Getting my "Playstation Wrap-Up" report was a real pain, for 2021. Some weird error on Playstation's website made it literally impossible for me to even see my stats for days, once they finally released the information to curious gamers. So that was frustrating. Then, when I finally got my numbers to show up, I just had a lot of other stuff going on. I went on a big vacation and was busy with a few other personal projects and hobbies, so here we are, two months later, and I finally have time to blog about it.
With no further ado, let's just jump right in and see how much gaming I did last year.
Total Hours:
Playstation says I played 1,203 hours in 2021. That's about 200 hours less than 2020, but 2020 was a really weird year where nobody really went outside, so cut me some slack.
As I've pondered previously, I'm not sure how accurate that is, and I think the math backs me up. Hear me out: Playstation also reports that I played on 355 days last year (11 more than in 2020). I divided that out, and it comes to a little less than 3 1/2 hours per day, every day last year but 10. That's a lot of playing, if that's true, and I can absolutely guarantee you that I didn't play video games for 3 1/2 hours nearly every day of 2021.
I think, rather, as I have speculated in the past, that this report may actually be pulling the number of hours that my Playstation was powered on, which would make more sense because (until recently) I have used my console to watch all of my movies and for all of my streaming services. Working from home, I know I have watched a ton of movies and TV (I mean, did you see my list of basically everything I watched for two years??).
Also, if a game is on but paused, does that count as "playing"? Probably, right? But what if I have a game on and I pause it to go eat food for half an hour? These are the things I think about because I'm weird.
This would throw into question the breakdown of time I spent playing PS4 titles vs PS5 titles, which is a fun statistic, but... I guess I'm just confused on what's actually being counted here. I don't know.
Anyway, Sony thinks I played a ton of video games last year, which is not entirely incorrect, just not entirely accurate, either. Also, I hardly played any of those hours "online" because I don't like being "pwned" by youths.
Games Played:
So, it appears that I played 38 unique games last year. Sounds reasonable. That, interestingly, is down 21 games from 2020, which is wild.
Retaining the top spot, as no surprise at all, is the newest installment of the "MLB The Show" franchise - and there's a good reason why I played so much of it this year: they paid me to do so. Yes, it's true. I was part of a paid research project that compensated me for playing "MLB The Show 21" a certain number of hours per week. Then, I'd have to answer a few questions about how I played and what I liked. It was a lot of fun, and I figured that if I was going to be playing the game anyway, they might as well pay me for it.
Up a spot from last year is the "NBA 2K" franchise, which is basically cut-and-paste, year after year, but the Jazz were playing really well and I needed my virtual basketball fix.
Speaking of "cut-and-paste," "Marvel's Avengers" debuts at number three this year. I spent 75 hours grinding out slightly different variations of the exact same missions, over and over and over and over again. Gamers and critics alike have maligned "Avengers" for its repetitive quests, but I put in a lot of hours before I realized how "Pay To Win" and dependent on its blind loot boxes it was becoming. I don't play it a lot anymore - I haven't played it at all since they brought Spiderman in as a DLC character - but I suspect that I'll go back to it at some point to clean up the trophies and try for that elusive "100%" completion rate.
"Watch Dogs: Legion" - number four last year - was a game I crushed during the second half of my paternity leave. Let's just say, that's a game that I probably couldn't have played if it wasn't for paternity leave and a sleepy child. Hoo boy, that dialogue was spicy. Awesome game, though. Sixty-one hours of walking around and randomly recruiting anybody I wanted to join my resistance movement. I was furious when my original team member died by, like, falling off a balcony or something. When they say "YOLO," they mean it.
The surprise of the year is the "Final Fantasy VII" remake, which I snagged as a free Playstation Plus game and, apparently, and into which clocked 57 hours. That was a very long game, I'll tell you what. Sheesh. Very long and a bit hard to master, but it ended up being all right. Little did I know that it was going to end of a cliffhanger. Does that mean I'm actually going to have to play the sequel?
Here are a few other games that I spent a lot of time playing last year:
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
- Need For Speed Payback
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
- Riders Republic
- Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
- Planet Coaster
- Hot Wheels Unleashed
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Trophies Earned:
Playstation says I earned 1,091 trophies last year and you know what? They're dang right, I did! Sadly, that's down from 1,410 trophies in 2020, but hey, that's still a ton, ok?
There are two major factors that affect the number of trophies I earn when playing games:
- Having a co-worker that is a major "trophy hunter"
- Marrying a wife with completionist tendencies
Basically, I'm held to a high standard, when it comes to completion percentages. My wife and I pride ourselves on being a "three-star family," a phrase we picked up from a friend while playing "Overcooked" on the Nintendo Switch. Basically, it's all or nothing. We aim for 100% and, whenever possible, we get it.
Here are the 14 games that I beat to 100% completion for a glorious Platinum trophy:
- Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- God of War
- Madden NFL 21
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- Ether One
- MLB The Show 21
- Far Cry 4
- Ratchet & Clank
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Hidden Agenda
- Overcooked: All You Can Eat
- Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
- LEGO Dimensions
- Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
That's a weird list. A couple of those games were purely just me going back to clean up some percentages on games that I thought I could finish. "Ether One," in particular, is a game I regret going back to. I probably played it one time, years ago, when it was free, but once I booted it back up, I just had to keep going. "Hidden Agenda" was another weird one that required me to play with multiple controllers, phones and tablets to complete. Why am I the way that I am? Who truly knows?
Some of those games were a lot of fun, though. The "Ratchet & Clank" games were both a blast. I'd never played that series before, and I remember thinking they were some of the most fun I'd had with games in a while. Just really unique, fun storytelling, and a great time to play. "LEGO Dimensions" was one of the dreaded toys-to-life games that I fell in love with a few years back (and spent way too much money on). It hasn't aged very well, and there are much better LEGO games that don't require me to get out a bunch of little figures to play every time, so I wrapped that one up and traded the disc back in to GameStop for like $1.25. I'll keep the little minifigs, of course. Can't be parting with those beauties.
I'm very proud of myself for completing a "Madden" game for the first time. Sports games are notoriously tough to "platinum," so a hearty pat on the back for me there.
"Melody of Memory" is a rhythm-based "Kingdom Hearts" game that I wasn't sure I'd ever pick up, but once I did (and realized that I actually liked it more than anticipated), I knew what had to be done. I spent hours and hours grinding out the achievements until I finally got the hang of it enough to beat some of the most difficult levels on the most difficulties. For instance, behold my perfect, nearly immaculate run of one of the trickiest songs in the game, which I recorded for posterity:
Yes, that's really me playing. I still can't believe I pulled that off. Ugh, what PTSD I just had while re-watching that clip.
Analysis and Conclusion:
Playstation didn't give quite as detailed of a breakdown for 2021 as they did in 2020, which is disappointing, so I don't have any other pointless numbers to crunch or tedious stats to mull over, but it was a nice little stroll down memory lane.
Video games have provided a really good amount of entertainment and leisure for me during the pandemic. Thankfully, life is a bit more "normal" now than it was a year ago, but having a kid has also resulted in me staying home more frequently than I did, years ago. It's nice to have something to help me pass the time indoors, and I'm grateful for websites and companies that keep track of all these ultimately meaningless things that I do when I have time for them.
One of the best things about the games I played in 2021 is that I was able to play a lot of them with my wife. In fact, she has even earned a couple platinum trophies, herself! Some of the most fun we had last year was beating the "Overcooked" collection together and, although it won't reflect in the report until next year, there were a couple other games we beat cooperatively, too. What a good sport. What a cool wife.
I don't want to put any pressure on myself but we're now three months into 2022 and I just hit my sixth platinum trophy of the year, so I'm on pace for a record-setting review when the new year rolls around. I guess we'll see what happens.
*****
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Until next time.
