I don't have a top 10 list of games this year - mostly because I didn't get a chance to play every game I wanted to - but I do want to organize my thoughts and opinions and the best way to do that is to write them down.

Today I'll write about Bastion, Forza 4 and Modern Warfare 3. Tomorrow I'll write about Skryim, Trenched and Rage. Thursday I'll close out with Portal 2, Renegade Ops and Dirt 3. I might write up another blog post after that with some thoughts on Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3 and Dead Space 2, three games I own but haven't had a chance to finish yet.

So here is part one of my ruminations about the games I played in 2011.

Bastion

I'm really glad I heard about Bastion. Most of my friends don't follow video games as closely as I do and Bastion never appeared on their radar. On the surface it's difficult to explain what makes this game so great, even watching gameplay videos before release didn't do the game justice. I bought Bastion because I have a sense of obligation to support companies I feel are doing things the right way even if I'm not particularly interested in the product. Boy-howdy am I glad I did.

I lost track of how many times I got goosebumps playing this game. It's been a few months since I last visited the Bastion and the thing that stands out in my mind is the tone of the game. It's melancholy and beautiful. There aren't many games that take that tone and none that I know of which capture it so powerfully.

When Bastion first came out on the Xbox 360 my little brother, who is 11 years younger than me, was spending the week at my house. He ended up playing the game three or four times during his stay and I watched him play it for hours and hours. Despite knowing exactly what went on in the game, when I finally sat down and played it through on my own I was blown away. I didn't anticipate how much fun the actual game was.

If everything sucked about Bastion except the story it would still be worth buying. If everything sucked except the gameplay it would still be worth buying. Hell, even if the story and gameplay sucked the incredible art in the game is worth paying for. Oh, one more thing, if Bastion was a static screen with just the music playing I'd still buy it.

I'm sure the game has flaws but I can't remember any.

I haven't had a chance to jump back into Bastion to check out the Stranger's Dream DLC because I know if I do I'll just do a new game plus and I don't have the time yet.

I wish Supergiant Games released a $150 legendary edition of the game with more art, music and love because I'd gladly pay it.

Forza 4

I like sports games and racing games. I don't buy them very often, maybe one or two a year, but this year Forza 4 was the game that grabbed my attention. The last Forza game I played was Forza 2, which I got for free at some point, so the arguments about how similar the games are don't matter to me so much. I definitely got my value for this game.

When it comes to racing games I prefer the simulation style. I don't need a story or any fancy gimmicks, I like the pure gameplay of racing. Dodging oncoming traffic or using boosts is fine but I'm the kind of guy who turns off most assists and uses the inside car view.

There was one moment in the game that made me realize why I like this game so much. I was driving my 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona HEMI on the Fujimi Kaido track and had a flashback to driving in the mountains of Northern California. For a few moments I forgot I was in a game. I've spent a lot of time driving on winding mountain roads to go camping and snowboarding in my life and taking corner after corner, changing elevation and pulling off a flawless pass was a driving fantasy come true.

My older brother and I built two gaming chairs out of the front seats of his dead 1971 VW Bug during my Christmas vacation and that experience, combined with how many hours I've sunk into driving in circles lately, has me seriously considering buying a steering wheel and making a racing rig. It's too bad those wheels cost so much.

Modern Warfare 3

I get it, it's not cool to like Modern Warfare 3 unless you're a bro or 12-year-old racist yet somehow I still enjoy the hell out of this game.

I will concede that the single player isn't worth $60 so anyone who doesn't plan on spending some time in multiplayer or co-op shouldn't bother paying full price for this game. But to denigrate this game for its lack of a strong single player is like criticizing a Civilization for not having a good story. While correct, it's irrelevant.

For some reason I feel compelled to defend this game because I've played more of it than I did the first two Modern Warfare games and I didn't play Black Ops. I didn't reach the level cap in the first one, I prestige once in the second and I hit level 80 fairly quickly in this edition.

The weapons have been tweaked significantly, the maps are smaller and better designed, and the changes to load-out options are great. The fundamental gameplay is pretty much the same but the strategy and how you play the game is surprisingly different because of the subtle changes.

MW3 is more paintball than war sim but that's why I prefer it to Battlefield 3. Eventually I'd like to spend more time with BF3 but it's much more of a time commitment. I like being able to hop online and play two or three games in a half hour and then jump off. It's perfect for a quick gaming session before work or while waiting for something. I don't even mind that I'm playing with some obnoxious people because I never hear them. Every online community is full of idiots and trolls but there are easy ways to mitigate their impact on the game. The Modern Warfare series suffers no worse than anywhere else people can hide their identity.

I didn't mind the single player game either. I played through it once on veteran and had fun. It is mostly a combat puzzle where the goal is to find the right series of cover to advance past endlessly re-spawning waves. Not great, but I've played worse. I think this game was designed to be played on veteran because the vehicle sequences always seemed to appear just when the ground fighting was getting tedious. I can see where it might seem like a lot if you were blasting through the levels no problem but having a respite from the psychic, one-shot snipers kept me going.