Alpha Protocol surprised the hell out of me. Odds are you passed it up in 2010 like I did, but consider it again if you're looking for some James Bond meets Burn Notice, globe trotting spy intrigue, with a genuinely grey and twisting plot, and some fantastic dialogue and character interaction that's guaranteed to suck you in.

The catch is that you have to put up with some mediocre to poor design and general mechanical jankitude (hint: go stealth to avoid shitty combat).

Bit.Trip Runner is an absolute joy when everything comes together, where you're prefectly traversing all of the obstacles, the music and gameplay become one in the same, and everything is playing in full force with your trippy rainbow cape trailing behind you.

Bit.Trip Runner is a bummer when you make ONE mistake, the flow stops dead, and Commander Video has to go all the way back to the beginning. It can be a difficult game because of this, but also rewarding when everything clicks.

It may not look like much but VVVVVV is a great game. You've got a main character that can only move side to side and flip up and down inside a super condensed Metroid-like level design with deliberate throwback Commodore 64 graphics and the chiptune chops to tie it all together.

A no brainer if you liked Super Meat Boy, though this is difficult without being insurmountable and controls a little more loosely, but it's perfectly Portal sized at around 3 hours long.

Help Captain Viridian rescue the scattered monochromatic V-people-crew of the stricken D.S.S Souleye and escape the pocket dimension back to normal space.