A brilliant and beautiful stunt driving masterclass, Trackmania Turbo is fast, frenetic, fun, and only occasionally frustrating. If this generously proportioned and highly engaging arcade racer gets its talons into you the way it did me, it'll have you compulsively chasing ghosts for ages.
One thing's for sure: The more I've played Hitman's debut "episode" the more I've enjoyed it. Despite the often boneheaded AI and dire loading times, Hitman has definitely combined the best of both worlds. There's scope for it to improve in some areas as the levels are released throughout the year but this is a fun, confident start.
Far Cry Primal succeeds in transporting the Far Cry formula back in time and comes to the table with a quiver of neat ideas and a dangerous and fascinating open world. The visceral and varied combat is fun, the beast-based gameplay is a winner, and the lure of camp-claiming, gear-crafting, beast hunting, and resource gathering remains irresistible.
There's a specific corner during one of the German stages in Dirt Rally where your co-driver will supplement his flurry of warnings with a professional request: "Be brave." It's a slight left kink, framed on both sides by half-buried stones. To be honest I'm not certain what it is about this corner in particular that warrants the added advice – there are plenty of deceptive corners in Dirt Rally you can take faster than you'd expect – but "be brave" potently sums up how you need to approach Dirt Rally. Dirt Rally is a brilliant looking and incredible sounding racing sim that feels absolutely outstanding, but it won't tolerate the timid.
Need for Speed looks the part, sounds the part, and is surprisingly reverent to real-world car culture. I like the direction Ghost has taken here, and I think it's the right one, but beneath its flashy exterior it's not quite firing on all cylinders.
Beneath Broforce's hyperbolic chest-thumping action movie-inspired silliness lies an extremely polished run 'n gun platformer. Simple and reliable but nuanced and ever-changing (thanks to the constantly rotating characters) Broforce is testosterrific. If you could watch Commando on a SNES, this is what it would look like.
Forza Motorsport 6 boasts some of the finest racing you can find on console. Easily worth the upgrade from Forza 5.
Deep and demanding but incredibly user-friendly, Project CARS is real racing done right.
A good intro to Forza Horizon 2's driving action but one that doesn't offer much for long-time Forza fans.
Fast, beautiful, and accessible, but a more modest, conventional arcade racer than its sprawling, open-world peers.
It's a racer informed by many others but, when it comes to open-world racing games, Forza Horizon 2 is best-in-class.
Grid Autosport promised proper motor racing and that's exactly what it delivers. The spirit of TOCA is finally back.
A shallow, on-rails experience that really can't make much of a case for itself in 2014.
Lacks the girth of FM4 but wrestling iconic cars around legendary tracks has never looked or felt this good on console.