App Trigger: Eric Halliday’s Top 10 PS5 games of 2022
2022 was definitely…a year. Bacteria that is so big it can be seeing with the naked eye was discovered, microplastics were found to be a normal part of human blood, the Queen’s death reintroduced us to the concept of lamprey pie, and grossest of all, Elon Musk took over Twitter. It’s been a hell of a year.
Luckily though, there are also video games to distract us through the dark and gross times. Below are my personal favorite Top 10 games for 2022. Enjoy.
And note: These are in no particular order.
10) Gran Turismo 7
Do I love Gran Turismo 7? Not really. But do I love racing in it? Absolutely.
Despite its many flaws ranging from painfully slow progression that drives you (no pun intended) to purchase microtransactions just so you can move forward in the game. To a campaign mode that plays like you’re doing favors for the richest white people in the world inside a hidden coffee house that caters exclusively to the 0.5% to the point of me and my wife being somewhat grossed out by the “thanks for doing that race! Here’s a car” attitude as we’re supposed to believe that this cafe manager makes enough money to start hanging you a constant stream of vehicles.
When you get into the game itself it’s an absolute masterpiece. The Gran Turismo team goes psychotically out of its way to make sure every single car drives like its real-world counterpart, often getting behind the wheel and testing them while recording engine sounds. And driving just feels so damn good. Not only does it do a great job of teaching you how to play a racing game where you can’t just floor it the entire time, it actually features an online mode where you’re punished for being a bad sport (hitting other people’s cars, cutting across grass, etc).
My primary complaint with this game though is, as I mentioned, the obvious slowing down of progress for the sake of encouraging micro-purchases.
9) Marvel’s Midnight Suns
I thought I was going to absolutely hate this game when I got the chance to play it as I mentioned in my previous review. I really did. The trailer made it look like a doom-and-gloom Diablo-like world when in fact it couldn’t be any farther from the truth.
Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG by the XCOM team that not only brings in the tired Marvel staples like Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, but pairs them with much more interesting characters like Magik, Nico, and the new Ghost Rider.
What you get is a game in which you go out and fight some really clever and often difficult battles and then come home to a day where you can sit down and play cards with Carol Danvers or hang out in Limbo and listen to music with Magik all while growing their relationships and making friends.
The only problem I have with the game is that I’m pretty far into the game and I’m still fighting the same Hydra goons. No wonder they always need money with an employee base that overstuffed.