Recently in Games Category

Thursday, September 13, 2007

This is a Steve Jackson game, and includes a long line of Munchkin card games. Some of them (like Munchkin Fu) are playable by themselves. Some (such as Unnatural Axe) are meant to be combined with one of the starter games. This is a non-collectible game (which means you get the same cards as anyone else who buys the game), which makes it much less of a money-sink. If you want to buy a few expansions you can, but you don't gain any advantage except fun.

What follows is the review I wrote for Amazon a while back for Unnatural Axe.

Munchkin, like all good comedy, makes it look easy. The game seems to be a haphazard collection of puns and silly in-jokes for gamers. But there's something else there. It plays well, has fairly balanced rules and manages to keep the competitiveness in the game even through all the laughter, right up to the last card.

This expansion walks the same tightrope, but it does work. The humor is as good as the cover implies, and if you have a group of gamers that enjoy a good laugh, you need to grab Munchkin and the first two expansions at least.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Overall: This is a list of some of the best bridge books available today.

Bridge is one of my favorite card games. It combines the fast-paced play of hearts with an auction phase that is unrivaled in card-games. If you enjoy a complex and fascinating game, bridge is definitely the game for you. In the time that I've been playing, I've read a number of excellent books, and also some bad ones. I'll try to help beginners out by reviewing some of the books out there.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Monte Cook's World of Darkness is a roleplaying source-book that's upcoming from White Wolf publishing. The odd thing about it is that Monte Cook is the co-creator of White Wolf's biggest competition: the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. For him to be writing a White Wolf book is rather an interesting move since White Wolf has always been the more left-brain nemesis to the rules-and-tables-heavy Dungeons & Dragons and d20 system.

I'll be reviewing this title as soon as I get my hands on it, but wanted to give folks a heads-up. For now, it's on pre-order.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

World of Warcraft is a game which has been out for a while, so why review it now? Because it's worth it! World of Warcraft is, frankly, every gamer's dream. I even maintain a page about the game mechanics (World of Warcraft: Raiding the Metagame). The game features that hooked me include:

• Excellent single-player play from level 1 to 70 including quests all the way through the levels that are really worth doing
• Instanced dungeons that you and 4 others can explore for every level of player from 1 to 70
• A rich set of player-to-player sale tools for in-game goods
• A player-made goods system that's powerful and easy to use
• Player-vs-player options as rich as any game, MMO or otherwise
  • 1-on-1 duels
  • 2-on-2, 3-on-3, and 5-on-5 arena matches against all comers in ladder
  • 4 battlegrounds, each with their own objectives, where one faction fights against the other
  • Several "world pvp" objectives that provide wide-open possibilities
  • But most importantly, PVP is entirely optional (except on PVP servers, which you can choose to start on if you want)

For the programmers out there, World of Warcraft is leaps ahead of the pack. It offers a fully programmable user interface and modding system that allows you to write complex programs to control the layout and behavior of the user interface in a language called Lua.

The other thing worth mentioning is that the developers and their representatives are deeply involved with the community, and can be communicated with via the official WoW forums.

The expansion, The Burning Crusade, was released in early 2007, and continues to deliver new content to players 6 months later, including a rise of level cap (from 60 to 70), new PVP options, deep and rich raiding progression, two new races, and a host of new tools.

Monday May 7, 2007

Settlers of Catan is one of my favorite board games, a topic I intend to cover in detail as AJS Reviews continues. This game has what all good board games have:

• Simple rules
• Good play for a group
• Multiple strategies for success
• Nicely made pieces

The basics are simple: you're building up commerce in the island nation of Catan. You can build roads and houses, and gather goods wherever you build, but building itself requires goods. Build enough and you win. It will give any family or social group many sessions of fun, and who can beat a game where you find yourself saying, "I have a stack of sheep I want to turn into a road." ;-)