I never posted a list last year due to the lack of officialness and such. But I decided that I'd post last years list while making one for this year, too. So without further ado, I give you 2011 in list form:
Edit: I had no idea that the comment form didn't take well to text formatting. As such, I've trimmed my comments to a single paragraph for each game.
I'm a Deus Ex fan, so I might have a pair on rose tinted glasses on (or black and gold as the case may be), but this was the most fun I've had in a game in 2011. Getting through the game without killing anyone (bosses the exception) just makes me feel awesome.
Skyrim improves upon everything Elder Scrolls, making the best Fantasy World Exploration Sim to-date. It just looks stunning, and it's really fun to play. My favourite style this time around is being an alchemy-archer mixing poisons and shooting stuff with my most powerful concoctions.
I know this is only 3rd, but I feel as though Portal 2 might just be the best game ever. It's just so good! It has amazing, funny, writing with great characters and lots of hidden story for you to dig up. Ingenious level design, making you feel clever when you finish a puzzle but never making you feel frustration or annoyance. A simple gameplay mechanic, now with coop, to boot. I just can't stop gushing in my mind to actually write something about Portal 2, actually.
This is my first ever experience with MtG ever, I hadn't even heard of it before, actually (I'm a bad nerd, yes). So part of why it is so fun, is the whole learning experience. Finding out what cards do, when to play them to be most effective, finding out how cards can interact with each other was certainly something.
Just some puerile fun, nothing wrong with that. Also I'm getting lazy with the comments.
Really good single player game, but adding the Last Stand, coop-mode, to the multiplayer list is what made this top 10. I just really like wave-based survival games, especially with some character progression. I've no idea why I like them so much, I just do.
The problem with writing this a year later is that while I made the list at the end of 2011, I now don't remember this game particularly well, as I played it at the beginning of 2011. From what I remember, I liked the grittiness to the series, and that it's not exactly adhering to Fantasy stereotypes. It's more of an "adult series" than anything I can think of, and I don't mean the awkward romps. No good Vs. evil, trailing side quests.
Really fun combat, good story telling via a narrator, and interesting character progression and difficultly settings through items. I think the difficultly settings are one of the best ways of handling it I've seen -- I believe it's similar to the Halo Skull system, but I never found any of the Halo skulls. So it's new to me!
The single player is fun because you're a big, bad, Space Marine, just stomping, gunning and slashing (sawing) your way through hordes of Orks. Which is also what I enjoy in the free DLC, Exterminatus. Just smashing my way through hordes of enemies.
I did actually like Dragon Age II, but in hindsight this wouldn't have made it into my list, but the 2011 games that would have pushed it out I either didn't play enough of, or play at all, until 2012. Things like Batman: Arkham City, Trine 2, Driver: San Francisco, Magicka, Terraria, and L.A. Noire. In 2011, Fable III was in the running for this spot, too.
