How I Spent My Summer Vacation, pt. 2
In which the councilor’s cabin is struck with a mysterious case of the mumps, threatening to cancel the camp’s big End of Season musical, until I rally the other campers for an all-singing, all-dancing lesson about how lying really hurts that we’d never forget. Or maybe I just talk about games some more.
Sid Meir’s Civilization Revolution (DS)
I thought I was safe. The plan was simple enough: without a PC to play it on, there was no way the next installment of the venerable Civilzation series could get its insidious hooks inside me. I had dodged the fourth game this way, and I suppose I was feeling cocky. When it was annoounced the game would be coming to the 360? Well, sure, I might have sweated a bit. When early previews described it as an ideal streamlining of mechanics, handing over as much of the micromanaging as possible to the computer so you could focus on the business at hand of ruling the world, I felt my resolve crumbling. By the time I heard it was coming to the Nintendo DS, I’d pretty much accepted my doom.
Civ Rev is perhaps the ideal version of Meir’s classic game of ruling the world, eschewing the fancy graphics of its console brethren for simple, charming visuals that get the job done first and worry about everything else later. With enough difficulty levels and countries to choose from to ensure things are always interesting (just a word to the wise - watch out for the bastard Zulu no matter where you start), it’s pretty much the perfect solution to long train rides or killing time before brunch. While the ability to play through a game in record time is supposed to be one of its selling points, trust me when I say it’s worth sticking it out long enough to launch your first nuke.
Castle Crashers (360)
Confession time: I never played River City Ransom. I did play a whole bunch of games that ripped it off, though, including spending god knows how much of my life with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time for the SNES, so when Castle Crashers arrived on Xbox Live after months of anticipation, there was a part of my brain already screaming out for it. Easily one of the prettiest games on Microsoft’s downloadable service, its also one of the most immensely satisfying, with every slash, thwack, or thud of your weapons vibrating through the controller. It’s a sensation you’ll get used to in a hurry, as the game never hesitates to fill the screen with thieves, demons, undead nights, aliens, and dozens of other creatures all looking to bash in your head. Best of all, the entire experience is co-op, allowing you and up to three others to hack you way through the game together. Thanks, Behemoth, it was completely worth the wait.
N+ (DS)
The red dots are mines. If you touch them, you’ll die. If the wandering spheres touch you, you’ll die. If the hunter drones touch you, you’ll die. If you stay in one place too long, the crosshairs will find you, and you’ll die from lasers. If the heat-seeking missiles catch up with you, you’ll die. If you fall too far, too fast, you’ll die. If you don’t make it to the exit before the bar at the top of the screen runs out, you’ll die. Based on the crazy popular downloadable flash game, N+ is a vicious, nerve-racking obstacle course where everything can be categorized as This Kills You or This Helps You. The only three things in the latter column are switches, doors, and gold pieces, leaving a hostile world full of narrow escapes and even leaner lifespans. Never mind being impressed over the feat of getting rag doll physics working on the DS - for twenty bucks, the convenience of portability, and no load times between dying, there’s precious little else that scratches the instant gratification itch quite like this.
Originally published at Expertologist. You can comment here or there.