Best game you have played this year?

[Proverbial Jon]

Portal 2 and Solatorobo: Red The Hunter would be my choices.

Portal 2 because I played it three times in a row and had a lot of fun every time.

And Solatorobo because I'm still playing it. Considering the fact that I tend to lose commitment with handheld games very quickly, that's something of a feat.

I'm ashamed to admit that I only just got my grubby little mitts on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves at the start of the year (not sure when it came out?) and it is easily one of the best games I've EVER played, not just during 2011.
The cut scenes are beautifully done, the voice acting is superb, the story is absolutely breathtaking, emotional and captivating (good job, writers!) and the gameplay itself is varied enough for it to never become boring. I kind of ignored it when it first came out (Drake's Fortune) because I assumed it was just Tomb Raider with a male protagonist, but I'm ecstatic to have been proven completely wrong. I don't know how many times I've played it through, not even for the trophies, just to see the twists and turns of the plot play out again.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant! Anyone who hasn't played it though, should, you can't miss it.
Uncharted 2 is easily one of my top three games ever.

I'll agree with that! I couldn't believe how much of an improvement it was over the first Uncharted. People rag on poor Nathan Drake a lot but I find him quite lovable, in a cocky but well meaning way. Plus Claudia Black people, Claudia Black! I don't finish many games and feel the need to tell the empty room how great that game just was

 

[RejjeN]

Portal 2, hands down!

 

[jacobythehedgehog]

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot and Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. The two best games I own and play through quite reguarily

L.A. Noire was very good too.

Hunted: The Demon's Forge was Epic as well. Probably the best Co-op game I have ever played. I just loved it.

Vanquish I got it for $30 and it was worth it. I really loved it

 

[SangRahl]

Wow... this year?

Haven't really played a "bad" game this year, except when a friend convinced me to join him on EQII's "Free-to-Pay" server. Seriously, that game and SOE's treatment of F2P players was horrific.

For the others I played, I wasn't disappointed:

Portal2 - Best voicework and funniest game script for a long time... and it got my wife playing again.

GTAIV - Hardest part is dealing with finding time to finish this one... Not exactly compatible with stay-at-home parenting. "No, don't call your sister that. Yes, I know the guy on the tv said that, but you don't, understand?" ::sigh::

Mount & Blade: Warband - Only the fact that there is no real storyline to fulfill kept me from sticking with this game longer... and I learned to despise my own liege once he made me Marshall.

inFamous - Fun, fast-paced enough to keep even couch-side watchers enthralled, and without the gross-out factor of Prototype. (Honestly, they both rocked, but each in their own ways... if they ever combined the two to iron out the kinks in both, I think I'd be hooked for life.)

Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate (thanks, Steam, for that great ~$10 deal) - I've barely even scratched the surface of this game and I'm hooked. Just kinda bummed how steep the difficulty curve is from Easy to Normal and above, though.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - The first time I've been pulled in to online competitive play on a console... too bad the load times and random mike chatter sucked so bad.

But, my #1... Minecraft.
I came in to the game late, it seems, but I'm glad I did. Only a couple hiccups from odd patch issues, but since I'm not an avid/rabid mod user, they were smoothed over pretty quickly.
I still log in to my niece's server every other day and enjoy being the maverick vanilla player on a server of /op'ed kids.

"That 50x50 Hedge Maze and sandstone tower? Yep, I made it. Nope, didn't use any /op commands, either."
(My biggest regret was the Lapis rooftops on my replica of a WCII Human Castle... I was slowly replacing bare dirt with Lapis Blocks as I mined it up, but one of the kiddies came through and "finished it" for me... I have to admit though, it WAS ugly as hell before he did.)

 

[Testosticore]

I have to say Dead Space 2. The game deviated away from the 'Survival Horror' feel of the first one, and went a more 'Kick ass 80's B movie' route with an emphasis on kick ass. I think I liked it so much because my expectations were so low (having recently played the first) that it being an actually good game just blew my mind.

 

[Ashadow700]

I found Knights of the old republic on Steam for 9,9? about two months ago. I had never played it before, and I have been hearing a lot of good things about it, so I decided to give it a shot. Forty hours later I concluded that, a few years from now, I might consider Kotor to be my favorite game of all time.

 

[The Hero Killer]

Either Marvel vs Capcom 3 or Mortal Kombat, but I expect that to change come this fall.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Portal 2, but it's kind of cheating because that game is the best I have played in any year of my life, ever.

 

[PatrickXD]

The Original Fallout games, and New Vegas.
Other mentionable titles are Jericho, the FEAR expansions and Mount and Blade Warband.

 

[Weslebear]

Got back into Guild Wars after 2 years if that counts.

Goddamn I love this game, my top 10 easily.

 

[Dreamer of Theaters]

I Wanna Be The Guy would tie in with my fav games I have played this year. Should of mentioned that, dammit. Also ties in with: most cheapest game deaths EVER!

 

[LookingGlass]

I won't count any of the possibly dozens of games I've replayed.

So, games I've played for the first time this year that I can remember:
- Star Wars: Republic Commando
- Aliens Vs Predator (the new one)
- Rome: Total War
- Company of Heroes
- Crysis 2
- The Witcher
- Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
- Starcraft 2
- Fallout
- Giants: Citizen Kabuto
- Portal 2

Tough one. I'll have to say Rome: Total War was the best of the bunch, followed by Fallout.

 

[LiraelG]

Portal 2. Oooh, wait, Knights of the Old Republic 2 is also great, and I've had fun playing through Red Dead Redemption. Those three.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

The games I've played this year (so far) are;

Duke Nukem Forever
Mass Effect 2
Vanquish
Red Dead Redemption
Bulletstorm
InFamous 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Grim Fandango

Do I really have to choose only one?

 

[Bajinga]

Portal 2, no doubt, is the best game of the year.

-Closely followed byTF2

-Alright, number three would be Dragon Age: Origins
-I guess Infamous 2

-Then, it would have to be Heavy Rain.

 

[Dreamer of Theaters]

By the way, thank you for whoever sent me a warning for a post about "piracy." I never ever said anything about condoning piracy. In fact, I hate piracy. So thanks very much. I only said it because these days most people do pirate, and not that many people still buy games.

 

[Twilight.falls]

I don't buy a ton of new games.

I'd have to say Portal 2 and Catherine. Coincidentally, both challenging puzzle games with nice stories.

 

[Chris Barber]

NEStalgia; no contest. I think once the summer updates go through it'll become a much more popular game.