Board Game Attack
My video game time has been completely dominated lately by ports of board games on Xbox Live Arcade. I’ve been playing little else beyond the occasional game of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
It all started with Uno. Uno is one of those games that I actually have fond memories of playing with my family as a child, but I didn’t actually buy it on the Marketplace until about a month ago. Since that time, this has been the default game of choice for Jason and I to play over Xbox Live. I play against strangers on Live occasionally, but I learned very early on to just shut off the video feeds from other players. In fact, I never even plug in my headset because most people on Live are absolute sucktards. However, if you have a buddy that you like gaming with, this is the perfect game to play in the background while you chat away over your headset.
Jason and I downloaded Catan next, and that game absolutely consumed our free time for weeks. I had never actually played the board game version of this, but I noticed that they do sell it and several expansions at the comic shop. Catan is a strategy game, but it doesn’t require a long time to play. It feels light and fun even when I’m losing.
For my birthday, Jason got me a copy of the Marvel Trading Card Game for the DS, and I spent the next day and a half trying desperately to understand what the hell was going on. I didn’t understand the interface. I didn’t understand the rules. I spent a lot of time losing over and over again. Then I watched the online Flash demo for the VS system on Upperdeck’s web site, and everything suddenly made a lot more sense. I’ve been playing this on lunch breaks ever since.
Last weekend, Jason emailed me about Carcassonne, another board game/strategy game on Xbox Live Arcade. Since downloading it, it’s pretty much the only game on my Xbox. Yet again, the game is light, not time consuming, and a ridiculous amount of fun. The predetermined amount of tiles in each game makes for a game with a pretty established time investment. I can know in advance when I pick up the controller before work that I really will have time to finish my game before it’s time to leave the house.
I love deep, engrossing console RPGs with sweeping storylines, but sometimes I just want somethings light and fun, a gentle gaming sorbet to cleanse the palette. If you have some extra XBL points, throw one of these great games on your system.
Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Carcassonne, Catan, Uno, Marvel Trading Card Game, Nintendo DS