We’ve asked our Content Team and Web Team what video games they’ve been playing when they’re not immersed in the world of ROBLOX, so we decided to ask our Client Team (and one member of our QA Team) what they’ll be playing over the upcoming holiday break. We told them that no games were off limit–until Kevin started talking about a game on Commodore 64, at which point we politely asked him to stay in this generation.  Check out their picks!

Ben Tkacheff — Game Engineer

I’ve sunk 50 hours into Borderlands 2, and I’m not even close to being done with it. The levels are huge and the character dialogue is really funny. I’m also really into the overall look of Borderlands 2–it’s got its own unique design aesthetics that really sets it apart from other first person shooters. Oh, and the guns. So. Many. Guns. They become insane after a while. I keep coming back just to see what kind of bizarre ulti-weapon I’ll stumble across next–I have no idea how Gearbox was able to come up with so many ideas for weapons. Maybe they have a room full of monkeys with typewriters…

Fred Kimberley —  Senior Client Engineer

I’ve been doing a lot of gaming on my iPad recently, and have been immersed in the mobile version of Baldur’s Gate. It’s a really fun game and it translated to the touch interface well, which I appreciate having taken part in bringing ROBLOX to iOS. Basically you touch anywhere on the screen to move your character and touch items to interact with them. The game itself is pretty old, though the mechanics are as fun as ever. Throughout the game you meet different people who will or won’t join your group, and you’ve got to find the right type of teammates to survive. Someone may join you on a quest and help out if you agree to help them with something later, but if you don’t keep your word, they might get angry and take off. There’s a lot of give and take in the system–and in a lot of ways it’s reminiscent of Apocalypse Rising, where having a party of trusted friends makes surviving a lot easier.

Kevin He — Graphics Engineer

I play a lot of Starcraft 2. The multiplayer mode is phenomenal–you can find a random opponent that has similar skill levels in minutes and have a quick 20-30 minute match. The real time strategy genre in general requires intense hand-brain coordination, and Starcraft 2 is no exception. You have to picture every possible scenario in advance if you want to win. It’s a lot like real life, actually. You can make plans and have big dreams, but in the end, it’s all about how you execute your plans. In Starcraft, execution is everything. You may have this grand, detailed plan laid out to defeat your opponent, only to have it in shambles in the first five minutes. You’ve got to adapt to differing situations on the fly.

Dylan Bromley — VP, Client Development

I spent all of last weekend playing Settlers of Catan on iPad. It’s the iOS version of a very nerdy, resource management board game, where you play with a friend by passing an iPad back and forth. Each of you works to build cities and gain control of various resources to upgrade and expand your empire. You and a friend take turns making these decisions, then go to war. The port itself is fantastic–they did a great job of capturing the art style of the original board game.

Joshua Marcelo — QA Client Tester

I’m a fighting game maniac, so it probably comes as no surprise that I’m playing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. It’s amazingly complex and deep, and is the best fighting game I’ve played in at least 10 years (trust me, I’ve played them all). Assembling a squad from the Marvel and Capcom universes, you can have three-on-three tag team battles online with internet strangers or locally with your friends. You can swap characters out mid-combo, and use backup assists to prolong your combos. Once you begin to understand the basic mechanics and how to swap characters in air, one simple hit can be enough to start a combo that completely destroys the other character. I’m sweating just thinking about it. HULK SMASH!