Still Playing Casual Games

Back in March I wrote an extensive post about the casual games I was playing. I ended it by speculating that I would probably get bored with such games in a couple weeks and move back to card games and such. Well, here I am almost four months later, and I am still playing games of the hidden object, match three, and time-management varieties. Why? Because they are ideally suited to what my brain can handle right now.

With my Gamefly account, I make sure to spread my choices across all the platforms we have available in this house: PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and the Wii. Even though the subscription was a birthday gift to myself, it has turned out to be more of a treat for the kids because all the games that I thought I wanted to play turn out to be too frustrating for me. I've become accustomed to playing on PCs where most of the control is done through simple mouse clicks. I can click or mouse-over anything on the screen to figure out how to use it or what my game objective is. I've played several games where I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing or how I was supposed to be doing it. Right now the only console games that make sense to me are music games like Rock Band and exercise games like DDR or Wii Fit.

Another great thing about casual games is how quickly you can drop in and out of them. I've read that in several articles about the genre and dismissed the comment as obvious, but now I truly understand the appeal of that aspect. There have been several times just this past week when I've spent the whole morning working intensely and wishing for just five minutes of mindless fun. It is nice to be able to fire up a game like Pizza Frenzy or Farm Craft, play for a few minutes, and drop out of it quickly without worrying about saving your progress or anything. I can play these games and talk to my coworkers at the same time on my lunch break.

I still have this fantasy in the back of my head that when I retire, I'll be able to play a game that requires more commitment and mental concentration from me. I really do want to play something that offers me entertainment and challenge in the same package. Right now, though, casual games give me the fun without the frustration.

What Kind of Gamer am I?

I rarely take these types of online quizzes, but this one created by The Escapist interested me. Their assessment of my gaming personality is spot on. I don't mind playing a game that has some depth or intricate puzzles, but for the most part I want my video games in particular to be shiny and happy and pretty.


The Pony-Lover
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Life Quest (PC Game)

Description from the Big Fish Games website:

Want to accomplish your life goals? Find out if you’re up to the challenge in Life Quest! Discover your fulfilling career, dream home, and happy family in this fun and quirky Simulation game! But look out, your high school rivals are lining up to beat you to the punch! Can you be the talk of your high school reunion before all your rivals? Use your time and resources wisely and you may just succeed!

The supposed challenge in Life Quest is to reach certain milestones before your classmates, but it isn't terribly difficult to do. It is just tedious. In the beginning, there is a tiny bit of strategy involved because you don't have enough hours in the day to do everything you want. However, by the time I got to the point where the challenge was to start a family, I ended up sending my character to bed with a full time meter so I could rush the days and get to the marriage. I maxed out on all the classes available for my character at the college and the gym before I got halfway through the game simply because I had so much time and money on my hands.

Most casual games are time-wasters, but at least they engage you with amusing graphics or some sort of strategic challenge. Life Quest has neither. It might have been more intriguing if, like Farmville, your real friends were controlling those high school rivals in the game. Without that component, I can't find a reason to recommend this game.

Celebrating Mother's Day with Band Hero

I spent most of Mother's Day afternoon playing Band Hero with my girls, which we just got from GameFly this weekend. When the game was first released, I remember reading criticisms from reviewers that it was dumbed down for family play and didn't rock as hard as Guitar Hero or Rock Band. That may be true, but my kids sure love it. They enjoy Rock Band, too, and many of the songs have become favorites. They didn't even know who Bon Jovi was before playing that game, but they love "Dead or Alive" now. However, there is something to be said for having a game where you already recognize a lot of the songs. That's what Band Hero accomplishes.

Got a Wii Fit Plus! Now What?

ABM got our tax return in and immediately purchased a Wii Fit Plus bundle (balance board and game). We had talked about buying one at Christmas when we purchased our Wii console but decided to wait. I think my enthusiasm for fitness games helped ABM make up his mind. He's been working out a lot and he wants us to get in shape together, but I have trouble sticking to an exercise routine. However, I've logged 30 miles in the past two weeks with Walk It Out! I guess he figured he should get me another exercise game while my enthusiasm is high :-).

Anyway, I would love to hear from any of you who have a Wii balance board. What are your favorite games that utilize it? I've already decided to try it with Walk It Out! to see if I like using the balance board better than the Wiimote and nunchuk. I've also heard that there is a DDR game that used the board instead of a dance pad. Any other suggestions?

Walk It Out! isn't lame just because it isn't for you

One of the main reasons I subscribed to GameFly was to try out the various fitness and motion games for the Wii. They always seem to be unavailable at my local rental shop, and I found that they are pretty popular with the rent-by-mail crowd, too. It took me several months to get a fitness title, and it was Walk It Out! by Konami. There is an in-depth review at Wii Love It so I won't try to replicate it. Go read it!

I've read many disparaging comments about Walk It Out! online. More accurately, they were negative comments about the idea of walking indoors. Fans of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution franchise in particular bemoan the fact that the company released something they see as lame. The DDR games are big fun, but everyone doesn't have the coordination to handle all those complicated step combinations. Walk It Out! is great for an overweight 40-something who wants a simple start to an exercise program, like me.

I got the game last Monday and I managed to walk almost 15 miles by Saturday. Considering that in a good week on the treadmill I would only walk three miles, that in itself is a testament to the addictive nature of the game. There is no storyline or boss monster to beat at the end, but there is something about collecting every item in a game that appeals to me. If you have ever played a video game a little longer than you should to unlock one more item before bed, then Walk It Out! may be the game to get you off the couch.

Playing Lots of Casual Games

For some reason, I've been seized by the desire to play casual games. I've played a bit of Bejeweled or Zuma in the past for about 10 minutes at a time, but this month I've been coming home from work and playing games for hours. These games are much cheaper than they used to be and definitely less expensive than games for consoles like the Wii. Casual games once started at about $20 a game but now you can find many of them for $6-$8 each or playable online for free.

Bejeweled Blitz: I am obsessed with this game and wish that it was available somewhere other than Facebook. It is the same match-3 game that everyone knows, but the twist is that you are trying to get the highest score you can in one minute. You compare your scores only with the people in your friends list, which gives the game that old-school feeling of trying to get your initials to the top of the high-score list on a machine at the neighborhood arcade. The scores are reset once a week, so everyone gets a chance to be the champion. The one-minute time limit makes me keep saying "just one more game" and I end up playing it for two hours! It would be even more fun for me if this game was available in a few other venues where I have friends that might actually play.

Valerie Porter and the Scarlet Scandal: This is the first hidden-object game that I've played all the way through, and it has changed my opinion of them. I got a couple of these games for my kids when they first started popping up online. I thought of them as digital versions of the pages in Highlights magazine. However, hidden-object games have evolved into the kernel that a story or adventure game is built around, and Valerie Porter is a good example of that. The premise is that Valerie Porter is a cub reporter in the 1920s working on her first big story, the murder of an actress. The graphics are attractive and the puzzles are just challenging enough to keep the story moving. I could see a fan of those cozy mystery novels playing this game.

Penny Dreadfuls -- Sweeney Todd: This game ups the difficulty a few notches. There are a LOT of items to find in each hidden-object screen, and the puzzles in between are a challenge. I had to look for hints several times. The game is based on the dime novel version of the Sweeney Todd story, not the musical, so it may have a different ending than you expect.

Azada: I'm still in the middle of this game. It is like Myst (character trapped in a book) with more recognizable puzzles. I played Myst back in the day and I welcomed having that experience again with puzzles that actually have instructions! If you like variety, this game is for you. There are matchstick, sudoku, memory match, and even dots puzzles. The one aspect I find frustrating is that the puzzles come in sets and you have about 35 minutes to finish every puzzle in the set. If you get stuck on a particular puzzle (sudoku sucks!) then you have to do the whole set again. Still, I would recommend this game to a person who thinks she would get bored doing the same type of puzzle over and over.

Farm Frenzy - Pizza Party: I don't even know why I am playing this game. It is one of those time management games like Diner Dash -- certain tasks around the screen have different time tables, some tasks have to be done before others, and the whole schedule becomes more hectic as you get to the higher levels. Once I realized that these games are pretty much about clicking, I decided I didn't need to play any new ones that are released. Yet, here I am, letting Farm Frenzy suck away several hours of my weekend. I think the key to keeping me engaged with this game is that the designers included a "best time" for each level. Having a time to beat added more interest for me.

I go through phases with games, so I'm sure I will burn out on the casual genre soon and start craving a good card game. Right now, though, I've got to go make a Farm Frenzy pizza!