Games
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Four for four.
On the Table
It is my understanding that Sons of Anarchy somewhat underperformed at the box office, so to speak. This is unfortunate, because the game is awesome. Apparently, Gale Force 9 only makes awesome games. Homeland is their latest awesome game. Do not be an idiot. Buy this game. After you read this review.
It is very much a “next gen” Battlestar Galactica. It’s streamlined to the point where it makes BSG look cluttered _without_ expansions. It basically takes the crisis resolution (playing secret cards into a stack and then resolving them) and makes the whole game about that part. As well as the espionage that goes on around playing secret cards. It’s a game about getting, using and creating information, and few games have handled this theme as well. I also especially like the real world setting and very modern theme (which is not, by the way “the Homeland TV show”).
I didn’t mention it in the review, but be advised that this is a 5-6 player game. With 3 or 4 you can play and it’s fun, works, etc. but you want an “all hands on deck” table for this one. I would actually prefer not to play with less than six, and I would probably pick something else over a 3 or 4 player game. Solitaire is only possible if you just want to see how the mechanics run. Which is actually pretty cool, but it’s not the intended experience. Great stuff.
Luchador and Super Motherload are in-bound, as is Assault on Doomrock all the way from Poland. I’m trying to get Apex Theropod because it looks bad ass.
On the retro tip, I traded into a copy of Rune Age with the expansion, I’ve been curious about trying it again with the add on and with some distance (four years?!) from it. Also got a copy of Flashpoint, which I’m thinking my kids might be able to play with some help.
On the Consoles
Monster Hunter 4, Majora’s Mask, blah blah blah.
In between those, I’m playing a host of Virtual Console titles off and on. Still working on Metroid Fusion, which I just absolutely love. Just got Wario Land 4, which is completely nuts. Apparently some critic wrote a 600 page analysis about the game. So far I really like it a lot, but not enough to write that much about it. This will do.
Got in the mood for Mega Man…I have a weird thing about Mega Man. When I’m NOT playing one, I’m all like “nah man, not really into Mega Man”. But when I am playing one, I love it. I went with 3 because that’s the one I have the fondest memories of. My god, the difficulty. It’s so freaking unforgiving compared to current games, even “hard” ones. It’s like you go on to a screen and there’s three things that you can’t reach immediately shooting you. But I love that feeling when you FINALLY break through and beat one of the masters. I think I might look into Mega Man X at some point, I never played any of the SNES titles.
Also hitting up Super Mario Bros. 3 pretty hard. Gosh, as much as I love Galaxy, SMW and SM3D I have to say that design is just near perfect. It was really where Miyamoto and crew nailed down what Mario is, what the games do, what they look like, etc. But the really interesting part to me is that the stages are REALLY short.
On IOS
I dug into Auro more and I think there’s possibly a really good one there. The tutorial is obnoxious, but the game is also unusually complicated. Each enemy has a unique behavior pattern and each spell has very specific effects not only enemies but also on the board situation…and they can have multiple uses. Ice spell is great for freezing guys…but you can also use to create an ice floe in the water around the board to escape. What makes it REALLY complicated is that each game creates entirely unique scenarios based on position and there is also a wilful restriction of your field of view. It’s not dissimilar to Hoplite, but it is far more intricate.
On the Screen
I don’t know why I always watch the Oscars, but I did it again. I guess every year I need to be reminded that the movies…they make us laugh, they make us cry. They show us the world we live in, and the actors on screen reflect our souls. Here are the nominees.
Travolta fondling Idina Menzel was the most painfully embarrassing and awkward thirty minutes of television I think I’ve ever seen.
Patricia Arquette hollered something about wage equality while wearing a dress that costs more than some people make in TWO years to an audience full of people taking home goody bags with tens of thousands of dollars of gifts.
Terence Howard- ???
“The eyes of the world are on me as I announce the most prestigious award in cinema. I bet a racist joke would go over well now”- inside Sean Penn’s mind before the Best Picture announcement.
On Spotify
Tape adapter broke, so not really anything this week.
