Halfway between Fez and the best Screwball Scramble set ever created, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a quietly brilliant puzzler. It could stand to be longer and slightly more challenging, but Nintendo have turned a simple premise into something truly lovely.
Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris is a superb cooperative puzzler, pacey shooter and a rip-roaring adventure. The replayable campaign is a bit too short to make the most of the abundance of loot, but it's a blast while it lasts especially in local co-op.
The Crew's magnificent automotive American playground and high-octane multiplayer road trips are sensational, but the tragedy is that Ubisoft and Ivory Tower didn't know when to stop.
Tales From The Borderlands kicks off with a feel-good tour de force. Not only is Zer0 Sum a satisfying and frequently hilarious use of three hours, but it would have been strong enough to stand on its own as a masterful piece of interactive Borderlands fiction. As Zer0 might say... :D
Super Smash Bros. For Wii U brings brilliant brawling back to the big screen. Though Smash Tour and the lack of a true story mode are disappointing, the exceptional character roster, great stage design, handsome visuals, addictive extra modes and timeless fun factor make for a guaranteed good time. Just add mates, whether online or on the couch.
Ultimate NES Remix brings brilliant pick-up-and-play action to the 3DS, blending heady NEStalgia with addictive remixed challenges. Sadly the ludicrously inflated price point, omitted content and lack of new features turns what should be an essential purchase into 'wait for a deal' wishlist filler.
LEGO Batman 3's irrepressible love for the universe and amazing attention to detail make for an essential DC experience, but the gameplay feels like a step sideways and even backwards for the LEGO series. This was the first time I stopped playing a holiday season LEGO game because I'd had enough, not because I'd collected everything. LEGO Batman 3 will do for now, but it's clear that TT Games needs to start thinking seriously about where to go next.
Tales Of Hearts R is a fantastic handheld RPG and one of the most impressive remakes of recent years. Expect a top-quality JRPG experience from start to finish, even if it's a touch familiar in parts.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection sets a new benchmark for remakes, HD collections and re-releases by delivering thirteen years of excellence in a single purchase. Four restored campaigns, comprehensive multiplayer, one cohesive experience that reminds us just how important Halo was to videogames and the FPS genre... and how much fun it still is.
Stealth Inc 2 is another magnificently frustrating bastard of pure stealth, brutal platforming and satisfying puzzles with a sadistic sense of humour. Though the new features and gadgets come with a few drawbacks, they ultimately expand on the gameplay experience in imaginative new ways, while exploration and content creation bulk out the challenge rooms into a cohesive package.
Sunset Overdrive brings the fun. Though Insomniac's inexperience with open-world games leads to inconsistent mission design and a few oversights, its infectious energy, breathtaking traversal, silly weapons and violently colourful playground make for a brilliant way to blow off steam.
Dungeon Of The Endless is the best Real-Time Turn-Based Strategic 4X Tower Defence Sci-Fi Roguelike RPG hybrid you'll play this week. And easily one of the very best games you'll play this year. Absolutely unmissable.
Shadow Warrior is still as savagely brutal, tough, slick and satisfying as ever, but its riotous gameplay has only matured with age. The console version is a great new opportunity to savour the joys of exploring huge levels, finding secrets and annihilating entire armies of ravening demons with ridiculous firepower.
Creating your own crazy remixes makes Disney Fantasia worth considering for Kinect-owning audiophiles, but its core semaphore-based gameplay feels more like glumly directing traffic than gleefully performing magic.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel makes up for some major issues with pacing and level design by simply being a ridiculously fun cooperative romp. A few more months of development could have turned a good game into a great one, but there's still some great bouncy butt-slammin' action to get stuck into here.
Akiba's Trip is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. What was marketed as shameful fanservice is actually an anarchic, innovative, big-hearted and even-handed love letter to all things Otaku and geeky, propped up by stunning localisation and a great cast of characters, and that makes up for a fair few clumsy shortcomings with its uninhibited cheeky sense of fun.
Styx: Master Of Shadows is a proper old-school sneak'em up that harks back to the tough and rewarding heyday of the stealth genre, but the production values don't come close to matching the ambition. Thanks to its budget price, enormous sandbox levels and fun stealth mechanics, I can still recommend this shonky yet endearing little game to patient fans of sneaking, stabbing and pressing F9 every few seconds.
Natural Doctrine gets so much right. A strong premise, great top-level strategic mechanics, sensational skill system and ruthless tactical battles ought to have made this a left-field cult smash.
Endless Legend is a excellent 4X game that takes the genre in exciting new directions, expertly blending hard Sci-Fi and high fantasy in the process.
Any track racer can make overtaking feel exciting, but Forza Horizon 2 also makes driving an absolute joy in and of itself. Superb cars, gorgeous scenery and a generous economy make up for a few missteps, meaning that the first big automotive release of the season will also be one of the best of the year.