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Submerged isn't a lengthy game or a game of innovative ideas and sophisticated gameplay, but it is a rich and haunting experience that uses exploration to tell its story. Its minimalist approach won't be for everyone, but connect and this could be one of the most memorable games you play this year.
A fascinating voyage through thirty years of video games history, with some truly fantastic games along the way. Not all the oldies are goldies and some of the earliest struggle to hold up, but any compilation that can pull in classic platformers, pioneering shooters and cult-classics like Viva Pinata and is sequel are worth your time. Replay is a celebration, and these are games worth celebrating.
With ropy graphics, repetitive gameplay and wretched controls, Godzilla is so bad that it's almost lovable. You get a lot of classic kaiju to play with, and smashing them through the sights of Tokyo can be strangely entertaining. Sadly, it's not entertaining enough to warrant paying out for a full-price game.
Tembo's style, pace and emphasis on mass destruction sets it apart from other 2D platformers, and it's almost an elephantine four tonnes of fun. While the need to replay levels to harvest points can transform it into a grind, this badass pachyderm's infectious energy gives him irresistible force.
A Knight to Remember might not have the emotive power and narrative sophistication of The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, nor quite the wit and humour of Double Fine's Broken Age, but it's given me the most enjoyable time I've had playing an adventure game in years. If subsequent chapters can maintain this level of quality, this series could give the King's Quest name a whole new lease of life.
With a 1080p resolution bump and a smoother frame-rate, God of War III retains its place as one of the mightiest brawlers ever made. You can quibble about the lack of new features or the failure to upgrade and include the earlier two games, but when a game delivers this much intense, imaginative and downright magnificent spectacle you're almost helpless to resist.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour plays a great game of golf and has noticeably better graphics than the series previous-gen outings. There's not an awful lot wrong with the core game, and there are some nice surprises. The problem is that the lack of modes, courses, customisation options and players makes it feel only half-complete. This is a problem EA can fix with free DLC, but for now this feels like the foundation of a brilliant golf sim rather than the finished article.
Short on modes, but big on racing, F1 2015 gives fans their most immersive F1 game to date. It could be stronger visually and the AI needs some work, but the first F1 to hit the next-gen consoles delivers both a thrilling drive and a strong core for future F1 games.
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition is something of a guilty pleasure – it's an archetypal mix of the sublime and ridiculous. It's great fun and offers plenty for those who played the original. And if you've never played a Devil May Cry game before? You, too, will find its considerable charms difficult to resist.
When everything works and with the right control configuration, Project Cars is the strongest sim-style racer on console platforms, and the best all-rounder on PC. Less serious racers may find the career a bit of a slog, but if you prioritize quick thrills over authenticity and challenging racing, then Project Cars is not the game for you. Our only real gripe is that it's still a little buggy, with new issues creeping in with the 1.04 release. There's nothing wrong that the developers can't fix, and if they do they'll have a game that will still be a formidable contender when Forza 6 rolls onto the track.
What Sam Barlow has delivered here is an amazingly fresh experience and while from the outside it may seem there's little here to appeal to the hardcore gamer, if you give it a moment, you'll realise just how enthralling being a detective can be.
Yoshi's Woolly World is Nintendo doing what it does best, then proving that it still does that thing better than just about anyone else. It's a smart, imaginative and beautifully constructed platform game that scales up for the hardcore and down for the most casual gamer, while packing in so many ideas and so much heart that anyone should have a brilliant time. More than just a pretty platformer, it's right up there with the finest on Wii U.
Lego Jurassic World isn't a high point for the Lego series, but it's more enjoyable than last year's Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, despite the absence of exotic alien worlds and a slightly dull cast. It doesn't stop the feeling that things need shaking up in the world of Lego games, but it still delivers what matters most: strong co-op gameplay, plenty of laughs, some engaging puzzles and a smorgasbord of silly slapstick fun.
Look past the unimpressive graphics, shoddy team AI and connection issues, and Payday 2 is as exciting a co-op shooter as it was last year. In fact, bar a 1080p resolution and a smoother frame-rate, it's the same co-op shooter that it was last year, though there's enough additional content and bundled former DLC to make it a tempting package. There are too many irritations and frustrations to make it a must-have game, but if you like the sound of Payday's heist-related high-jinx, then the Crimewave Edition is the way to go.
While we're not so impressed with the graphics, TESO has made a fine transition to console in terms of controls, interface and the all-important gameplay. At its best, it's still a solid, exciting MMO, with masses to explore, some great quest-lines and some fun multiplayer gameplay later on. At its worst, you can feel it falling somewhere between being a solo RPG and a true MMO, and the quest-lines fail to grab your interest. Tamriel is well worth exploring on PS4 and Xbox One, but those looking for an MMO equivalent of a Skyrim or Oblivion may go away disappointed.
Splatoon is a wonderful concept with fantastic core mechanics and Nintendo's usual genius when it comes to visuals, scene setting and presentation. It's incredibly close to becoming the Mario Kart of Shooters that some people seem to think it is. Yet without more maps, a less restrictive approach and more inventive game modes, it might not hold our interest for more than a few weeks. With this in mind, we're downgrading the score to 7 until Splatoon is more fully fleshed-out. More content should be on its way this summer, and we just hope that addresses our concerns.
Dirty Bomb is off to a promising start. It's very slick, feature-packed and polished for a free-to-play shooter, and while there are elements of pay to win in the business models, you can still have a good time and build up your Mercs without splashing out a lot. Most of all, in returning to its team-based, objective-based roots, Splash Damage has crafted a fast-paced, enjoyable shooter where everything meshes to get players to work together. It's definitely worth your time.
In the meantime, in spite of its drawbacks and streamlining we would cautiously recommend Heroes of the Storm. You may not find it comes up to snuff if you're an League of Legends or Dota 2 veteran, but if you've never played a MOBA and you want to know what all of the fuss is about, Blizzard's new game may be your best introduction.
It's true that if you own a PS4, played Street Fighter a while back and fancy returning to it, Ultra Street Fighter IV isn't a bad purchase: it gives you a lot of gameplay for the money and, at a base level is great to play – or will be once updates have been disseminated which fix the more glaring bugs. But the game's core audience is more or less guaranteed to own it already on PS3 or Xbox 360, and it would be well advised to stick to those versions of the game. Even in this day and age, it seems, porting is still a minefield.
With its flexible, unpredictable magic system and fun co-op skirmishing, Magicka 2 is still a co-op hoot. All the same, it's not that different from the first game, and nowhere near as smart and anarchic as Helldivers on PS4. By playing safe with its surprise cult hit franchise, Paradox has failed to take it to a higher level.