Lots of good games in 2011, and this portion of the list has some of the best. Picking up where I left off on Monday, Bastion is a game I took no notice of during its previews during Pax East 2011 when I was there, despite my friends’ enthusiasm over the game. After all, it was an XBLA game, and I had no XBox. By the time the Steam version was announced, the game had already gotten a lot of praise and I picked it up. How awesome was it to have such an excellent story in what appeared like such a retro-style game! The music was stellar, and the gameplay had a lot of nuance. B+.

Batman: Arkham City is very possibly my own personal game of the year. Skyrim is very good, Portal 2 was awesome, and I’m really looking forward to Skyward Sword, but Arkham City had excellent gameplay along with a good story that had an ever better ending. A.

I’d been looking forward to Beyond Good and Evil HD since having first heard of the game. If you haven’t yet realized it, Beyond Good and Evil is just about my most favoritest game evar. It should go without saying that I was a fan of the HD remake. Sadly though, the controls on this version were seriously subpar. B+.