings, but even those are examples of tonal whiplash in a title that plays it straight for the most part. More film than game, The Complex doesn’t gain enough from the premise of being interactive - instead, it ends up as a strangely paced movie with a lack of focus and not enough tension to draw players in.

As a pure stealth experience, Styx: Blades of Greed is something of a treat. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, and slightly lacking in technical finesse, developer Cyanide's latest dose of sneaky goblin action is well worth a punt.

Clocking it at 3-4 hours, Operation Anchorage isn't extremely long, and some gamers may wish for more for their 800 points. However, most of that time is spent in combat, and the quest line feels intentionally designed to provide the best experience, with absolutely no fluff or filler to artificially pad the expansion's length.

Sniper Elite V2 is a solid game and one that should provide plenty of entertainment for those with an interest in brutally doing away with their enemies with a high powered rifle (read: everyone). Sadly there are a few flaws that hold the game back and make it a more frustrating experience than it ought to be. There is still plenty here to enjoy, but only if you're prepared to endure a few rough spots.

It is hard to classify this game, because it tries its hand at so many different things and that is both its greatest asset and its biggest liability as gamers may well get tired of the seemingly random nature of proceedings. A jack of all trades, a master of none if you will. Stick with it though and you will be rewarded with some truly standout moments and a moving story.

Last year, we noted that WWE 2K17 was a marginally better game than 2K16 was. We could say the same thing about WWE 2K18. It is marginally better. But given that it recycles the same old gameplay mechanics and doesn't add enough to the tried and tested template, it's hard to really recommend WWE 2K18. Been there, done that. Next year, Yuke's needs to give WWE 2K a firm dropkick directly to its lycra-clad arse.

Cramming many of Assassin’s Creed’s calling cards into ACC: China’s diminutive 2.5D frame, while amping up the importance of stealth, is impressive. But too much of the game is flat and uninspired. There’s the barest bones of a great game here. Let’s hope one of the sequels expands on that promise.

Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut isn't a bad game, it's just not a particularly great one. If you're screaming out for a space combat game in the Colony Wars mould, however, this will certainly fit the bill. Just don't expect to be playing Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut for a particularly long time after you've beaten the missions the first time around.

While Transference offers something unique in how it utilises sound, throwing in the mechanic of switching between alternate realities for puzzle solving, it sadly falls flat in its narrative and doesn't offer much to encourage you to come back and explore.

It isn't trying to be competition to the tennis sims, it's providing an alternative option that is simple, easy and fun.

An enthralling open-world crime drama tarnished only by a few largely inoffensive bugs, Mafia 3 succeeds in delivering an involving story with great shooting and stealth gameplay. Repetitive missions and a lack of polish mar the experience, but you'll still have a ton of fun playing Mafia 3.

If you're hoping for a decent single-player experience, you're shit out of luck. Payday 3 is a resolutely co-op affair, but then, you'll need people you can trust to pull of the perfect heist. Either way, this is a first-person shooter that's criminally good fun.

Unless you've missed a few iterations of NBA 2K, there are few – if any – reasons to delve into this year's offering. NBA 2K21 features the same old insidious microtransactions that have marred MyCareer for years, but provides very little that's genuinely new or fresh. Capping off the generation with a whimper, we remain hopeful that NBA 2K21 is a lot better on next-gen platforms, because this current-gen version is a lukewarm rehash.

Bithell Games assumes your passion for Tron, but what is here stands on its own, though it doesn't truly succeed on its own.

A truly immense RE title that succeeds as a third-person action shooter, but falls flat on its face as a survival horror game. Yes, times have changed, but if Dead Space can still provide a good balance of scares and set-pieces, then why can't Resi?

High On Life is easily Squanch Games’ most ambitious project, but aside from the environments and the world-building which match that ambition, the first-person shooter itself is incredibly generic, and not funny enough to make up for it.

Dead Island Definitive Collection is one of the better value remastered bundles currently available, serving up one genuinely good game, one relatively crap sequel, and a reasonably enjoyable bonus game in Retro Revenge. For the cash, you could certainly do a lot worse, and few other games do zombie slaughter quite so well.

Managing to make the forest seem oppressive and claustrophobic, Blair Witch is adept at creating a tense and foreboding atmosphere, while weaving a compelling narrative that still proves exciting, even if you've sussed out the final twist hours before the end. You'll never look at trees the same way again.

Disintegration blends together FPS and RTS elements to create a satisfying gameplay experience, with weapons that feel great to use and battles that will have you constantly on your toes. Campaign missions can be hit-or-miss and the game's storytelling is a little slight, but an enjoyable multiplayer mode will keep you playing once the credits have rolled.

Unless you absolutely thought Prince of Persia was one of the great games of last year, it’s truly hard to recommend the Epilogue to you. Sure the new level is great and the story is as we’ve come to expect from the series, but after the short 2 hour burst, there is nothing left to do.

Doom 3: BFG Edition is still an enjoyable romp through armies of hellspawn, and if you've yet to play the Doom series, there's a lot to like here. Just be prepared for plenty of repetitive strafing and hours of fragging ugly demon ass. This is quite clearly the devil's work.

A game for the Dragon Ball purists, Xenoverse is unlikely to appeal to anyone else.

A sequel that delivers a glut of content, but locks too much of it away, Star Wars Battlefront II is nonetheless a clear labour of love and a robust multiplayer shooter, sadly buried in an over-complicated progression system. To try or to try not, then? If you're prepared to put in the time and effort, then Star Wars Battlefront II can be enormously fun and rewarding, even if it might not necessarily be the game you were looking for.

If you can get past all the issues that The Sims 4 has on consoles, it’s a ton of fun. That’s a pretty big 'if' though!

A solid but sadly unpolished Lovecraft-inspired detective story, The Sinking City has all of the key ingredients to be something compelling, but it's rough around the edges. Dodgy combat drowns an otherwise robust horror-tinged bout of sleuthing, drenched in intrigue.

Who'd have thought that a game ostensibly about Brexit could not only be so funny, but also provide a selection of clever puzzles to boot? Her Majesty's SPIFFING is all of these things and therefore an adventure game you should most certainly play, if only for a little bit of levity with which to see out 2016.

Aphelion is an enjoyable journey across a hostile alien planet that’s a little too light on human drama, but nonetheless emerges as an engaging sci-fi adventure while it lasts.

This game falls just short of greatness mainly due to unacceptable graphical problems and a few poorly implemented ideas. If there had been less loading screens and more choice about battle commands, then this would have been the ideal game to tide us over until Final Fantasy XIII emerges.

A fairly mediocre follow-up to the original not so much in terms of content, but the sports you're left to play and how they play. Online play is a great addition, as is more voice control, and the darts and the golf are great fun while they last, but the skiing is way too simple, American Football is dire, tennis is a substandard version of table tennis from the original and baseball is barely passable. So yeah, not exactly blowing us away.

An unusual game, Knee Deep is entertaining while it lasts, its offbeat, Twin Peaks-inspired murder mystery taking in some strange twists and turns to reach its unexpected conclusion. Cypress Knee is certainly a place worth visiting.

Madder than a box of frogs, Manual Samuel is surreal, a bit dark and slightly sadistic, but will bring a smile to your face. There are annoying bits, sure, but overall, Manual Samuel is an enjoyable QWOP-alike that will put your dextrous digits to the test.

As remakes go, Alone in the Dark has a hard time measuring up to horror stablemates like Resident Evil. All of the requisite ingredients might be here, but they're poorly realised and implemented, resulting in a game that has its moments, but is hamstrung by shoddy combat, half-baked visuals, and more than its fair share of bugs.

Every fibre in every single bone of my body wanted to love FUEL. I’m a bit of a sandbox junkie truth be told, but even the huge open-world with diverse environments wasn’t enough to divert my attention from the game’s nagging design faults. With a pretty poor GPS, unbalanced difficulty scale, terrible opponent AI and average visuals, FUEL is left on a par with mediocrity.

If Marvel's Avengers were an MCU movie, it'd be Age of Ultron. It's perfectly entertaining and well put together, with some great set-pieces, but it isn't necessarily one you're going to return to again and again.

State of Decay 2 is a perfectly fine game. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, it may be buggy and it might be a step back from the original, but it is nevertheless still a fun game, albeit one that doesn’t really motivate you to keep playing. To keep grinding. I imagine it’s what a real zombie apocalypse would be like, we just wanted more from a game about it.

All in all, the Knothole Island pack is an enjoyable romp, however, it is short ... short as hell, and just when you really start to get in to it, the quest line wraps up and you are left wanting more.

As far as horror games that ape the works of H.R. Giger are concerned, Scorn is certainly one of the most interesting examples around, and many of its puzzles are nicely executed. However, crappy combat cramps Scorn’s style, while the unrelenting bleakness of the thing will leave you feeling deflated.

Never Alone isn’t without its merits. Telling an interesting story of a dying culture, it’s a hugely flawed game that manages to conjure warmth in the icy cold.

The multiplayer Control spin-off you didn't know you needed, FBC: Firebreak is an engaging and moreish shooter with interesting mechanics, an abundance of supernatural weirdness, and ample co-op fun. You'll never look at a sticky note the same way again.

A perfect game for kids, especially with four players, but the simplistic gameplay and rather small levels may soon begin to grate on everyone else. Plus for every unique idea there are a bunch of others that seems to be repeated over and over again. Disney Universe is a fun diversion but nothing more than that.

A better presented package overall, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is a small step forward for the series, but still in serious need of polish and a greater level of cohesion between its disparate parts. Fewer mini-games and more sleuthing would have been preferable and played to the game's strengths. As it is, The Devil's Daughter is a solid Sherlock yarn, but one that falls well short of greatness.

Unfortunately, other than a decent enough story and tying up a few loose ends from Underworld & Beneath the Ashes, Lara’s Shadow isn’t the greatest way to end the experience. Playing with a Lara-esque character who handles like Barry Bonds after a big night at the plate is not as fun as you would have thought.

A messy and rather poor campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies modes that fail to offer anything new, and a general dearth of innovation means this year's COD instalment is a bit of a damp squib. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 still has plenty to offer, but, quite honestly, we've seen it all countless times before.

An absurdly fun and unique multiplayer throw down, Kiln might be somewhat light on content, but it more than makes up for it with bags of character, immediacy, and infectious gameplay.

The only benefit of owning Monopoly Streets is the ability to play with friends online, as otherwise you could just stick to the regular board version. This is essentially just Monopoly with a few rule variations and a swanky 3D board, and is hardly worth shelling out for if you already own the original version. Plus, what's better than bankrupting friends and family in the comfort of your own home, replete with wonderful paper money? This game is simply not meant for consoles.