Our individual Game of the Year articles allow our lovely team of writers to share their own personal PS5 and PS4 picks for 2022. Today, it’s the turn of video producer Aaron Bayne.
I was about as surprised as you likely are to see Rainbow Six Extraction in a top five anything, let alone my personal picks of the year. But despite having not played this game since the early part of the year, I cannot stop thinking about the fun, tense, and tactical time I had with some pals in this alien-tinged Siege spin-off. With manageable levelling, tight gameplay, and borderline mandatory team coordination, this was everything I wanted from a tactical first-person shooter.
Moving from one shooter to the next, Call of Duty is one of those series that you really want to take a break from, but you just can’t. And after a couple of duffers, Modern Warfare 2 had me back grinding those gold camos like I was 13 all over again. Whether it be the sense of capturing the good old days, or the now streamlined extension of Warzone 2.0 delivering all kinds of manic fun, I cannot get enough of Modern Warfare 2 in 2022.
Sifu utterly entranced me in 2022, with its tight-knit kung fu gameplay, and hard as nails difficulty. Ageing as you died meant that it didn’t matter if the game only really had a handful of levels, as I became obsessed with streamlining each run to include bigger combos and less deaths. I had a personal vendetta against Sean, the second level’s boss, and still remember the screams echoing through my flat when I finally beat him (suck it, Sean).
It is no secret that I love The Last of Us, so while there are undoubtedly plenty of games that probably deserve to be here more, I couldn’t help but include Naughty Dog’s PS5 remake. With a new technical lick of paint, Part I easily became one of the best looking games on the console, and playing through its story for the 8th time with all the boosted graphics and features was like watching my favourite movie in 4K Blu-ray. The emotional gut punches hit harder, the gameplay felt all the more brutal, and those stellar performances were truly brought to life.
God of War Ragnarok was undoubtedly the game I was most excited for in 2022, and it really smashed every one of those expectations I had. This is a much more epic tale over the more personal story in God of War (2018), but Santa Monica never loses sight of the characters with some engrossing performances, and captivating storytelling — and that’s without mentioning the far improved and expanded upon gameplay. Some scenes in this game will stay with me for a long time thanks to Eric Williams’ impeccable direction, the emotionally weighty turn as Kratos from Christopher Judge, and composer Bear McCreary just casually busting out one of the greatest soundtracks known to man.
What do you think of Aaron’s personal Game of the Year picks? Feel free to agree wholeheartedly, or berate relentlessly in the comments section below.
