Top 10 Games of 2011

Yesterday, I listed my Top 5 Downloads of 2011.  Now on the final day of this calendar year, I give you my Top 10 Games of 2011.  As one person, it is very hard to play every single game that comes out in a year especially when you get some of them for Christmas.  So there will be some big games that I am playing at the moment that might have made this list if I had the money to get them earlier this year, but ultimately will not at this point in time.  Before you see this list and immediately make comments that I did not make this list, just remember this list is just one man's opinion.  If you want to share your opinion, I encourage you to make your own Top 10 list.  So let us countdown in my opinion the best games of 2011.

10. Jetpack Joyride
This addictive, time chopping, one button run for your life game sunk its claws in me early this year when I downloaded it to my iPad.  I have sunk many hours into this dollar game trying to collect coins, complete missions and beat my friends' best distance.  You can play Jetpack Joyride for two minutes or two hours, you will always have fun.

9. Sonic Generations
After years of being dragged through the mud, Sonic has remerged as one of the kings of the platform genre.  To celebrate The Blue Blur's 20th Birthday, Sega gave the fans Sonic Generations, a game that gives us both the classic Sonic platforming and the modern Sonic mix of high-speed obstacle course and platforming segments to make the best Sonic game of the last 10 years.  Personally running through a HD version of Chemical Plant Zone as both classic and modern Sonic with remixed background music was one of the highlights of my year in gaming.

8. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
It is all about choice in Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex: Human Revolution.  Will you run in guns blazing or take a more stealthy approach?  Will you hack into a computer and turn the security droids on your enemies or disable the droids with a EMP Grenade?  There is no clearly defined right or wrong way to complete any objective in Human Revolution and that is what makes this game so amazing.

7. Bastion
Beautiful art, great music, compelling story and deep gameplay that even works with a mouse and keyboard, this Action-RPG stand out above all the other downloadable games.  Bastion literally looks like watching art in motion, it is so beautiful.  Also having the ominous ever-present narrator tell the story is one great touch that has not been done before in games.  If you own a Xbox 360 or a PC, Bastion is the best downloadable game and one of the best games you can play this year.

6. Portal 2
Once you start thinking with portals, you can never go back.  Back in 2007, Portal charmed gamers around the globe with its great puzzles and amazing villain in GlaDOS.  With more brain-racking puzzles and more GlaDOS, Valve adds in more challenging puzzles with co-op and new hilarious characters in Wheatley, Cave Johnson and last but not least the Space Core.  More story, more puzzles, more laughs and ultimately more fun, these are all the things most sequels look to do, but never achieve.  Portal 2 is one of the few exceptions and that is why it is the best puzzle game of the year and one of the best games of 2011.

5. Pokemon Black and White
For years, people have felt that Pokemon needed a huge shake-up or this RPG behemoth would loss some steam.  Nintendo and Game Freak proved that it they did not need to make some radical changes to make the series feel fresh again.  Launched head first into the Unova region as a new trainer, you start off with a new batch of 150 Pokemon with none of your old favourites in sight.  The additions of seasons that affect terrain you traverse, TMs that no longer disappear from your inventory after one use and the improved online features make Pokemon Black and White the definitive games in the Pokemon franchise.

4. Super Mario 3D Land
The Nintendo 3DS had a slow start when it launched earlier this year, but those woes seemed to end with the release of Super Mario 3D Land.  A portable Mario that cohesively blends concepts from both 2D and 3D Mario games into one compact handheld game that you can play on your 3DS.  It is one of the must-own games for any 3DS owner and the best portable Mario game of all-time.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Confession time.  I have never completed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time until I got it for the 3DS this year.  Boy, was I ever missing out.  Even with the 3D coat of paint on it, Ocarina of Time stands the test of time (seriously no pun intended) and shows why it is considered the greatest game of all-time.  Either on consoles or in the palm of your hand, Ocarina of Time is one of the best games of this year.

2. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
I am one of the few that did not consider Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to be the masterpiece everybody says it is.  Do not get me wrong, Uncharted 2 is a phenomenal game, but it felt like it followed the same formula from the first game.  It is just the difference between what I consider a 9.5 and what I consider a 10.  Uncharted 2 was a 9.5, but Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is a 10.  Naughty Dog hit it out of the park as it improved on all the mechanics from the second game, added a fun and rewarding multi-player that I can even get into and got rid of the bullet sponge enemies that I hated from the previous two Uncharted games.  When I finished Uncharted 3, this was my Game of the Year that was until I played this next game.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Sorry Nathan Drake, I love you, but Link schooled you.  If you have read my blog for the past month, you would know how much I love The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  It is the greatest game of this generation, the best game of 2011 and in my opinion, the greatest game in this iconic franchise.  Again when people complain that said Nintendo franchise is getting stale, Nintendo shows them up and makes one of the best games in the series.  It happened earlier with Pokemon and happened again with Zelda.  Shows that you don't mess with Nintendo.