The time has come me to reveal my Top Game of 2016. If you have read all, some or only this article, thanks for doing so and I hope you enjoyed this trip with me. If you missed reading any of my previous articles or want to reread them, check them out here: #2, #3, #4, #5,#6, #7, #8, #9, and #10. Now, have fun reading about my number 1 game of the year.
Hitman
My history in terms of Hitman is that I tried out Blood Money and never finished it because I bounced off of it so hard. Absolution came out but I was never interested in it. When this new game was announced with an episodic release schedule I was kind of interested but didn’t want to play it until the Quick Look that Brad and Dan did. It was at that point I decided to check it out. I played the starter pack and then quickly bought the rest of the Season 1 content.
This game is the best game of the year for both the creativity they showed in making this a more enjoyable product as well as both how it was released and how much replayability it had. The creative side of this game is evident from the start. When you begin, you learn about everything that makes the game unique and then you are thrown in with different ways to approach the task. The Opportunity systems is of the most unique systems to put in a game like this. From being hand held but also having to actually do every task yourself, you get to explore the level but also be able to try out the various systems in the game and how they work together. When figuring out which Opportunity to try out, you can read a little bit about it but after that you have to go through it. You can sometimes figure what will happen when you complete it but the coolest thing is seeing it all work out.
The release schedule was met with skepticism from all sides but it turned out to be the best thing for this game. It not only let people fully explore the map each time rather than hurrying through it to get to the next mission but it allowed the game to stay in the collective consciousness of people. Most games just come out and have a lot of praise for a week or so then it falls to the side unless it is a super special game. This one was with us from March until the end of the year from the new missions, the summer bonus content, the Elusive targets and everything else they did. I wonder if more companies will try and replicate this or decide it only worked for IO because Hitman is uniquely set up for this to work.
The last thing about this game is the replayability found in the game. From going for a level 20 mastery on each map to the Escalations to the Elusive Targets, you had plenty of reasons to return to this game after you had finished the main story mission. The Elusive targets are one of the coolest things IO has done. You get one shot at the target and if you mess it up, then you are done for good. There have been a bunch of Targets that I have tried to do but messed up because I made on small mistake that continued to grow in size as I didn’t stop and think about what I was doing.
2016 was a year of craziness, both in good and bad ways. One thing we can all see is that in video games, this was an excellent year and one that I hope 2017 will find a way to improve on. Thanks for reading and have a great 2017
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