Hasbro Family Game Night 3
By: James Oppenheim | Created: 2012-05-20 12:51:43 | (Updated: 2022-12-13 08:05:05)
Five of Hasbro's biggest franchises have been brought to Family Game Night 3: Twister, Clue, Life, Yahtzee and Mousetrap. In comparison to the titles found in our very positive Family Game Night review, these are much more complicated games. How do these games translate from the board (or mat, in the case of Twister) to the HDTV?
The original Family Game Night was a collection of relatively simple, classic board games animated for the console. Computer versions of most of the games (Battleship, Connect Four) had been around since the early days of mainframe computing. Featuring cute animations, relatively fast gameplay, including the ability to set your own timeline for each game, Family Game Night provided thinking and vocabulary building games that could be played casually by the whole family. The charm of the program was that it stayed true to the original versions of the game, but also provided updated optional rules to take advantage of the electronic context.
Board games have been played by children and kings alike for millennia. The original stealth learning tool, they teach essential skills in the context of fun while bring generations together socially. Whether reinforcing good conduct (like taking turns), math skills (such as counting, making change, or even learning Cartesian geometry), verbal skills, or strategy, gaming is more than just "play". The original Hasbro Family Game Night brought the tradition (and benefits) of traditional gaming to the console world. With optional updated rules and wonderful, playful animations it brought new life to old standards, while keeping the developmental benefits of game playing in the forefront of the experience. Does Family Game Night 3 stick to the same formula, or did the designers roll the dice with something else entirely?
One day there might be a great version of twister for the Xbox using the Kinect motion sensor. It would simply know if your right hand was on red were your left foot was on yellow. Here we have a rehashed version of every dance and rhythm game that has ever been played since Simon. You tap, tap, tap with your fingers, there isn't even a dance mat option.
Clue, an old favorite of mine, has several problems. There is no tutorial, so if you don't know how to play the game, you're out of luck. Our testers also reported difficulty figuring out where they were on the board. Animations seemed to take priority over a clear overview of the playing area. Our testers became frustrated and confused and ultimately gave up before the game was over.
The Game of Life is the most ambitious of the games. If you have fond memories you may enjoy revisiting it, but like the included version of mousetrap, we found the animations a poor substitute for the little plastic pieces of the original sets. Recognizing that the original game of Life can be a very long game, the designers have sensibly set ways to limits the length of the electronic version. However, our tester’s found it difficult to stay engaged with this game even through the shortened version.
This collection does not merit the substitution of the original games in your library, and which are still available in toy stores everywhere, with the electronic simulacrum. Perhaps the ability to play games over Xbox live will give some families separated by distance the ability to play together. The rest of us, though, will have more fun, and get more play value, digging out the great board games probably collecting dust in the closet.
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