#Best car games of 2016 series

Each episode is a wonderfully digestible and complete experience-it's tremendously satisfying to wander through the clockwork of a level, observe a dozen little stories unfolding within it, and discern which opportunities are best for the game's protagonist, Agent 47, to insert himself into and find his target. Released across six episodes between March and October of this year, each installment of Hitman's 'first season' gave players a distinct mission in a different location, taking players from Bangkok to Colorado.

#Best car games of 2016 series

A soft reboot of the series that acknowledges the weirdly elaborate backstory while also nudging it to the side, Hitman is a brilliant revival of a series that seemed long past its prime. It's also, as 2016's Hitman proves, completely unnecessary. You wouldn't know this unless you've played every Hitman game since 2000, but there's a surprisingly elaborate and complex mythology behind the Hitman series. The Witness is the Arrival of video games, about learning to communicate in a language completely foreign to you, mastering that language, and maybe, hopefully, understanding why in the end. It's also strangely immersive-solving its puzzles is one of the most satisfying feats you can do in a game this year, and wrapping your head around them is easier than you think. The Witness is hard, a game that needs pen and paper to get through. The rules for solving these puzzles are never outright explained, but each area of the island offers a new variation on these grid-puzzles, and the faintest whispers of a story you can try and sort out as you unlock doors and caves and bunkers hidden away in places both obvious and not.

It's a game where you're stranded on an island, surrounded by puzzles, all of which involve drawing a line on a grid. It's hard to see the appeal in The Witness from reading about it or even watching a video-its simplicity is almost deviously dull.

While it may occasionally frustrate or seem needlessly obtuse, Final Fantasy XV is always interesting and often hilarious, and easily one of the most enjoyable games of the year. But that would also make it less interesting or fun- Final Fantasy XV is good because it's a mess. In a world where time and resources are unlimited, perhaps Final Fantasy XV is a sharper, smoother, and altogether more coherent game. It's a role-playing game that is like others but also not, a friend with many flaws with whom you nonetheless enjoy being around.

And yet Final Fantasy XV is distinct, memorable, and warm. It is one of the messiest games of the year, a weird casserole of ideas that never cohere as well as it should-and plays against itself in ways that are sometimes perplexing. By this metric, Final Fantasy XV would fail pretty easily: It's a massive game that tries many things, and doesn't always stick the landing. The closer a game is to perfectly articulating and executing its vision, the better it is. Too often, 'best' is equated with perfection, particularly in games. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.įinal Fantasy XV.