My 2014 in gaming: Filling in the gaps with Age of Empires: Castle Siege

I’m not what you would call a mobile gamer. Not because I don’t like gaming on the go, but because my on-the-go time doesn’t have room for gaming. At this stage in my life, I don’t have any use for public transportation, I don’t have time to kill between classes, and I’m not usually stuck with nothing to do when my wife takes the remote control. All of my gaming is done on computer or console. Nothing fancy.

So, playing Age of Empires: Castle Siege on my phone is a stretch. I don’t like small screens. I don’t like touchscreen controls. I don’t like draining batteries. To be honest, I don’t like using phones for anything but texting, work, and the web.

I don’t even like the free-to-play model, in general. The one where in-game currency, typically purchased with real-world dollars, gives you shortcuts to the incessant ticking clocks of progress. You know how these mobile free-to-play games go: Do one thing. Wait. Do two things. Wait some more. These games do nothing but disrespect your time.

But, here I am, logging in every few hours into Age of Empires: Castle Siege, watching the clock tick down as I build my keep up to the next age, upgrade my structures to the next level, promote my soldiers to the next rank. Every single thing I do could be sped up with money, but I’m a well-established tightwad, and I’m terrible at spending money on goods that only exist as fleeting pieces of entertainment. (You pretty much have to be a blockbuster film or a five-star stage play to make me pay for something that no longer exists after a couple hours.)

But, again, here I am, actually willing to throw down a buck or two for a developer that’s clearly gotten some things right in the free-to-play mobile arena. So, my mobile gaming habit--which is only this one game, really--squeezes its way into some impossibly tight time frames.

I check on my castle’s progress when I’m frying up bacon and eggs in the morning. I collect resources when I’m in the bathroom. I skirmish with another online player just before bed. I watch a replay of another player sieging my lands while the water heats up for my shower. And I shift some walls and gates around when I think no one’s looking at work.

I’m not a mobile gamer. But Age of Empires: Castle Siege has got me mobile gaming every spare second I have, even if that’s not during a commute, between classes, or when my wife is watching an episode of Gilmore Girls. Because I love Gilmore Girls. Though I do log in when my wife is watching some run-of-the-mill police procedural. Heck, my four-year-old daughter even asks if she can log in for me and collect resources.Why yes, I tell her. Not good to leave those resources lying around for the bloody Saracens to come along and rob.

Castle Siege wasn’t my game of the year. But it was the game that fit itself into all the tiny cracks of time available throughout the year, which earns it an honorable spot in my 2014 in gaming. And, sorry, iPhone and Android users. Castle Siege is only on Windows Phone.