Zeldas

I've recently been playing and enjoying Skyward Sword, the latest entrant in the Legend of Zelda franchise. And while the gameplay and story and all deserves its own writeup, this review looks at the titular sometimes heroine/sometimes captive that is Zelda.  This look back is spurred by one very noticeable distinction of the newest Zelda.

BANGS.

BANGS.  BANGS.  BANGS.

It isn't as though she is ugly per se - in fact, the half-Twilight Princess/half-Wind Waker blend of realism and cell shading really comes off nicely.  But it's hard to take her seriously with the yellow bangs threatening to suddenly transpose this kindly spirit maiden into a hanger-on for an 80s rock band called The Gorons, singing along to their one-hit-wonder power ballad: You Hookshot My Heart.

Zombie Takeover

Sure, we've all got time to kill - but are killing enough time for the undead?

Zombie Takeover is one of those resource management, time-based games in the same vein as FarmVille; you allocate coins and gems to make certain enhancements (which in turn make you more coins), but everything takes a preset amount of time.

The game contains some RPG elements, where you buff up your zombie army (and later vampire army, and werewolf armies) and then battle pesky nearby humans.

Graphics are in the range of the undeniably cute, which is a great fit for the device.  Give this game a shot (it's free, after all)!

Temple Run

Temple Run is a free, iOS game available for iPhone or iPad.  You play an unnamed adventurer on the run from guardian monkeys who are chasing you for stealing their prized gold idol.

There is no substantial objective to the game, but to run - through the temple - Temple Run thusly being a fitting title to the game.

The game has upgrades you can purchase by collecting coins during your runs through the temple, most of which enhance your ability to run further and collect more coins.

While the game itself certainly has the potential to become repetitive, it is surprisingly addictive to try to make it further and further.

If you've got an iDevice, and want some fun, no nonsense gameplay, check out Temple Run.

Economists

Holy Steam!

Steam is doing a big Holiday thing - and there's still a few days left to gather coal for the grand prize giveaway. What's at stake?  Only every game available on Steam (a quick search tells me that this would be 1,488 games).

I want to win it, but it's a potentially terrifying proposition.

Game of Thrones (Television)

Having finished the semester (and the titular text Game of Thrones), we decided the time was ripe to marathon through Game of Thrones' HBO treatment.

The show stayed incredibly true to the text, including the dreadfully slow beginning.  The scenery, at direction, casting, dialogue, and acting were all wonderful.  Sean Bean was an excellent Eddard Stark; and, despite the fact that I didn't care for her at first, Michelle Fairley perfomed well as Catelyn Stark.

A real delight in casting was actually Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who portrayed a much more vibrant Jamie Lannister than I had pictured in the books.  His hair and make-up gave him that perfect "Prince Charming" look (which was deliciously deceptive).  Lena Headey was an excellent Cersei Lannister, as well. 

The actors who portrayed Joffrey and Viserys were well chosen and excellently scripted.  We hated them. 

And while he was no Varric, Peter Dinklage brought Tyrion Lannister to life excellently - conveying the right balance of womanizer, intellectual, drunkard, and noble.  And because Tyrion is my favorite, I hope to see a lot more of his character to come.

Flash Game Friday: Rocket Santa

Rocket Santa is the best holiday-themed launch game I've played this Christmas season.  It's a vertical launch game where you must help Santa to deliver presents to the moon.

Like all launch games, there are upgrades that make it easier and easier to accomplish your goals, culminating in a fun ending.

Merry Christmas!

(P.S. Rocket Santa would encourage you to visit my Amazon.com gift list.)

Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues Wins DLC of the Year

This really shouldn't come as any surprise, but Fallout: New Vegas' DLC Old World Blues has been named by www.insidegamingdaily.com as DLC of the Year.  I've blogged about this DLC twice now.

The lack of the surprise should come by the fact that even though the game didn't offer tremendously different goals, gameplay, or graphics, it more than delivered on story, dialogue, writing, and voice-acting.  The B-movie backdrop allowed some great over-the-top moments that would be impossible to synthesize in almost any other environment.

Bethesda has a lot to be proud of, and has certainly won this award.  Well done, you!

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (GOTY)

While everyone else is enjoying the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda's ongoing, Game-of-the-Year winning, fantasy franchise, I'm just now sitting down with the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition.  I was really shy from getting into the series, because I like my fantasy games like I like my sex life: turn-based and from a third-person perspective.  Just kidding:  I'm married, and no longer have a sex life.

Unlike the traditional genre staples, the Elder Scrolls series are fantasy games from first-person perspective, which dynamically changes everything when it comes to combat strategy, and gives the game an unsurprising sense of immersion.  The engine is painstakingly identical to that of the Fallout series, which makes sense, as the games are made by the same folks.

Full review is happening, after the jump...

A Song of Fire & Ice: A Game of Thrones

Though I've tried, my journey into the fantasy epics has been somewhat limited to Harry Potter.  Well, no more!  Despite not having watched Game of Thrones, Season 1 Box Set, I decided to read the first book of A Song of Fire and Ice.  The books' spine was thick, and its pages were thin as they come.  With a deep sigh, initially, I opened the pages and delved into the exciting world of George R. R. Martin's plane of intrigue and drama.

Firstly, I would be hesitant to nail A Game of Thrones solidly into the "fantasy" genre.  For the first half of the book, it reads very much like a historical fiction text with sudden bounces into the extremely fantastic (e.g. reanimated dead corpses).  The story centers on Eddard Stark - a Lord of Winterfell - and his family, as he is named Hand to the King and uncovers a plot that led to the previous Hand's death.  The story is told from various point of view (POV) characters, including Eddard himself, his wife Catelyn, his daughters Sansa and Arya, his son Bran, his bastard son Jon, the dwarf brother of the King's wife, Tyrion, and finally a mysterious young woman who is the last of the line of Targaryeans (the previous ruling nobility), named Daenerys.

Already, I was pretty lost.  It kind of felt like being in AP Euro again and not knowing who was related to who and what.  At one point of time, I almost drew a genogram of the families.  Somewhat helpful is an appendix at the end of the text that listed the noble families.  It was more helpful than I care to admit. 

George R. R. Martin writes engrossingly, but the sudden switches in POV lead to some frustrations as a reader (especially with cliffhangers).  I was very happy when the author discovered he could use dialogue to move the story forward, and there was a point when things moved very, very quickly.  The language is pretty dense, and on more than one occasion, I tried to look up the definition of some words by holding my finger to solid page and expecting a definition to appear.  I highly recommend an eReader for these texts unless you have a very proficient vocabulary, are excellent with archaic syntax, or read with a dictionary nearby.

Throughout the book, the mysticism and magic of fantasy remain beyond the reach of the reader.  Only at the end do we (the readers) get a good look into just how deep the rabbit hole of the world can possibly go.  I can't deny that I am eagerly anticipating the next in the series.

If you do give A Game of Thrones a whirl, be patient; there really is a lull until the action gets going - and before you start to see character dynamics unfold.  Before long, you barely notice that you once were unaware of the long and mythic history of the Seven Kingdoms, and you'll be nibbling at every new shred the book gives you to fill in the blanks.