Here at Forbes Games we've come to the conclusion that 2016 was a great year for video games. A tough year to pick favorites. Sure, there were so many games released it was almost impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff, but despite plenty of duds and disappointments, last year was packed with gems---so packed that I'm still catching up on many of them. It was an especially good year for first-person shooters, as the following list will no doubt illustrate. I'd be willing to say it was the best year for shooters that I can remember.

Fourteen years ago, the climax of the first Ratchet and Clank hinged on a betrayal: superhero blowhard Captain Qwark (think The Tick in space) turning on Ratchet. Now, in the 2016 installment, that twist becomes a framing device as Qwark, from a prison cell, narrates the story to his fellow inmates. It's a canny way to explain away any narrative differences between the original Ratchet and Clank and this one--but also a winking move toward self-awareness. "We know, we know, you've probably heard this before…. This newest title in the series about the space adventures of a gun-toting fox-cat-dude and his no-nonsense robot has plenty to recommend it.