First up, Forza Horizon 2: the open-world, arcade racing sibling of Microsoft’s driving simulator Forza Motorsport.

It is an absolute blast to play.

If there’s a guide to a game’s fun factor, it’s your wife wandering, bleary-eyed, into the living room muttering, “It’s 5am. Are you coming to bed?” And it only felt like 1am. And after several hours sleep and a cup of tea, I was back behind the wheel.

What is it that makes the game so addictive?

Well, for a start there’s the variety — and not just in the championship race events, which range from road races, circuit races, rallies and off-road competitions. These count to your driver rankings — the ultimate goal being an invitation to the Horizon Championship.

There are more than 200 vehicles to choose from, from a Ford Focus to a Bugatti Veyron, from transit vans to extreme SUVs. They all handle differently, and every single one of them can be customised, either by swapping out components or — if you’re a little more faint-hearted — by selecting one of three different prep packages (standard, competition or race).

Scattered around the game world are a number of barn finds as well, classic vehicles from days past, including such delights as a VW Camper, a rally-prepped Renault Alpine, a Second World War Willys Jeep and more. It’ll take your mechanic a little while to fix them up, but once they’re ready you can enter them in events or just drive around enjoying the ride.

The game world is beautifully realised — the Cote D’Azure, on the France-Italy border around Nice, an area with urban, coastal, rural and twisting mountain roads. Nor are you limited to the roads — the only thing missing as you rip through the middle of vineyards or fields of lavender is the smell.

As you drive around, you’ll pick up XP from tricks. You’ll also get the option to challenge other drivers to one-on-one races; these aren’t just AI competitors, but opponents built from the driving style of other Forza Horizon 2 players around the world. You’ll also encounter your Xbox Live friends in the game, whether they play it or not, and they can be tough to beat (though very satisfying when you do).

You’ll also find Bucket List items — specific challenges in specific cars. Again, there’s a good deal of variety in both the challenges, which may be a timed race to the finish, or to complete a certain number of driving tricks, to break a top speed during the challenge, or get your average speed above a certain level.

Being an arcade racer, the controls are relatively simple: throttle, brakes, handbrake and steering. Gameplay, however, is no walkover, and it can be tough to recover from errors. Each race, each car, will test your driving skills in different ways. Fortunately, the game does give you the option to replay championship races if your initial result isn’t to your satisfaction.

Keep at the game long enough, and you’ll be given the option to join a club of real-world players, which opens up community options. There are a couple of UAE-based clubs already.

While debating with myself over what rating to give this game, I’ve hovered between 4.5 stars and 5. I’ve looked hard for a reason to give it the lower rating, and I just can’t find one. Forza Horizon 2 is a truly magnificent game, and it fully deserves 5 stars.

MXGP

This is a new-gen port of the official Motocross PS3/Xbox360 game released earlier this year. The graphics are rather prettier in the rendering, but the gameplay is pretty much the same.

In addition to the regular driving controls, you also control where you shift your weight on the bike with the right stick, which allows better control over cornering, climbing and descending, scrubbing and tricks.

MXGP is a strictly race-based game, but while you’re limited to the rather muddy tracks, there is the usual selection of sports-game approaches: one-off races, showpiece events, race as a real-world motocross driver, or create your own driver and follow his career from the lower-tier MX2 championship to the MX1.

This version, however, adds four more tracks to race around.

Oddly, the game is not terribly challenging. You’re most likely to lose by falling off your bike, which usually happens during a collision with another rider. If you can get clear of the pack, the only way you’re going to lose the race is with an error bad enough to bring you off the bike. That can happen, but not too often — especially once you become familiar with the circuits.

If you love motorbike racing, and you don’t have the last-gen version of the game, put it on your wishlist. If not, there are more interesting race games out there (though not a lot of them involving motorbikes).