A year of updates has helped fill out its light content, but the real magic was there from the start. Rare's take on cartoon piracy encourages you to behave as a cartoon pirate should: a little bloodthirsty, a little silly, and almost always drunk.Dustin Bailey
Despite having 50 years of legacy to work from, this manga mash-up feels like a rush job. The combat offers basic fun, but as a complete package, Jump Force is a flop.Jack Ridsdale
Builds on what's good about its unapologetically hardcore predecessor and adds a full-featured Rallycross career mode for those who prefer to trade paint in their racing.Stirling Matheson
I’ve only played those splendid 30 minutes, thanks to the size of the download, a tight embargo, and some server histrionics. I’m nowhere near a final verdict – I’ll get there as soon as I can, of course – but it’s already impressive just how engaging Anthem has been, and in how many ways. That glimmer has become a gleam.
Respawn's game elevates its entire genre, doing away with its failings while innovating upon its strengths. From out of nowhere, it's become the prodigious new face of a worldwide phenomenon.Ali Jones
Competent, with enough fun weapons and silly spectacle to make it inoffensive entertainment. While a half-decade of development hell could've ended with worse results, it's tough to muster much excitement for what's here.
Ubisoft's open-world shooter digs into what makes the series great. Some of those experiments bear fruit, others bring frustration.Julian Benson
Pulling its inspirations from across videogames, this radioactive romp is the strongest in the series, and one of the best post-apocalyptic games ever made.Harry Shepherd
Updated systems, fleshed out characters, and, yes, higher fidelity graphics, all mean that this original gangster epic can sit proudly alongside the rest of the family.Kelly Pask
The new World Congress and climate change mirror real-life in that they're partly beyond your control, making them hard to factor into your schemes. The new civs are among the best and most novel in the game, though.
Failbetter continues to revolutionise the RPG - not by burning it all down, but by slipping pages of prose into every crevice it can.Jeremy Peel
Chucklefish's strategy tribute does nothing worse than Advance Wars, and little better - instead, it's exactly what it needs to be to spiritually succeed. It's small, in both character models and design ambition, but it's probably going to be massive. Despicable.
An intricate and highly replayable game that shines across both of its genres, MegaCrit's debut combines a simple premise with near-flawless mechanical execution.Ali Jones
Capcom's remake is a spectacularly gory game that brings a classic in line with horror titles of today, and only at the loss of some of the original's beloved goofiness.Chris Priestman
Rules maintains the series' dual coming-of-age narrative, but often undermines its central pillar of choice.
Easy to master and a campaign full of action movie-worthy missions but the game is let down by frustrating checkpointing and simplistic combat.Julian Benson
My Time at Portia is a gorgeous game with solid crafting mechanics and a mysterious post-apocalyptic tale, but its intriguing story is buried beneath slow pacing and flimsy characters.
Insurgency: Sandstorm is a solid shooter that offers the series' best intense, tactical thrills, but can't help but feel behind the times in both theme and looks.
Just Cause 4 refines everything that made its predecessor great. It's still one of the most generous and bombastic open world games, but its new systems don't progress the sandbox as much as they should.
Robust tactics and elegant design ensure Artifact's often sublime strategy isn't complex. But a lack of long-term goals and a risky monetisation strategy leaves the game's future feeling uncertain.