Best of 2011?

In a year that wasn't very good on the film, music, or TV front, I'm glad that gaming stepped up and dropped some truly kick-ass titles. No matter what machine(s) you play on, or what genre you love most, there was something good.

And, since we're obsessed with classification and pretending that we can have an objective 'best' in a subjective art form, I'll throw some titles out there, too, and contribute to the problem.

I will say, though, that one thing I love about reviews and 'best' lists is the discussion that can spring up. Sure, you have the 'my console is the only one I can afford and therefore it is the only true console' fanboys, and you have the anti-PC idiots, and the people that just get inexplicably defensive about a game that loved or hated (and still haven't played.) However, I've had some truly great discussions with other writers and fans, and have found that those discussions have informed my opinions and given me more to think about when playing a game.

To that end, I'm not going to provide a solid, numbered list. I'm going to just go through the year chronologically, and throw out some games that I really enjoyed, and some games ... about which I have some comments.

Before I kick things off, what about you? How do you feel about 'best of' lists in artistic mediums? How do you feel about reviews pretending to be objective? What games did you most enjoy this year, and why?

-Blaine