This year has been a fantastic year in games, so much so that we are all writing lovely lists that tell everyone what games we enjoyed in particular! Okay, so most gaming websites do this every year but this is a special one. Why? It's Giant Bombs first! And as a player of video games I feel that I must fit in with my fellow moderators and write a list myself. So here goes!

Ninja Gaiden 2

The most frustrating game of the year. By far. Heck, I never even finished the game because I felt like I wanted to throw my controller out the window before half way through the game, but I still feel like it deserves an entry on this list just for actually giving me a challenge and testing my anger management skills at the same time. It seems like the AI was coded by some sort of crazed demon who wanted revenge on the world for... Something because it is irritating as anything. Damn those damn ninjas with exploding shurikens!

Thars gold in them hills! Golden bars! In Bad Company you take the role of Preston Marlowe who gets stuck in a squad full of crazy comedic characters and an officer who is stuck trying to take control of this bunch of misfits. As well as an engaging single player experience, multiplayer is also just as good with unlockable weapons and crazy statistics galore. Overall, awesome sound, great graphics and destructible buildings is what makes Bad Company a contender for one of the best game of the year.

Soul Calibur IV

Soul Calibur? Soulcalibur? SOULCALIBUR? Who knows? The only thing that matters in this game is beating the crap out of people with huge swords. I've been an avid fan of all of the SoulCalibur games so far (except III, I didn't have a Playstation 2) so it's obvious I would instantly fall in love with Soul Calibur all over again. I swear that Ivy didn't influence me to put this on the list.

Army of Two

I know some of you are thinking “Why the heck is this on the list?” because I thought it was really fun! Even though I only played the single player portion of the campaign I still thought it was really entertaining, although those cheesy and bad looking cut-scenes were laughably bad. But never mind that because you could make your weapons BLINGIN'! If that doesn't make it a contender for the game of the year, I don't know what would.

Saints Row 2

Welcome back to the row dawg. Streaking, car-jacking, killing, drugs, killing and many more things await you in the lovely land of Stilwater! I'm a sucker for open-world games where you can just wander around and accomplish absolutely nothing but still feel that you haven't wasted your time. Also, what other game allows you to customize your character in such wacky ways? Creating an obese, pale skinned, pink haired freak with five chins has never been such fun.

War. War never... Bah, if you have any interest in the Fallout series at all you've heard that line hundreds of times so I won't regurgitate it again. When I first played this game I knew I would love it as soon as I stepped out the vault and saw the sheer scale of the wasteland. I still haven't explored all of the places in the game due to how big it is. Of course there is also the Fat Man which automatically makes Fallout 3 an instant classic for me.

Fable II

Hero, there is a new Game of the Year award waiting at the heroes guild for you. I really hated the Guild Master in the first Fable and the references towards him being murdered in some bizarre way in Fable II made me very, very happy. Anyway, the story in Fable II sucked me in instantly. I played this for three days straight until I completed it, just because it was that good. Plus the combat system makes you feel like an absolute bad ass throughout the entire game, so much that you go through the entire game without having one real challenge. I never died once which is pretty sad. Plus the co-op was no where near as good as I thought it was going to be, who decided to make it so that you couldn't be your hero? I don't want to play as some random mercenary! Flaws aside I'll always love this game, it charmed me with it's fart gestures and humour.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Metal Gear Solid 4

I don't even have a Playstation 3, but this game made me want to buy one just so I could play more of it. I was forced to complete it in two days due to me borrowing the Playstation for a very small amount of time but my experience with it was a lasting one. The graphics are mind-blowing, same for the sound, the story and… You get the idea. Everything about this game is perfect for me. Some day when our current generation of consoles are old hat, I'll pick a Playstation 3 up and play this one all over again.

My choice for best game of the year - Left 4 Dead

Shock horror! Left 4 Dead is my best game of the year?! Damn straight. If it was possible to marry this game I would. No other game has brought me so many fun experiences than this one, blasting through levels with my shotgun and 3 buddies is pretty damn fun. So is throwing a Molotov cocktail at your team mates and shutting the safe house door whilst laughing at them through voice chat, but that's a story for another time. Although the game is slightly flawed in some places with the matchmaking often putting me in laggy games, I don't care just because when you do get into a game you stay in it for hours. And when you manage to pull off a perfect coordinated attack when playing as the infected it is very satisfying. Buy this game or I'll feast on your brains.