Twitch Plays Pokemon is the focus of this week’s discussion. Is this crowd play concept a flash in the pan or the genesis of something bigger? After that, the show kind of falls off a cliff and it mercifully ends after we sing “I Will Remember You” by McLachlan together.
Games Mentioned: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Bravely Default, Strider, Ticket to Ride, Legendary: Fantastic 4 expansion
Jett – In Third Person
Jason – Downstab
Mat – Biff Bam Pop
Ever since I bought the Marvel Now and New 52 omnibuses, I’ve been on a bit of a comic book vision quest. The benefit of starting with these books is that I can start at the first issue of almost every Marvel and DC franchise. The experience has kind of been like reading the first chapter of a few dozen books, which in itself is a bit odd. But with the way comic book stories have progressed over the years, this is a perfect introduction to the landscape. I’ve still got a long ways to go before completing either book, but I did want to jot down some notes regarding my progress.
At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss Blokus as some sort of board game knock-off of Tetris. In actuality, this blocked-based experience shares virtually no resemblance to the classic puzzler beyond the look of its pieces. Instead, this is actually an awesome strategy game that’s easy to pick up with a ton of depth.
When fighting games first went mainstream in the 90s, there were a slew of knock-offs that were simply trying to cash in on the craze. I can rhyme off Ballz, Clayfighter and Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi as a few games that fit in this category, though there are dozens – if not hundreds – of other half-baked fighters looking to make a quick buck. While I only played the demo for Girl Fight on Xbox Live Arcade, I’m pretty sure you can add this to the list.
Fluxx is a game whose presence is ubiquitous. Practically every board game store I’ve been to carries this as well as the game’s many variants and expansions. Since it’s being widely distributed, it must be good, right? It also doesn’t hurt the game’s cause that I’ve generally read favourable things about the game online. On one fateful date night at Snakes and Lattes, we gave this one a shot.
With a few minutes to spare, I filmed a few random matches in Injustice: Gods Among Us. I love the little kid in the background screaming, “Batman!” as my Bruce Wayne destroyed the Flash.
Playing with your favourite Marvel superheroes and villains is clearly Legendary’s big draw. Having said that, the more I play the game, the more I appreciate the characters I don’t know or actively dislike. For instance, I dislike Hawkeye, but I think he’s great to use in the game thanks to his useful abilities.
I used that logic to justify my purchase of the Legendary: Fantastic 4 expansion. I don’t care much for Mr. Fantastic’s side of the Marvel universe, but the cards bring all-new elements to the experience. Are these gameplay benefits enough to overcome my indifference towards the Fantastic 4? More importantly, is this 100-card “small box” expansion worth it when the 350-card”big box” expansions like Dark City provide a much better cost-per-card value?
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale isn’t going to win any awards for originality, though I don’t think that’s the point here. Sony at this point in its life seemingly has the cast of characters and the cache to pull this off, so why not? While this provides a decent Smash Bros.-like experience, the devil is in the details, which it misses in a number of key areas.
Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve fallen very far down the video game rabbit hole. I’ve spent countless hours of my life playing them. Countless hours reading about them in magazines and the internet. Countless hours writing and talking about them through this blog. Probably have spent well over $10,000 on consoles, games and other gaming paraphernalia. To say that video games are just a pastime would be a gross understatement.
But how far can one man go before they’re just tired of it all? My parents thought I’d grow out of it, though I’ve proven them wrong by gaming well into adulthood. I thought that my fervour for the medium would never end, though my interest in video games of late has hit an all-time low.
In Third Person 