Alright, here's my list and reasons why you should play these great games.
1: Enslaved Odyssey to the West - Great characters, beautifully rendered world, fun adventure. It's kind of short so if you thought it wasn't worth $60 you should be able to get if for less than $20 and believe me it's well worth that. If you like the platforming of Uncharted and characterization of Heavenly Sword give Enslaved a try.
2: Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom - Classic adventure action RPG gameplay. It's like the best of Zelda and Ico with a dash of Shadow of Colossus. If your tired of waiting for The Last Guardian play Majin, it's heartwarming and emotional and tons of fun.
3: Halo Wars - Probably the best console RTS ever made. It should have won an award for the circle menu system alone. The campaign is perfectly balanced and it's both accessible and challenging. Each mission has unique objectives and locations. You never feel like your just doing the same thing like in many build, buy, attack RTS games.
4: Splinter Cell Conviction - I never liked Splinter Cell, I was always more of a Metal Gear Solid type. But Conviction throws away everything I found boring about Splinter Cell and replaces it with the action packed espionage I love about MGS. Do yourself a favor and play it while you wait for the MGS HD collection.
5: Tomb Raider Anniversary - Better than most platform and adventure games. I had more fun reliving fond memories of playing Tomb Raider in the 90's than I probably did when I made those memories with the original. Way better than just an HD re-release, it's a full remake. I have the new reboot of Tomb Raider pre-ordered so I'll probably replay Anniversary and Legends in anticipation. NOTE: Tomb Raider and the Guardian of Light is more than worth your time too. It's like a twin stick shooter mixed with Zelda. At least play the demo.
6: House of the Dead Overkill - I love light gun games and House of the Dead is the king of brightly colored plastic gun arcade games. The first was accidentally cheesy, the second and third were cheesy on purpose, and Overkill is cheesy perfection with extra cheese. If you have a Wii pick it up cheap and treat yourself for Halloween. It just came out for PS3 with Move support, but it's pretty short so you might want to wait for the price to drop.
7: Ridge Racer 6 & 7 - I've been a fan of Ridge Racer since the first game and I love the series signature power sliding action driving. They are basically the same games so weather you have an Xbox or a PS3 you can get some classic Ridge Racer love. Both are cheap so you can probably pick them up for less than $10 brand new or even less used.
8: Nights: Journey of Dreams - This game gets a lot of heat, but it's mostly nostolgia blinded fans of the original who think the original untouchable. On its own it's a fun game with smooth gameplay that you can play with kids or feel like a kid again sort of like when you play a Kirby game.
9: Alan Wake - Few games have well written stories and Alan Wake probably has a story better written than more than a few best selling books. The gameplay is standard shooting fair, but it's perfectly executed and very satisfying. It's the kind of game that someone can enjoy watching just as much as the person playing. Pop this in this Halloween weekend with a friend and trade the controller back and forth between episodes. I think you'll enjoying more than your average Halloween movie screamathon. You'll want to get the DLC, but with how cheap the game is you should have money left over for the two final episodes.
10: Sonic Colors - Everyone keeps saying that maybe Sonic Generations will be the first good 3D Sonic game. Well it won't be... because Sonic Colors came first and it's both 3D and good. It's a mix of 2D and 3D gameplay and it's damn fun.
There you have it. 10 games you may have skipped or forgotten about. This is just the top 10, but I'm sure if I went through all the games I've played this generation I'd find twice as many that didn't get the respect or sales they deserved.
At the very least please pick up my top three. Enslaved, Majin, and Halo Wars are well worth your time and money. You can probably get all three for less than $60.
BTW: Metroid Other M deserves a mention. I understand that some people don't like the new emotional Samus, but it didn't bother me and the gameplay is killer. I liked the story and I loved the return of some of the classic elements that made past Metroid games so fun. Don't listen to the haters who hate.
