1.
Bayonetta; The game that breathed new life into the action genre. Combining the "dial-a-combo" combat and QTE mechanics of God of War and Ninja Gaiden, with the free-form fighting of Devil May Cry, and also adding a distinct, feminine personality; Bayonetta is exactly what the action genre needed. As weird and strange as the world of Bayonetta was, i completely ate it up. I loved everything about it. The story, the characters, the enemies; I.LOVED.IT. The game has an incredible personality that always puts a smile on my face. No matter how over the top and ridiculous it is. It's a one of a kind game, that doesn't come around too often. I still can't get it out of my mind. The sight of causing an angel to experience an explosive orgasm is something i'll never forget, and it's something i always enjoy seeing.
2.
Mass Effect 2; The streamlined RPG mechanics rubbed some people the wrong way, but it didn't for me. Even though it upped the action elements, at it's heart it was still an RPG game through and through. Would i have liked more customization like in the last game? Sure. But it did the smart choice by making all equipment, most of which you would've tossed out in the first, more useful. The amount of choices and repercussions from the previous game is astonishing. The game's storytelling and characters are among the best i've experienced in a long time. I was glued to this game for days, and it was some of the most intense and fun moments in gaming i've had all year.
3.
Red Dead Redemption; The game that proves that westerns still have a place in gaming. It has such a fantastic narrative with an incredible atmosphere. The overall presentation of the game is mesmerizing.
The sequence where you enter Mexico for the first time was just beautiful in the way it was presented. This game out did GTAIV (and Rockstar North for that matter) in delivering a rich and engrossing open world game. Not to mention, of course, the fantastic gameplay. They made a smart choice to emphasis exploration in many of the side quests. Kudos to RS San Diego, they deserve it.
4.
Just Cause 2; Completely ridiculous, completely over the top, and completely out of it's mind; this game is a shinning example of what happens when you place emphasis on gameplay over narrative in an open world game. Instead of giving you a rich story with believable characters, it does the smart choice of letting the gameplay speak for itself. The amount of items to find, and buildings to destroy is insane. You could potentially spend more than 50+ hours with the game, still barely pass over 50% completion. The world is huge, and you lose yourself completely in it.
5.
Dead Rising 2; Proof that American studios can handle Japanese properties and actually improve on them. While Chuck wasn't as awesome as Frank, the game as a whole did a great job with expanding the universe of DR. The gameplay is much more tight, and the inclusion of combo weapons just added an incredible amount of personality. Not to mention the diversity in the settings were a big improvement over the original. While there were a few technical issues, as a whole, DR2 felt much packed with content. As far as i'm concerned, this is the best zombie game series there is.
6.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker; Combining the batshit story techniques of MGS2, with the rich story and dramatic elements of MGS3, and the strong gameplay of MGS4; PW is, in a lot of ways, the perfect MGS game. While the PSP controls take getting used to, and have caused some to give up on it, the game contains some incredibly rich gameplay. It was a great choice to make the game structure mission based. The amount of customization and amount of content makes it the richest MGS experience there is. If you have a PSP, and love MGS, then you MUST play this game.
7.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West; Got a mixed response from GAF, but i still loved immensely. Beautiful settings, great characters, and some solid and tense gameplay; Enslaved was a unique and intriguing take on the classic Journey To The West tales. I enjoyed the platforming and combat sections, and the game has got use of the cinematic touches during the battles and numerous set piece moments. I hope the game's sales (over 800k WW) can give NT the green light on the sequel. Also, i look forward to seeing what they can do with DmC.
8.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood; ACII was my GOTY last year. To me, it was the perfect sequel. Improving upon the the strengths of the original, and also adding in many features that added new life to the game. For AC:B, it very much followed the framework of the previous game, but also adding in new RPG-lite elements with the recruitment systems. I'm happy that the game's story is still going strong. I was worried that another game out so soon would've weakened it. Happy to say that it didn't. Unfortunately, i can only speak for the single player portion of the game, since that was the only part i played. I do hope they leave the renaissance era, and Ezio, for the next game, however. I think it's time for something brand new.
9.
Vanquish; Mikami has still got it. While not as ambitious, and deep as Bayonetta, the gameplay is still stellar. Taking the more arcade approach with it's gameplay, forgoing the depth and complexity, for simple and polished gameplay, Vanquish is a fantastic shooter that shows that not all cover based shooters should be about the "stop and pop" action. The sense of speed in it's gameplay is amazing, and the number of moves you can pull off with the game's slow-mo moves are insane. The story isn't great, but that was never supposed to be the point. It was about the awesomely polished action gameplay, and it succeeds. I just wished it could've been a little deeper in content.
10.
Fallout: New Vegas; Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of this generation. The strong sense of exploration and discovery, and the great environment made the previously known environments and locations felt so new. The sequel, while still retaining the great exploration and RPG gameplay of the previous game, was hampered with the numerous and absurd amount of technical issues. Also, the The Mojave Wasteland was for the most part pretty uninteresting, compared to the Capital Wasteland. While Fallout 3 had issues, this game made it very difficult at times to continue. Yet i did, and it was worth it. The expanded RPG gameplay, and enhanced action controls made the gameplay itself vastly superior to the previous one. If the next Fallout game has the NV gameplay, and contains an interesting setting like F3, than it could be my game of the forever.