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As the year draws to a close and looking back on the last year of Games, just what is the Game of the Year? Despite the flood of sequels, there have been some good releases this year from both big and small developers alike. You’ll find that pretty much all the games listed below were played on the PC so unfortunately you won’t be finding any Red Deads or God of Wars in here. The reason being is that as rare as it may be these days, I’m a geek who almost exclusively plays his games on the PC. I don’t rack up enough hours on the Xbox or PS3 to make a conformed judgement and well let’s just say that I’ve virtually totally fallen out of favour with my Wii.

But first, here are some of the contenders (in no particular order) for the title which I consider to be some of the best games this year. These are judged on the games that I enjoyed the most and have therefore replayed the most times because of this. There are a few surprising omissions …

Civilization V

The fifth instalment of the Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise is the definite benchmark for turn based strategy games. Ever since it’s lowly days back at Civ I, it’s progressed in leaps and bounds and Civ V still holds that truly addictive gameplay that kept me at the laptop for hours on end. This edition comes with stunning graphics and a soundtrack that holds a Grammy nomination.

Starcraft II

After waiting for over a decade, the sequel to Starcraft finally came out. I must admit I was never really a fan of the original but the re-release manages to keep the complexity and the difficulty of the original whilst making it friendly for new players to join in. Definitely the RTS game of the year.

FIFA 11

Not on everybody’s list especially with 2k11 coming out this year(but then Football rules and Basketball sucks, bring on the hate mail), but FIFA 11 was personally my favourite sports game of the year. After a much needed update on the PC platform, FIFA 11 has finally caught up with it’s console buddies causing me to make that final change from Pro Evolution to FIFA. And to note, I haven’t picked up PES 11 since the first few days of getting it.

Battlefield Bad Company 2

One of the most underrated games of the year I think in Battlefield Bad Company 2. Although many of you with slay me for including this and not Call of Duty Black Ops but I genuinely had a ton of fun with this game and honestly was a slightly bit disappointed with Black Ops as I’ve mentioned before in my review.

Assassin’s Creed II

I am a huge fan of what Ubisoft have here in the Assassin’s Creed Series. They’ve added too many features to go through in this small snippet but suffice to say, it has been a big improvement on the first game. That said Ubisoft have delayed the release of Brotherhood on the PC for six months. Fail Ubisoft. Truly Fail.

Infinity Blade

Although most people would have had Angry Birds as the contender for the best iPhone game this year, in my opinion Infinity Blade stood out for me this year. The graphics are powered by the Unreal Engine and look absolutely stunning on the iPhone. Not only do the graphics look amazing but surprisingly the game play wasn’t sacrificed and the touch screen controls worked very well.

Splinter Cell Conviction

Splinter Cell Conviction was again underrated by a lot of people. It had a solid single player campaign with an improved game play experience but what kept me playing was the added levels you could unlock upon completing Splinter Cell. This game mode alone kept me occupied for hours on end trying to complete every level on higher and higher difficulty settings.

The Urban Shogun’s Game of the Year Goes to …

Mass Effect 2

And the Earth shattering shocker news of the day is that Mass Effect 2 is my personal game of the year. Now yes, it’s probably been echoed a thousand times among other blogs but this is probably the best RPG (if it’s really classed as that anyone) I’ve ever played. It has easily the most captivating storyline in any game, beautiful graphics and a totally new shooting mechanic that blew the previous Mass Effect out of the water and that is no mean feat. Mass Effect 3 will have a lot to live up to but if the Trailer is anything to go by, I’m sure it’ll utterly blow my mind.

So there you have it. Another year in gaming goes by. If you think I’ve made a mistake in my list then let me know in the comments section or contact me on Twitter or Facebook. I’m just waiting for those Black Ops supporters to come out guns blazing, I know you’re out there.