My reject awards for 2011

 

The year came and went, just as it always does, and for those of us in the gaming press, that means the requisite 'best of' lists must make their appearance. Trust me, it's for everyone's own good. However, with a myriad of games lying about that I still haven't played to their fullest, I'm not one for rolling out a conventional list of the best games in each genre. That's something you can find on literally any webpage and I'll leave it to you and Google to solve those differences.

Instead, I've put together groups of games that surprised me in various ways, both good and bad. So if you're coming here to see Skyrim at the top of the list, or perhaps to justify your purchase of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, you'll be disappointed.

My personal top 10 games of 2011

 

The end of the year is always a hard time for a videogame journalist. Not only do we have to recall every experience we've had over the course of the year, but we then need to match each title up against one another, like some kind of digital Mortal Kombat tournament, in order to find that elusive 'game of the year.'

Keep in mind that this list is my personal favorite games of the year, not a list of the 'best' or most popular out there. That means some of the more abstract titles out there might take the place of the greater ones. Let's start things off with a game that was neglected, but is great in its own way.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine review (with video review)

 

Relic Entertainment is known far and wide for its vast and superior knowledge in the realm of stratagem. With titles like Homeworld, Company of Heroes, and Dawn of War in their repertoire, few can argue the strength of their craft. However, when the studio revealed they would be crafting a third-person, combat-centric depiction of the bloodthirsty 40k Space Marine – you might see why Relic fans got a little nervous. Thankfully, Space Marine‘s departure from the standard strategy approach exceeds all expectations with an adrenaline-fueled, combat-savvy core that truly represents the dark and gritty universe of Warhammer 40,000.