AoM: Video Games: July 2017

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Loco Dojo (PC) (2017)

Overview: A VR party game where up to 4 players go around the game board and play mini games.

20170730:
The game was free to try out for a short time period and so I played it by myself, then played it with a friend, and then played it with him and his friend.

Attract and gather pigs for points.

Thoughts:
Pro:
+ Decent use of touch controllers

Neutral:
~ Some games require some space to play more comfortably.

The "Table of Trials"

Cons:
- Connecting with other players was buggy (though this may be an Oculus problem)
- Lack of transparency with rules for each game. Figuring out the rules can be kind of fun, but I'd rather have fun with the game and not with the rules.
- Some games are unbalanced.

Summary:
On it's own, Loco Dojo was a good, fun game. However, compared to Mario Party 7 (which is perhaps an 8 or even 9 out of 10 experience), Loco Dojo was only a 6 out of 10 experience (or maybe even 5).

Use sausage nunchucks to swat bats before they can take away your pigs.

Loco Dojo (PC2017) (2017)

Relevant Links:
Loco Dojo (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Loco Dojo (Steam Store Page)
Loco Dojo (Ocolus.com)

Friday, July 28, 2017

ARCADE GAME SERIES: PAC-MAN (PC) (2016)

Overview: As PAC-MAN, collect Pac-Dots while avoiding four ghosts!

20170728:
Part of the Arcade Game Series, I tried playing a couple times and it was not easy. I should try to incorporate the ghosts' default behaviors into my strategy.

I played twice (two "Game Over"s) before I started watching Moana with Ada.

After finishing the movie, I played for another six minutes and grew bored of the game.

Steam Game Time: 16 minutes

20250226:
Ben played.
Steam Game Time: hours (cumulative game time) / hours (session game time)

Thoughts:
Neutral:
~ Essentially a simple emulation of the original game.
~ Fun for a quick retro experience, but otherwise it can easily get boring/repetitive (for a casual player)

Summary:
I initially thought I would be up to the challenge of getting a high score or surviving for several rounds, but state of mind quickly went out the window.

ARCADE GAME SERIES: PAC-MAN (PC) (2016)*
*PAC-MAN (Arcade) (1980)

Relevant Links:
Pac-Man (Wikipedia.org)
ARCADE GAME SERIES: PAC-MAN (Steam Store Page)
Arcade Game Series (Wikipedia.org)

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC) (2016)

20170728:
Today I tried playing this game (multiplayer mode) while it was free on Steam. Unfortunately, after two matches, I decided there was no way I could possibly enjoy the game. I'd rather have an equally horrible score playing Counter-Strike. Or, better yet, play a game where I'll be matched against those of equal level (such as League of Legends or Heroes of the Storm).

Game Time: Approximately 17 minutes of actual game time, and another six minutes for short intro and set-up. (Steam logged about 38 minutes; I think I had the game open at one point just sitting at the menu screen.)

Summary:
I didn't play enough to be a fair judge of the game, but I personally didn't enjoy the experience. There was just so much going on and I was usually dead by the time I could determine if a player was an enemy (mainly via the minimap).

[20170728][20181010 Edit]

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Wikipedia.org)
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Steam Store Page)

Monday, July 24, 2017

Lucky's Tale (PC) (2016)

Overview: A platforming adventure game.

20191216 Comment:
I have a single recording (made on 20170724) as evidence of time spent with the game (one hour). If my memory serves me correctly, it is also the only time I spent playing the game.

Thoughts:
None at this time

Summary:
This game didn't really have the need for VR. It was kind of neat to play it as such, but I'd rather play a game like this in a traditional manner, like Mario 64. Alternatively, I'd be interested in using the Rift to play it in 3D like 3D games on the Nintendo 3DS - visuals popping out of the screen.

[20170727]

Lucky's Tale (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
Lucky's Tale (Wikipedia.org)
Lucky's Tale (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Lucky's Tale (Oculus Rift)

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Robo Recall (PC) (2017)

Overview: Robots in the city have gone haywire and it's the player's job to recall them.

Ready to pull its head off.
Note: Spectator View

20170718:
Setup: Standard | Two sensors in front. Far away.

Log:
I did a small jump when they jumped at me. I suppose I showed less of a reaction because my friend Avi talked about it on two separate occasions. He didn't mention the name of the game, and the game he was describing sounded like a horror game. In any case, I realized as the robots turned towards me that he must have been referring to this game.

20170719:
Setup: Experimental 360 | Two sensors set diagonal from each other.

Picked up this enemy. Acts like a grenade.
Note: Spectator View

Log:
Playing with the 360 setup was more fun, but today's space was tighter than the maximum possible space which I've previously set up. As such, I sometimes found myself getting close to the Guardian Boundary. In an ideal setting, I'd set up VR in a room with no objects. For now, I'll have to note that I need to make a bigger space.

On a different note, I still don't grasp the best way to earn points and if ripping off multiple limbs does any good. Regardless, the game is satisfyingly fun.

20170721:
Setup: Experimental 360 | Two sensors diagonal from each other and far away.

Took control of big enemy. It'll overheat and explode when the meter runs out.
Note: Spectator View

Log:
I love Robo Recall. It's so fun. Though I'm starting to hit a point where I might need some pointers.

I almost tripped on two or three occasions.

20170722:
Today I continued trying to accomplish the different goals.

20170723:
Today I looked up some hints on Reddit for accomplishing some of the goals I've yet to complete. I also took some screenshots of OBS game capture for this blog post.

Caught a bullet.
Note: Spectator View

Log:
Retried protecting the Robo Relay from damage. Failed twice. Moved on to the next.
Tried to get 10 sniper headshots. Failed twice. Quit the game.

A Helpful Tip I Read: (which I didn't already know)
Don't try to throw [caught rockets] like a dart, just point and gently release.

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Nice graphics
+ Satisfying gameplay. There's lots of subtleties and options. At times the game gave me the feeling of being Neo from the Matrix (slow-motion and catching bullets) or John Preston from Equilibrium (lots of weapons, dual-wield pistols).

Threw one enemy into another. Body check.
Note: Spectator View

+ One of the most fun things to do is catch a weapon dropped by an enemy before it drops to the ground. Alternatively, quick reload by throwing a gun at the enemy and then catching it.
+ Decent story

Neutral:
~ Benefits from 360 tracking. But thankfully experimental 360 works.
~ No sword option (I saw a mod for a sword, but I wish it were incorporated into the main game)
~ Teleportation mechanic for movement is a satisfactory way of tackling the technology barrier presented by no foot movement

Minor Con:
- Not as much transparency on point system. I suppose it's up to the player to figure it out. [For example, when you take down a robot, you need to go to its location (via teleport) to collect the chips to increase the multiplier.]

Grabbed an enemy with the big enemy's hand.
Note: Spectator View

Summary:
Overall, I'm enjoying Robo Recall and would highly recommend it. While I've yet to play many other VR games, the quality of gameplay found in Robo Recall is one that I'd love to see matched (and exceeded) by other games.

As a side note, I get absolutely no motion sickness from playing this game. Of course the main reason for this would be that there is no locomotion: head/body turning is used for orientation of view and teleportation is used for in-game movement.

Robo Recall (PC) (2017)

Relevant Links:
Robo Recall Webpage
Robo Recall (Wikipedia.org)
Robo Recall (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Robo Recall (Oculus Store Page)

Monday, July 17, 2017

Oculus Rift

20170717:
I finally got to try out my Oculus Rift today!!!

-- Two sensors in front - far apart (~ 6 ft) & angled in --

Touch Tutorial Complete
: Awesome

Echo Arena Open Beta (ends July 17)
: Played through tutorial.
: Went into a quick match.
: Tough to control, but friendly competitors. One player, in particular, gave me some tips (speaking via microphone). One tip he gave was to push off other players for movement instead of directly going after the puck.
: As I played, I wished the Oculus Rift had feet sensors. It felt weird being restricted to just my head and hands.
: After the quick match, while the players were friendly and it would have been a chance to learn how to play, I decided to leave the game and explore other apps.

-- Two sensors diagonally separated --

Spider-Man: Homecoming - Virtual Reality Experience
: There's a tutorial and then it ends just before anything interesting happens.
Rating: 3 stars

-- Two sensors in front - on sides of desk (~ 4 ft) & straight forward

~~ Decide to stop using glasses for now ~~

SPACE
: Try to get it working.
: Apparently the way it works is to move the mouse and click to open the menu. From the menu, click on browser to open a browser.
: Tried running Netflix but an error about the Chrome version popped up.

-- Moved the sensors back a little so I can be closer to my desk --

360 Photos
: Pretty cool.

Bigscreen Beta
: This was available on both Steam and the Oculus Store.
: I try to get the Steam version to work. Apparently I have to do a little bit of setup.
: 1. Enable Unknown Sources (in Oculus app)
: 2. Install SteamVR and launch it.

~~ Went to sleep ~~
~~ Woke up some time in the AM hours ~~

Bigscreen Beta (Continued)
: 3. Launched Bigscreen Beta
: Started playing around with it while watching Pirates of the Caribbean.
: It was hard to read text, so I would mainly recommend the app for watching media.
: Explored Option: Reset head view via settings.
: With Touch controller: Enlarged monitor, pushed it back.
: With Touch controller: Moved the monitor around. Moved the settings panel around.
: Explored Option: Opened tools for screenshot capture. Tried all the different views.
: Explored Option: Opened virtual keyboard. I moved it close so I could imitate finger typing quickly. It helps since I know where all the letters are but any need for the shift key or symbols was a major slow down because it required accessing side menus.
: Explored Option: Markers
: Explored Option: Customize avatars.
: Explored Option: Customize screen. Very useful. It should have been the first setting to adjust. In particular, there's a setting to use the back wall of the virtual room as the space for monitor projection. [At the time I didn't know what SBS was for. It means Side-By-Side and it's meant for viewing SBS media in 3D. Simply load up the desired SBS picture or video in fullscreen and switch the monitor setting to SBS. The media will then appear in 3D.]

~~ Found this reddit link: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/6no4l1/freebies_for_noobies/ ~~
~~ Started at around 6AM to download essentially everything mentioned ~~
~~ Went to sleep at 7:15AM ~~

20170718:
-- Two sensors in front. Far away again. I took advantage of their scope and put them further than recommended, maybe eight feet apart, and angled towards the center. Ignored Oculus Home warning. --

Left 4 Dead 2
: I tried to set up L4D2 with Vireio but I eventually found out that Vireio 4.0 is still a work in progress and will only partially work with Direct X 11 games (and with full support for Fallout 4). Furthermore, the game reportedly works with Vireio 2.1, but Vireio 2.1 was built around Oculus Rift DK2 (the development kit version 2) and what I have is CV1 (the consumer version 1), which changed the way media is displayed (the displays in the DK2 are essentially treated as an external monitor).
: After more reading, I downloaded tridef, loaded it up, and then opened Bigscreen and used the SBS setting.
: Next I connected the Xbox controller* and launched L4D2.
: Played for about 20 minutes before the full nausea kicked in

Touch Tutorial Complete
: I had my fiancee Ada play.
: It seemed as if the grasping mechanism was less intuitive to her compared to me. Of course I've had more experience with video games than her as well.
: She nonchalantly said "Thank you, that was cool." Since she's not the type of person who plays video games, I'd say thqt was a reasonable response.

Robo Recall
: Separate Blog Post

*It's funny considering I believe I also have a Steam controller somewhere nearby.

20170719:
I ordered some extension cables yesterday and today some of them arrived; I used them to extend the reach of the Oculus Rift and set up the sensors for experimental 360.

-- Two sensors diagonal from each other --

Robo Recall
: Separate Blog Post
: The graphics didn't seem to degrade as result of the HDMI & USB* extension cables. The extra length definitely gave me wiggle room but there were two or three moments where I wasn't sure if I was wrapping the cord around myself. There were also a couple of moments where I was afraid I'd trip on the cable.

*The USB extension cable being used at the moment is a 10 meter (16 feet) active USB 3.0 cable. This will actually be used to place the sensor far away for a large space. The 2-pack of shorter 5 feet passive USB extension cables won't be arriving until tomorrow.

20170720:
Today I received the 2-pack of five feet passive USB extension cables. As such, I detached the sixteen feet active USB cable from the Oculus Rift and attached it to the far sensor (formerly the left sensor). Then I detached the Xbox receiver extension from the right sensor and made it the close sensor (placed where the left sensor was formerly placed). The Xbox receiver extension is now attached to the Xbox receiver. Finally, one of the two five feet USB extension cables got attached to the Oculus Rift.

-- Two sensors diagonal from each other and far away --

I played around with the set-up. First I moved the sensors a little closer. Then, I moved them a little further apart.

Henry
: Separate Blog Post

20170721:
Robo Recall
: Separate Blog Post

20170722:
At this point I've pretty much settled in with the hardware and I'll mostly be making posts for available apps. With that being said, I put an order in for some badge holders* today, because yesterday there were moments where the cable was being unwieldy as I played Robo Recall. As I played I also realized it's better if I turned 90 degrees during sensor setup making what was previously my right side the front. This would give me more lateral area and put the cable behind me (in my setup). This of course would be semi-temporary until I get the badge holders.

An exaggerated depiction of turning 90 degrees during sensor setup:

____________ ____________

|SC | |SC |

|/ ^^^^^^^ | |/ >>>>>>> |

|| ^^^^^^^ | || >>>>>>> |

|| ^^^o^^^ | || >/-o>>> |

|| ^^^|^^^ | |\-/>>>>>> |

|| ^^/^^^^ | | >>>>>>> |

|_\-/____S_| |_________S|

Legend: "C" = Computer | "S" = Sensor | "o" = Player
"^" = Playspace, orientation "North" | ">" = Playspace, orientation "East"
"/", "|", "\", "-" = Cable from Computer to Oculus Rift

*There were cable management systems being sold on Amazon but they were a system of ceiling/wall mounts paired with what essentially amounts to badge holders - retractable pulleys that will extend when the cable pulls on it and retracts when the cable releases.

20170727:
I think my USB hub died today. Thankfully I don't depend on it. But it'll be a pain to return it.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) (2014)

Overview: An action-adventure RPG set in Middle-earth and takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.*

One of two protagonists, Talion (right), faces an Uruk Captain.

*Technically the game isn't canon and doesn't truly belong to the story, but if it did, then that's when it would take place.

20170707:
The game was free for the weekend but I was traveling and didn't have the internet speed to download it.

[20181027 Edit]

20170708:
The first full day home after traveling, I just felt like watching movies and so I spent most of the day doing so. Then at around nine o'clock in the evening I decided to start downloading the game. Unfortunately, it hadn't occurred to me that the game's files totaled a whopping 42 GB! With my internet connection, that was going to take two to three hours to download! Feeling tired, I fell asleep while waiting for the download to finish.

[20181027 Edit]

20170709 AM Hours:
Fortunately, I woke up a little before two in the morning (2AM) and started playing the game (if I hadn't woken up, there would have been a chance I miss the free-to-play window altogether).

With just six percent completion, I stopped playing at around 6:20 AM.

Preparing to stealth kill a urinating Uruk.

Game Time: ~ 263 min (2:00 AM - 6:23 AM)

[20181027 Edit]

20170709:
When I woke up, I resumed the game and played it nonstop - in part because the trial officially expired at 10 AM, but Steam didn't force me to quit (at 10 AM). As such, I was able to continue playing past the official expiration time. Abusing this design, I left the game open on pause while I ate and used the restroom.

Log:
Playing the game with the mindset of it being free allowed me to take chances and make mistakes (such as dying and tossing runes, etc.). With that being said, I played the game as I would any other adventure game, with minimal use of online help. In fact, I only noted looking up a video for "Cutting the Lines" after I had tried three times and died. Personally I tried to kite and replenish but apparently the flaw in this strategy was that the spawn rate was faster than my kill rate. Solution: attracting the Caragors was my key to victory.

Tip: When looking to ground execute an Uruk, get on the other side of him first to make it harder for other Uruks to interrupt the execution (or more time before deciding to bale on an execution and counter the new attacker).

Intel on a Uruk Warchief.

A little after 11 PM, I finally decide to stop playing. (39% Completion)

While Steam didn't allow me to play more, the game was still on sale for $4. I had so much fun that I considered buying it before going to bed. I did not, however, end up buying the game and decided to sleep on the purchase.

[20170711][20181027 Edit]

20170710:
Unfortunately, I woke up late and the sale had expired. Oh well.

[20181027 Edit]

20170711:
Fortunately, early this morning, I was searching for Shadow of Mordor and saw the game on sale for $3! I immediately decided to buy it.*

*The deal would expire just a couple hours later.

[20181027 Edit]

Ledge kill.

Steam Game Time: 18.1 hours total

Thoughts:
Fighting Mechanics:
+ Thoroughly satisfying.
+ Doesn't grow old; there's a lot of variation
+ New abilities get added/can be unlocked as progress through the main story is achieved
~ Some of the fighting mechanics lack transparency; for example, critical strike, focus (why can't I choose when to use focus), and drain vs. stealth drain.

Traversing Mechanics:
+ Generally fluid; almost feels like you can climb anything
+ Animation is beautiful
~ Not always intuitive; sometimes messes up, but usually doesn't put too much a damper on the overall experience

Unlocking skills.

Stealth Mechanics:
+ Stealth kills are fun, but get repetitive.
~ Not as detailed as a stealth game; sometimes you can walk in front of an orc but far enough away
- At times the stealth makes the game too easy. For example, attract an orc, stealth ledge kill, rinse and repeat. Sometimes another orc is nearby. Really? He didn't notice I just pulled his friend down from the ledge?

Boss Related Gameplay:
~ Gathering intel on bosses is fun at first. But it gets tedious. Especially if I died and new orcs join the ranks. Annoying.
~ Similarly, the hierarchy is fun at first.
- Sometimes too many bosses will spawn. And it's hard enough to kill certain bosses with regular enemies. This causes a drawn out resources game or attempting to single out the boss.

Other Mechanics:
+ The rune system is decent; could have been improved with the ability to save a rune profile; also if all three rune pages were just shown at once; maybe a drag and drop system instead of clicking on a rune slot before seeing and choosing a rune as well
+ Riding caragors is fun.

After enough free-the-slave missions, slaves will occasionally help Talion fight Uruks.

~ Lots of items to collect
- It would have been nice to collect herbs and store them on hand for healing on the fly. Instead it's this strange all-or-nothing. Most of the time when I'm casually going across the world and pass a plant I don't need it. Then When I'm in a fight, I wish I could heal.
- Running from caragors and/or killing them is annoying. Maybe that's the point. They are fearsome beasts. Hint: when possible, run them towards a group of orcs to refocus aggro.

Summary:
The main reason I enjoy the game is for the fighting. After about fifteen hours into the game, fighting and moving became intuitive and any fight that didn't involve a boss often felt as fluid as watching a movie. Run up a wall, run towards an enemy archer, stealth kill, leap over some arches, dive stealth kill an orc below, engage in a fight, run up another wall and take some enemies out with the bow, and so on without pause. It's awesome.

With respect to fighting, the only other open-world game that has a similar fighting system which I've played is Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Fighting was a lot of fun in those games and the fact that Shadow of Mordor managed to create an equally fulfilling, if not better, experience with a similar fighting system deserves a round of applause. Of course, it could be the setting, which would be why Arkham City no longer felt as fun as Arkham Asylum.

A stealth kill.

Overall, I've written more for Shadow of Mordor than I've written for most video games I've played and that, despite any criticism above, should represent how much I enjoyed it. In fact, I could potentially write more about the game, but feel that it would suffice to conclude that I enjoyed being immersed into the fantasy world of Middle-earth and that I would highly recommend the game. I've seen a lot of titles with a "Game of the Year" award, and this one lives up to the name.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, and Xbox One) (2014)

Relevant Links:
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Wikipedia.org)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) (IGN.com)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Steam Store Page)

One of two protagonists, a wraith (left), gains intel from an Uruk.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (PC) (2014)

Overview: An adventure game that centers around exploration and discovery. There's no right way to play, but there are achievements which can be earned.

(Classic View)

20170705:
I played the game with the Classic View (angled) for 4.3 hours. Then I checked out Spindle View (curved, globe) and Data View (top-down).

Steam Game Time: 4.6 hours

Before I retired for the night, I read that the power-up usage rate affects the type of buildings and the color.

(Spindle View)

20170706:
Today I played some more, but I also fell asleep at some point.

Steam Game Time: 1.0 hours (Session Game Time, including sleep)

20170707:
Addicted, I continued playing more today over random intervals, but I also tried to hack the game a little by examining and editing the save file. Unfortunately, editing the save file was a lot of trial and error, and the consequences of hacking the save file remained unclear. Of course, at this point I still didn't entirely understand the game itself; this made my hacking attempt an obstacle.

(Data View)

Steam Game Time: 9.9 hours

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Relaxing
+ Mysteriously fun and addicting

World Map.

Cons:
- Lack of transparency; while the game is built around discovery, I wish there was a log that tracked an association between colors and actions.
- Eventually tedious; can be avoided by knowing the proper strategy ahead of time.

Summary:
Wow, I didn't expect such a weird, simple game to be so addicting.

My first hack attempt resulted in a world that had all dark gray panels.
Oddly, the world map remained unchanged.

With that being said, there was a moment along the gameplay experience where the game ceased being fun and started feeling tedious. On the one hand I wanted to achieve some of the remaining achievements and on the other hand I was ready to uninstall the game.

Overall, casual and patient players are likely to enjoy this game. Alternatively, players who don't care about accomplishments and enjoy a good story might also enjoy this game.

Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (PC) (2014)

I went through about 10 to 15 different changes of the save file and didn't take enough notes to make heads or tails of the changes. However, the output of the change as seen in this screenshot is gray trees.

Relevant Links:
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love Website
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (Steam Store Page)

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD (PC) (2009)

20170704:
This game was on my "List to Play... For Reals" category and so I gave it a try but I didn't get into it. Perhaps I feared how time consuming the mining aspect of the game would be.

Setup: Keyboard and touchpad.

Steam Game Time: 39 min

Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD (PC) (2009)

Relevant Links:
Galaxy on Fire (Wikipedia.org)
Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD (Steam Store Page)

The Jackbox Party Pack (PC) (2014)

Overview: A collection of party games.

20170704:
Today I was hanging out with some of my fiancee's relatives and everybody was just sitting around and after getting a little bit of interest in playing a game I purchased this party pack. I already knew the party pack was fun because I had previously played the game courtesy of my friend Avi (May 2016).

Drawful

Setup: Everyone connected using their phones, and I connected my laptop to the television with an HDMI cable. For whatever reason the display went to sleep every so often, but this was generally just a hiccup in the game experience. When we later had to move to a room without a television, we simply used the laptop display.

Game Log:
Fibbage XL
: We first played several rounds of Fibbage. I wasn't sure if we'd end up playing the other games, and among the different games, I thought Fibbage was a combination of fun and simple.

Drawful
: We ended up choosing a different game after several rounds of Fibbage and we chose Drawful. Drawful is fun but the inability to erase is a little annoying and it feels a bit more slower paces than Fibbage. Of course, Drawful certainly has a Fibbage quality to it. However, it feels less balanced than Fibbage.

Which phrase matches the picture? (Drawful)

Word Spud
: This game was a lot of fun with my friend Avi and our fellow coworkers, mainly because of a shared type of humor. In contrast, playing with my fiancee's relatives required more thought to gain points (or not lose as much points as the next player). It was still fun, and showed how this specific game requires knowing the other players; Word Spud depends on knowing the other players in a way that the other games do not. In general, this game is best played with a group of friends or with a group of strangers, but mixing the two will probably bring about imbalanced gameplay.

Lie Swatter
: This game reminded me of Super Trivia at Dave & Busters. Of course, just like Super Trivia, I knew very little, but I think the other players were in the same boat as me. As such, this was the one game which we only played once.

Drawful
: After Lie Swatter, we returned to Drawful and played one more game before retiring at about four in the morning.

Drawful Scores

Personally, my favorite is Fibbage XL.

Note: We didn't play YOU DON'T KNOW JACK 2015 because we had more than four players.

Steam Game Time: 2.6 hours (session game time)

[20170718 Edit]

20170916:
Today I played a couple of games with Ada.

Steam Game Time: 3.2 hours (total game time) / 0.6 hours (session game time)

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Easy to setup
+ Wide variety of games that can accommodate the number of people provided there exists a sufficient number of electronic devices (though drawing will be easier with a touch-screen device such as a smart phone or tablet).

Word Spud
(I played this round as Ada, my fiancee's name)

Con:
- Most games require a moderate-to-strong grasp of the English language.

[20170718]

Summary:
The key to The Jackbox Party Pack is the minimal setup. Just give every player the room code and have them connect with a device that has an internet browser. Of course, the collection of games themselves are fun.

In general, if you and your friends are a fan of party games such as Taboo, Apples to Apples, Telestrations, etc., then I would highly recommend The Jackbox Party Pack.

Note, however, there are currently three party packs by Jackbox Games and a fourth will be released soon.

The Jackbox Party Pack (PC) (2014)

Relevant Links:
The Jackbox Party Pack Webpage
Jackbox Games > The Jackbox Party Pack (Wikipedia.org)
The Jackbox Party Pack (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
The Jackbox Party Pack (Steam Store Page)

Five out of eight players got this one right.* (Fibbage) (20160521)

Even better, five out of eight players coincidentally chose the same lie! (Fibbage) (20160521)

*By deduction (using a picture not shown here), someone chose "Virginity" because those who wrote "Virginity" as a lie got 1000 points. Similarly, someone chose "Memory" because Hemanth got 1000 points. For sure Jamison didn't pick either of the two, because he picked "Tastebuds." I also didn't pick "Virginity" because that was my lie, so I must have chosen "Memory." And finally, that leaves Hemanth having picked "Virginity," and I've accounted for all the points.

20211210:
Played with my coworkers. The online connection was unstable and the game disconnected in the middle of two different games. However, in hindsight, I was connected to Zoom from two different computers and I was probably connected to the wi-fi network on my phone which I was using to play the game. Severing the Zoom connection from my work laptop and using data from my phone could have potentially avoided the issue.

In any case, Fibbage XL was probably the best, Word Spud was too intense, Lie Swatter sometimes felt random (especially the final round with Kentucky Derby winners) and not enough sense of who's ahead, and Drawful was interesting (but was got cut short on account of the second server disconnect).

Steam Game Time: 4.8 hours (total game time) / 1.5 hours (session game time)

20220729 Snapshot:
Was thinking about playing today but didn't. In any case, the game time is sitting at 8.6 hours and yet the last entry above for 20211210 shows the total game time at 4.8 hours. Where did the additional 3.8 hours come from?

Steam Game Time: 8.7 hours (total game time)

20231220:
For the holidays some of my coworkers and I got together and played similar to two years ago.

Gameplay Log:
Fibbage XL: Mark won with 13750 points, followed by Tony ("Masterchief") with 9000 points.
Fibbage XL: To end the second round was a question where everyone guessed the correct answer. This meant Tony stayed in the lead for the win, followed by Bryson.
Drawful: Highlights here are "this magic carpet is filthy" and "daft punk getting ice cream". The win ended up being a tie between Mark and myself ("Not Mark")... The points go so fast throughout the game though... I'm not sure where I got all the points.

Steam Game Time: 9.7 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.0 hours (session game time) / 58 minutes (last two weeks)

20240106:
Today I played with my relatives (Ate Jenny, R.K., J.J., Amber, Arriane, and Audrey).

Gameplay Log:
Drawful
Fibbage XL
Lie Swatter
Lie Swatter
Word Spud
Word Spud
We started another round of Drawful but we ended up stopping as some people had to go and others had to focus on packing up for travel.

Drawful was fun, but in hindsight it is better to play it after Fibbage XL, because Fibbage XL imparts the concept of trying to fool others and guessing the correct answer without the drawing mechanic. In any case, both those games are more fun and carry more transparency in who is winning than either Lie Swatter or Word Spud. Word Spud can be fun with a certain group of players, but generally I find it feels like a hit or miss - especially given how subjective the game is. I think for Word Spud it is better to have anonymous submissions in order to avoid playing favorites, and don't show the total votes thus far in order to avoid sabotage. In addition, this group of players had a tendency to vote negative instead of voting positive or abstaining. Perhaps the assumption is that one needs to vote. If instead the game developers had given an explicit choice to remain neutral, I'm sure that would generally change the dynamics of the game.

Steam Game Time: 1.2 hours (session game time)*
*I forgot I was logged into a secondary account and played the game on that account instead of my main account.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Kingdom Rush (PC) (2011)

Overview: A tower defense game with a medieval setting (knights, warriors, wizards, archers, etc.)

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (PC) (2013)

Overview: A parody of Oregon Trail which is more action based.

20170701:
Today I was using my other laptop which barely has any games installed. I decided to play one of the few installed games which also happened to belong to my "Recommended by Filter" category.

Setup: Keyboard and USB Mouse.

Initially I considered stopping after the first death. But then I figured the experience was so short that I should play at least one more time. By then, I was sufficiently hooked that I made several more attempts at beating the game. Unfortunately, by the time I reached my limit with the game, I had not beaten.

Steam Game Time: 36 minutes

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Simple, yet enjoyable
+ Replay value (due to randomness of events)

Neutral:
~ Retro

Summary:
I was optimistic about the game, had my doubts when I first loaded it up, but definitely enjoyed it once I got into it.

With that being said, I'm not sure what kind of gamer would enjoy this game. Perhaps anyone who has some nostalgia for Oregon Trail, but wished it was more action packed should give the game a try. Players who enjoy retro action games should also consider picking up the game.

Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (PC) (2013)*
*Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (Xbox 360) (2012)

Relevant Links:
Super Amazing Wagon Adventure Webpage
Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (Wikipedia.org)
Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (Steam Store Page)

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