The best games to play over
the holidays
The most wonderful time of the year
has arrived once again, and with it comes meeting with friends and family! But
what happens when dad, grandpa and Uncle Joe start arguing over the election,
mom and grandma leave to make Christmas dinner, and you’re left trying to
figure out what to do? Video games are of course the ultimate solution, and
here are some of my favourites to bring along for family get togethers.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Winter has always been one of the best
times to play Animal Crossing, and New Leaf is no exception. As your town is
blanketed in snow, snowmen are waiting to be built and the music turns serene,
it really feels like Christmas has arrived to your little town.
December also brings Toy Day, an
annual holiday taking place on Christmas Eve. If you haven’t played Toy Day in
New Leaf before, here’s how it works: all throughout December your villagers
will tell you what they want for Toy Day. A Santa costume also becomes
purchasable at the Able Sisters, which you need all the components of in order
to participate.
On Toy Day, playing after 6:00 PM
allows the event to start. First, you must seek out Jingle the adorable
Christmas reindeer, who upon seeing your Santa suit will give you his magic bag
and ask you to hand out everyone’s presents. Now you must remember what
everyone wanted so they all get their ideal present, and if you succeed Jingle
will give you an exclusive item.
This event requires a lot of playing
in December in order to get what everyone wants, especially since they have 2
separate categories each. Someone might want green furniture, someone else will
want a yellow toy, and so on and so forth. But it’s all worth the hard work, as
Toy Day is a lot of fun to participate in. Even if you don’t want to do the
event, it’s worth paying your town a visit in the winter months to enjoy seeing
your town in the frosty season.
TowerFall Ascension
Never heard of this one? Well, you’re
missing out big time. TowerFall is a 4-player local fighting game in similar
vein of Smash Bros. I’m going with it over Smash because everyone knows about
it at this point, and I’m trying to give a few options that you might not
consider.
The point of TowerFall is that
everyone has a bow with a few arrows. The arrows are one-shot kills every time,
and considering you have a very limited supply of them you have to carefully
consider each shot as you bounce around the map. To reload all you have to do
is pick up a missed arrow. Think of it as a 2D sidescrolling version of the
current Mei’s Snowball Offense mode in Overwatch.
Just like Smash Bros, the most
entertaining part of TowerFall is the hijinks that ensue from the moment you
start up the game. Bonuses like shields and magic arrows further add to the
chaos, making this game a lot of fun when you’ve got 4 people playing at once.
Hearthstone
There’s nothing like sitting next to a
warm fire on a cold winter’s night, a feeling that Hearthstone emulates well.
It’s not difficult to wrap yourself and get cozy while playing a few rounds of
Blizzard’s excellent card game.
The best part of Hearthstone is that
you can bring it with you anywhere, provided you have a half decent phone or
tablet that can run it. If you have a card collection on PC, you can use the
same card collection on mobile as well.
Hearthstone is at its best at family
gatherings if you know someone else that plays it, because it kind of unfair to
start someone up on the game brand new, only to wreck them with your Evolve
Shaman or Dragon Priest decks when you battle against them. But if you know
someone who’ll play with you, it can be a great time as you pit your best decks
up against each other.
Nintendo Land
Because I refuse to put Mario Party on
this list.
No, but really, if you haven’t played
Nintendo Land in a long time, I’d recommend pulling it out to play during
Christmas, especially if you have little siblings or cousins to play with. With
6 different multiplayer options (3 competitive, 3 co-op) plus a fun Grand Tour
mode, it’s hard to get bored of Nintendo Land after just an hour or two.
The best games are easily the
competitive ones: Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, Mario Chase and Luigi’s Ghost
Mansion. Each has their own different set of rules, but each has 4 players
using Wii controllers up against a player using the Wii U GamePad. While
Luigi’s Ghost Mansion is honestly a little too easy for the GamePad player to
win, Mario Chase and Animal Crossing: Sweet Day are both loads of fun and
require both skill and a little bit of luck for either side to come out the
victor.
Minecraft
Last but not least, this one is
definitely the hardest to pull off at a family gathering (unless you’re playing
one of the console versions), considering everyone needs their own PC to play
it. But if you can get it up and running on a LAN network or server, it’s loads
of fun to play Minecraft in a big group. I personally lost interest in playing
the game by myself around the same time the Multiplayer servers were overrun by
grade schoolers, but if someone called me up and asked me to play I’d be more
than happy to boot up the game again and have a good time.
The beauty of Minecraft has always
been the freedom to just do whatever you want in the massive cubic world,
whether you’re playing in Survival mode or Creative mode. Regardless of what
you decide to do, it’s always more fun to play with a friend by your side.
I always enjoy playing Survival in
groups the most, as everyone can be given a specific task to take care of as
you attempt to build a castle in the short time you have before Christmas
dinner is served. Plus, Minecraft is one of those games that leads to lots of
laughs and stories to tell afterwards, making it a true staple of multiplayer
gaming.
Regardless of what you choose to play,
I hope everyone has a merry and safe Christmas!
Song of the Week
Just like how I finished off my
Halloween special with Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s Halloween theme, I couldn’t
resist choosing the Toy Day theme from that game as well. To me, this song
exudes the Christmas spirit in droves, getting me in a holly jolly mood every
time I hear it.
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