Tt Games has been bringing popular movie series to the Lego universe since their Lego Star Wars hit in 2005. In addition to the three Star Wars titles, they’ve also captured the worlds of Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter (among others). An adaptation of Lord of the Rings is already finished and set for a release later this year.
On the surface, Lego games are similar to a good Pixar movie. They are directed at children with subtle humor and depth that will make adults smile and enjoy the show. Lego games are about problem solving and collecting, with little repercussion for falling into a pit while trying to accomplish those tasks. READ MORE
When I was a kid, my dad would take my brother and me on fishing trips. We weren’t the most outdoors-y people, so we always threw our fish back (if we caught any at all) and got lunch from a local restaurant. It was in these swaths of time that my dad taught me about pinball. It didn’t matter that your grilled cheese had arrived when you were about to earn an extra ball on the Demolition Man table. READ MORE
As a kid, I loved trading card games such as Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! or Nintendo’s Pokémon, playing matches with other kids at school, trading on the playground and arguing over the best cards and strategies. One game that I never got into was Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game targeted toward an older audience, sporting high-fantasy card art designs and more mature themes. I went into Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 as an absolute newcomer, knowing absolutely nothing about its rules, cards or workings. In the end, I am glad I did, as it allowed me answer two questions: does it serve as an adequate introduction to the trading card game for new players, and is the game good enough to stand on its own without relying on its source material?
READ MORE
Recently, a lot of board games have made the jump to digital releases, and with mixed results. Dungeon Twister is the latest, and while it is an admirable conversion, it seems to lose something in the translation. READ MORE
It is every designer’s dream to create a breakout hit, and Kim Swift did exactly that with Portal. Then, in a move that shocked everybody, she left Valve to make games with friends and ex-FASA (Crimson Alliance, Shadowrun) employees. From that odd move, Quantum Conundrum was born, and it’s really difficult not to compare it to Swift’s first retail game since the two are so very similar. READ MORE