Apologies for the extended delay between videos, but I’m back! Watch me get shot repeatedly while I talk about the things that have been going on in my life since the last video. Topics discussed include Sunset Overdrive, Fire Emblem: Awakening, board games, Toronto Comicon, wedding planning and more!
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King of Tokyo is spectacular at being an accessible and strategically-light dice game that virtually anyone can play and enjoy. However, that focus on casual play makes it a tougher sell for seasoned gamers looking for something deeper. King of Tokyo: Power Up aims to address that with a set of new cards that change how the game is played. Also, it comes with a Kung-Fu panda, and who doesn’t like pandas?
From A Link to the Past to Ocarina of Time, the hero of Hyrule is the star of some of my all-time favourite games. However, for those of you who follow the nuances of Zelda lore, the Link you play as isn’t always the same guy. I’m most familiar with the more humanoid Link, while the Toon Link, as christened in Smash Bros., is largely alien to me. So why do I have a Toon Link instead of an adult one?
I understand that the concept of playing a board game about slavery is hard for many to swallow. But if you give Freedom: The Underground Railroad a shot, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what it delivers. This is an excellent cooperative game where you and your fellow Abolitionists are trying to move slaves from the southern plantations to the refuge of Canada. Along the way, you’ll be trying to dodge slave catchers, earn the support for this movement from fellow Americans and prevent the overcrowding of plantations, which ultimately leads to lost lives. Besides being really entertaining to play, it meshes tastefully with the game’s theme to create a tense, thought-provoking and somewhat educational experience. If you’re willing to let your guard down a bit in regards to its theme, I highly suggest giving this one a chance.
Slavery in the 1800s is a sore spot of North American history. However, it was also a time when the tides turned thanks to the efforts of brave individuals who risked everything to abolish slavery. Freedom: The Underground Railroad is a co-operative board game in which players take on the role of the abolitionists trying to usher slaves out of the plantations and into the safety of Canadian soil while trying to drum up support for the Abolistionist movement. Of course, doing those won’t be easy, as Slave Catchers will try and intercept slaves before they get to Canada, while opposing people or events will stifle your progress in other ways.
Tackling this in any form is tricky due to the nature of the subject matter. Thankfully, Academy Games took great care in presenting the subject with respect and historical accuracy in mind. Oh yeah, it also turns out to be a great and challenging board game, too.
After a five year hiatus (if you don’t include the tangentially-related Rock Band Blitz), Harmonix is set to bring the franchise back with Rock Band 4. Poised for release later in 2015, Harmonix has stated that they want all our old instruments to be compatible, that they’re working on allowing players to transfer all of their old music to the new game and that they’ve come up with some ways to really freshen things up. Am I ready to rock out with plastic instruments again?
Flash back to the summer of 1994. I’m only 10 years old at the time, so there’s almost no reason for me to receive mail. On this particular summer day, I open the mailbox with a VHS tape addressed to me from Nintendo. With no idea what this tape was or why Nintendo was sending it to me, I threw it in my VCR and watched it as soon as I could.
In Power Grid, players take on the roles of rival power supply companies, aiming to supply the most regions with energy. You will manage many aspects of the expansion process, from bidding on power plants, buying fuel in a marketplace where prices vary based on supply and demand, and the building of power plants in different cities. Admittedly, I didn’t have much interest in the game going into it, but it managed to wow me in a big way. Tying all of the aspects of together is a tightly-woven economic system that is exciting and thought-provoking. If you like Ticket to Ride and are looking for a similar type of game with a little more complexity, Power Grid is the logical next step. Knowing what I know now of the game, it would be criminal of me to leave it off the list!
Check out the full list of Awesome Board Games You Should Play!
Every board game has a limit in terms of how many players it supports. At a certain point, a game isn’t going to work at all if there are too many or not enough players present. Player count isn’t a binary thing either, as games oftentimes degrade to a certain degree before they completely fall apart. Over the last few years, many of the games I’ve played struggle with supporting two players. I’m fine with games that don’t work well in pairs, though I find it alarming and disingenuous how many games in the marketplace claim that they support two players when they really shouldn’t.
Aside from Madden, the NBA 2K dynasty is one of the most impressive in video game sports series. They’ve been so dominant that EA Sports went as far as to cancel two years worth of of their basketball games that they felt couldn’t hold their own against the champ. Last year, 2K14 got a graphical shot in the arm thanks to the transition over to the more powerful hardware. Now that the sizzle of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has cooled, is there enough in this year’s package to justify a return trip to the hardwood?
In Third Person 
