1. Dark Souls; Pretty much instantly one of my favourite games of all-time. It expanded on everything that was great about Demon’s and made some vital changes. It has the most satisfying combat I’ve ever seen, one of the best designed worlds, amazing atmosphere, beautiful soundtrack, wonderful minimalistic approach to the narrative, rewards exploration and different tactics, tense multiplayer moments whether it’s in co-op or PVP... I could easily go on. It has a few flaws, but they are ultimately small and it says something when I dump 60 hours in to a game and it still feels too short when the credits roll. An absolute masterpiece and nothing else this year comes close to it.
2. Gears of War 3; The perfect end to one of the best trilogies of this gen. Pretty much all of my complaints from the first two games were fixed and so many things were improved upon. The action was bigger, the story moments more impactful and better written and it ultimately gave me a great sense of closure. By itself it’s a great game, but when combined with the previous two games it becomes something much more powerful. I don’t care if people want to think the series is simply “dudebro” because that’s simply not true. I know Halo 4 is out next year, but this might just be the swansong for the 360 for me.
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution; All that really needs to be said is that it’s a worthy successor to the original. That alone is a huge feat, as Invisible War proved that following-up one of the best games of all-time isn’t easy. Bad graphics and the awful last two hours aside, it’s a great mix of old school mentality with just the right amount of modern tweaks, such as the third person perspective. Despite the awful end section making me wish the game ended earlier, at the same time I wish there was another two or three hubs that gave an extra 30 hours of gameplay because it was so much fun exploring the rich world and finding new ways to tackle objectives. It also has the best soundtrack of the year as far as I’m concerned.
4. Uncharted 3; First and foremost it has to be said that the fact it launched with such BROKEN controls is absolutely unforgivable. I don’t care what some apologists say on GAF, it was unacceptable the game shipped like that and it boggles my mind ND didn’t realise they had broken the game. That really soured the first few hours for me and I had to shelve it until the patch. With that said, post-patch the game is wonderful. It doesn’t hit the highs of the first two games, and it inevitably made less of an impact that 2 did, but it’s an extremely good game that, like Gears 3, feels like a natural place to end the trilogy. They went in quite a few different directions at times and I loved the story exploring Sully and Nate’s friendship. Also, that chase scene through the city is by far one of gaming’s greatest moments.
5. Portal 2; If I had made this list months back this would be at number 1, however over time I’ve realised there are things I don’t like about the game and that it isn’t the perfect, refined package that the original was. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, however, as in fact it’s great. I feel like a sequel to Portal was always going to disappoint in some ways just because it’s such a known quantity, but the single player was a witty and well designed ride whilst the co-op provided a great new twist that provided the most complex puzzles yet.
6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim; There are lots of things I dislike and would change about the game, but I'm over 25 hours in and there's no sign of me stopping any time soon. Those beautiful moments like being in a fight with a dragon, mammoth and giant, or even just watching some deer prance through the snowy mountains, are extremely special and you can't really get that experience anywhere else. If the game had a better engine, more varied dungeons/enemies and better designed quests it would probably be the best game of all-time. As it stands, it's just a great game.
7. The Witcher 2; First of all, it looks ridiculously good. Not just on a technical level, but from an artistic standpoint too. Walking through the Flotsam woods takes immersion to another level and anyone who claims that consoles are powerful enough and better graphics won’t improve a game are simply proved wrong here. This game makes you feel like you really are in this beautifully crafted fantasy setting and, for me, that’s the biggest achievement. There’s a great game behind the presentation, though, with the improved combat system and lack of tedious travel removing my two biggest complaints about the first game. Unfortunately, Flotsam as a chapter is by far the strongest, with the rest ranging from good to mediocre, however that section of the game is so memorable it warrants being this high on this list for me.
8. LittleBigPlanet 2; The sheer variety of things to do in the game instantly elevates it above the original, with the enhanced story elements only making it more enjoyable. It’s not especially mind blowing in any one element, at least from the perspective of something who only plays and doesn’t create, but it’s pure fun. That same warm fuzzy feeling I get from playing Mario Galaxy is back when I’m in the game and that’s a very special thing. It’s hard to articulate what’s great about the game for that reason, but it definitely is great.
9. F1 2011; Similar to Uncharted 3, this game was tainted by a horrible launch and the issues were patched two months after the release of the game. That’s such a horrible waste because at its core, when you got past all of the bugs, F1 2011 has the most satisfying driving model I’ve ever experienced in a game and I feel that Codemasters have got much closer to making you feel like you’re in a real F1 car, micro managing all of the things they do as they attack a track at 200mph. The fact the game was so broken for so long simply can’t be overlooked, however, and I think it’s fair to say it really hurt the community. I’ll be waiting until I hear impressions about 2012 before I buy it.
10. Bulletstorm; In a year when Duke Nukem Forever finally came out and showed in an embarrassing way how out of touch and unfunny the franchise was, Bulletstorm was a breath of fresh air with its distinct wit and combo style gameplay. The great characters, addictive gameplay and beautiful world made it so hard to put down and it’s one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. It’s not mature but who cares? Unlike Duke it still makes me laugh and that’s an achievement when you consider the content. It’s a huge shame we apparently won’t be getting a sequel.
Disappointments:
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword; So much potential is wasted by repetitive tasks, questionable motion controls, too much hand holding, filler and just general bad game design. There are some fantastic step forwards made in the game, such as the RPG-lite system, stamina bar, etc etc, but all of these are overshadowed by the flaws. I wanted to love it, but I just couldn’t. It’s horrible not liking a Zelda game, but I really don’t. I just wish a few design choices were different and then it could have really been something special.
LA Noire; What should have been a gritty and mesmerising adventure was simple repetitive, badly written and wasted on an open world. The first few hours are great, but after that you’ve seen all of the tricks the game has to offer and the story gets absolutely awful. My main mistake here was expecting a Rockstar quality game, rather than a Team Bondi quality game.
Batman Arkham City; By dropping the Metroidvania aspect and going with an open world I feel the game has lost so much of what made the first so special. The concept of the setting is ridiculous, the story fails to grab you and catwoman is terrible. Maybe the combat is improved and you have lots more toys to play with, but I don’t care (or even enjoy) the most basic aspects of the game so that’s meaningless to me.
Crysis 2; Whether it was the change in setting, inspiration from other FPS series or simply restraints of working on consoles, Crysis 2 feels a whole lot less impressive than the original in pretty much every regard other than graphically. There were some great sandbox moments, but not nearly as many as in the original and so many other aspects simply didn’t pull me in. Unlike the other three choices in this category, it is a good game, but as a sequel to Crysis, one of the best FPS ever made, it needed to be so much more than that.
Honourable Mentions:
Bastion; Not as tight as it should have been, but still a very pretty and unique experience.
Battlefield 3; Awful SP, but the MP has so many “Battlefield moments” that it’s provided some of the most memorable gaming moments of the year for me.
Modern Warfare 3; Great SP and MP, but this is the year I finally didn’t get addicted. It’s a worthy sequel and much better than I expected, but that’s it, it no longer has its hooks in me.
Dead Island; Tedious and shallow, with a pretty crap open world, but good fun in co-op with a friend.
Dead Space 2; Probably better than the original and in any other year this would make the top 10. Pleasant surprise.
Motorstorm Apocalypse; Simply the best arcade racer this gen. Again, if it were any other year it’d make the top 10.
RAGE; The driving/open world elements are boring, but when you get into a linear level and it’s all about the shooting then you know it’s a an id game. Such satisfying gunplay.
Ico and Shadow of the Collosus Collection; Great to finally get a chance to play them (at a playable framerate in SOTC’s case). Not as mind blowing as people make out, but very good games.
Yakuza 4; After 3 was so bad it’s great to see them experiment with multiple characters and in many ways it’s my favourite game in the series.  
saints Row 3; It starts off very strong, and a lot of the self-aware humour is really funny, but ultimately falls back on boring open world, GTA-lite conventions. A fun experience, but wasted potential.
Yet to play:
Child of Eden
inFamous 2
Rayman Origins
Super Mario 3D Land
Shadows of the Damned
Alice Madness Returns
Gemini Rue
Renegade Ops
Two Worlds 2
Trine 2
Look at that list of games I still have to play. Fucking hell. What a year.
Also, some observations:
- BF3 and MW3 didn't have anywhere near the impact on me I thought they would. Finally tired of the genre.
- There were some huge disappointments this year from big name sequels.
- It was undoubtebly the year of the RPG.
- Too many games used open worlds when it wasn't needed and suffered because of it.