Category Archives: Games

Games

The Games We Play

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To be honest, I didn't like the name "Getting Dicey."  Going with this much simpler, to-the-point title this time.

So, I have not played many games this last month.  Weird.  It's like I had something else occupying all my time.  Not sure what that was, but it may be the subject of my Father Knows Best coming next month.

Anyway, I wanted to share a little bit about Gaming Conventions.  Last year I went to my first gaming convention: Geekway To The West in St. Louis, MO.  IT. WAS. AWESOME!!!

I've been getting heavy into board gaming over the last 2-3 years, ever since my friends introduced me to games like Ticket To Ride, Shadows Over Camelot and Talisman.  When they told me about Geekway last year, I thought it sounded like a lot of fun.  It was.  I played so many new games like Euphoria (Build a Better Dystopia), Coal Baron (great worker placement game), Firefly (based on the TV show - shiny!), and also got to play a 60 player game of Werewolf.

This year, I'm going again, but I it's different for a number of reasons.  First, I know what to expect.  Last year, I really didn't know how to get into games when I didn't know anyone around.  This year, I not only know how to use the Meeple "Players Wanted" signs, but I also know a bunch more people going.  Also, after listening to several episodes of The Dice Tower over the last year, I'm aware of many of the latest games to get a lot of buzz.  Games like Mysterium, Dead of Winter, and XCOM the Board Game.

My favorite part of the convention is the Play and Win.  There are about 50 games (3 copies of each) that you can play throughout the weekend, when you do, you put your name into a drawing to win a copy of that game.  Last year I won a copy of Tzolkin: The Mayan Calendar and its expansion.  I already had the base game, so I sold the base for cash and bought Terra Mystica instead.  Oh... and you get a free game just for registering.  Last year I got a roll-and-move game called Bakong that I thought was mediocre, but my son sure liked it.  They did have some gems last year, and this year I'm hoping to get King of Tokyo of Sons of Anarchy.

If you love Board Games, Conventions are a great way to try a bunch of new stuff out, or get to those long drawn out games that you have a hard time getting to the table.  Conventions are becoming more and more popular.  To find one near you, I suggest looking here, or try Board Game Geek.

What have you been playing lately?

Games

Getting Dicey

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This post is taking the place of Pixel Perfect Memories.  Because I want to incorporate board games into this feature, I want to come up with a better name.  So far, "Getting Dicey" is all I got.  If anyone has a suggestion, please share.

I plan on using this feature to share about new board games I've played and heard of, and to speak about the board game hobby in general.  Video games are still welcome, though I will probably not share much in that department

There's a gaming group that gets together here in Bloomington Normal every Wednesday.  I'm lucky to get there about once a month (because I'm busy with kid's activities).  This Wednesday, kids' activities were cancelled, so I took advantage.

First game was played was Russian Railroads.  Despite the name, this is nothing like Ticket to Ride or Railways of the World or other such train type games.  It's a medium-heavy Euro worker-placement game.  You start with 5-6 workers and place them on areas of the main board in order to advance your own board, which represents your personal railways.  You have three rails you are trying to develop, along with an industry track.  Each one can produce points in different ways, and it's up to you to maximize the value among the tracks.  It's somewhat difficult to explain, and the themeing is not intuitive, but I love this game.  I've been playing this for a while online, and I really want to get the home version, but unfortunately I don't see myself getting this to the table very often.

Second game we played was Betrayal at House on the Hill.  In this game, you're a character in a B-type horror movie, checking out an old abandoned house... on a hill.  The twist is that halfway through the game, the "haunt" is revealed, and one of your characters turns into the villain.  From then on, it's the traitor vs. the rest of the players in a battle of good vs. supernatural evil.  The game has several different scenarios, which gives it great replayability.

Finally, we played Formula De which has since been redone as Formula D.  In this game, you play a race car driver, pretty simple.  It's a fairly straight forward roll-and-move game, but each turn, you have the choice to shift up or down, which changes what die you roll, and with it, how far you can go.  There are turns which you'll have to stop with one of your die rolls, or suffer consequences.  We played a much simpler rule set, and I would like to play it again with the real rules.

Next time, I'm going to preview my trip to Geekway to the West in St. Louis May 14-17.

What have you been playing?

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories–Super Mario Bros 2 (The Lost Levels)

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So, it's been like eight years since I did one of these, what with the Half-Baked Hall taking up most of my time. But Nibbish and I decided to join forces on our respective blogs. Starting today, we'll be counting down the Top 20 moments from the NES Super Mario games.

We will not be reviewing the game that did not get released in the States for the NES. Super Mario Bros 2 was deemed too difficult for American gamers and thus Nintendo swapped some palettes on Doki Doki Panic and kept the franchise churning along. It was then released on the SNES as "The Lost Levels" as part of the Super Mario All-Stars package.

I've only played a little bit of it. It is very similar to the original SMB game, but indeed significantly more difficult. Have any of you played it? Drop down your thoughts, and of course, what you've been playing lately.

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories: Skyrim

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I'm not going to be reviewing an old game today. Heck, this isn't the fourth Tuesday either, so I'm not in a rule-following mood. But if you're looking for talk about old games, Death By Troggles has relaunched a new site design and is starting the year looking at old RPGs. Today's game is Final Fantasy II.

Today I want to discuss Skyrim, since my dad forgot I have a baby and decided to get it for me for Christmas. It's the "Legendary Edition" that apparently has all of the add-ons. I know very little about the game, other than it is huge and awesome. I have never played an Elder Scrolls game.

So here are my questions for those who have played it:

1. Does it matter that I've never played an Elder Scrolls game?
2. Has anyone else played this game with a baby in the house?
3. What kind of time commitment is necessary to enjoy it, both in total number of hours, and time per session. I have thirty minutes here and there to play video games, and maybe a couple of times per month I have two to three hours. Would that be enough time to enjoy the game?

For those who haven't played Skyrim, what else are you playing?

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories: FTL

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Genre: Rougelike-like (in space!)
Difficulty: 7 (keeping in mind that I've made it to the final boss three times, and never beaten him... on easy)

The rebels are winning the war, and you are the Federation's last chance. Armed with information, some weak weapons, and a skeleton crew, you must race to the Federation's headquarters to prevent final, crushing defeat. Along the way, you'll do things like route power between your ship's systems, make sure your spaceship is properly maintained, and ensure that everyone doesn't suffocate.

Also, you'll die. A lot.

Continue reading Pixel Perfect Memories: FTL →

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories: Boulder Dash

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Release Date: 1984
Platforms: Pretty much all of them
Developer: First Star Software

Boulder Dash is a classic arcade game in the vein of Lode Runner. Going around collecting diamonds, you must dig up rocks while running away before they fall on top of you, hoping they fall on enemies. When that happens--diamonds!!  The levels get progressively more difficult as you go along. Thankfully, you usually don't have to get all available diamonds on each level, so you can pick and choose strategy. There are other obstacles that will pull your hair out (expanding walls!), but if I remember correctly, some versions of the game had unlimited lives so you could experiment until you passed each level.

It's not that great of a game, but it brings back a wave of nostalgia for me, sitting in front of the IBM XT with a huge joystick and endless patience, mastering a game I can't bother with for more than fifteen minutes today.

Whatcha playing?

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories–Mutant League Football

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Over at DbT, we're now entering the top 10 for the best adventure games of all time.  Today's offering stars everyone's favorite whip-wielding, snake-fearing, fortune and glory seeker.

Release Date: 1993
Platform: Sega Genesis
Developer: Mutant Productions

I never owned any Sega system and I'm sure I've missed out on many great games. However, I did rent a Genesis a few times and Mutant League Football was one of the games we frequented.  It's a silly little game, where one can often win the game by killing or dismembering so many of your opponents they can no longer field a team. You can bribe officials, plant mines, and various other evil things that have little to do with football. In other words, a good idea!

I honestly don't know if I can recommend it because it's been years, but if you do boot it up, you'll hopefully laugh a few times.  What I want to know is what other Sega games, for the Master System or the Genesis, did I miss and should feel bad about?  My best friend talks up the Phantasy Star series of RPGs.  I hear the sports games tend to be better than their SNES counterparts.  And yes, I've played Sonic.  What else should I look at?

And, of course, whatcha playin' these days?

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories: Fatherhood

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My last column before my life changes forever, I won't be reviewing an actual game today.  My blog is still churning out reviews.  If you have an interest in adventures games, check out the current countdown, where I have already detailed a game where you play characters in Edgar Allen Poe stories, another where you play a transgendered character, and not to mention the always lovable bunny and canine detectives.

While I suspect I'll have much less time to play games than I used to, I imagine over the course of the next fifteen years the ones I do play I'll enjoy more.  I also imagine I'll be way more efficient with my free time than I am now.  My goal to get a PS3 is now shot, but I may make more use of my DS.

For those in the nation that are fathers and still find time for games, how do you fit them in?  Do you enjoy playing more than you used to?  Do you involve the family more?  What did you give up?

Whatcha' playing?

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories: World Class Track Meet

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The Top 100 NES Countdown will be over before the next PPM column.  Today's game at #22 is R.C. Pro-Am.

Release Date: September, 1987
Platform: NES
Developer: TRY

I think my parents fell for the marketing ploy that the power pad would give us a reason to exercise while playing the Nintendo.  We got one game for the terribly expensive pad, and that was World Class Track Meet.  It's not a terribly good game, and it did not make my list of best one-hundred NES games.  But we played it quite a bit, especially when we wanted to get our "exercise" in without going outside.

The game has several track events which start off fairly easy and get increasingly difficult as you face tougher opponents.  The idea is that you basically run on the pad, and jump if the game calls for it (e.g. with the long jump or triple jump).  It didn't take us very long that there were ways to easily cheat the game.  One could jump off the pad, then jump back on after insanely long jumps.  And getting on your knees and hitting the pad with your hands could speed things up.  Of course, if the game were awesome in its own right, finding ways to cheat it wouldn't have been at the forefront.  But the game is so limited, as are the uses for the power pad, that there's little reason to use it for exercise or any other reason.

I still haven't played any new games of note recently.  What's keeping you busy this past month or so?

 

Games

Pixel Perfect Memories: Electronic Baseball

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Today begins the Top 50 of my NES countdown.  Today's featured game is Dragon Warrior.

Release Date: 1988
Platform: LCD Handheld
Developer: Tiger

Yeah, the entire Tiger system is painfully outdated, with it's blippity bloop sounds and constantly flashing graphics.  But I spent way too much time playing it.  How about you?  There's really no need to review the game, but here's a picture to refresh your memory.

This month's questions is as follows: What were your favorite Tiger handheld games?