5.  Trine

You can play this fantasy action game on PC, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.  Three heroes, a thief, a knight and a mage, set on a quest to reveal the mystery of an ancient treasure. If you like platformers, Trine is one of the best games of the genre.

Best features of the game for me are the graphics, the story and its presentation as a whole. The controls are a bit unpleasant, at least for PC. I’ve tried out a demo for the Xbox 360 and I liked the controls for the console better.

Hit the jump to see places 4 to 1

4. Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition

In a futuristic world you are the only one who believes into a global conspiracy and tries to stop the people responsible. The game’s publisher is Eidos Interactive, which has a big A in my book for making Batman: Arkham Asylum happen.

Although Deus Ex GoYE is a revamp, it still looks kind of old. The graphics are the worst feature of the game, but the gameplay is great and the game is interesting.

I have to admit I’m waiting on the new title in the Deus Ex franchise, Human Revolution, which is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2011 and will be a first-person shooter for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, developed by Eidos and published by Square Enix.

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3. Max Payne

Remedy‘s brilliant shooter is a classic in the genre for me. I enjoy playing it from time to time, it never gets old :) New York detective Max Payne loses his wife and baby one night after two addicts, high on a new drug called Valkyr, break into the house and kill them. Determined to find the responsible for the deaths of his family, Max goes under cover and infiltrates a crime organization which deals Valkyr. Three years of under cover work bring Max closer to the killers but he needs a few more pointers in the right direction. He hopes to get some information from his partner Alex, who is the only one who knows Max‘s real identity. Alex though is killed before he can talk to Max, so the latter is left to deal with the gangsters alone. During his investigation Max meets Russian mafia kingpin Vladimir Lem and the beautiful but ruthless Mona Sax. Vlad and Mona help Max discover the truth about the killer of his family.

Gameplay and story are great, but the graphics are a bit outdated.

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2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl

Another great first-person shooter which goes to the top of my games’ list. In this PC game, published by THQ, you play as a so-called Stalker — a person who investigates the area around the Ukrainian nuclear power complex, Chernobyl, where there has been another accident.

Gameplay is OK and weapons are great :) The environment seems authentic and the bots are really speaking Russian. However, the things they say are a little annoying and do not make much sense. I guess it is easier to block them if you don’t know the language. Honestly, the constantly repeating gibberish in Russian is the most unpleasant thing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R for me, but I like the game anyhow.

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1. Portal

Cannot get enough of that game. Graphics, gameplay and story are great and the puzzles are very interesting. I did my research and was surprised to learn that Portal is available only for PC and Mac. My surprise came from the fact that besides Portal on Steam we have it for PS 3 on the Orange Box disc. Turns out there are no separate copies of the game for consoles and it is only available in the Orange Box collection. Another surprise was that the game is labelled as a shooter, while for me it looks more like a platformer or a puzzle game. Well, I like it anyway and definitely will buy the sequel.