Warrior’s Video Games of 2023 & Game of the Year
06 January 2024
The year 2023 was effectively one of exclusive play on the Nintendo Switch. I barely turned on the PlayStation 4 while the PC was used for a game I mostly play on the Switch, as was the tablet I bought during the year. That game that got so much attention was, as per recent years, World of Tanks Blitz. While the tablet was not bought for games, it became quite invaluable when overseas in September and able to play some WOTB at the hotel or when waiting at a train station. On the PC, the WOTB account is a separate account from the Switch one, and I started it when working from home got quiet. These days, the tablet is occasionally used for both accounts. The Switch account remains the primary one in use.
2023 Activity
World of Tanks Blitz: 750 hours
F-Zero 99: 62 (first played 2023-10-06)
Tetris 99: 23
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp: 16 (2023-04-21)
Vampire Survivors: 13 (2023-08-17)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 14
N64: 9
Metroid Prime Remaster: 5 (2023-03-03)
Super Mario Bros Wonder: 5 (2023-10-20)
Gameboy Advance: 4 (2023-02-19)
EA Sports FC 24: 3 (2023-11-18)
Anime Sexy Girl Puzzle – Hentai Game History: 3 (2023-09-30)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: 1
Hot Wheels Unleashed: 1 (2023-06-30)
Note that the figures from Nintendo don’t include the full year so some games like World of Tanks Blitz, F-Zero 99 and Tetris 99 were adjusted.
Of those games released in 2023 (in bold), EA Sports FC 24 is the most surprising. These FIFA games are notoriously fiddly games with dodgy AI, and finally we get one that plays really well. Passes hit, teammates run into space, and shooting is instant. Who’d figure that’s the key to make a good football game?
Vampire Survivors, while released earlier on other platforms, was new to Switch in 2023 and was a welcome addition. It was so addictive trying to survive, and once you did, that’s sort of when the game quickly becomes stale. The 30 minute battles suddenly feel 15 minutes too long. It’s just going through the motions for the first half. An expedited mode should be added. Hot Wheels Unleashed is another older game that I only acquired in 2023. It was on sale and only played it once so far. It’s fine. The Anime Sexy Girl Puzzle game is self-explanatory, and fun. No nudity, by the way! It’s wholesome puzzle action.
Metroid Prime is in my top 3 favourite games ever, and the remaster was stunning. I even set the controls to the GameCube setup to relive the authentic feel! The modern setup for first person shooters not only feels odd in Metroid Prime, it makes it too easy. The GC setup actually feels more natural! Sadly I got distracted by other games and haven’t returned since that first week. Similarly with Advance Wars 1+2, an excellent package of these classic titles originally on the Gameboy Advance. Unfortunately I got distracted there, too.
Super Mario Bros Wonder is a wonderful and often innovative update of the classic series. I’ve completed about 10 levels so far, and its advantage is I can play it here and there in short bursts. Whereas Metroid Prime requires a time commitment, and so I often turn to other things for a quick fix.
F-Zero 99 is a surprising and addictive update of the classic Super NES game. Featuring 99 vehicles on the track at once, the game helps weaker players with the Skyway and extra golden orbs to hit the Skyway more often to keep them in the race. The leaders are also confronted with red and grey bumper cars to navigate, with the red ones exploding upon touch, so there’s always a feel of progression and a buzz when achieving a new best result. Of course, skill is required to actually win a race, and while I’ve finished second a few times and got exploded on the line in another race, I’m yet to win. Don’t worry, I’ll keep fighting! The game offers various modes, including pro tracks, various grand prix modes, and now a classic mode. Currently there’s a themed snow event to keep players interested. Vehicles can also be customised as you progress through the game. It is so well designed and really provides that classic and most purest racing thrill that only F-Zero games can provide.
All Time Activity
World of Tanks Blitz: 2935 hours
Tetris 99: 555
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: 155
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 80
F-Zero 99: 62
Those are the games that were played during the year. Others with big total hours…
Horizon Chase Turbo: 85 hours
Super Smash Bros Ultimate: 40*
Fast RMX: 25*
Super NES: 25 hours
Hotshot Racing: 25*
Doom: 20*
FIFA 18: 15
Double Dragon 4: 15 hours
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge: 10 hours
*Estimates because the Switch activity log seems to only remember more recent games played.
PC, Tablet & PS4
Probably add another 300 hours and 200 hours, respectively, for World of Tanks Blitz on PC and tablet for the year. Total time playing WOTB for all devices would be around 4500 hours since I started playing the game on 2020-08-30.
The only other game played on tablet was World of Warships Blitz for about 50 hours. That would be during the latter half of the year, as that’s when I bought the device. I got annoyed at that game due to the rigged matchmaking. Constantly put onto bad teams saps any incentive to play, with the one particular session that really stopped me playing was something like losing 7, winning 3, then losing another 9 before finally getting a win. The teams just fall apart, losing 2 ships out of your team of 7 within the first 30 seconds simply makes it impossible to win. It’s ridiculous. Considering I’m still at the lower ship tiers where most of the teammates are bots, the rigged nature is even more glaring and brazen. The game could easily assign good bots, not suicide ones, to restore some semblance of balanced and fair matchmaking. The nerve of the developer to then keep pushing items to buy. Yeah, right! Never would I spend a cent on garbage like that. I still check into the game daily to get the little gold rewards. That’s mostly it.
All I recall playing on PlayStation 4 was Everspace. It was primarily to check if the joy-stick controls could be flipped around because I remembered the game was so difficult to control. I noted this in Star Wars: Squadrons when I bought that in late 2020, then spontaneously figured during 2023 if that was the problem with Everspace and if I could flip them around as I could in Star Wars. Thankfully I could. Basically, the default setup is move with the right stick and look with the left, when in the history of gaming, characters and vehicles always move with the left stick. Peculiar that these two games flipped the setup.
I did buy Gran Turismo 7 and Street Fighter 6 late in 2023. Yet to play them.
Game of the Year
F-Zero 99
While my heart wanted to say Metroid Prime Remastered, the hard reality is I can’t award a game in which I only played 5 hours versus one of over 60 yours. In terms of the game itself, the game is a wonder, an excellent remaster, and an outstanding revitalisation of the Super NES classic.
Older Game of the Year
World of Tanks Blitz
This is the category for games released prior to 2023 that were first played in 2023. While WOTB was actually first played in 2020, this award wasn’t around then, and the game keeps on giving. It deserves the recognition and there really is no better candidate. Blitz on!
Previous Games of the Year
2022 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Switch)
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)
Previous Older Games of the Year
2022 Double Dragon 4 (Switch)
The Warrior Factor 