10. Dark Souls
Yes, it was insanely difficult. Yes, there was no pause button and your health did not regenerate while enemies continually did. Call us masochists, but there was something ultimately so very satisfying about getting through an hour of gameplay without dying once.
Compared to so many overly easy modern games which might as well have the AI play it for you, the challenge offered by Dark Souls was almost a welcome one. Not to mention, just dropping into conversation that you’d made it another two hours in was enough to garner the instant respect of all your fellow gamers. Ellen Jurczak
9. Super Mario 3D Land
Mario games are, in all honesty, fairly predictable. Oh look, Princess Peach has been kidnapped and needs rescuing from Bowser’s castle: must be Tuesday. But this latest addition to the franchise was the breath of fresh air it needed, being remarkably fun, innovative and with a challenging yet manageable difficulty curve.
More impressive still, it actually made good use of the 3D element and incorporated it well into the flow of the game. It’s almost worth all the headaches. Ellen Jurczak
8. Battlefield 3
Like a very fine painting, your appreciation of Battlefield 3 depends entirely on your perspective. Judge it on it’s singleplayer campaign and you’re likely to come away unimpressed. Play the shallow co-op mode and you’re also likely to feel a sense of emptiness. Load up the multiplayer portion however and you’re likely to find one of the greatest online experiences of not only 2011, but the last decade.
The franchise has always been renown for it’s multiplayer, and Battlefield 3 is no exception. It is, like it’s predecessors, top of it’s class. Arnold Bennett
7. FIFA 12
Given that Wayne Rooney’s orcish mug has been staring at us from game covers for about eight years now, you’d be forgiven for thinking the FIFA franchise has become a bit tired and repetitive.
You would, of course, be wrong; as FIFA 12 is the greatest leap forward in sports gaming since Jamie Redknapp agreed to endorse the Wii.
The revolutionary Impact Engine, albeit with occasional glitches, has made the game more physical and realistic than ever, plus you can now plough into Lionel Messi with your burly centre half and send the little squirt flying.
FIFA 12 really is a master class that simply can’t be overhyped. The franchise is getting progressively better, and we only have to wait until November when FIFA 13 strolls along and revolutionizes the genre all over again. Tom Fletcher
6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Over ten years after its original release, this game found its way onto the 3DS and instantly became one of its staples.
For such a beloved game, it was always going to be hard for Miyamoto and co. to make a reboot work, without upsetting diehard fans or making too many changes. But they made it look easy. Ocarina of Time 3D had gorgeous graphics, whether you used the 3D or not, and other features such as the gyroscopic vision were also put to good use through tools such as the boomerang or hookshot.
And then there was the music. Obviously an integral part of the game itself, the 3DS release didn’t let us down by having anything changed – you can’t fix what’s already perfect, so why try?
Old fans of the N64 version were happy to revisit an old classic, and younger kids were introduced to a game that hopefully, will become a staple for them too. After all, nothing bridges a generation gap more than complaining about a goddamn fairy that follows you around everywhere and does nothing but shout at you. Coral Williamson
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The dazzling lights of Shanghai. A bloodstained apartment, its occupant missing. Hacking into their email I find that he was an anti-government activist who was running, scared for his life. The conspiracy thinkens. I didn’t have to be in there, the first time I played I never even noticed it, but through curiosity I found a whole new layer of this visceral world. Some games would call it an easter egg – Deus Ex calls it a backstory.
Human Revolution often feels more like a work of science fiction than a video game. Its clever writing and deep characters create a sense of atmosphere and intrigue, but add to that stellar visuals, voice acting worthy of a BAFTA, brilliant music, freedom to choose your outcome, and a plot which brings up real moral issues and you have one of the truly great experiences of the 21st century.
Comparisons to its older brother are mute (that was revolutionary in a very real way) but put DE:HR next to a modern shooter or RPG and you’ll see why it takes 2011. Long live the single player. Ben Williams
4. L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire was fairly unique in 2011 due to it not being a sequel; however it certainly didn’t lack hype after a seven year production effort and revolutionary gameplay features. Yet my roommate wasn disappointed. He complained the game was too slow, lacking excitement and over-compensated with Mad Men cameos, which I feel missed the point entirely. L.A. Noire rewards patience, attention-to-detail and really getting in to what the game’s about; carefully searching for clues, attaining leads via interrogations and embracing the game’s nostalgic nature.
L.A. Noire is essentially a more refined version of the puzzle based adventure games, an old gaming genre that has struggled to make mainstream in-roads in the past decade or so. The game’s distributor believes that L.A. Noire has the makings of “a powerful new franchise.” I hope they are right in thinking that this is just the beginning of something new. Adam Page
3. Batman: Arkham City
Following on from 2009’s insanely brilliant Batman: Arkham Asylum was always going to be a difficult, if not insurmountable, task for developers Rocksteady. But, amazingly, not only did they meet the exceedingly high standards of the original, they completely obliterated them. The epic story, packed to the brim with Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery, was nerve-wracking and unputdownable; the graphics were some of the best of 2011, with Batman’s costume becoming increasingly tattered as the plot progressed; and the gameplay, set in a cordoned off section of Gotham City, made you believe that you were Batman, even if you were playing in your boxers while skiving from lectures. And there can be no higher praise than that. Tom Wardak
2. Portal 2
Building on the unexpected success of the first game, Portal 2 was bigger, better and more challenging. The main story, with Stephen Merchant as A.I. Wheatley adding plenty of comedy and charm, sees you face a whole series of new puzzles using a variety of new techniques. The two-player is great fun too, forcing you and your partner to work together as test robots Atlas and P-Body through a variety of complex test chambers. Doing well ends in happy robot high-fives; try and leave your buddy behind, and they may well just rip your little robot head off. Ellen Jurczak
1. The Elder Schrolls V: Skyrim
What else? The game everyone seemed to be talking about towards the end of last year – regardless of whether they considered themselves a gamer or not – Skyrim was in such a league of its own that it almost seems unfair to compare it to anything else that came out, even with all the bugs. The graphics are astonishing, the world created utterly immersive, and the sheer scale of it is breath-taking. It doesn’t matter how many hours you sink into gameplay, there will always be more books that need reading, side-quests that need completing, wood that needs chopping and dragons that need slaying. Forget 2011, this game may well win 2012 too. Ellen Jurczak