Archives 2022

Swordship is a high speed boat ride that will push your reflexes and driving skills to the max. Do you have what it takes to deliver the goods?

The world has essentially ended, polar ice caps have melted and almost the entire world has been flooded in Swordship from Thunderful Games. The areas that aren’t flooded are barren wasteland and megacities have been build below the surface of the water. This game is centered around threats showing up to try to kill you and prevent you from collecting containers that you are trying to deliver to outcast groups. Each container can be traded to those groups for a higher score or used to unlock abilities and give you an extra life.

During gameplay the graphics are quite simple using mostly three dimensional geometric shapes for many of the enemies. You don’t have any real weapons so speed and quick reflexes will be your saving grace. Technically this isn’t a bullet hell game but sure as hell feels like it at times. The game can get truly nuts at times but the challenge of the stages leaves you wanting to keep trying it until you complete the level. My only real complaint with the game is the level up system. When you earn your first 500 points you gain a level, the next 500 is another level. That’s pretty standard. What’s not is the fact that if you die and have to start over your next level in that life will be 1000 points. This means you must be really good to get to higher levels. Despite this I found the game to be a ton of fun and more challenging than I expected.

The heroes of Ulfenkarn have defeated Radukar again but what’s next? Cursed City: Nemesis brings the final chapter to the story!

You’ve made it this far. You’ve defeated Radukar again. What’s next for our heroes? In Cursed City: Nemesis a Necromancer is working to resurrect The Beast and it is up to you to stop the rites. If you’ve made it this far and are feeling confidence perhaps it is premature. Sure there are some missions that allow you to start your next mission inspired but is that enough to secure your victory? I’m thinking inspiration alone will not win this day. The enemies this time around are much less intimidating in appearance but their numbers may just overwhelm you.

So what has been added this time around? Not including a resurrected Radukar, you will be facing Grave Guard, a Necromancer, Vargheists, Wight King, Dire Wolves and a couple other familiar fiends will be returning as well. Compared to your heroes they are much in a one on one fight but their numbers may turn the tide.

Continuing the story is by far the best reason to pick this up however I have two complaints. The first is the resurrected Radukar is using the same stats and model of The Beast. I was hoping for a lager and more intimidating version of Radukar, maybe one that could rival his benefactor Belladamma as the new head of the Vyrkos bloodline? The second complaint is the lack of additional map tiles. Beyond that this is a fantastic addition and I can’t wait to see how we fare against the undead hordes.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO WARNER BROS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON THOSE I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at Warner Bros (their home page is here) had sent me copies of some of their movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. For the first part of this series we talked about Scoob, Birds of Prey, The Way Back, Goonies 4K, Beetlejuice 4K, Full Metal Jacket, Sherlock Holmes 4K and Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K. Part 2 ‘twas massive and discussed V for Vendetta 4K, 300 4K, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K, The Hobbit Trilogy 4K, Blade 4K, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Tenet and The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Part 3 talked about Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Judas and the Black Messiah. Part 4 discussed Tom and Jerry the Movie and Godzilla Vs Kong. Part 5 was all about Wrath of Man, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Space Jam. Part 6 had discussed Mortal Kombat and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Part 7 discussed In the Heights, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 20 Years of Movie Magic edition. Part 8 discussed A Clockwork Orange, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Shawshank Redemption. Part 9 talked about The Suicide Squad and Reminiscence. Part 10 discussed The Outsiders, Cry Macho, Malignant, the Many Saints of Newark and the Mad Max film collection. Part 11 talked about Dune, Matrix: Resurrections, The Batman, Dog and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Part 12 discussed Elvis, DC League of Super Pets, The Lost Boys and Poltergeist. Part 13 shared some classics with 8-Bit Christmas, Casablanca, A Christmas Story, Three Thousand Years of Longing, The Polar Express, Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We are back with Part 14 and Don’t Worry Darling.

Don’t Worry Darling

Having been invited to live in the idealized community Victory, Alice and her husband join what seems to be the perfect community. She begins to question things as they start to fall apart around her. The story itself very much reminded me of Hex Wives by Ben Blacker and that’s a good thing. That storyline was amazing. Florence Pugh plays Alice and does a beyond amazing job and is worth seeing the film alone for her. The film as a whole was great as well.

GI Joe Deck Building Card Game has released Shadow of the Serpent from Renegade Game Studios, the first expansion pack for the game.

Unlike the recent expansions for the Transformers Deck Building Card Game, Shadow of the Serpent absolutely requires the core GI Joe Deck Building Card Game to play. Cobra is back to their shenanigans where they strive to take over the world. In this expansion they are also hell bent on destroying the Joe’s base of operations. Not only do you have to defend the command center but must build it up along the way.

Players will work together to stop the attacks and eventually defeat Cobra. More importantly you are facing new threats by way of the Red Ninjas and Serpentor himself! Classic heroes and enemies are ready from the get go. With the available bonus pack you can add even more, specifically Snake Eyes who is a personal favorite of mine. Advanced players even have an Expert mode added to the game. Other than new locations and other enemies this expansion really thinks of everything.

Anyone that is a fan of the classic comics or the later IDW issues that continued the storyline will enjoy the art on these carts, even if they don’t enjoy the game as a whole. I found the expansion to be a great addition to an already great game. Did I mention that there is another expansion already out? It’s called Coldsnap and it looks like another great addition to the game. I’m looking forward to checking out that one as well.

Mode 7 and Ground Shatter are behind Fights in Tight Spaces, a game where you use cards to determine your actions in a brawl.

The folks at Mode 7 and Ground Shatter were kind enough to share a copy of Fights in Tight Spaces with us so we could share our thoughts. The game follows Agent 11 as he/she completes training and then works to take down various groups that are deemed too dangerous, starting with the Deaths Head biker gang. Each turn players are given a hand of cards, each card has an action that allows them to combat their opponents. While travelling across the campaign map you must balance your damage output with your total health.

Overall the gameplay is simple to play but hard to master. Much comes down to luck of your draw and energy conservation to execute the combos you need to win. Through the map you will find locations to improve either your deck or your health. Improving either requires money earned by completing each location within a certain number of turns. Meaning the faster you defeat the enemies the more money you make. For new players this game is really difficult but as you earn more cards and money it becomes a bit easier in that regard. The difficulty quickly climbs to meet your improved skills though.

Controls are quit simple with just a simple click of the mouse or using Q and E to rotate your screen. Graphics are simple but crisp, allowing the combat to be fluid. Overall we found the game to be a solid worth the play. We’d even love to see it translated as it is into an actual tabletop game as well.

Renegade Game Studios has brought a true 80s classic franchise to their deck building games with the Transformers Deck Building Card Game.

The original version of the Transformers Deck Building Card Game has been out for a while now but Renegade Game Studios has released a stand alone expansion along with an additional expansion. A Rising Darkness is the stand alone expansion where you can play as the Decepticons! Infiltration Protocol is the follow up expansion that works with both the core game and A Rising Darkness. It’s a great time to be a Transformers fan.

A Rising Darkness

This expansion works as both a standalone game or to further expand on the core game itself. When added to the core it brings two new modes- competitive and cooperative. This box allows players to exclusively play as the Decepticons but if combined with the core set then they can play Decepticons versus Autobots. For someone like myself who almost exclusively likes the Decepticons then this box is the best bet for them.

Infiltration Protocol

Infiltration Protocol is an expansion that works for both the core game or A Rising Darkness. This box allows you to play three new Autobots and three new Decepticons. It also features six new game modes to further vary gameplay, specifically a one versus many and a team versus team modes to say the least.

Each of these releases were followed by a single bonus pack that can be purchased, adding two MORE bots to the game! If you like Transformers or deck building games then these boxes are for you!

Dungeon Bowl is back with another claustrophobic match pitting two magical colleges against each other in Death Match!

Dungeon Bowl has quickly become a classic in our gaming groups with the catacombs and traps to navigate, making an already crazy game crazier. Death Match adds two new colleges to the mix and visually is the most stunning release yet!

At $170 this boxset comes with everything needed for a match but also give options to expand. Teams are divided into Colleges and it comes with teams for the Colleges of Life and Death. Map tiles allow you an almost endless number of customizations so that you never have to play the same map twice. Two teams enter the particular Dungeon and in search of the game ball and if found must survive to score a touchdown. One touchdown is all that is needed to win but just finding it and delivering the ball is enough. Players must survive traps and other players who will stop at nothing to prevent them from scoring.

Regular Blood Bowl players will have options to further customize their teams using their players and creatures to fill out the roster for their chosen College. The models look fantastic and the map tiles can be used in other games like Cursed City to keep those maps fresh as well. Without purchasing other Blood Bowl teams however will mean your kit-bashing options will be quite limited as you only have a couple models for each faction as part of the game. As a stand-alone game though I don’t see this title as a replacement for Blood Bowl, merely as a new way to play. This game is chaotic, fast paced and immensely enjoyable.

Warcry returns to Ghur with Sundered Fate where two new warbands will fight for control of the Ravening Ruin. Who will be triumphant?

Warcry Sundered Fate is the second installment of releases centered around Ghur and the area where a Seraphon temple ship has crashed. This is also the second installment to feature one warband from the Grand Alliance of Order- Chameleon Skinks under the name of the Hunters of Huanchi. The Jade Obelisk is a Tzeentch cult that centers around worshipping the voice of the Speaker in the Stone and are the Chaos warband for this starter.

The Gnarlwood is proving to be a the great location away from the Eightpoints and hope that we see more realms and other great locations with future editions. Personally I’m hoping for Aqshy next or Chamon. It seems that Age of Sigmar as a whole is following the same realm and region and once we finish the current planned releases for Warcry in Ghur I predict we will be transitioning to another realm.

This box features two of the best looking and unique warbands we’ve had yet. I have always loved the look of the Seraphon, or Lizardmen for those that are old enough to remember when they first joined the world that was. I am also an avid Chaos player. My son loves Seraphon because who doesn’t love giant lizards? Even better for me is that my youngest is now at the age my son was when I first started playing games with him and absolutely loves anything dinosaur related. That means I now have TWO people in my house I can persuade to play games with me!

Geography of Robots and Raw Fury bring Norco- a narrative adventure game that is unlike any other modern game we’ve played.

Norco is my first experience with the Southern Gothic genre, at least where it was labeled as such. Where Gothic stories and games focus on suspense and the supernatural, Southern Gothic focuses more on the darker side of humor. It is meant to focus on exposing societal problems through the creation of complex characters. Isolation is a common theme in the genre and is a central theme to the game itself from Geography of Robots and Raw Fury.

The game centers around your brother Blake’s disappearance after the death of your mother. Teaming up with a fugitive security robot you follow the clues to find him. Along the way you learn more about your mother’s time leading up to her death. Near the very start of the game you have the opportunity to fight the former employee of the gas station- do it, seriously. I think the story would force it eventually but still do it. He’s a douche and deserves it, plus you earn an achievement for it. Who doesn’t like achievements? I know I do! The combat system is rather straight forward too.

The controls are simple, the entirety of the game is a point and click adventure where you need a cursor and a single button. Graphics aren’t the best but some of the scenes stand out as a fantastic use of the style they’ve chosen. The game’s slow pace was a bit distracting but the attention to detail in the story was much higher than I expected. Overall I would say the game is worth trying out at the very least if you can.

The Void threatens to devour the entirety of the known and unknown universes. In Togges it is up to you to save everything.

Thunderful Games brings a new 3d platformer that is family friendly and yet a real challenge with Togges. After completing the most basic of the tutorials you meat the King of the Togges. They are simple creatures made of yarn that love to be close to each other and be stacked. They also LOVE fruit. The first few areas you are tasked with collecting fruit to improve their strength.

Your end goal is to help the king take over the known universes. Sounds more like a villain but his goal is to do so to protect all life from the Void. Early on you don’t learn much about the threat itself other than the fact that it devours anything and everything in it’s path. Sounds like the Nothing from Never Ending Story. Along the way there are threats to these peaceful creatures but not really to the player. Falling to your death usually means the end of the character’s life but in this game it just places you back where you were before you fell. Spikes that will kill the creatures cause you no harm.

This is an adorable game you can let your kids play but I wouldn’t. As mentioned before there is a good deal of difficulty here but it’s not impossible. The complexity of some of the puzzles means I would only have older children play it to avoid their frustration and anger at them. Some of the puzzles simply require too much patience and critical thinking for younger children to complete easily. Overall I found the game to be challenging but adorable. Meaning you can play in front of the younger children but shouldn’t hand them the control.