A good thing about coming late to the game with reviews is that you know what things are like to live with. Lately, and understandably, Skyrim has been sweeping up many Game of the Year awards, and for many good reasons. But now, having taken over 100 hours to "finish" it, I'm no longer sure that I agree. Especially as, all the while, Battlefield 3 has been going from strength to strength.

This article deals with what are widely regarded as the best two games of the year and which order they should be in. They're both excellent, but then so are the very many of the also-rans. As a result I may sound overly picky in places. But that's what it's come down to when separating them.

Fus Ro Dah

I've ploughed more than 120hrs into Skyrim and loved every minute. It's a 100+ hour interactive version of Lord of the Rings and is a game that pretty much everyone should play. BUT, now I've reached the end, and without spoiling too much - where is the ending?

There are two main storylines - the Civil War and one concerning the ultimate Dragon. Both end with a resounding... meh. In Oblivion, you got crowned king and experience a coronation. You could also become head of various guilds and when you did, you knew it. When you finish the Nightingales quest (one of the larger, secondary-level challenges), even your character complains about the "indifference" on show.

Much has been made of Skyrim's increase in scale on Oblivion but I sank more time into completing Oblivion than I did with this. I can still mop up some minor quests but they really are minor now and my level 59 character can take down a dragon in under ten seconds [nerdiest thing I've ever written right there] so there's little challenge to be had.

As such, after 120hrs of loving the game I've hit a total wall and it's pretty much dead to me. There's nothing else to do, and despite my character being the coolest thing in the virtual land for hundreds of years, every Non Player Character is completely indifferent. They let you know that you'd achieved something in Oblivion.

When Oblivion came out it changed everything. People had to build new computers just to play it. It pushed forward graphics to an enormous degree. It redefined what we thought looked good in a video game and how grand in scale a game could be.

It's fair to say that, up to now, the huge expectations levelled at Skyrim have been lived up to. Yes, it was a bit consoley, but the graphical improvement on the PC version was just enough to edge it ahead. I've actually got a collection of screenshots from the game to remind me of certain areas, landscapes and achievements. I did the same in MW3. [note: Does anyone else do that? Is this a new thing? I've never bothered before.]

But the fact remains that now people are actually finishing Skyrim the consistent tone is one of being suddenly underwhelmed. It's impossible to fully play through such a massive game when you're on a review cycle, so not predicting these final thoughts is completely understandable. But I wonder what all of this year's reviewers will think in six month's time? Will they think the same?

Ultimately, Skyrim is a stunning game and everyone should play it. But if it only had some kind of pay-off for all the hours invested in it, it would have been perfect - Red Dead Redemption perfect. That it doesn't have any online element whatsoever - even if it was a town square to trade stuff in - should also be considered. There's no reason to keep playing Skyrim for me now. Future DLC? Maybe. But Oblivion's DLC was very grindey and that makes me wary.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield had me swearing when it launched. Its Origin host program wasn't just labelled a Beta application but it acted like one too - hard to forgive on such an important launch. We still get raging comments about PC installation issues.

But it's now been heavily patched and the new, massive Karkand maps have appeared. Whereas it took many months for BF:BC2 to be even playable, Dice seems to have fixed most of the issues already. Not just that, but it seems to have improved many things dramatically. See Bajo's blog on the matter.

The single player mode may as well have been a technical demo. I couldn't finish it thanks to glitches and driver-related crashes (and before Skyrim - which suffered early crashes too - appeared and took over my life) but I played enough to gasp in wonder at it. But BF3 is as much about online as Skyrim is about single player and that's where judging must be weighted.

More importantly, for the first time since Crysis launched, I've had to upgrade my PC to play this game at top settings. The 'realistic glow' afforded by Ultra quality settings just shouldn't be missed. In the four years since Crysis, almost all games have been, well, consoley. The PC and games market has NEEDED a game like Battlefield 3 to push the boundaries and get people spending on upgrades again.

The knock on effects of this will be huge (as history has shown when titles like Doom, Far Cry and Call of Duty 2 appeared). When a market has more powerful computers, this produces new high-quality games. It also produces new high-quality consoles and I can't be the only one noticing how the "new console coming" whispers are really starting to ramp up lately. For the first time in years, the current crop of consoles is starting to feel a little old. Battlefield should take some credit for this. It's got the industry talking about graphics quality and upgrades again. Up to now, the improvements offered by the likes of DirectX 11 have been all but invisible. We used to go nuts when a new DirectX came out.

Amazingly, it's also got people looking for joysticks again. The implementation of jets and helicopters is so good that people realise the need to switch peripheral mid-game when playing. This has got many people looking at peripherals as a whole. Mechanical keyboards are getting popular and joysticks are being researched. I just learned that Logitech's last model recently went End Of Life. I can see people checking eBay off the back of this.

Not only that but sound is being discussed. Battlefield 3 has arguably the best sound of any game ever. Whether it's bullets flying past or jets screaming overhead it's all hugely atmospheric. More than that though, it's got me (and many others) finally realising the importance of surround sound in these types of games. I've been using Coolermaster's Storm surround sound headphones for the past few months and am loving every second of them. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about human-sized spiderweb-like speaker wires criss-crossing my room to enjoy proper sound. It also means other housemates don't have to enjoy it either. There's a huge difference when hearing people shooting from behind you rather than from stereo speakers in front of you (I found this even more pronounced in the faster-paced MW3). We'll be looking at more peripherals next year.

Of course, upgrading your graphics card also shows up other bottlenecks in a system. A few weeks ago I installed my first SSD. I'll be writing that up soon. But it's the first time in ages I've even thought about components and they used to be what I did for a living.

Online culture

Skyrim went berserk with online memes. So many people played it that it was understandable that phrases like "Fus Roh Dah" entered common language. It was slightly-more surprising that "Arrow in the knee" spawned waves of memes, but you never can tell. However, both are getting rather old now. At the same time, Battlefield 3 videos are going ballistic.

Sure, they're not as mainstream (in as far as memes can be mainstream) as Skyrim's. But there are heaps of them and they will continue to grow. How much growing has Skyrim got left?

Online

And that's the thing. Skyrim is easily the best single-player game of the year and is 120hrs of awesomeness, but Battlefield will almost certainly be played for longer by many people because it will continue to evolve online. I haven't looked at what BF:BC2 is like lately, but it was thriving right up until BF3 appeared. That's great longevity for a AAA-list shooter.

Other contenders

While this article primarily deals with the top two there are some very honourable mentions to add.

Terraria - If you'd have told me I'd spend almost 100 hours playing what looks like the sequel of Ghosts n Goblins I'd have laughed in your face. But I did. And loved it.

Minecraft - Does this count? It's finally launched but been around for ages. More of a toy than a game but utterly stunning and worth a mention.

Forza 4 - Whizzing round the Nurburgring in a Veyron, using three XBoxes connected together, with a racing seat, force feedback wheel and three HD screens had me actually working out how much it would cost to install such a setup in my home (c. $5K). Best racer around.

MW3 - Stunning set pieces in the single player but I won't forgive the lack of proper dedicated servers in multiplayer. I'm team Battlefield from now on.

Uncharted 3 - The Playstation fans will kill me for not mentioning this.

Gears of War 3 - Mr 9 LOVES this game and it's replaced Modern Warfare as my favourite five minute quick-break thrasher.

Portal 2 - Great but... I feel alone in saying that it wasn't as good as the original. Great scripting, extra puzzle elements and co-op play couldn't match the out-of-nowhere originality and impact of the literally perfect package that is its predecessor.

Batman: Arkham City - I'm looking forward to getting back into this. It deserves its across-the-board top scores because it's basically flawless. But is it as exciting as other contenders?

Game of the Year

Originally, I was going write a full game of the year article. Then Good Game basically said everything I wanted to say. I completely agreed that the final, nail in BF3's coffin was when we all turned up for a night of BF3, only to last half an hour before everyone left to play Skyrim. But now we're all going back to BF3. And I know we'll be staying there.

Will I be remembering Skyrim in the same way I remembered Oblivion all those years ago? Honestly, I really don't think so. With a better ending and a subsequent greater sense of achievement, then experience tells me yes (there's still nothing that can match finishing Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation for me). I loved (and was obsessed with) Borderlands for a time. But the lack of jaw-dropping ending stopped it sealing the deal and I don't remember it like I do FF7. I fear hitting-the-wall at the end of Skyrim will leave me feeling similar down the line.

I said in previous articles that if MW3 had been MW2 (312hrs played) with dedicated servers then that would have been my Game of the Year. But it wasn't. With all the money made from the franchise, it feels like a rip off.

As such, I'm all set to plunge back into Battlefield 3 with my upgraded PC and new peripherals and am looking forward to faster computing and better, more-immersive gaming in general - next year and beyond. And it's all thanks to Battlefield. As such, I'm flipping the decision I've held on hold for the past several weeks and am giving Game of the Year to Battlefield 3 over Skyrim. It's better than its highly-regarded predecessor in every single way. Its technical achievements will shake up the entire industry. Ultimately, its legacy will be greater.