I am off to PAX 2014! This should be a good year. If there is anything you would like me to check out please let me know!
An Epic Angry Birds!
It makes sense that Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds, would try and expand the popularity of their hit mobile game, so them creating a turn based RPG out of the upset fowl is no surprise. What is a surprise is how fun Angry Birds Epic is. The birds’ unique powers lend themselves well to the format.
The game is simple, you drag the bird you want to have attack to the pig you want it to hit. Or you tap on the bird to have it cast its protection spell. Different birds have different attacks and protection moves, so picking what birds and moves to do gives the game its strategy. As the game progresses you gain different weapons that tweak the moves, and items to help you get out of a tight spot. You also level up so your birds get more powerful.
The game looks good. It retains that charm of the Angry Birds franchise, but still looks unique. The animations are smooth, and the characters all have fun expressions. If you like the Angry Birds you will like the look of this game.
The “Free-To-Play” stuff kind of gets in the way by always asking you to buy the items and weapons, but it is still fun even if you ignore it all. This game is not super deep, but it is a good way to kill a few minutes, and that is what any good cell phone game should be.
Shmee Can’t Wait To Read The Book Of Life!
It is not often that a movie is able to have a unique look, and still be something that I want to watch, but The Book of Life by Fox Family is just that. It is being produced by Guillermo del Toro, so I would probably want to watch it anyway, but even without him it looks like a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the trailer as much as I did.
Checking Out Grim Dawn!
Waaay back in April of 2012 I back a project by Crate Entertainment called Grim Dawn. Later they released the game on Steam Early Access, and they gave everyone who backed it a copy, which was very nice of them. They still are not done with the game (it is only seven guys so I will cut them some slack), but since I had to stop myself from buying Diablo III for Xbox One, I figured I would give it a try.
The guys that started Crate Entertainment are the some of the guys that worked on Titian Quest, so they took their ARPG (Action Role Playing Game) know how and applied it to Grim Dawn. Grim Dawn is now on what is called Build 19.
Like I said before this is an ARPG, and if you don’t know what that is, just think clicking on monsters until they die. You level up and get more stuff so you can click on the monsters better. You keep doing this until you win. These games are simple yet fun, and after you get a few different skills, you can start to using more strategy.
Grim Dawn includes two Acts and a ton of items as well as four playable classes. The classes are: Soldier (Fighter), Demolitionist (Ranged), Occultist (Mage), and Nightblade (Assassin). What is cool is that at level ten you can pick a second class, so you can mix and match what skills you want to fit your desired play style. Plus in effect it brings up the number of classes from four to sixteen.
The game takes place in an alternate Victorian era, where humans are almost extinct due to a magical war, and of course only you can destroy the evil beings and save humanity! It is a fun setting, and I like that it allows for guns (not that I use them, I like to hit stuff on the head very hard) and slightly different loot then the average RPG.
This game is all about the loot. There may even be too much. Luckily they include an auto-sort button, so I am not always playing Tetris with my items. I like that I am always finding something new though. It keeps it interesting, and really drives the need to search out every corner of the map.
The graphics look good, especially the shadowing. ARPGs never really push computers very hard, but this game runs well. The animations are all top notch. I like the over the top doom and gloom. It really works. It is like Diablo’s gory cousin. Limbs and body parts explode all over the place. It is pretty great.
Considering this game is a ways away from being finished it is amazing how fun it is already. The two current Acts have at least ten hours of play time. Build 20 is right around the corner with multiplayer and Act 3, so it is getting even better. I can’t wait to have even more Grim Dawn to play. If you want to check it out it is $25 on Steam Early Access.
Man Of Steel Update!
I finally got around to watching my Blu-Ray copy of Man of Steel, and I would usually just give my impressions of the disk, but I will just say this. It looks look good. Zack Snyder uses a lot of filters, so it is a little grainy, but it is on purpose. It just will not be a movie I use to show off my TV’s visual fidelity. Instead of a disk review I am going to talk about the movie itself. FYI this post includes major spoilers, but hey the movie is over a year old.
A lot of people have a problem with this movie because they feel like Superman didn’t act a lot like Superman. He fights General Zod in the middle of Metropolis, and instead of directing the fight somewhere else, he throws Zod in to a bunch of buildings and causes even more damage. Making the already high body count no doubt go higher. Worst of all he kills Zod at the end of the fight.
On the city destruction thing, I give Supes a pass because he is just trying to stop Zod at all costs and he isn’t thinking about the consequences, and I am sure there will be consequences in the next movie. The Zod murder thing is a little harder to forgive. It is not something that Superman does. Plus it gets rid of one of Superman’s greatest enemies. Again I think Superman’s crime fighting problem solving skills are not at peak levels. He will get better and be the Boy Scout we all know and love.
The thing that this movie gets right is the action. The final fight between Kal-El and Dru-Zod is punishing, but the fight that is really impressive is Superman’s ultra high speed fight with Zod’s minions in Smallville. It really shows how outclassed humans are against these Kryptonians. The human soldiers keep shooting at the Aliens, but they are a minor nuisance to these super-beings. There is nothing they can do to stop or help Superman or his foes.
It was also interesting that Snyder really decided to focus this film on how humans would view Superman. It is what Clark’s Dad worries about. It is why Louis Lane drops the news story. They are all worried about how humans will react when they find out that they are not alone in the universe. But like Louis says “It didn’t matter in the end”. It doesn’t. Zod shows up and murders at least 30,000 people, and only Superman can save the day.
This movie has its flaws. It is really hard to deal with Superman killing someone, but there is more good here then bad, and I can’t wait to see how they clean all this up in Batman V Superman in a couple of years. I just hope that Superman doesn’t snap Batman’s neck.