Just Cause 2 ~ Easily the best sandbox game of the generation. Its like Crackdown on steroids. The world is massive, highly varied (each major section plays and looks entirely different, despite being similar terrain). There are tons of vehicles to play around with. The grappling tether is probably the greatest item of the generation, one of the best in the history of gaming. The story is crap and the dialogue is crap, but who plays a sandbox game for the story and dialogue? In any sense, it adds a campy feel to the game, so its not all that bad. Then there are the graphics... aside from Crysis, its probably the best looking game (technically) to be released this generation, considering that wherever within 25 km you look, anything you see you can interact with.
Mirror's Edge ~ A revolution for movement in first person, one that was highly overlooked because it wasn't a good "shooter" like people were expecting. But in the end, those of us who enjoyed it got an absolutely fantastic first-person platformer/parkour simulator that was not only a fantastic game, but looked fantastic as well, both technically and artistically.
Dead Rising ~ My first real step into "next-gen" and probably the best one I've had so far. There is absolutely no way this game would have been possible on a previous generation of consoles, nor would it have been as good. The freedom to do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted was absolutely outstanding, and then the mission structure that turned the game into a zombie survival simulator (in the sense you had to budget time and items) was just icing on the cake. It was a fantastic game that was incredibly overlooked.
Prince of Persia [2008] ~ Probably the most artistic game of the generation. It is a living painting that is so deeply infused with Zoroastrian mythology that it takes a high working knowledge of the tradition in order to fully understand everything about the game. The combat might have been easy and repetitive, but the worlds were beautiful and the platforming was exhilarating. It just goes to show how much a story can add to a platformer.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ~ An action-adventure game that wants to be a RPG. Severely broken out of the box, and the instigator of the infamous DLC... but I still can't help the fact I put at least 400+ hours into the game (on multiple platforms) and enjoyed it quite substantially. It was just something about the world, being able to explore at my own leisure and having interesting lore that deepened the enjoyment.
Forza Motorsport 3 ~ Easily the best all-around racing game of the generation, if not all time (I'm not into hardcore PC sims). The amount of customization, the variety in cars and tracks and the overall structure of the game takes heaps of craps all over Forza 2 and doesn't let up. There was such a marked improvement over its predecessor, I can not think of what it would be like to go back to play Forza 2 again.
Mass Effect ~ An absolutely outstanding role-playing game that introduced an entire new world that was not only immersive but quite intriguing. The gameplay needs some work (it wasn't fixed properly in ME2, just changed) and there were some streamlining desperately needed for things like inventory... but the overall game was outstanding, a true "next-gen" experience.
If I had to make a top-3 list of games this gen, I'd probably list them as follows:
1. Prince of Persia [2008]
2. Mass Effect
3. Dead Rising
With Just Cause 2 quickly making its way near the list, ready to strike one of the three down.
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