I gotta give my personal nod to Bioshock Infinite for its incredible world, combat, story, and of course Elizabeth.

Doom 2016 is an honourable silver medal thanks to its aggressive, fast-paced push-forward approach to combat and badass sense of style. It was a welcome antidote to a genre that was starting to feel very stale.

Battlefield 3 is not only my favorite fps of 2010s, but it's my favorite fps of all time :)

You get no argument from me about originality making fresh novel experiences , but that comes with a great big IF, no matter how original if you don't have a good story and  or game  play ,you'r games originality isn't going to change it into a great game, but when you combined  it with those factors it becomes the cream on top that takes it up and over other similarly  good games.

One of my complaints is people  don't take stock of their expectations , because the story that involved bioshock 1 and it's characters ended with Bioshock 1 Bioshock 2,being more  a continuation of the themes underlying rapture  rather than a  continued story  is criticised for not being new , now why would a game set in the same world, coming off the back of a tale that had spun itself out be expected to offer up the same kind of wonder that the original did with the star of the show Rapture unless your expectations where askew. Even Infinite with its new game template ,something not available to bioshock 2 had a hard time with originality while  trying to get out from under raptures exotic aura,  the deep sea  becomes the sky , plasmids became tonics ,art nouveau replaces art deco.etc, still it told an original story with enough newness to keep it fresh and that last bit applied to bioshock 2.

I agree that Bioshock 2 is a good and underrated game, but even I felt like its setting didn't quite have the same atmosphere of mystery as the first game simply because I'd already spent so much time there. It's like if you just finished a delicious pizza, and for the second course they bring out a second pizza that's also delicious but very much like the first. Fair or not, that second pizza isn't going to be quite as enticing as its predecessor. That doesn't mean it's not a good pizza however.

I can't narrow it one. I have to vote for Doom and Titanfall 2. Both had excellent campaigns, and that goes a long way to separating them from the otherwise crowded field. I think the level in TF2 where you're traveling back and forth in time is possibly the best level in any game, ever. It was truly unique, and just really great. Likewise, Doom, while felt just like Doom should, felt refreshingly different in a FPS field full of sameness. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to play them both.

Like i stated it's expectation ,if we continue with the pizza analogy , you have eaten plenty of pizza's then along comes one filled with unusual seafood topping that tastes awesome like nothing you have eaten before next time  you go out you are told  that the pizza was a once off and the chef has left but they have the recipe for the same pizza but the new chef has added some ingredients of his own  but kept the base and you order it then complain that it tastes  great and the new toppings where good but didn't surprise you like the first , The chef responds we don't mind if your complaint came from a realistic expectation, of what you where getting . so my complaint isn't in defence of Bioshock 2 even though I enjoyed it or people like you who didn't find the same magic spark to be there ,I felt the same. my complaint is toward those who then used that lack of first time wonder to criticise the game without any real explanation  especially when that sense of wonder came from rapture itself  and no story no matter how good was going to change that fact.

The sense of surprise is hard to follow up it why you see a sci fi horror film like  Alien being followed up with a action sequel, the fear of the unknown is replaced with the Adrenalin of the hunted , resi 1 versus resi 2 while not so pronounced followed a similar path .

To use the Alien/Aliens example, I'd say Bioshock 2's problem was not doing enough that was new. It would be like if the sequel to Alien was yet another story about a lone Alien aboard an industrial space ship. No matter how well made it was, it wouldn't feel as fresh as Aliens did with its change of setting, scenario, and style.

That's the point Aliens had to go that route and left the space ship, unfortunately Bioshock 2 was  hamstrung in where they could go since Bioshock is the story of rapture' the ideology that drove it and it's collapse into drug fueled madness, very few games are so tied to a particular setting. most have a central hero who can be moved to where ever you want, any way it was only bought up to show how hard it can be to go back to the same story ,  the real point and I come back to it again is expectation , I feel that if people rather than enjoying another journey through rapture with a great protagonist, simply  expected to be enthralled the same way the second time their expectations were skewed. It was never going to be the second coming of bioshock. 

That's ok' after all we on this site still hope for megaton reveals every E3 even though history tells a different story, my whole point is and it's never been about defending the game or denying a lack of wow but being critical of people using that lack without any real context.

This is making me realise how comparatively few I've played, especially in recent years. Definitely have to give a shout-out to Halo Reach and Halo 4. I know a lot of people really didn't like the latter but, for me at least, it had the right mix mix of old Halo with modern tweaks, such as loadouts saving the need to comb a map for your favourite weapon. Halo 5 butchered this for me.

Also one for Battlefield 3, which was fun and felt different on it's release. Yes, EA have over-done it since but this one hit the sweet spot for me. Unfortunately a lot of those things that made me enjoy it gradually disappeared through the following instalments.

Overall though, Doom is my pick. Despite being a very arcadey shooter, you still have to think about what you're doing otherwise you get slaughtered.

Even if we set aside expectations though, it can't really be denied that due to the familiar setting Bioshock 2 didn't quite have the originality or mystery that 1 and Infinite had. And I say this as someone who thoroughly enjoyed 2 and considers it underrated.