Warrior’s Video Games of 2022 & Game of the Year
6 January 2023
A quiet year in 2022 for new, original games, as I mostly stuck to favourites or renewals of favourite series. It was also a year that I can’t recall turning on the Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation 4. Of course, both systems are effectively retired, particularly the 3DS following the success of the Nintendo Switch, which was released in March 2017. Even with the PlayStation 5 now over two years ago, there’s still a trickle of new titles for the PS4, two of which I’ll probably get in time: Gran Turismo 7 and Elden Ring. At this stage I can’t ever see myself get a PS5, with the Xbox Series X, complete with its Game Pass subscription service, the more likely option. That would be the first ever Xbox I own.
2022 Activity
Nintendo offer a handy Year In Review feature on their website, and here’s the results in terms of hours played per game and total days in which the game was played.
World of Tanks Blitz: 971 hours, 307 days
Tetris 99: 78 hours, 97 days
Double Dragon 4: 17 hours, 20 days
Nintendo 64: 14 hours, 14 days
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge: 13 hours, 8 days
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 11 hours, 11 days
Nintendo Entertainment System: 4 hours, 6 days
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: 3 hours, 2 days
Stardew Valley: 2 hours, 4 days
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football: 2 hours, 3 days
Super NES: 2 hours, 4 days
Horizon Chase Turbo: 1 hour, 3 days
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: 1 hour, 3 days
Mario Tennis Aces: 1 hour, 1 day
Splatoon 3: 1 hour, 2 days
Chocobo GP Lite: 55 min, 2 days
Fall Guys: 54 min, 2 days
Arcade Collection Anniversary Classics: 50 min, 2 days
Sega Mega Drive: 50 min, 2 days
Panzer Dragoon Remake: 47 min, 1 day
Quake: 42 min, 2 days
Played for a little while
Gal*Gun 2
Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
Animated Jigsaws: Japanese Women
World of Solitaire
All Time Activity
From the Nintendo Switch’s activity log, here’s the total time played for each game. Note that these are in increments of 5 hours so could be a little higher. TMNT: SR is obviously one, with the website saying 13 hours.
World of Tanks Blitz: 2200 hours
Tetris 99: 530 hours
Horizon Chase Turbo: 85 hours
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 70 hours
Super NES: 25 hours
Double Dragon 4: 15 hours
Nintendo 64: 15 hours
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge: 10 hours
World of Tanks Blitz is clearly the most dominant consumer of my game time. Not only have I been playing it since 2020 and for 2.5 years on the Switch, I have a second account on PC and have another 900 hours in it. That lure to acquire more and more tanks, and learn them, is the hook that really sustains the game. There’s also the raw gameplay itself of destroying other tanks, and often in very satisfying ways. Depending on the tank, you can ping them at distance or ambush them up close. It’s the same thrill I used to get when playing Quake 3 Arena in the old days, except, because it’s in tanks, gameplay is much slower and shooting is more deliberately – perfect for someone older with diminished reflexes and eyesight.
For those unaware, WOTB is 7 vs 7 online game with the simple objective to destroy all the enemy tanks or capture the base. Another mode has several bases per map, and capturing those earns points, with the first team to 1000 points, or leading when the 7-minute time limit finishes, wins. Yes, that 7-minute limit (most battles are over in half that time) and the smaller teams and maps is key to its success, especially that it was designed primarily for mobile devices. Most people do play WOTB on phones or tablets and so it’s easy to have a few quick games here and there. The original variant, simply World of Tanks, for home consoles and PC, were teams of 15 vs 15. Tanks are typically from around the World War 2 era, either real, prototypes or even those that were only ever schematics, while there are novelty tanks too.
WOTB is totally free to play too, with the main benefit of premium tanks (can be bought for cash or gold) primarily to earn credits. Credits are used to “buy” other free tanks in the game. Buying tanks at a higher tier is also the game’s way of adding difficulty, as experienced players typically stick to tiers 8 to 10. Gold is actually dished out by the game in small amounts, so by accumulating it over time, you can get premium tanks free anyway. I’ve personally put in about $80 over the 2.5 years, with the motive to reward the developers, not just to acquire some tanks I really wanted. 2200 hours is a long time to play one game and the developers definitely earned some reward. As of this point in time, I have acquired all my most desired tanks, notably the T54E2 Shark and Helsing during the end of year Dutch auction.
I’ve exhausted almost everything I can get out of Tetris 99, so these days it’s played mostly as a quick fill. Plus, it’s still so addictive. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Horizon Chase Turbo are games that keep giving, notably new tracks and modes, and they are both so fun in multiplayer mode.
Of the other new games bought, most, like Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Mario Strikers and Splatoon 3, were sampled briefly and are all good games. It’s just that of WOTB kept me away from playing them further. In contrast, I dedicated quite a few hours to Animated Jigsaws: Japanese Women and World of Solitaire, not just the “played a little while” that the website or activity log suggests. I would say it’s almost 10 hours for the Jigsaws and 5 for Solitaire. Those Japanese women in the jigsaws are very tasteful, like spinning an umbrella or eating a water melon. There’s no nudity, just good, clean, wholesome fun!
Game of the Year
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
This was one of those renewals of older Turtles games, notably Turtles In Time, and takes it up several notches. The animation, styling and humour is top notch. There’s extra moves and a story mode, and it’s all so intuitive. It handles 6 players in multiplayer mode too, and you can play as other characters like April O’Neil and Splinter. A brilliant game. Later in the year, another turtles game was released, the Cowabunga Collection – a collection of older turtles games. It really was the year of the turtle.
Older Game of the Year
Double Dragon 4
A new category for games released prior to the current gaming year. DD4 was released in 2017, I patiently waited for it to go on discount, and finally it did at 50% off. The wait was so worth it. It reprises the classic DD gameplay, adds some juicy extra moves and a whole bunch of new enemies, and includes an addictive Tower Mode whereby you fight an endless amount of enemies until you’re defeated. Even better, enemies defeated in Tower Mode become playable, and these help you progress further up the tower. The regular mode can also be played with defeated enemies, not just Billy or Jimmy. Despite the obvious complexity to add a full array of moves for every character, all those I tried are eminently playable. If you’re a DD fan, playing this is a must.
Previous Games of the Year
2021 Metroid Dread (Switch)
2020 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
2019 Horizon Chase Turbo (Switch)
2018 Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch)
2017 Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)
2016 Yoshi’s New Island (3DS)
2015 Pokemon Shuffle (3DS)
2014 Super Smash Bros (3DS)
2013 Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)
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