Hidden My Game by Mom! 2
hap Inc. – Android, iOS
Is there such a thing as a “comedy” genre of video games? The likes of Rock Band and Wii Sports‘ boxing could certainly translate people’s wild and incompetent flailing into some kind of humorous spectacle, but that was hardly intentional. And sandbox games, from Grand Theft Auto to Kerbal Space Program, let players indulge their most morbid and darkly comic whims, but these generally take place in a wider and more serious context. More straightforward examples usually come from the world of adventure games, like Monkey Island‘s visual puns and clever dialogue.
If one game could be classed as truly comedic, though, it would surely be the joke factory of Hidden My Game by Mom! and its new sequel. The premise is probably at least a little familiar to us all: upset at the amount of time her son spends on his DS, Mom contrives to keep it out of his reach. Your own experience might have involved something other than games. TV, maybe, or sweets, perhaps a little underage gambling… Regardless, it’s a sympathetic plight. This lady isn’t just the protagonist’s mother, she is your mother, all of our mothers. You’ll recognise the stern glare, the disciplinarian’s posture, and especially the way she organises a go-kart race in your living room to keep you from the cupboard holding your precious games console.
As you overcome each of her increasingly elaborate (and enormously dangerous) challenges, you may shed a nostalgic tear, remembering the time your own mother made you prove the existence of extraterrestrial life before getting another 30 minutes of game time. Like the best comedy, Hidden My Game finds its most potent humour in its relatability.
Avignon: A Clash of Popes
Designed by John du Bois
Forget about Francis’ hippy reformism. Who cares about Jude Law’s steely-eyed judgement? If you’re looking for some real drama from the papacy, you need to go back to the 14th century. Never mind any “emeritus” technicalities – they just had two straight-up popes manoeuvring for primacy!
Avignon, a card game just recently adapted for Android and iOS, mines this conflict for a slick and surprisingly compact two-player battle of wits. Cards representing members of both the church and laity are moved about on a grid between the players, who represent the Pope and antipope (actual title). These people can be shifted simply by being pulled or pushed toward one player, but each card also has a special ability, usually a combination of beneficial and detrimental effects that must be strategically weighed. For a dozen-card deck, a surprising amount of consideration is required.
Winning is mostly a simple matter of filling out your congregation before your opponent. Even before the age of social media, it seems, everything just boiled down to a pope-ularity contest.
Like a Boss: The Great Tower
Stephen’s Sausage Roll
Pretty much every level in Stephen’s Sausage Roll is a formidable puzzle, but the Great Tower will hold a special place in the darkest recesses of each player’s heart. While most prior challenges were just manageable enough to preserve the inherent silliness of the sausage-rolling conceit, the Tower is almost too intense to bear, grinding you down into mincemeat and putting you through a trial by fire, until you’re sizzling and crispy and…and… Uh, yeah, it’s a tricky puzzle.
Words: Leo Devlin
