Spencer’s up next with his other favorites from last year.

Iron Brigade (formerly Trenched)

The first of two developers returning from my 2010 Honorable Mentions, Double Fine’s latest, Iron Brigade (prior to a legal dispute, it was Trenched), may have been made specifically to hit all the pleasure centers in my brain. Giant robot shooter? Check. Tower defense? Check. Alternate-history/sci-fi Great War setting? Check and check. Layer on heaps of Double Fine’s comedy writing and art style, and you have an amazing, entertaining diversion that defies easy classification. Exclusive to Xbox 360, this was perhaps the only reason I was miffed when my Live account ended up hacked.

Orcs Must Die

Mechanically, Orcs Must Die is something like Tecmo’s Deception mixed with God of War: a trap-setting almost-tower defense game where you can wade into the fray with your sword if things get hairy. In addition to this, it adds hilarious dialog and general silliness – the orcs would be almost sympathetic if they weren’t mentioning their desire to kill humans, and they’re downright funny even as you mow them down. Top it off with a protagonist who may as well be an ancestor of Bruce Campbell, and you have a guaranteed winner. Frequently hits Steam sales, plays great with a gamepad.

The Stanley Parable

To be honest with you the reader, The Stanley Parable is not, strictly speaking, a game. It’s more of a game about a game, or perhaps a game about games. However, curious little experiment though it might be, it’s a compelling narrative, one that will hopefully make you wonder about games as a medium for storytelling. A remake is on the way, implementing more of the designer’s original vision – in the interim the mod remains free for your enjoyment, and quite fascinating in its current state.

Atom Zombie Smasher

Blendo Games returns with what might be called “Hipsters in the Zombie Apocalypse.” Atom Zombie Smasher is a curious, clever take on the real time strategy and tower defense formats (little bit of a theme in my selections this year). Like its predecessors, AZS is quirky, off-beat and loads of fun, all the way down to its 60s surf-rock soundtrack. Pack up your helicopter, lock and load with the 56th Badger Infantry and enjoy.

2011 has been a strange gaming year for me. I’ve been able to follow the industry as much (or more) than ever before thanks to some fantastic web sites and podcasts, but for much of the year I couldn’t (and didn’t) buy a new console game. I’ve made up for lost time since October, but much of my attention has also gone to older titles. I almost excused myself from Game of the Year discussions by default.

But there are many games that I have played which deserve recognition. So kick back and read on!

Assassin’s Creed II and AC: Brotherhood

I may not have played this year’s offering, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, but this has still been a very Assasin’s Creed year for me. I flashed through the two AC2 games in the early part of this year and enjoyed every bit of my brief Italian Renaissance vacation. As much as I saw the promise in the first game, it had incredibly stilted pacing and relied on the same three tricks to progress the story. However, from the moment you take control of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the series comes into its own and flourishes. Revelations may have eaten away at some of the goodwill the series developed, but these two games were amazing.

Shadows of the Damned

Proof that Japanese developers can still produce quality games. It’s far from perfect – some sections pass over from difficulty to frustration, and the “Big Boner” section is a joke that goes on far too long – but Shadows of the Damned is an engaging road trip. The gun-play and combat is well balanced, and all of the story beats are funny and well written. In the year when Duke Nukem finally returned, Garcia F*cking Hotspur slapped him in the face and stole his crown. Props to 8-4, Ltd., for the excellent writing in the game – hardcore gamers may know their other work, including previous lives at Electronic Gaming Monthly. This game is now just $30 on Amazon new; please go pick it up.

The iOS Section: Tiny Tower, Tiny Wings, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Ticket to Ride Pocket and GP Story

In the year of me not buying any new games, I have to add a condition: I didn’t buy any new console games. However, a fleet of iOS games – Tiny Tower, Tiny Wings, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Ticket to Ride Pocket, and Grand Prix Story – have kept me occupied for a very long time this year. Others may write about Tiny Tower, but it’s the perfect check-in game, requiring just a few minutes every day to keep progress moving. Beyond that, it’s got a fantastic art style and sense of humor. Tiny Wings continues the strong history of bird games on iOS, and with simple but genius gameplay. Ticket to Ride Pocket is a great translation of the board game. Grand Prix Story is the newest in a long line of Kairosoft management games, but this time in the realm of auto racing – perfect for me. And Sword and Sworcery is easily the best iOS single-player experience on iOS yet. A stellar year for gaming in your pocket.

NBA 2K12

And here’s where I’m sure some of our readers will roll their eyes. I know Spencer already has! It’s hard to top the highs of NBA 2K11 last year, but somehow NBA 2K12 has managed to grab me even more. If 2K11 was the great leap forward, 2K12 is a great evolution from its predecessor. The gameplay remains fantastic and the two ancillary modes – MyPlayer and Legends mode – have been improved to be a lot more fun. MyPlayer no longer requires you to start as a nothing player, and the Legends mode has expanded beyond just Michael Jordan to encompass almost 20 of the NBA’s greatest players from throughout the league’s history. It still looks and feels like an NBA broadcast (I’ve actually fooled a friend into thinking this) and makes me fall in love with basketball even more. I’m not sure if I burned myself out on EA Sports’ football titles or if they have stayed stagnant, but 2K12 manages to feel fresh despite being iterative. I will be playing this for a while.

And here we are friends, at the end of our third-annual Game of the Year awards ceremony. We laughed, we cried and we certainly didn’t argue as much about the placement of 2011′s games as we had in 2010. This is a good thing.

By a near-unanimous vote (meaning three out of five of us agreed), we bring you our finest and most spectacular game of the entire year that was 2011.

As is our custom, we will next post a list of Honorable Mentions from each of our handsome and intelligent contributors during the coming seven days. It will be our individual chance to showcase the titles we think deserved a top spot but were perhaps outvoted on, or we might just tell you what Flash games were the coolest. Time (and editing) will tell.

Thank you for reading!

#1 – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

November 2011 | Developer: Bethesda Softworks | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

It can be exhausting reading multiple year-end top 10 lists and seeing the same titles mentioned again and again. Reading more than one list of 2011’s best games will likely lead to repeated mentions of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and many of them will have it in the number one spot. This is not without merit; Skyrim could never be a book, a comic, a movie, or any other type of media. What makes Skyrim exceptional isn’t the narrative, but the world Bethesda created and the radically different experiences any given player can have in it.

Of the number of people I know playing Skyrim, not one of them has had an identical experience. No one chose the same specialties in combat with the same race or went the same direction in the world. Players that have already invested nearly a hundred hours into a single character may never encounter moments or segments of the world of Skyrim that I have in a fraction of that.

Volume and variety, however, are not what make it the best game of the year. What makes the latest Elder Scrolls title the best game of the year is when that volume and variety are consistently fun and interesting. Bethesda’s open-world RPGs are riddled with exciting highs and disappointing lows. At some point in previous installments it becomes easy to discover a game-breaking character build or an optimal progression with which to approach the quests and the world; this leads to a sense of repetition that ruins the experience. This is one possible reason Fallout: New Vegas got a fraction of the attention and accolades Fallout 3 did.

Skyrim has something that its predecessors in the Elder Scrolls series couldn’t offer: true gameplay role-playing. Many RPGs will provide the player the freedom to choose a specialty or style, only to show them hours down the road that they had shot themselves in the foot. Skyrim is the first title I’ve played where every different approach seems feasible. While it can sound very cliche, it is a necessity in a title offering this much freedom, and Bethesda nails it.

To truly put an exclamation point at the end of my endorsement of Skyrim as the Silicon Sasquatch Game of the Year for 2011, I’ll just say this: I’m playing what is perhaps the most broken version of the game (PlayStation 3) from a developer famous for broken games. In addition to this, my PS3 recently died, costing me my save games — a total of sixty hours, minimum. Despite all that, I still can’t wait to jump back into the world of Skyrim and build a new Dragonborn. That is the greatness of Skyrim. The allure isn’t so much about what will or does happen while playing, but the promise of what can happen that makes every experience different and worthwhile. – Tyler Martin

The release of an Elder Scrolls game is almost a religious holiday. Casual gamers, hardcore naysayers, JRPG fans and many others put aside their differences and just play these games — for hundreds of hours. It’s a certain type of magic that not everyone appreciates or understands, but I believe Bethesda’s fantasy simulators (because really, you’re simulating an entire existence within a vast, albeit fantastical, world) resonate with a vast majority because they are perfectly vague.

We’re given a plot that is truly inconsequential. We’re dropped in a world that has few limits. We’re encouraged to write our own stories and pretend — via a polished game design that helps us coax out our inner children — that we can be a lizard wizard, or whatever else you can imagine. In this way Skyrim is the same as Oblivion, and Morrowind by extension. But it is the most amazing iteration Bethesda has ever released.

Perhaps other games in 2011 took more risks or showed us unexpected things, but I can’t deny the genius that is Skyrim’s freedom to play and the brilliance of the game design that engenders an endless amount of roaming, looting, exploring and hoarding every piece of gear I find. Seriously, I need three houses just to sanely organize my stuff.

This is a better Elder Scrolls game in how it looks, plays and sounds. The character models no longer look like unfortunate troglodytes, the combat and character advancement trees are natural and logical and even a fleeting memory of the soundtrack gives me goosebumps.

I can’t recommend any other game from 2011 more than Skyrim. It’s an overdue fulfillment of an unspoken promise that Bethesda made to fans nearly 20 years ago when the first game came out on DOS — technology just had to mature to give us what is the grandest vision of the best videogame escapism in existence.

You will lose yourself to Skyrim, and you should be happy about it. – Aaron Thayer

Only three games are left to cap-off 2011′s best of the best. Well, we should be more specific and write that only one game is left after you finish reading this entry.

And no, number one is not Minecraft.

#3 – Bastion

July 2011 | Developer: Supergiant Games | Xbox Live Arcade, Windows, Chrome

The “games as art” debate is a perpetual absurdity, a sort of an inevitable occurrence as the gaming community is dragged, kicking and screaming, toward something resembling maturity. Self-appointed defenders screech that games must be art, crusaders and conservative parents screech that games must not be art, and the majority of us just shuffle about trying to ignore both sides.

The honest truth is that games are an art form, one that can range (like every other art form) from low-brow to high and pure. And yes, many games are low-brow: I defy anyone to say that most film tie-in games are particularly inspired, or that most action games are masterworks of fiction. The high end is relatively sparse, relatively unpublicized, as gaming grows and progresses – it’s easy to get caught up in the now-pedestrian scenes of “yet another modern first person shooter” and lose sight of the artistry involved.

Every so often, though, a game comes along that reminds us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that yes, games are art, and they can be every bit as beautiful and compelling as the finest films or celebrated paintings. In 2008, Braid reminded me of this fact, and this year, Bastion reminded me with greater fervor.

Bastion wasn’t even on my radar at the 2010 PAX10, nor did it catch my eye during this year’s Xbox Live Summer of Arcade promotion. I heard some rumblings about its quality around its August release on Steam, but I didn’t even buy it until it went on sale around October. When I finally played it, I began to resent my prior, ignorant self – so beautiful, so well created, it went from an idly-discussed name to my pick for Game of the Year – a position so firm that it did not exactly ingratiate me with our other panelists.

By genre, Bastion is an “action role-playing game,” a broad category that, comparing camera angles, might have it hastily dismissed as a Diablo clone. But the gameplay, while excellent, merely contributes to the game’s wonder. Bastion’s art and graphics, much like the story, is the offspring of Braid and Firefly; beautiful, oil painting-like colors, with hints of eastern influence. From the very start of the game, the sights, by way of their quality, immediately allude to everything that makes it so special.

The gimmick that put Bastion on the map for many was the narration system, but being so well executed, one could hardly consider it gimmicky. In most (if not all) games, the story is tucked around the edges of missions, crammed in via cutscenes, or provided through dialog mid-mission. But in Bastion, your very actions are narrated. Rather than playing a game with a good story, you play nothing less than the story itself –nothing I’ve encountered to date is more captivating.

And then there’s the music. Many games have good soundtracks, but I’ve listened to Bastion’s soundtrack more than any other album this year. Darren Korb, the composer and performer, took the setting and tale of the game and made an incomparable accompaniment. Ranging from country twang guitar to mid-eastern mizmar, and always arriving at just the right time throughout the campaign – be it a quiet moment or a frantic battle – the music expertly meshes with the rest of the game.

Bastion is a very good game. It has its flaws, sure – the lack of multiplayer was considered a severe oversight by many – and it’s not the best game of 2011 (according to this site’s assessment, and others). However, as an experience, taking into account the superb, varied action-RPG mechanics, the lovely art, the unique and compelling narration system, the wonderful story, and the undeniably inspired music, Bastion is perfect. It is, beyond a doubt, the best experience I’ve had this past year, and if you have a head for games, an ear for music, and a heart for stories, it may well be the same for you.

Developers Supergiant recently released cheap-or-free (per platform) DLC, encouraging people to play through their game again.

The truth is, I’ll never need an excuse to return to Bastion. — Spencer Tordoff

#2 – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

November 2011 | Developer: Nintendo | Wii

Over the last few years, Nintendo fans like myself felt exhausted by the Zelda franchise. It’s a frustrating conundrum that a game like Twilight Princess was better-produced than most titles, but still failed to be more than hollow and incomplete in many ways. I, along with others, threw up my hands at this Wolf Link concept and said “It’s good, but it isn’t Zelda.” But what is a Zelda game? Is it Ocarina of Time? Is it a Link to the Past? Maybe the idea of a perfect adventure alongside Link is a hazy nostalgia picking away at objectivity to make us insist (or hope) that every Zelda released has to be the best game ever, because at one time in our youth they were.

At this point the beloved franchise is too much a part of this industry’s history to be looked at with such objectivity: all of us have been influenced by one of these games directly or indirectly – lock-on action targeting says hello. But Skyward Sword somehow came at the perfect time. I was scared of another disappointment, but I was going to play it anyway. My expectations had been set low at the end of the Wii’s lifecycle. Yet what I played of this final Zelda on the Wii, from the first minute to the thousandth, was magical. And that’s truthfully the best word to describe The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: magic, of a purely Nintendo variety — a game that was so sorely missing since 2006.

What makes Skyward Sword nearly the best game of 2011 was how it took 25 year-old tropes and finally did something constructive with them. Link is a hero and Zelda is a maiden in trouble – we all expect that. But what I never expected was to see a deep, moving friendship develop between these two iconic characters. Even more amazing is how the game pulled it off without Link saying a word, as is customary. The animation and facial expressions in this game were near the quality of Pixar, and that is extremely impressive. Someone at Nintendo finally took the time to develop a sensible backstory and flesh out its characters to give players a reason for the quest, and not just because it’s expected of them.

This is a game any current or one-time fan of Zelda should play. It’s a wish list from your childhood: sweeping orchestral scores, paintings come to life, living characters with real emotion, fighting that requires skill and strategy and, most amazingly, a true beginning for the entire Zelda mythos. The plot is well-written and lends a truly epic feel to a series that always tried to be like a storybook, but let itself become constricted by its videogame nature. I’m happy to say that Skyward Sword fulfilled and then exceeded all of my gripes and guffaws about the series – what was stagnant is now stupendous, and I haven’t been so excited for the future of Zelda since I put the Master Sword to rest at the end of Ocarina.

Put aside your jaded skepticism and pick this one up: It’s the Zelda you’ve wanted to play for a very long time. — Aaron Thayer

We’ve reached the halfway point for our top 10 games of 2011! Boy, were there a lot of sequels last year or what? At least we liked them.

#5 – Battlefield 3

October 2011 | Developer: DICE | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

Let me be frank: Battlefield 3 made this list because of its multiplayer. The heavily scripted singleplayer and the blink-and-its-over cooperative missions were afterthoughts; paltry dinner mints to the filet mignon that is 64 players fighting simulated war.

It may be hypocritical for us to vault a title so high for one part of its overall package, but I argue that what’s contained in the multiplayer portion is almost enough to make it 2011’s best overall game.

“Battlefield Moments,” a sly marketing term DICE has used in the past to describe the unpredictability of the series’ online combat, are what justifies the hundreds of hours fans spend playing each iteration of the core formula. Anyone you talk to about Battlefield has several “This one time…” stories they can ramble off with exuberance and ease. What excited me the most about Battlefield 3 is that its calculated leap ahead with a clever Facebook-like web platform and quality VoIP and IM services (among many other things) has refreshed my stock of “moments” through my hard-won accomplishments and fantastic victories.

Battlefield 3’s insistence on surpassing its competition with its web-only matchmaking service on PC and an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at flexing its muscles against Call of Duty — and risking alienation by perhaps trying too hard – at least proves DICE as a forward-thinking and dedicated company. And perhaps it’s proof of how good the core Battlefield principles are (massive and unscripted teamwork-focused skirmishes) that its sequels aren’t scoffed at like Call of Duty’s, but eagerly picked clean by an equally dedicated fan base. The magic of Battlefield 3 is that both its developers and its community want this game to be so much better than it already is.

I loved every match I played of Battlefield 3, win or lose. The graphics are gorgeous, from sun glares blinding me before an attack to helicopters kicking up dust as they unload their troops. War shouldn’t be glorified or romanticized in this voyeuristic era, but Battlefield 3 does more to make battle come alive than any other shooter I’ve played. When you experience Battlefield 3, you should feel excited to be part of the best online shooter released not only in 2011, but in the past five years. — Aaron Thayer

#4 – Portal 2

April 2011 | Developer: Valve | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

The original Portal was an experience that caught a lot of people off-guard, myself included. The Orange Box was an incredible bargain, with Half-Life 2 and both of its episodic semi-sequels included; as far as I was concerned, Portal was just a first-person-puzzle cherry on top. Despite the brief length, it became abundantly clear once you played Portal that it was the reason to get the Orange Box.

Portal 2, unlike many sequels on our list, doesn’t fix problems with its predecessor, mostly because Portal wasn’t a very flawed experience. What Portal 2 does is expand the ideas that made its predecessor so great into a fuller experience that never feels diluted or redundant.

The writing is what truly makes Portal 2 stand out. Valve created one of the most humorous, triple-A games in years, and not even once does it lower itself to a single dick or fart joke. The sharp writing is complemented by incredible voice acting that sets a new standard for games. That Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons do such an astounding job conveying depth and personality in their characters is made even more incredible by the fact that one voices a robot and the other a recording for a character that is long-since deceased and never truly interacts with the player.

Portal 2 would not warrant mentioning, however, if the gameplay did not match the polish of the presentation. While the portal gun is still leaned upon heavily for most puzzles, new additions are clever and fit the atmosphere and set-up of Aperture Laboratories perfectly. No moment feels tacked-on, and for a campaign that is more than double the length of Portal 1, it breezes by. All this is wrapped up with an extremely satisfying ending and what is likely the best use of the moon in a video game since Duck Tales on the NES. If there was any glaring flaw in the game it’s that the co-op mode is very much a take-it or leave-it affair, but the story of Portal 2 is unlike anything currently existing in games. Portal 2 isn’t perfect, but it does come damn close. — Tyler Martin

We’re back with our sixth- and seventh-best games of 2011!

#7 – Bulletstorm

February 2011 | Developer: People Can Fly/Epic Games | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

Bulletstorm is not for everyone. More specifically, and with apologies to South Park, it probably should not be played by anyone.

To start with, it’s crude, crass and offensive on all fronts. It celebrates the old ultraviolence with a gleeful zeal. It’s stuffed to the brim with protagonists who treat cursing like a bold and experimental new art (at least, I’ve never heard anyone threaten to “kill my dick” before).

From the outside, it looks like everything that’s wrong with the video game industry — a sloppy concept hacked together by a marketing team vying desperately for the 18- to 35-year-old male demographic. But looks can be deceiving.

Yeah, Bulletstorm is crude, crass and offensive, but it’s absolutely brilliant in its execution. Within a few minutes, it’s clear the game is just as acutely aware of how ludicrous it is, with characters often questioning the bizarre vulgarities being spewed and the nature of the gross, kinda-human enemies you fight in droves. But the surprisingly witty setting plays second fiddle to the game’s core shooting mechanics, which are nothing short of inspired.

It comes down to two fiendishly clever concepts that come together in a wonderful way. First, the leash – a tether you fire from your arm that connects with enemies and flings them into deadly obstacles, pounds them into the pavement or draws them toward you in slow motion. This unprecedented element of control over your enemy presents countless opportunities to pull off Skillshots, which are clever miniature challenges that push you to finish off enemy after enemy in style. It’s fiendishly addictive and remains fresh throughout the game’s well-paced campaign.

Bulletstorm doesn’t have the best weapons (that honor probably belongs to Resistance 3), the most robust multiplayer suite (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) or the most improved competitive multiplayer experience (Gears of War 3), but it does what all of these shooters were unable to accomplish: it made fast-paced first-person action feel fresh again. To me, that’s worth a lot.  — Nick Cummings

#6 – Deus Ex: Human Revolution

August 2011 | Developer: Eidos Montreal | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

We are living through the death of science fiction as a genre – its greatest dreams shelved and dismissed, while its nightmares become the stuff of daily news headlines.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, then, is something of a relic. The world of Human Revolution is staunchly rooted in the setting crafted for 2000′s Deus Ex (and 2003′s Deus Ex: Invisible War). It’s not an optimistic world per se – one concerned with both conspiracy and the then-conceivable consequences of future cybernetic / genetic modification – but in the present, where the continued existence of society can seem questionable at best, it can seem downright sunny.

Like the story, gameplay in HR is taken straight from the original. This gives some aspects of the game a dated feel – dialog choices are effectively binary, inventory management is somewhat clumsy, and the upgrade / levelling system is unforgiving. These are only minor detractions, however, from what is perhaps the most finely-crafted sequel that I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. The game doesn’t feel like Deus Ex; it is Deus Ex, in perfect year-2000 form, polished to a mirror shine. There are just enough concession offered to fool the modern console gamer, but even with a gleaming graphics engine, a set of mandatory “boss” battles, and the addition of 3rd-person steath and weapon ironsights, the game never quite makes it into this decade.

And that’s where the beauty of Human Revolution truly lies; not in it being a modern game, but in it providing a near-perfect last-generation experience. Before expansive sandbox environments, we had carefully crafted levels that could be solved in myriad ways. Before heroic regenerating supermen, we had to sneak carefully and pick our battles prudently. Before concerns of accessibility and simplicity, we had games that did not fear depth and complexity. Before endlessly topical desert wars, we dreamed of a gleaming future – one both hopeful and frightening.

In all, Deus Ex: Human Revolution feels like a love letter to me, the PC fanatic around the turn of the millennium, carefully concealed in a wrapping of bloom and bossfights – as though Eidos Montreal were holding a lone finger to their collective lips, offering a knowing wink and nod. The difficulty selection screen could not be more telling in this regard.

“Tell me a story.”

“Give me a challenge.”

“Give me Deus Ex.”

— Spencer Tordoff

Did you miss us? Because wow, we sure missed you. It’s been a few months, but we’re back with another top-ten list for the year that was 2011. Just as we did in 2009 and 2010, all five of us met one day in late December and spent hours debating what we felt to be this year’s best and most important games.

However, this was our first year where everyone was hundreds of miles apart from each other. With Doug and Tyler in Japan, Spencer in Seattle, Aaron in Portland and Nick in Austin, the logistics were a much bigger hurdle this time around. But thanks to the magic of Skype and an inexplicable need we all share to see our games make the cut, we’ve pulled it out again.

A couple things to keep in mind: We are only evaluating games that came out in the year 2011. That gets a little murky when you look at things like the PlayStation 3 enhanced release of Mass Effect 2 and Minecraft officially leaving beta, so we decided that once a game is evaluated in one year, that’s it. Barring anything short of a comprehensive remake, it probably shouldn’t be considered a game that was released in 2011.

Next week we’ll bring you each writer’s list of personal favorites, but for now, let’s get started!

#10 – Jamestown

June 2011 | Developer: Final Form Games | Windows, OS X, Linux

2011 was not a year in which I expected a top-scrolling shoot-em-up title, much less a finely-hewn one packed with fun and whimsy.

But then along came Jamestown.

Three-man indie outlet Final Form Games took the tale of Roanoke colony and gave it a sizable steampunk (Enlightement-punk, perhaps?) twist. The resulting story, set on Mars, is chock-full of charming pixel-art, lovely music, and engaging, classically-inspired bullet hell gameplay to accompany the alternate-historical figures. A recent expansion, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, adds three new ships, bringing the total to seven playable vessels with diverse and enjoyable playstyles.

Perhaps the highlight of Jamestown, however, is its four-player local co-op mode. With extra controllers, plus mouse and keyboard, friends can tackle the insipid Spanish (and their vile Martian allies) together – activated abilities can shield your allies, and power-ups can bring them back from a death much sooner, making Jamestown one of the most teamwork-friendly shoot-em-ups ever.

In making Jamestown, Final Form crafted a game that at once hearkens to arcade classics (Capcom’s 1942 series and Seibu-Kaihatsu’s Raiden Fighters both leap to mind) while standing on its own merit. The title hits Steam sales frequently: bullet hell fans, history majors, and anyone who has friends would do well to give it a try.  — Spencer Tordoff

#9 – Dead Space 2

January 2011 | Developer: Visceral Games | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

As a young teenager growing up in the quiet safety of the suburbs, I rebelled against the sterile world around me the only way I knew how: by digesting the most controversial media I could get my hands on. I read subversive books and comics (think The Catcher in the Rye or Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), I listened to music my parents despised (Nine Inch Nails, System of a Down) and I played controversial video games. Not just Grand Theft Auto or Mortal Kombat; I mean truly unsettling stuff, like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. In short, I was trying really hard to be edgy, whatever that actually means.

Years have passed, and while I’ve long since abandoned the books and music of my formative years, I still love a good, disturbing video game. And while the survival-horror genre as we know it is long dead, a new player in the horror genre has risen to the challenge, blending a (for lack of a better word) visceral combat system with tense exploration and — somehow — a compelling and nontraditional narrative arc.

That’s Dead Space 2: the second coming of the horror game, blending traditional elements of suspense and terror with modern-day game mechanics and a rich, engrossing setting not possible on older hardware.

The original Dead Space hinted at a game like this, but the experience fell short in a number of crucial ways. Dead Space 2 fixes every problem I experienced playing the original, such as arbitrarily boxed-off play choice mechanics and a story with a few too many repetitive action sequences, and keeps things fresh with an astounding variety of action sequences buoyed along by a great character progression system and a dark, unsettling, and compelling story.

The horror genre may be all but dormant at this point, but with games like Dead Space 2 stepping in to fill the void, there’s never been a better time to scare yourself witless.  — Nick Cummings

#8 – InFamous 2

June 2011 | Developer: Sucker Punch Productions | PlayStation 3

If asked, I’d be the first member of our staff to call out InFamous for what it was: underwhelming. While Sucker Punch tried its best to create a new franchise, something opposite of Sly Cooper’s lightheartedness, what was released was another tired, open-world acrobatic platformer with absolutely no charm. But here we are in 2011, where the sequel to such a low pedigree is taking a spot in our 10 best games for the year.

InFamous 2 fixed everything that was wrong with its predecessor so naturally that I checked the credits wondering if Sony didn’t pawn the franchise off to a new developer. It’s a testament to the studio, which this year became a wholly owned part of Sony Computer Entertainment, to learn from its mistakes and push its team to realize the fun of InFamous’ core concept: Who would a normal guy become if he had superpowers? Uncle Ben would have had a lot to talk to Cole MacGrath about.

What makes this sequel so great is it doesn’t feel iterative. While I definitely killed bad guys, tested my moral fiber and collected lots of blast shards (again), the Cole MacGrath I played was a likable person — if you follow a good karma path, anyway. He’s a smart ass, but he cares about his friends. I found myself relating to this bro-dude, someone who was a glorified cardboard standee in the first game. Eric Ladin, the voice actor who replaced Jason Cottle, did a damn fine job of filling out the mannerisms and traits of a character that had been so very bland. Even the facial expression technology was an amazing feat compared to the first. At times the game fooled me into thinking it was an animated feature film with its fluid movements and beautiful color palette.

A lot of what made InFamous 2 such a fantastic title was its confidence in switching things up. A new voice actor, a new locale and a new look for Cole, before Internet fandom killed that idea. But the rest of these massive changes lived on, and New Marais was the perfect alternative to the greys and browns of Empire City. The New Orleans stand-in is a neon-drenched paradise of debauchery and southern charm. A lot of people talk about how open world games try to seem “alive” and well-lived, but very few reach a level of detail as Sucker Punch did with its humid coastal sandbox.

InFamous 2 took a lot of risks in changing so much, but every decision was the right one. In an industry where iteration is fact, I can’t recommend InFamous 2 more for how humble its developers are to admit where they failed and focus their resources on actually making a better game — not just saying it is. 2011 had many sequels, but InFamous 2 was one of the best.  — Aaron Thayer

While our Top 10 Games of 2009 deserve attention for their overall excellence, we can’t neglect this year’s other fantastic games — titles that just missed the final cut. Be it their charm or presentation, our Honorable Mentions were simply hard to forget. We’ve arrived at the final installment in our five-part series with Nick’s list of honorable mentions.

There’s been an ongoing joke about how I was the only person here who played every single game on our top ten list. While it’s a testament to my superhuman persuasive abilities, it also raises some questions about how I spend my time and money. In my defense, this was probably the single best year ever for high-quality games in both the mainstream and the independent scenes.

Below is a list of the few games that couldn’t make the list, either because nobody else at Silicon Sasquatch had played them — or because the poor fools didn’t know what they were missing.

Machinarium

October — Windows, Mac

2009 was the best year for adventure games in a very long time. With Telltale dishing out five episodes of a brand-new Monkey Island series and LucasArts providing a lovingly crafted remake of the classic Secret of Monkey Island, those of us who dream in dialog trees were pleased as punch with the selection on offer this year. The only downside was that most of the games were mere iterations on old franchises and design principles.

Except for Machinarium.

The first full-length game from Czech developer Amanita Design, Machinarium is the story of a little robot and his journey to be reunited with his metallic sweetheart. The game stands out from its peers for a number of reasons — such as the beautiful, stylish artwork and great soundtrack — but what’s most notable is that it manages to tell a story without a single word. Characters communicate with wild gesticulation and cartoon thought bubbles, adding an immense amount of personality to an already charming world. It’s the best adventure game released this year, and it comes with my highest recommendation.

Street Fighter IV

February — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

Sakura leaps over a bewildered Ken while a fat child rejoices

I’m what you might call a casual fighting game fan. I know and love the classics like Street Fighter II Turbo, Soul Calibur and Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but I’ve never invested in the time or hardware to rise to a true competitive level. The amount of manual dexterity, patience and practice required to learn how to use a character’s moves wisely is part of a fighting game’s enduring value, but for whatever reason it never clicked with me as a fun way to spend my time.

Street Fighter IV converted me to the world of the hardcore fighter with its fine-tuned roster of exaggerated personalities and remarkably well-paced learning curve. I started out just playing a few versus rounds with friends and playing a few games against the computer, but over time I began to see hints of just how deeply strategic the game could be. Before I knew it, I was spending hours grinding out the challenge modes to master a few of my favorite fighters. As of this writing, I’ve played more than 200 online matches and logged a grand total of 43 hours — and that’s in a game where a round takes just a few seconds!

DJ Hero

October — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2

I’m a pretty fierce critic of Guitar Hero, and with good reason: Ever since Harmonix and RedOctane/Activision split ways after Guitar Hero 2, the series has failed to even come within reach of its former quality. Iteration after iteration and band-specific spinoff after spinoff, Guitar Hero has all but rendered itself irrelevant.

So you can imagine my surprise when a brand-new Hero game showed up this October and it wound up being excellent. FreeStyleGames managed to launch a new music franchise with all the right ingredients: an excellent soundtrack, a solid and rewarding learning curve and a sturdy, enjoyable turntable controller. The only thing lacking was a more robust interface to help organize gigs and add some weight to the single-player experience. But with a sequel almost certainly on the way, I’m certain FreeStyleGames has great things in the works.

The only downside? Having “Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe permanently lodged in my brain. Actually, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Assassin’s Creed 2

November — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

A presto, Ezio

It’s a shame we couldn’t squeeze Assassin’s Creed II into our top ten list. Although I was a huge fan of the original Assassin’s Creed, its repetitive mechanics and somewhat stunted narrative didn’t appeal to everyone. Fortunately, Ubisoft Montreal did the impossible by addressing just about every complaint that was leveled against its predecessor and producing a sequel that appealed both to fans and detractors of the original game.

I rarely take the time to complete 100% of the tasks available in a game anymore, but with its breathtaking, living cities and excellent pacing — a rarity in games with open worlds — I was compelled to find every last feather and treasure box within Renaissance Italy. Fortunately, with more downloadable content on the way, I won’t have to hang up my white cloak and daggers just yet.

Rock Band 2

September…of 2008 — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2

Just so we’re clear: Rock Band 2 came out in September of 2008. As in, it’s not a game from this year, and it technically has no business being on this list. But thanks to exceptional downloadable song support throughout the year and a patch that offered a number of significant improvements to the core experience, Rock Band 2 was the rare game that only got better with age. And with Rock Band Network launching in just a few weeks, the floodgates show no signs of closing. Based on my experiences participating in the closed Rock Band Network beta, there are a lot of interesting songs in the pipeline that are being peer reviewed and polished to the point where most are indistinguishable in quality from the weekly releases Harmonix has been putting out. It was easily my most-played game of 2009, and it’s all but guaranteed to dominate my living room in 2010.

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And to round out the list, I’ve included a few games that may not have much enduring value but stand out for providing some truly exceptional moments:

• Windosill – discovering just how much fun a game can be when the player is encouraged to stop and smell the roses
• Bejeweled Blitz — competing in weekly tournaments against friends in sixty-second bursts makes it easily the most addictive experience of the year
• Red Faction: Guerrilla — demolishing an entire military-industrial institution with a single sledgehammer

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We now present to you, as determined by unanimous vote, the best game of 2009.

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#1. Batman: Arkham Asylum

August — Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

There has never been a better superhero game than Batman: Arkham Asylum. Agreed? Great. Let’s go a step further now: Arkham Asylum was the single greatest game released in 2009.

Surprised? We were too.

Out of the pitch-black abyss known as videogame development comes a blazing inferno of genius from Rocksteady Studios, an unknown developer with some kind of hidden power (like a Pokémon, or a Dragon Ball character) to shame the accomplishments of more established developers’ games featuring spandex-wearing protagonists. Arkham Asylum succeeds where so many other similar games failed, and we don’t just mean other Batman titles (of which there are many, many bad ones).

It would be easy to toss Rocksteady’s title the trophy for Game of the Year just because it’s the greatest Batman game ever, but that’s being short-sighted. Arkham Asylum instead deserves the honor because it feverishly respects its source material while openly embracing the strengths of the other forms of media Batman has been in during the franchise’s 70-plus years of pop culture history.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is fantastic on so many levels that it’s a difficult assignment to condense its strengths into a limited framework. I say that not to entice pity, but to be entirely truthful in my desire to write another 2,300-word review about the Batman experience. It’s that good.

Could it be the graphics that make it work? Those help, sure, but that’s not where the heart of the game is. The core of the Arkham Asylum experience comes to life via the mechanisms required to control Batman as a stealthy martial artist in complete control of his environment. Detective Mode is pure Batman, and it influences the decisions of the player both in and out of combat. Batman’s gadgets are another well-implemented aspect of the character, and each is utilized wonderfully during the game.

Never before has inhabiting the world of a superhero translated so flawlessly from the screen to the player. Combat is absolutely mind-blowing. Who knew that the clumsy button-mashing mechanic favored in other action titles could be refined into a fulfilling gameplay feature? Fighting as Batman is both fluid and logical: any mistakes aren’t the game’s fault — they’re the player’s, and it’s easy to learn from those errors. I’ve always struggled with other action titles, specifically God of War, because I felt obligated to perform perfect combos to be more like Kratos — unfortunately I used the same few attacks in excess because the game never rewarded me for doing otherwise. Conversely, Arkham Asylum is revolutionary for its dismantling of the digital platitudes of action game combat. Rocksteady chose to make combat an event that can be adapted to as newer, more dangerous problems arise. So instead of relying on reflexes and twitch gameplay to provide an exciting fighting sequence, Arkham Asylum educates its players about prioritized incapacitation. Each time I fought one of the Joker’s goons, I believed I was controlling a seasoned martial artist who thinks on his feet as a battle situation changes.

In regards to the presentation, Rocksteady’s translation of Batman to a videogame looks painfully easy. Arkham Asylum just can’t help but impress with its loving attention to detail. This is the Dark Knight alive in a way that putting a living human in a rubber suit can’t fully accomplish. Seeing and feeling the weight of Bruce Wayne in his suit as he glides through the air was remarkable – the first time I saw it in motion it brought a smile to my face. Smaller details like the tearing of Batman’s suit during his night in Arkham bring a real-time feel to the experiences of Batman. Think of how the character has been portrayed before — as a disjointed assembly of specific moments and actions. In the films Batman is only shown during the most important elements of the plot, sometimes months after the last major event (i.e., Bruce Wayne’s training with Ra’s al Ghul then his arrival in Gotham in Batman Begins). In the comics, narratives are moved along with “Meanwhile…” types of editorial devices to utilize page space economically. But in Arkham Asylum, everything is happening to Batman as the player sees it — like when I watched Batman’s cape rip in real time. For the first time the character seems both plausible and, more importantly, human.

This game is the future of the superhero software genre, and other developers can learn a lot from it. Arkham Asylum tells us that comic fans don’t just want 3D models of their 2D favorites: they want to feel the world of the characters, to understand in some way what it’s like to be those heroes. No one watching the movies or reading the comics will feel like they’re Batman, but playing Arkham Asylum actually enables the player to become the Dark Knight…if it wasn’t for their lack of billions of dollars and a loving British butler.

In the year 2009 there were almost too many good titles released, and many that could sit comfortably at the top of our list. That being said, our hats go off to Rocksteady for believing in its work and the medium, and releasing a title that doesn’t settle for less than perfection.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is our 2009 Game of the Year because it’s fun, intelligent and groundbreaking in a way that surprised all of us here at Silicon Sasquatch. Who would have thought that a superhero title could do so well for itself?

In this case, we’re thrilled to have our skepticism batarang-ed into optimism. — Aaron Thayer

While our Top 10 Games of 2009 deserve attention for their overall excellence, we can’t neglect this year’s other fantastic games — titles that just missed the final cut. Be it their charm or presentation, our Honorable Mentions were simply hard to forget. We now present a five-part series of articles, one from each member of the Silicon Sasquatch staff. Today, Aaron brings us our penultimate installment in this series with his list of honorable mentions.

The Maw

January — Xbox Live Arcade, Windows

Twisted Pixel Games knows how to have fun with its projects. Instead of filling a crowded gaming market with more of the same, Twisted Pixel created The Maw — a wonderfully original title that made me laugh without needing a single complete sentence of dialog. The Pixar-like scenario of an alien (Frank) teaming up and becoming friends with an insatiably hungry purple blob (Maw) made for a refreshingly heartfelt downloadable game. Little things like watching Maw express emotions — panic when it was burned, pain when it ate a bad creature and fear when it hid behind Frank — were fantastic visual treats, and demonstrated the development team’s knack for working in a cartoon style. While the game’s controls and light platforming segments were average, watching Maw grow to the size of a planet by the end made up for the less-impressive aspects. Charm makes all the difference in an industry that has resorted to provoking reactions through gore and realistic graphics.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

February — Windows

If it’s a real time strategy game, I’ve more than likely played it. At one time I enjoyed only RTS titles; incessant in my collection of resources and conscription of soldiers, I would double click and hotkey my adolescent nights away. So I might be a habitual RTS player, but I’m ready to break tradition and openly thank Relic Entertainment for its innovative and decidedly non-traditional Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Instead of micromanaging a base, the game granted intimate control over a squad of four unique (and upgradeable) characters. Dawn of War II is still a strategy-intensive game played in real time, but it feels more like a merger of Relic’s light squad mechanics from Company of Heroes with the intensity of a cover shooter like Gears of War. The RTS die-hards and Dawn of War I fans were somewhat upset by the big changes to a tried-and-true genre, but I’ll take innovation over stagnation any day.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

July — Xbox Live Arcade, Windows

It’s a good thing I first experienced the Secret of Monkey Island in its Special Edition form. While I’m confident the original would still have captivated me with its self-referential humor and sharp wit, it was simply brilliant to discover such a timeless story intact underneath the drastic makeover. I might not have grown up playing any of the classic LucasArts adventure titles, but I’m happy the genre is experiencing a period of revivalthanks in part to Telltale Games’ work on the Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island episodes. The Special Edition’s updated art was gorgeous, and fit with the series’ style in the opinion of a Monkey Island newcomer like me. The numerous jokes, gags and one-liners are relevant 19 years later, and the characters are memorable enough that I hope Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge gets the same fresh coat of paint that Secret did.

Battlefield 1943

July — Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network

DICE won’t win any awards for shrinking the Battlefield formula into a petite downloadable package, but that doesn’t mean 1943 was anything less than a solid summer distraction. The concept of ground, sea and air forces clashing over control points to keep decreasing the enemy’s reinforcements is still the best option for multiplayer chaos. Other games’ online deathmatch modes have their limits, so I gladly accepted Battlefield 1943′s break from the monotony to laugh maniacally while I flew numerous Japanese Zeros into hapless Sherman tanks. And sure, the game had a meager selection of four maps (which as of this writing are still the only available maps), but at the end of the day I felt my money was well spent. DICE might be guilty of milking its franchises a bit, but it says something about the team’s capabilities and the strength of the core Battlefield product that I can continue to purchase the same game indefinitely and have an absolute blast, each and every time.

Torchlight

October — Windows

Is it unethical that I decided Torchlight would be one of my honorable mentions long before I even played the full game? Sometimes a demo is all you need, and Torchlight dug itself into my brain the moment I loaded its trial-sized world. Now that I own the full Torchlight experience, I feel much better about giving it a spot on my list. Call Torchlight Diablo Lite, but don’t say it isn’t addictive and well-designed. The art direction alone is worth the price of admission. Diablo may still be the boss in the world of isometric action RPGs, but Torchlight deserves recognition for its lighthearted attempt at being different in a sea of familiarity — and because it proves that, as far as gameplay is concerned, an expanded color palette won’t ruin Diablo III.