Here is your round-up of the biggest video gaming news stories from the past seven days, including the unfortunate news that major Xbox One exclusive Crackdown 3 has been delayed, leaving new console Xbox One X without a day-and-date launch title.

Announced in 2014, the sequel is no longer the anticipated follow-up it once was, as fans have been starved of new information. Microsoft says the delay is to allow for "extra time to focus on the visual polish."

Elsewhere Andy Serkis's pioneering motion capture studio The Imaginarium announced a Planet of the Apes game for release later this year, set between the two most recent Hollywood blockbusters Dawn of and War for the Planet of the Apes.

Called Last Frontier, the game will be between two and three hours long and driven by players, as both humans and apes, making choices through actions or dialogue that impact a story with multiple endings.

Finally, the release of Sonic Mania was a rousing success for the franchise after a slew of glowing reviews indicated a long-awaited return to form for the beloved gaming icon.

Below are the original stories. Click through the headlines for further details.

Crackdown 3 delayed until 2018 as Xbox One X launch line-up left in tatters

Crackdown 3 is delayed from its 7 November release date until Spring 2018, Microsoft has announced. Previously set to be a marquee launch title for the upcoming Xbox One X console, the sandbox shooter has been delayed to "deliver the right game, with the right quality, and at the right time", said Microsoft.

"We're very excited about Crackdown 3, and so are many fans, and so it's a difficult call to move the release date," Microsoft Studios' publishing general manager, Shannon Loftis, told Polygon.

"Crackdown 3 is a hugely ambitious game and we want to ensure we deliver the right experiences all the way through every part of the game, whether that's campaign, co-op multiplayer or our competitive multiplayer mode, Wrecking Zone."

Critics hail Sonic Mania as a long-awaited return to form for Sega icon

Fans of Sonic the Hedgehog have waited a very long time for the iconic blue speedster to return to some kind of form, and after years of disappointing revivals and modern interpretations of the classic Sega games, it seems their dreams have been answered.

The reviews are in for Sonic Mania, and they are glowing. The side-scrolling return to the play style and 16-bit pixel art design of Sonic's very first games seems to be exactly what the series has needed.

Andy Serkis' Imaginarium studio reveals Planet of the Apes game Last Frontier

Andy Serkis' performance capture studio The Imaginarium has announced Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier, a new video game set between the events of Hollywood blockbusters Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes.

Serkis will produce the game being developed by Imaginati, a new development team working out of the same studio in Ealing where The Imaginarium honed the ground-breaking performance capture technology used in the hit films.

Last Frontier will be released in autumn for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Crackdown 3 Xbox One X