APP OF THE YEAR: Carcassonne

This was the first year we added mobile games to the Games Magazine Games 100 awards We chose to focus on Apps, rather than on other mobile devices, because only Apps can make a legitimate claim to being a new gaming format, with unique mechanics and design elements. Certain games are Wii games and can only ever effectively be Wii games. And certain games are Apps, and can only ever effectively be Apps.

To become a new format, a device must offer a unique language, a core vocabulary that it shares with every other item in that genre. There are distinct qualities to PC, Wii, DS, and Xbox/PS games, primarily based upon control, ergonomics, and aesthetics. Apple mobile software can make a similar claim, due to its unique blend of portability, size, multi-touch controls, and a 3-axis accelerometer (enhanced by a gyroscopic sensor for the iPhone 4).

Apps are of particular interest to Games readers because they are a natural format for all manner of puzzle, board, and card games. There are a huge variety of classic games, Eurogames, card games, and abstract strategy titles for the format, often with multiple versions of each. Many of these have multiplayer elements built-in, and also include teaching tools, variant versions, other features to give them added appeal. And all if this rarely costs more than a few dollars. It’s creating a mini-renaissance of classic gaming and puzzle play.

Our normal criteria for inclusion in the Games 100 is a title released within the current year (roughly October to September). For the inaugural edition of the App section of the Games 100, we choose the 25 best Apps in the App Store. The focus was heavily tilted towards the kinds of games our readers would prefer: heavy on board games and puzzles, light on action games and fart apps. If we'd done the list now, after having several more months of serious app gaming under my belt, there may have been some add/drops, but I'm pretty comfortable with the way the list turned out.

Had the awards come three months later, however, I might have considered Cut the Rope for the top spot of App of the Year, but it's hard to say. The winner, Carcassonne, is a time-tested favorite among Eurogamers in general and our readers in particular. The feature-set for the conversion of Carcassonne reads like a wish-list of everything you’d want in this kind of App. There are 8 different AI players, a new solitaire mode, local network play over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, Internet multiplayer via live-gaming sessions or email, a matchmaking service, an Elo ratings system, and in-game chat.

The implementation of the game itself is also quite strong. Carcassonne was always going to be a tough fit for the small screen of a mobile device. Its tendency to spread across the table makes it though to fit in a small space. The App version does a fair job of managing this by zooming in and out, and clearly marking any block where tile placement is legal.

The result is a pitch-perfect implementation of a complex boardgame design. This no small achievement, and clearly marks out Carcassonne as the App of the Year. Runner's up were Helsing's Fire and Catan.

App O' The Mornin': Finger Physics: Thumb Wars Review

Grade: C
Price: $1

Finger Physics never really knocked me out with its brilliant puzzle gameplay. It's okay, I guess, but the objects, their arrangement, and their behavior always just seemed to fall on the wrong side of the dividing line between "interesting" and "meh."

The first sequel, Thumb Wars, brings the "meh" in spades. This is a new mix of stacking and dropping puzzles that feels like an extended add-on for Finger Physics. As with its predecessor, the puzzles seem kind of random, with object behavior that requires plenty of guesswork. Even if a trial-and-error approach is fine with you, you may well find many of these just a bit stale. I'm not fan of stacking puzzles, but even if I was I'd like something a little more interesting that you'll find on display here.

I puzzled a bit over the title, assuming there were battling thumbs somewhere in the game, which would have made the experience 27.3% more interesting. No, apparently PressOK thinks that people play these games with their thumbs. Am I alone in thinking that's not really the case? I use my index finger for almost all puzzles, and I've never actually witnessed anyone doing puzzles with their thumbs. I understand that "Index-Finger Wars" isn't exactly a snappy title, but something called Thumb Wars should have, y'know, more thumbs in it.

The "Wars" title comes from the competition element that's been slathered across the surface of Finger Physics, much like old Hollywood cameramen used to spread Vaseline on their lenses to make aging stars look less wrinkly. It doesn't work as well here. The competition amounts to international leaderboards, so you can compare your "team's" scores to those of other countries around the world. I surely could care less how many stars were earned by Team Edward in Canada for solving puzzle #3.

By the way, there are some are thumbs in the game.  They're anthropomorphic little guys who occasionally introduce levels. Let me tell you something about a cartoon thumb with a helmet and a face: it bears an unfortunate resemblance to a certain part of the male anatomy. And once you get that image in your head, the game either becomes unplayable ... or absolutely hilarious.

Battle Cry: Back in Print

Before Richard Borg's Memoir '44 (Days of Wonder), Command & Colors (GMT), or Battle Lore (Fantasy Flight), there was Battle Cry. Borg created Battle Cry for Avalon Hill back in 2000, introducing the appealing and accessible system for military gaming that would power those later designs.

Battle Cry has been unavailable for a few years, but Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast are republishing it later this month. That's really good news for gamers. And if you don't know what Battle Cry is, just think of this: Memoir '44 ... set in the Civil War. MSRP is $60.

Civilization: The Board Game

A few years ago, Eagle Games took a stab at converting the classic PC game into a tabletop experience with Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame, and made a mess of it. It was flawed, unwieldy, and thoroughly unenjoyable.

Now Fantasy Flight is tackling this formidable task, and as this video shows, they have some intriguing design elements.

Shark Bites Helicopter

I'm sure some people might find Sydney Shark aggressively tasteless.  As for me, I have to appreciate a game in which a shark can leap from the water, bite a helicopter, and drag it into the water while an outraged, muscle-bound koala bear angrily shakes his fists. Also: you eat scuba-divers, cruise ships, and horses.

Mausland Entertainment also did a version of this called Miami Shark. Both are free flash games, but Sydney Shark does have a stylin' Panama hat. So he's got that going for him, which is nice.

App O' The Mornin': SteamBirds Review

Grade: A
Price: $1

Aerial strategy games usually have a niche appeal. Although there have been a number of board games tackling the subject, only a few computer games, such as Flight Commander and Over the Reich, spring to mind. That's probably because the tactical aspects of air-to-air combat are hard to capture quite right. We know how to take down the Red Baron when we're in control of a 3D sim and can perform an immelmann after a strafing run, but converting the knowledge into a turn-based tactical simulation can be tricky.

SteamBirds does a fair job of capturing these tactical elements, but it's not really a wargame or tacsim. This is a casual strategy game with an aerial combat theme. The premise offers an alt-history WWI/II in which steam-power aircraft do battle with a variety of souped-up tech and weapons. Frankly, other than giving it a nice veneer of steampunk, the alt-history aspect doesn't actually affect gameplay very much. Since all the aircrafts' powers are relative within the game world, you might as well be flying von Richthofen vs. Brown.

The gameplay itself is one of puzzle-like maneuver. You set a path or action for your planes with a little arrow, and then advance the clock a bit. The aircraft turn, speed up, reverse course, or perform other special functions in approximately 3-second intervals, and then you adjust the paths again.

Battles thus become a matter of choreography, as you jostle for the best position on an enemy six without overshooting them, or make slashing hit-and-runs on larger, slower-moving targets. It's a terrificly entertaining--and often remarkably challenging--combination of elements, and I can't really think of any other app quit like it.

The visual style is very appealing, and the designed translates almost perfectly to the iPhone format.The only tricky part is the occasional lack of precision when grabbing an arrow. They can fall fairly close to each other, making selection a little challenging. That's neither a large nor a widespread problem, but it crops up enough to be worth noting. The Java version, which has become something of an indie classic, is a more natural fit for the design, but the app works just fine.

SteamBirds is an easy one to recommend for strategy gamers, but if you have any doubts just play the game itself, for free. The entire thing can be found at steambirds.net.

Shopping at Amazon

Amazon's Associate program is the only financial support this site has. (Yes, there are also Google AdSense banners on the page. I expect those to generate some actual income around the time the sun finally gutters out and the last man on earth is left staring into the lonely void.)

If you plan to shop at Amazon for Christmas or Hanukkah this year, please consider accessing the Amazon site through my links, such as the one below. It doesn't cost you anything extra, and I get 4%-6% on each sale just because you click through from this page.

Thanks.

RPG/ADVENTURE GAME OF THE YEAR: Mass Effect 2

Role-playing and adventure games each used to have their own category in the Games 100, back in those crazy days when Roberta Williams roamed the plains and gold boxes stuffed with floppy treasures and code wheels were stacked on every shelf. 

I'm pretty sure I remember my predecessor/boss, Burt Hochberg, even having separate categories for different kinds of adventure games, such as "humorous" and "science-fiction," but the again Burt was always pretty specific about his game categories. This may merely be a gin-induced false memory, but I swear I remember him asking me once, "Tommy my boy, do you think we should give an award for Best Puzzle Game Played With Marbles"? (In my memory, Burt always sounds like Jackie Mason for some reason.)

Well, "RPG" has become a remarkably fluid category. It's almost de rigueur for action games nowadays to have some element of role-playing (achievements, skills, leveling), thus blurring the lines. Meanwhile, the graphical adventure genre cratered about a decade ago and never really recovered, no matter how hard Telltale Games keeps trying to bring it back. I have so few in each category that they wound up being combined. 

Meanwhile, "Action" games have grown like the giant fungal mats of Oregon. RPGs are becoming more actiony and action games are becoming more RPGish. What is Red Dead Redemption? Clearly there is a role-playing game at the heart of it, but the part of me that finished every Gold Box, Baldur's Gate, Ultima, Might & Magic, and Wizardy game balks at calling RDR a real RPG. It's just ... not. 

My dividing line is usually stats. If a game is has character building, races, classes, stats, skills, experience points, leveling, narrative, and questing, then it's an RPG. If it's missing any of those features, then it's probably not an RPG. Unless I think it is. It's pretty confusing. 

Well, this year was kind of a no-brainer for the RPG award. BioWare is one of the finest purveyors of RPGishness around, and Mass Effect 2 is a wonderworld of riches. The second outing sharpens the gameplay, expands the universe, and delivers a new, even more compelling storyline. Although the original had the look and control of a third-person action game, it was an RPG in its particulars. The sequel streamlines the combat and pushes it a little more to the forefront, but does so without sacrificing any of the character and narrative depth that made the original such a hit.

2010 was also the year I got serious about digging deeper into DragonAge, and I have not yet reached the bottom. It's a truly beautiful piece of work.

App O' The Mornin': Flight Control Review

Grade: A
Price: $1

If, like me, you hadn't pick up Flight Control because it looked like a boring traffic-pathing game, go ahead and rectify that error right now by springing for the1-buck download. You will not regret it. You can come back and finish the review later.

Flight Control might not seem like a hot purchase, since it appears to nothing more that a dry air traffic control game. Although it is an air traffic control game, there's nothing dry about it. Everything is crisp and professional, from the appealing graphics (done in the style of those hilarious Emergency Landing Cards that inform you of the most comfortable position in which to meet your fiery doom) to the cocktail lounge soundtrack. I'm not sure where the developers, Firemint, came from, but they sure now how to make a game.

The gameplay itself is so perfectly wedded to the touchscreen format that I can't imagine it existing on any other platform. The games is based around 5 different single-screen landing field layouts. Planes and helicopters of differing sizes, speeds, and colors enter the map, and must be sent to the correcting landing spot without plowing into any other aircraft. This is done by drawing a path, which the aircraft will follow.

The action starts slowly, but soon gets fairly tense as the skies crowd and different kinds of planes enter the patterns. You'll have to juggle intersecting paths and suddenly-appearing aircraft while trying to get everyone lined up and on the ground safely. If two planes crash into each other, the game ends. The goal is to land as many planes as possible before this (inevitably) happens.

There's a WiFi/Bluetooth mode that lets you handled the traffic duties with a friend, as well as a number of special achievements, such as keeping an aircraft airborne fore 5 minutes straight.

Flight Control is on the short-list of must-have apps for any serious app gamer.

SPORTS/DRIVING GAME OF THE YEAR: Split/Second

The flu interrupted my ongoing series about the Games 100 issue, which is an annual supplement in Games Magazine dedicated to the best games in any given year.  The first two entries were on Action Game of the Year and Strategy Game of the Year.

Sports and Driving are two genres that leave me cold, so I usually rely on my crack team of advisors, led by Lawyer to the Stars Eric Neigher, to steer me right. You can tell I really respect sports and racing games, because I shoved them into a single category and limited them to 10 or fewer titles per year. 

The reason for this is simple: they are almost always repetitious iterations of previous games with annual changes that are of interest only to people who follow this sort of thing religiously. I've worked on this guide for years, and I have run out of interesting ways to say that Madden Umpteen-Umpty-Ump has new rosters, slightly improved graphics, and a fresh control system that allows the midline field rule to be applied to the puck while in motion, or whatever it is these people do in between grunting and sweating.

As is now probably obvious, I know nothing about sports. I cannot think of an area of popular passion that is of less interest to me, other than Lady Gaga's wardrobe, or perhaps that new band you like, the one with that video. The only exception, oddly enough, is golf, which I know pretty well and covered from a gaming perspective for many years. Heck, I even wrote a museum exhibit about golf sims for the World Golf Hall of Fame. Since I understand that golf is considered the most unwatchable game on broadcast television, I'm sure this says something awful about my peculiar psyche. I just don't know what. 

On the positive side, it means I've had tea in the private dining room at Royal St. Andrews--the one overlooking the first hole--and actually touched Sean Connery's locker. (His golf locker. Man, you people have filthy minds.)

But I digress.

This year we rolled out the usual allotment of notices for NFL, MLB, UCF, MILF, and whatever other annual $60 patches made the cut. We considered the professional sports field quite seriously ... and then gave award to Split/Second, a driving game in which an airplane lands on your car while your incredible drifting skillz make you so powerful you can literally make the track explode.  

Top that, Madden.

App O' The Mornin': Scrabble Review UPDATE

Update: 11/10/10

EA rolled out a big update for their Scrabble app, adding some new features and redesigning others. How does it measure up?

Well, it still loads like sludge, but at least now it supports multitasking, so you don't have to keep doing a reload every time you move. That's a huge time-saver for people who keep multiple games going throughout the day, and the prime improvement I would have asked for.

The menu system has been given a complete overhaul, providing a more stylish look and sleeker design. It's simply easier to get games started and customize features. Heck, the redesign even reminded me of features I'd forgotten about. (I don't recall ever noticing that you could choose your own music.) The layout of the solo setup, in particular, is much more natural. 

After a quick read of the update reviews in the App Store, I see a lot people disagree with this, and think the new look is ugly. Since App Store reviews are to quality commentary what Budweiser is to quality beer, I won't let this trouble my sleep much.

The "teacher" mode is now available for all play modes, but I admit to being a little iffy on the idea. It's certainly a nice way to improve your game, but I've always found that its availability in multiplayer mode makes it a tempting way to cheat. (It can you show you words with letters you still have on your rack at the end of the turn, allowing you to use that word next turn.)

The bad news? There's still no retina or Game Center support, pointless sound effects have been added (and can be turned off), and the scoring bug doesn't appear to have been fixed. People are lining up in the App Store to protest the lack of retina support with the mightiest arrow in their quivers: the Fearsome 1-Star Review. Because, you know, nothing demands cutting edge graphical blandishments like a game designed to played with cardboard and wood.

It's a good update, and would have been worthwhile if only for the multitasking.

Original Review: 8/18/10

With the demise of the unofficial "Scrabulous," the official EA/

Hasbro version of Scrabble became the only online version of this classic game. It's already a huge hit on Facebook, and has also made a successful jump the the App store, featuring multiplayer support that is among the best for any turn-based game.

The support for play across multiple platforms is, in my experience, unique among Apps. (And, no, I am not counting Farmville and Mafia. If you consider those “games,” you’re probably at the wrong blog.) I can start a game with the App, invite players via Facebook, and then anyone playing can continue the game either via Facebook or the App. This is a fantastic feature that needs to be implemented in more games. Unfortunately, there's a scoring bug that deducts the same amount of points from both sides, and can declares the wrong winner.

The software passes the new moves fairly quickly, and App connection failures are rare. (The Facebook side of the equation is a little more fussy, often requiring repeated screen reloads.) This kind of offline multiplayer is ideal for mobile devices, since it allows people to make moves at their own pace. Because of this App, I now play Scrabble every day, and it’s so easy to use that a move never takes more than a minute or two.

On the downside, it could use a more diverse set of customization options and faster load times. Although the app will send push notifications when a new move from an online opponent is received, you have to restart the app, sit through the logos, and wait while it finds your games. Updates seem to have improved this since the initial release, so we can hope that it will get even better.

Those reservations aside, it’s still a fine implementation of Scrabble for $5.

Summa Contra Sims

Sims 3 just made a nicely symmetrical leap to PlayStation 3, so now PS owners can relish in the tedium in HD. Me? I'd still rather play Prototype, which is now available as one of 360's Platinum Hits for only $30, and it's still worth a look. Here's a spot I wrote last year about both games, and my remarkable indifference related to all things Sims. 

Long ago, I came to the conclusion that The Sims was designed for Someone Else. I don’t know who. Hottentots, perhaps.

I played through The Sims 3 with awe, respect … and profound boredom. It’s a brilliant piece of work, and if God is kind I’ll never have to play it again this side of Purgatory.

Meanwhile, I’ve been returning to Prototype. I like Prototype. I also liked it when it was called Spider-Man 2 and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. If a game is worth playing once, it’s worth playing two more times with different character models.

Games are all about wish-fulfillment and power fantasies. Some people are content to wield their mighty power to get three gems in a row. Others would prefer to jump ten stories in their air and punch a helicopter out of the sky. If you have the opportunity to do the former, I have no idea why you’d choose to do the latter, but people are strange.

Adult male gamers tend to follow the groove of their childhood fantasies into adulthood. As a kid, my daydreams ranged toward Conan, Professor Challenger, the Six Million Dollar Man, and G.I. Joe. (Also: I wanted a pet werewolf.) If someone makes a game in which a muscular Cimmerian gets fitted for a cybernetic arm with kung-fu grip and leads his Adventure Team into a jungle swarming with dinosaurs that time forgot!, I’d never leave the house. Until then, Prototype will do fine.

My childhood fantasies never ran toward being, say, an interior decorator, or a guy who humps his way to a crummy job and home to a barely furnished tract house every day. That’s actually the polar opposite of “fantasy.” Some people call it “reality,” or perhaps just “life.” Others call it The Sims 3.

I’m baffled when people deride a certain piece of art or entertainment as “mere escapism.” What the hell else is it supposed to be? You may escape into high-minded flights of the intellect or emotional insight, or into a place where a man in a loincloth chokes a T-Rex with his mighty pneumatic hand, but you are escaping. I’d rather not spend those precious moments of escape redecorating someone else’s make-believe house.

App O' The Mornin': WackyLands Boss Review

Grade: B
Price: $1

Although it's saddled with a flaky control system, WackyLands Boss still managed to pack plenty of fun into its hero-stompin' gameplay.

We've all spent way too much time fighting boss battles, so WackyLands Boss turns the tables and puts you in control of the Big Bad. Your boss is incredibly customizable, with even more options unlocked as you progress through the game. You can change eyes, limbs, torso and accessories to create the custom boss o' your dreams, and then equip him with a stone fist, chain mail, and a pretty bow in his hair.

The gameplay is simple side-scrolling combat, as you meet and destroy wave after wave of tiny enemies who seem to think they're "heroes" such as nights and archers. Once in a while, a princess in pink will come fluttering helplessly into the scene. This is your chance for a quick frilly snack, which also helps restore health.

The control scheme for all this would seem to be pretty straightforward, but it doesn't work so well in practice. Everything is done with swipes and taps: hold left or right to move that direction, tap for a light punch, swipe across for a heavy punch, swipe up to grab an object or princess, and swipe down to roll. That's all very nice, but the game moves to fast and simply doesn't correctly interpret your input. These leaves you fighting the interface rather than the enemy at certain points. It's not a consistent problem, but it's enough of a problem to cost you a few losses.

Nonetheless, there is plenty of gameplay here, with a number of levels and some minigames to stretch things out. It's possible to get used to the erratic interface, and the payoff is fun little bit of monstrous payback to all those nauseating little heroes.

Heroscape: 2004-2010, R.I.P.

Here at Casa McD, we're big Heroscape fans. It's really one of the great gaming systems of all time, allowing players to create wonderful custom playing surfaces using interlocking plastic tiles, and then fight battles with miniatures representing various historical periods and fantasy settings. Thus, you may find a Roman Legion and a dragon facing off against lizard creatures and samurai. The combat system is quick and easy, but with enough details and special abilities to provide interesting tactics. It's highly collectible, wonderfully entertaining, and dead.

That's right, Hasbro/Wizard of the Coast pulled the plug on the Heroscape line. Here's the official statement:

After a thorough evaluation, we have made the decision to discontinue our Heroscape line in order to focus our efforts on our core brands. While this decision means that we will no longer be developing new content for the game, existing Heroscape products will still remain available from Wizards of the Coast and sold in the hobby game channel while supplies last.

The next and final Heroscape expansion, Moltenclaw’s Invasion, will be released on November 16, 2010. This final assortment, which is playable with the Heroscape D&D Master Set, will include the best and most iconic creatures from the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. Orcs, bugbears, dragons and frost giants will all come together to join the greatest battle of all time. 

It's a shame to see the series going away, and I hope someone snaps up the rights to it. Scoop up those remaining set while they last. Once the stock is gone, that's it.

Ecarte: Poe and Doyle Play Cards

"The game, too, was my favorite écarté!"

Edgar Allan Poe, "William Wilson" (1839)

Card games have been such a popular pastime for so long that it's not at all unusual to come across references to specific games in literature, such as Ombre in Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, or Speculation in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. 

In Edgar Allan Poe's classic doppleganger tale "William Wilson," a major plot point turns on a card game in which the narrator is caught cheating. The characters are playing a French game called Ecarté, and although it's no longer popular, it was a common gambling and casino game in the 19th century. Observers, as well as players, often bet on the outcome.

There is no solid evidence that Poe was a serious gambler. Biographies usually only mention a single period of his life, when he was in school and near-penniless, when he turned to gambling to supplement his income. That he was able to do this shows he had some skill with cards, but of the many sins (both real and imaginary) laid at the feet of Poe, card-sharping was not one of them.

Nonetheless, he showed a ready familiarity with certain cheating techniques, as William Wilson explains when he is exposed during a game of Ecarté:

In the lining of my sleeve were found all the court cards essential in ecarte, and, in the pockets of my wrapper, a number of packs, facsimiles of those used at our sittings, with the single exception that mine were of the species called, technically, arrondees [rounded]; the honours being slightly convex at the ends, the lower cards slightly convex at the sides. In this disposition, the dupe who cuts, as customary, at the length of the pack, will invariably find that he cuts his antagonist an honor; while the gambler, cutting at the breadth, will, as certainly, cut nothing for his victim which may count in the records of the game

But the literary pedigree of Ecarté doesn't end with there. The works of Arthur Conan Doyle contain at least 9 references to écarté in various stories and novels.

In Hound of the Baskervilles, for instance, Watson remarks:  "Mortimer had stayed to dinner, and he and the baronet played écarté afterwards." 

Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories are full of Ecarté references. For example, in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, the narrator says: "I took up the cards from the table where Morat had left them, and I tried to work out a few combinations at écarté. But I could not remember which were trumps, and I threw them under the table in despair." (This passage doesn't really make sense.)

And that's not even the end of it. A quick keyword search of just the books on my Kindle show écarté popping up multiple times in the writing of Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Andrew Lang, J.S. Le Fanu, Gustave Flaubert, Honore de Balzac, W.M. Thackery, and Mark Twain.

In 1895, the Lumiere Brothers filmed a short which shows two Frenchmen playing a five-card trick-taking game. Given the time period and the fact that it's a two-handed game, they are probably playing Ecarté. This is interesting for a simple reason: it's the first time a card game appeared in a motion picture. You can see the clip as part of the Lumiere compilation here.  It begins at the 3:40 mark. 

One of the fascinating things about the clip is the speed with which the old men play. The onlooker doesn't even finish pouring the drinks before the game is over. This speed is what made it a popular game for people to watch and wager upon.

How to Play Ecarté

Ecarté is a simple trick taking game with a unique scoring mechanic. It's related to Euchre, and descended from the French game Triomphe.

Preliminaries

The game is played with 32-card deck, with all the cards from 2 to 6 stripped. (This is your basic Piquet deck.) 

The rankings are K, Q, J, A, 10, 8, 9, 7.

The cards are shuffled and dealt 5 to a player. The standard deal is in packets of either 3 + 2, or 2 + 3, but any agreed-upon deal is fine. Stock is placed between the players

One card is turned face-up as Trump. If the card is a King, the dealer immediately scores 1 point.

Exchange

Non-dealer can request an exchange of a certain number of cards. The dealer may refuse this request. If the dealer refuses the card exchange, then he commits himself to making 3 tricks and play commences. The non-dealer may come back with another request to exchange a different number of cards, with the same conditions: if the dealer refuses, he must earn 3 tricks.

If the dealer accepts the card exchange, the player discards the agreed-upon number of cards and draws replacements. Dealer must discard and replace at least 1 card.

Play

Play is straight trick taking, with high-card or high-trump winning. 

If either player holds the King of trumps, he may show it and score a point before playing the first trick.

Players score 1 point for taking 3 or 4 tricks, and 2 points for taking all 5 (this is called a vole).

However, if the dealer refused the exchange and then failed to win 3 or more tricks, the non-dealer does not score his own tricks. Instead, he earns 2 points automatically. 

Play continues to 5 points. If the loser only scores 1 or 2 points, the pot is doubled. If he scores no points, the pot is tripled. 

App O' The Mornin': Floop Review

Grade: B
Price: $1

Floop is an uneven physics puzzler that isn't always easy to love. The goal is to get an object into the mouth a critter on the opposite side of the level. At the beginning, the critter in question is a squirrel, and the object is an acorn. As you earn earn stars you also unlock a mouse with his cheese, and a gorilla with his banana.

The control is a simple touch/pullback combination. When you touch the object, a line shows the path it will follow. Draw your finger back further for a more powerful, set the angle, and let 'er rip. It's a pretty common ballistic mechanism, and it works fine.

The puzzle element comes from a combination of the environment and the physics modeling. There are plenty of obstacles and environmental modifiers. Some are fixed, and some can be slightly repositioned when hit by the object. Some surfaces slip or cause modest chain reactions, while others destroy your object.

The weirdness comes from the behavior of the objects, which feels kind of wonky. Everything is a little too bouncy, with reactions akin to Jelly Car. This is not really a problem, but it takes a little time to get used to the way each item behaves in the world. Adding to the challenge is the fact that each object behaves differently depending upon its shape. The cheese is square, the acorn is kind of oblong with a hat, and the banana is ... banana-shaped. The shape effects the way a shot will bounce and roll, and creates a different dynamic for each level.

It takes a bit of time to warm up to Floop, and there's a random trial-and-error element that I don't usually like to see in my puzzlers.

Also: I don't know why, but I don't like angry-looking animals in my apps. I like cute. I like Kiko and Starcat. I'm sure this was attempt to capture the Angry Birds vibe, but it doesn't work here. That squirrel looks like he's about to foam at the mouth, run up my pants leg, and do something awful to me. (By the way, squirrels? Not cute. Squirrels are lawn rats, and no amount of Cute Overload pictures will convince me otherwise.)

That said, I did wind up kind of liking Floop. It has plenty of levels and decent production values, and it certainly offers plenty of gameplay for a buck. If the notion of a ballistic puzzler with Jelly Car physics sounds interesting to you, then have at it.

PUZZLE: The Pebble Game

This is a classic from Henry Dudeney:

"Here is an interesting little puzzle game that I used to play with an acquaintance on the beach at Slocomb-on-Sea. Two players place an odd number of pebbles, we will say fifteen, between them. Then each takes in turn one, two, or three pebbles (as he chooses), and the winner is the one who gets the odd number. Thus, if you get seven and your opponent eight, you win. If you get six and he gets nine, he wins. Ought the first or second player to win, and how? When you have settled the question with fifteen pebbles try again with, say, thirteen."

Turns Out It Wasn't a Cold...

... it was the flu. If a cold on immunosuppressants is unfun, then the flu on immunosuppressants is double-super-plus unfun. I'm going to be going slow this week, so thanks for your patience. I managed to get an App review up this morning, but since my head is all floaty and woozy, I may well have said that Reckless Racing was the best aardvark gromit mowing fish of 1989.

So, hey, maybe this will be a fun week for readers after all! Watch the loopy writer try make sense on heavy medications.

App O' The Mornin': Reckless Racing Review

Grade: A
Price: $1

I waited to pick up Reckless Racing until the price dropped, and for a very good reason: I'm cheap. At $1, Reckless Racing is a steal, but even if the price goes up you should grab this one.

Even if you don't normally like racing games, you may well like Reckless Racing, since it's not your ordinary racer. The top-down perspective gives you a wide view of the track layout, which makes it almost like playing with slot car racers. I'm not a big fan of 3D racers, but there's almost a puzzle-like quality to top-down racers.

Visually, this is one of the best apps in the store. The races play out across detailed terrains with great lighting effects and animation. There are five tracks total, and each one has a reverse version that can be unlocked. It would have been nice to a see a little more diversity in the track style and layout, but that's a pretty small problem, and may well be rectified with updates.

The game allows for 3 kinds of control: standard (left, right, gas, and break buttons), tilt, and tank (autogas with left, right, and break buttons). All of them are responsive, and the game controls quite well. Is it a realistic racer? Great Uncle Jessie's Ghost, boy! What are you talking about? This is a Redneck Racing kind of game, channeling the spirit of Bo, Luke, and the General Lee. You drift around corners, spin through mud puddles, ram opponents into the river, hit randomly-placed ramps, and then move along.

The main game is a standard dirt rally against 5 other AI racers, who all seem to be on guide-rails. Or lithium. Or both. The hot lap mode is a nicely executed solo race that records each turn around the track and then lets you race against a ghost version of yourself. Delivery is a fun mini-game in which you pick up and drop off various objects around a track.

Even more impressive is the multiplayer, which has completely integrated internet matchmaking support. It only takes a few seconds to log in and start racing against other gamers.

The entire game is steeped in deep south cliches, and people who are offended by Southern stereotypes should probably give it a pass. The only thing it's missing is Boss Hogg and Cooter.

That's about the only caveat that I'd give with Reckless Racing. This is just a good little game, even for people who don't normally like racers.

I Have a Cold

Since I take immunosuppressants, cold and flu season can be particularly unfun for me; and so it is right now. I thought about plowing through and just sharing my deathless thoughts on Reckless Racing, but all the words in in my head sound like ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. If you learn afterwards that I was sucked into a interdimensional void by minions of the Great Old ones, for God's sake don't speak the unholy incantations!

Anyway, I was going to review Reckless Racing as the App O' The Mornin', and still will when I return from by guaifenesin-fueled journeys with Randolph Carter into the majestic sunset city. 

Short version: Two thumbs up! Buy it while it's still only 99 cents! Best racing game in the app store.

REVIEW: Small World: Be Not Afraid . . .

Grade: A
Price: $20

I've been on a Small World kick lately, so along with testing out the new Necromancer Island expansion, I've been putting some time into Be Not Afraid. It adds 5 news races and 5 new powers, as well as a nifty new tray to store all the expansions to date.

Here's how the additions shake out:

Races
Barbarians
The good news: they get 9 troops before they even add troops from their special powers. The bad news: They can't redeploy at the end of a turn. The idea is that they make up in numbers what they lack in tactical finesse, and I found this to be a pretty good tradeoff.

Homunculi
Although they have my favorite art to date, I'm not that smitten with the Homunculi. Their bonus is kind of weak: every time they are bypassed, you add a Homunculi token as well as a coin to the race banner. These tokens become bonus forces when you draw your troops. In larger games of 5 or 6 people, I can see this maybe being appealing if players allow a lot of tokens to accumulate on the race banner.

Leprechauns
We already know they're magically delicious, but they also place a pot o' gold token worth 1 coin on each conquered region. If the Leprechaun player still golds that token at the end of their next turn, they take it. If someone else conquers them before that, the conquerer takes it. This is a nice addition, and creates some interesting tension on the board as people have to consider how to conquer and defend using their Leprechauns. The deploy 6 tokens.

Pixies
Yoinks! Pixies deploy a whopping 11 units from their race banner alone. On the other hand, they withdraw all but one of these units during redeployment, leaving conquered territories vulnerable. This creates an entirely new kind of swarming strategy, with quick conquests and equally quick defeats. It takes some skill to manage the Pixies, but their sheer force of numbers can force opponents to adopt new strategies.

Pygmies
For each Pygmy unit lost, you roll the reinforcement die and take a number of units equal to the number rolled. This creates some chaotic force fluctuations that should appeal to players who like to think on their feet. They start with 9 tokens.

Powers
Barricade
This a good money pump, providing 3 bonus coins every time your troops occupy fewer than 4 regions at once.

Catapult
The Catapult token is deployed in one of your regions, making it impervious to attack as well as to race or special powers. In addition, you can use it to reduce the conquest cost of any region that is 1 region away from the catapult. That region can be conquered with 1 less token. The strength of the catapult lies primarily in  its ability to create an impregnable region which can be used as to provide support for further conquest. In this way, it's just powerful enough to be useful without unbalancing the game.

Corrupt
Turn those losses into cash! Each time someone conquers one of your regions, they have to pay you 1 coin. Match this with Pixies and watch everyone squirm.

Imperial
Imperial races get 1 bonus coin for having 4 or more regions, and 2 coins for having 5 or more. This power plays well with anything that allows or fast conquests.

Mercenary
In the right hands, the Mercenary power can be pretty useful, since it allows you to pay 1 coin to reduce your conquest cost by 2 tokens. Since you'll get that coin back by the end of the turn, that's not a bad deal.

Summary
We're enjoying this set a lot. Some of the units can really mix up a game. To date, we haven't had any combinations that appear to be "spoilers," meaning they're unbalanced enough to ruin a game. Some of them are better than others, but those variations are built into the design: they're precisely what makes Small World so much fun.

App O' The Mornin': Doug Brown Review

Grade: D
Price: $1

A good rule of thumb when creating a puzzle app is to avoid puzzles that make the user want to poke a hole through the screen in frustration and/or irritation. The creators of Doug  Brown: Truth Behind the Darkness forgot this rule, or maybe they just don't have thumbs.

The app store description of Doug Brown claims the game is a "thrilling ride through gritty detective fiction." Right: we all recall that part in Red Harvest where Dashiell Hammett offers a paragraph of mediocre and pointless prose before he has the Continental Op ... drive around and around in a circle using unresponsive controls, or jump over soot balls, or collect stars.

The "immersive, hard-boiled storyline" touted by the developers is borderline illiterate, with grammatical problems, clichéd writing, and tired and confusing plot. I've read better writing in Star Trek slash-fic.

The puzzles begin to repeat fairly quickly, and the variations don't make them more interesting, only more annoying. These are really one of the most banal selections of puzzles I've seen to date, with finicky controls and generally poor design.

The only good thing you can say about Doug Brown is that it has an appealing visual style, combining bold black lines with sepia tones. It's a pretty nice looking game in places, and butt-ugly in others.

PUZZLE: Family Connections

Here's one from Lewis Carroll's A Tangled Tale. (This one is easier to solve if you use a chart like a family tree.)

The Governor of Kgovjni wants to give a very small dinner party, and invites his father's brother-in-law, his brother's father-in-law, his father-in-law's brother, and his brother-in-law's father. Find the smallest possible number of guests.

App O' The Mornin': Revolt Review

Grade: A
Price: $2

Dual-stick shooters are tough to do well. I’m still not sure the Apple touch screens are quite responsive enough for the fine degree of control that a good action game requires, but I’ve been intrigued with all the attempts and variations we’re seeing in the app store. In the hands of a skilled developer, the format has a lot of potential. (In any case, we shouldn’t be categorizing games by control schemes. We don’t call PC games “mouse-and-keyboard shooters.” )

Thus far, I’d have to say Revolt comes closest to making a top-down shooter that transcends the limitations of the app format. This is good design, with plenty of features and a lot of room for expansion.

There’s a premise and even a stab at a narrative threaded throughout the entire game: something about a resistance fighter name Guy who needs to shoot robot hordes repeatedly in the face until they explode. I really wasn’t following it very much, because I mostly like the parts where things go boom.

And Revolt does a pretty good job of going boom. You begin the game with a rifle, pistol and a couple of kinds of grenades. From these little acorns mighty oaks of chaos shall bloom, as you gather scrap metal in order to purchase more and better weapons. Once you gather enough scratch, you can purchase a rocket launcher and a heavy machine gun, as well as well as weapons and armor upgrades.

The levels themselves a little mazey, but they suit the game well enough. Graphics are top notch, particularly for an indie project, with fluid animation and some good lighting effects. These aren’t levels bathed in darkness, like Aftermath: they’re detailed and look good, with plenty of tactical environmental elements (that’s a fancy way of saying “barrels that blows up real good”) scattered about. 

Revolt mostly nails the control scheme. I still find the dual-stick a bit sluggish and imprecise, but the aiming system is forgiving and it doesn't effect the gameplay. A roll button is also on the screen, allowing a defensive roll that allows you to bypass energy barriers and remain impervious attack for a second. The only iffy part is the grenade control, which is in the upper right corner and a bit out of the way.

The main games links 8 “story” levels together in a touching narrative about a guy shooting barrels and robots. Another 20 arena levels are also included.

I get the feeling this isn’t the last we’re going to hear of Revolt. This looks like a game that has legs, and there is plenty of room for expanded content, with more weapons, enemies, and levels, as well as maybe multiplayer.

REVIEW: Small World: Necromancer Island

Publisher: Days of Wonder

Grade: A
Price: free with purchase

I made a serious mistake when I first started playing the Necromancer Island scenario for Small World. I assumed it just added a unit with a very special kind of power. It took a few turns to realize that it’s a complete game-changer.

Necromancer Island isn’t for sale, but is being given away with purchase of the Small World game or expansions, online or from authorized retailers. (Days of Wonder automatically adds it to orders for the Be Not Afraid expansion, which I'll write about soon.) It demands a significant shift in strategy that requires some experience with the way the nuances of the game.

In the scenario, one player becomes the Necromancer, who sends forth Ghosts from his impregnable island redoubt at the center of the board. The Necromancer begins the game with 1 Ghost on his island, 13 Ghosts in reserve, a Well of Souls marker, and 6 random Powers. (Cursed, Spirit, and Stout Powers cannot be used by the Necromancer.) He chooses 1 of these 6 Powers at the start of the game, and leaves the rest in reserve.

The Necromancer builds his army from the bodies of the fallen. Each time a Lost Tribe or Race token is defeated in battle, it goes to the Well of Souls. The Necromancer can exchange 4 of these tokens for 1 Ghost token, which is then put into play.

A Necromancer may also spend coin to buy a Ghost or to buy an additional Power from his reserve. The cost either of this is equal to the number of Powers he has in play plus the number of Ghosts deployed on the board. For example, if the player has 2 Powers and 6 Ghosts, an extra Ghost or an additional Power would cost 8 coins.

The creates some vital shifts for the players in the game. For starters, I cannot imagine how a Necromancer can win a money game unless it’s through stacked powers that generate quantities of coin. The problem with the Necromancer is that he gets off to a very slow start. He has an ideal spot at the center of the board, but it takes time to even deploy a single unit, and the game may be half over before he starts sending out Ghosts in any quantities.

And Ghosts don’t die. When a Ghost region is conquered, one Ghost goes into the Well of Souls and all the others go back into the player’s hand for redeployment.

Because of this, the Necromancer has a special victory condition. Once he deploys all 13 of his Ghosts, he wins. This forces the other players to weigh carefully any attack they make, because every unit killed in conflict makes the Necromancer that much more powerful.

The ability to stack powers creates some potent combinations, and I imagine some of them are probably unstoppable. The cost for powers goes up steadily, and their benefits seem well balanced against the limitations of the Necromancer rules.

Meanwhile, those playing with standard races must weigh expansion and conquest against any benefit it might give the Necromancer. Is it worth taking an extra territory if it put another Ghost into play? Late in the game, players nervously watch as the Ghosts in reserve are steadily depleted, and gauge their moves accordingly.

It's a terrific twist on the usual gameplay, and it will definitely force experienced Small Worlders to rethink their strategies. Because of its unique dynamics, it's playable by up 6 people, which is nice. 

STRATEGY GAME OF THE YEAR: StarCraft II

This week I'm discussing the Games 100 awards issue, which is found in the December issue of Games Magazine. 

We came thiiiiis close [I'm holding my fingers approximately 1/4th of an inch apart] to giving this one to Civilization V. The problem: we didn't have final code for Civ 5 in hand.

Let me explain why I'm so particular about only covering finished product. I spent years covering PC games, which could be remarkably fluid things that looked good when they ran on one system, but completely broke down when run on another. In addition, we often had access to beta code, which is not the completed version of the game.

One would think that the completed version of a game would be better than the beta, or at least not worse.  One would be wrong. I found errors being introduced post-beta, and other problems that were unique to the final product. These could include mastering or copy protection problems that could render a game unplayable. Early on, I urged PC Entertainment, and then PC Gamer, to establish an official policy of only reviewing final box copy: not beta, and not post-release patches. This wound up being how we functioned in the very early days, though that policy eventually became a bit fluid under the pressures of producing a print magazine with timely content.

Nonetheless, it's a policy I still practice. I don't even look at beta code unless I feel the need to do some kind of preview coverage. And Civilization V missed the mark by about 2 weeks.

If we had Civ V and StarCraft II in hand at the exact same time, would the award have turned out differently? I don't think so. At the very most, they would have tied. Both are excellent examples of extremely professional, expertly designed, and well-produced PC games. They are each at the pinnacle of what PC gaming does best: deep strategy gaming with fine levels of control.

Taking into account all of the design and production elements, I'd have to say StarCraft II would still have emerged on top. Oddly enough, it would not have been my personal pick based on the X-factor of "Game I'd Like to Play When I Have a Spare Hour." In that case, I'd probably pick Civ V because I enjoy the series so much, even though I have reservations about individual design decisions in Civ V.

But, Games Magazine isn't my personal blog. I take other opinions into account and pick the game that is objectively the best achievement in its given category, and StarCraft II is just a better-made game. I felt that some of the features in Civ V were wonderful, particularly the new hex design and more satisfying combat. On the other hand, I found some parts less appealing, particularly the handling of diplomacy, religion, and social policy. Control of these elements is unsatisfying to anyone who has put a lot of playtime into this series.

Civilization IV represents the summit of the Civilization design. While Civilization V improves upon it in many ways, it also changes fundamental elements of the formula in ways that diminish the appeal for me. I understand why they did it--it's a new kind of Civ for a new generation--but I miss some of the old-school gameplay.

I can't say the same for StarCraft II, which is a brilliant version of a classic kind of RTS gaming. Even though I'm a bit played out on the whole RTS format, I can spot a top flight piece of design when I see one. Blizzard just makes a darn good product.

App O' The Mornin': Nude Runner

Price: your dignity

Black bar added by me.

Grade: Is there something lower than F?

Are you kidding me? Seriously, Apple? Did you even look at this one? Did the absence of visible genitalia lead you to believe that it was just a harmless bit of fun, and not a misogynistic/pedophile rape fantasy in app form?

Because, really: that's what Nude Runner is. It's a game in which three hulking men attempt to capture a naked girl or boy, and in the end they always win. The R-rated bits of anatomy are carefully covered, but not that much. (I added the black bar to the photo that accompanies this review.)

Gameplay isn't worth the words it will take to explain it. Three beefy, frightening men travel around a single screen.  You control a naked person  in an attempt to avoid them. The goal is to keep from being captured for as long as possible by evading the rapists.

Because, really: that's what they are. There may have been some intent to make this a game about grabbing a streaker at a sporting even, but something got lost in the translation. When you lose, the scoring screen shows an image of a boy or girl being captured, and it's not a pretty picture. In the male version, the victim appears to be a prepubescent boy in the iron grip of a kidnapper. The girl app is even more grotesque, because she actually appears to be in pain. It looks like nothing more or less than a woman being captured and dragged off to her rape.

The "Boy" and "Girl" editions are separate apps. The Girl version currently squatting at the top of the free app bestseller list. The Boy version doesn't even crack the list. Apparently, women have a little more dignity and common sense.

RROD'd ... again

The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat's, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing.

                                   J.R.R. Tolkien on the Eye of Sauron

Yes, I have now gotten my second Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death in 2010. That horrible red ring, like the Eye of Sauron, is indeed a window into nothing.

My first 360 lasted 5 years under the heavy duty workload of a fulltime professional game reviewer and magazine editor. Microsoft kindly replaced it. The replacement unit lasted ... 3 months.

O/T Post: Oliver Cromwell's Election Day Message

Cromwell Dissolves Parliament

Tomorrow is election day here in the US, and it's going to be one of our semi-annual "throw the bums out" moments. Good. I'd like to see them all go so we could start over. The body politic needs a regular application of emetics to remain healthy.

Our political situation is not unique. Oliver Cromwell captured heart of the problem in a speech given when he dissolved the English Parliament on April 20, 1653. Now, Cromwell was a deeply wicked man, and no Irishman is allowed to even say his name without crossing himself thricely. But his rant against the Ruling Class (and that is what politicians of both parties have become) echoes down through history to our own day; eternally true, eternally relevant.

It also proves that they really could do insults well in those days. You have to admit that having someone rise to the podium of the House and call the Rt. Honorable Gentleman from the fine state of Wisconsin a "sordid prostitute" who has "no more religion than my horse: gold is your God!" would sound damn spiffy on C-SPAN.

It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you who were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves gone! 

So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!

Action Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption

The decisions that went into choosing Game of the Year and the various "category winners" in the Action, RPG/Adventure, Sports/Driving, Strategy, and App categories were tricky this year. At any given point, some of the category winners could have been Game of the Year.

This is made even more challenging by the fact that Fall titles comprise the big releases for any given year, but we often don't get these in time for the issue. In order to account for this, I created a category called "Hot Winter Titles," which are games shipping in 2010 that look good in previews or betas, but aren't eligible for awards because we don't have final copy in our hands.

Red Dead Redemption was a finalist for Game of the Year, but it doesn't quite fit our audience. As it is, I'm glad to finally be able to play a Rockstar game that doesn't require me to take a shower after each gaming session. If the awards were based on the game I played the longest this year, it would have gone to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which still managed to net a runner-up slot along with Splint Cell: Conviction.

Pick up the December issue of GAMES Magazine to see what else made the grade

Red Dead Redemption
Rockstar

Formats: 360/PS3 ($60)

Rated: M

The wild west has never been a particularly large wellspring for video games. Except for a few titles such as Outlaw, Gun, and Call of Juarez, there have been precious few forays into the old west, and that seems rather odd. Westerns dominated pulp fiction, movies, radio dramas, and television shows for years, making videogames the only new media of the 20th century that didn’t walk to the beat of spurs and sixguns.

The Call of Juarez games started to turn that around, and now Red Dead Redemption lays out a rich banquet of western wonders that sets a new gold standard for the genre. This is Rockstar Games doing what they do: vast, open environments to explore, plenty to do, and every decision in the hands of the gamer.

Rockstar made their name because of two things. First, they pioneered and developed one of the great “open-world” gameplay systems, offering gamers an entire landscape to explore at will. Make no mistake: they are masters of technology and design. Few are in their league.

Unfortunately, the second element contributing to their fame is the appalling content of many of their games. Grand Theft Auto began as little more than a carjacking simulator, and grew to encompass all manner of deviant behavior.

Red Dead Redemption takes the Grand Theft Auto IV engine and design and transplants in to the old west, and in the process finds a bit of morality. In a surprising change of pace for Rockstar, you play as John Marston, an upright man with a chance to be a noble knight of the west. His quest to capture his former partner in crime takes him to a large (albeit imaginary) swath of border territory called New Austin, where he can help the beautiful rancher’s daughter, rope wild horses, round up the cattle, hunt varmints, bring in wanted desperadoes, and assist the law. The game maps a diverse chunk of this environment, including a piece of Mexico and the plains to the north.

Marston is a good character, and as the drama follows him through the three main acts, you get to steer his growth, allowing him to be a paragon of virtue or just another old west thug. Morality systems—gameplay elements that gauge whether a character is good or bad based upon his actions—are in vogue right now, and Rockstar has done an excellent job of implementing one. Marston can certainly hold up the bank, rob the train, kill the sheriff, ignore the damsel in distress, and shoot the old drunk in the back, but he’ll have an easier time if he doesn’t. An upright man gets discounts in stores and spends less time and money evading the law.

Like the Grand Theft Auto Games, Red Dead Redemption is a series of mini-games stitched into a dynamic universe populated with characters and narrative events. Roping a wild horse, for example, involves lassoing him, then “breaking” him by using a simple balancing mini-game. Gambling opportunities abound, including complete versions of poker, liars dice, “five finger fillet,” and other games of chance. All of these mini-games simply add to the fullness of the experience.

This is still a violent, sometimes absurdly bloody M-rated game. Make no mistake: you’re still killing people, dealing with criminals, and running into ladies of the night. But, for adults, it’s actually a lot of fun. As with all Rockstar Games, you don’t have to follow the story at all. If you prefer to spend all your time hunting for buried treasure, shooting rabbits, or trying to stay on a bucking bronco, that’s just fine. Even in some of these portions, Rockstar has to remind us that, well … they’re Rockstar. To make money has a hunter, you have to skin and animal and then sell the meet, hides, horns, or whatever. The butchering sequences cannot be skipped, and although the camera remains on Marston’s face, the little cut scene is accompanied by gruesome sound effects and great slashes of blood spraying across the screen.

Red Dead Redemption is rated Mature for Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs, and they mean it. The foul language is less than you’ll find in an average episode of Deadwood, but the violence is a major part of the gameplay. That said, there’s something quite appealing about a game that allows you to explore a giant, beautifully realized and populated swath of the old west at your leisure. This is a special achievement in gaming, and it’s fine to see Rockstar finally used their gifts as designers in something with a moral core.

The Amazon Associates program is the sole means of support for this blog, so if you use Amazon, please access it from one of our links.

GAMES Magazine: December Issue

This is the big one. Our December issue every year includes a 30-page supplement called the Games 100. I've been contributing to it for about 15 years, and in charge of one half of it for about 12. There are 100 games listed in the Traditional and Electronic categories, for a total of 200 games spanning roughly the last year in gaming.The issue was put to bed in late August, which means some late arrivals are only represented by short preview entries.

I'm going to run through some of my picks for the Electronic Games 100 throughout the week, and talk a bit about how we came to some of these conclusions. I'll also talk a bit about some of the winners on the board game side of the list. I personally wrote about 11,000 words for this year's edition, which is just absurd.

The rest of the issue has the usual assortment of puzzles and news, as well as a really long article on gender and competitive gaming.

The cover puzzle is pretty easy, but it looks nice. Each block is a detail from a different letter, upper- or lower-case. You have to identify the letters.

App O' The Mornin': Topple 2 Review

Price: free (currently)

Grade: C

Since I wrote about the word game called Topple! last week, this week I'll make things maximally confusing by reviewing the decidedly less enthusiastic Topple and it's somewhat annoying sequel, Topple 2.

Topple is a game that actually has a reason for being called Topple since things actually, y'know .... topple. It's your basic stacking game, and as such it is a very good example of a genre I could completely live without.

Topple and Topple 2 are the mutant offspring born from a wild night of sweet sweet love between Tetris and Jenga. (We always knew those two crazy kids would get together some day.) You have your basic "stack blocks very high" gameplay, which is never, ever fun when played by sober people. Then you have your basic "line up weird shapes to make them fit" gameplay, which was fun for about 15 minutes in 1984. Put 'em together, and you have ... well, something I really don't want to play very long.

The stacking mechanics are fine, but block manipulation is simply awkward. The two-finger block-turning control seems to have been invented for someone with tentacles instead of hands, which makes precise input rather difficult for those of us who are not the spawn of Cthulhu.

The goal of each level is to stack the blocks up to a certain height, and then beyond that to score bonus points. In Topple 2, sometimes you stack "under water," which means from top to bottom, while other times you need to stack all the way up to an egg, and then destroy the tower slowly in order to bring the egg back down without breaking it. You can also tilt the device left or right to nudge a falling toward back into line.

Topple 2 adds some other new variants, as well as a nice little multiplayer mode. This allows you to play a level, and then send your results to a friend. Your friend can then track how well you did as he tackles the same level.

That's a nice little feature. Bonus points for multiplayer! But you also have to log in a Plus+ account even if you're just playing the solo game. Double-super-negative bonus points for mandatory login! I hate forced logins for single player gaming. They always start my icons a-jigglin'.

Topple is a mostly decent little stacking game. The art is excellent, and the quantity and variety of puzzles is quite good. If you like this sort of thing, then I can't think of an app that does it better. By the same token, I also can't think of anyone who performs a cover version of "Dancing Queen" better than Abba. Some things just can't be made any better.