The 10 worst games of 2011 (screenshots)

Movie games never have it easy, but it's probably because the vast majority of them are terrible. The same goes for the game adaptation of the third Transformers movie. Dark of the Moon failed to impress most critics, with complaints of lame graphics and gameplay running rampant.

While skill shots were fun to pull off in Bodycount, the game's supershort campaign and abysmal enemy A.I. prevented it from becoming anything more than a run-of-the-mill shooter.

Sorry, Thor, while your movie saw some success, your game just couldn't hammer it home. Critics complained about God of Thunder's overall lack of fun and a total absence of anything memorable.

Aside from garnering a bunch of negative press over racial insensitivity, The Cartel wasn't any fun to play, either.

Rise of Nightmares makes our list for a few reasons. It represents the first and probably final attempt at an M-rated Kinect game, and because it also conveys the sense of malaise core gamers feel toward Kinect games. Aside from a few diamonds in the rough like Child of Eden and Dance Central 2, Kinect didn't offer much this year in terms of software despite its excellent sales.

The box-office juggernaut unfortunately landed well short of any kind of respectability in Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Critics slammed the game for its lame combat, bland level design, and boring gameplay.

We had high hopes for Destiny, but alas this X-Men game just wasn't any fun to play. Promised to be a game where decisions heavily affect outcomes, X-Men: Destiny fell flat in the end, suffering from poor controls and even worse production value.

This wasn't the greatest year for Nintendo, specifically the Wii. A serious lack of quality software plagued the console for most of the year, up until we were treated with the excellent Skyward Sword in late November. Even at the company's E3 2011 press conference, the Wii seemed to be just a footnote, further reinforcing the notion that Nintendo is ready to move on to the Wii U--even if you're not.

This year was a double whammy for Nintendo. After much hype, the Nintendo 3DS launched in April with some pretty impressive technology, but unfortunately failed to present a game that achieved "must-buy" status. Every console launch needs a killer app, but the 3DS just didn't have one. Seven months and a 32 percent price drop later, the 3DS finally has some quality games worth playing, including Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land, in addition to a selection of revamped 3D reboots. Unfortunately, a lot of the other titles that were teased over the summer won't hit until 2012.