Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
If you were interested in this game, but didn't buy it on DS because of faith that an iOS version would follow, I'm holding you personally responsible for the foundering sales of my favorite game of 2011. Live with that.

This came out in January, and I still have yet to experience anything so fresh, so unique, as Shu Takumi's side-scrolling adventure/puzzle game. Its comically unpredictable (but predictably comical) storyline cascades toward a twist that shouldn't work, its gameplay turns everyday objects like ceiling fans and globes into methods of both traversal and interaction, as you observe and influence the lives of a cast of bizarre characters from within their phone lines, headphones and wrecking balls.

I can't mention this game without mentioning its beyond perfect animation, which gave a jazzy flourish to every movement of every character. The act of serving chicken never seemed so stylish.