Mario was under some intense pressure this year. Nintendo’s famous mascot was pulling a double shift on rescue duty. Not only did he have to save Princess Peach, but the fate of Nintendo’s latest handheld seemed to weigh on his shoulders as well. By using 3D in interesting and crucial ways to its gameplay, Super Mario 3D Land helped legitimize the “gimmick” of glasses-free 3D. It also demonstrated that there are still some experiences that you just can’t have on a mobile device. Some that you need a dedicated handheld system to have. At least, for now. Because of this, Super Mario 3D Land is our winner for Best Handheld/Mobile Game of 2011. - Gustavo Ramirez

While Portal 2 is worthy enough to receive mention in several of our other categories, this one is perhaps where the competition was toughest (think of 2011 as the, “Year of the AAA sequels”). But when comparing this year’s entries with each of their respective predecessors’, no title stands out as more of an improvement than Portal 2. Graphics-wise the environments look amazing and really convey a sense of time having passed throughout the entire testing area. Considering that both Portal and Portal 2 begin in the exact same location, comparison videos are easy enough to find, and make these improvements all the more obvious. What is harder to see in a side-by-side view are the improvements made to puzzles, characters and co-op, each of which are strong enough individually to make Portal 2 great. The fact that Portal 2 made improvements in ALL of those areas is what wins it our Best Sequel award. – Patrick Cassin

Bulletstorm is a title that definitely had a lot to prove when it was released. It had a poor pre-release demo and it’s over-the-top “dude-bro” humor had already killed a lot of interest. Luckily Epic and People Can Fly did not disappoint by offering a first person shooter far different than any other in recent memory. While many games focus on gritty realism and overpowered enemies, Bulletstorm instead gave you crazy, fun weapons and let you loose in a playground of shooting and killing. Experimenting with various skill shots and being rewarded for your creativity lead to one of the most fun experiences in 2011. Whatever comes next for Bulletstorm is sure to be a must play. – Kyle Orr

The original Portal featured, for all intents and purposes, a single character in GLaDOS and she worked to near perfection. So when we learned that Portal 2 would feature some supporting characters, we were a bit unsure of how it would pan out. However, Wheatley from Portal 2 was easily the breakout character of 2011. It’s not just that Wheatley is funny or that he’s voiced by Stephen Merchant that makes him such a stand out character. What makes him so amazing is to see the journey that Wheatley goes through, all while being a small metal ball. – Addam Kearney