Developer/publisher Ubisoft (San Francisco) Format PC, PS5 (tested), Xbox Series Release Out now

THUMBS UP One of XDefiant’s few innovations is a delightfully modern system that lets you react to your death with an emoji of your choice. Your desired emoticon is briefly displayed alongside your name in the scrolling kill feed, giving everyone in the lobby a window into your feelings about the opponent who got the better of you. Deploying an appropriately furious face after being vaporised point-blank by a shotgun wielder camping around a corner is cathartic, while receiving a bright-green thumbs up from a vanquished foe after winning a gruelling one-on-one duel increases the satisfaction tenfold. Emoji packs allow you to alter the look of these reactions, introducing another layer of player customisation.

You could easily imagine the corporate pitch meeting behind the advent of Ubisoft’s latest free-to-play shooter. A fast-paced arena FPS in the vein of classic Call Of Duty with a hero-like faction system à la Overwatch, its disparate elements seem to have been cobbled together merely to create a product with the broadest possible appeal, rather than as a result of any coherent vision. Concentrate and you can almost hear the sound of boxes being ticked.