The Monthly Question: November 2017
It’s November, which means Thanksgiving in The United States and the start of the holiday season. In between the turkey and football, there’s usually an emphasis on spending time with family.
To shine a light on great games for families and friends, I asked the PS Nation writers:
I’ve been enjoying Rayman Legends with the family. We are close to the Platinum Trophy but there is a nasty level that requires the agility of a panther so we might give up on that one.
Then we have the usual party games like Overcooked, most LEGO games, and the excellent Iron Crypticle.
For years, Rock Band has found its way out of storage around the holidays. It’s just so easy to get people playing, even if the controllers are intimidating, they can wrap their mind around singing.
One game I am interested in introducing to my family during the holidays is Overcooked. I was late to the party, but I absolutely adore the game. I think the mechanics are simple enough to attract non-gamers and I know core gamers like me can get a lot from them as well.
Jackbox has been a go-to in the past. My mom is surprisingly impressed by VR so I’ll probably be bringing my PS VR and load up some games for her and my family to try.
Other than that, not much family gaming goes on during the holidays. Most of my time spent is spent convincing my dad that we should brine the turkey!
Cards Against Humanity is an old standby, as long as the grandparents aren’t around, and games like Uno or Rummy are popular with us. I’m bringing home a few new games to try with the family this year like Sushi Go, a sushi themed drafting game.
One I’m really excited to play with them is DropMix. It’s a new card game by Rock Band developers Harmonix. Each card has a song and a music instrument on it and putting that card on the game’s special board will play that part of that song.
You might mix the vocals from “Push It” with the drums from “Sexy and I Know It” and the bass from “Short Skirt Long Jacket.” And since the game adjusts it so they’re all in the same key and tempo, it almost always sounds good.
The actual game modes are just okay, but the tech is pretty cool and the game was a hit with my board game friends already.
We focus on some smaller genres such as hidden object games or quiz style games. This way everyone can participate without any one person having a competitive skill advantage. We’ll also tackle the more lighthearted games like a LEGO Dimensions or Skylanders.
We’ll probably throw in some PS VR as well and just take turns with games like Fruit Ninja and Rush of Blood.
The main VR game will be Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. The player with the headset sees and interacts with a bomb. Everyone else is looking at a bomb disposal manual. The pressure from the timer slowly ticking down and the confusion of how many wires there are and what colors creates a fun and chaotic situation.
Thanks as always to John Payant for editing.