Looking back

This has been a most interesting year for me. At the same time, I’ve been very very bad.

Not bad in the moral sense, but more bad in that I’ve really neglected things that interest me greatly. Activities that used to bring me so much joy, like working out, updating this space, seeing movies, playing a variety of games, all of those things I’ve not been too good about doing, especially in the last part of the year. Movies like 9 (the stitchpuck adventure), Nine (the musical), Sherlock Holmes, Ninja Assassin, and more recently the apparent visual feast of Avatar, all have been passed over in favor of playing games with my buddies. Whether it’s Agricola with local pals or Modern Warfare 2 with friends from afar, that has been the main focus of things this fall and winter.

In fact, for all my laziness, I’ve had a lot of fun. All those reviews I’ve been promising have been for some really good games. I relish the chance to play Dungeon Lords again, and look forward to replaying the newest Dominion Expansion.

In more RPG-related matters, my D&D sessions that I’ve been involved in have been really enjoyable, and the new material coming out has really given D&D 4th Edition the kind of depth that 3.X had. The best part about it is definitely the D&D Insider material available online. From the handy character builder, to the almost indispensible Monster Generator, to the added character flavor in Dragon, the year in D&D has been pretty fantastic. Add in the fact that I got to introduce several new players to the game in a sleep-deprived and half-drunk session in a Toronto diner over the summer, and it’s been a pretty solid year for XPz and lootz.

So maybe the year wasn’t a complete loss. So what about the decade that’s about to end? It’s been nothing short of fantastic for me. I got married, got a house, and got to travel! In doing so, I got to meet some of the most awesome people in the universe. At the same time, I’ve seen good times and a few bad with the friends that I’ve had for over 13 years. At this point, I’d call them family, brothers and sisters all. As for my family back in San Antonio, I’ve welcomed a new member into our family in my brother-in-law, and also recently met my first niece!

Sports were also big! The Oklahoma Sooners won a National Championship, and my beloved San Antonio Spurs won two NBA titles. I got to see Oklahoma City get the Hornets, then the Thunder. I got to sit courtside at a Thunder game too! In the gaming realm, I got more heavily involved in board gaming than ever before, meeting the outstanding people in the OKC Super Fantastic Gaming Hour group, and starting this site to bring my love of games to the world. Music was a big focus for me as I started going to concerts! I saw Nine Inch Nails six times, Sevendust three times, and Disturbed twice, among a multitude of other shows.

Yup, I’d say I’m pretty blessed. Happy New Year, and I’ll see you all in 2010!

Jamaica

Sometimes a game gets so caught up in a wacky theme and great looking art that it loses sight of what’s really important; a fun gaming experience. MWAHAHAHA! comes to mind as a perfect example of this, a game that looks good but turns out to be mundane and boring. Jamaica on the other hand is a prime example of gorgeous production values encasing a simply but very fun game.

In Jamaica, players take the role of buccaneer captains racing around the eponymous island. As a race game, it has its own way of determining how a player moves around the board, and let’s just say that Jamaica’s technique is both random and fun. Essentially, you know in what direction you’re going to move and in what order you’re going to do it, but you don’t know to what degree until someone rolls a pair of dice. As a result of landing, you are required to fight other ships, pay a harbor fee, or dig up treasure. Most of the time, you’ll be exhausting one of the resources that you can gain via the same cards that you move with. It all works very well and makes for a quick and smooth little racing gem.

As I mentioned before, the art of the game is surprisingly good. Every detail on the box, board, and bits reflects the humor and irreverence of the game. If you’re a fan of pirates, this is almost a must-buy.

The game is not deep, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s very entertaining, very pretty to look at, and plays rather quickly even for beginners. 8/10.

Video Game Quick Hits!

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. I'm in San Antonio visiting family and a new niece, and yet this is getting updated automatically somehow. I blame witches. So let's get to some quick thoughts about some recent video game releases, most of whom have copious amounts of colons in their titles for some reason.

Halo 3: ODST

If you could apply the word “premium” to any part of Bungie’s Halo series, than ODST would definitely have that stamped all over it. For all the fun that you can have as Not-Master-Chief played by the male cast of Firefly, this is hardly a good gaming value. Sure it comes with all of the Halo 3, including three disk-only Mythic maps and sure firefight is fun, and the campaign is cool and a lot of fun, but considering that most of the people buying this title already have a majority of the DLC, there’s very little new stuff. The campaign is short, even by today’s standards, although playing on Legendary does increase the playtime significantly. All in all, if you really like Halo, by all means pick this up. You should approach this in the same way you’d approach a meal at an expensive restaurant that you rarely eat at. Yes, you will enjoy it but it’s up to you whether it’s worth the coin. 7/10

The Beatles: Rock Band

This is another case of “if you like the series, you’ll like this game.” There are few new innovations to the Rock Band formula, and in fact there are fewer options available to players since you’re unable to change the appearance of the titular Beatles in the game. There are some additional features to make the game more appealing to kids and adults who suck at rhythm games but who like the Beatles. Overall, this is a good buy for Rock Band enthusiasts. 8/10


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

The most-hyped game of year award was stolen away from a Halo game in 2009. I’d love to say that this game is terrible and not worth an iota of your time, because I love watching big projects and launches (not involving live astronauts) fail. Sadly and yet awesomely at the same time, MW2 is fucking sweet. This is the prettiest, most intense, most fun shooters I’ve played in a while. Yes, ODST is fun and I will be playing Halo again in the near future, but MW2 different in so many cool ways. I missed the boat on CoD4, but this whole FPS with XP thing is cool as hell. Sure you could level up in Bioshock, but you couldn’t play with your friends and you couldn’t level up and get more bad-ass with your friends and thousands of other online players. The single player is interesting so far, but I’ve managed to get hooked in Multiplayer faster. Likely, I’ll save the campaign for when I have no playing online and tear it up multiplayer otherwise. This is a must buy for shooter fans. 9/10

Conquest of the Empire

As you can see from my output so far, I’m a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to gathering my thoughts and putting them down in written form regarding gaming. This is a recent thing, and something that I’m trying to combat. I will be better about this in the future.

Speaking of combat, I recent got to play a big session of Conquest of the Empire. As one of the members of Milton Bradley’s Gamemaster series, CotE has been around. Recently though, a new edition has come out, and while the new printing does preserve the old Risk-style game play, there are also a new modern set of rules designed for a more Euro-gamey experience.

Being unfamiliar with the old rules, I have nothing to compare the new rules to except for other games. This almost reminds me of a mirror image Twilight Imperium. In TI, diplomacy takes a back-seat to combat and you’re almost always assured a fight. In CotE, you’re not forced to fight if an opponent enters an area where you have units. On the contrary, your enemy this turn might be literally on your side next turn, so burning bridges with needless combat is something to be avoided. That said, there’s plenty of dice-rolling combat to be had if you’re feeling blood-thirsty! The mechanics of battle in this game make combined arms of different units almost a requirement, and special units like Generals and Caesars have strong non-combat functions in addition to their military role.

This is a really solid game, and is one of the few games where playing with a lot of people (6 in our case) didn’t feel like a grind. Sure the session took about 4 hours or more, but I constantly felt engaged by the experience, and am looking forward to playing again. The game has a lot of viscerally satisfying elements, like a big board, surprisingly non-sucky stock money, and a generous helping of awesome little plastic bits. I had a blast in the session we played and am now actively looking to add a copy to my collection.
8/10!

Quick Hits

• Reviews for Marvel Heroes, Jamaica, Halo 3: ODST, and Beatles Rock Band are coming soon. I've been pre-occupied recently, and yet slacking at the same time.
• What could possibly be so important to keep me from my gaming reviewing duties? I was asked to edit the most recent Awesome On Its Own video. What's Awesome On Its Own? It's a bunch of really cool people from the Red vs. Blue boards, making fools of themselves to either awesome or awesomely bad music. It's something that's been an absolute pleasure to be involved in, and I hope that we continue to entertain for a while more yet. Here's my first editing job, so be gentle. :)

• Speaking on ODST, the hardest part of the big coop achievements is actually getting the people together to play through them. Also, they're really hard.
• OU Football could be better, but it could be worse. Maybe the thrashing we're about to receive in Dallas will finally be the catalyst to make some coaching changes that we so badly need.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME (fantasy) FOOTBALL!!!

(Thanks VGCats!)

One of my favorite aspects of board games and Dungeons & Dragons is the use of imagination. While board games can have cool detailed pieces, and D&D can have neat minatures, it's imagining the various battles, encounters, and summits that really appeals to me. Fantasy football also lets my imagination run wild, albeit in a more mundane and worldly way. Let's have a look at what kind of teams I'm rolling this year.

First we'll start with my team from work, where I got the first pick of a 10 player, 16 round draft.



This is probably my favorite team, but also my riskiest. Getting the first pick is a blessing that can quickly become a curse if that player gets injured, especially if that player is going to be the main point producer of your team. Fortunately, I feel like I was able to get a great, well rounded running back corps and a couple of good quarterbacks. I feel like I took Matt Ryan way too early, but I wanted to match him up with Tony Gonzales. My receivers are also a little anemic, but I'm hoping to be surprised.

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Next up is the team for my family's league. I picked 10th out of 10 in this 15 round affair.



I have high hopes for Frank Gore, who's battled injury and who's team is continuing to rebuilt. Steve Slaton will make or break this team, as he's the #2 RB for me. Once again, I grab Ryan Grant, Tony Gonzales, and Matt Ryan as a solid QB backup. My wide receivers are alright, with the Phillip Rivers to Vincent Jackson connection being the highlight.

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The third of my teams is my squad for the Red vs. Blue Keeper league. I feel that this is my weakest team, due to my keepers being rather subpar. Here I picked 8th of 12.



With Pierre Thomas hurt, this team is in even worse shape. This team also depends on Ray Rice being the fantasy stud that everyone seems to think he'll be. The late round pick up of Joe Flacco was also nice, and he actually gets the start this week in his matchup against the woeful Chiefs.

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This next team is for the Red vs. Blue Redraft League: Season 5. Again, I picked last in the 12th slot of 12 players.



The team's alright, and you'll notice that I'm trying to match up QBs and recievers from the same team, specifically the TEs. Other than that, the team is largely unremarkable except for the glaring omission of a backup TE, which I've now corrected via waivers. I'm curious to see how the ex-Mizzou standout wideout Jeremy Maclin works out in Philly.

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This last team is actually a late addition this season's fantasy shenanigans. This team will slug it out for supremacy in the Late Nite JengaJam D&D4Jox league. This time, I picked 2nd out of 10 players.



I like this team, and again I'm blessed with a pretty strong running back line-up. Willie Parker is the only question mark in that group, and his performance on Thursday night did nothing to settle that question. This is my most well-rounded team, benefitting from the before-mentioned running backs, a good set of receivers, and a good TE and decent defence.

I'll update as the season progresses, and you can catch updates for the D&D4Jox league Tuesday nights at 9:30 central on Late Nite JengaJam!

(500) Days of Summer

This has been a most interesting summer for movies, where the big budget movies have tended to fall flat while the movies that I was most on the fence about, namely District 9 and Star Trek, ended up hitting it right out of the park. There were also some great surprises, like The Hangover, and more recently (500) Days of Summer. While The Hangover is a comedic romp that revels in guilty movie pleasure and extremely base but effective humor, (500) Days is a thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly energetic look a relationships that hit very close to home for this reviewer. This was the perfect movie to end my summer reviews with, and though I may yet see GI Joe, I probably won’t review it anytime soon.

(500) Days of Summer makes two things very clear from the beginning of the movie. First, the movie is the story of a boy and a girl, and girl is someone that one of the film’s writers is no longer on good terms with. Second, is that the boy and girl do not end up together. Watching the movie, I was confused as to why the filmmakers would choose to tell us essentially the end of the story at the beginning. This is because the end isn’t as important as how the end came about, which is what the movie concerns itself with. The story is told non-chronologically, which works excellently as every happy moment the characters’ relationship is tempered with scenes from the decline of the romance. This makes the film seem much longer than its meager 95 minute running time, but this works well since such an emotional rollercoaster can’t be sustained for too long without tiring and eventually boring the audience. The movie is briskly paced, and engaging for the entire its entire length.



There are far too many good things to say about the two leads of the movie, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. They are excellent in their roles, never outshining the other and keeping their balance throughout the film. There are times when you want to hate their characters, and this is because you actually begin to care about both of them and question their actions out of concern for their well-being. This is a credit to both actors and their expertly understated performances. The rest of the cast is also well utilized, giving their support when needed and staying in the background when they’re not. The camera is absolutely in love with Zooey, and does an excellent job of showcasing her stunning beauty and her character’s almost force of nature-like personality. As the story is mostly told from Gordon-Levitt’s character’s perspective, his turn as the helpless romantic is the backbone of the story, and the emotional highs and lows that his character faces were especially relevant to my own experiences.

The movie is not only about relationships, but about personal perceptions as well. Just because you see something and want it very badly, it will never work out if everyone isn’t totally onboard no matter how badly you want it too. This was a lesson that I as a young man from San Antonio, who met a girl from Detroit in college, had to learn for himself a long time ago. I asked that girl out many time, only to get rejected time and time again. I was so sure that we were supposed to be together, that it nearly cost us our friendship. Finally, I grew up and was ready to move on. It was that realization, finally understanding that just because I wanted something didn’t mean I would get it, that was a key factor in my growing as a person. Eventually, that girl and I did get together, but not until she saw that growth in me, and realized that I had the potential to be there for her. This is a lesson that inherent in the movie, and is one of the reasons that I enjoyed it so much.



(500) Days of Summer deserves your attention, more so than any other so-called romantic comedy that has come out this year. I’d say it’s the best movie of the summer, but Star Trek was pretty excellent as well. Both movies are satisfying in their own way, and both are excellent for their own reasons. 10/10

Kriegbot

It would be too easy to dismiss some board games as rip-offs or dumbed-down versions of bigger, more involved games. Descent and Doom could be called Dungeons & Dragons Lite, and Dominion could be called Magic: The Gathering Jr. It would be just as easy to dismiss Kriegbot as BattleTech For Dummies, but that would be enormously unfair. Despite its low-budget presentation, Kriegbot makes for a lot of light-wargaming, robot-building fun.

The game is straight-forward. Players are issued a robot chassis that determines your movement, initiative, and build configuration. You then are assigned teams and are given a team deck of weapons, equipment, and skins with which to trick out your battle bot. After you're finished building, your robots march out on the battlefield to play. Objectives can vary from scenario to scenario, from alien attacks to AIs vs. Humans, all of the objectives look pretty entertaining. In our first two games, we played a team deathmatch followed by Kill the Human, where each team has a single human piloted robot, and the objective is to slay the opposing team's meatbag, I mean human.

The best part about the game is making combos with a robot’s equipment and weapons, of which there are many. Another benefit is that the robot chassis that is issued to you, while being very distinct from the others, can't really hinder you from making the kind of robot that you're in the mood for. You can make a rocket sniper bot, or a rocket melee bot, or a rocket bot that fires lots of missiles. There are many possibilities, and the game is infinitely expandable to provide more building options. Moreover, the game can be played on any hex board, and using any kind of appropriately sized miniatures, rather than the ones included. This makes for a great use of minis from other games or your own home build figs.

I mentioned that people might call this game an oversimplified version of Battletech, but that's fine because sometimes a simple version of game that I like is a very good thing. Where Battletech requires a lot of time to get a new player into the game, Kriegbot takes about 15 minutes. Where you could spend hours going through all of the materials available to BattleTech players to build their mechs, it takes a fraction of that time to build a robot in Kriegbot. BattleTech, Magic, and D&D can't be replaced, but you can get a lot of the fun thanks to games like Kriegbot that are very accessible, easy to learn, and quite enjoyable to play.

I had high expectations from this game, and I'm pleased to say that they were soundly met. If you can get a copy, I highly recommend that you do. 9/10

District 9 and Inglourious Basterds

When I updated the other day, it occurred to me that I'd completely left out any mention of some of the movies I've taken in recently. EGAD! Sometimes I have to remind myself that my geekery need not be limited to games and sports.



This summer was all about the remakes and sequels. Some of them were good, like Star Trek and others were rather bland or just sucked all together like Terminator Salvation and Transformers. It's extremely refreshing when something new and awesome is given to us to enjoy, and nothing more represents that feeling than Neill Blomkamp's District 9.

District 9 is essentially a big-budget remake of Blomkamp's short film Alive in Joburg, with obvious expansions of the plot, characters, and special effects. The movie is about a group of errant aliens who's ship settles just above Johannesburg twenty years before the film is set. Having nowhere else to put the growing alien population, the South African government settles the refugees into a slum known as District 9. This is just one of several not-so-subtle references to apartheid in the movie, and this along with the slow start of the film is one of District 9's few failings. Once the movie gets going you're almost unprepared for the massively epic finale to the film, and before I spoil too much I'll just say that the alien weapons in the movie are definitely video game inspired and utterly awesome.

Speaking of the aliens, they look fantastic. Not only are they exceptionally animated, they're everywhere on-screen. The filmmakers are not shy in showing off their masterfully crafted aliens, but it never feels like they're hogging the spotlight. Further, I suspect that a lot of the time and effort in animating the aliens comes from the aborted Halo movie, that special effects house Weta was also working on. The aliens are sized just about right to be Elites, and one of the alien crafts looks an awful lot like a Pelican. I don't consider this to be a mark against the movie, as any means by which to deliver quality special effects is alright with me. Weta does a great job of making the Prawns, a slurish nickname for the District 9 aliens, different enough in size and texture from Elites for most people not to notice.

District 9 is now required viewing for any fan of good science fiction, and manages to challenge the epic Star Trek for being the best sci-fi movie of the summer and perhaps the year. Really, it's not fair to label District 9 as merely good sci-fi as it stands on it's own as an excellent film quite well. 9/10



From a virtually unknown filmmaker's work, we shift now to a guy that everyone knows and his movie that's been a long time coming. Quentin Tarantino has been working on Ingourious Basterds for over a decade, and I remember when I first heard about the movie right around when Kill Bill came out, and I was pretty excited about it. Some of my favorite movies are World War II films, including Kelly's Heroes and The Dirty Dozen, and this looked to be aiming for being that kind of WWII flick.

Inglourious Basterds definitely delivers such a movie, complete with Tarantino's trademark dialogue and violence. The movie is almost more of an exploitation movie that revels in the brutal killing of Nazis, with many breaks of tense but polite conversation. It's not a film for the squeamish, as many people are regularly and gruesomely dispatched throughout the movie. It's also not a movie for those that dislike killing for killing's sake, so if you didn't like movies like Hostel or Saw, you might want to skip this.

That said, Nazis make for the perfect villains as Indiana Jones and Wolfenstein both proved to us. Killing is not OK, but tempering that notion by killing Nazis is perfectly acceptable in most forms, and is almost cathartic for people who really REALLY hate Nazis, like Jake Elwood or Jewish-American soldiers that make of the Inglourious Basterds in the film. If you already are a fan of Tarantino's work, you need to check this out. Look for excellent performances by the unknowns of the cast, like Mélanie Laurent as the scarred Shoshanna and Christoph Waltz and the polite, evil, and multilingual Nazi Colonel Hans Landa. I for one like this a lot, Nazi killing and all. 8/10

Random Thoughts #5

• I picked up Shadow Complex and am playing through that. A review is forthcoming, but I imagine it'll be tempered by the fact that I'm playing on the hardest difficulty. So far, it's a cool jaunt into some new "old-school" gaming. I'm enjoying it so far.
• It's almost that time of year again, FOOTBALL SEASON!!! The pro league means the beginning of fantasy football, and looks like I'm playing in 4 leagues this year. One work league, an Red vs. Blue Keeper league, a RvB ReDraft league, and a league with my family back home. Of course, it also means that SOONER FOOTBALL is upon us as well. Hopefully my Sooners make something special happen this year, and for now I hope that we beat the hell outta BYU in Dallas! BOOOOMER!!!
• I pre-ordered Halo:ODST. Why? Because I'm a goddamn sucker fanboy, that's why.
• I can't wait to play this game. I've been waiting for too long!
• SOOOONER!!!!
• Finally, I don't think I posted it here, but I did a little voice work for a friend's Halo highlight video. Check it out below!

The Downfall of Pompeii

Macabre in board games has never really bothered me. Maybe it should, seeing as one of my favorite games involves the slaughter of thousands and the wonton destruction of property and person. Still, it’s hard not to think about all the little imaginary lives that might be affected by the way I play this little game and no game has invoked those feelings in me more than The Downfall of Pompeii.

Let’s be clear on one thing; while The Downfall of Pompeii certainly can create some empathy for the little wooden pieces that you both doom and save over the course of the game, it still allows for a sick cathartic satisfaction when burying your opponents in flows of rushing lava. The idea of the game is to save as many people as you can from the doomed city of Pompeii. The first hint at this games dark humor is the fact that you actually have to attract as many people to the city as possible before the volcano start erupting. Right before the mountain erupts in earnest, there are omens along the way that are appeased by tossing your opponent’s pawn people into the volcano as a futile tribute. It’s more grisly humor and more fun for the players!

Finally the inevitable happens and Mt. Vesuvius finally explodes, the real fun begins. Players then try to move as many of their own people out of the city, while using the lava flows to block their opponent’s exit. The game allows players to revel in the carnage as city gates are instead covered in deadly volcano vomit. Movement is limited in this phase, and sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to try and get out as many pawns as possible.

The game has some random elements, like placement of the omens, where the players can place pawns, and when exactly the eruption starts. This allows for some replay value, and the game is an interesting study in cutting one’s losses. I’ll definitely want to give this another play very soon. 6/10.

Automobile

Ever since I saw Automobile being played at a recent Super Fantastic Gaming Hour I’ve been intrigued. I’m not sure why exactly, as the box and board are decorated with a nicely appropriate art deco touch, the bits are somewhat unremarkable save for the oodles of little wooden cars, and the gameplay is almost nothing but resource management. Still the game called to me like no other recently and I set out to give it a try and was lucky enough that a buddy was able to help me scratch my itch. No, not like that you pervs, sheesh.

Automobile is the unassuming name of the most unassumingly awesome game I’ve played in a while, as its plain presentation and simply style made for some really good board gaming. The game reminds me a lot of Roads & Boats in its approach to the game’s art, and this is a refreshing change.

I’ve talked a lot about how the game looks, because how it plays is very simple. Choose an auto industrialist character and get a special ability for the turn. You build factories that you use to build cars. You then sell cars to meet the demand of your distributors, or special abilities or the public. You can slash prices to sell more cars for less profit, and then you take losses on your older factories and excess supply. That’s it. It then all comes down to managing your cash and making returns on your investments.

There would seem to be very little player interaction, but it’s the actions of the players that drive what you have to do and how you have to adapt. New factories built by other players quickly date older factories, and require that you continue to upgrade and provide newer cars to not fall behind. The choice of a character can also be critical, as the special abilities have the capability of affecting an entire turn’s strategy.

My only concern with the game would be its replayability, since aside from the number of players and some of the choices made, theres not a lot of things that can change from game to game. The game is a little on the longer side though, and as fun as it is I can’t see it hitting the table enough to get tired of it quickly. It’s a rewarding experience, but all the mathing and resourcing and cash-making can get tiring. Again, I cannot emphasize how cool this game is if you dig resource management exercises. 8/10. HOORAY FOR MASSIVE PRODUCTION!

Snow Tails

Racing games always have been feast or famine for me. Either they’re really awesome and I love them like Das Motorsportspiel and Elfenland, or they’re awful and I hate them like RoboRally and Pitchcar. I’m happy to say that Snow Tails falls in the former category. I loved it and it was awesome!

Snow Tails puts you in the role of a dog-sled racer in the Iditarod, maneuvering your sled through the course and trying to get to the finish line without taking enough damage to your sled to end your race. The game actually looks more daunting than it actually is, as the clumsy sleds are actually pretty intuitive to maneuver with the movement mechanics the game offers. Essentially, you turn your sled by having one side of dogs moving faster than the other, and you indicate that by playing different speed cards on your sleds right and left halves. Like all good racing games, the curves have a maximum safe speed, and exceeding that naturally does quite a bit of damage to your sled.

The game is very straight-forward, and doesn’t take long to learn at all. The game also plays great with three players, which is another plus for smaller gaming groups, or larger groups where you need to play a short game in between big, long, meaty games.

That last line had a little too much “sausage-love” in it for my taste, so here’s a video of Christina Hendricks.



Ahhh. Moving on, the game plays smoothly and it one of the better racing games I’ve tried in a while. Well done! 7/10

Random Thoughts #4

• RvBTO was a blast. Here's a my photobucket album for those who're interested! The ride up there was a lot of fun, and my travel companions were pretty awesome! The Rock Band competition was epic, as my band won the event! Lots of good memories! I even got to play and teach Alhambra to some of the people there, and a few of them seemed genuinely interested in board gaming in general. Our late night/early morning D&D session also went well, and had a surprising amount of interest by non-D&D players. I spent a good portion of the Saturday event teaching people how to read a 4th Edition Character Sheet. :D
• Speaking of Toronto and gaming, this shop is the fucking bomb. It very much reminds me of Game Headquarters here in OKC, but about 1/4th as big. Very cool store, and they even gave me a couple of Agricola promo cards (the Z deck and O deck) on my way out!
• Now that RvBTO is behind me, my goals are to get you guys reviews on A Game Of Thrones, Automobile (which I've not played yet), and Snow Tails. Hopefully I'll be able to get to all of these this week, although I think I want another go at A Game of Thrones before rendering a judgement.
• Finally, I'm getting a new phone today (Blackberry Bold), which should allow for better internets and mobile blogging and twittering. I should get it this afternoon. I'm all excited for new toys! :D

Battlefield 1943

I've always had expensive taste, which can be problematic if you're not in the same tax bracket as Bill Gates and Richie Rich. Dreams of fabulous wealth aside, it seems that the only Xbox Live Arcade games that are grabbing my attention these days are the hefty 1200 MS Point titles. Portal: Still Alive, Castle Crashers, and Puzzle Quest: all of these are big expensive Arcade games that happen to be well worth their big $15 price tag.

I'll admit that I got Battlefield 1943 because a good number of my friends list was already playing it. I happened to have a bunch of points handy, so I figured "What the hell" and impulsively dived in. What I found was a seemingly polished little gem whose high production values were apparent in the opening title screen. Or so I thought.

Before you think the worst, you should know that this game is very fun. It's a simplified sequel to the original Battlefield 1942, sporting only three classes to the original's five and only three island maps (Wake Island, Iwo Jima, and Guadalcanal) from the Pacific campaign. Players either fight in the United States Marine Corps, or for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The two sides are equal in every way, even down to the performance of the vehicles each side has access to. The game is very well made, and a lot of fun especially when played with friends or good players willing to partake in the necessary team work required to win a map. There's also an upcoming airplane-only map taking place during the Battle of the Coral Sea that sounds extremely intriguing. The before-mentioned three classes of Rifleman, Infantry and Scout are very well-balanced and players rarely ever find the role they've chosen to be useless in a given situation.

Unfortunately, I can't fully recommend the game just yet. Perhaps it's only me, but I'm having a lot of issues with the game locking up on my XBox. So far, I've yet to actually end a session of my own accord, as every other time my time in the Pacific ends when the game decides to freeze up. The "Join Session In Progress" option for people on your friends list is also hit or miss, and I truly hope that these issues will be remedied before too long.

It really is a shame, because aside from the glitches I mention, the game is very cool and very worth the reasonable $15 asking price. There is a lot of reverence for both sides of the conflict here, and everything is quite balanced gameplay-wise. The very comparable Warhawk was nearly twice the price, and I enjoyed this a lot more. I really want to give it a better review, but the current issues with the game cannot be ignored. Perhaps I'll update this if and when the problems I ran into are ever fixed. I do plan on continuing to play and in enjoy the game as best I can. 5/10

EDIT 2009.07.16: Looks like with the release of the Air Superiority map Coral Sea, most of the bugs have been worked out. I played for over an hour last night with no issues aside from Quick Connect intially timing out a few times. Coral Sea is fun as hell, with each side having two carriers and a rapid plane respawn, there's plenty of dog-fighting to be had. If you have trouble flying the planes, run through the tutorial some more, then head to Coral Sea for a fast lesson in getting your ass lit up. 8/10

Random Thoughts #3

• Looks like I'm going to be playing A Game of Thrones tonight. I'm looking forward to this, as I've heard very good things about the story in all its various forms. I should have a review for the board game up this weekend.
  
• Next week I'll be going to Toronto for RvB:TO. It's going to be a ton of fun, and will even have some gaming aspects to it! I'm taking part in the Bring Your Own Band competition with my "band" Epic Level Encounter, we're playing a D&D 4th Edition Dungeon Delve, and there will be a game of Werewolf going on in the van I'm riding in. I had a blast last year, and am looking to have even more fun this year.
• Too bad for Steve McNair. Cheating's not cool, but you don't deserve to die for it. One the one hand, it's sad that his kids lost their dad and his teammates and friends lost a buddy. On the other hand, he made his bed and slept in it with crazy. It's unfortunate, but it's a situation he had a part in creating, so he's not totally without blame.
  
• In MUCH lighter news, I've joined the world of twitter. I'll try to keep things geeky, but I can't promise that my tweets (that sounds so lame) won't be as trivial as everyone elses. Believe me, I'm just as irrelevant as anyone else there. :P
• Finally, the diet and exercise is paying off. I'm down 25 pounds to a "chucky" 215 rather than my "fluffy" 240. I've almost got my mile time to under 10 minutes, and my 2k row the other day was a personal best 9:53. Hopefully I'll be able to do some damage in the CTF game that we're playing next week. I can't wait!
  

1960: The Making of the President

Sometimes it dawns on me how lucky I am in terms of the people I play games with. All of my various gaming groups are of a pretty good size, ranging from my XBox Live friends list which is almost maxed out, to my board gaming group which stands at a healthy 15-20 members, to my D&D group which is at a comfortable 4 or 5 depending on the day. This makes for a good size group whenever the mood strikes me to play a certain game as well as for a great amount of regular gaming. I don't mention all this to brag, but it does mean that certain types of games have simply passed me by, two-player games being a good example. Wherever I am playing just about any game there's always a need to try and include as many players as possible, simply because there are a lot of people I want to play with. I used to think two-player games made for an inefficient use of one's gaming time with other people. It's only been recently that I've begun to come around and start trying some two player games for myself. Battle Line was the first two-player only game that I really enjoyed and continue to play, but it's a quick game that's best played in small doses. I can see the need for a two-player gaming experience that has all the meatiness and depth of a full-on multiplayer title like Power Grid or Agricola, but specifically designed for two players in mind.

1960: The Making of the President is such a game. As the title suggests, the game is all about the 1960 presidential election between Kennedy and Nixon. The game takes place over the nine week period leading up to and including the presidential election. Players take turns using event cards to help their campaign or hinder the opponents. There are many options to use your resources on, including the basic and critical taking of states, and the more nebulously helpful advertising and the support of issues like Defense, the Economy, and Civil Rights. Cards take the form of events and groups of the era, like the Harvard Brain Trust, Faithless Electors, and Baptist Ministers. Obviously some of these events will help out Nixon, while others will assist Kennedy, and still others are beneficial to either player.

The game is all about balance and counter-balance. Every card can be used either for raw Campaign Points or for the potentially more helpful effect or event. Even when cards are burned for Campaign Points, the opponent might still be able to activate the event on the card, so care must be taken when playing any cards that might hurt you more than assist. Every action in the game is a risk vs. reward decision, especially when preparing for the special Debate and Election turns.



The game requires a much leaner style of play than you might expect. Despite the number of turns that you have available to the players, there's not a lot of room to mess around and waste actions. Thankfully the game is pretty straight forward in it's mechanics, so it's pretty easy for a first-time player to get right into the game after a brief rules overview. It's helpful to keep in mind the old saying "A good offense is the best defense" as this particularly rings true in this game. Chasing your opponent around the board trying to take back the states he's turning against you is a sure way to a ass-beating, so it's best to just play your game, and use the opportunities presented to you to make your moves and play your game.

1960: The Making of the President is a fantastic game. Calling it merely a really good two-player game simply doesn't do it justice. This is simply a really good game. The only concern I might have would be replayability, since the game is entrenched in a theme that only had one outcome, it wouldn't be plausible to make a 1960: The Revenge of Eisenhower or some such. There are plenty of Campaign Cards to make things interesting, and it would be possible to expand that pool of events to allow for different strategies and effects. This concern isn't particularly overwhelming, as this probably isn't going to a game that's going to hit the table too often. Unless you're gaming group is a more of a gaming duo, in which case you have my sympathy. Just kidding.

8/10

In the spirit of full disclosure, I played my first game as Kennedy, and ended up losing the election 276 to 261. OMG HISTORY HAS CHANGED!!!

Hab & Gut

When I was in high school, the coolest personal electronic device that I or any of my friends had was our graphing calculators. Whether it was a TI-85 or an HP-48G, it was the most awesome little computer you could have at the time. Not because it was handy in class, but because they could play games. Many times these games were programmed by kids in school, and one of the easiest games to find was what was generally known as The Drug Dealer Game or Dope Wars. Essentially in the game, you had one month to pay off a specified debt. You made money by using what money you had to buy drugs at a certain price. You’d then try and sell those drugs later at a higher price. This was a staple on many calculators and cell phones, and this game mechanic has been present for a while in the realm of board games.

One such game is Hab & Gut (roughly translated to “Possessions” in English). This game is pretty straight forward. Buy low, sell high and end up with the most money at the end. Just like dealing drugs on your calculator, right? Pretty much it’s similar, except for a couple of important differences. First off, every player has a direct influence on the state of the market. As you can see, there are four racks of cards that are capable of changing the value of a given commodity. Each player is able to see two of these racks, and every card in each rack must be played in the round. From this information, the player is able to formulate a strategy in their buying and selling.

The other difference in the game is pretty important too. It’s not enough to simply make a lot of money in this game. Additionally, players have the option to donate goods to charity, and later sell those goods for their value with the money again going to charity. Much like the follower of Sobek in Cleopatra, the person who donates the least amount of money to charity automatically loses the game, regardless of their final overall score.

The game is pretty random, as you don’t know about half of the information you’d need to create a strategy. As a player, you must not telegraph your moves too quickly, as you’ll find the other players quickly sending the value of your chosen good to the bottom basement of the value track. Plays on goods must be subtle at first, as obvious buying strategies are quashed rather fast.

Overall the game plays pretty fast and makes for an enjoyable play. I’d recommend this for any one who enjoys investment games like Medici or even Winner’s Circle/Royal Turf. 6/10.

Vegas Showdown

Most of the time when I review a game, it’s after one or two plays and it’s really more of an off-the-cuff first impression. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since I play a lot of games and if I really waited to review a game until after the 9th or 10th play I’d get even less done than I do now. This is why it’s nice to review a game like Vegas Showdown, a game I’ve played a lot and feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on.

Vegas Showdown is part puzzle game, part resource management exercise, and part auction game. Obviously it’s a Las Vegas themed game, as you take the role of a casino manager building the best place on the strip. You start with a blank grid, some money, and some people, and go from there. You add restaurants, games, lounges, and other attractions until the endgame conditions are met and a winner is declared. The winner is determined by a combination of casino design, accumulated fame, and money.

All this sounds very clinical, but there are plenty of random elements that keep the game interesting. There are events that can affect how much money you get in a round, what attractions you can and can’t buy, and other wacky effects. This can affect your overall strategy pretty quickly. The game is a lot of fun when you get on a roll, but it’s important to try and stay generalized and take a wider approach to your victory. The game has some mechanics to push you to generalize, but finding the right balance is tough. Often the winning player doesn’t have the highest income or the most employees, but has enough to do the things that they need to do to win.


Vegas Showdown is a lot of fun, but even with all the random elements, it’s not as replayable as Twilight Imperium or Agricola, but it’s still interesting and makes for a good time. Its best played once in a while to stay fresh, but often enough so that you can try out new plans to make your place the best. It’s good enough to even forgive the rather minimalist art and board design. Overall, is a very solid game that should be hitting the game table with some regularity. 7/10.

Tribune

Some games are needlessly complex. Either they have a lot of mechanics going on at the same time, or a single overly drawn-out idea that ends up just being grinding and tedious. Arkham Horror is one of the needlessly complex games, with so much going on that forgets that the point is to try and have fun playing the game. Mystery of the Abbey is a deduction game that is convoluted to the point of silliness.

Tribune gets close to this level of pointlessness. When you get right down to it Tribune is a card game with a lot of extra bits, and I was so ready to hate this game when I realized that. It was like I was about to get ripped off, or hustled by the game's gorgeous art and seemingly weighty theme.

I'm happy to say that I was wrong, and Tribune manages to overcome it's overwroughtness and actually deliver an interesting and fun gaming session. Even though Tribune is a card game, it manages to deliver some rich game play and even manages to juggle a couple of different mechanics when aquiring cards and performing other options. The game's theme doesn't feel forced into the actual gameplay, as the different locations and their associated mechanics make sense in a historical sense, even if only a little bit.

Tribune is a good game. The play is a little awkward at first, but once a couple of rounds are played, it comes pretty easy. I look forward to playing again, and not getting my ass handed to me quite as severely next time. 6/10.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Roads & Boats

Some games regard themselves as rather epic. From the giant boxes of Twilight Imperium the thousands of pieces in Heroscape, some games are huge spectacles of gaming grandness, and they are well aware of that. Roads & Boats isn't that self-aware, despite being a rather epic game itself. It's difficult to describe, but Roads & Boats has a down-to-earth mentality that pervades the entire experience. From the manual that speaks plainly and unobtusely, to the simple bits and hexes, the game is almost humble in its presentation.

The game itself is rather unique, as it throws every notion that players have of ownership and territory out the window. In Roads & Boats, you have a home hex and some transportation vehicles. Eventually you'll get some goods on those transporters and build yourself some walls, and that's the extent of "your" stuff in the game. Everything else, every other building, good, or other resource is up for grabs belonging to no one. People will violate "your" territory constantly and take "your" goods to go make other goods. As Yoda once said, "You must unlearn what you have learned". You can't sit back and just try to meaninglessly defend what you might think is your lands just because you started there. You need to stay mobile, keep producing, and work to make stuff and score points.

Roads & Boats takes some getting used to, but it's still a well-designed and engaging gaming experience. If nothing else, you really ought to play simply for the opportunity to broaden your gaming horizons and learn to think differently on the fly. The game's landscape can change rather quickly, so if a long-term strategy becomes no longer viable, you have to adapt or abandon your original plan. This is mostly true of other games, but it can be surprising how fast things can change in Roads & Boats. All in all, it's a wonderful game that I look forward to playing again. 8/10.

Up

Quick Hits

Played a bunch of new games over this weekend so far. Reviews will be coming ASAP. For now, here's a sampling of the gaming goodness!

Terminator Salvation

Fury of Dracula

There are so many cooperative games that are coming out that we’ve now started to remake/improve some of the oldest cooperative board games around. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Scotland Yard, as it’s a perfectly playable game even for gamers with more modern standards and tastes. However it’s not perfect and an update was probably in order.

Fury of Dracula fits this bill nicely. The gameplay is essentially the same as Scotland Yard, where one player acts as Dracula and travels across Europe to create new vampires and elude the Hunters. The Hunters’ job is obviously to find and kill Dracula. As Dracula moves, he leaves a card corresponding to a city on the Dracula's Trail track. Using various means, the players are able to reveal these cards and determine where Dracula may have gone. This can be dangerous, as Dracula leaves minions and traps in his previous locales. Combat involves each belligerent choosing a combat action, rolling a dice, and then determining which actions go off based on the weapons or abilities used. Damage is then dealt, and play continues until one party is dead or one party successfully retreats.

Unlike Scotland Yard, the Hunters have varying skills and abilities. The Hunters have to work together to find Dracula, and failing to use their abilities to aid their team will result in a quick win for Dracula. This isn’t always easy as Van Helsing’s and Godalming’s special abilities are geared toward helping themselves rather than helping the others. Nevertheless, coordination and teamwork are a necessity.

The game offers a lot of risk/reward options for both Dracula and the Hunters. Hunters can travel quickly by train, but may end up going nowhere if they run into bad luck. Dracula can clear the Trail and wipe out his path with the right card, but doing so erases any encounters that he might turn into victory points for himself. A player can try to retreat from combat if he or she is close to death, but doing so means that they won’t do any damage to their enemy.

Overall, Fury of Dracula does a good job of giving all the players a rewarding experience. Playing a Hunter seems just as fun as playing Dracula, and there are fewer “wasted” turns on the player’s part where they could potentially be running around getting nothing accomplished. The game is extremely social, as the Hunters must constantly discuss what to do next and how to deal with each new development or discovery. Like all turn-based games it’s important for the players not to mull over their actions for too long, as extended bouts of indecisiveness will result in a longer and more tedious game for everyone else. It should be noted that there was a previous edition of The Fury of Dracula, and that the version that I played was the Fantasy Flight edition featuring slightly simpler and much more streamlined rules and mechanics. Fury of Dracula gets a 7 of 10 from me. I can’t wait to play it again. Also, I can’t promise that I won’t make The Count references if I ever play as Dracula.

Star Trek

Random Thoughts #2

• STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!! STAR TREK IS TOMORROW!!!
• Last night's appearance on Late Night JengaJam was a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll get to do it again at some point. After the show we talked about doing some live board game playing at some point in the future, so we'll see what happens with that.
• NFL draft was last week. OU sent 5 players to the pros, including 3 offensive linemen. Texas sent 4 players, including 3 defensive linemen. This year's OU/TX game should be more interesting than ever.
  
• Halo was also fun last night. There's a special kind of joy associated with blowing up a Warthog full of enemies with a missile pod, or blowing up two enemies at the same time w/ a single rocket. TOTAL CARNAGE! I LOVE IT!
• Current D&D Campaign Count: 3. One party of three 9th level guys (Dragonborn Paladin/Warlord, Dragonborn Warlord/Barbarian, Human Bow Ranger), another party of three level 5 dwarves (Battlerager Fighter, Warlord, and Beast Ranger), and the big party of six level 7 guys (Human Rogue, Human Swordmage, Human Fighter, Dwarven Wizard/Fighter, Dwarven Cleric/Warlord, Tiefling Warlord).
  

Maus nach Haus

It's a funny little dexterity game, and like all dex games I suck at it. I give it a 5/10, as it's little more than a quick time-waster that you play in between more substantial games.



I should also mention that I'll be the guest on Late Night JengaJam this Tuesday (May 5th) at 9:30 Central. We'll be talking about the Wandering Gamer, board games in general, and other nerdy things that will make normal folk confused.

Small World

The term “light wargame” is somewhat paradoxical. Wargames are almost always a long and involved labor of gaming love. Even Risk, by far the most mainstream wargame, is no small time or energy commitment. Small World is a very different wargame, that seeks to offer a more fun and light-hearted wargaming experience.

Small World is just that, an absurdly small world map on which players use various fantasy races to conquer as much of the world as they can. The combat mechanics are very simple. You send enough units into a space, and you conquer it. You’re never inflicted any casualties while attacking, but you do stretch out your territory with each square you take.

What happens next is what sets Small World apart from other games. See, that fantasy race that you originally chose? Yeah, eventually you run out of units with that race, and the player is forced to abandon that race then choose another race to play. The abandoned race is said to be in decline, and while the controlling player still scores points for the territory amassed as that race, the player can no longer use that race’s special abilities nor can they conquer any more territory. That race’s territory becomes a target for your opponent’s expansion. With your newly chosen race, you can either defend that territory, or reconquer it yourself for some reason. The game lasts 8 rounds of each player taking a turn, and you can only have one active and one declining race at any time.

The whole game has an air of parody that really works and is amusing. The races are caricatures of the different races of fantasy and adventure. Elves are effeminate, Ratmen are numerous, and Halflings (hobbits) have underground burrows. The special powers for the races are also ridiculous and make for almost a MadLib of these creatures of fantasy. Commando Dwarves, Flying Ratmen, Stout Elves, and Wealthy Amazons are regularly hilarious race choices.

Each race also has different abilities that allow them to attack, defend, or move better or more efficiently, as well as a number of starting units. Each race is also paired with a special power that grants an additional ability as well as an additional number of starting units. So the units that you actually start off a race with are the sum of the two numbers, balanced by the potency of the races ability and its random special power. These are the only troops you get for this race, and once their gone you don’t get any more.

The pairing of races and special powers is one of the better mechanics of the game. One game you could have Flying Giants, and the next you could have Seafaring Giants. This makes for an enormous amount of replay potential and expandability, which is something that I highly value in a game. The simple combat and relatively short play time make this game easily accessible to any kind of gamer. Its irreverent attitude is refreshing and fun, getting Small World an 8/10. I can’t wait to play it again.

Quick Hits

This month's Super Fantastic Gaming Hour was this last weekend's at Jon's. I'll have some reviews up later, but for now here are some of the pics I snapped...

Random Thoughts #1

• I got Scene It: Box Office Smash the other day on the cheap. It's a pretty decent game, and as a trivia party game there's not a whole lot to it. I also got the DLC, just because.
• Speaking of my XBox, I had to replace the wireless board yesterday. See, I'd not been able to use any of my wireless controllers ever since we moved into our house last year. I originally thought that the wireless bridge that was connecting the 360 to my wireless network was interfering with the controllers signals. But when I took the XBox over to a friend's house to play Street Fighter IV, it displayed the same behavior. So I got a new wireless board off of eBay, and borrowed a coworker's XBox tool to open up the console and replace the board. After swapping out the old board with the new one, putting everything back together and firing up the console, it seems to have resolved the problem. I played Rock Band 2 with one of my new wireless controllers for about 30 minutes with no problems. Yay!
• I'm looking forward to finally playing Roads and Boats this weekend. At no point will I ever refer to the game as Motors and Boats.
• The Left 4 Dead Survival game type that came with the new DLC is nihilistic, infuriating, and a lot of fun in small quantities.
• Our two current D&D campaigns are going well. I've got an 8th level Dragonborn Paladin that's starting to multiclass into warlord, and a 5th level Fighter with the Battlerager class features. We've also got another mini-campaign on the back burner that involves rescuing my corrupted cleric of Moradin. I'm running a 6th level Swordmage in that adventure. One of these days, maybe I'll play something other than a defender. :P
  

Street Fighter IV

Sublime is a word that shouldn't be thrown around that much, as it applies to so few things. It's rare that's something is actually worthy of the word, but it's wonderful when something that good is discovered. Street Fighter IV is a sublime fighting game. It's flawless in its execution and presentation and a worth successor in the Street Fighter franchise.

Street Fighter IV preserves the 2-D fighting format of its previous editions, but renders everything in 3-D. This is nothing new, as New Super Mario Brothers did something similar in their last 2-D platform outing on the DS. 3-D fighting games are much more common these days, and the fact that Street Fighter IV chooses to eschew that 3rd dimension is admirable. They're sticking to what they know, and it works. The action continues to refine what's been done in the Alpha series and in Street Fighter III. The game plays very smoothly, and anyone who's been playing a Street Fighter game for the last decade will be able to hop in and play.

What really takes the game above and beyond is the online play. When you fire up Arcade mode for the first time, you might be surprised when you're all of a sudden challenged by an online opponent. By default on the 360 version, online matchmaking is enabled in Arcade mode. This means that you can be challenged by online opponents at any time while you're in Arcade mode. You can also specify criteria for said challenges (connection speed, player ranking, location), or turn them off entirely if you're feeling antisocial. You can also set up a room to play random opponents or your friends, or you can become that random opponent that challenges people in Arcade mode. Playing people in Arcade mode is definitely where it's at, as it reminds me of the days in the mall when you'd slap a quarter on the machine and challenge the guy on it. You play, and then maybe you play a rematch, but then you're done w/ that person and you move on. You get your win, or take your loss and then take on the next opponent. It's a great way to play a lot of different people of varying skill and truly test your mettle or just mess around as Dan and try to get that super taunt off.

Speaking of Dan, the characters making an appearance are both awesome and odd. The old standbys are here, some new characters throw their hats into the ring, but some other interesting choices are there. Dan is back for some reason, as is Rose, Gen, Cammy, and Fei Long. The Super Street Fighter II love continues with rumors that Dee-Jay and T. Hawk are fully rendered in the game engine and ready to be released as new characters. I'd love to see Karin and Adon make it into the game as downloadable content.

That leads me to my only complaint about the game. The DLC so far has consisted of costume packs that are $4 for an alternate costume for 5 characters. This isn't a very good deal, and the only really good costume set is the one for the girls. Fortunately, we're told that if extra characters do become available in the future, they'll be free.

If you love fighting games, this is a must buy. Obviously Street Fighter fans are going to pick up this game, but it really is simply a fantastic all-around game. 10/10, with the awesomely bad boy-band theme song and dumb DLC balanced out with the potentially awesome free downloadable characters.

Die Saulen von Venedig (The Pillars of Venice)

It's well known among my friends that I'm a sucker for cool gaming bits and a nifty game theme. Die Saulen von Venedig (The Pillars of Venice) has both of these in spades. The game puts the players in charge of building the city of Venice. For those that might not know, Venice is an ancient European city that's built in a lagoon. It's entirely supported by large wooden piles, ontop of which are the buildings and streets of the city. The games plays a lot like Race for the Galaxy, where players choose a role and perform the associated actions. The goal is to score points using a variety of methods, such as claiming piles, constructing buildings, or even simply leaching off the actions of other players with several hangers-on roles, like the Gondolier or Begger.

The game is a fun area control game, because matching different parts of buildings scores bonus points. Additionally, you must decide which piles to use and which player to give points to when constructing your own buildings. It also reminds me of Leonardo Da Vinci, in that you have to perform several steps over consective turns to eventually score points. In Die Saulen von Venedig, you must aquire buildings, lay piles (or wait for someone to do it for you), then actually build the buildings. The game is not only about putting your various pieces in advantageous positions, but timing your actions so that you pull ahead on the score track right as the game is ending. While I would have preferred some 3-D city and bridges bits, the piles pieces are pretty cool, and the board ends up very busy quickly. The game is possibly expandible, with new buildings and roles potentially being added.

The visceral joy of building the city from the marsh up is the games biggest plus, giving this an edge over a lot of other area control games and earning a 7/10. Good game, great fun and an great addition on the city building/area control offerings!