GOTY

My list for games of the year 2011. There will probably be a few of you who will think I'm crazy, but these are the six games that I genuinely enjoyed my time with this past year. So in no particular order here we go:


*Batman Arkham City

Take what was awesome about Arkham Asylum and crank it up times one hundred. Everything from the stellar voice work to the outstanding graphics just blew me away. The single player story is a tad on the short side, but the amount of side missions and stuff to do boggles the mind. I've only scratched the surface trying to find and solve all of the Riddler challenges. Or how about teaming up with a certain villain to find "broken toys?" What's not to love? Who else besides me let Batman stand idle with his cape gently blowing in the wind while the snow fell around him? Just awesome.

*Gears of War 3

Easily the best Xbox 360 game this year (I say multiplates don't count), and I completely agree with Eddie that it makes NO sense that this didn't win at the VGAs. Gears 3 wrapped up the Marcus Fenix story arc and I feel that justice was done. I will say that there are a lot of unanswered questions that I was hoping would be addressed in Gears 3 that weren't. Maybe the rumored prequel games from People Can Fly will give us some answers. Gears 3 also gets my vote for best tear-jerking scene of the year. Yeah, I'm not ashamed to admit it. For those of you that played the game, you know what I'm talking about.

*Catherine

If there is one game on this list that I will catch flak for, it's Catherine. But you know what? I don't care. Every so often a game comes along that is a fresh change of pace from the shooting and explosions, and Catherine is one of those games. This game amazed me on so many levels, and really caught me off guard. I had solid interest going into it, but walked away totally in love. I could go on all day about the awesome voice work, the beautiful anime style cut scenes, the plot twist and the fun puzzle game play. The main protagonist, Vincent, is a dopey guy who screws up big time, but during the course of the game, you really begin to care about Vince and what happens around him. He makes a lot of dumb mistakes, but constantly tries to set things right. I found myself yelling at the television a few times while playing Catherine - "YOU IDIOT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" - because I actually cared, and that is something special.

*Mortal Kombat

FINISH HIM! "Old-school" Mortal Kombat returned in 2011 and I couldn't have been more thrilled! It's 2-D, looks stunning, a blast to play and offers tons of content. What more could you want? Yeah a few new characters would have been nice, but all of your old favorites are back and are better than ever (Stryker is actually cool). While I'm not great at fighting games, admittedly I smash a lot of buttons, I've always enjoyed the fighting genre and I was glad to see one of my favorite franchises get the "remodel" it deserved. And the story mode? My jaw dropped more than a few times.

*Dead Space 2

With the exception of maybe Doom 3, never, NEVER has a game scared me like Dead Space 2. Dead Space had its moments, but everything about Dead Space 2 is improved from the original and is a heart-pounding experience. Who could forget that first encounter with a Stalker? Terrifying. The Pack? Get me out of here! Seriously, a daycare/school? I can't take it anymore! I almost quit Dead Space 2 on more than one occasion, because I simply could not take it. It's almost TOO intense sometimes, one major example being Chapter 10. I could go into great length and detail as to why this is one of the most amazing levels in any video game ever, and if you've played both games, you probably know what I mean. I can recall my initial reaction of absolute terror after hearing over the loud speaker that my next stop was going to be a certain facility. Not many games have pulled off this kind of emotion. I'm REALLY looking forward to Dead Space 3!

*Saints Row: The Third

Ah, yes. Saints Row: TT. Defiantly not the game you want to bring home to mom or play with your grandmother. Sure it's loud, obnoxious, crude and just plain juvenile, but it is HANDS DOWN the most fun I've had with a game in 2011. The characters are awesome, the missions varied and fun and it's packed with things to do. Granted a lot of the things that made Saints 2 amazing were cut (rumor points to a smaller production staff), but Saints 3 looks and plays better than 2 in every way. After a bank robbery gone wrong, you find yourself in a new city that is ripe for a takeover and what transpires is hilarious and a ton of fun. A key moment for me came early in the game where your created character and one of the Saints captains are driving in a car while singing along with, "What I Got," by Sublime. It's cheesy on purpose, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't sing along with them. If you want some mindless, stupid fun, Saints Row 3 delivers in spades.

Honorable mentions: L.A. Noire, Super Mario 3D Land and Uncharted 3.

-Mark