It's hard to look back on any year of gaming and try to pull out the best and worst games, but that's not going to stop us from trying. Any list of this kind is by definition subjective, but these are the gaming experiences that stuck with the editors of Ars Technica, Wired magazine, and wired.com. They are the ones we think define 2011: the games that stumbled and the ones that soared.

Let us know what you think, what we missed, and what choices make you shake your head in anger. Sure, there were games that let us down, but we'd argue that the important part of the list are the best games. If you haven't ripped into these games yet, it's a good time to start.

Let's start with the negative, and take a look at the most disappointing games of 2011.

9. Dead Island

This game represents a stupendous achievement for Axis Animation. Unfortunately, Axis Animation is the team that made the riveting CG trailer that convinced over a million people to shell out for a buggy, mediocre open-world zombie game made by Techland. Its previous series Call of Juarez was a poor man's Red Dead Redemption, just like Dead Island is a poor man's Dead Rising. The most unforgivable element was the inconsistent combat: I'd swing an axe and bury it in an enemy's chest, and it wouldn't register. Then I'd swing again and miss them by several feet, and its arm would fly off. —Chris Baker

8. Hard Reset

This PC shooter benefited from an innovative PR campaign that showed the game's first image mere weeks before the public was able to play a demo. Based on that, we expected a fun, classical first-person shooter with impressive graphics. It was a fun game with an innovative weapons system, but just as the story and action seemed to be picking up, it all came to a crashing end. More content is coming, and the game remains in active development, so we can only hope something can be salvaged from this interesting failure. —Ben Kuchera

7. Jurassic Park

You might go into Jurassic Park: The Game thinking it's a basic adventure game, something more like the rest of developer Telltale's line-up. You'd be wrong. It's much less. The quintessential example of an interactive movie, Jurassic Park is a mini-series set during and after the events of the first film, but with a few button presses thrown in every now and then to make it feel as if you're doing something. The story is mildly interesting and feels like a step up from the unnecessary third film, but there's simply too little gameplay. —Andrew Webster

6. The Nintendo 3DS launch lineup

Consoles typically launch with one or two great games, a handful of decent B titles and a whole bunch of rushed garbage. Nintendo had the latter two categories sewn up when it launched the Nintendo 3DS in March, but not so much that first one. No Mario, no Zelda, no nothing except for Nintendogs, Steel Diver, and Pilotwings Resort. Throw in the fact that the digital games shop wouldn't be ready for months, and the 3DS launched with a pitiful whimper. Things are better now, at least. —Chris Kohler

5. Assassin's Creed Revelations

The Assassin's Creed series needs a swift kick in the ass. This year's entry might be loaded up with new features like the ill-received "Den Defense" mode and other such frivolity, but the actual explore-and-assassinate gameplay—you know, the stuff that was so good in the first place?—is thinner here than in the previous two entries. It's time to trim the fat, get back to the fundamentals and create something that's as much of a leap as Assassin's Creed II was over the first game. —Chris Kohler

4. Two Worlds II

After the buggy, disappointing mess that was Two Worlds, things could have only gone uphill for the sequel, right? Not exactly. Two Worlds II was certainly better than its predecessor, but it still felt like a game at odds with its players. With a clunky interface, a predictable storyline and some truly atrocious aesthetics, Two Worlds II often seemed like it was just daring you to stop playing. —Jason Schreier

3. Rage

There was always hope for Rage. While history has not been kind to Doom 3, we were all hoping that this time, it could pull together something that could reinvent the shooter. What we got was a half-baked game with a nonexistent story and annoying game mechanics that lacked meaning or consequence. The new engine introduced a number of issues to PC gamers, and it required a large installation on the consoles. Rage might have looked good, but it showed none of the grace and flair befitting of a a big-budget release from a boutique studio. —Ben Kuchera

2. Dragon Age II

In 2009, BioWare released the fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins to critical fanfare, garnering praise for the game's breadth, scope and lore. Fifteen months later came the slapdash Dragon Age II, which gutted many of its predecessor's good qualities. Instead of adventuring through forests and swamps, players spent the whole game fighting through a single city, a city so generic that its districts had names like "Darktown" and "Hightown." For many fans of Dragon Age (or of BioWare's classic fantasy RPG series Baldur's Gate) the sequel was an epic letdown. —Jason Schreier

1. Duke Nukem Forever

Hail to the king, baby! Duke may not be winning any more Vaporware Awards any time soon, but he is the winner of this other dubious accolade. Playing its first few levels, you might think that Duke Nukem Forever would be a funny, risk-taking shooter that made up for its old graphics and thin gameplay with good-natured poop humor. What it actually turned out to be was a technical mess full of never-ending loading screens, bland levels and broken gameplay. We'd love to see a great Duke game someday, but this one wasn't worth the wait. —Chris Kohler