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Pwned Game Review–If You Just Can’t Get Enough Chess, Bring Friends and Play

The word “pwn” is rapidly becoming a rapid part of our vocabulary, even if no one’s a hundred percent sure just how to pronounce it.  But for those of you who pronounce it “pauhnd”, then you’ll get the connection to recent Xbox Live community release Pwned.

Pwned, you see, is a chess game.  As such, there’s no real plot, and there’s also no real single player mode.  Pwned is made to be played with friends on Xbox Live Arcade.  As such, it has something of a limited appeal–you have to have a match in order to play–but for those who have friends or good online connections, then this won’t be a problem.

If you have friends and a desperate hankering for some…chess…then Pwned is the game for you.  Otherwise…well…okay, otherwise you’re going to have absolutely NO use for this game, but at the bargain price of four hundred Microsoft points, it costs less than some chess sets.  If you’re into chess, this is a good buy.

Funtown Mahjong Game Review–Hot Shots Mahjong

I’ve played a lot of different Mahjong games before, and they mostly wind up being tile matching games whilst I steadily winnow down a pile to nonexistence.  This is all right by me, generally, and so when I saw Funtown Mahjong on Xbox Live Arcade for eight hundred Microsoft points, I was fairly interested.

What I got, however, was a whole different matter.

I got a really top-rank chill game with some great music and an almost rummy-style of mahjong play, where my big task was to assemble runs and sets of three tiles.  That’s pretty much it.  You’re out to do it before everybody else, of course, and you’ll actually have a multiplayer versus mode to try out.

Sure, the graphics make it look a LOT like Hot Shots Golf / Tennis (Hot Shots Mahjong?  That’s really rather interesting….), and at first, it’s going to be a little difficult to pick up since I can’t remember ever playing THIS kind of Mahjong before despite having played several different kinds.  But still–it’s nice to have a game you can cool off with at the end of the day, and Funtown Mahjong definitely fills that bill.

Trivial Pursuit Game Review–I Think EA Needs To Get Out More

The partnership between EA and Hasbro, probably instituted for the sake of grabbing as much green out of our wallet as possible before the world collapses in on itself, continues unabated with the recent release of Trivial Pursuit, now currently released for Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and PC.

You might think that, once again, I’m wasting time covering a game like this.  After all, you’d think, everyone knows how to play Trivial Pursuit.  And again I say, that not only is this for the benefit of those two or three random people out there who’ve never seen a copy of Trivial Pursuit–and you’d be surprised; they probably do exist– but also because entirely new game modes have been added to this game, and those require discussion.

Of course, the standard mode is fully available to play right from the beginning, in which you and a collection of friends go forth to see who knows the most about the least relevant stuff in a series of different subclasses of knowledge including Arts & Literature, Games and Leisure, and of course, Entertainment.  Your primary goal is to collect six scoring wedges in your round playing piece with six notches capable of holding the wedges. Those of you who refer to the wedges as “pieces of pie” are not alone.

However, there is a new game mode available called “clear the board”.  Designed for the single player, you’re basically out to get as many scoring wedges as possible, and when you collect a wedge, all questions in that category are removed from the board.  Your goal therefore is to do exactly as the game mode is entitled and clear the board.  For each question you get right in a category, the number is added to a multiplier which in turn gives you a higher score for collecting that scoring wedge.  However, time is also a factor, and the faster you clear the board the better.

Once again I find myself bemoaning the lack of online capability with a game like this because it’s entire point is to be played with people.  And there aren’t always people around, so it’s good to have online capability so that you can find people to play with.  While the single player mode is not without its charms, it’s clear that this was meant to be a party game.  And if there is no party, or a party cannot be assembled around it, than the game’s value becomes somewhat limited.

This isn’t, however, to say that there isn’t fun to be had here– it’s just that the fun is somewhat limited when the game is not being used as is clearly intended.  Make no mistake, this is a party game.

There is plenty to like here; the graphics are fun and even single player gameplay is entertaining, plus the purchase price is a downright bargain especially if you’re the kind of gamer who loves to get together for a game.  Especially considering how easy it is to add questions to the game– one downloadable pack is already available full of movie trivia– it’s definitely the kind of game worth talking about if you’re the party gaming sort.

If you don’t get out of the house, however, this is one game that you won’t want to take out of the box.

Monopoly Game Review–You Can’t Always Get What You Want

You might think that writing a review of Monopoly would easily be regarded as a total waste of time.  It’s not like everybody reading this hasn’t played it in one format or another for the better than fifty years that it’s been in existence, right?  Well, maybe not EVERYBODY reading this—there’s always those one or two folks who’ll surprise you that haven’t gotten around to Monopoly yet.

But this review isn’t JUST for them.  Because the recent release of Monopoly on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, among others, has new and interesting features that bear discussing.  First, you may well be amazed to learn that there have been over a DOZEN different releases of Monopoly to home game systems.  The game features multiple boards, including futuristic properties, the original classic, a board devoted entirely to sugary treats and another exclusively comprised of types of cheese.  You’d never believe that you could build a hotel on Roquefort and charge a hundred bucks to take possession of it.  I guess that’s just the kind of thing Monopoly’s always been—whether you were out to buy Baltic Avenue, Times Square, or the Death Star, it was always about the possibilities.  Certain “house rules” variants are also in play, allowing you to somewhat tailor your Monopoly experience.

Oh, and even more interesting, this version of Monopoly includes a version called The Richest.  The Richest is actually a fairly complex game played without cash.  Instead, players engage in a series of minigames that allows them to determine how many of their tokens are placed on the Monopoly board.  If the property you land on is unclaimed, you take possession.  If the property is owned, you must hand over one of your properties in exchange, or possibly more if the property is part of a monopoly or if it’s been developed.  The winner is the person with the highest value land portfolio at the end of a set number of rounds.

Monopoly is always fun for a few minutes, and the addition of this new mode adds to the replay value.  This is probably even more fun as a party game, but it’s not without its flaws.  Yes, it’s just Monopoly.  That’s it.  New versions aside, you’re not going to get much in the way of innovation here.  And worse yet, unless I missed it, there aren’t any online capabilities with this game.  How on earth can you NOT be able to play Monopoly online?  Isn’t that part of why we invented the Internet in the first place?  So we can play obscure board games with people in other lands?

Someone get Al Gore on the phone!

Anyway…it’s true.  This is Monopoly in all its glory.  New versions add to the fun, but the original is still the best.  There’s absolutely no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy five or ten minutes with this virtually any time you loaded it into your system of choice.  Chances are this won’t keep you up all night or playing for hours or desperate for another Red Bull to keep you sufficiently jacked up to play, but still—there’s plenty of fun to be had here.  Sure, it would’ve been better if I could’ve made it a party game any time I wanted by hooking up the broadband…but you can’t have everything, I guess.