Prof. Layton and the Curious Village

Prof. Layton and his cronies were running around GDC giving out puzzles on cards.

I took one, all smiling, and heard the guy behind me on the street yell out "I love this game!!!"

I love this game, too! It saved me last weekend in the airport when my flight was canceled...

It's cute, it's intelligent, and it's fun!

And it's by Level-5, who also developed another game that has sucked up my time - Rogue Galaxy. And also Dragon Quest 8 (and the upcoming Dragon Quest 9 for DS).

Combines various kinds of puzzles (logic, simple math, riddles) with a point and click adventure and a forgiving hint system, which I haven't had to use as much as I thought I would.

"Every puzzle has an answer!" as Layton's VO sometimes remarks when you finish a puzzle.
Not yet finished yet, but this is quite fun.

No More Heroes

I rented this game from Blockbuster and almost finished it in a little over a week...it was good. People compare it to Kill Bill due to the assassin subject matter and nutso storyline, but it actually made me remember how I felt before I went to see Pulp Fiction (and also the Matrix).

Both times, I thought I would not like either movie, but voila, I went and I loved them.
Same thing here. It's just fun to slash at enemies with your beam katana (A button on the Wiimote) and then do a motion at the end for a finishing wrestling move.
And lots of blood all over.

I did not beat the final boss at the very end, but I made it to assassin rank #1!

I know people at work would think this sounds crazy - but it's even "casual" in some ways.

* It's organized into pretty small chunks that can be satisfyingly finished in an evening (save up money for entry fee to attack the next assassin, train up at the gym, and then go beat each boss)

* Gameplay itself is not frustratingly hard - I played at the easiest difficulty and it wasn't completely cake but also was forgiving enough that I wound up almost finishing. And I'm not good at combat games.

* The story is fun and pulls you along from segment to segment - creative to save "on the toilet"...


It's not a big open world like GTA but then, it doesn't really need to be...