COMPLETED
Battlefield 3 – For me, the Battlefield franchise has been a pleasant surprise. With its destructible cover and realistic recoil, it’s a slightly more satisfying combat experience than Call of Duty for my money.
Bayonetta – A game of stunning and stylish visuals. But ultimately it wasn’t enough to keep me engrossed with the onslaught of quality games coming out in rapid fire succession. This is only the second game I ever quit, this one out of distraction and boredom. The other, Halo ODST, I quit out of frustration. But I have since given it another shot.
Bulletstorm – From Epic Studios, this FPS is like Gears of War with more humor, tilting more toward the Duke Nukem type. Lots of fun with its scoring system for different kill techniques/combos. The visuals/art direction is very similar to that of GoW.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 – As all CoD titles are, a satisfying, nicely paced FPS. (Still haven’t played the Spec Ops yet, which I skipped altogether in CoD MW2.)
Crysis 2 – Another great game from the Crytek people. Though I must admit I found the first installment more visually appealing. Crytek just released the trailer for the third installment and it looks mighty promising.
Dead Space 2 – What do you get when you combine the gore and isolation of “The Thing” (1982 John Carpenter version) and “Aliens” and make a game out of it? Dead Space. As a huge fan of horror flicks since childhood, this was a game I HAD to play. I decided to play Visceral Games’ 2nd installment on Casual as I don’t like to be on edge for TOO long. I played the first one on Normal and it was like watching “The Exorcist” for 30 hours.  (I hear there’s a third in the works, set in a winter, Lost Planet-esque setting.)
Dear Esther – This is more of an interactive story than a game, but thoroughly engrossing. The feeling of isolation on a fictional island off the Western coast of Scotland is palpable.
Gears of War 3/Raam’s Shadow – What can I say…Gears of War is what prompted me to buy an Xbox in the first place. Still my favorite FPS of all time.
Halo Anniversary Edition – I had to try this out to see what started this whole Halo worship phenomenon. Well, luckily or unluckily, I played the strongest installment first (Halo 3). So this one, while engrossing enough to want to finish it, pales in comparison. ( I am usually overcome with remorse when I don’t finish a game.) And as other reviewers have pointed out, it gets a bit repetitive.
Hard Reset – While this FPS set in the distant future breaks no new ground in terms of gameplay, this may well be one of the best looking games I have ever played. Contrast this future dystopia with that of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and you have something much more akin to that of Blade Runner. I never would have thought killing robots would be so much fun.
Star Wars The Old Republic – A very brief flirtation here (technically shouldn’t be in the completed section). I should have known after short my test drives of Lord of the Rings Online (of which I am a huge fan-the story/movies, that is) and APB/APB Reloaded that MMORPGs are not my thing. Besides the MMORPG-level graphics which I can’t seem to stomach, the non-linear story isn’t for me. Grand Theft Auto is as close to open world as I like to get (though still curious about Red Dead Redemption). And as far as pure RPGs go, I think Mass Effect strikes a perfect balance between RPG, FPS, and non-linear stories. (Alas, I guess I was expecting SWTOR to be Mass Effect in a Star Wars skin.)

IN PROGRESS
Alan Wake American Nightmare
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
FIFA 12
Journey (PS3)
Limbo
Mass Effect 3
NHL 12
Rage HD

IN THE QUEUE
Arkham City
Enslaved
Vanquish