Top Ten Games of 2011

Every year I play a lot of video games and it's easy to forget some of them. In order to combat this I always create a list of what I believe to be the ten best games of the year (In my opinion). Below I will list the games I liked the best this year starting from ten and working my way down to one.

10. Catherine 

Catherine isn't as good as I wanted it to be, but I still enjoyed it. I was more concerned with the story than the sometimes tediously frustrating block moving puzzles. The puzzles were okay, but after a certain point I didn't want to do them anymore. With that said the story of Catherine was very adult oriented, which doesn't happen much in video games. Catherine may not have been one of the best games ever made, but I will certainly remember it.

9. Disgaea 4

Disgaea 4 is ridiculous. The same level grinding madness returns with loads of new features. The story of Disgaea 4 wasn't very good, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I played this game a TON this year, so it's only natural that it would make this list.

8. Mortal Kombat (9) 

Mortal Kombat returned to the video game scene with a vengeance. Juggle based combos paired with brutally violent visuals are what Mortal Kombat is all about. The fighting stands on its own, but the excellent story mode sets a high bar for stories in fighting games.

7. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

Capcom listened to the pleas of its fans and released Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. The fast paced fighting and wide variety of characters make this an excellent fighter. Capcom made the poor choice of releasing Ultimate in the same year as the original, but it's still a better version of the game.

6. Yakuza 4

Yakuza 4 is the most complete Yakuza game to make it to America so far. More than that it offers a wider variation in gameplay than the other games in the series. Playing as keriyu is cool, but it was nice to play as three other characters who all felt unique.

5. Pokemon Black/White

It's 2011 and Pokemon is still awesome. Nintendo can keep cranking these games out until the end of time and I will love them. The turn based RPGs will continue to live on as long as Nintendo keeps Pokemon alive, and that makes me happy.

4. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Naughty Dog made another great third person shooter filled with amazing action set pieces. While Uncharted 3 may not top Uncharted 2 it is certainly on the same level. I liked that Naughty Dog tried to bring out the backgrounds of its characters. At the end I was left wanting more, so I hope the Uncharted series continues.

3. Batman: Arkham City

Arkham Asylum was great and Rocksteady made another great Batman game with Arkham City. While I think that Arkham Asylum was a better game I still had a ton of fun beating down thugs and flying around in Arkham City.

2. Bastion

I was pleasantly surprised by Bastion. I never thought that a download only game would make a large impact on me, but Bastion proved me wrong. The great music, narration, art style, and gratifying combat combine to make one of the best games in 2011.

1. Skyrim

I have done almost everything there is to do in Skyrim, except the main quest line. My save clocks in at around 60 hours, and I am still eager to play more of this game. Even with how broken Skyrim has been for the PS3 it is still my game of the year for 2011.

     -Manny