Papers, Please is a game about work. You work as an immigration officer for a communist country known as Arstotzka. Your job is to handle the long line-up of people awaiting to enter your borders, by checking their documents and being careful that they are who they say they are. Seems like a boring game, right? Then comes the drama. You have a family to feed, and you make some pretty sub-standard wages. How much you make each day will depend on the number of people you let through without breaking the rules. Some days, you will make a decent earning. Some days, you will barely break even. Other days, you might not make enough to cover the basic utilities keeping your family fed and warm. That's where the drama is, and that's what will drive you to go day after day, stamping passports, and making decisions that will affect you, your family, and other people trying to get through your borders. That's what makes this game so darn addicting and fun. There are a lot of decisions involved in this game. Some of the people passing through your immigration booth will bribe you. Do you take the bribe to feed your family, and yet risk getting caught by your own government? And what of people who really deserve to get into your borders and yet lack the proper documentation to do so? Do you risk your neck for them, or will you deny their entry because your government says so? These are the things that give the game so much depth and character, and will keep you playing for hours. This game deserves a 5/5, and nothing less. Very impressive.
Wacky Wheels was a childhood game of mine. I found it on some shareware disc, and loved it so much back in the day that I actually went and got the full version. I just installed the gog.com version, and it brought back some pleasant memories. The graphics are a little dated nowadays, but were actually pretty good back when 486 machines were the norm. They are still pleasant on the eyes though. The gameplay is simplistic, yet fun. You drive around go-carts with funny looking animal characters, and you try to win races by speed, by launching hedgehogs at your opponents' go-carts, dropping oil, shooting fireballs, and so on. The AI does tend to cheat a bit in higher difficulty levels, though Wacky Wheels is ultimately a game that requires skill. Wacky Wheels is a game I'd recommend to anyone of all ages who doesn't mind a little goofiness when they have time to kill.
