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!