Six games to make friends (and lose some) at Freshers’ this year

Leading up to freshers’ week and a new batch of students coming to Warwick this year, we’ve compiled some of the best games to play and use as icebreakers in your first year (and beyond). We’ve also added three games to avoid if you plan on keeping any new friends you make.  

Good Game – Mario Kart by Nintendo 

This is an absolute classic, and any entry in the series will do (except Double Dash!!, don’t be weird). Mario Kart is a great freshers’ game because everyone comes into it with a huge ego but the differences in ability are generally pretty wild. Someone who says they were at the official Mario Kart World Championships in 2022 will inevitably finish last in every race and then make excuses by saying they usually don’t play on whatever console you’re playing on.  

You and your friends will lob obscenities at each other while desperately trying to keep pumping out food orders

If you and your friends are new to the game, recommendations for fun tracks for beginners are: SNES Rainbow Road, N64 Rainbow Road, and Rainbow Road Wii.  

Bad Game – Overcooked by Ghost Town Games 

This entry being in the bad games is slightly harsh on my part. Overcooked is a hilarious and intuitive top-down cooking party game where you and your friends will lob obscenities at each other while desperately trying to keep pumping out food orders before the timer runs out or the kitchen eventually explodes.  

Whether or not you should play this game with your fellow freshers all depends on your personalities and abilities to deal with the inevitable conflict that comes with it. Like when you realise someone is a habitual liar when they’re too good at social deduction games. Or you might discover your new friend is a bit of a sadist when they force you to complete each level in Overcooked with three stars.  

You only really need one console or computer to have it on as it lets players use their phones as controllers

Good Game – The Jackbox Party Pack by Jackbox Games 

If you or your flatmates have any sort of big screen or projector then this is a good pick. It’s kind of like playing Kahoot! or a quiz game, but you have to make up most of the prompts yourself. Each pack will have a selection of party games with prompts ranging from Pictionary-like drawing games (Drawful), to making up lies about strange facts to trick your friends (Fibbage), to writing up diss tracks for giant robots to perform at each other (Mad Verse City).  

The core of Jackbox’s appeal is its accessibility. You only really need one console or computer to have it on as it lets players use their phones as controllers. How good a round of Jackbox is will really depend on how funny your friends are, or at least on the amount of stupid prompts you can think up.  

Bad Game – FIFA / EA Sports FC by Electronic Arts 

Only one other game (the final one on this list) inspires as much rage, frustration, and hate in people as FIFA. If you have the misfortune of being in the same room as a FIFA grudge match during freshers’, all I can do is offer you my condolences. Not only is it not inclusive – most games will only really make sense with two players. The other people watching will be subjected to a spectacle of pain and humiliation as one player who has played the game for years will mercilessly crush the other who was just up for a ‘friendly game’.  

Good Game – Super Smash Bros. by Nintendo 

Smash, as well as most other fighting games such as Injustice, Mortal Kombat, or Tekken, is a solid game to try out if you haven’t played it with others before. It’s a less traditional fighting game where you play as classic Nintendo characters to try and knock each other off a variety of Nintendo-themed stages.  

An advantage of Smash compared to other fighting games is that it allows for up to four players at a time while having controls that are relatively simple to learn. This means that even if you play with a Smash regular, you still have a decent chance of beating them by button-mashing or repeatedly farting on them with Wario.  

Bad Game – League of Legends by Riot Games 

The absolute worst thing you could do in your first few weeks at uni is to pick up League of Legends. Known as the game that most hardcore fans utterly detest and liken to an addiction, League will not only keep you locked in your room, skipping showers, and missing out on the first-year experience, but any friends you do end up making playing it will be relentlessly hurling abuse at you during each match. Avoid this game like the plague!  

A lot of these games are currently available to play at the Warwick Esports Centre so if you don’t have the equipment then you can head over there to try some of them out!