Casual/Sim games for Xbox 360?

B

BoogieWithStu

CAGiversary!
I loved Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, and I've played Super Meat Boy until my eyes bled. It is now time to take a breath and relax. Preferably on the Xbox 360. I'm not totally against PC games (i know most sim city/tycoon games are PC only), but I would really prefer Xbox 360.

I'm looking for a non-combat oriented sim or casual game. I don't like time limits either. To give you some perspective, here is a list of "casual/sim" games that I own and enjoyed at one point:

A Kingdom for Keflings
(PC) Sim City 3000
Viva Pinata! (straight up. shit's fun)
(PC) Sim Tower (super old but i go back every so often)
Puzzle Quest, and to a lesser extent Puzzle Quest Galactrix
Crystal Defenders (you could pause and place guys any time, and it was generally laid back)
(PC) Alchemy (popcap games)

Here are some games I'm looking at on Xbox 360, but not 100% sure about:

Thrillville: On the Rails! (reviews say it's too simplistic, but TBH this is the closest thing I've found to what I want)
World of Keflings (Original KfK was over a little too quick for me. 1200 is a lot of points. anyone know if this one is longer?)
Puzzle Quest 2 (Again a lot of points, and i'm afraid it'll be too similar to PQ1)
Create (not enough reviews. can't decide. still $40 i think, too)

Board games would be great too. I tried Risk Factions, but personally, I'm not big on Risk. I always fucking lose because my rolls suck 99% of the time. I'll go in with like 900 guys on 1 dude and lose 895 of them.

Any ideas? I just want to sit back with a beer and manage a zoo or some shit. Preferably on Xbox 360. Honestly, if you have a suggestion of good games you play to relax I'm willing to listen, even if they're not in these categories, but this is what I'm looking at myself.
 
The Undergarden. It's an XBLA game, very chill, you'll get a few hours out of it and it's $10. There's a trial so you don't have anything to lose checking it out.

I enjoyed World of Keflings a lot more than Kingdom, but I played it co-op with my girlfriend and I think that made it a lot better. I'm not sure if it was that or just that World was a better game.

edit: I just re-read your post and saw a mistake. A World of Keflings is only 800 msp normally and on March 29th it will be 400 msp. That should make it much easier to buy if you're worried about the length. And for the record, I think my girlfriend and I got 5 hours or so out of it.

Also, do you like adventure games? Monkey Island 1 and 2 are really great classics and are both 800 msp. I love the updated visuals. The combat isn't really combat and death only exists as part of a joke.

For board games I recommend checking out Carassonne and Ticket to Ride, both on XBLA.
 
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Awesome. I LOVE adventure games.

And thanks for the heads up about Keflings. I will 100% buy it when it goes on sale. My GF loved the original, too
 
[quote name='BoogieWithStu']I just want to sit back with a beer and manage a zoo or some shit.[/QUOTE]

:rofl:
 
Tropico 3

If you want board games Catan and Carcassonne are both alot of fun, but I do not know if people play XBL anymore, as I haven't played in about 2 years.
 
Miner Dig Deep: 80 points. The most relaxing little indie game on XBL.

Torchlight, though expensive at 1,200 points, seems like a better choice than Puzzle Quest 2. Check out the demo. (Passing a kidney stone is more fun than Galactrix.)
 
Not exactly a sim game, but Magic the Gathering is a very laid back, slow paced game that is alot of fun at the same time.
 
Civ Rev is a blast. It's turn based, so you can play at your own leisure. It gets pretty addicting. It reminded me a lot of Sim City (and obviously previous Civ Rev games).

Also, the Sims 3 gets pretty addictive after awhile too.
 
Stacking is laid back. It's also really dull. At least it was for me - some people seem to like it. I just found the progress of the game to be too mind bogglingly slow, mainly because you... walk... so... slowly.... Mind you, I only played the demo. I didn't finish the demo before deleting it.

I highly, highly second the recommendation of Miner Dig Deep. I think it fits the bill perfectly and it's only 80 points! It's very addicting, no time limits, and it's just about digging a mine and searching for minerals to sell, buying new and better equipment and searching for blueprints to build new equipment. Really a pretty great little game, especially for the price.
 
[quote name='Stoic Person Eater']Civ Rev is a blast. It's turn based, so you can play at your own leisure. It gets pretty addicting. It reminded me a lot of Sim City (and obviously previous Civ Rev games).

Also, the Sims 3 gets pretty addictive after awhile too.[/QUOTE]

I love CivRev, but I'm pretty sure Catherine the Great wasn't this hot in real life:

catherine_civrev_sexy.jpg

The whole time she's talking and bending over suggestively, Japan sends an army of ninjas to capture your capital. :bomb:
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Stacking is laid back. It's also really dull. At least it was for me - some people seem to like it. I just found the progress of the game to be too mind bogglingly slow, mainly because you... walk... so... slowly.... Mind you, I only played the demo. I didn't finish the demo before deleting it.
[/QUOTE]

The Stacking demo is a bit dull. That area is a lot smaller than the three main stages and contains far fewer dolls with a lot less to do. It's really just a tutorial to teach you the mechanics. After being excited for the game I was disappointed in the demo, but after unlocking the full game I played through and enjoyed it quite a bit.
 
It's not exactly a "chill" game, but the new Pac Man is fun as hell, and somewhat casual. I think I've already unlocked free play, but I like trying to beat my high score so much on the time trial mode that I haven't played it yet. Once you've played a level a few times, it's almost hypnotic.

I second the recommendation for Torchlight - I really enjoyed that game on my PC, and have been debating buying it on my Xbox for the big screen and the ability to use a controller. It's just a fun dungeon crawler that will gobble up huge amounts of time.

As for Carcassone, I bought it when it was on sale last month, but have yet to play, other than trying out the demo. It looks kind of fun, so if you ever want someone to play with, shoot me a message on XBL. My gamertag is kalei50.

Oh, and I'd like to know what you think of Thrillville - it does sound kind of fun.

Update:

Just saw this in another thread - Big Kahuna Reef is a free download from Amazon today - looks pretty casual. Can't beat the price either... heh.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290135
 
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Peggle. It's all about Peggle. That is my go-to chill game every time.

I also really love Hexic. Does Hexic still come free on all systems?
 
My girlfriend loves Tropico 3. It is like a multi-layered SimCity. A lot going on but not like the SimCity games where you can go on autopilot once you figure out the formula.

She saw that you loved SimTower and lost her mind. That was her favorite game back in the day. She would name random residents then stalk them through the tower.
 
Civ Rev is a great recommendation. I poured hours into almost every session I played. I too started playing it because I was tired of having to focus 100% of my attention on a game at all times. I have PvZ on PC and it's the best single player tower defense game I've ever played. Also recommend Monkey Island, or if on PC Sam & Max as well as Tales of Monkey Island.
 
Having just finished Create, I can heartily recommend it. It's basically a physics-based puzzle game with a few different objectives in 140 levels. You set everything up before it starts and then start it and watch everything happen, which can be really fun. I played through the game in about a week, but with the ability to create new challenges and snapshots as well as download and play challenges from the community, the replayability is pretty high.

I also really enjoy Carcassone, Civ Rev, and both Keflings games.
 
A couple people already mentioned it but Tropico 3 is an excellent chill game and I normally don't play those kind of sim games. You can either do mission mode were your goal is something specific like farm $xxxx.xx amount of bananas or just do free mode and do what ever you want. I pop it in every now and then to relax.

I actually think Tropico 4 was announced for this year.
 
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