2005: The Year in Gaming

Well, I actually mean video games, but I'll mention a couple board games. I didn't play too new many games this year (although I sampled more than usual simply from having fellow gamers around), so I'll make due with the best of my limited selection.

I kept on chugging with the tabletop RPGing and having the chance to play with friends again since I've been back as Tech has been wonderful. (I had a good DM at Georgia Tech, but I wasn't playing with anybody with whom I'd hang out outside the campaign, so the present situation in which I do exactly that is obviously far more enjoyable for me.)

For board (and card) games, I like Arkham Horror a great deal and had fun with World of Warcraft as well (although I do feel like people who also play the MMORPG have more to enjoy from it than those of us who don't). I tried Munchkin for the first time and I look forward to playing that again. Remember, you can't attack the Gazebo. :) (I guess in the game you can't run away from it, but who needs accuracy "in these days of crisis and universal brouhaha".) I also played Dwarven Dig, which was pretty cool, and the Lord of the Rings game, which was so-so. I also played The Chicago Way with Travis, Jolene, and (Mike)^2 after Jorian's wedding and while that game had a couple good elements, it was also broken in several respects. In particular, their cheet sheet for looking stuff up (which was pretty much constantly necessary to remember which regions corresponded to which crime bosses) was absolutely unusable, and that definitely hindered things. Also, whoever designed the game is color-blind. I'm interested in trying Orcs at the Gates at some point, and I'm sure there are others too but I mention this one just because I know someone who has it. :)

For video games, my highlight of the year is Zelda: Minish Cap. It's extremely fun. (Did I technically buy it late in 2004? I can't remember at the moment...) Civ IV would get a lot more votes if I had played it more. The Mac version should come out around January or February, so I'll discuss it more in my 2006 gaming round-up. Katamari Damacy wins the award for best game created while on all sorts of shit (not to mention best warp zone---the train tracks are key). I have had some fun with Mario Baseball as well (especially with beaning the Piantas, because I love it when they become indignant), but it's multiplayer options are sadly lacking for a Mario spin-off game. I played Lumines as well, but while it's good game, I never really got into it the way everybody else seemed to. For multiplayer fun, the recent experience with Mario Soccer (not the official title) has been great: 4 players on the same team for the computer is really fun. We're urgently telling each other to pass and shoot just like in a real soccer game, and stuff like that is the hallmark of a great computer experience. Just watch out for the pink Hammer Bros. They're slow, but they might beat you up with their purses if they can catch you.

I played a couple games of Guitar Hero. I am not so good at it, but my second game was much better than my first, so if I can keep my hands from getting damaged from playing that, there is some promise there. I like Donkey Konga for multiplayer, although for music games I do better playing it one evening and putting it down for a while because of the general danger of overplaying songs. They need to be in my paradigm for me to want to do that, and each of these games has only a few songs that are part of my paradigm. I tried Mario Tennis as well, but I think I need to try the single-player game. I haven't really decided exactly what I think of it. I have tried playing some Eternal Darkness, but I need to play that more and put it in the 2006 round-up.

I'm sure I played some others, but they aren't coming to mind this second, so I'll leave things with the above.