Oh me oh my, "Games Ponies Play" very pleasantly surprised me, and considering it employed the "misunderstanding" cliche, that's saying something! Let's get this review going!

Well first of all, having an ensemble episode involving all of the Mane 6 once again (basically the first one we'd had since "Spike At Your Service") was really great! Being a shorter season, we didn't have too many of those in Season 3, and that's a shame, since they're usually some of the best episodes in the show and give us a chance to see all of the Mane 6 getting into shenanigans with each other and just having fun. Case in point, this episode might very well have been the funniest episode in Season 3, I'm not even joking or anything. The humor was just excellent and always surprised me, and I don't get how they pulled that off, considering, as I said earlier, they were employing the done-to-death "misunderstanding" cliche the whole episode to drive the plot. But in the end it simply worked fantastically, so kudos to DHX on what is in my opinion hands down the funniest episode of Season 3.

Second, it was awesome getting to see the Crystal Empire once again, along with Cadance and Shining Armor. The Empire has some simply stunning visuals, but my favorite part about seeing those two and the Crystal Empire was really that we got to see them for a normal episode. There was no invasion, no evil villain to fight, we just got to see the empire and all the crystal ponies in a normal episode with a normal lesson, and that was a really fun treat and nice change. Rarity had some excellent funny moments with Cadance, and Shining Armor was pretty funny, especially when he was getting hit on! It's always fun when the Mane 6 get to visit new locations in normal episodes, and we honestly hadn't gotten too much of that in Season 3 (heck, we didn't even get that much in Season 2 aside from Canterlot showing up every once in awhile).

Third, that vacationing pony and the Equestrian Games inspector were both a whole lot of fun. It's been awhile since we met any new supporting characters, and it really didn't happened that much in Season 3, aside from "One Bad Apple" and "Apple Family Reunion" I guess. The vacationing pony was too funny (her claustrophobia was especially hilarious!), but she was also really sweet, and they both had some really funny gags going on. Having some new characters just gave DHX the chance to have some fun and employ some new jokes, and it worked great!

I will say this, I was a little confused by the lesson, mostly because Rainbow Dash was beating herself up so much at the end. Don't get me wrong, I get why RD was personally so upset, but at the same time she was acting as though it were all her fault, when it was just a misunderstanding by all of them, and heck, all of the Mane 6 knew that they'd all misunderstood the situation. Don't feel so bad about yourself RD!!! All in all though, the episode was a lot of fun, even if I didn't quite get the lesson.

OH, RAINBOW SPLAT!!! Ya know, no matter how many times I watch it, it never gets old.

Couple of final thoughts; once again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the animation was absolutely stunning! The Crystal Empire is one of my favorite locations in the show, and even more so now that everything is all... crystally, for lack of a better word. The buildings, the ponies, they all just look fantastic! The few bits where "Just for Sidekicks" and this episode were crossing over were quite clever as well and a whole lot of fun. All in all, this was a fantastic episode, an extraordinarily, and surprisingly, fantastic episode, and in my book it might just be the funniest episode of Season 3, easily this season's "Party of One" or "Lesson Zero", and most definitely worth a rewatch!