1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim; Skyrim was simply the most engrossing and entertaining game I've played this year. Unbelievably deep, gorgeous, with 100+ hours of content to uncover and discover, it's easily my GOTY.
2. FIFA 12; Absolutely superb simulation soccer/football gameplay, with a great career mode that continually keeps me coming back for more. Out of all the sports games of 2011, personally, FIFA 12 ranks at the top.
3. Saints Row: The Third; In some ways, when playing through Saints Row: The Third, I thought it felt a little disappointing in comparison to SR2. But in the end, after I completed all the content, I realized I had effortlessly breezed through 30 compelling hours of non-stop gaming and I still wanted more! So, even despite those disappointments, it ultimately delivered an unrivaled combo of pure fun and laughs that almost any gamer can quickly pick up and enjoy. And to me, that counts for a lot.
4. Football Manager 2012; FM will always be high on my personal top 10. Just straight-up crack, like FM always is. So while FM 2012 doesn't do much of anything different from previous games, it doesn't have to. It's that consistently good.
5. Bastion; Brilliant and beautiful. Top-class narration/voice work with memorable music, a cool story, and simple, yet fun, gameplay. Just love it.
6. Dead Island; There's no doubt that DI had an extremely rough launch, but the end product was worth it. Was just completely enamored with the amazing blend of outstandingly fun melee combat, free-roam environments and Borderlandsy mission structure.
7. Portal 2; Valve at its finest. Polished, funny, engaging, inventive and it hit all the right notes.
8. Batman: Arkham City; Took what was so exciting and memorable about AA and gave us more of it! Fantastic combat, tons of content, and well, you're the f'n Batman. No complaints with this one.
9. L.A. Noire; Definitely has its faults, but I loved that L.A. Noire aspired for something different from the norm, and at its best, it was really unlike any game I've played before. The facial animations were such a sight to behold, and I respect that ambition and I think it deserves some recognition in a sequel/retread-heavy year like this was.
10. NBA 2K12; Like most recent 2K bball games, it took a couple of patches until it reached its potential. But now, in late December, after playing it for a good while, I can appreciate the solid gameplay and vast multitude of modes available. From Association to My Player, to the legends and the great DLC, there's just a lot of game in here and it's all enough to satisfy what most NBA fans want out of a product like this.
x. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
x. InFamous 2
x. Dark Souls
x. Crysis 2
2010. Bayonetta