I'm pretty sure my best games of 2011, are ones I've yet to play (Saints Row 3, Halo, NBA 2k12, Gears 3, Uncharted 3, etc...), but I want to start organizing my list.

Top 2011 Games
#1. Batman Arkham City - A
#2. LA Noire - A
#3. Dead Space 2 - A-
#4. Portal 2 - B+
#5. Madden 12 - B
#6. DiRT 3 - B
#7. Crysis 2 - B
#8. You Don't Know Jack - B
#9. Top Spin 4 - B
#10. MLB 2K11 B-
#11. Bulletstorm B-
#12. Homefront C+
#13. YooStar 2 C+
#14. Rango - C+
#15. Shift 2: Unleashed - C
#16. Duke Nukem Forever - C-
#17. Test Drive Unlimited 2 - C-
#18. Fight Night Champion - D+
#19. Brink D+
#20. Mortal Kombat D+
#21. The Michael Jackson Experience - D
#22. Child of Eden - D
#23. Brunswick Pro Bowling - D-
***Kinect - F (I'm giving a special shit award to Kinect for being awful this year. No good games and kiddyfied the 360... blech)

Top Pre-2011 Games That I Played in 2011
#1. Alpha Protocol - A
#2. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) - A-
#3. Sims 3 - A-
#4. Rock Band 3 - B+
#5. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - B+
#6. Mafia II - B
#7. Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush - B-
#8. NBA Jam - C+
#9. Megamind - C+
#10. CSI: Fatal Conspiracy - C+
#11. DJ Hero 2 - C+
#12. Terminator Salvation - C
#13. Half Life 2 - C
#14. Tornado Outbreak D+
#15. Game Party: In Motion D
#16. Decca Sports: D-
#17. PowerGig - D-
#18. Truth or Lies - F

1. Batman Arkham City
2. Dues Ex 3
3. Witcher 2
4. Dragon Age 2
5. Rage
6. LA Noire
7. Dead Island
8. Infamous 2

I still need to finish Dark Souls(if I get to it way too hard), Little Big Planet 2, Portal 2 and Dead Rising 2 Off the Record. Never finished GOW3 other than playing it with Baba and Gulli.

I played but was unimpressed with Dragon Age 2. I loved the first one, even with all it's flaws. The only thing DA2 did better than DA1 was dialogue. Otherwise I hated the fighting system as it was much too fast (and easy) in DA2. Still interested to see how the story continues though.

Since then I haven't had much time to play video games and have just gone back to Oblivion and Fallout 3 on those occasions I have had time, in order to get my fix until Skyrim.

I assume these are only your "great/good" games? So Dead Island is worth playing, right? I wanted to get to that one, as well as Dos Equis before the end of the year.

I didnt play too many games this year. They were pretty much good/great games howevver there are probably a few other unfinished games I didnt include in the list like Kill Zone 3 or Resistance 2 which most likely I wont go back to playing.

Dead Island isnt too bad. Its like a sandbox version of Left 4 Dead but with inferior graphics and not much horror. I think its probably worth the money since it did take me over 24 hours to finish. The random weapon drop loot is pretty cool. I dont remember if you liked Borderlands but I would recommend it if only you liked that game. Gulli did say he hated borderlands so he didnt like Dead Island either

Hopefully by febraury I would be able to finish up on

I love Borderlands. I guess Dead Island is now on my Xmas wish list.

Also now interested in Alpha Protocol. Always seemed like a game I would enjoy, but the bad reviews kept me away.

For this year I include things that were released on the PS3 and 3DS (which I already sold), but may have been released on other systems earlier. Not including Uncharted since I just got it. Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, and Rage will also appear before the years end.

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Batman: Arkham City
3. Plants vs Zombies
4. inFamous 2
5. Bulletstorm
6. Dragon Age 2
7. Monster Tale
8. Pokemon Black
9. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
10. Mortal Kombat
11. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time HD - Didn't like Warrior Within, so I sold the collection without playing 2 and 3.
12. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D*
13. Super Street Fighter IV 3D
14. L.A. Noire*

*-sold before I finished

Very good year even if you remove ME2 and PvsZ.

I'll caution you that I think I liked AP a little more than most, and it helped that I went in expecting nothing. It grew on me slowly, but as I leveled up and got the hang of it, I started enjoying it a lot. I ended up playing through the game 3 full times for all the variations on the storyline, and I never do that.

01. Dead Space 2
02. Portal 2
03. L.A. Noire

That's all I've played from this year. I'm still waiting to get Arkham City.

best game on handheld was Pokemon Black and White.

Bold = New Entry

Top 2011 Games
#1. Saints Row 3 - A (still playing, may change)
#2. Halo Anniversary - A (still playing, may change)
#3. Batman Arkham City - A
#4. LA Noire - A
#5. Dead Space 2 - A-
#6. Portal 2 - B+
#7. Madden 12 - B
#8. DiRT 3 - B
#9. Crysis 2 - B
#10. You Don't Know Jack - B
#11. Top Spin 4 - B
#12. MLB 2K11 B-
#13. Bulletstorm B-
#14. Homefront C+
#15. YooStar 2 C+
#16. Rango - C+
#17. Shift 2: Unleashed - C
#18. Duke Nukem Forever - C-
#19. Test Drive Unlimited 2 - C-
#20. Fight Night Champion - D+
#21. Brink D+
#22. Mortal Kombat D+
#23. The Michael Jackson Experience - D
#24. Child of Eden - D
#25. Brunswick Pro Bowling - D-
***Kinect - F (I'm giving a special shit award to Kinect for being awful this year. No good games and kiddyfied the 360... blech)

Top Pre-2011 Games That I Played in 2011
#1. Uncharted 2 (PS3) - A+
#2. Alpha Protocol - A
#3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) - A-
#4. Sims 3 - A-
#5. Rock Band 3 - B+
#6. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - B+
#7. MLB the Show 10 (PS3) - B+
#8. Mafia II - B
#9. Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush - B-
#10. MotorStorm Pacific Ridge (PS3) - B-
#11. NBA Jam - C+
#12. Megamind - C+
#13. CSI: Fatal Conspiracy - C+
#14. DJ Hero 2 - C+
#15. Terminator Salvation - C
#16. Half Life 2 - C
#17. Tornado Outbreak D+
#18. Game Party: In Motion D
#19. Decca Sports: D-
#20. PowerGig - D-
#21. Truth or Lies - F

1. Skyrim
2. Batman Arkham City
3. Dues Ex 3
4. Witcher 2
5. Saints Row the Third
6. Dragon Age 2
7. Rage
8. LA Noire
9. Uncharted 3
10. Dead Island
11. Infamous 2

A little note on Saints Row 3 is that the map is pretty small and that the side missions really lack depth because of the lack of cutscenes and not much diversity in terms of distinguishing one of the similiar type missions from another. I wish they would have given us more assasination missions. Those were fun. I really like the character customization system

It didnt take too long to complete since you can complete the first half of the missions quite fast because they were nothing but tutorials for the side missions

I didn't have too much of a problem with the length of the game, as I'm 35 hours in and still finishing up things. However, I'd agree that in general I think these type of sandbox games miss an opportunity for traditional RPG style side quests. Instead they fill them full of filler activities without a story - especially the survival calls. Exchanging a few of those mindless activities for story related side quests for specific people in specific areas of the "world" would flesh out the sandbox a lot more.

In general, I did like the main story missions (except for the few filler ones you mentioned). Most were crazy and epic.

Wasn't so much the length but the size of the map that was small. I would have no problem with the filler activities if it wasnt so much of a rehash of the same mission over and over again. Maybe that is the reason I love the assasination missions because even though its repetative, you feel the sense that it was different from your last assasination mission because its never on the same location, never the same person and never the same gang member. Whereas one escort missions looks the same as any other escort mission

It is definitely on the small side, but I'll say the size of the map doesn't matter too much to me - diversity within the map does. It's one of the reasons I like GTA:SA a lot... the areas of the map felt very unique. Most of the time you could tell where you instantly by looking at your surroundings. Saints Row's biggest problem has always been it's lack of diversity in the map. For the most part, the map always feels and looks the same regardless of where you are. It makes a small-ish map feel even smaller.

GTA IV was the same. It may have been a bigger map, but it all feels relatively the same. Red Dead Redemption was one that did a fairly decent job of making areas feel unique in the game... from the snowy mountain area to the prairie to the deserts in Mexico.

I just wish I could put what I deem the best parts of all the games into one package: the customization and fun of Saints Row into the map of San Andreas with the graphics of GTA IV or Red Dead.

Played Driver San Francisco, and actually enjoyed it. Unique racing game, good variety, fun (but short) story. Not perfect, but enjoyable.

Having trouble getting into Gears of War 3. Odd series trajectory for me. Thought the first was really great (although that was back when the Xbox had very little), thought 2 was solid, but started feeling ho-hum about it, and now 3 is boring the snot out of me.

Along the same lines, not getting into Deus Ex yet. I think I made the mistake of concentrating on achievements (no alarms, no kills, collectibles), which is making the game difficult and work like. I plan on ditching that and just playing it and see if that helps. Every once in a while I run across a game where achievements hurt a game... I blame the developers. They should make achievements designed to enhance it.

Updated list...

Top 2011 Games
#1. Saints Row 3 - A
#2. Batman Arkham City - A
#3. Halo Anniversary - A
#4. LA Noire - A
#5. Driver: San Francisco - A-
#6. Dead Space 2 - A-
#7. Portal 2 - B+
#8. Madden 12 - B
#9. DiRT 3 - B
#10. Gears of War 3 - B (still playing...)
#10. Crysis 2 - B-
#11. You Don't Know Jack - B-
#12. Top Spin 4 - B-
#13. MLB 2K11 B-
#14. Deus Ex - B-/C+ (still playing...)
#15. Bulletstorm C+
#16. Homefront C+
#17. YooStar 2 C+
#18. Rango - C+
#19. Shift 2: Unleashed - C
#20. Duke Nukem Forever - C-
#21. Test Drive Unlimited 2 - C-
#22. Fight Night Champion - D+
#23. Brink D+
#24. Mortal Kombat D+
#25. The Michael Jackson Experience - D
#26. Child of Eden - D
#27. Brunswick Pro Bowling - D-
***Kinect - F (I'm giving a special shit award to Kinect for being awful this year. No good games and kiddyfied the 360... blech)

Top Pre-2011 Games That I Played in 2011
#1. Uncharted 2 (PS3) - A+
#2. Alpha Protocol - A
#3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) - A-
#4. Sims 3 - A-
#5. Rock Band 3 - B+
#6. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - B+
#7. MLB the Show 10 and 11 (PS3) - B+
#8. Infamous (PS3) - B
#9. Mafia II - B
#10. Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush - B-
#11. MotorStorm Pacific Ridge (PS3) - B-
#12. NBA Jam - C+
#13. Megamind - C+
#14. CSI: Fatal Conspiracy - C+
#15. DJ Hero 2 - C+
#16. Terminator Salvation - C
#17. Half Life 2 - C
#18. Tornado Outbreak D+
#19. Game Party: In Motion D
#20. Decca Sports: D-
#21. PowerGig - D-
#22. Truth or Lies - F

Lol you guys spend money like crazy.

Games I bought this year...

Black Ops B+
UnCharted 2 A
MW3 A-
Just Cause 2 B+
GTA4 A-


I have Uncharted 3 and Skyrim to try out.

Having played through just about everything I'm able to on my current systems..

Final list for me

1. Skyrim
2. Portal 2
3. Uncharted 3
4. Skyward Sword
5. Arkham City
6. Assassin's Creed: Revelations
7. inFamous 2
8. Saints Row 3
9. Bulletstorm
10. Dragon Age 2

Most impressive single year I've ever experienced.

Zelda Skyward Sword
Batman Arkham City
Super Mario 3D Land
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Portal 2
FIFA 2012
Zelda Ocarina Of Time 3D

FUTURE TONY HERE FROM THE FUTURE TO MAKE POST IN THE PRESENT WITH HIS FUTURE KNOWLEDGE:

MY BEST GAMES OF 2012
#1. GTA V - Great game, except lead character dies.
#2. Halo IV - Great game, except lead character dies
#3. Mass Effect 3 - Great game, except lead character maybe dies
#4. NBA 2K13 - Great game and Lebron dies!

Future Tony also ponders whatever happened to the kick ass fun video game ending. The one where you kill all your enemies and retire in a massive mansion made of money? He also wants to warn everybody against eating asbestos. Turns out future scientists say this is bad.

Oh, and Cubs win the world series 2012.