Nongon Poster: Quenchers 2009-09-18 - Pen and Ink Drawing
My gig poster for a Nonagon show based on some drawings I created for a job application (long story).
Ship of the Line
Another exciting Hornblower sea tale. This one was a much better read than the last, although, outside of the title character, there still aren’t that many vivid characters. But, you can tell that Forester is beginning to lay the groundwork for larger story lines. The story here goes from one naval action to the next, each more exciting than the last.
Nonagon Poster: Work in Progress 1
This is going to be a poster for an upcoming Nonagon show. It’s based on an earlier image I made about a decade ago that I never did anything with. Hopefully I will be able to finish in a day or two so that we can get these Xeroxed off in a timely manner.
Resident Evil 4 – Wii Edition on Nintendo Wii
This was another bargain purchase for me. Ten dollars on Amazon during one of their Gold Box sales. I’d have to say it was well worth the price.
I remember when this game came out it got all sorts of game of the year awards on G4 and such. After having played it through I can say it isn’t THAT good, but it is pretty good game, and one of the best Wii games I’ve played. However, if this were a PC game I would only consider it to be mildly above average compared to other PC shooters like Half Life 2. The movement controls are atrocious and the ugly, muddy palette is so 1998. You do get used to the clumsy movement after a half hour or so. I was willing to deal with the tank controls because, on the other hand (literally), using the wiimote as a shooting device works very well. Taking aim at monsters and zombies and blowing them away is very satisfying.
The game’s story moves along at good pace and the voice acting pretty good. I especially like the Spanish curses that get uttered by all the evil villagers. As the game progresses there’s a bit of variety thrown in to the gameplay that keeps it from getting too repetitive. Although, as the final chapter approached, I felt a bit of sameness fatigue setting in and was relieved after beating the final boss. There is a bunch of extra gameplay modes that get unlocked when you finish the game, so it looks like I’m not quite done with this one yet. This is an essential game for the Wii if you want something with a little more meat on it than the kiddie titles that dominate the platform. Despite my nagging, I’d highly recommend it.
Sam and Max Season 1 on Nintendo Wii
I found this game used for around twelve bucks a few months ago. I’m glad I picked it up because it is a really entertaining game. This is an adventure game. That means it’s not the fastest, most exciting game around, but I liked the laid-back pacing. Unlike the LucasArts game from the 90s, this game’s puzzles actually make sense. There was hardly ever a moment when didn’t have an idea of what I needed to be doing. The worst part of any adventure game is that feeling of being stuck with no idea what to do next. That said, as far as point and click adventures go, this one is quite simple. That may be a disappointment to some puzzle-brains out there, but I am too old to be pondering game puzzles for more than a few minutes. There is just enough challenge here to give you a sense of satisfaction as you progress through the story. On top of it all is a nerdy sense of humor and some vivid characters with which to interact. The only big flaw of this version is the janky animation and occasional audio stutters. I hope they’ve resolved this issues in Season 2 when that is released for Wii. A great game to play with the kids (if you don’t mind the occasional “damn!” in the dialogue).
Health Care Debate Hate
Okay. So I am one of those evil bastards that thinks health care reform is a bad thing. Apparently, the hidden motive for my position is that I want to ruin the lives of poor people—or, at least that’s what my progressive friends have told me. Fine. If that makes it easier for you to accept that there are people with opinions other than your own, more power to you.
I get a bit depressed when I hear folks go off like this. People have become so pot committed to their partisan positions that they assume that anyone with an incongruous opinion must be evil, stupid or both. Never mind that on an issue like health care we are not just talking about getting sick poor people to the doctor. We are toying with the idea of restructuring an entire industry, and, in the middle of a recession, adding massive (as in dwarfing “tiny” projects like World War II!) new government programs and expenditures. To me it’s obvious that these are bad choices, but I don’t for a second believe that the proponents of health care reform are deliberately out to destroy rich doctors, or worse destroy the U.S. economy, stifle innovation and make health care terrible for everyone (not just poor people). I honestly think that they believe they are doing the right thing, despite the fact that they are going to kill us all and sell our children into white slavery.
Tunnel in the Sky
A well-paced survival story about a bunch of teenagers abandoned on a desolate planet. There is some delving into civics which I found interesting, but it is more of a straight adventure story in the end.
Twisty Little Passages – An Approach to Interactive Fiction
A very good read that is a critical analysis and brief history of text adventures. The first half gets a little bogged down in trying to place these games in a literary niche, but it eventually delves into the history of Infocom and more.
Supercop
Pretty good Jackie Chan faire. Not his best, but plenty of good action here.
Old Ironsides on Apple ][
Old Ironsides (Optimum Resource, Inc., 1982) is a two-player game for the Apple II that simulates Nineteenth Century naval combat. Having read all twenty Aubry/Maturin seafaring novels, I have been craving some sort of naval battle game. The problem is, when you get down to it, ninety percent of the action in these wonderful novels is comprised of the days-long chase of an enemy ship. Not the stuff of an action packed game. Old Ironsides strips most of the technical (and realistic) aspects of sea battles away to reveal an arcade-like multi-player game much in the same vein as the classic Atari Combat.
The result is a very fun game that has just enough tweaks to it to make it feel like you are really battling it out on the open sea rather than just playing Combat with boats. The wind is a factor, as is the aiming of your broadsides. A direct hit to the bow of an opponent will ignite his magazine, thereby ending the battle rather quickly. Also, your ship can sail off the screen. Stay of the screen for too long and you are “lost in the fog,” and lose. A good navigator can use the fog as cover and sneak up behind an enemy.
The Apple ][ has many limitations when it comes to action games and this game would benefit from smoother controls and maybe a few graphical enhancements (like actual fog and weather). But, all-in-all, a very good game for the time it was created, and one of the few Apple ][ games that still holds up to this day.