Triple Triad was such an awesome game. It's at least as deep as a game like Yu-Gi-Oh, and it was tied only loosely to the storyline so if you're not into CCG's you don't need to play.
Pazzak was alright. It's kind of like Blackjack. In fact, it's very much like Blackjack. Pity I'm not a huge fan of Blackjack...
On the whole, though, I'm not a fan of minigames in games. Especially if I really, really like the game. Like, say, GTAIV. It really bugged me whenever someone wanted to go play darts, or pool, or bowling or whatever. Those games are tedious in reality, and painful in GTA.
That said, I am a huge fan of those smaller, simpler games when you take them outside of other games. I have a whole section on my desktop devoted to games which are only designed to hold my attention for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Stuff like Audiosurf [http://www.audio-surf.com/], Warning Forever [http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2006/12/warning-forever.html], Plasma Pong [http://www.fun-motion.com/physics-games/plasma-pong/], that sort of thing. A game I found and thoroughly enjoyed was Bubbletanks [http://armorgames.com/play/1920/bubble-tanks-2?referral=gameBubbleTanks2]; a cross between Asteroids and Space Invaders with an RPG-like upgrade system where you choose between paths. Another good one was Battleships Forever [http://www.wyrdysm.com/bfdownload.php]. The campaign was short and honestly not that involving, but I've spent a looooong time building custom ships and hurling them at one another through the editor.
Pazzak was alright. It's kind of like Blackjack. In fact, it's very much like Blackjack. Pity I'm not a huge fan of Blackjack...
On the whole, though, I'm not a fan of minigames in games. Especially if I really, really like the game. Like, say, GTAIV. It really bugged me whenever someone wanted to go play darts, or pool, or bowling or whatever. Those games are tedious in reality, and painful in GTA.
That said, I am a huge fan of those smaller, simpler games when you take them outside of other games. I have a whole section on my desktop devoted to games which are only designed to hold my attention for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Stuff like Audiosurf [http://www.audio-surf.com/], Warning Forever [http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2006/12/warning-forever.html], Plasma Pong [http://www.fun-motion.com/physics-games/plasma-pong/], that sort of thing. A game I found and thoroughly enjoyed was Bubbletanks [http://armorgames.com/play/1920/bubble-tanks-2?referral=gameBubbleTanks2]; a cross between Asteroids and Space Invaders with an RPG-like upgrade system where you choose between paths. Another good one was Battleships Forever [http://www.wyrdysm.com/bfdownload.php]. The campaign was short and honestly not that involving, but I've spent a looooong time building custom ships and hurling them at one another through the editor.