Archives November 2022

Wayward Strand is a story that takes place on a hospital that is also an airship where you help your mother tend to patients.

In Wayward Strand, by Ghost Pattern, you play as Casey, a journalist who must help her mother tend to patients on a floating hospital. You are there to both write a story on the airshop and, as far as your mother is concerned, to help care for the patients. What this means for Casey is she is expected to interact with each of the patients and improve their demeanor in the process. To get every story told in the game will require multiple playthrough as some characters will overlap each other in availability. Eaves dropping on one conversation may catch the attention of one of the nurses since you aren’t talking to patients.

The game’s art looks and feels like a children’s storybook. Controls are very simple to learn and the overall story takes a while to get moving. If you are looking for a game with some depth to the story but not a fast pace then you will enjoy this game. However, if you are playing late at night or early morning you may just take that nap your body will be craving.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED.

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and Part 10 talked about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul. Part 11 discussed Nightmare Alley and West Side Story. Part 12 highlighted Death on the Nile and Part 13 talked about The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Part 14 highlighted Barbarian and See How They Run. We are already back with Part 15 to discuss Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

This film follows a doctor and his lawyer/partner as they investigate the death of the man who created their regiment. As they dig deeper into the mystery things get more deadly. The cast is full of big names and they were all fantastic. So good in fact that I would be shocked if many were not nominated for Oscars this year. The movie too. As a whole it was a great film and I couldn’t stop watching.

Missile Command is the latest to get the Recharged treatment from Sneakybox and it is just as chaotic as it has always been.

Sneakybox brings us another Atari title getting the Recharged treatment and this time it is absolutely brutal. Missile Command was always one of the most brutal titles I’ve ever played. This is by far worse than I remember. By worse I refer to the insanity of the game, or my skill, or both. I remember playing this game and being able to get several levels into it before losing my base. With Recharged I couldn’t complete the first level. The missions however I could complete a few.

This game is pure chaos. Simple as that. You man orbital cannons that are tasked with destroying missiles as they fall from the sky. Placing your shots you must lead the missile and force it to crash into it. Graphically it is crisp and yet simplistic. It really captures the look and style of the classic game. Controls are easy to learn but a nightmare on a controller with drift. If you deal with drift this game will be virtually impossible. All of my controllers drift.

If you are looking for a game like the classic or something you can easily pick up and dive into without much effort you’ll enjoy this one.

Lego Bricktales is both an entirely original story as well as supplying entirely unique worlds to explore.

In Lego Bricktales you play as an adventuring minifig without a name who must help their grandfather. The grandfather also doesn’t have a name and is simply referred to as Grandfather. Who would have guessed it? All kidding aside I think this move was brilliant. Leaving the names out allow the players to fill the roles themselves, they can become the character. To further emphasis this, they are able to fully customize their minifig.

The story is centered around going to an abandoned amusement park where your grandfather is working on his inventions. He’s been tasked with restoring the park or lose it forever and his inventions have been distracting him from that role. He you come to save the day, put him back on task and restore the park. Can you do it? Like all Lego games this is not overly complicated but for once forces you to be creative. You get to build objects with Legos! I don’t just mean the classic Lego game builds where you hold a single button. I mean you actually choose the pieces and place them where you want them. There are limitations to the builds but it’s up to you to design and complete.

Controls are simple to learn and graphics are as good or better than most of the recent Lego games we’ve played. Overall the game is a ton of fun and the creative building features make this game so worth getting and playing and the best part is there is no risk of losing or stepping on Legos!

They say the show must go on and at the Circus Electrique that is just as true, whether it is battling robotic police or fighting to recruit a new circus member.

The folks at Zen Studios are mostly known for their Pinball centered game but sometimes branch out and do something new. Circus Electrique is one of those attempts by venturing into the turn based JRPG genre. Players take control of managing the circus and part of that is protecting the Ringmaster’s niece. Starting with only a clown and a strongman you must beat back the two police officers that wish to take her and her lion away.

Visually the game looks great with the old time vibes of the circus mixed with a steampunk aesthetic. Controls are extremely simple to learn and the story is a bit slow, requiring lots of reading. I don’t mind reading a subtitle here and there but the amount of dialogue there is would have been much improved by including some audio to either narrate or voice the characters. The turn based mechanics work well and the give a ton of options for each character. Overall I enjoyed the game but would have enjoyed the story much more had the characters been voiced for their conversations.

Games Workshop just put the latest army set up for preorder with Astra Militarum and it includes all new models AND the new codex!

It used to be that when a codex released Games Workshop would release a new model or two along with it that were related. Rarely we would see several boxes release at the same time but with the current edition of the game it has all changed. GW has changed their marketing and release process and it is huge. This started with the Black Templar army box and the Astra Militarum are the latest to take advantage of this style of release.

Featuring the new Codex and a box almost full of new models the Astra Militarum Army Launch Set focuses on Cadia. As far as the miniatures are concerned, the box contains twenty Cadian Shock Troops, a Command Squad, a Field Ordnance Battery, and a Sentinel. Of those only the Sentinel is a previously released. With all these new models they will make perfect additions to my slowly growing Tanith First army but will take some time with kitbashing.

We had the opportunity to open this box and look over the codex and models. We must admit that it is a fantastic starter. I used to think that outside the Gaunt’s Ghosts novels that the AM was nearly as lame as Orks. I hated on the army for years. Seriously. The novels gave me an appreciation for the Tanith only and no other faction. This renewed focus on the faction and the quality of the models we have seen over the last year have me rethinking my stance. My favorite part of the new codex is that you don’t need to build your army as a single regiment, you can have mixed regiments! This is much like with Age of Sigmar blending Grand Alliances. Add that to the model range and I can’t think of a more perfect time to join the Imperial Guard, I mean the Astra Militarum.

The Entropy Centre is a temporal puzzle game designed like a first person shooter by Playstack London on Next Gen consoles.

The Entropy Centre looks and feels like a cross between Faraday Protocol and Superliminal. Both games take you one a puzzle filled adventure where you have been abducted and have no idea where you are. Playstack London deliver a world that is beautifully rendered, seemingly void of life and full of dangers. The danger however seems to be more implied than actually dangerous.

As you navigate the facility you first pick up a temporal gun of sorts that can rewind time up to 30 seconds for any given object. Of course even that isn’t exactly right. One of the first things that you rewind time on is the collapsed ceiling of a hallway you need to take. This ceiling collapsed way more than 30 seconds prior. Based on the rules of this gun rewinding a maximum of 30 seconds should have no effect on the rubble. Ignoring the flaws in this logic though the effects are very well done. I suspect the danger has far from begun though.

Visually the game is simply stunning. The controls are simple enough to master and the puzzles are creative. Some can seem maddening but with a little creativity they aren’t too bad. With the aid of a cheerful robot guiding you the game leaves you wanting to know more.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and Part 10 talked about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul. Part 11 discussed Nightmare Alley and West Side Story. Part 12 highlighted Death on the Nile and Part 13 talked about The Bob’s Burgers Movie. We’ve returned with Part 14 to highlight Barbarian and See How They Run!

Barbarian

The story centers around an AirBnB that has a sinister secret, a passage that leads to catacombs where something lurks. The name of the film didn’t make much sense to me but a random TikTok I saw explained it in a way that made sense- it is almost a phonetic anagram for AirBnB. Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgard were fantastic but were really the only members of the cast that were. Overall the buildup in tension was well crafted but once the climax hit the rest went downhill from there. The story was interesting to start and a disappointment by the end.

See How They Run

Despite the fact that this is officially the third film of this title this is an entirely original story. Centered around the murder of a film director who was going to direct the film adaptation of a play that was based on a book by Agatha Christie. Following the traditional Christie process for the story the film is a classic whodunit where the least likeable person is killed and every character had reason enough to do it. The cast did a fantastic job and at many points the story shifted away from the exact direction I thought it was going and that almost never happens. Typically murder mysteries don’t entertain me much because I quickly pick out who the killer is and almost the entire film I doubted my instinct. I was right in the end but they did a fantastic job fooling me.

The ultimate bad guys in Age of Sigmar are getting a battletome and even better they are starting with the Slaves to Darkness Army Box!

There is one undisputed villain of stories from the Age of Sigmar and that is the Grand Alliance of Chaos. Each of the four main Chaos gods have their own armies but the Slaves to Darkness encompasses Chaos as a whole. To celebrate their new Battletome they have released an Army Box to accompany it. The tome however will release on it’s own, likely in December or January. Out of all of the armies in the Mortal Realms Chaos is my favorite and because I can never settle on a single patron god for long that means this is the best choice for me to get started.

Featuring the newest version of a Daemon Prince, new Chaos Chosen sculpts and the entirely new Ogroid Theridons, this box is not even done with the surprises. Typically these Army Boxes feature some new models, some old, a tome/codex and mission cards. This time they have added Warscrolls as well! There is so much win in this box for a Chaos player like myself. Did I mention that the Daemon Prince has five heads to choose from? Didn’t think so. This means even more opportunities for kitbashes later on as well. Like I said, so much win!

Check out our official unboxing and discussion (plus some Ogor Mawtribes love):

Fans of games like Overcooked can rejoice! A new “cooking” game is here and this time it is about repairing and fueling your spaceship in Fueled Up.

Fireline Games brings us Fueled Up, a game where you risk being stranded in space and must keep your ship both fueled and in one piece. The game looks and feels exactly like Overcooked, and that’s not a bad thing. The Overcooked franchise is one of my family’s all time favorite games to play together. It can get stressful at times trying to manage everything. This game is exactly like that, except in space and running a spaceship instead of a restaurant.

The controls are almost exactly the same and graphics are on par if not slightly improved in comparison to Overcooked. Solo play feels even more stress-inducing because you must manage the actions of two players alone. Playing the game with one or three other people is ideal for managing the stress and tasks. Overall the game is a crap ton of fun but high stress so best playing in smaller doses.