Games, Games, Games
In theory, I should probably create a separate post for each game that I want to comment on. Feh… Here’s some game comments from the last year or two.
Casual Games:
Build-a-Lot - Excellent game. Clever idea, well implemented.
Build-a-Lot 2 - Disappointing sequel. Didn’t add enough new stuff. Still, I bought it and played it a while.
Peggle - Go play this game now, if you haven’t already. Brilliant.
Monopoly by Parker Brothers - The newest version of Monopoly, aimed at the casual market. I’m a sucker for Monopoly, and I did buy this game, but I’m pretty disappointed. As beautiful as the graphics are, the AI is awful, there appears to be no system for internet matchmaking (or did I miss it somehow?), and the graphics are nice, but intrusive (too many animations that can’t easily be skipped, slowing the game).
Ticket To Ride - Still my favorite. Barely fits in the casual genre, but a lot of fun. Apparently there’s a new version out for X-Box Live Arcade, but I’ve been playing the PC version.
Traditional PC Games:
This is a bit embarrassing, but I’ve barely played any traditional (boxed retail) PC games in the last year or two. I bought Flight Simulator X, but only toyed with it a bit. I played a fair amount of SimCity 4, but I haven’t bought the newest SimCity title yet.
Console Games:
My 7 year old son has taken the title of biggest console gamer in the family away from me. Lately, he’s been playing the Lego series of games (the two Lego Star Wars games and the more recent Lego Indiana Jones). These games are brilliant.
We bought a Wii, and it’s about what I expected. A good party game system, with some interesting game mechanics. Most of the games we’ve played are a bit shallow, but we’ve still been having fun with this system. The biggest disappointment is that the remote control thingie doesn’t seem to have a good sense where on the screen you’re pointing to. I guess this is because there’s no calibration step in setting up the device (you know, where the system would tell you to aim at each corner of the screen and press a button), so the Wii doesn’t know if you’re playing on a 25″ TV or a 55″ TV. Perhaps, given the technology the Wii uses, such calibration wouldn’t even be possible. In any case, it makes some games harder and less intuitive than they should be, because where you point the control doesn’t correspond super-closely with where the system thinks you’re pointing (for our TV anyways).
Our family doesn’t have an XBox 360 or PS3 yet, so no comments there.
