Another year down the drain and out into the abyss of lost dreams and shattered plans. But let's face facts here; 2011 was not all bad. It may go down in history as the year of the [insert concept] fatigue, but there was still a handful of really rewarding experiences, surprising outcomes and some major downers. But let's stop and get to the point, my personal top 6 of the year!

6. Portal 2

This might be the hardest pick of the list because below this is a sea of almost titles that could have, if done right, taken it away from Portal 2. But the more I think about it the more I realize how a well crafted package Portal 2 really was. Humor, story, puzzles, art style and a really robust co-op. Every puzzle in thegame wasa challenge of varying degrees but it was never impossible and it always felt rewarding when you finished it. The interactions and discoveries along the ride was very rewarding in filling up the story of the place called Aperture Science. It also boasts one of the most interesting and yet, personally, most terrifying endings I've ever seen.

5. Trine 2

I never did get around to actually playing the first Trine, so I can't make a value judgement based off of it's previous iteration. Based on it's own merits though, Trine 2 is a magical trip. The story is cookie cutter save the princess and kingdom sort of deal, but they do it with such a charm that it encapsulates the whole game with a warm fuzzy glow that makes playing the game almost cozy. I finished the entire game co-op with my brother and I can honestly say we haven't had that much fun playing co-op in a long time. Not only is the game fun, but the physics and puzzles sometimes make for some really funny moments when you're making life difficult for each other rather than helping out. But even when we're helping out it was a rewarding experience that was just plain fun. Then there's the matter of how goddamn gorgeous this game is, from art direction to graphics. The world is lush with details worth noting and I never stopped marveling at the game's visuals, it's just that pretty.

4. Saints Row: The Third

You should play Saint's Row, just so you can appreciate how far this franchise have come over the years. I reluctantly started playing the first Saint's Row for lack of a GTA when I bought my first 360. It was a good clone and I stand by that, it was a carbon copy that was not self aware enough to be funny and tried too hard to somehow be and beat GTA. Saint's Row 2 came around and you could see sprouts of new ideas that you couldn't necessarily trace towards GTA anymore. The humor and over the top nature had grown slightly passed even GTA: San Andreas, especially in the main story. Cue The Third, a game when Volition finally made the Saints their own product. They went so far into crazy that Saints Row: The Third almost can't be played in any serious way. But now they are truly self aware, so much so that it feels like The Third is both a celebration of video games and a middle finger towards games in general.

3. Battlefield 3

I loved Battlefield 2, but I haven't touched a Battlefield game since then either. I've been deep in the trenches of every Call of Duty game. What a breath of fresh air it is to finally experience these large battles again. The crazy events that can take place. But let's keep the multiplayer for a bit. The game had a single player that, while not the best thing since sliced bread, was a fun ride and had some really nice set pieces. It doesn't hurt the game that it can be quite visually awesome at times. The moment you step out onto the carrier in the rain walking up to your jet is just gorgeous. Explosions that feel like they have punch and sound design that just rivals just about everything. Multiplayer, again, is just really addictive and fun. The notion of leveling up classes and guns separately is a fun way to solve what used to be tedious one route to one gun approach. It has made me try out more weapons and combinations and really experimenting with classes. And even as someone who loves to snipe, it's nice to see some built in reasons to not camp and be more of a team player.

2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I'll be frank; Deus Ex: Human Revolution looked like garbage to me until I played it. Nothing I saw of it caught my fancy, the graphics looked too cell shaded, art design looked too much Metal Gear Solid (and I like MGS, it just felt like a ripoff at the time). But people kept talking it up so I eventually caved and figured why not just give it a shot. I might be wrong, and boy.. was I ever. The world is extremely well realized, and the various ways to read up on current events in that world gives it even more depth. The story is probably this years best for me because it had me reevaluating some of my core beliefs and further study the world of bioengineering and the future of human augmentation. Which is a concept and field of study that isn't as science fiction and one might think. On a philosophical level, Human Revolution truly challenged me to think about the world, the real world, more than any game this year. Most games have you pondering the actions and consequences of the in game reality.

But DE:HR gave me a reason to think outside the game world. What is transpiring in the world today and where do I stand in the midst of that development? What is the potential future for us humans and how far off are we from a technological point of self created evolution?

Game wise, DE:HR is a decent but not great first person shooter with some cover mechanics. What makes it interesting though is the myriad of ways you could finish any level and the leveling system making you pick a path to go down. Personally I was sneaking and hacking my way through the game, but I could very well see an argument for doing it the more action oriented way.

1. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Yep, me too. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put it here. Because I experienced a rather breaking bug as I traversed the lands of Skyrim with my first character that have me completely locked out of the Companions quest line. Apparently, a sequence of the events may cause a person you're supposed to "rough up" in the "Hired Muscle" quest to die and never come back. The quest giver doesn't think twice about this and nothing else can be done. Unless you play the game on a PC and resurrect the character with commands. I am stuck never playing Companions with the character that fits doing that.

But maybe that's a price you could willingly pay to play a game that truly lets you go about it however you want.

I have played Morrowind and Oblivion prior to Skyrim and what Skyrim does better is making the options more obvious and easy to find. Going down the path of magic, sword and shield, bare knuckle brawling, archery, smithing, hunting, flirting, killing, exploring. It all feels totally viable. And it is interesting how novel such openness is. When you find a mine for the first time and you stand there going "I'm mining ore, which I will later melt down and turn into armor. This is fantastic!" I couldn't believe how free I was to do the things I wanted to do. Tackle my way through the story on my own terms.

It was not until I started my second play through on a magic character that it truly dawned on me how complex this game is. While I made a conscious decision not to walk the "beaten path", it was interesting to see how different the world of Skyrim looked from the eyes of a Female High Elf Mage as opposed to a Male Nord Warrior. They are completely different places. You get taken to other locations or see the same locations from other angles.

And I shouldn't hide the fact that the viking looking art design is like a dream come true for me personally.

It's also the first Elder Scrolls game where I actually got sucked up into the political intrigue of the land. I could just focus on the dragons, but the Imperials versus the Stormcloaks were just such an interesting avenue. And the amount of back story to find regarding that dispute was really quite something, especially when there really was no good guy. Just two different sides with two different viewpoints. And even some things I've experienced with this new character reveals new agendas or opinions of both sides that wasn't as obvious first time around.

It's just that good, bugs be damned.

Honorable Mentions

• Yakuza 4: Have not had time to finish it, but it's like watching an over the top Yakuza film and be able to be in the driving seat. It blends so many things into one pot that it's almost crazy. Most of all though, Yakuza has a really interesting story and I always felt it was under appreciated in that regard. But another thing I never felt it got recognition for was the facial animation and overall cut scene quality.

• LA Noire: This game ages really badly in my head, and I am not quite sure I was as impressed of the game as some were when it came out. I felt like I was doing more or less the same thing, rinse and repeat, and never quite really getting awarded for it. While it was an interesting new take on an open world game and the overarching story was interesting. The motivations of the actions of your own main character could have been handled better.

• Batman Arkham City: As other's have said; It's goddamn Batman. And the game is gorgeous. But it feels a little bit "more of the same" and I didn't think I would go stale on such a good take on Batman this quickly.

• Assassin's Creed Revelations: I don't know what it is, but I really love AC's story. Maybe it's like LOST and you want to know the answers to the questions even if they make it up as they go. ACR is "more of the same" but it's still awesome. Just not awesome enough.

• Dead Island: Co-op zombie killing is a blast. First person melee that has punch. Decent RPG mechanics. Just not show stopping game in general though.

• Bulletstorm / Gears of War 3: I don't care what happens to any of these characters, never had, and the end of GoW3 has a really questionable scene play out. And Bulletstorm is pretty much Gears in first person to some degree. Fun action in mindless packages.

• Mortal Kombat: The best Mortal Kombat since I was a kid.

Notable Absentees or "Games I didn't get around to"

• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• Modern Warfare 3
• Forza Motorsport 4
• Dark Souls
• Catherine
• Dead Space 2
• Bastion