Activision's monolithic shooter series returns with a blast of new content and features – but the cracks are showing
Get a bunch of equally enthusiastic friends together and you'll have many hours of nostalgic revery, with that Williams score nudging you through match after match. But then you'll reach the outer edge of this game's progression system, or you'll get a little too familiar with the four landscapes on offer, and the magic will wane. And then, of course, there will be downloadable content, massing in a distant corner of the galaxy, waiting to invade.
Whether you're playing as a real-life pro or your own wacky avatar, this subtly calibrated title will have you perfecting your lobs and dropshots for hours
From working in your 'lifelong role of sample sorting' to playing mandatory video games when you clock off, this sinister, retro-futuristic game will have you questioning your freedom
This is Tobe Hooper's putrid amoral universe in film perfectly replicated as an interactive terror ridePC, PS4/5, Xbox; Sumo Digital/Gun Interactive
The latest game in what was previously known as the Fifa series has some added RPG elements for upgrading players' skills
The controls can be tough to get the hang of, but the visuals are stunning, the commentary impressive and the play itself gives you all the challenge and realism you could want
Four games from a cult 1980s shoot-em-up developer – from Zero Wing to Truxton – show the value of game preservation
Making good use of the comics, this turn-based strategy games gives players satisfyingly fiendish challenges – and room to chillax afterwards
Your favourite childhood heroes step up to help you conquer territory in this beautifully designed, strategic deck-builder for smartphones
Setting one's unease at delighting in hi-tech warfare aside, this is a precisely tooled, intensely immersive combat simulator
It's not really a sequel, but Overwatch's enthusiastic rejection of self-serious military shooters still draws you in.
Now it feels like the physics, AI and animation have come together in a way that makes even these ridiculous moments feel naturalistic and pleasurable.
The 11 games bundled together here offer a glorious return trip to a lost age of gaming
Please Fix the Road is a gentle, quietly demanding puzzler that will keep you entertained for many hours, especially if you ration out the 150 levels. There’s always something new to experiment with or some cute little visual flourish to enjoy, and watching the last tile slot into place, then seeing the car (or train, or pink llama) whizzing along to its destination never stops being pleasing. In these discombobulating times, here is a little puzzle box that brings order to chaos, if only for a few stolen seconds.
PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Warner BrosJourney through all nine movies in this gag-filled crowd pleaser that even makes The Phantom Menace bearable
This tense co-operative shooter is thoroughly entertaining, as much for the ideas it borrows as the ideas it comes up with
Two decades of house moves are condensed into one relaxing puzzle as you help the narrator to unpack – and unpick her life in the process
Fifa 22 is absolutely unmistakably a Fifa game – it has the sophistication and polish we’ve come to expect, with all the player likenesses, authentic stadia and recognisable commentators we see every year. But right at the core of it is a match engine that feels more surefooted than ever, at a time when the game’s more tactically complex rival Pro Evolution Soccer has been relegated to a free-to-play existence with all the compromises that will inevitably entail. If you can live with the loot-box trickery of Ultimate Team, this is a gigantic, rewarding simulation that offers a ton of variety and scope, and many, many moments of exquisite goalmouth drama.
This stylish, twisted take on movies such as Rear Window and Chinatown marries noir sensibilities with puzzle gameplay