Our "Quarterly Reports" provide a handy list of the 25 best games for each platform, both for the current year so far and for all time. There's a separate report for each platform, and they will be updated again during the first week in April.

Best-reviewed PC games of 2011 (through Dec. 31)

Games released during the last three months (if any) are marked with a symbol.

	Game		Publisher	Metascore	Users
1		Portal 2	Valve Software	95	8.4
		The PC version of Portal 2 retains its title as the best-reviewed PC game of 2011, despite late competition from Skyrim and Minecraft.
2	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim		Bethesda Softworks	94	8.2
3	Minecraft		Mojang	94	7.0
4	Batman: Arkham City		Warner Bros. Interactive	91	7.6
5	Deus Ex: Human Revolution		Eidos/Square Enix	90	8.2
6	Total War: Shogun 2		Sega	90	8.2
7	Battlefield 3		Electronic Arts	89	7.4
8	FIFA Soccer 12		Electronic Arts	89	7.4
9	LIMBO		PLAYDEAD	89	7.8
10	Star Wars: The Old Republic		Electronic Arts/LucasArts	89	6.2
11	Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood		Ubisoft	88	8.1
12	The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings		Atari	88	8.4
13	Dead Space 2		Electronic Arts	87	8.1
14	Bastion		Warner Bros. Interactive	87	8.5
15	Crysis 2		EA Games	86	6.5
16	DiRT 3		Codemasters	86	7.1
17	Amnesia: The Dark Descent		Frictional Games/ValuSoft	85	8.8
18	Saints Row: The Third		THQ	85	8.0
19	Frozen Synapse		Matrix Games	85	7.9
20	Trine 2		Atlus Co.	85	8.8
21	SpaceChem		Zachtronics Industries	84	8.5
22	Football Manager 2012		Sega	84	7.5
23	Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition		Capcom	84	7.3
24	L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition		Rockstar Games	84	7.7
25	Rift		Trion Worlds	84	7.2
... and the worst-reviewed:
186	Painkiller: Redemption		JoWooD/DreamCatcher	43	5.5
187	Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter		Paradox Interactive	42	2.0
188	Battle: Los Angeles		Konami	38	2.7
189	Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops		Viva Media	34	3.2
190	The Asskickers		AGO Games	26	n/a

Includes games released between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 with at least seven reviews in our database. Note that games are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding. The Metascore is a weighted average of critic reviews on a scale of 0 (bad) to 100 (good). User scores are an average of ratings submitted by Metacritic users on a scale of 0 (bad) to 10 (good). All scores are from December 30, 2011.

Best-reviewed PC games of all time

Games released during the last three months (if any) are marked with a symbol.

	Game	Publisher	Metascore	Users
1	Half-Life 2	VU Games	96	9.2
2	The Orange Box	EA Games	96	9.4
3	Half-Life	Sierra Entertainment	96	9.1
4	BioShock	2K Games	96	8.0
5	Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn	Interplay	95	9.3
6	Portal 2	Valve Software	95	8.4
7	Mass Effect 2	Electronic Arts	94	8.7
8	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	Bethesda Softworks	94	8.2
9	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Rockstar Games	94	8.4
10	Civilization II	MicroProse	94	9.0
11	Quake	id Software	94	8.7
12	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	2K Games	94	7.7
13	Grim Fandango	LucasArts	94	9.4
14	Diablo	Blizzard Entertainment	94	8.2
15	Minecraft	Mojang	94	7.0
16	Sid Meier's Civilization IV	2K Games	94	7.7
17	Company of Heroes	THQ	93	9.0
18	Unreal Tournament 2004	Atari	93	9.1
19	Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty	Blizzard Entertainment	93	8.2
20	Homeworld	Sierra Entertainment	93	8.8
21	Grand Theft Auto III	Rockstar Games	93	8.3
22	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	LucasArts	93	8.9
23	World of Warcraft	Blizzard Entertainment	93	7.0
24	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Rockstar Games	93	8.2
25	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	Activision	92	8.6

Games with fewer than 7 reviews are not eligible for inclusion.

For a complete list of all PC high (and low) scores, visit Metacritic's PC Games section.