1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ; Bethesda's best effort since Morrowind. A beautiful, cohesive, supremely compelling world to explore that really puts Oblivion's Cyrodiil to shame. Improved combat, animations, voice acting, and quests compared to Oblivion are all present as well. One of the best RPG's I've played in a long time. As of this post, I've played for 108 hours and there's still so much I have to do. Also an essential game for fans of a good soundtrack. Jeremy Soule's work here is his best ever.

2. L.A. Noire ; Most people seeing this at number two are going to think I'm insane, but I loved this game. It's unlike anything else I've played in recent years. A strange hybrid of old school adventure games and more recent sandbox action games. I really got into the clue finding and interrogations and the noir atmosphere and tone of 1940's Los Angeles was spot on. I love games with a strong sense of place that can convincingly immerse you in their setting and L.A. Noire is best in class at this. There's also the much hyped facial animation tech that really does add to the experience. There's a multitude of great performances throughout the game and it's actually a bit jarring to see faces in other games now because nothing else comes close to the animation here. LAN isn't perfect, what with the protagonist's wild mood swings during interviews and lackluster, repetitive side missions, but the main story kept me engaged the whole way through thanks to its characters and atmosphere.

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution ; This really surprised me. I was fairly convinced that this would end up a disaster. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. This is absolutely a worthy sequel to the first game. I fell in love with the cyberpunk atmosphere all over again (something I could use more of in games) and the gameplay really did feel like an updated Deus Ex. I don't even much care for stealth games these days, yet I played through this whole thing without firing a single bullet and had an absolute blast. With my second playthrough, my character would bust in guns blazing every chance he got and that was a blast. The freedom when it comes to how you tackle this game is definitely part of its greatness. The other part was a plot that was fun to see through to the end. One that explored the idea of transhumanism in a really interesting way.

4. Gemini Rue ; An old school adventure game that felt incredibly fresh in 2011. Dripping with cyberpunk atmosphere, they almost could have called this a sequel to the old Blade Runner game and I would have understood why. It also sports some interesting puzzles that are challenging without being frustrating and a plot that genuinely shocked me towards the end with one of its major twists. And did I mention it was all done by a single student at UCLA? Insanely impressive and insanely fun.

5. Bastion ; Filled to the brim with charm and beautiful art design, Bastion was quite simply a joy to play. Rock solid combat that pushed me to go back and beat all of the challenge rooms (something I rarely do in games) with a great story told in a unique minimalist style thanks to the game's narrator. Oh, and I'd be remiss not to mention the soundtrack. Darren Korb did a bang up job of mixing sounds of sci-fi and fantasy with a more rugged western tone. Reminded me a lot of Firefly in that regard.

2010. Fallout: New Vegas ; Some of the best writing from any genre this generation and a fantastic use of the Fallout universe. Obsidian fucking nailed it in that regard. It's literally perfect. Really felt like a return to the atmosphere of the first two Fallouts. The great quests, the different factions, the music, the companions! It's all a Fallout fan could ask for

(yeah, I'm not that good at describing why I love something =\ )

1. Dark Souls; Not just my game of the year but one of the greatest games I've ever played. The way the world is laid out and connected is almost sickening. The visuals are beautiful with more jaw-dropping moments of sheer beauty and scope than I can remember and the contrast and variety in environments was outrageous; going from a place like Blighttown to Anor Londo is a real eye-opener. The game is very hard but fair in most cases; any boss you find impossible at first is suddenly a lot easier the more you work with them and figure them out. The gameplay itself is wonderful, what with mastering such things as evasion and parrying and essentially figuring each and every enemy's weaknesses and attack patterns-- just pure joy. And then there's the online component, which actually alone helped me sit this game above even Zelda. I had more memorable and downright exciting moments with the online here than any other online heavy title I've played. During one session, someone was helping me take down a giant dragon and, right in the middle of the chaos, we just both happened to run at its tail from opposite sides, jumped in the air, and brought our swords down together on roughly the same part of the tail, cutting it off. Moments like that come dangerously close to transcending what is just simply good game design, and I had a plethora of these moments in Dark Souls.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword; An assortment of small issues made bigger due to the fact that the vast majority of them should have been realized by the excellent developers at Nintendo before they were able to plague the final release keeps this from achieving a higher ranking. Incessant hand-holding, pointless gameplay stoppers like letting you know that red rupees are still worth 20 and how popular the Skyloft grasshoppers are to kids, and so on. And not to even mention Fi, who god bless her helpful heart, wants nothing more that for you to figure out how to turn your Wii on or off; hell, she'll downright solve some dungeon puzzles for you while she's at it. It's a shame because otherwise this was a wonderful Zelda game with some of the best gameplay of the year, a stunning soundtrack, gorgeous art design, some truly epic boss fights, and bar none the greatest story (and story presentation) in the franchise to date. However, had these ridiculously short-sighted problems not been a factor, it would have at least tied with Dark Souls as my game of the year.

3. Assassin's Creed: Revelations; Sure, the "game is still the same" and the newer additions like bomb crafting and den defense were kind of unnecessary, but everything else was incredible. The city of Constantinople was gorgeously realize, the new characters particularly Sofia were nice additions, and the way the story played out was phenomenal. The ending was also one hell of a cool cliffhanger that really pumps you up for the next installment. I also have to say that the last 2-3 hours of the game contain the best moments in the entire series for me.

4. Super Mario 3D Land; One of the tightest platforming experiences in recent memory. Most of the levels are incredibly well executed and there are almost always new gameplay ideas around every corner, the next just as well implemented as the last. This game alone is worth having a 3DS for.

5. Dead Space 2; The best horror game I've played this gen. While it's true that there is a heavier emphasis on action and blasting shit, the actual horror elements I felt were very good and easily superior to the original's horror elements. The gameplay was sound, the game looked great, the sound design was phenomenal, the environments were way better than those of the original-- just an incredibly entertaining package all-around with some of the best atmosphere out there.

6. Portal 2; While I wasn't quite as impressed as I was the first time around, I know that I can simply chalk that up to the first one being an original experience with a great new concept and an unpredictable turn of events near the end. It may have that over its sequel, but Portal 2 is nonetheless bigger, cleverer, wittier, and more fun. Its challenges were devious, its characters very charming, well written and acted, its music evoking some old-school wonder, it has stronger longevity, and "Want You Gone" was even better than "Still Alive." Bravo, Valve.

7. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception; The first half dragged a bit much with some serious gameplay balancing issues, but once it took off it finally becomes the ride that you expect. It has some of the best character work overall in the gaming medium with the best directed cutscenes out there, Greg Edmonson's score, deeply shunned again by various game awards is probably the best game soundtrack of the year, and the action sequences were top notch. It told a pretty decent story, a better story I felt than Uncharted 2 told, and had the best villains in the series for me. I think Uncharted 2 is better overall especially from a pacing point of view, but I don't agree that Uncharted 2 was vastly superior, as Uncharted 3 was still an excellent installment.

8. Shadows of the Damned; This gets in my list, apart from the fun gunplay and well paced adventure, because of the amount of love the creators have for Italian horror film directors like Dario Argento. Parts of Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack could fit snugly into Suspiria, and it just had this grungy horror atmosphere that I really dug. It wasn't trying to be scary, just incredibly over the top and very demonic. It also had a lot of no-shame hilarity and very, well, vibrant characters. Just pure fun and a real treat for those who are into that kind of style of horror.

9. Alice: Madness Returns; This was a pleasant surprise particularly after some of the less than stellar reviews. Well, they were wrong, and to my utter delight. The game had wonderful art direction (though expected) but also brought along sufficient platforming gameplay and good combat. It was also very lengthy with a good story/characters, some really atmospheric music, and a great gothic horror tone without going overboard.

10. Batman: Arkham City; While worthy of anyone's games of the year lists and certainly worthy of mine, I still found it to be disappointing in some regards and dare I say incredibly overrated. While that may sound more than a bit hypocritical, I still enjoyed it overall-- I just didn't walk away thinking that I had just played one of the best games of the gen, or even of the year. When I made the list I promised myself that it would only consist of games that I at least saw all the way through to the credits, and while I was disappointed by the game, it was still mostly very good and I could not consciously put something like Battlefield 3 or Modern Warfare 3 in its place. The things I didn't like about it are perhaps a bit too much for me to really get into here as I'm at least making an attempt to keep this brief, but long story short I found it to be an overall very good game with some very bland elements.

1. DARK SOULS

2. SKYRIM

Ugh, I had my write-up half done and then somehow I closed the window...
I'm going to make the second go at this a little shorter...


1. Portal 2; Hilarously written, excellent voice acting, fun puzzle gameplay and great co-op


2. InFamous 2; Improved upon the first game in every way. I loved New Marais and the new Cole Macgrath.


3. Catherine; Addicting puzzle gameplay kept me coming back to gold every stage and complete all the challenge levels. I loved it.


4. Dark Souls; I loved the interconnected level design of the open world. The game was sometimes terrifying and still gives that great sense of accomplishment that Demon's Souls did


5. Dead Space 2; I loved that they gave Isaac a voice. It was less horror than the first game, but that was okay with me. The new enemies were great. Really a great game.


6. Assassin's Creed: Revelations; Single player wasn't quite as good as Brotherhood, but it was still good fun, and I love the multiplayer in this game, which was much improved from Brohood


7. Uncharted 3; A great third person shooter, amazing cinematic experience, but not as good as Uncharted 2.


8. Skyrim; I'm not even sure I want to leave this game up here, as I played the PS3 version... however, I did have a lot of fun with the game despite having to restart my console every half an hour. I played for 120 hours and got the Platinum. It was awesome except for when the framerate dropped to 0... which was a lot... but I guess if it were any other game, I wouldn't have bothered to keep playing through that kind of bullshit. I definitely won't be buying Bethesda's next game, but I feel this deserves at least 1 point for the fun I had with it.

I only need to post 3 games since they are the only notable ones I have played this year. Those are:

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Battlefield 3
3. Gears of War 3

1. Skyrim ; Skyrim has definitely sucked me in more than any game this year. I'm at 85 hours so far and have no intention of giving up soon. Originally I was hoping it would take the spot as my favorite game ever from New Vegas but I'll be honest, the writing (in terms of how much connection there is between events in the world and how aware of how you've changed the world NPCs are) isn't up to the level of NV. The world itself however is incredibly beautiful and the amount of cool and interesting (and unique) stuff you can find just wandering around is quite literally insane. I've also encountered very few bugs, enjoyed the combat and just had an all round awesome time for every one of the 85 hours I've spent with the game. 2nd place is a long way down on my list.

2. WWE Allstars ; This game had me addicted to a fighting game in a way I haven't been addicted since the likes of Defjam: FFNY or Tobal 2. The game is just plain fun to play in single player (something Street Fighter has never really managed to do). I went so far as to play through the game every way it requires you to in order to get all the single player mode completion achievements, something I never saw myself doing in a fighter. I had a load of fun learning all the characters movesets and just beating up on the AI in general.

3. Uncharted 3 ; Uncharted 3 took me by surprise. I liked UC2 but not enough for it to make it onto my top 10 list. The quality was obvious but I didn't like the puzzles and the shooting was decent at best (bullet sponges). Uncharted 3 however I pretty much loved from start to finish and the amount of scenes that will stick with me for a long time are numerous. The whole sea area and climax. The burning chateau, the desert, etc, etc. The cutscenes and story are also great and the characters finally made their charm evident to me. I also think that the mix of gameplay and the length of time you spend doing each type is pretty much perfectly balanced so as to come together into a great overally experience.

4. Infinity Blade II ; Love the atmosphere, look and play of this game. The excellent eerie music compliments the world really well and the fun combat combined with interesting levelling up mechanics had me hooked for as long as a lot of full retail releases do. The story is also interesting despite being a bit silly and too mysterious for its own good.

5. Mortal Kombat ; Like WWE Allstars this game advances the single player aspect of fighting games (this game even moreso). I'll be pretty damned disappointed if SFxT or Capcom's next fighting game after that doesn't adopt some of the ideas here and do something for people like myself who like fighting games but don't particularly get into the online aspect of the games. I loved the way they made you use different characters, I never would have used most of them otherwise and all the stuff you can unlock is well done and fun to do. Looks and plays great to boot.

6. Dead Island ; I played a lot of this game and I enjoyed pretty much all of that time except for a few spots here and there (respawning straight back into combat so that you die again, ugh). I also played a whole bunch of the co-op and it was a blast. I must say though that the game doesn't really stick out in my memory like say, Uncharted 3 so I found it difficult as to where I should put this game on my list.

7. Alice: Madness Returns ; Amazing art design, great graphics, fun and varied combat, nice pace in terms of how new mechanics and moves are doled out, etc. This game was an unknown quantity pretty much up until I had it in my hands so I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up liking the game. The secret stuff was really well done, too, a pleasure to search for. It did go on for a bit long though and I'll admit I didn't end up finishing it. Something I would love to go back to though.

8. Saints Row 3 ; Once again Volition shows that they understand what makes a game fun and exactly how and when to give it to you (see also Red Faction: Guerilla and Saint's Row 2). Yep, level 4 pistols fire explosive bullets. Yep, you can buy perks so that guns do no damage to you. Yep, you fly around the city on a hoverbike. This game is flat out crazy and all the better for it. Pretty much any cheat code you can think of is built into the game as a standard perk/level up option and the game does fun better than pretty much any other game I can think of. I think the reason it's so far down my list is the amount of stuff I was compelled to do was less than I'd hoped. Despite being an openworld game I only put 10-15 hours into it before I was done. It definitely would have benefited from fleshed out side stories and more main story missions.

9. Battleheart ; Mika Mobile are iOS geniuses. Their stuff consistently hooks me with their perfect mix of RPG leveling up and fun and well balanced combat mechanics. Love the art style and the look of everything in the game.

10. Zombieville USA 2 ; Like Battleheart Mika Mobile does RPG mechanics with great combat again. I almost felt like the game needed more variety and more meat to it but those thoughts were soon expelled when I actually got back into the combat. I was constantly amazed at how much fun I could have with combat/levels that seem so simple.

x. Toy Soldiers: Cold War ; As much fun if not more than the first game.

x. Space Marine ; Awesome combination of melee and ranged combat in a great realization of the universe. Sequel (if it has more variety and content) will be amazing.

x. Crysis ; Amazing that this finally hit the consoles and as a DL game no less. This is my type of FPS, huge areas and lots of options in terms of how you take on enemies. Looks amazing too, I'm a big fan of tropical settings.

2010. Shaun White Skateboarding ; Never thought the campaign in a skateboarding game could be that fun. The crazy world changing mechanics were a bunch of fun, too.

Allowed or disallowed?
God of War: Origins Collection, Team ICO collection, MGS HD Collection

If I post an initial list, can I edit it before the final date or is tabulation ongoing?

corrosivefrost said:

Allowed or disallowed?
God of War: Origins Collection, Team ICO collection, MGS HD Collection

If I post an initial list, can I edit it before the final date or is tabulation ongoing?

Click to expand...

All of those are disallowed. You may edit as many times as you like before the deadline.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Xenoblade
3. The Witcher 2

1. Dark Souls; Amazing level design, varied classes allow multiple approaches, tons of stuff to do.
2. Batman: Arkham City; great game -- I had a lot of fun, though I thought it lost some of the charm that Arkham Asylum had through the open world approach.
3. Bulletstorm; amazing mechanics, I loved the writing... this is the kind of immature I like in my gaming.
4. Dead Space 2; excellent sequel, good gameplay improvements, interesting story/environments, multi was actually good, but gave up on it because idiots online wouldn't work together.
5. Gears of War 3; my go to cover-based shooter. I like the weapons additions, graphics are good, I like the MP maps and horde is more fun than ever. Enjoying my season pass DLC.
6. Mortal Kombat 9; great fighter, I like the attempt at a deeper combo system, I just wish the online didn't suck.
7. Uncharted 3; I liked the mix of puzzle, exploration, and gunfight. Seems there were more sections where you could play stealth. Set pieces were amazing though there were parts in the mid-game that reminded me of what I hated about Uncharted 2. Much better than Uncharted 2. Still don't care for the multi.
8. Deus Ex: Human Revolution; I played this like Metal Gear Solid HD [total stealth, no kills] and had a blast. Some minor complaints here and there... wasn't a huge fan of the story though.
9. Sonic Generations; At first I hated the "modern sonic" levels. Then bought it on PC on a whim since it was $15 (should've waited for the $10.19 steam sale... :lol)... playing actual levels in context and such, I didn't hate the modern sonic as much and I'm having a ton of fun with it.
10. Terraria; Wasn't a fan of minecraft, but this 2D metroidvania-esque take stole a good number of hours from my life. I never even made it very far, I should really go back.

x. Hard Corps: Uprising; Awesome awesome homage to the Contra games of old. I put a bunch of time into Rising mode, because I'm just not good enough at these games anymore, but I dropped off my playtime in favor of something else. I should go back sometime soon, for sure.
x. Killzone 3; I loved the multi and thought it was a good time; graphics were good, but the single player was kind of terrible. I expected more. Still, an improvement on KZ2 in almost every way.
x. Portal 2; Well done but I personally found it to be overrated. The humor didn't appeal to me for the most part, some of the puzzles I found really obtuse, seemed a bit on the "too long" side. I did like the gel mechanics and overall had a good time with it.
x. Shadows of the Damned; I liked it a lot the first time I played it, but I went for the platinum, which required an additional two runs because of the stupid non-stacking achievements/trophies for difficulty. I pushed myself through the second and third time and the game really started to show it's weaknesses in the core gameplay for me. I liked a lot of the crazy design and characters, but in the end, the flaws kept it from placing on my list.
x. Skyrim; I'm sure it's great if you don't own it on PS3. What I played is awesome. I'd waste my whole Christmas vacation in Skyrim if I wasn't lagging out at 0FPS, it'd easily be top 5 in my list.

2010. Vanquish; An extremely fun thirdperson shooter with unique gameplay elements; also it felt like an open love letter to Metal Gear Solid and I loved that about it.

Oh I forgot to ask, was Assassins Creed Brotherhood for the PC allowed (released in February) ? Or does the PC version still count for last year?

1. Skyward Sword ; I don't play my Wii often but when I do, it's always so refreshing. Nobody makes a game like Nintendo.

2. Skyrim ; this might have been my top pick if I could play it (bought the PS3 version on launch day)

3. Uncharted 3 ; the impact has worn off a bit after a third playthrough, but it's still an amazing experience.

4. Dark Souls ; easily my most played game of 2011.

5. Arkham City ; liked it a lot more before I went and wasted all that time collecting the Riddler trophies. That just left a sour taste in my mouth and now I never want to see the game again. The main story was incredible, though.

5. Portal 2 ; short but sweet. Lack of replayability keeps it down.

6. Dead Space 2 ; one of those games I know I'll be dusting off well after this generation is over.

7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution ; after playing Uncharted 3 I can't even bear to witness the horrible character interactions in this game. But I had a ton of fun with it when it came out.

8. LittleBigPlanet 2 ; much better than the original, but the original didn't really need a sequel on the PS3. LBP was very much a novelty game and that novelty had worn thin.

9. Killzone 3 ; best online shooter this year in my opinion. Pity I don't really care about online shooters anymore.

10. Mario Kart 7 ; I've only owned this game for a day but I'm having an assload of fun with it. Will be playing for years to come.

Meh I'm getting Dark Souls for Christmas, doubt 'll be done with it by Jan 7 :/

Ceebs said:

Oh I forgot to ask, was Assassins Creed Brotherhood for the PC allowed (released in February) ? Or does the PC version still count for last year?

Click to expand...

Last year, precedent was set to allow games on new platforms if they straddled the turn of the year.

1 - The Elder scrolls V: Skyrim

2 - The Witcher 2

3 - Dark Souls

4 - Portal 2

5 - Uncharted 3

6 - Batman: Arkham Asylum

7 - Gears of War 3

8 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

9- Dead Space 2

10- King of Fighter XIII : Just because I want to encourage a FG like this. A great turnaround after the failure that was KOF XII. Honestly, it's just so well designed as a FG with systems and mechanics that make sense. As a bonus, they found a way to allow people to make big comeback (and combos which can deal insane damage without them being as easy to do as in Marvel 3) without it being a mediocre comeback mechanic that can almost brake the game.

Might do more commentary later, but meh watching some UMvC3 finals.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
2. Super Mario 3D Land
3. Portal 2
4. Xenoblade Chronicles
5. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked
6. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
7. Star Wars: The Old Republic
8. Rayman Origins
9. Persona 2: Innocent Sin
10. Final Fantasy XIII-2

Disappointments: Skyrim. I honestly hoped that Bethesda would've filled the world with more interesting things to do, but overall, besides some of the combat tweaks, the game is really only good as a base for the modding community to create a good game. The game has uninteresting quest design that is largely unchanged from the rest of the series, not enough compelling story content, too much filler, and repetitive side-quests. Also the PS3 version is horrendous, and all the people who purchased the game should be given their money back for such a completely horrible release of the game that literally is unplayable. Absoloutely horrible. Additionally, the PC version is only locked to two cores, is DX9 ONLY, and Large Address Aware restricted. Sure the combat system, particularly the magic system, was very much enchanced in great ways, but that was about the only major improvement. All of the talents become completely unbalanced the more you play, and overall, not too much really changed. As the game stands itself, I am disappointed with it, but I do have hopes that the modding community will make it a good game, and that the PS3 owners will get a fully working version one day. It's pretty shitty when you ship out 2/3rds of a release in very shitty shape. I bought and played the game (for a few hours) as an investment, because I know modders will save it in the end, like they've done with every other Bethesda release.

Also still in my backlog: AC Revelations, Batman AC, UC3, GoW3, and Dark Souls.

1. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception ; Somehow, someway, Naughty Dog does it again. Bigger, badder and with a better engine. Industry-leading water and fire physics turned simple settings into grand feats of current-gen technology.
2. Battlefield 3 ; Gave BF2 fans the game we were all hoping for, half-assed single player included (let's be honest: we're here for multi).
3. Killzone 3 ; Even better than KZ2 with many of its predecessor's multiplayer flaws addressed.
4. Batman: Arkham City ; AA 2.5. Smoother, bigger and better. This is the 'completeness' that AA was lacking. Rocksteady = total bouses.
5. Outland ; Housemarque does it again. This simply yet beautiful platformer delivered a 10+ hour experience for $15. Best bang for buck in 2011.
6. SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs ; The best current-gen SOCOM effort to date. Great for us, horrible for the series. I don't see what they can do to ever bring this brand back to the SOCOM II glory days.
7. Assassin's Creed: Revelations ; Crisp multiplayer makes you paranoid. Never felt so tense playing a video game before. Makes for an excellent party game, believe it or not... Unfortunately though, the single-player is pure udder shit. The story is perhaps the dumbest I have seen all year. This isn't a Battlefield 3... Mutliplayer is NOT worth the cost of entry.
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ; Modern Warfare 2.5? More like MW 2.1. Which isn't necessarily an awful thing - the multiplayer is as solid as ever. In all fairness, this should be the last game to use the far-outdated COD4 engine. However, with $1B in sales, it won't. Either way, this title is nowhere deserving of a Top 5 in my opinion.
9. L.A. Noire ; The first half of this game put it on par for GOTY contender. The second half is an abomination and a clear result of Team Bondi's well-known issues. Such a shame.
10. Grand Prix Story ; Another excellent effort by Kairosoft. Builds on the wonderful idea behind Game Dev Story and Hot Springs Story, all the while adding an action element and far deeper mechanics than its $5 price tag would suggest. Unfortunately, this would be Kairosoft's peak in 2011 as both World Cruise Story and Epic Astro Story fall far shorter in quality.
x. Portal 2 ; In my humble opinion, the most overrated game of 2011 next to Skyrim (which is such a piece of shit boring game that it didn't even make my Honourables... Hah!).
x. LittleBigPlanet 2 ; Novel attempt at Move control integration, but unfortunately it's stuck in a genre that just doesn't interest me. LBP2 didn't do enough to change that view.

On a side note, going to try and finish Bastion and Saints Row 3 before the 7th. Or at least play enough to allow me to make a fair judgement.

1. Portal 2 - Great dialogue, fun puzzles, fantastic co-op. A bit too easy, but I still loved every minute of it. The addition of the gels really upped the puzzle variety.

2. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - I'm not even sure what to say about this. I love almost every thing about it. From the already great cast from the first edition and the 12 new characters, the creative team-building, the amount of hype it brings, the fan service...I just love it all.

3. Bulletstorm - Pure fun. Definitely was surprised at how great this game is. The weapons, movement, and whip created a vast array of combat possibilities and the game rewards creativity. Multiplayer was a riot provided you had players who used teamwork. Top it all off with great visuals.

4. Saints Row The Third - Absurd and ridiculous, this game pushed all the right buttons with me. The first song I heard on the radio was fucking Strapping Young Lad ffs. Great story missions and entertaining writing and voice acting. Jon Glaser is hilarious as the Adult Swim radio host (can't wait for Delocated season 3). Shooting and graphics get the job done. I would have liked the story to be longer and a few game crashes bugged me, but other than that I loved it.

5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - I knew pretty much nothing about Deus Ex a week before this came out, but great impressions and previews (in addition to a slew of TF2 items) pushed me to pick this up day 1.  Loved the openness of it all and the customization (both augmentations and dialogue choices).  The atmosphere of the game's setting was also remarkable even if the graphics weren't the hottest.

6. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Disappointing compared to Uncharted 2, but a great adventure nonetheless. Gorgeous graphics with irresistible characters.

7. Shadows Of The Damned - Just a wonderful game, even if its shooting is mediocre. The characters shine and the music is great. Just oozes charm which makes it nearly impossible to not love.

8. Battlefield 3 - Lame single-player aside, the multi-player shines. 64 player Conquest in just glorious on the right maps. Mind-blowing graphics with vastly improved gunplay from Bad Company 2. The chaotic vehicle combat is what makes it Battlefield though.

9. Gears Of War 3 - Much better than Gears of War 2. Solid campaign, beautiful visuals, great online (besides the Sawed Off Shotgun). Horde mode is always a good time if you aren't into competitive or just want to switch it up. Just a tight package all around.

10. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Putting this on here not because the game is great (besides a few missions I still don't enjoy), but because it sets the bar for HD remakes. Gameplay still holds up too, but I prefer the later games in the franchise.

x. Bastion
x. Jamestown
x. Renegade Ops
x. Sonic Generations
x. Frozen Synapse
x. DiRT 3
x. Crysis 2

2010: Vanquish

Games I haven't played, but plan to:
The Witcher 2
Skyrim
Space Marine

Games I've started but haven't played enough:
Batman: Arkham City

bigdaddygamebot said:

This is difficult to really narrow down but...


1. Dark Souls
2. Battleheart
3. Dead Space 2
4. Battlefield 3
5. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
6. Batman: Arkham City
7. Xenoblade Chronicles
8. Skyrim
9. Trenched
10. Super Brothers: Sword and Sworcery



Honorable Mention

x. Frozen Synapse (If it had deep single-player campaign with a story it would have been significantly higher on my list)

x. Forza 4 (Bought it...no time to play it. : /)

x. Radiant Historia (I really like what they were trying to do with the "time angle" but at times I found the combat a bit of a drag and also found myself confused at times as to where to go next.)

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You have brought immense shame to your Outland avatar.

1. Batman Arkham City ; This could be my favorite game of the past several years. I haven't played a game in a long, long time (Castlevania SotN) that made me want to find every secret.

2. The Witcher 2 ; Favorite RPG of the year for me.

3. Gears of War 3 ;

4. Portal 2 ; Had lots of fun with it, but I didn't like it as much as the first one.

5. Crysis 2 ; Best Shooter of the year, imo (weak year for good shooters)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
2. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
3. Portal 2
4. The Witcher 2
5. Dark Souls
6. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
7. Little Big Planet 2
8. Pokemon Black
9. Super Mario 3D Land
10. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

1. Jamestown ; Fucking amazing. I'm not really a shmup fan, but I love this game. So much care put into it. Great scenario, excellent cutscenes . Its like a Neogeo Shmup with an extra side of crazy awesome .
2. Daytona USA ; This & Outrun 2 are the best arcade racers ever. It finally gets the treatment it deserves. Online battles are fantastic (& dirty!).
3. Portal 2 ; I feel like this is here in a lot of ways because I've spent the entire year working through backlog, and haven't played many new AAA games. It was good. Loved the narration & puzzles. But it couldn't ever top the sheer surprises the 1st game brought.
4. Half-Minute Hero ; * ; I love how this game distills JPRGs down to something so accessible & immediate. I really think the future of the genre is in experiments like this. I played the XBLA version that released this year. * I hope this counts, otherwise I guess it would be my 'prior release' mulligan.
5. Terraria ; picked this up in the steam sale & have been playing around with it over the last week. I suspect this would end up moving up the list with more time. Love the 16-bit esthetic. Fits the crafting & mining gameplay really well. (edit 1 Dec31) moved this up a few spots, cause damn its good! (edit 2 Jan4)
6. Tacticolor ; Exceedingly simple. Great pick up for 10 or 15 minutes of chilling out. First puzzle game I've enjoyed since Tetris
7. Platformance: Temple Death ; Really great mini-platformer. Another fantastic experience with limited time commitments.
8. Dead Pixels ; Has the feeling of an old NES beat-em-up RPG mixed up with Zombies & guns.
9. Rage ; I'm enjoying the old school gameplay a lot. The only thing I find frustrating is that hitboxes sometimes are a little confusing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Great graphics too. Also , best skybox award. (edit 2 Jan4)
10.

Thoughts:
My decision to play through my 08-10 backlog has of course created a 2011 backlog for next year. It'll probably be just as bad next year although I do plan on starting Mass Effect 3 at release. Fallout 3 sucked up too much time. I assume Skyrim will do the same next year.

There is a rather pronounced shift to smaller , indie experiences in my choices this year. These games simply fit my life better, and often are more creative than their larger commercial counterparts. They also have the benefit of being available for next to nothing sometimes. Long live Indie!

Good year so far. I imagine once I finally play all the 2011 releases 2 years from now I'll consider it to be great.

1. Saints Row The Third ; Saints Row 3 is what GTA4 would have been in an alternate dimension. It feels, in many ways, like the sequel that San Andreas deserved. Instead Rockstar went down a different path that I think was the wrong choice. This game is pure and utter bliss. I wish that there was more to do, but ultimately that doesn't change one simple fact. No game this year has made me smile, laugh and feel glee more. Saints Row isn't the perfect game of 2011. It's not the most technically sound or most enthralling. But it is the most fun.

2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ; Skyrim is in many ways on the alternate spectrum of Saints Row 3. It's an open-world game that takes itself entirely seriously. However, unlike in Oblivion I feel that Bethesda succeeded in making me believe in this world. This world is truly the most beautiful, enthralling and compelling I've ever experienced in a video game. Good show Bethesda...glitches aside.

3. Dark Souls ; What more can be said about Dark Souls than what has already been said countless times before? One specific mention I have to make is how interconnected the world is. The way that the initial area opens up and ultimately connects to so many of the later areas is truly mindblowing. Dark Souls is a paragon of great game design wrapped up in a spiked package of brutality.

4. Portal 2 ; The perfect sequel to the original masterpiece. Great gameplay, great dialogue, a great singleplayer campaign and a great multiplayer campaign. What more can you want?

5. Catherine ; Even when you consider the game came from Atlus, Catherine is still an incredibly bizarre concoction. It's a crazy anime story laid out around a ball-busting hard puzzle game. In many ways that combination should not work at all. Yet, in Catherine it does. The story is ridiculous but charming and enthralling to watch unfold, and the gameplay is punishing but addictive.

6. Super Mario 3D Land ; This is the second time that I've doubted a Mario game this generation. The first time was Mario Galaxy; which ended up being one of my favorite games of all time. 3D Land doesn't reach heights quite that high, but it's still an absolute blast to play. Maybe I should doubt Nintendo more often.

7. Gears of War 3 ; I wanted to place this higher. Hell, I expected it to be higher. Unfortunately, Cliffy B and Epic dropped the ball again. The singleplayer is great at first, but over time you realize it isn't as packed or as tight an experience as 2. And the multiplayer, with so much promise, is ruined by one of the worst weapons in shooter history. Alas, the third time wasn't the charm this time. Still my absolute love of Gears core gameplay places it this high. I just wish the surrounding bits could be as good.

8. Mario Kart 7 ; It's Mario Kart. What can I really say? I do have to compliment Nintendo, of all companies, crafting such an amazing online system though. Great show Nintendo. Now put it in other games.

9. Pokemon Black/White ; I love what B/W did to change up the dull Pokemon standard. Sadly, even though I appreciated the change, I couldn't get into this game as much as I have past Pokemon. I just couldn't be assed after beating the game to do everything else. Maybe my love of the series is just reaching an end.

10. Bulletstorm ; A criminally underrated game. Bulletstorm was overlooked by many because of 'dicktits' and a bad demo. Unfortunately for them, they missed one of the most creative and enjoyable shooters in years. And wrapped up in all those dick jokes was a story far better than it had any right to be too.

I still have to play Skyward Sword, Dead Space 2, Uncharted 3 and various others. Hopefully I can beat some of them before the deadline.

Yakuza 4
Dark Souls
Xenoblade
Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky
Hard Corps Uprising
Renegade Slops (Renegade Ops after the patch)

Yoshichan said:

Nice list but dat MAHVEL at 6th place? And Ultimate at that?! I thought Vanilla was superior ?

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How would vanilla be superior? 60 bucks, no spectator mode, shittier online, smaller cast, and less random stuff like titles, etc.

I dropped/hated vanilla after a month to be honest. I picked up UMvC3 only because I needed a new fighter and KoF13 got delayed a month. The result? My favorite fighter to play right now, and the game I've been playing the most in the last month+. It's more balanced, it's got an online who is only beat by BlazBlue Calamity Trigger, and is just an absolute blast to play with the team I play. Been playing with buddies too now.

It'll probably be my go to fighter until SFxT, and that'll be my fighter till Persona 4 fighter, which will then be replaced by dat Tekken Tag 2.

Still hadn't a chance to play Batman and Deus Ex, damn it!
I want AT LEAST give them a shot, before i vote.

01. Uncharted 3
02. Portal 2
03. Yakuza 4

1. Portal 2
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
3. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
4. Bastion
5. RAGE
6. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
7. Crysis 2
8. Section 8: Prejudice
9. Terraria
10. InFamous 2

2010. Halo: Reach

1. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
2. Portal 2 (PC)
3. Dark Souls (PS3)
4. Battlefield 3 (PC)
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
7. Saints Row: The Third (PC)
8. Terraria
9. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
10. Trackmania 2 Canyon

2010 Vanquish (PS3)

This list may or may not be updated if I get time to dig into Skyrim before voting closes.

1. Uncharted 3
2. Batman: Arkham City
3. Infamous 2
4. LittleBigPlanet 2
5. Pokemon White
6. Resistance 3


Honorable Mention:
x. Skyrim ; What an unfortunate game. Skyrim would easily be my #1 game of the year if it weren't for Bethesda's lies and incompetence. I got the game on PS3, and they lied to me. It's as simple as that. Luckily for me, my framerate problems haven't been nearly as bad as others since the patch, but that combined with the multitude of other bugs still drags down the experience. The sad part is, even with all of the issues that the game has on the PS3 for me, it still would have earned a spot in my top 3. However, I cannot in good conscious vote for the game when considering the fact that Bethesda has lied and deceived their paying customers and fans.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword -- As someone who has never actually finished a Zelda game before this, I was more or less blown away by two things.

First, I like having my brain engaged; SS doesn't require the quick-thinking fast reflexes of a game like Catherine, but every single puzzle I solved, whether small or significantly large, brought with it a sense of satisfaction. They were logical enough that I very rarely got stuck, but tricky enough that without being attentive and considerate, it would be very easy to get stuck.

Second, and more importantly, I absolutely hated the hell out of motion controls. This game single-handedly changed all that. I'm still kind of angry with Nintendo for my own reasons I won't elaborate on, but this experience was exactly what I thought I'd never get out of the "fad" of motion controls, and now, I stand corrected. I liked it, I can't imagine this game without it, and I can't imagine wanting to play any other Zelda game without them. I firmly believe that the reason this Zelda is special to me (whereas even OoT lost my interest) is due to making good on a promise. I can be a hardcore gamer, and play games differently, too.

2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings -- I was not looking forward to this game at all having played the original and feeling rather indifferent towards it. Nevertheless, when I got it, I was hooked from beginning to end, and memories of a lackluster original, in my opinion, faded, and were replaced with a great, hardcore, true action/RPG experience. The characters were more real here, the combat more visceral, the environments more epic. Great game, and one of the biggest surprises I had.

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution -- Having never played Deus Ex 1, and beaten Deus Ex 2, you could imagine that I was expecting to be fairly underwhelmed here. But, nope, the amount of class this game had was astounding; deep hub-worlds, fun side-quests, a solid cast with equally solid VA, and a beautiful art-style were the icing on the cake of this great FPS/RPG. The mechanics here well done, and with the exception or horrible boss fights (which are easy to forgive considering the surrounding content), this is definitely a game not to be missed.

4. RAGE -- The rocky launch didn't affect this master-race (Nvidia-equipped) gamer. Incredible visuals were the star here, with Carmack making good on the promise of otherworldly technology in id tech 5. But wait! There was a game, too, and from id that's a really great thing. Great sound and technology may be the stars, but the supporting actor of incredible AI made each gunfight a superb encounter. FPS games like CoD are a dime-a-dozen, so to get something as lengthy, open and unique as RAGE that makes shooting the end and not the means is pretty special.

5. Portal 2 -- I considered leaving this off my list, but the fact is, Portal 2 is such a well-made game, and really does everything a sequel should do, that I couldn't ignore it. The puzzles are better, the game is longer, the humor is better, there's more to see and do... it's just a better game than Portal, and that alone makes it worthy in my eyes, because... it's really fucking hard to make a game as good as Portal. Making one better is just another reason why we bow to Gabe.

6. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception -- Like Portal 2, the Uncharted series just takes a step in all the right directions. The set peices are major standouts here, just like in any Uncharted game. Visually mind-melting action and a darker story than the previous games made this entry slide just past Uncharted 2 in my book.

7. Duke Nukem Forever -- Critics throwing F's and 3/10s in the direction of DNF ought to take a step back and re-evaluate why it is they hate it. Is it because there's physics puzzles? Variety? Babes and pipebombs? Interactive turd? Who knows. But I know I had more "fun" playing DNF than I did most big sellers this year, and why the reason for that could be somewhat intangible, I cannot deny it. DNF is by no means perfect, and it may play like an FPS from 2004, but that may only be a bad thing if it suggests the way we play FPS games today is actually good. There's unique stuff in DNF (and the recently released SP expansion pack), and you can't find it anywhere else. You certainly won't find the Duke anywhere but here.

8. Mortal Kombat -- It gave me blisters, but I kept coming back for more. MK's newest release is undeniably fun, refined, and bloody as hell. I hope to God Netherealm releases games of this quality in the future, as it'd be a shame to see MK go down from here. Especially since it's the first legitimate fighting game that I can beat people at

9. Assassin's Creed: Revelations -- Sure, Ezio's story was getting old, but he managed to go out in style along with Altair in AC:R. There was a misstep or two here, but overall, AC:R maintained the quality of the series, expanded the already significant in scope storyline, provided an even better, unique MP experience, and made me excited for the future of the series. That's really all I wanted from it, and I got it.

10. PAYDAY: The Heist -- It's rare for me to like this style of game, but there really is nothing like preforming the perfect robbery with 3 other buddies online. I salute the ex-GRIN devs who thought up this great concept despite some pretty paltry tech surrounding it. Pure fun wins out, and if you can nab it cheap on an upcoming Steam sale, do it. You won't regret it.

Honorable Mentions:

x. Batman: Arkham City
x. Battlefield 3
x. Modern Warfare 3
x. Space Marine
x. Skyrim

1. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

2. Batman: Arkham City

3. Resistance 3

4. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

6. Mortal Kombat

7. Rayman Origins

8. Dead Space 2

9. Shadows of the Damned

10. Infamous 2

Doing this voting a little differently. Only going to assign points to the top 5 games that I've enjoyed over the last year and than list other games I've played and enjoyed and would recommend playing.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ; I walked into this gaming experience disappointed in Zelda for the majority of the last decade and wasn't sure what to think going into this game. Boy did this game blow me away though. I immediately felt largely immersed in Skyloft, the surrounding inhabitants and the affection between Link and Zelda. I am a real sucker for the Girl Next Door archetype and this delivered on so many levels. The game has motion controls that I feel right and had little problems. Sprinting and Stamina are necessities as far as I am concerned going forward. This game was 45 hours of pure bliss, boss fights that killed me if I wasn't careful, puzzles that I didn't immediately solve in 3 seconds. Top it all off with one of the only Zelda soundtracks that I'm still listening today.

2. Dark Souls ; Nothing feels more rewarding to me than conquering something in a game this brutally challenging. The follow up to what is one of the best RPG experiences in recent history and it doesn't disappoint. You just want to keep going no matter how many times you've been slain and you never feel like you've been cheated during the experience. If they could somehow find a way to wrap around a convincing emotional plot into this type of experience GOTY would be an instant achievement.

3. Xenoblade Chronicles ; I'm very torn on this one because this game achieved everything I wanted it to and more, but I cannot name it best game. A plot that (while somewhat guessable) is still emotionally driven and convinces you to feel for the cast and crew. This is layered on top of game play that emulates and surpass Final Fantasy 12 in every way. I did not put this game down for a solid 90 hours and would have put more time if college didn't come knocking on my door. The vast vistas in the game are breathtaking and cannot be adequately described in words. Multiple times during the experience I found myself putting the controller down and starting at the scenery. However, one area that this game felt short to me was party variety. I really only felt compelled to use Shulk and Character 7 for the majority of the time, having to only rely on a single character for all of my healing spells really some what broke the perfection level.

4. Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC ; Unique RPG experience that calls back to the older days of Grandia style games. I enjoyed this title through and through, but did find the areas under whelming and the game felt like it needed more long dungeons and a few more epic scale bosses and a unique cast of characters that I continually wanted more out. However, while I'm not about to spoil anything the ending to the game that finale is really what sealed the experience for me. If the west never gets to experience part two I will always believe we've missed out on a hidden gem in the gaming market today.

5. Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception ; I'm mixed on why I'm listing this game. I partly feel responsible for setting my expectations to high because of how good 2 was. I assumed this is what was going to top my list all year especially after coming off of Summer Beta (which I would make the claim was the most fun multi-player experience I've ever had) to the Subway beta. I did not and still don't like the changes that were made and haven't even played a multi-player match since the games launch and that's a damn shame. In terms of the single player I enjoyed learning about Drakes back story, but the villains felt lackluster, replaceable and less maniacal than someone like Lazarvic. Even the interactions with Drakes allies felt cut off abruptly. I also played the game pre-patched, so to be fair I'm sure some of the control complaints I had have been addressed, but still something that hampered engagement for me. Naughty Dog makes visually stunning games and UC3 is no different, and I cannot wait to go back and play this game in 3D when I get the chance.

Other Games I've Enjoyed this Year:

Little Big Planet 2, Infamous 2, Assassins Creed Revelations, El Shaddai, Portal 2.

1. Alice ; I loved the original but the reviews kept me away initially. Best played on PC with a pad.
2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings ; Download the Polish language pack, it's the best.
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution ; This is how to update a franchise, and keep the original fans happy.
4. Dead Island ; Played with some friends and had a great time on PS3.
5. Bastion ; dat ost
6. Bulletstorm ; What Duke Forever should've played like.
7. Outland ; Flashback.
8. Mario Kart 7 ; The tightest gameplay of any Mario Kart ever.
9. Super Mario 3D Land ; System seller.
10.Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars ; Just a fun game for those wanting a Jagged Alliance/X-Com type game.

1. Skyrim ; No game this generation has made me so happy in so many different ways. I love aventure and exploration, and Skyrim is so rewarding in these departments. I get more enjoyment just traveling from one location to another than I do from many entire retail releasees.



I played a few other retail games this year, and a gaggle of other XBLA games, but none I want to put on a GOTY list. Skyrim is so far and away the best thing I played this year that nothing else seems to fit.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ; I think it's one of the more entertaining 3D Zelda games. The areas were more densely packed, and while activities sometimes looked like filler at first, they were usually more entertaining than I expected. Unfortunately, a lot of things annoyed me. The beginning of the game, like most 3D Zeldas, is kind of boring. The companion talks too much and, when actually asked for info, often points out something obvious. Pacing sucks at times when you must repeatedly return to places to do boring tasks. Why must you travel to regions before fast traveling instead of simply being allowed to fast travel between any area? Sometimes I had trouble getting the thrust attack to work. Why can't I make all the text pop up by pressing A?! Despite the issues, most of the game is great. The new tools are cool, and several are useful throughout the game rather than specific dungeons. Some puzzles are truly surprising and unexpected. The final dungeon is one of my favorites in the series, which is surprising because they usually don't stand out compared to the preceding ones. I don't love motion controls, but overall the control system and inventory setup may be better than ever. It provides access to all of the tools and bottles within seconds and without pausing, along with giving access to a variety of sword attacks. (Ocarina of Time sorely needed that for the Iron Boots in the Water Temple.) But Nintendo hasn't figured out how to take the unique features of the 3D games while keeping the faster pacing of the 2D ones (basically why I like the Mario Galaxies more than 64 and Sunshine). I assume these slower intros are meant to build relationships with the characters and introduce the relatively complex controls to newcomers, but they just feel tiring.

2. Portal 2 ; Great sci-fi setting and puzzles, fun characters, interesting and funny dialogue that fleshes out the story and mythology without slowing the game down with cutscenes. I didn't mind the somewhat slower parts in the middle that mainly involved traversing the environment. They remind me of the more peaceful parts of adventures like ICO or the Prince of Persia games. The co-op campaign is one of my favorite multiplayer experiences ever. If I missed out on it, this would not be rated so highly.

3. Rayman Origins ; I really enjoy well-made platformers, especially ones with challenging (but not too challenging) levels. This also has great graphics, sound, and 4-player multiplayer. I appreciate that modern games can have engaging stories and worlds, but they often feel more drawn out and padded than 2D games like this.

4. Driver: San Francisco ; At first, the "shift between cars" concept sounded insane and ridiculous, but ultimately it's what makes the game special. I enjoyed the unique, sometimes odd missions and multiplayer modes, the story that doesn't take itself too seriously, the interesting and sometimes funny characters, and the cool 70's music and feel. It's like a silly, but surprisingly fun and high-quality B-movie. And the premise essentially adds fast travel, a welcome addition in any open world game.

5. Batman: Arkham City ; It has an interesting setting and fun characters, an open world that is big enough to provide varied area design but small enough to not make traversal boring (though it has a somewhat odd structure), decent pacing, a fun blend of fast-paced action and stealth, and great controls that make all of the gadgets easily accessible during battle.

6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution ; Cool sci-fi setting with great futuristic art style, scenarios can actually be approached differently depending on how one builds their character, hubs that are small but densely packed with stuff to find (rather than being annoyingly sprawling), first-person MGS gameplay but with RPG elements. The ways you earn XP could make a poor player find themselves having a very difficult time later in the game depending on their character's build.

7. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ; The dungeon and area design is much better than in other Bethesda RPGs and they actually feel different and have a little personality, the first-person swordplay/magic is cool, the world looks like typical fantasy at first but contains lots of interesting landmarks. Biggest problem was, after completing a particular side quest, the quest-ending NPC would not trigger its end so I couldn't continue (but that may relate to be dropping the 360 on the floor shortly before that). Boring at times, but more interesting and rewarding than Bethesda's other games. Many of the minor sidequests seem like boring chores, but ignoring those and focusing on the meatier questlines (main story, the factions and the other achievement-related quests) guided me toward the game's more engaging content.

8. Motorstorm: Apocalypse ; The events made the races feel more exciting and chaotic. Some of the courses are wild and unlike anything I've seen in a racing game. I appreciate that it's easier to progress through the single player campaign. (I like the others, but never reached their endings.) Although courses are repeated throughout the campaign, they never felt repetitive because their variations actually felt reasonably different and the courses would often change in meaningful ways.

9. Outland ; The mix of platforming with Ikaruga-like color switching is novel and fun. The platforming feels solid and some of the bosses are crazy, in a good way.

10. Dead Space 2 ; It's like Resident Evil 4 (in space!) with better controls (but somewhat lacking area and enemy variety). I love the anti-gravity sections and I haven't played anything else like them. The areas and enemies could be more varied. There are lots of hallways, but there are more inspired areas that remind me of the better parts of RE4 and 5 (and one level that's interconnected like a mini RE hub area). One level, surprisingly, breaks up the action with a couple of puzzles, but unfortunately the game basically drops them afterwards.

x. Dark Souls ; Loved the world and enemy design, but some of the game's mechanics annoyed me more than they entertained. I felt more stressed than I like to be when playing a game. I used a soul glitch to increase my health, strengthen my magic and buy the more expensive spells, and I enjoyed the game much more and made faster, less stressful progress. (I also played offline, not wanting to feel like a cheater or be bothered by invaders.) Without the glitches, I might have quit during some of the bizarre, rage-inducing late-game areas. A few aspects of the game seem a bit too punishing to me. Despite this, I am glad that a game like this exists. It's cool that an adventure in a dark fantasy world feels legitimately threatening. It's one of my more interesting and memorable gaming experiences.

x. Pixeljunk Shooter 2 ; It felt like a shmup adventure game. The puzzles and action are well-designed and integrated.

x. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet ; It's a pretty good Metroid-like adventure, with an avatar and control method not commonly found in those types of games.

x. LittleBigPlanet 2 ; The single player levels are more interesting than those in the first game, and the graphics are great. Most user-made levels are still crap, but the website that lets you browse them was somewhat useful. The improved level design, multiplayer, and the more creative user-made levels make this one of my favorite PS3 games.

x. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception ; I like that these games integrate area design into the combat. The platforming is fairly lame, but it successfully adds variety and ingenuity to the gunfights (climbing on and around boats to avoid gunfire, reaching higher vantage points, etc.). Some parts feel intended to be an "experience" rather than a fun game. In theory, I like the increase in non-action parts, but the platforming and climbing is so undemanding that it can get boring. Overall, the action movie feel of the game makes it one of my favorite shooters, but I think the pacing needs work and the platforming (outside of combat) should either be reduced or require more effort.

x. Assassin's Creed: Revelations ; I really like the Assassin's Creed games, but Ubisoft needs to trim the fat. There are great moments (assassinations, tombs, sequences that develop the story and characters) mixed with uninteresting busywork (den defense, buying pieces of the town which now requires annoying management of the alert meter, training assassins by managing them through a text menu). I still like the crazy storyline, multiplayer and the main missions, but I am starting to hate the random, boring crap that seems designed to artificially lengthen the games. It's sad because the the more focused missions are sometimes really creative, and the story arcs are resolved very effectively.

x. Saints Row The Third ; Most open-world action games are very long but lack variety, and the shooter gameplay often gets old hours before I see the credits. Saints Row is relatively short and its missions are fun and varied. They're also humorously random and wacky. It feels like the American, open-world shooter equivalent of something like Bayonetta. Realistic open worlds can be impressive, but I prefer a game that is not confined by the limits of realism. Also, the cars are fast and easy to drive, more so than in other open-world action games I've played. It helps that it's my first Saints Row, so activities that may feel old to some were new to me. The mission design could be improved.

2010. Split/Second ; I played this a few weeks ago. It's gorgeous and has a great sense of speed. The power plays make races exciting and fun to watch. It's like Motorstorm: Apocalypse, but more demanding. The different event types make it feel less repetitive. Survival is great, Air Strike is a cool idea but annoying at times. The AI sometimes seems a little too good, but they're beatable if you perform well. It's a great arcade racing game with a cool gimmick.

1. Minecraft
2. Batman: Arkham City
3. Portal 2
4. Dark Souls
5. The Witcher 2
6. The Binding of Isaac
7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
8. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
9. Will add later
10. Will add later

Will expand with reasons tomorrow.

1. Saints Row 3
2. Marvel vs. Capcom 3
3. Skyrim
4. Dark Souls
5. Gears of War 3
6. Bulletstorm
7. DC universe Online
8. Persona 2: Innocent Sin
9. Portal 2
10. LittleBigPlanet 2

1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - I find it hard to describe the feeling I was experiencing when I got to the main menu of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I was paralyzed. I couldn't move for almost 5 minutes, watching the triangles create Adam Jensens face over and over. I let the music loop 3 times before hitting start, it had me in such a trance. The game sucked me in before I even started playing. Multiple playthroughs later, my opinion is unchanged. I got lost in the world Eidos created. A great aesthetic, with an intriguing and engaging story, I truly felt as if I was Adam Jensen wandering the streets of 2027 Detroit and Shanghai. While there are a few problems, (poorly implemented boss fights, dated animations) they couldn't detract enough from the game as whole for me to not consider this as my game of the year. I also think the conversation mechanic is worth a mention. While it is sparse, it is extremely well implemented and I believe it to be the next step in the evolution of the conversation mechanic. While I like the Bioware way just fine, the way Eidos makes the player look and listen to a persons expressions and tone of voice is extremely innovative and challenging. This also makes it so a conversation can go in different directions each time, so the player cannot select the same options each time. I also played The Missing Link dlc and thought it was fantastic. Putting in a boss fight that could be stealthed made me a very happy man and told me that Eidos was aware of the problems in the original game. It makes me very excited to think about the possibility of a sequel. I definitely asked for this.

2. Gears of War 3 - This is what I have been waiting for. The ultimate Gears of War experience. A campaign with co-op and plenty of variety, a new reverse horde mode that lets you be a locust, and an update to the best mode to date: horde. Adding fortifications to the mix is a fantastic idea and randomizing the waves is an even better one. Combine all that with what I believe is the most balanced, fun and challenging multiplayer this generation, and you get one hell of a game.

3. Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Probably higher on the list than it should be, but I love Assassin's Creed. While this was the weakest title since the first, the improved combat, bomb crafting, story and music were still great. Tower defense definitely fell flat, though you really only had to do it once. Great ending, but a little lacking in revelations.

4. Batman: Arkham City - Better than Arkham Asylum in every way. And AA was a fantastic game. Boss battle were much better, as was the story. Catwoman segments were a nice change of pace and the challenge rooms will keep me busy for months to come.

5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on how great this game is. That being said, I do not enjoy being lied to. When Bethesda said they were not going to use gamebryo, I was psyched. Until I discovered it was gamebryo 1.1, aka the "refined" engine they should have used on fallout 3. The sheer amount of crashes and glitches is still absurd and inexcusable. Not to mention the PS3 version...

6. Saints Row: The Third - What a crazy ride. Some of the best forced-music sections in video games along with genuinely funny dialog and crazy story turn this should-be-mediocre game into a near masterpiece. Unfortunately, the second act is extremely weak in terms of both gameplay and story. Other than that, the intensity is turned to 11 the whole time.

7. L.A. Noire - Going against the hivemind on this one. Great writing, especially during the homicide and vice desks. Yeah, the ending took a big flaming dump on the rest of the game but overall it was an experience like no other. By the way, in real life, when you doubt the legitimacy of a persons statement, one way to get the truth is to put pressure on them. Sure some of the "doubts" could have been handled better, but Phelps is simply playing "bad cop" for most of them.

8. Portal 2 - Some of the best writing in the business. The character arcs in this game really make the story one that you care about, even the co-op characters. Unfortunately the gameplay took a big step back. While the gel puzzles were very good, the specific answer the puzzles required did not seem as satisfying as the more open ended puzzles of Portal.

9. Renegade Ops - Most co-op fun I had this year. Zooming around the map, calling down air strikes, and racing to power ups has never been more fun. A great dual stick shooter. There were some framerate issues when playing splitscreen though.

10. Dead Space 2 - While lacking the subtlety of the first game, DS2 is still a great 3rd person shooter. Isaac having a voice is a nice way to get more out of the character, and shooting monsters limbs off is a nice change of pace. Having the Regenerator just "show up" at the end was garbage though.

Before everyone gets mad at me, I have yet to play Saints Row 3 and probably won't get to it until after the voting is over.

EDIT - Add refined list
EDIT - Will fill in reasoning later.

1.Skyrim - Playing the PS3 version and what bugs? I've poured in close to a 100 hours and haven't experienced anything game breaking. The world, the mountains, the story, the music...everything is perfect.

2.Skyward Sword - The graphics are ugly, the story is crap, the motion plus is a pain in the ass, was frustrating to play half the time, the music is mostly shit. The only reason I have it up here is the puzzles and dungeons, some of the best and well thought out, especially the last dungeon.

3.Dark Souls - It's no Demons Souls but it comes close. Loved the way the world connected. Great first half and then we had the shitty Crystal caves, Dukes Archives and Lost Izalith. Too bad as it was going so well.

4.Batman - Rocksteady did it, they topped AA. This is the best Batman game ever. Hard to fault. Loved the freedom of the city, the combat, the gliding and the grappling.

5.Assassins Creed Revelations - Loved running around the rooftops of Constantinople. The hook blade was a nice addition. I love this series so much, keep them coming Ubisoft.

6.Portal 2 - Great story and puzzles. The new gel mechanics is a great addition to the gameplay.

7.Catherine - The last time a story had me this hooked was Heavy Rain. I went with Catherine because Katherine was being a bitch to Vincent. Massive fan of the puzzle gameplay.

8.Uncharted 3 - Naughty Dog sure know how to make an action game. The best graphics I've seen on a console, great gameplay, edge of your seat stuff. I need more Uncharted! Will have to wait for Golden Abyss.

9.Dead Space 2 - Resident who? Survival horror at it's best. Didn't have the same effect as when I first played the original, but it is a worthy successor.

10.Mass Effect 2 - The original is better. Most of the game was recruiting members but the overall story is what kept me going in this. This game is just a setup for 3. Can't wait for March.

1. Dark Souls
2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
3. Portal 2
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
6. Terraria
7. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution
8. Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten
9. Bastion
10. Alice: Madness Returns

Will update later with my summaries.

1. Portal 2
2. Uncharted 3
3. Saints Row The Third
4. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
5. LittleBigPlanet 2
6. Rayman Origins
7. Bastion
8. Gears of War 3
9. Infamous 2
10. Heroes of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

x. Assassin's Creed Revelations; I really like this series, but this was a notch down compared to Brotherhood. It felt like a throwaway game.
x. LA Noire; Amazing tech inside of a decent story, but dragged down by the repitive grind.
x. El Shaddhai; Amazing art direction.
x. Skyrim/Dark Souls/Batman: I need to play these still.

1.Skyward Sword. New Zelda Enough said.

2.Skyrim. Was eating my life away until...

3. Star Wars The Old Republic. Lvl 22 already. WoW in Star Wars Universe, Love it.

4. Gears of War 3. I'm level 100 and soooo close to Seriously 3.0. Going to wait to pick it up again til after Mass Effect 3 tho.

5. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. 2 of my all time favorite games on one disc? Plus a badass PSP game? Sure!

6. Portal 2. Great SP and Co-Op. It's more Portal, can't be my GOTY tho because it's too short for my liking. Figure out how to use the Portal gun in a MP game Valve and it'll be my GOTY.

7. Arkham City, beat it over 4 days. Fastest I've beaten a big game like this until...

8. Saints Row 3. Beat the shit out of this in just 3 days. Gonna rebuy it during the Steam sale on PC hopefully.

9. Super Mario 3d Land. Love me some Mario. The secret worlds and the awesome extra stuff was great too!

10. MW3. 22 hours for my first prestige, took me 2 days to get it. Constant feedback and patches. This beats BF3 for me. I have it on 360 and PC.

Honorable Mentions:
Bf3. Love it. But it's behind Gears, MW3 and SW OR in playtime for me, so it can't make my list. It'll be my big summer game in 2012. I'm sure of it.

Nba2k12. Play the crap out of this alllll the time. $10 on pc is a steal for this game last week.

FFXIII. Yes I liked it. Yes it was fun.

Mario Kart 7. Fun. I just wish the online wasnt full of snakers again.

Uncharted 3. More Uncharted 2, terrible ending(imo) Still a great game I beat in two sittings.

Hrm looks like Skyrim and Zelda are locks for 1, and 2 respectively. Seems to be no consensus after that.

Lists are really interesting to read.

1. Dark Souls
2. Witcher 2
3. Star Wars: the Old Republic
4. Skyrim
5. Portal 2
6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
7. Rage
8. Minecraft
9. L.A. Noire
10. Bastion

I'm having a very difficult time coming up with ten games I feel I have to mention for 2011. I don't have to make a full list, I realize, and I know I'm forgetting at least something important, but I can't help but feel a little surprised by this. I might not be that upbeat about the year in games after all.

I'll probably take a stab at this again after the new year. Some quality posts so far though.

1. Battlefield 3; My perfect FPS MP game has finally arrived. Since BC1 I felt like any FPS without destruction was instantly outdated. Seriously, banging on a picket fence with an RPG in other games lost all suspension of disbelief after DICE's efforts this gen. BF3 is a culmination of all their work and is a masterpiece. I still never know what I'm going to get when I boot a match up. Also, Battlelog +100. Count me in the side that think's it's genius and left other server browsers in the dust. Having such easy access to everything to do with my BF3 experience is awesome. The fact this game is F2P is amazing. I feel like the upkeep is really great.

2. Batman Arkham City; I've had a hard time finishing games lately. When I finished Arkham City, I started New Game+ instantly, and that's very unusual for me. I was a big Batman AA fan and this just improved on everything. I would have liked a larger scale, but I find it hard to lobby criticisms toward the game that I would say was the hardest to put down in 2011. I'm still playing.

3. Skyrim; Wow. What an awesome year when a game like this is number 3! As far as I'm concerned, my top three games are pretty much equal. Skyrim just defied my every expectation. I was the type who was wowed by the announcement, and then let down a little more by every subsequent press release. But the game delivered. My wife and I both have around 50 hours in and it's impossible to boot up and only do one mission. It's got great pull and can kill hours with ease.

4. Crysis 2; Yes, I'm a PC gamer, and yes, I loved Crysis 2. It was understood from the get go that this game was coming to consoles, so my expectations might have been in check since I was paying attention. For a year with a ton of botched PC launches, everyone seems to forget how perfect Crysis 2 ran for everyone, all while looking on par with the best games available. Now with the DX11 patch and the Maldo HD texture pack, it's easily on par with the best looking games. It maintained the wonderful ballistic system from Crysis 1 and WH where every bullet actually hits. So many games feel like when you spray an automatic weapon that half the bullets just vanish. In Crysis it's not uncommon to see a stray bullet hit an enemy in the head and actually registering as a head shot. I just love the whole gameplay system. I didn't partake in the MP since it was arena shooter based, and if I'm playing arena shooters I want them to play like Quake or UT. They missed a great chance of making a true MP classic. Put this gameplay into a Battlefield structure and you'd have a lot of fun going on. Maybe next time!

5.Deus Ex Human Revolution; In the process of making a sequel to Deus Ex,a they also managed to make an awesome Metal Gear FPS.  What more can a guy ask for?  Only real problem I had was the lack a reliable melee, but I think that was a balancing decision. 

6.Bulletstorm; How the dick did this get so high on my list? Because it had fucking great writing and testicle detonating pacing. Every level was good, it's kinda the first game that gave me that "high score" fever that I had for Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero games. Plus, People Can Fly made really great use of UE3. The PC version needed a little fan help, but it's all good. I had too much fun to knock it for that. This is not a game I had to make myself finish.

7.Portal 2; This game is just about as good as any single player game I've ever played. My only knock is that it looses a lot of the punch on extra plays because you know all the jokes and heard all the punchlines. But man, that first run is nearly as good as any SP experience I've ever had. Unfortunately I have no friends to play the co-op with, so that hasn't been of any value to me yet. If you want to play some P2 co-op, shoot me a PM please.

8. Forza 4; I'm a big Gran Turismo fanboy. GT5 let me down a lot, Forza 3 was my pinnacle racer this gen and I didn't think Turn 10 could improve anything in Forza 4. Boy was I wrong

9. Rage; pure single player FPS bliss. Some FPS makes have given up on hit feedback, so they just put an "X" over the target if your bullet connects. Well, Rage has no such need for an X. It's unmistakable.

10. The Witcher 2; Great action RPG. In a lesser year this could have won my GOTY.


Take a shit on my face rather than make me play this game again: LA Noire.

06nbarnhill said:

Hrm looks like Skyrim and Zelda are locks for 1, and 2 respectively. Seems to be no consensus after that.

Lists are really interesting to read.

Click to expand...

Really? I never did a count but it seems like Portal 2 and Uncharted 3 are getting just as many votes. Could be a tight race for GOTY.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ; Best RPG I have ever played. Zork, Wizardry, Ultima, Dungeon Master, Lands of Lore, Baldur's Gate.. this is the game that is the epitome of everything I wished for in an RPG going back to the early 1980s. It's my favorite genre of game by a long shot, and Skyrim does it better than any of them. Well done Bethesda. Hope Carmack is working on that new engine!

2. Portal 2 ; The most frustrating thing about Valve's flaky release schedule is that anything they do put out is so GOOD. As usual, it's another Valve game that is a revelation of storytelling and inventive gameplay mechanics.

3. Battlefield 3 ; This game will have seriously long legs with me. Sometimes, you want to fire up a game and become immersed in an amazing world full of rich storytelling, rich gameplay, and rich experiences. And sometimes, you just want to shoot dudes in the face. DICE hit another grand slam with their mastery of online face splattering.

4. Batman: Arkham City ; What doesn't interest me so much is the idea of Rocksteady making another Batman game, it's what Rocksteady is going to do AFTER they finish making Batman games. Seriously talented dev house.

5. Dark Souls ; Give me an Armored Core V that is really Chromehounds 2 in disguise, and I'll forgive the fact that you got a bit lazy with Dark Souls, FROM Software. Various things in this game just did not gel as well as Demon's Souls, and various areas felt incomplete and not well designed (Blighttown). Still, good enough for the top 5.

6. Star Wars: The Old Republic ; Wish I had more time with this one before the GOTY list. SERIOUS potential with this game. From the time I've spent with it it kicks WoW's ass in every metric I can think of, but the end game is a giant question mark right now.

7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution ; I thirst for Thief 4. Make it happen, Eidos.

8. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings ; Lost some of the character of the first game, but a very good RPG regardless. Good luck with the console audience guys, those guys deserve success.

9. Gears of War 3 ; An excellent send off for my 360. Too bad the online is deader than a grub passing through the Cole Train's chainsaw.

10. L.A. Noire ; There were pieces of a brilliant game here, enough to make the list, but the game's troubled development shone through.

x. Resistance 3 ; Really wanted to put this one in my top 10, but didn't quite make it. They corrected most of the problems from the second game, and I thoroughly enjoyed the campaign. Online was fun too.

Danny-Boy said:

2.Skyward Sword - The graphics are ugly, the story is crap, the motion plus is a pain in the ass, was frustrating to play half the time, the music is mostly shit. The only reason I have it up here is the puzzles and dungeons, some of the best and well thought out, especially the last dungeon.

Click to expand...

So even though you basically hated everything about the game...its your 2nd favorite out of the year? You must really REALLY hate everything starting from 3.