Brett Phipps
While many modern racers attempt to deliver a visual showcase, Dirt 4 instead focuses on what's going on under the bonnet. Every vehicle – except those damn crosskarts – feels incredible, as if you're trying to tame some naughty mechanical beast. Each shunt deforms your car's body, each lap cakes it in dirt, and you can see your driver's head wobbling around as you drive over each bump. It's super-convincing.
Consider Splatoon 2 the definitive version of the original game and this is an excellent proposition. Its multiplayer action is still some of the best and most creative around, and for fans who ploughed plenty of hours into the original game, there's still plenty of fun to be had.
Agents of Mayhem would have been a great rental in days gone by, but today it's an experience that's great for a a short while, but doesn't offer enough to keep players invested for the duration of the campaign.
This is undoubtedly the best F1 game Codemasters has put together. An incredibly deep career mode, excellent championships and the return of classic cars mean there's never been more F1 racing to be had. There are some bugs and annoyances, but I'm hopeful these will be ironed out in a patch soon after launch.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is yet another great Nintendo Switch exclusive, and one of the most original Mario titles we've seen in a long time. It may not do much outside of the core combat, but even that is enough to keep you entertained for its duration.
FIFA 18 is simply magnificent. Streets ahead of what came before, and continuing its dominance over its rivals, EA has done a superb job. With huge improvements across the board, this is the game FIFA fans have waited five years for. While the offline offering may continue to lack the depth of NBA 2K18, but the continued improvements each year have culminated in a brilliant game this year.
Turn 10 once again sets the bar for visual performance on the Xbox platform. Forza Motorsport 7 is a drop-dead-gorgeous game that brings sim racing to players of all skill levels. It may lack the absurd depth of the likes of Project Cars 2, but it makes up for it with accessibility and a beautiful presentation across the board.
If you're a fan of South Park, The Fractured But Whole is an absolute no-brainer. This is the definitive South Park video game, jam-packed with the brilliant humour that makes the show the best around.
It carried ginormous expectations, but somehow Nintendo has managed to leapfrog over the bar by a huge distance. Offering the most satisfying gameplay experience of any Mario game to date, Super Mario Odyssey is near-perfect.
Underneath the terrible progression system, cheap payouts and more-than-gentle hand in the back towards paying for loot crates is the same excellent core, now across so much more content with the promise of more free maps and heroes to come.
Ashes Cricket is a very good cricket game, and very enjoyable once you eventually work out what everything does. It's just a shame the game doesn't do enough to explain its depth to the player from the get-go, which leads to a needless opening few hours of frustration and potential misinterpretation.
Monster Hunter: World is one of the best RPGs you'll ever play, and the most inviting the series has ever been. It's clear to see why the franchise has such a dedicated following, and now that fanbase is set to grow ever larger thanks to the incredible steps the developer has taken to make this game more welcoming to many more players.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 may have a few additions for the sake of it, but it's still one of the best score-attack games you could hope to play.
Payday 2 continues to maintain a very dedicated audience, but even fans of the game are unlikely to enjoy what's being put forward for Nintendo Switch. Stripped-back visuals, poor performance and a lack of adaptation to the console results in a shoddy port at best.
It may not be the ground-up remake that other modern classics have been treated to, and you will likely be left disappointed at the minor overhaul the visuals have been given, but this is still a superb open-world racing game that feels like it'll be loved by fans of the original as well as new players jumping in for the very first time. It may sound cliched, but they simply don't make them like this any more.
A Way Out has some fantastic ideas that deliver a very unique co-op experience. It's certainly worthy of your time, should you and a friend have it spare to commit to the game's eight or so hours.
God of War tells a wonderful tale through a beautiful spectrum speckled with more than a few drops of the blood of your enemies. It's a shame, then, that boss fights have fallen by the wayside at every level to become terribly monotonous – but if that's the cost of what Santa Monica has built, it's certainly a price worth paying.
Considering all the amazing Wii U games still yet to come to the Nintendo Switch, I could have happily seen Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze moved much further back in the queue. It's simply an average 2D platformer that doesn't deliver the level of fun or excitement you'd expect from a Nintendo-exclusive title – particularly one featuring some of the company's most iconic mascots.
As far as local multiplayer games go on the current consoles, Super Mega Baseball 2 is a great option. If you've got Xbox Live Gold, then you can grab the game for free as part of the May lineup. Even if you're not a huge fan of the sport, it's well worth checking out.
It's like a Katy Perry song, this one. You think you're immune from its charms and then all of a sudden you're humming it in the shower and singing while you drive. Battletech is so unforgiving and challenging that it really tickles the part of my brain that demands to win.