Every quarter, Metacritic reports on the top 25 games of each platform as dictated by their Metascore system. They also compile a list of the best rated games of the year thus far, noting the new entries in updates subsequent to the first. These last three months have been a real boon to the Xbox Live Arcade platform, with a solid showing of five new titles and nine total titles out of the full list of 25 for the Xbox 360 on the whole. These numbers prove yet again that XBLA games are not only great games in their own right, but compete with retail games handily in a measure of quality.

Follow us after the jump for a brief look at the list.

  1. Portal 2 (new)
  2. Dead Space 2
  3. L.A. Noire (new)
  4. DiRT 3 (new)
  5. Mortal Kombat (new)
  6. Fight Night Champion
  7. Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
  8. Trenched (new)
  9. Crysis 2
  10. Beyond Good and Evil HD
  11. Top Spin 4
  12. Outland (new)
  13. Stacking
  14. Bulletstorm
  15. Child of Eden (new)
  16. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (new)
  17. You Don’t Know Jack
  18. Shift 2: Unleashed
  19. Torchlight
  20. ilomilo
  21. The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile (new)
  22. The Adventures of Shuggy (new)
  23. Tiger Words PGA Tour 12: The Masters
  24. Call of Duty: Black Ops – Escalation (new)
  25. Dragon Age II