In the past decade, video games have gone through a lot of changes. Monetization models have evolved, technology continues its ascent, but more than anything, the audience that plays video games has expanded enormously. It’s come to a point where playing video games is no longer a sign of social outcast status, but the norm.
Despite this, it’s often hard to find games that cater to someone who wants to do more than click on crops but doesn’t want to invest the time it requires to reach the highest levels of “World of Warcraft” or “Call of Duty.” But not every game is shallow or a time suck. Here I’ve collected five games that fit that mid-range exceptionally.
“Burnout Paradise” (Available on: Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

There is no more universal thrill than going fast. Well, except maybe blowing things up. “Burnout Paradise” @@http://burnout.ea.com/index.asp?noredir=yes@@lets you revel in both. It’s a racing game with a finely tuned physics system that lovingly renders crashes with pyrotechnic glory, while at the same time providing a great pick-up-and-play driving experience. Whether you want to spend minutes or hours with the game, “Burnout Paradise” is rewarding. It features an entire city to drive around in, allowing you to take up races or challenges at your own pace. Or you can just screw around for hours, attempting to see how fast you can go before telescoping your car completely by ramming into a concrete pillar. Both options work just as well.
“Plants vs. Zombies” (PC, Mac, Chrome, PS3, Xbox 360, Mobile, Vita, DS, 3DS)

“Plants vs. Zombies” @@http://www.popcap.com/games/plants-vs-zombies/online@@is a distillation of the tower-defense genre. Rather than its predecessors’ stat-crunching and often endless waves of enemies, PvZ is simple and straightforward — you set up your turret-like plants on the left side of the screen while zombies walk in from the right. But despite this, PvZ sessions can easily fill entire evenings. It’s also available on just about every platform known to man, so there’s really no excuse to not at least try it.
“Minecraft” (XBLA,  PC, iOS)

“Minecraft”@@http://www.minecraft.net/@@ is a strange, open game. Most of the fun comes exploring its cube worlds, building massive structures and monuments and cowering from its evil nighttime denizens, rather than a standard game progression of fixed goals. “Minecraft” allows you to make your own fun by unleashing you into a randomly generated world of blocks and giving you absolute freedom. Recent updates have made the game less dangerous and have expanded the features list, but the core is still the same — you are given the tools to play in an immense Lego-like world. Few games engage with your imagination in such a way.
“Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale” (PC)

“Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale” tasks you with managing an item shop. No, I’m serious: in “Recettear” you play the bit part to someone else’s roleplaying game. However, within that quirky premise lies an addicting gameplay loop of buying, selling and haggling. Eventually the game even allows you to accompany heroes on their quests into dungeons, all the while profiting from their conquests. If you can get past the cutesy anime-art style, you’ll find no better place to virtually indulge in your capitalistic desires.
“Mario Kart Wii” (Wii)@@http://www.mariokart.com/wii/launch/@@

If you grew up in the ’90s and had any access to a Nintendo console, you have probably played “Mario Kart” in one of its incarnations. At this point you may think, like I once did, that you’d outgrown the series@@never@@. Chances are that you’re wrong. Even after all these iterations, it’s still ridiculously fun to race as characters from Mario’s world and to use power ups to ruin your friends’ dreams of victory. Except the blue shell.
Only quitters use the blue shell.