-
Sure people hate some games. I certainly do! There are indeed a number of games I’d rather burn than play. Probably everyone has a few of those. This isn’t about that.
Sometimes people feel that parts of a game hate them. Dice hate me or Cards hate me. These people may indeed be justified. They may also be insane. Who can say? We aren’t talking about this either…
I want to talk about games that are just out to get you. Games that don’t want your character/team/species/unit/whatever to live through the experience. Games that have it out for you.
First off I’m not interested in co-op games. Those games act as a player or close to a player and it’s the job of a player to hate you. The list of games where other players want to see you destroyed is virtually endless. Also I don’t like co-op games. I like seeing my enemies flee before me and hearing the laments of their women is always fun. Hmmm perhaps if I had a soundtrack of women lamenting it would be good atmosphere for war games…nah, then I’d have to listen to women. (Have I ever mentioned I’m glad my wife doesn’t read this?).
The easy choice is Dungeon Quest. Players run into a dungeon and try to steal the gold. Everything tries to kill them. Even the healing potions have a 50% chance of really hurting or even killing you. The game just doesn’t want you to get those treasures out! It is glorious. In one game an overly cocky DB thought he was going to get away with an easy win. Sadly the swinging blade trap ended him 2 squares from the exit. No one lamented his loss. Well maybe he did. I really enjoy how every card, every tile, every move has a good chance of putting a damper on your day.
The new hotness in this concept has to be Bios: Megafauna. Yes I have become somewhat of a Sierra Madre fan. High Frontier is fantastic (although difficult I’m not sure if it is really out to get you) and Megafauna is shaping up to be good as well. As long as you realize that it isn’t out to be your friend. Comets will destroy entire species of your little wooden animals. The food your creatures find so tasty can be easily replaced with something you can’t eat. Immigrant animals can out compete you and steal your food. Of course the mass extinction of your animals is going to happen right before a scoring round. That isn’t designed into the game, it just tends to happen. Adding insult to injury, that yummy food you used to eat that died out, now it’s a victory point. People are going to score points off your misery. It won’t be you of course, all your animals are dead.
Another example I can think of, Empires of the middle ages is a game about desperately trying to carve out a kingdom until the turks, Vikings, or other pirates destroy you and your leader dies heirless.
Honorable mention has to go to Blood Bowl. Now I don’t think the game is really out to get you here, but for some reason the chaos gods don’t want you to make any rolls. I don’t care how good the odds are, for some reason you will fail that key roll. It is important to remember that while playing Blood Bowl saying something like “If I don’t roll a 1 I’ll win” instantly changes the odds to ensure you roll a 1. I don’t know how this happens but it does. Unless your opponent needs a series of improbable rolls to win, that will of course work out. Scientists should study the probability changing abilities of Blood Bowl, the Heart of Gold may not be science fiction for much longer.
So what other games hate you? What is really out to get you? I know there must be more examples out there!
|
|
|
.
