My 2011 Game of the Year and Me

It's not Portal 2, as entertaining as it is. And I'll admit that I haven't played every one of the games competing for first place. But I've played enough to know what to expect, more or less, from the games I haven't touched.

I haven't yet played SpaceChem, but I imagine that it's a puzzle game in which you impress yourself by what you can solve.

I haven't played Batman Arkham City, but the best critics don't seem to all think it was better than Batman Arkham Asylum, which to me wouldn't compete with Portal 2 if it had come out this year.

I haven't played Dues Ex: Human Revolution, but I heard that it has rotten boss battles and some poor character work.

I haven't played Saints Row the Third, but apparently it features lots of poorly designed levels and that its personality is its strong point.

I haven't played Cart Life.

And I haven't played Total War: Shogun 2, but I already know it's great weaknesses just from playing its parent games and imagining a perfect version of them. Those weaknesses: that Shogun 2 cannot be as fun as some of the other games on this list, and also that it uses addictive RPG mechanics and the ole just-one-more-turn button to keep its players interested - not to say that that's not worth experiencing, but it's a cliche I feel we've seen too much of.

Yah. My Game of the Year is Bastion. I'm not saying Portal 2's singleplayer isn't great, 'cause it is, and every gamer owes both games to themself. But Bastion does a few things better than Portal 2 and every other game that came out last year. Bastion gives you a couple emotion-provoking and intellectually-stimulating decisions to make (and boy is the last one a strong one). It has imperfect but funner gameplay than Portal 2. And it is simultaneously innovative and awesome, which I think is the reason why we celebrated the original Portal so much.

Perhaps I am too in love with indie games; I want to remind you that Portal was one.