Shadows of the Damned

Without question, Shadows of the Damned supplied me one of the most entertaining rides of the year. Garcia "F'n" Hotspur's sexual innuendo-filled demon slaying trek through hell to save his girlfriend is a love-it or hate-it affair. I loved it. Sure, it's not without its flaws--not the least of which are boss fights which serve as example to the challenge of pulling them off well in a first person shooter. But even they reflect the hell-on-a-hallucinogenic-trip atmosphere so well that it's hard to be too put off by them. There's more than just a façade here too. The game uses its light versus dangerous darkness mechanic well, mixing up more than just the basic dispel the shadows trick. Top it off with Yamaoka's soundtrack that fits things to a "T" whether it's a heavy metal jam or flamenco guitar, and I promise one thing, Shadows of the Damned will leave a strong impression.

Read more: The rest of Garnett's 2011 picks »

Minecraft

The block-building game from Mojang Specifications may not look like much, but its core concept is so effective and unapologetic that I have to respect it. The satisfaction I feel after completing a large-scale project in Minecraft is the same I felt when I finished a Lego set as a kid or an art project in college. Sure, my legs went numb from sitting and I'm exhausted from lack of sleep, but I completed something. It's finished.

The enemies are uninteresting, but necessary to stay focused on a goal. Once shelter is established, it's easy to fall down the rabbit hole -- to develop better safeguards, a higher watchtower, smarter traps. Minecraft is what you make of it, and few games can make that claim at such a fundamental level. Now that heavy-hitters like Epic Games have shown interest and are drawing inspiration, we may well look back in a decade and realize Minecraft shook up the industry, subtly from beneath the surface.

Read more: The rest of Steve's picks for 2011 »

Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm is, essentially, Painkiller creator People Can Fly's stab at making Video Games: The Video Game. Dropped into a ludicrous world for a ludicrous reason, you're sent off to kill people in delightfully gruesome ways to earn points. Blasting some fellow's legs off with a shotgun nets you 25 points, for example, while shooting a chap in the laughing gnomes then finishing him off with a boot to the face earns you a far more respectable 100 points. Why? Because video games.

Bulletstorm is thoroughly daft and puerile in tone but unlike most video games--which also are--it's well aware of this, making it a strange sort of clever. The daft plot bounces merrily along, not feigning any more depth than it has, slicked by a torrent of childishly pleasing cussing and grand set pieces. The skillshots are nonsensical, but they're fun.

The thing is, right, beneath everything, Bulletstorm is a really solid shooter. Lack of jumping aside, it's lovely and meaty with some top-notch guns, and skillshots tempting players to do more than simply shoot faces. You kill people in fun ways and then a lady threatens you and your chum that she "will kill your dicks." And to think that I almost skipped it entirely because of the tedious marketing and dull demo!

Read more: The rest of Alice's 2011 picks »

Infamous 2

Cole MacGrath's sophomore outing deserved better than to get lost in the flood of E3 coverage. It was a fine action game and I loved the comic book-style narrative, which involved making many gut-wrenching "good vs. evil" choices that would ultimately shaped Cole's destiny. Of course, there's also something to be said for simply going the evil route and shocking every poor sucker in New Marais that dared to cross my path. If you spent E3 week constantly refreshing your browser and forgot to pick this gem up, do yourself a favor and go back for it.

The rest of Ozzie's picks for 2011 »

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

There was quite a crop of good third-person action games this year, but one that I enjoyed a bit more than the rest was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. The IP itself was ripe with opportunity to highlight its bone-sawing brand of action from a boot-level perspective, and developer Relic Entertainment did a great job capturing the essence of what it meant to be a seven-foot army of one. Rather than fall back on the cover-based proclivities of most third-person shooters, Space Marine's adrenaline-based mechanics include a brutal melee component that encourages players to throw themselves deeper into the fray to survive.

The game's multiplayer is also great fun, with fast-paced, bloody matches and a huge array of different weapons and abilities. Even if you managed to overlook this one amidst the hype surrounding the third chapters in the Gears of War or Uncharted series, just remember it's not too late to decimate the Orkish hordes; for the Emperor!

Read more: The rest of Jeff's 2011 faves »

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection

It was the year of the HD remake. Thanks to the current generation's limited backwards compatibility, publishers attempted to cash in with quick ports of last-gen games.

However, Sony didn't take the lazy route. Whereas publishers like Capcom and Ubisoft barely touched up their PS2-era re-releases, Sony's HD remasters have all been thoughtfully constructed. Perhaps the best of the bunch was the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection. Seeing these games reconstructed in HD with a steady framerate makes for an entirely new experience. It also helps that these are two of the finest games ever created. A slew of bonuses, including some terrific reversible box art, were nice touches that made a good collection of games great.

Read more: The rest of Andrew's 2011 faves »

Crysis 2

Crysis 2 was, and remains, a phenomenal game. Though I had some problems with the game's narrative, it was a gorgeous experience that I enjoyed playing through. It's a shame that the title suffered greatly at the hands of pirates. Developer Crytek certainly deserves your money as a developer that continuously attempts to push the boundaries of any platform the company's titles land on. My preferred platform was PC (obviously, let's not kid ourselves) but the game was still impressive on console... and don't even get me started on how much fun the multiplayer can be. This is one you should buy if you missed it.

Read more: The rest of Xav's 2011 faves »