Watch out, traditional Sunday afternoon pastimes - games devs have set their sights on you. As the young upstarts of gaming take on the mighty traditional board game, we take a look at who's winning the war...
Jenga vs. Jenga: World Party
The board game
Time to set up: In the tiresome construction stakes Jenga is up there with Kerplunk and Mousetrap. Sure, we all love the clatter of the blocks, but one second of tumble requires a good few minutes and a basic degree in architecture to rectify. And if you've lost the plastic hod? Forget about it.
Pros: Towering above the table surface, there's something distinctly powerful about the wooden lattice. Almost Mayan in design, it's not hard to imagine ancient civilisations gathering around the teetering totem, chanting "Jenga! Jenga! Jenga!" as sky-bound deities pluck out segments and turn the air blue when it topples. Fun.
Cons: Some idiot can knock it over on their first turn and it takes bloody ages to rebuild. Also: can damage antique furniture upon multiple block impact.
The videogame
Time to set up: This is more like it - you simply load a new tower. Dreamy.
Pros: The game highlights the best strategic moves by outlining pull-friendly oblongs in green. Some may feel that such robo-scanning undermines the brutal learning experience that is pulling a block from a layer already missing the middle block, but it certainly makes Jenga more dunce-friendly than before.
Cons: Thanks to some creative remote work, it's like trying to play Jenga while wearing oven gloves. Plus some designer/prankster thought it would be hilarious to have random catapults and pterodactyls pop up and knock your tower over like some young thug kicking in your sandcastle. This Jenga's a jerk.
Winner: The board game
A Domino Rally vs. Go Go Minon
The board game:
Time to set up: Ages, according to that recent Guinness advert. But then again, they also made us believe that horses live in the sea surf, so probably best to take it with a pinch of salt.
Pros: The clatter of a falling line of tiles is one of the most poetic noises you can make with ivory oblongs. "What about pianos?" you cry. Ahhh, but they're really hard to build into a rally. Rubbish at falling over, you see.
Cons: Imagine the cost of it. At least 500 dominos needed for a good time, at roughly 50p a tile. That's close to £8,000. Plus, like Jenga, it's all over a bit too quickly.
The videogame:
Time to set up: It's more of a constant work in progress, with players building a domino rally underneath the prancing hero as he gambols around the environment attempting to cheer people up.
Pros: You can place eight dominos with one button press - easing track development - and they never fall over by accident. Plus you can use angular hippos as domino replacements. Which is always a good thing.
Cons: No sooner have you laid down the track than that gambolling fool kicks them down. Tis a fool's errand! And they have the gall to obscure the click-clack satisfaction with god-awful J-Pop. DomiNO.
Winner: The board game
Scrabble vs. Scrabble DS
The board game:
Time to set up: Board open? Letters in the sack? Lets get ready to Scrabble. Though, arguably, it takes a lifetime of learning to truly prepare yourself for the mighty word-off that is Scrabble.
Pros: The Scrabble experience is largely defined by the quality of opponent. A human foe - with the capacity for laying down words that living, breathing beings actually use - will always have one over on a cold, pedantic AI. Plus their living flesh is far more responsive to a punch in the arm when they plop down pretentious 'scrabble non-words' goris, oo and ee.
Cons: When placing your hand in the letter sack, human touch can feel out the letter grooves, ensuring that they're never left with a rack consisting of P, X, R, Y, W, Q and Q. Computerised Scrabble ensures random letters.
The videogame:
Time to set up: Ten seconds. Pop in the cart and off you go.
Pros: With all those tiles, real Scrabble can get pretty messy. We'd go as far as saying that next to sand and those tiny polystyrene balls, Scrabble tiles are one of nature's more irksome elements. With the correct combination of missing tiles, we've actually found 'nooks' and 'crannies' in our nooks and crannies. Needless to say, it's much harder to lose digital tiles.
Cons: Not only does the AI have unfair access to the Scrabble dictionary, but having the computer as Scrabble mediator during Wi-Fi face-offs with human foes prevents the 'word bartering' that most Scrabble-fun devolves from. Whereas in real-life Scrabble you can argue it out that the term 'gheb' is a recognised Klingon term for 'musical horn', this heartless DS brute is having none of it.
Winner: The board game
A jigsaw puzzle vs. Jigsaw Puzzle: Kyo No Wanko
The board game:
Time to set up: Absolutely bloomin' ages. The ritual of flipping over the pieces so that they're all picture side up is immensely frustrating, as is the habitual hunt for the four corner pieces. Gah!
Pros: What are the pros of making a real jigsaw puzzle? It's kind of calming, sure, but as for rewards? We'd struggle to name one. It's certainly not the final picture - you have, after all, spent days staring at the picture on the box to finish it in the first place. Jigsaws are heavily flawed.
Cons: Sitting for hours looking for "the corner of his ear" is not a rewarding experience. Plus, losing just one piece can be soul destroying.
The videogame:
Time to set up: Instantaneous (seeing a pattern here?).
Pros: Tonnes of puzzles included in one box. Double-sided jigsaws' monopoly on jigsaw puzzle value is thoroughly smashed. Tucked safely away inside your telly, there's no chance for a pet/child to knock it onto the floor, destroying all your hard work. Unless they're a giganto-child with telly-smashing tree-trunk arms.
Cons: If you're looking for a digitised jigsaw puzzle you're best off using the puzzle mode that comes packaged free with your Wii's photo channel. Plus, you can use your own images and not just the collection of rubbish dog photos that make up Kyo No Wanko.
Winner: The videogame
Cranium vs. Cranium Kabooki
The board game:
Time to set up: As is always the way, you open the box and find the sketching pencils snapped and the modelling clay hardened. Thus begins a tiresome domestic trek round the house for the required ingredients.
Pros: Cranium - the board game big cheese over in the States - prides itself on its volume and variety of challenges. From various Pictionary-esque rounds (sketching and clay sculpting) to humming challenges and factoid regurgitating, it's certainly not boring.
Cons: But neither is it great for large numbers. Ever seen ten people trying to watch someone sculpt 'woe' out of clay? Things just get too cluttered to appreciate. Plus, the sight of dad struggling to hum the theme tune to The Bill with dry clay splattered all over his hands is reasonably disturbing.
The videogame:
Time to set up: Um... guess what? You put in the disc. That's it. To tell you the truth, we're seriously regretting including this category.
Pros: Where in the real version the various answers are noted on peek-able cards, in the Wii version you use a pair of special red glasses that reveal the onscreen answer only to you. Plus, as all the games are performed onscreen, everyone playing can get a good eyeful of your outrageously shonky drawings. Hooray.
Cons: Some people like the doughy feeling of clay in their fingers. The not remotely erotic remote is far less enjoyable.
Perhaps if you compared video games to some board games that are actually good, you'd get a better result - Where's Settlers of Cataan, for example?
The biggest plus that video games have is that you can play when you are by yourself, or if you want a quick 20 minute blast while your dinners cooking. However, getting some mates round and playing a big boardgame and drinking some booze beats videogames hands down. NGamer just needs to find some better boardgames - stay clear of mainstream crap like Monopoly etc.
Perhaps if you compared video games to some board games that are actually good, you'd get a better result - Where's Settlers of Cataan, for example?
The biggest plus that video games have is that you can play when you are by yourself, or if you want a quick 20 minute blast while your dinners cooking. However, getting some mates round and playing a big boardgame and drinking some booze beats videogames hands down. NGamer just needs to find some better boardgames - stay clear of mainstream crap like Monopoly etc.
Monopoly is awesome. Especially strip monopoly, bartering how much a top is worth is quality.
So they've tried to establish if videogames are better than board games... by looking at videogames OF board games.
How about looking about board games OF videogames now? In fact, that's a good point- why aren't there any I can think of? There must be some in Japan surely, that aren't purely card based.
There are some good board games and I think that they should be played as well as videogames.
Videogames companies should all start making board games. Imagine playing Metroid Prime: The board game, Half Life 2: The board game, Paper Mario: The board game, Resident Evil: The board game.
So they've tried to establish if videogames are better than board games... by looking at videogames OF board games.
How about looking about board games OF videogames now? In fact, that's a good point- why aren't there any I can think of? There must be some in Japan surely, that aren't purely card based.
There are some good board games and I think that they should be played as well as videogames.
Videogames companies should all start making board games. Imagine playing Metroid Prime: The board game, Half Life 2: The board game, Paper Mario: The board game, Resident Evil: The board game.
There's a Tetris one, but it's not multi-player, I think.
So they've tried to establish if videogames are better than board games... by looking at videogames OF board games.
How about looking about board games OF videogames now? In fact, that's a good point- why aren't there any I can think of? There must be some in Japan surely, that aren't purely card based.
There are some good board games and I think that they should be played as well as videogames.
Videogames companies should all start making board games. Imagine playing Metroid Prime: The board game, Half Life 2: The board game, Paper Mario: The board game, Resident Evil: The board game.
There's been quite a few if you know where to look. For instance if you look here http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_colecciones.asp?eidc=1 there's several board games of video games including Doom and Starcraft.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
