This was a pretty tough descision, considering all the great games I have played over the years but if I really have to choose one that stands out among the rest, it would have to be Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, altough considering the release of MGS3 in the near future (see my article in news and opinions) this might not be my favorite for much longer.  This is an incredible game with all the qualities needed to be considered one of the best.  It has smooth and flawless graphics, both in-game and cinematic, with very close attention to detail.  It is very realistic (with the exception of the occasional psychic and vampire), you can hold up enemies, distract them with adult "reading material", shoot almost anything and get a realistic reaction, have hundreds, if not thousands, of different conversations with other characters and so many more little bonuses thrown into the game taht will keep you entertained for hours.  It has great replay value with difficulty rating from very easy to extreme and collectible dog tags throughout the game that can ulock tons of bonusesthat will just make the game more and more interesting. I have played through the game five times and i'm still not tired of it.  To top it all off is a MINDBLOWING storyline, that's not the kind of thing I would usually say but there is no other way to describe it.  The charcters will deceive, backstab, cover up and give everything another meaning until you don't know whats what. The one thing that did disapoint me was that main character was Raiden instead of Snake, other than that I have complaints.  There are so many things about his game however that cannot be put into words, not even mindblowing, so the only way to really find out about it for sure is to play it for yourself.