Another year, another Call of Duty, Black Ops 3 is nonetheless a generous package that hits all of the right marks. Campaign is decent enough and Zombies is good fun, but it's the multiplayer that will keep you hooked.

There are just enough flourishes, mechanical and artistic, to turn your head, but whether Wuchang: Fallen Feathers will keep your gaze is another matter.

The single player story is absolutely engaging in Saints Row 2, with a great cast to boot. It’s great to know that a good story with a soul can make the same old city a lot more entertaining. The online co-op will attract a lot of attention and rightly so, but the multiplayer mode doesn’t really have much substance.

Its camera might remain somewhat skittish and the upgrades here aren't exactly seismic, but Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, rebuilt using Unreal Engine 5, certainly looks the part and delivers immediate, lightning-fast ninja action, replete with buckets of blood and viscera. It was, and still is, excellent.

A fun distraction from the mainline Final Fantasy games, this is a game you’re going to want to digest in small pieces. World of Final Fantasy Maxima is so sickeningly cute and twee that it sometimes comes off as unbearable (thanks to the main characters) but when you get past that, there is a compelling and intelligent battle system waiting for you. And obviously, the new Xbox One additions are welcome, even if they're not particularly huge. If you’re a die-hard Final Fantasy fan and can put the time into this game, you’re going to get a lot out of it.

One of the best Call of Duty games in a while, Advanced Warfare is a triumphant effort from Sledgehammer Games, whose storytelling nous and risk-taking in introducing the Exo pays off in spades. It's not the jaw-dropping reinvention that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was back in 2007, but Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the shot in the arm the series needed.

While Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is strong with the Force, it's held back slightly by some irritating bugs. Fortunately, none of them can detract from the overall experience, its superlative combat and absorbing, enjoyable take on the Star Wars universe.

Every bit the tactile, heart-rending experience that the first game was, but with added layers of complexity thanks to co-op - as well as enhanced replay value - Unravel Two is a fuzzy, warm hug of a sequel that'll make you smile.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage marks developer Don't Nod returning to its Life is Strange pinnacle, delivering a coherent and compelling yarn that expertly flits between an evocative 1995 and a friend's reunion in 2022. Bring on the sequel.

Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf emerges as a worthy follow-up to the first game, boasting a smattering of neat improvements over the original, a touching story, and, despite a few moments of frustration, an otherwise enjoyable procession of platforming and puzzles.

Guitar Hero Live is maybe a change too far for the Guitar Hero revival. It’s two facets, Guitar Hero Live and Guitar Hero TV, are wonderfully crafted and superbly engaging, but the fun factor seems to have been zapped from it somewhat. Maybe it’s a little too serious, maybe it’s hard to accept change, but that spark that we felt when we played Guitar Hero II for the first time… it’s just not there.

Yakuza 0 might be the better game, but Yakuza Kiwami is the best way to experience where the series began. Additions like 'Majima Everywhere' inject a sense of knockabout fun to proceedings, while cracking heads is a persistent, unending delight. There's no excuse not to dive right into Yakuza Kiwami this very second.

Tough to get into at first, MotoGP 22 soon starts to pay dividends once you get the hang of its tricky handling and various nuances. The superb 'NINE Season 2009' mode, meanwhile, is worth the price of admission alone.

Sunset Overdrive is one of this year’s finest games, chock full with refreshing humour, a vibrant sandbox and some of the most fun gameplay mechanics we’ve experienced in some time. It’s a hit, so do yourself a favour and go out and pick up this son of a bitch.

Just Cause 2 isn’t going to win any prizes for its trite story and constricting mission structure, but it’s a game that provide moments that no other game can create. The grappling hook revamp has created a gadget that is nothing short of stunning, but the game’s many annoyances hold it back from dominating the sandbox/open-world genre.

As a fun and frenetic FPS, Rage delivers in spades. That the same can't be said for the game's story is a real shame. It's especially disappointing as Rage feels like it's building to a strong crescendo, before fizzling out like a damp firework. Rage veers incredibly close to greatness then, but ultimately fails to win itself a cigar.

Watch Dogs 2 is a game that wants to take you on a whistlestop tour of San Francisco’s not-so-hidden underbelly. For a game with a central cast of disenfranchised youths, I found it oddly relatable and compelling. Every bone in my body ached for me to hate DedSec, but instead I totally fell in with them and everything they were about. Marcus Holloway is to Watch Dogs what Ezio Auditore was to Assassin’s Creed: the symbol of a new era, the mascot of a franchise that has proved it shouldn’t be judged on first impressions, that has proved it can move with the times. It’s a strong, smart game that never takes itself too seriously, and the result is pretty special.

A spicy blend of story and delicious South Indian cooking, Venba is a unique indie tale that deserves to be savoured. As developer Visai's debut game, this is stellar stuff.

While it’s not the most polished game from a graphical standpoint, Tides of Tomorrow is nonetheless a compelling post-apocalyptic adventure with a smart asynchronous multiplayer twist.

One of Codemasters' best racing games, DIRT 5 is an unbridled shot of adrenaline-fuelled fun that's impossible not to love. Superlative stuff.

SnowRunner is a slow game, requiring a lot of patience to get through. If you're willing to give it the time investment it asks, then you will find a satisfying experience here, with each contract you take, and each road you traverse, unfolding into one big puzzle to tackle. A hoard of customisation options also allows you to tinker with your trucks to your heart's content. If that sounds up your street, then SnowRunner might be for you, but don't expect to get anything done fast.

A textbook example of how to make a great sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War takes the first game's template and expands upon it in a meaningful and interesting way. The result is a follow-up that's not only a lot bigger, but it's also a lot better. It talks the talk, and yes, it also Orcs the Orc.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an absolutely stunning game on the eyes and ears, but is perhaps a little too much style over substance. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with the mechanics, they can at times feel fairly shallow and archaic, but thankfully things don’t really get too repetitive or boring, and what you get in the overall experience more than makes up for that.

An improvement over WWE 2K22, which was itself a superb wrestling game, WWE 2K23 has one of the best 2K Showcases to date, and fluid gameplay that's easy to pick up and play, but tricky to master. The champ is here.

An inspired combination of colourful dungeon-crawling, social sim, and action-RPG, Dungeons of Hinterberg proves to be a remarkably pleasant surprise. Ignore this at your peril.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a strangely complex game to explain. It’s equal parts isometric turn-based RPG, social simulator, and deck-building card game. But you know what? It actually works! Sure, it’s not as tense and as gripping as Firaxis’ XCOM series, but this is a nice action-oriented offshoot.

A must for casual and hardcore racing fans alike, Project CARS does practically everything right, providing plenty of options for players of all skill levels and persuasions. I'm not much of a racing sim fan, but I found myself completely immersed in Project CARS.

While the new F1 Life hub and the addition of supercars are no substitute for last year's story mode or 2020's classic cars, F1 22 is nonetheless another superlative Formula One game, and a damn fine racing experience in its own right.