Short version:
1) Gears of War 2
2) Left 4 Dead
3) Tales of Vesperia
4) Ninja Gaiden 2
5) Ikaruga
6) Castle Crashers
7) World Ends With You
8) Valkyria Chronicles
9) Apollo Justice
10) Mirror's Edge
Long version:
I suppose this is a tentative list since I haven't finished some of these games. I'm not sure I've thought the order well enough, either, but I suppose that'll suffice. I don't think the games at the bottom at the list deserve to be at the bottom, but I also have a hard time bumping other games down the list. Tough choices this year. I've had to exclude some pretty good games as well.
1) Gears of War 2 - Fantastic co-op play. Gears1 was previously my favorite 360 game, but this completely overshadows it. Horde is my favorite mode by a long shot. 5 players against increasingly difficulty waves of enemies. Coordinating flanking maneuvers or ammo runs, setting up defensive perimeters with shields and grenades, being completely overwhelmed from every position, pulling off desperate retreats, and just having so much freaking fun. Gears2 would still be my GOTY if all it had was Horde mode. I was mildly disappointed in the campaign (too easy at the difficulties available out of the box), and PvP was completely irrelevant for me.
2) Left 4 Dead - This is really the year of co-op gaming. Awesome teamplay. Covering each other's backs, sharing health items around, crouching maneuvers, and just shooting zombies in the face. Great fun. The 4 campaigns were very well done (tried Versus a little bit, didn't do much for me). I had trouble deciding between this and Gears2, but the latter gets the edge, barely.
3) Tales of Vesperia - Fun JRPG battle system with local co-op. Playing this co-op with my brother and sister has been very rewarding. I'm even enjoying the story and party interaction so far. The skits - cliched as they are, but maybe that's the point - have been pretty entertaining; I like party banter. A good challenge too on hard difficulty (had to tone it down to normal for a few bosses - it's not necessarily balanced very well). Music is a tad disappointing, though.
4) Ninja Gaiden 2 - Fantastic combat system. Very hectic, very visceral, and very challenging. Some people would argue that NG1 is a better game, but I find NG2 to have more satisfying and refined combat, and to have fixed a lot of the frustrating design elements from the first game (archery being more accessibly, platforming and water levels being made a lot more minimal this time around). The combat is just so fun. It's like ballet with limbs flying around.
5) Ikaruga - Yes, the XBLA has an HD visual upgrade. More importantly, however, is the crucial addition of online co-op. Awesome shmup that I will never finish with finite continues (never played the arcade/dreamcast/gamecube versions). I absolutely love the reverse polarity system; in terms of pure game design, it's really at the top of the heap. This is my desert island game.
6) Castle Crashers - A 4p co-op beat-em-up is easily a formula for awesome fun, and Castle Crashers delivers. A good fun entertaining experience, if the game actually works. I've had the chance to play through the whole game co-op with 3 other players, so it rates pretty highly for me. It's really too bad for those who weren't able to experience this gem. It'll probably get robbed because of that. Really unfortunate the technical aspects ruin the actual game.
7) World Ends With You - One of the best JRPGs in the last few years. If there are any problems with the JRPG genre as a whole, this game doesn't have it (Nomura aside :0). Excellent pacing (no random encounters, you basically choose when you want to fight except for story battles), excellent balance (change the difficulty level or you character level at any time, getting different rewards based on your settings) - both of which are completely player-directed. Unique compelling gameplay that makes excellent use of the touchscreen, while the topscreen (completely optional, mind you) also acts as a good balancing act for the player to try to divert his/her attention between both screens at once. Can get pretty hectic. Gameplay never felt boring. If there was one JRPG I'd want other games to learn game design from, this is it.
8) Valkyria Chronicles - A unique SRPG with somewhat of a JRPG presentation (though without the pacing problems that JRPGs often have). Very compelling gameplay, with each scenario providing quite different situations from one another. I think my enjoyment of the game will be even greater as I tackle the harder skirmishes, or as I strive to gain higher rankings (and thus would have to be more efficient with how I use my turns). Admittedly, I'm only about halfway through the game. It's my SRPG of the year, in any case.
9) Apollo Justice - I love the Ace Attorney series, and this fits right in with the others. Some people say that this one isn't as good, or that they miss the old cast. I find it just as good so far. The writing has been quite excellent as well, with many genuinely funny moments. I only finished 2 out of 4 cases, so maybe my final impressions will differ!
10) Mirror's Edge - Innovative gameplay at its best; I already feel bad for putting it at the 10th spot, but that has to do with me not playing enough of the game to raise it above the others so far. I mean, the main story mode is a good introduction to the game mechanics, but time trials and speed runs is really where they get fleshed out, and you really get into the real meat of the game. Striving to shave off a few seconds here and there, or finding shortcuts that can save you a full 10 seconds sometimes, or figuring out a combination of acrobatics you hadn't thought possible at first, fighting to beat other players' times, or your own, or even just vying for getting that 3 stars (which is pretty hard to begin with); all so very awesome. I just haven't played enough time trials so far (3-starred one so far, still trying to 3-star a second!). This game will last me a very long time.
Honorable mentions in no order:
- Lock's Quest - One of the best DS games this year. Action game meets Tower Defense in a very fun game experience. Decent challenge, too. Completely overlooked by GAF, which is a big shame. More players need to try this one out.
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - I love the DS Metroidvanias, and this one oozes of quality. Boss battles (the highlight of the series for me) were really fun as well, and the challenge was really good. This is a known quality for me, but there were just too many good games this year.
- Disgaea 3 - My first Disgaea. I'm only going through the story mode, avoiding all grinding and pumping up the enemy difficulty any time I can. Nice challenge so far, and I'm loving the core gameplay. The various gameplay mechanics are really good, and really help to refine the gameplay. Combined attacks, combos, towers and throwing, geocubes; it's all good fun. I find the actual level design to be a little bit lacking, though. I mean, there's good variety to them, but most missions do consist mostly of going to the enemies and beating the crap out of them before they do the same to you.
- Geometry Wars 2 - A vast improvement over the first game. 6 gameplay modes that are a complete joy to play. The 4p local co-op is also a blast, and things get crazy in a very short period of time. The achievements (for once) are also really fun to obtain. This would have probably made the top-10 list if it had online co-op.
- LittleBigPlanet - I'm doing this game a huge disservice simply by not having playing it enough. I've just played a few levels in the story mode, and all I've done in the toolset has been in the beta (just messing around, really). The main problem, I guess, is that my main co-op buddy doesn't have a PS3 yet. Game is incredibly fun when it actualy gets played, though. I've been playing a little local co-op so far, but priority has been given to Vesperia for that.
- Metal Slug 3 - XBLA version is suboptimal, as many will say. However, it does have one crucial element: online co-op, and this is the only version to allow that in any sort of legit fashion. The lag prevents trying to 1cc the game, but the actual quality of the game itself remains, and it's extremely fun and replayable.
- Aces of the Galaxy - Great little on-rails shooter with 2p co-op. After Castle Crashers, 2nd best new original XBLA title. Completely overlooked on GAF as well. A shame.
- Final Fantasy IV - A classic for which the DS version really does justice. From a presentation or gameplay perspective, this is really topnotch stuff. Loved it.