SimCity: Tiny Maps and Tiny Zooms

SimCity logoSimCity has had quite the launch to be sure, ending with the resignation of EA’s CEO. Through all the drama, there’s an incredible game hiding in there. In fact, it’s a bit of a miracle that I escaped the mighty mining town of Woodville long enough to type up this article (just kidding, it’s actually running in the background).

The internet has a lot of complaints about SimCity, at various levels of validity. The UI hasn’t been one of them, and that’s because it’s pretty good. A favorite feature of mine is all the various data maps you can turn on. This puts an extra layer of data right on top of your city, no extra screen required. However, despite the small city size (a common complaint for sure), you still can’t actually see your whole city if you zoom out all the way, making all those sexy data maps a little less useful.

Read on for more about tiny maps and tiny zooms in SimCity

League of Legends: Genius Gameplay

League of Legends

Magic, Blades, Babes and Energy drinks

The free to play, PvP sensation League of Legends (LoL) is custom crafted to cultivate expert use. From the welcoming screens right on to the last click, Riot Games makes expertise in gameplay an obvious priority. What makes the gameplay so brilliant? Focus on intrinsic, intuitive actions and a manageable cognitive load.

Continue reading

Set: Card Games Can Be Usable Too


Box for Set

It's Set!

Set is an abstract card game that is more of a brainteaser than a “game”.  Being a Mensa-recommended brainteaser, this means that it’s a bit complex to get your head around.  Maybe not complex in the same way as Axis & Allies, but Set requires a lot of mental processing for the first time player.

In a nutshell, Set is a game about finding “sets” (see what they did there?) of matching symbols on its cards.  The thing is, there are four different ways you can match the cards.  It’s a lot for your brain to manage, especially when you’re racing other players who are doing the same thing.

And this is why it’s being featured here on thatgamesux.com: it is packaged in a way to help ease the player into fully understanding the game. Continue reading