Well it has come to that glorious time of the year. The almost drug like high of the great Fall release of games has come and gone and now I must dig through the pile and come up with what was good, great and "the best". Usually (whether on this site or some other random blog) I like to include a few... unique awards. This year is no different. So, with that, lets get to it.
 
Unreal Engine game with the LEAST amount of fuzzy ass texture loading...
 There is a whole lot of games that use this engine but only one stands out and making sure to not start out every level with a screen full of blur that slowly gains its sharp nice textures. That game is Batman: Arkham Asylum, While this game did not necessarily have "levels" or specific loading screens, whenever it did I never (or atleast it was in such a small amount it didn't matter) saw the staple texture loading of the UE. That went a long way, for me, to keeping up the pace of the game and keeping the great atmosphere consistent. 
 
Just one more feather man... just one more!
Obviously stolen from Vinny's obsession with AC2's feathers, however this is for any game with the collectible aspect to it. I really enjoy games that have collectibles, especially when they work within the story and are not too tedious to get. There are a lot of games this year that had this going for them but the one that stands out for me would have to be Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack In Time. Whether it was Zoni's, Gold Bolts or the plans to the most entertaining gun I have used in a game for quite sometime, this game really kept me searching for these items. The ones through out the main story were placed just within reach of the path I needed to take, so I didn't feel like I was getting too side tracked. The ones on the little moons were just plain fun. The platforming puzzles ranged from super easy to rather time consuming, some of them required weapons and items I didn't have forcing me to go back to them. This really upped the games already excellent replay value and really satisfied my "gotta collect them all" need. (although I think I need a few more, as I had to take a break from that game to work on a few others, tis the season...)
 
Easiest Platinum
Ok so this might sound biased and truth be told I do not play the 360 much. So, sorry for that I guess. I don't really play games for the trophies, but I do like to collect them, causing that little experience bar to go up (RPG gamer at heart of course). That being said I don't purposefully go for games with easy trophies, in this case though this game was fairly easy to Platinum. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was pretty simple to get Platinum. Only 2 multiplayer trophies (which one can naturally get just by playing online once or twice) and a built in "cheat" system made this a quick one. The "kill so many guys with x gun" trophies were cake as you could simply purchase that gun from the in game store, through on infinite ammo and 1 shot kills and go to work. Of course the big one, beating it on crushing, required me to replay the game, which was not a problem as I was so enthralled by my first play through I couldn't wait to get back into it. While some of the trophies felt weak, and attaining them through my methods (albeit built into the game) made them feel cheap, this was still fun to do and well worth the time spent.
 
But it's my turn to play!...
My Wife has never been a huge gamer. She rocked out Golden Eye on the 64 though, so she has it in her. I managed to talk her into WoW once, which worked fine as we have two PCs. Where I made my mistake was introducing her to the winner of this award, Dragon Age: Origins. "It plays like Wow" I told her. Indeed it does and she caught on quick and loved the game. I only could afford the one copy (and had to buy it on PS3 because my PC has recently died) so we had to share. This game has way too good of a story for one person to play while the other watches so at times I had to leave the room, just so I wasn't spoiled of some twist or of some nasty choice I would have to make. It is not all bad however, as I now have a slight amount of justification for buying a PS3 Slim...
 
Ok, so now that we got all that fun and nonsense out of the way, let's get to the real meat of the issue. Game of the year. There were a lot of really... really good games that came out this year and I feel they all need a mention. Here is a list (in not particular order, other than maybe by release date) of the games I considered for GOTY.
 
Infamous
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack In Time 
Dragon Age: Origins
Borderlands
Assassin's Creed 2 
 
As I said there was just so many good games that came out, I really had to narrow it down to these though. These are the games that I see as MUST play this year. All of them have great story telling along with excellent gameplay and replayability. (Note: I do understand that 3 of them are PS3 exclusives... your point?) Only one can truly be labeled, for me, Game of the year. That game is......
 
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Above all I enjoy platforming, explosive and intense gun battles, great story telling and huge set pieces. This game provides on all fronts.  this game has a fantastic story. The gameplay, every function of it serves to further this story and keep the player engaged. The visuals, enough has been said by now (dare I say the greatest looking game I have ever played), only add to the greatness of the action and story of this game. Uncharted 2, for me, is the reason I play video games. The bar was truly raised with this one and I am excited to see who will top it next.