BOARD GAME REVIEW: DUELOSAUR ISLAND (2018)

Duelosaur Island is a game that is a sister game to Dinosaur Island in the same way 7 Wonders and 7 Wonders Duel are related. This is a two-player game that shares the general idea of the larger games, but changes the mechanisms to more suit a two-player game.

Duelosaur Island is a mixture of a card-drafting and dice-drafting game. You are trying to collect cards that can be dinosaur attractions, facilities, or specialists to give you powers, income (both in visitors and coins) and special powers. You then collect money and dinosaur attractions to give you more excitement. At the end if the game, most visitors wins.

At its core, the game sounds exciting. Each player choosing the specialists available and the dice position to give different combinations of bonuses. However, this is definitely a game of one too many steps. Compared to really good 2 player games such as Raptor and 7 Wonders Duel, it plays very slowly as one player chooses all the combinations to go out. Unfortunately, this is also the only place any real interaction comes.

Add to the slow pace and lack of interaction in this game is the production errors. From the PR marker where you can't see what is underneath it (something you need to do quite often) to all the errors in the rulebook, this game feels rushed out. It is a shame, because the core idea sounds okay. It just needed a bit more development to streamline it a little bit and get rid of all the production errors.

2 out of 5 duelling waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: ARCHITECTS OF THE WEST KINGDOM

Architects of the West Kingdom is a game by the maker (Shem Phillips) of Raiders of the North Sea. They also made some other games I didn't enjoy nearly as much as Raiders, so the real question is how does this compare? I really enjoy Raiders so is Architects just as good?

Architects does something Raiders also does well. It does worker placement, but puts its own little twist on it. Here, you start with 20 workers. Then, you slowly use them up during the game unless you sacrifice an action to get them back. Outside of this, it is a pretty standard game of collecting resources, turning them in to complete building goals for points, hiring crew with special abilities, and doing one or two other things.

The other things you can do are what gives the game some more flair. One of the actions is capturing workers and sending them to jail (or just rounding up your workers again). This is because the more workers you have out at a spot, the stronger the action you have. This also makes them more tempting targets for capturing. The other action is using the black market, where you lose virtue in order to get more immediate bonuses. But if you are caught there during a raid, your workers go to jail and you lose more virtue.

Virtue is important and is one of the few ways the theme comes through. The virtue track means at higher virtue you can work on the cathedral but at lower virtue you may lose victory points but you also get a discount on actions. Apart from that, the theme is quite generic as a standard conversion of resources to points via the most efficient means possible.

This lack of theme isn't bad. But Raiders had the theme come through allot stronger with the progressive raids, your crew and the skulls. I think Architects is different from Raiders and the mechanisms are as strong. However, Raiders you had allot fewer boring turns. Architects has those building up turns which are a bit quick and boring, especially if you just need to get people out of jail. It does move slightly quicker than Raiders, with a much more deliberate pace and more direct player interactions. I also like the virtue track. I would probably place them pretty equal depending on what type of game you prefer. 

4 out of 5 well-designed waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: CODENAMES DISNEY

Codenames is a game I really enjoy. It is a nice filler party game where perhaps it greatest strength can also be its greatest weakness (people trying to bend to rules or it overstaying it's welcome), but it is great as a starting or ending game on a game night. I'm not the only one who has enjoyed it, with the games getting a bunch of spin-off variants.

Disney is one of these variants. In this game, you are doing the normal Codenames thing of giving clues to guess the right stuff on a grid. But what you are trying to guess now is not words, but Disney pictures. This means you have pictures from Disney films such as Hercules, etc. and your clues have to relate to them.

My most glaring problem with this is that the pictures just aren't really that good. Most the pictures are really close-ups of a specific character or the like. I would have liked if the pictures were allot broader so you could relate more things together (i.e. taking objects from the background). It would've been really good if the cards were a bit bigger to accomodate this, but this is where being stuck to the Codenames card size is a detriment. 

The card issue is compounded by the fact it loses allot of its accessibility. Now, you need to know obscure characters from movies in order to compete with those more knowledgable about Disney films. This issue is compounded by the previous issue of the extreme close-ups limiting the scope of the clues you can give, thus eliminating the clever word plays originally used. 

That isn't to say this game doesn't do some good things. The intro/kid variant is a neat idea and the Disney background gave a wealth of iconic moments to draw from. Unfortunately, the price it pays in order to slap the Disney tag on this makes it feel like a cash-in on the Codenames and Disney brands.

2 out of 5 Frozen Waffles.

KICKSTARTER RETROSPECTIVE: STRIFE and A SOFTER WORLD

So this is a new series where I look back at my Kickstarters (2 at a time) and give a retrospective on where are they now.

A Softer World 4- Lets Do Something Wrong: So the first Kickstarter I backed (and how I found out about Kickstarter) was due to a webcomic I was reading (A Softer World). This is a great comic which seems to set up a normal scenario then twists it via a few photographic panels. This kickstarter gave me a flask and a book. The Kickstarter was cool, although you miss the alt-text (what you get when you leave your mouse cursor over the comic) if memory serves me correctly. All up, a good Kickstarter, although I think I eventually wore out the flask (I drank cordial from it because it looked cool, not alcohol).

Strife- Legacy of the Eternals: This was a perfect information game where the conceit was that it was like war (play a card to beat the other), but your champion inherits traits from your last champion (i.e. bonus power, an ability, etc.). It was a better idea than it was in execution. The rulebook needed more examples and the special ability rules needed to be a bit clearer. There was a follow-up Strife that could be combined, but it didn't interest me too much. I did sell this off eventually as better games for 2 players were available.

MOVIE REVIEW: ASSASIN'S CREED (2016)

Do you remember the most interesting parts of the Assasin's Creed games? You know, the parts where you are scouting targets and moving around the ancient world (choose which one depending on the game), climbing up things that shouldn't be climbable and experimenting with abilities? 

Well, at least you know the interesting parts, unlike whoever decided to make this movie. This movie has most of its plotting firmly centered on the near future, where the main character Cal is going into the Animus (a device to make him live his ancestors memories). Which is weird, as he goes back to play another character. So effectively, the most interesting part of the movie is divorced from the part given the most story and character developments.

The story and character progression is set in the most boring part of the games. Which is a shame, as this feels like 2 different movies not really given enough time to merge or work well together. While movies like Avengers take a bunch of different narratives and make them work well together, this just ends up a mess. You have the most interesting action and set pieces with no emotional investment, and the investment in the present is about a bland dystopian future

This film really suffers for this blandness. The entire story isn't even anything to be proud of anyway, with some half-cooked revenge plot and allot of things trying to set-up sequels, especially the inconclusive ending. This feels like a case that the writers should've known what to cut out, focusing the action on the past only and perhaps putting in a post-credits stinger about how he was in the Animus all along. Instead, they have made a movie that will go down as just another bad video game adaption.

1.5 out of 5 Waffles of the Creed.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: PAPER TALES (2018)

Paper Tales by Stronghold Games came out of nowhere a bit. A simple card-drafting, tableau-building game on the surface, this game wears its 7 Wonders inspirations on its sleeves (in terms of wars, resource generation, etc.). However, in this case, inspiration does not mean it is just a poor mans copy.

Paper Tales does a couple of things very differently. Firstly, you have to place your units in a front and back rank to determine who fights and who doesn't. For the most part, this doesn't really play a big part as you just stick powerful units at the front and weaker units (resource generating) at the back. The main thing it limits you on is your military strength. Eventually you can play a fifth unit by upgrading a building, which is a really good idea.

The big change, however, is the aging mechanic. Most cards only stick around for a couple of turns (generations) before growing old and dying. Add to this a very tight coin income (unless you specialise in coins at the expense of other things), only 4 rounds to build buildings (the main source of VP outside of wars), and only 4 battles, you have a very tight game. 

This is a very tight game and the hard choices start immediately and only get harder with time. Do you use up your limited income to fill up with 4 units in round 1 or save a bit to try to get a stronger unit in round 2. In addition, you always have to keep in mind people can hate draft against you and keep the strong units from you. The only round that has some easier choices is round 1 as most times you want to get as much out as possible. However, this can be easily solved by drafting an extra card on the first round if so inclined. I never found it much of an issue as the first round gave plenty of other choices already.

Playing through the round also goes very quickly. Drafting, everyone takes turns simultaneously and at only 4 rounds, there are plenty of options you can explore to score points and alternative pathways you can take in following games. Add to that the variable buildings and great solo mode from the expansion, this game is a real winner.

5 out of 5 tearable waffles.

ANIMATED MOVIE REVIEW: BATMAN NINJA (2018)

Batman: Ninja is an animated movie set in the Batman universe. In the movie, Batman and a host of his allies and enemies are sent back through time to feudal Japan in the era of ninjas and samurai. Here, he has to conquer his villains in order to get back to his own time.

The premise alone is very interesting. Unfortunately, the movie only follows through about halfway. This was a chance to see Batman function without gadgets or against some new enemies with new abilities. Instead, about halfway through the movie, most of this has been undone with it just turning into another animated Batman movie.

The main areas this stumbles is their choice of main villain. That is, of course, The Joker. The movie had a chance to make something new or perhaps elevate a lesser known villain. Instead, it just keeps coming back to Joker being the ultimate evil for Batman. 

There are other faults where it feels like the creators wanted to go further, but then got cold feet. One thing that can't be faulted is the animation and visuals, however. The feudal Japan style applied to everything and the voice acting are top notch, and make the movie visually interesting even if the story falters.

At the end of the day, an interesting premise may be enough for some people to cover the story. However, I felt that the story, while serviceable, really ended up letting the movie down.

3 out of 5 ninja'd waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: RESCUE POLAR BEARS

Rescue: Polar Bears is a board game that was delivered on Kickstarter a little while ago. This game is a co-operative game that has a really cool theme: you are trying to rescue polar bears and get data from the polar caps on global warming before the temperature rises too much or the polar bears get stranded.

While there are some abstractions with the theme (i.e. the time scale of temperature changes and the scales of time), the theme is very refreshing and unique. Most the actions and your goals fit the theme very well. You are moving around, saving bears, collecting data, and trying to keep a lid on the ice melting.

This isn't a co-operative game that is hard. There are some variants and modules that help to increase the difficulty, but you will win most the games on the basic game. This isn't a bad thing, as each game it feels like you have plenty of freedom on how to proceed with what feels like multiple options of what to do on your turn. You can also up your starting level to increase difficulty if desired.

This is a cool co-op where you have options and a nice theme. The components are also really good, with little bear figures and nice ships that all look different and play differently with their player powers. This is a game I would definitely recommend.

4 out of 5 polar waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: SPLENDOR (2014)

Splendor is a game about collecting gems in the form of poker chips, and then trading them for cards. These cards then give you discounts to help you get better cards which are worth more points or nobles, which are worth points. First to 15 wins.

That all sounds simple and even a little boring. However, Splendor is a game near the top of its weight class. The mechanisms that drive the game are smooth, and there is enough variability with end-game point scoring between the nobles and the large point cards to make the game exciting to the very end.

The components are also really good. Obviously, the tactile nature and weight of the poker chips means that they have immediate appeal. The insert is also great to help organise the box, although they could have easily halved the box size if they compacted it a bit more. The only downside is I wish more cards had unique artwork.

It says something for a game when people are still trying to claim it has been killed 4 years later. Splendor is still going strong, with enough variability and excitement in the base game alone to still make it hit the gaming table often. It just works as a gateway game and a deeper game that plays quickly.

5 out of 5 splendid waffles.

VIDEO GAME REVIEW: DRAGONQUEST HEROES WORLD TREES WOE AND THE BLIGHT BELOW

Dragonquest Heroes: World Trees Woe and the Blight Below has a long title, so I am just going to take the liberty of calling it Dragonquest Heroes for the remainder of this review. Dragonquest Heroes is a hero-brawler that is very much in the vain of Dynasty Warriors.

Dragonquest Heroes plot is a fairly generic and cheesy. An evil force awakens, making monsters start attacking humans. The heroes have to band together, using the power of friendship to overcome the raw power of evil. Most the twists and turns are fairly generic and easily predictable. The dialogue is also cringeworthy, even if the voice acting is passable.

Combat is a pretty standard Dynasty-Warriors-esque affair. You go around in a team of 4, slicing through hordes of thousands of monsters that are mostly cannon-fodder with the occasional boss. However, you don't have too many combos. Instead, each character gets 4 spells or abilities that they can use amongst their other attacks. This is where the main variety in the combat comes from, together with having a diverse range of characters to form your team from.

The game is certainly put together well. There is a large variety of enemies (even if some are color-swapped) but it does start to repeat itself towards the end. You know when the big enemies are coming and the tactics for getting through the big enemies don't change much. This does lead to the game starting to overstay its welcome, especially as it offers very little new to the genre as you work through the below-average story.

3.5 out of 5 questing waffles. 


Played on PS4 but available on multiple platforms.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: LET'S MAKE A BUS ROUTE

Let's Make a Bus Route is a game from Saashi and Saashi that has been released in a time where Roll and Write games seem to be one of the hot board game mechanisms. But here, it is flipping a card instead of rolling, and you are all writing on a shared board.

Sharing a board isn't the only cool trick that this game pulls off. However, it is probably the most interesting. In this game, you are working to, over the course of 12 cards, build a route for your bus to take. You are aiming to pick up people, drop them off to their destinations, and earn points for this.

There are two things that the shared board gives. The first is traffic. You are aiming to avoid where other bus routes are going to avoid negative points for traffic. The second is related to global objective cards, in that it is effectively a race to earn 5 elder commuters first.

Apart from this, the scoring is as good as, say, Ganz Schon Clever. Each commuter scores differently, with some providing bonuses to others. However, you also have to watch your route to make sure you can deliver them to their destinations otherwise you earn no points for all that effort. Add to that your private objective and public objectives pulling you towards different directions and you have a very fascinating game.

My only criticism is that everything is double sides, with English/Japanese language sides. However, I feel that they missed an opportunity to make these sides alternative boards/routes (say an English and Japanese city and bus company) that makes things play out differently. I am a bit concerned if this game has much legs. However, this issue hasn't come up yet. 

4.5 out of 5 commuting waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: PARASYTE (2014)

Parasyte is a two-part Japanese science-fiction/body-horror movie. The movie comes in 2 parts and is about parasites, who have come to earth and are taking over members of the population. Their main source of nutrition is, of course, eating people.

Parasyte is kind-of a horror movie. However, it is done in a very campy manner. The aliens aren't aiming to be gruesome, horror-inducing aliens. However, the aliens still manage to bring some elements of body horror more for their psychology and what they are able to accomplish. There are also a few gruesome dismemberment scenes.

Overall, both parts of this movie are good to watch. I can't really say much more without spoiling the movie, but it manages to mostly hit the right notes in terms of timing its comedy against its more darker aspects. The actors are also very good and accomplish their roles. The CGI is also serviceable, despite the green screen being very visible with how they implements things.

Overall, this is a movie I would definitely recommend checking out. Its flaws are minor but annoying, but are overshadowed by their positives. Fans of science-fiction horror will enjoy this movie.

4 out of 5 parasitic waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: KOKORO- AVENUE OF THE KODAMA

Kokoro- Avenue of the Kodama is a game by Indie Board and Card Games that came out about a year ago. It was just ahead of a big wave of Roll and Write-style games (well, more Flip and Fill in this case).

The game is played on a players white board of which a grid map is drawn. Every turn, you have to flip a card and fill in a pathway on the board to try to connect huts to butterfly and caterpillars features. Every round, the hut changes. The trick is, however, that each time you score must be greater than your previous score, otherwise you score negative points.

This is an entertaining filler-style game. The game plays quickly, has a lack of downtime, and can accommodate between one and eight players quite easily. It also has a few neat tricks, such as the scoring and the end game scoring. In addition, you can flip the boards to introduce some random set-ups or play with a random special rule to keep it fresh.

Unfortunately, there is one thing that holds it back. That thing stems from one of the clever things it does, which also unfortunately limits a players options. The long and the short of it is that the best way to win is to make the longest continuous pathway to make sure your score keeps going up. That means that players often put down very similar pathways for a big portion of the game and stymies the creativity into just trying to make the longest path.

And that is unfortunate. In some ways, the game either didn't go far enough in limiting scoring the same features multiple times or went too far in restricting the scoring to be ever increasing. It is even more unfortunate because this could also lead to a runaway leader (although the game is pretty short to not be a problem). In the end, the game is okay but is unfortunately held back by limiting a players options.

3 out of 5 flipping waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEWS: MANSIONS OF MADNESS 2nd EDITION

Mansions of Madness Second Edition is a story-based game. It is a sort-of sequel, sort-of re-implementation of the First Edition, but makes one major change that makes the game its own thing. That is by including an app.

The big change is the app. This takes care of all the upkeep, randomisations of monsters. But more importantly, it changes the game from a one-versus-all game to a co-operative game by taking care of all the monster and story telling elements.

The game is a dungeon crawl. It has mainly dice-based resolution based on character traits, with each character having a special ability. The game is pretty standard in this regard. The only wrinkle is that the you also track your sanity, with you getting a secret insane goal that may put your at odds with the rest of the team.

However, having an app handle all the storytelling and book-keeping really makes this game shine. The fact it is co-operative and the app automatically randomises and adjusts the scenarios is great. At its heart, it is a story-telling game and the app is great for this.

The one downsides are that the dice mechanics are really generic. The components are also very ordinary for the price, particularly the miniature bases. For a storytelling game, these actually actively detract from the overall atmosphere. For the cost of the game, these really should've been better.

4 out of 5 Mad Waffles.

ANIMATED MOVIE REVIEW: BATMAN AND HARLEY QUINN (2017)

The DC cinematic universe was known for being mostly a failure. However, there animated offerings tend to be quite good. I have watched a few of them and I'm not sure if I just got a bad lot, but the results for me have been mixed. This is definitely in the mixed bag.

This movie is about Batman teaming up with Nightwing and Harley Quinn. Their goal is to beat Poison Ivy and Floronic Man who want to turn all humans into plants. The majority of the voice work and animation is servicable to good. However, the problems all abound in the script.

The first thing is that it doesn't know if it wants to be an adult movie or a kids movie. This leads to weird mixes such as children's action scenes and a plot, but then you have them playing up Harley Quinn's sexuality with some BDSM or a particularly gory kill of a security guard. It can't decide whether to be serious or joking.

The characters don't even know. For example, with the whole world at risk and them being outgunned, they still refuse help from other heroes. That and the ending and how they win is the very definition of anti-climaxes. 

There are other problems as well, but that is the main one. One pet peeve I have is how they keep trying to make Harley not so bad to fill in as an antihero, instead of the mass murderer she is. But that is just a bit of background. At the end of the day, the inconsistent tone prevented any build-up of tension, which made this show feel like it just dragged on too long.

2 out of 5 swampy waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: JOURNEY 2- THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (2012)

Journey 2 is the sequel to Journey to the Centre of the Earth (I think, it is never really referenced in the movie). In this movie, Dwayne Johnson stars as a step dad to a teenager from the first movie. THe teenager is trying to decode his grandfathers message to find him on the Mysterious Island.

This is definitely a movie aimed at the younger audience. There is no real blood and gore. Similarly, there is no real scientific or long-winded explanation for allot of what happens in the movie (such as the big is small and small is big rule). It is intended as a fast-paced sequence moving through set-pieces. And in this, it mostly succeeds.

However, where the movie falls apart is that the characters themselves don't treat anything like any real danger. In one part of the movie, they are racing against time to get off the island. However, then the kid is upset when he isn't allowed to take a day-long detour to look at a unique mountain. The movie is filled with a bunch of little moments like this that try to feel like force drama.

This wouldn't be a problem if it didn't have moments where it is trying to make the audience take it seriously. A nice popcorn-flick where you can just relax throughout the movie is fine. However, you can't make a movie both ways. You can't have nothing feel like it has any consequence and also randonly have tension when you want to. There needs to be a consistent tone throughout the movie. At the end, this is just a forgettable movie.

2 out of 5 mysterious waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: TAU (2018)

What do you get when you start with a pretty interesting premise. Then, in small but painfully abrupt steps, it then proceeds to insert every stupid cliche until the story is mercifully put out of its misery. Well, I am starting the think the answer is pretty much Tau.

Tau is the story of a down-on-her luck girl who is making ends meet by stealing small things and pawning them off. She is then kidnapped and, along with a bunch of other un-missable people, she is subject to experimentation in order to get her brain patterns. Of course, she ends up being a genius.

At some stage in the movie, the actual plot kicks in with an AI being assigned to guard her. She quickly bonds with the AI using the usual cliche's. What is friendship? What is death? What is laughter? Etc. Eventually, due to increasing stupidity from the characters and plot contrivances, things eventually end.

This movie is pretty bad. Bad acting, bad story, bad effects, bad pacing. There is no reason to really watch this. This feels like someones first draft for a story that just got made without anyone considering if it actually makes sense or is even worthwhile watching.

1 out 5 artifical waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT (2002)

Life or Something Like It is a movie that feels like it is going for Oscar Bait. Instead, by the end of the movie, it manages to undermine its own message while playing into every bad romantic movie cliche that is know. Some spoilers ahead.

Angelina Jolie stars as a hotshot reported. She seems to have the perfect life- dating a famous baseball player and being successful in her own career. However, the plot kicks off with a fortune teller telling her she would die in a week and then predicting some other stuff correctly to make her believe him.

This leads her on a journey of self-discovery. She predictably goes through the motions of realising her relationship is shallow when her boyfriend tries to help her out. I'm still not sure why. She then gets together with a guy she had a one night stand with years ago. She then gets drunk and makes a fool of herself on television, which (of course) gets allot of exposure and a promotion for her.

At the end of the day, the movie just plods along with a generic plot. Even at the end, the whole message is undermined when she interviews a celebrity. Then, for some reason, the celebrity has a break down on air when she is reminded she isn't married. 

This undermines the message the film is trying and failing to send with being happy with yourself. The final message is that, if you aren't in a relationship, you can't be happy. Which makes her even more hypocritical as she is literally getting together with her two-night stand guy.

1 out of 5 waffles or something like them.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: HARVEST DICE

Harvest Dice is from a genre of games that seems to be gaining in popularity recently. These are Roll 'n Write games, where you roll some dice (or draw cards or some other randomizer) and then use the results to mark a sheet of paper depending on different criteria for final scoring.

Harvest Dice has a farming theme. In it, you are drafting dice to fill in a grid with three vegetables. Atternatively, you can feed unusable dice to the pig to build up a bonus track to manipulate dice. At the end of the round, one unused dice that is left increases the points earned from that type of vegetable.

It is a pretty simple game. It is a spatial optimisation puzzle on your paper. However, the market mechanic means there is a good amount of interaction. This also leads to some good decisions because to increase the scoring of a vegetable means (by necissity) having less of that vegetable on your pad.

This is a very simple game. Even the "advanced" variant isn't too hard. In addition to this, the game is fairly inexpensive. My normal complaint here is I would prefer laminated sheets and dry-erase markers over sheets of paper. However, for the price, I am quite happy to simply laminate my own when my supply of game sheets runs low. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this game. It had a nice market mechanic that gives indirect interaction and led to hard decisions, even in the solo mode. While not the deepest of games, it is easy to teach and set-up and is allot of game in a small package. It is also a great travel game to take around.

4 out of 5 harvesting waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: GAIA PROJECT

So Terra Mystica is a game I am not too fond of. I think it is okay, but after playing it a handful of times, it just isn't that interesting to me. All the pieces are there, but I think the sum of its parts is greater than the whole. Terra Mystica is a very well regarded game, however, and it has a sequel of sorts in Gaia Project.

Gaia Project is set in space. The goal of the game is to increase your races technology while you terraform and colonise planets on the board. You do this to form federations, get income, and score points. At the end of the game, most points is the winner.

Gaia Project is a very fascinating game. Each of its systems is tied together and feels like it has a good give-and-take. For example, the technology levels don't only give you points and technology, but also make things cheaper and give bonuses. These bonuses can increase your income and make you more efficient, which then let you do other things (such as increase technology) to keep the cycle going.

The changes Gaia Project makes over Terra Mystica makes the game a bit more exciting and gives  a bit more freedom. It is still a tight optimisation puzzle, but you can chain up moves allot easier to pull off big plays. The actual board (having blank space between planets) also reinforces this, as it is harder to block people off completely but the focus is still on stealing their planets. 

The only downsides are that the rulebook should have a glossary of key terms. The difference between neighbouring, neighbouring area or neighbourhood are huge and take a bit of finding if you need to look them up. The other thing is that the components are plastic. While they are nice, they don't quite have the same timeless wooden feel of Terra Mystica. Analysis Paralysis can also easily set in for players.

This is a very fascinating game. The more I play it the more I enjoy it as I explore the systems. As times is going by, it is slowly climbing its way higher into my favorite games.

5 out of 5 Terraformed Waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: RIDICULOUS 6

Ridiculous 6 is a spoof title, playing on Magnificent 7. In the story, a father of 6 different children (all to different mothers) is kidnapped. In order to rescue him, the sons band together (after finding out about eachother), with each bringing their unique skills and talents to the table.

And it is also an Adam Sandler movie. So you know what that means. It is a bunch of cameos, low brow humour, and no real consistent character motivations or story. I know that is what I should expect, but I also know that it should be funny. I expect better than the occasional chuckle.

So that is what you get. Adam Sandler is a white man raised as an Indian. One of his brothers can't talk but can mime things. One of the brothers is really dumb. Etc. Just think of all the stereotypes and think of how to make their interactions nearly devoid of humour or entertainment. 

And that is it at the end of the day. The Ridiculous 6 travel through America, meeting characters from history and trying to be funny for the lowest common demoninator. The story makes nearly no sense. The plot twists and reveals are pretty obvious. And the best it ever gets is the occasional chuckle.

For a comedy, that isn't good enough. And should never accept these type of movies as being "good for what they are" or with a "what did you expect" without calling them out for it.  

1 out of 5 ridiculous waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: GANTZ 0

Gantz 0 is a stand-alone movie based on an anime/manga series. The premise of the show is very interesting, but as a stand-alone movie it has allot of shortcomings. 

In Gantz 0, the premise is people that recently died are put back into an MMO type game. While in it, they have a certain goal (specifically, kill all the monsters in an area during the time limit). If they die, they die forever. To aid them in this, they are given super-suits to help protect them and enhance their combat abilities.

The twist is that the world they are playing on is actually earth. Rather than a fantasy world, they are tasked with stopping an incursion of monsters into an earth city. This makes the series immediately more interesting as it feels like there are some stakes. However, it does squander allot of them.

The main negative here is that it leaves too many questions. For example, what happens if they fail? We know the team dies, but do the monsters just rampage? Similarly, what are the monsters and why are they constantly attacking? Normally, some mystery is good. But failing to answer any questions is not so good.

Unfortunately, this isn't saved by the action or animation scenes. Action scenes are very static, with often no background movement. Often you will have characters not shoot their guns because it isn't part of the main fight. The animation is also subpar, particularly the lip-syncing. This is particularly bad for the "final boss", which suffers a Man of Steel problem by having the fight go on way too long.

This is a shame, because the monsters look cool and the premise is interesting. However, this really needed a bit more effort to made into a good stand-alone movie.

2 out of 5 virtual waffles. 

TV SERIES REVIEW: VOLTRON (SEASON 1)

The new season of Voltron is a reboot of the old Voltron series. In this series, Voltron is a giant powerful robot that is formed by 5 robotic lions. It is also the last hope of the universe in the war to keep the universe from beig enslaved by the all-powerful big bad.

The basic story is that a group of 5 earthlings are chosen by Voltron to be its pilot. Voltron is the last hope of a universe that is nearly enslaved. They are the new paladins, each one piloting a lion that is a part of Voltron. Each lion brings its own unique weapons and each pilot has their own personality.

The show is good. Suprisingly good. Each pilot is a character that has some depth. It also helps that Voltron isn't all powerful, instead being regularly challenged and even outmatched by a variety of foes. It also avoids the Power Rangers trap of having every episode end in Voltron forming and winning. Instead, Voltron is only brought out on special occasions. 

The only downside is that some of the interesting characteristics of characters tend to erode over time. For example, the yellow lion was a mechanical genius and the green lion a computer genius. However, soon the yellow lion does less mechanical engineering and the green lion 

All up, this is a good series. It is a good reboot of a series and has so far avoided most the traps of these types of series. It is definitely something I would recommend checking out.

4 out of 5 lionic waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN

Don't Mess With The Zohan came out a few years ago. This is an Adam Sandler movie where he stars as an anti-terrorist who has dreams of leaving the wars in the middle east behind. It is also a comedy movie.

Adam Sandler is Zohan. Zohan is the best of the best, an Israeli super soldier. However, he has gotten sick of the fighting and has a dream involving becoming a hairdresser. Moving to the United States, he has to learn to fit in and become a hairdresser while making sure his past doesn't catch up with him.

This is a suprisingly funny movie. It never takes its premise too seriously, even if it eventually tries to get a message across. Zohan is a superhuman beast who is never in danger. The only downside is that his love interest plays the straight lady, and eventually becomes his sort-of prize.

Make no mistake, this isn't an upper class movie (although some of the jokes are suprisingly deep). It still relies of gross-out humour and repeating the same joke a few times. It is just that it has a much better sense of tone and doesn't overdo it like allot of the more recent Adam Sandler vehicles.

It also helps that he is a super-soldier as opposed to, say, Pixels, where he is a gamer who is somehow better than everyone. It makes it much more believeable (somehow) and feels less self-indulgent (somehow).

3  out of 5 military waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: ADRENALINE

Adrenaline is a game that is at once exactly what it says on the cover and also nothing like what it says on the cover. This is a game that bills itself as a board game version of a first-person shooter.

In some ways, that is exactly what it is. Each turn, you can take two actions to pick up ammo, new weapons, move, and shoot. Each shot damages an opponent. Each shot you take damages you. However, the more damage you get, the more your adrenaline pumps and the more powerful your actions can be. There is a cool variety of weapons, each broken in some way.

However, how damage works is decidely non-first person shooter. Yo are in effect engaging in a game of area control, but each of your areas is the other player. This is because of how damage works. You score based on the majority of your damage markers being on your target, so the game is all about timing an dtring to block out your opponents, rather than a run-and-gun style affair. In fact, some of your turns can become quite cerebral.

I personally think that the choice to do this makes this game unique. It would have been simple to do a dice-chucker-type game. Instead, they made a bunch of unique mechanisms based around achieving the goal of making it a more thinking-type game. Although it does play slightly slower than I would like, and I would've liked to see some more variety in power-ups, I think the core gameplay is very interesting and the weapon combinations always make it interesting to play. 

3.5 out of 5 hyper waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: ANTMAN AND THE WASP (2018)

Antman and the Wasp is a sequel to the superhero-heist movie that was Antman. Antman originally caught some lightning in a bottle (essentially), being a pretty good movie despite the constant chopping and changing behind the scenes.

That may actually be the main problem with Antman and the Wasp. It is essentially trying to feel like the original movie. It constantly seems to be trying a little bit too hard in landing its jokes or getting to its set pieces to feel like its own thing. There are also some puzzling story choices made throughout the movie. 

The plot is pretty easy. After Civil War, Dr Pym and his daughter Janet/Wasp are on the run while Scott is under house arrest. However, a few days before his 2 year house arrest ends, he has a dream of Janets mum. This leads them to trying to go to the quantum realm to free her while evading the police, some mobsters, and a mysterious ghost.

The movie is serviceable. However, it is also dissapointing. Any semblance of pseudo-science is lost as Quantum becomes synomonous with magic. Several promising plot threads are also resolved quietly without any sort of repercussions. For example, Antman being tricked into helping Captain America, Ghost's background and reasons for revenge, etc. are all dropped. Similar, the mobsters aren't there to be threatening, and should've been replaced by just the cops. Except that having an action scene involving cop cars getting totalled and the occupants killed would've involved real consequences.

This is a serviceable Disney/Marvel movie. Underneath the surface I could feel hints of a slightly darker story akin to Winter Soldier that didn't make it through the cutting room. However, most the jokes hit and the action scenes are nice. An average Marvel movie (at this point) is still a good movie. It just should've been better.

3 out of 5 shrunken waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: FLASH POINT FIRE RESCUE

Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a game where you take on the role of a team of firefighters. In this game, your goal is to save enough people from the building before either the building collapses or the occupants are 'overcome' by the fire.

This game works similar to games like Pandemic. On each players turn, you perform 4 actions. These can be used to save people, move, or put out fires. Then, you advance the fire by rolling a new fire area. If you set off explosions, you may knock out parts of the building. 

Flash Point is a simple game at heart. It is in the gateway area of board games, similar to Pandemic and the like, where the rules are relatively simple. Each player does there actions, fires advance, and you move on. There are a couple of little rules tweaks, but these mainly come in the expansions.

But underneath its weight and simplicity, this game is brimming with theme and life. Saving people and putting out fires is something most people can easily get behind. And although the game can feel a bit samey after awhile (easily fixed with expansion maps), the simple yet variable system of fire advancement makes allot of games feel fresh.

This is a game I really enjoy. The theme and mechanics complement eachother really well and it all makes sense. One of my complaints with it is easily addressed by grabbing an expansion or two for some new maps and more variability. The other issue is the alpha gamer issue, which occasionally rears its head (like Pandemic). This is an issue allot of pure co-operative games struggle with, and this hasn't done much to alleviate the issues. You could implement an only talk on your turn policy for this, but keep that in mind when busting this game out.

4 out of 5 Fire Fighting Stars.

MOVIE REVIEW: SKYSCRAPER (2018)

Skyscraper is the latest action movie starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Here, he stars as a security expert and former SWAT officer that has been hired as a security consultant for the largest skyscraper in the world.

Movies are often descirbed as 'switch off your brain movies.' Personally, I never like movies where you have to switch off your brains to enjoy it. Well, to clarify, I like them, as long as the movie doesn't fall apart when you switch on your brain. For example, see The Last Jedi, where any type of question makes the whole movie fall apart like a house of cards. Please note that this is different from the Suspension of Disbelief, where I choose to believe in Space Wizards using The Force.

Skyscraper is mostly the better class of the 'switch off your brain' type of movie. It reminds me of Die Hard allot, with The Rock getting stuck in something he shouldn't have been. He then has to drive the plot forward for believable motives while working his way through some cool set pieces. 

The pacing and flow of the movie kept me invested in the characters. In this way, it reminded me of Mad Max. The whole movie is just an extended big action sequence. In fact, the only part that seems out-of-the-ordinary feels like the starting sequence. It feels like his SWAT background was going to be a bigger part of the movie, but instead it is just used as an excuse to give him a disability.

Overall, this is an enjoyable action movie. You can switch your brain off and enjoy it, but not feel like it will fall apart with any sort of critique of its plot or motives. The action is good, the pacing of the movie is good, and I would recommend checking this one out.

3.5 out of 5 skyhigh waffles.

BOARD GAME UNBOXINGS: SOME THOUGHTS

Another slow week of board game playing, so I thought I would give my initial thoughts on some games I recently unboxed and read through the rules.

FOUNDERS OF GLOOMHAVEN: Looks great but complicated. The rulebook looks clear but has allot of terminology. It is the sort of game where the impression I get is that it looks more complicated than it actually plays. Components are simple and some races may have issues identifying their colors (i.e. brown vs grey vs orange).

LEGENDARY CREATURES: The game looks fantastic. The rules seem interesting. However, there seems to be a couple of fiddly looking rules which may affect the enjoyment of it, especially as they appear easy to forget. Really looking forward to trying this one.

SMITHS OF WINTERFORGE: Another game that looks great. However, I feel like this may be a King's Forge but more complicated. I don't know if the extra complexity is going to make it worth it. Also am considering a small houserule out of the gate (you get +1 tokens = number of dice rolled if you fail a roll) because the dice rolling seems like it could be brutal.

RISING 5: RUNES OF ASTEROS: Looks nice. The rules seem pretty simple. I got the KS version at a decent price so have the mini-expansions to play around with. The rulebook layout feels a bit off, but still want to get it to the table.

VOYAGES OF MARCO POLO: Such a small rulebook. So many components. This feels like a Stone Age type game. Few rules, but nice to play. Looking forward to giving this one a go, but fear the visual appeal is a bit low with all the hotness around these days.

Hopefully I will get some more games played this week to get back to normal reviews.

INITIAL REVIEW: HOLLOW (NETFLIX ANIMATED SERIES).

The Hollow is a Netflix animated series. In this series, it follows three teenagers through a bunch of different adventures where they travel to different places. Along the way, they are trying to also solve some underlying mysteries. This is a review of the first handful of episodes. 

This series obviously draws inspiration from shows like Maze Runner. The underlying mystery is that they have no idea who they are or why they are there. The actual areas they are travelling through also have there own mysteries, both episode to episode and longer term.

However, the series does feel rushed in the first few episodes. For example, the characters seem to quickly accept there status quo and develop relationships really quickly. Another episode or two of developing the characters or showing some quiet moments between the characters 

Another thing is the generaly likeability of the main characters. One of the characters seems to be constantly whining and complaining, generally getting into trouble and using absolutley no sense. Only one character seems to act with any sense of urgency or sense in dangerous situations. 

Similarly, episodes struggle for consistency, seeming to randomly alternate between slapstick comedy, homage/parody, or drama/horror. Someone should tell the writers to aim for a bit more consistency instead of trying to be the hippest show around. 

However, despite these flaws, the overlying mysteries make the show compelling. The style of the show also makes it stand out, so I am hoping it can iron out the flaws as time goes by.

BOOK REVIEW- MARSH KINGS DAUGHTER BY KAREN DIONNE

The Marsh Kings Daughter is a book based on a slight retelling of an old story. The story is based on a swan princess who gets stolen away, and this book is about an abduction. 

The main story arc is based around the daughter of a man. The man abducted her mother when she was a teenager and kept her captive for 10-15 odd years until they escaped. The father has now escaped.  

The book isn’t written in a linear story. Instead, it jumps back and forward in time from modern day of the daughter and father hunting each other and the past where the daughter is raised in captivity, thinking everything is normal. 

The book falls apart because the story is inconsistent and convoluted with this narrative device. Revelations late in the book make parts of the beginning of the book make little sense. For example, the daughter figures out the dad is bad at the end, but other parts of the book after this still have her idolising her dad. 

Writing the book in a linear fashion would’ve definitely been better to sort out the narrative inconsistencies. The other main issue is just how unlikeable and uninteresting the main character is. She does horrible things, refuses to admit her mistakes, and puts everyone in danger with her dumbe decisions.

Unfortunately these two problems make the book very grating. Add to this that the plot requires contrivances to actually progress that break any sense of immersion, this book becomes a chore to read. 

1.5 out 5 marsh waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: HEROES WANTED (2015)

Heroes Wanted is a Spanish movie about a bunch of unlikely heroes. A bunch of ordinary-type people have to come together to save the day. 

The basic story of a bunch of people that aren’t expected to be heroes. They are 5 different people from various parts of Spain that are he last ditch attempt to form a squad to steal a weapons back from a bunch of terrrorists. 

The issue is the movie brings nothing new to the genre. And every funny moment that it manages to pull off is underline but predictable plot twists or a failed attempt at some slapstick comedy. 

Then you add to this the generally cringeworthy moments such as sexism, racism, and homophobia that is attempted for laughs but falls flat. Or the main characters predictable get-the-girl become-the-best arc and this is definitely a miss. 

One out of Five Spanish Waffles. 

BOARD GAME REVIEW: TERRAFORMING MARS

Terraforming Mars is a game that came out around when there seemed to be a bit of a streak of Mars games. It is a competitive game where you are cooperatively trying to terraform Mars. 

The game is essentially a card game. You use cards to build your tableau, which gives an income and powers to give an advantage over your opponents. How you get points is mainly by Terraforming Mars, which also gives you income and triggers the end game. So it all forms a big circle. 

And it is a very good circle. The game is essentially a sandbox-style engine builder. You build up combos in your cards and on the board to our score your opponents. You are managing your money to make sure you can afford everything. And just in case it feel solitaire-like, there is also activating the game end and achievement scoring. 

The biggest downside is that it feels like a game Stronghold didn’t expect to do well. Compared to similar games, the game feels quite cheap. Thin player boards, bad artwork/pictures, and bad component design makes me believe this was originally a throwaway game. 

Another downside is that it can feel slightly too long to get going and that randomness can lock you out early in the game (unless you play with the drafting variant). The drafting variant should also always be used with people who know how to play to mitigate the luck of the draw. With that, this game is one of the better economic engine building games out there. I just wish more care was given to the components. 

3.5 out of 5 Terraformed Waffles. 

TV SERIES REVIEW: TROLLHUNTER SEASON 3

So the third season of Trollhunter has come around. After an enjoyable first two seasons and a nice cliffhanger for the future, this season had allot to live up to. And if I could think of one word to describe this season, I would say- rushed. 

This season felt rushed. From rushed reveals and resolutions to simply dropping plot threads that weren’t convenient, this didn’t feel like the epic ending to (at least) this chapter of Trollhunter. 

There are big changes to the status quo, but outside of one big choice, everything else felt very one-dimensional. It almost feels like he creators were getting bored of the premise and decided to rush through ththe ending to work on other projects. The best way to describe it is serviceable. 

The animation is still good, mostly. The voice acting was very hit and miss. There were several key scenes where the voice acting sounded painfully flat and devoid of emotion. Once again, it is towards he back end of the season, increasing the impression of just rushing through it. 

At he end of the day, this season is serviceable. It is a drop in standards from the first two seasons and feels rushed out. Read the wiki to get the major story points and save the time. 

1.5 out of 5 hunted waffles. 

BOARD GAME REVIEW QUICK THOUGHTS

So another week where I haven’t had a chance to play games enough to get a final opinion. So instead I will give my first impressions of a bunch of games I have played. 

Outlive: a pretty cool game. It is essentially Fallout as if you are managing your shelter. I like the pressure mechanics and the worker strength. Some of the rules and terminology feel very odd though. 

Barbarians the Invasion: a cool game. Effectively a worker placement game that is card driven. This is pretty enjoyable. There is one balance issue with the starting gods and starting player order, but this is solved by just doing a reverse turn order draft of the gods. 

Empires Age of Discovery: There is allot to like about this game. Unfortunately it also feels very restrictive. For example, only one person can get a soldier (or two if you pay), meaning it is very hard to keep up in an arms race. For the length of the game, I am unlikely to be very forgiving of it. 

So that was three games I have played and my initial thoughts on them. 

BOARD GAME REVIEW: KINGDOMINO

So Kingdomino is a game by Blue Orange. After Photosynthesis, a game I enjoy immensely, does this game continue its tradition.  The answer is yes and no. 

Kingdomino uses domino style mechanics. On your turn, you draft tiles. The tricks are that you want big areas and also crowns, as these are points multipliers. However I said plural, because the better your tile, the worse position you are in turn order next round. 

Kingdomino definitely is in the filler category of games. It has a couple of rules, plays quickly, and you can easily play several quick games in a row. It also has enough choices and depth to make it fell fulfilling, like Splendor or similar games. 

The main reason that it fails is that there is not enough depth after repeat plays. After a few games, you are left feeling like each game play similar. I am not sure about Queendomino, but maybe something like goal cards or a global rule change (similar to Sagrada or Kokodo) would work well to keep the game a bit fresher. 

So there it is. It is a good game. However, it could’ve been a great game with a bit more in box variety. Blue Orange have a hit, but it falls a bit below those evergreen games that are available at the moment. 

3.5 out of 5 falling waffles. 

BOARD GAME REVIEW: ROLL PLAYER AND EXPANSION

Roll Player is a really intriguing game. It is a Dice allocation game, where you are trying to build up a Dungeons and Dragons character. You are filling out their backstory, weapons and feats. The expansion also adds monsters that you can hunt (or to keep with the theme, I like to think of them as monsters you have hunted in your past). 

It is an intriguing game. There is a constant push-pull about what you want to do, the risks you want to take, and what you want to go for. The expansion really brings this out, as hunting monsters really adds something else you can focus on. 

This is a game where simple mechanics give you choices. You have only limited number of rounds (around 10, dependent on player count) to do your stuff. Here, you have to balance your income. In addition to this, the expansion means you also have to collect trophies and experience to get bonuses against the final monster, which can also be a good source of points. 

It isn’t perfect. There is some luck involved. Sometimes your set collections don’t come out  or come out the one time you don’t have money. Similarly, the final boss is based on luck (for the expansion). However, this is an intriguing game that gives plenty of options and is definitely worth trying. 

4.5 out of 5 rolling waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: REVOLT (2017)

Revolt is a 2017 film about an alien invasion. However, similar to some other films, it instead focuses on the aftermath rather than the initial invasion. Well kind-of-sort-of at least. Instead, it feels like a dull movie moving through some set-pieces.

It starts off as an alien invasion happens. Then, you are following ex-soldier turned amnesiac and a foreign aid doctor as they move through the Kenyan wilderness. While following this, they are accosted by poachers, gangs, aliens, etc. 

It seems as if the director just wanted to move through certain set-pieces rather than putting together a well-told story. It is slow paced so that it doesn't feel like a binge-watch guilty pleasure. The biggest part this comes to the forefront is when a photographer gets introduced only to be spouting exposition-filled dialogue.

And that is its problem. It just keeps seeming to jump across set pieces and exposition. The pace is way off for a B-movie binge, and the movie isn't good enough to say anything particularly compelling. This movie is a hard miss.

1 out of 5 revolting waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: SHAOLIN SOCCER (2001)

Shaolin Soccer is a movie that sounds exactly like the title suggests. What would happen if you combine some Shaolin kung-fu, a sports story, and treat it all irreverantly and with a comedy-like wrapping. The result is a movie called Shaolin Soccer.

Shaolin Soccer follows the story of a down-and-out former player. Here, he joins forces with a bunch of former monks in order to compete in the soccer league. Their goal is to win the soccer tournament for money, recognition, and some revenge.

The movie is a comedy movie. The monks all have super-powers, the villain is cartoonishly evil, and the outcome is pretty predictable. However, this is a comedy and in this it succeeds. Taking its premise of super-powers in normal sports to its conclusion, the film is entertaining throughout.

There are also other side plots going on through-out the movie that tie together well. The movie never forgets that it is a comedy at heart. With this, it keeps a lighthearted tone right up until the end. Allot of comedies eventually take themselves too seriously, but Shaolin Soccer manages to avoid this pitfall.

This isn't to say you don't care about the characters. Or more accurately the team. One of the weak points of the movie is that, while you feel the monks should all be deep characters, only 1 or 2 of them are given any real fleshing out. The rest are just there to sort of fill in the super power numbers.

The other weak point is that if you don't like the semi-slapstick style of comedy in the movie, it is likely to fall flat. This type of comedy is often an acquired taste, but you can get a good feel of it by the trailers. This may limit the individual appeal of the movie. However, I found that the comedy hit and that the movie was very enjoyable.

4 out of 5 Shaolin Waffles.

ANIME REVIEW: ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM (10 EPISODES)

Assassination Classroom is an interesting show. The premise of the show is that an alien comes to earth. He destroys the moon, and then will destroy the earth in one year. In that time, he teaches a class of delegates idiots who also have the opportunity to assasinate him. This is some initial thoughts based on the first 10 anime episodes. 

The show starts off with allot of humour. It hen continues with the offbeat humour and weird situations that the class find themselves in. Although the plot in he first 10 episodes is pretty predictable, I am looking forward to seeing how it ends. There are also a couple of mysteries in it that I am looking forward to being resolved. 

One of the weak points of the show is the consistency in its rules. For example, it says that the alien won’t hurt the students. However this also appears to extend to everyone trying to hurt it. Also, the minor student characters tend to blend together after their lesson of the week. 

Despite this, the anime is intriguing and I am liking it. I am looking forward to seeing how it all ends up playing out. 

4 out of 5 student waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: WILD CARD

Wild Card is a Jason Statham action movie. That should tell you all you need to know about the movie right there. Set in Las Vegas, this follows Jason Statham as a brute for hire throughout a little adventure.

In this movie, Jason Statham is a hard-nosed bodyguard. It starts by spending far too long on a scene where he pretends to be beaten up so a guy can impress his lady. It then jumps around to him being hired as a bodyguard for a rich boy hitting Vegas, but then goes on a tangent where he takes revenge for his friend being raped.

There are allot of plot threads competing here. Unfortunately, the movie wastes allot of time on pointless threads with no payoff. The man impressing his wife, the man needing a guard in Vegas- both contribute nothing to the plot.

Add to this that the main storyline seems to end in a wimper rather than any sort of meaningful showdown, the movie ends up feeling flat. It almost feels like it was a pilot for a television series about a bodyguards adventures with the high rollers and lowlife of Vegas. The movie feels incomplete as a standalone movie.

So this is a typical Jason Statham movie without any of the big payoffs movies like Transporter have. It ends up feeling like a disappointing movie that has far too many loose plot threads and pointless diversions. Maybe it was trying to make a meta-point about Vegas.

1.5 out of 5 Wild Waffles.

INTERNATIONAL TABLETOP DAY: WHAT DID I PLAY

So with another International Tabletop Day gone, I just thought I would give some quick thoughts on some of the games I played.

CONCEPT: A nice starting game for a large group. It was pretty loosely played until people moved on. Always fun in small doses, but sometimes tends to be overdone.

KEYFLOWER: Brought this out of the dust. Got some rules wrong but always fun. Everyone played consistently so that was good.

TIMELINE: Another filler type game. I lose this allot because I just don't remember specifics unless I focus on them. But also fun, especially when one of the three cards I actually know comes out.

RHINO HERO SUPER BATTLE: Very, very fun. A bit more gamey than Rhino Hero, without adding complexity. It has been added to the wishlist, although it is held back from a must buy because I don't like the random dice mechanic.

XCOM: Another game I adore that has been unplayed for far too long. Added in the expansion, but we lost. The expansion ramps the difficulty up and tries to break your engine. Very fun.

ROLL PLAYER: Was meant to just fill in time as a 2 player, 30 minute game, but 2 more people joined in. It was really good, as I normally play this solo. The only downside was a bit of unfamiliarity with the expansion when I was teaching, but it came together okay.

SEA OF CLOUDS: Another adored game that I haven't got to the table for far too long. It was a close game between the other two players, although I lagged far behind. Still it was very fun and with a bit more artifact luck, I could've stolen it.

CHARTERSTONE: Played a completed game. This part I didn't like. However, I really like the mechanisms. I would love to use the game to design a couple of boards (1 each side) in order to make it a bit more intuitive. Instead, the placement layout seemed very random and it was easy to overlook things.

SAGRADA: I really liked this game. It is very different from Roll Player, which I wasn't expecting. One is a spatial puzzle while the other is a manipulation puzzle. The amount they are compared I would've thought they are similar. Really enjoyed it and high on the wishlist.

THE GAME: Always like the stress in this game. Played the hard variant (3 cards per turn played minimum), but nearly pulled it off, Really like this game.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: It was okay. Jumped in because not much else was happening. I am pretty average on this game and really don't enjoy being the traitor. Luckily I wasn't so could just focus on completing skill checks.

So that was my ITTD haul. A pretty good haul of played games for a weekend.

MOVIE REVIEW: INFINITY WAR

Infinity War is the latest Marvel movie in their cinematic universe. It was also the most secretive, with very late review embargoes on everything. Luckily, it might also be their best movie. 

The movie is an ensemble. Everyone is in it as they face off against Thanos and his chosen warriors. Inspired by the comics, Thanos is trying to complete his goal of killing half the universe. His tools- 6 infinity stones. 

This movie is very well done. It never feels jarring or too spread thin. All major characters get good chances to shine. All the characters are given a spot or two to show why the marvel cinematic universe is so loved. This is definitely a movie that you need to be at least familiar with the characters, though.

There are very few downpoints. There are a couple of jarring moments. One is when Black Panthers talks to another character, as if the filmmakers were trying to prove she is smarter than the resident named brains of the universe. This felt jarring instead of just getting the job done. Other characters are also required to take some small steps backward to get everyone back on the same page, but nothing that breaks the movie flow as bad as this. 

The other weaker point is Thanos himself. In he comics, he is a very cerebral villain (when done well), using brains over brawn. Here, he is much more a bruiser. Also, his power, despite seeming vast, seems to be inconsistent. He seems to struggle in some situations, which is a head scratcher considering how he is introduced. This is similar for Thanos’ chosen guard, Thor, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and others. The power scaling is a bit off. 

Thanos is still one of the better villains. He has depth similar to Killmonger or Loki (although not quite as strong or compelling as them), and is given time to be fleshed out. Considering that the two pillars this movie was resting on were Thanos and the balance of having so many characters, I think Marvel can hang their hats up on this as a success and how the cinematic universe is letting them push forward more and more. 

5 out of 5 infinite waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: WONDER WOMAN

Wonder Woman is another DC movie in their extended universe. Coming after the critically panned Suicide Squad and BvS, it has often been hailed as the first good DC movie. Personally, I think it is probably okay but leagues better than the previous movies.

One of the main things it gets right is that it is mainly a self-contained story. It isn't trying to shoehorn in references to other movies or other heroes. Instead, it is a story where Wonder Woman is hunting down Aries to try and end World War One.

And for the most parts is it works. Although it has its silly bits and doesn't make too much sense, it is shot with a sense of drama and direction. Every character isn't trying to be overly melodramatic and quotable, instead having some normal conversations and character building in it. This is something that was sorely lacking in the previous films.

In fact the main stumbling block is the ending, which is where it gets dragged down to an average of okay (because the ending is bad). Just when a point has been made, it is undermined by the movie trying to drive the plot forward. This happens in the final battle (and it is pretty obvious when) and also the actual ending. It needed to set up Wonder Woman in isolation and hiding, which undermines her final character arc.

At the end of the day, this movie could've been good if it tried to avoid the standard tropes of the superhero genre. Also the biggest stumbling block is when it has to fit in with the rest of the DC universe, which really undercuts Wonder Woman as a strong character.

2.5 out of 5 non-wondrous waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: AMATEUR (2018)

Amateur is a Netflix movie. It is about a high school basketball phenom and covers his journey up the ranks (so to speak) of the amateur basketball leagues, and some of the problems that entails.

Amateur follows the story of Terron (I think his name was). He is really good at basketball and dominates the local basketball school competition. His father is an ex-football player (who has too many concussions to function well in life anymore) who is pushing him. He then gets drafted to a college team.

This movie follows a normal sports hero story in some spots. The kid wants to take care of his family, he has some teething issues with the team, people are trying to manipulate him, he doesn't know the whole story, etc. However, instead of taking the time to develop these issues, it keeps glossing over the bad.

However, it is slightly forgiveable as it is presented mainly from his point of view, so it could be seen as a representation and author-bias. When things are good, you tend to gloss over the bad and look the other way on the warning signs that things aren't quite right.

This doesn't quite work, however. The character is too generic and the lack of empathy I felt with his struggles didn't make me want to see things succeed. And the ending works into every feel-good cliche around instead of the more sombering tone it sets up. 

If you feel like watching a better version of the sports underdog story, there are plenty around. The classic is of-course Rocky. This movie needed more time to breathe and a much more restrained ending to truly hit. Instead, it rushes through the hard stuff that needed more set-up and ends feeling pretty flat.

1.5 out of 5 handicapped waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: MAJESTY- FOR THE REALM

Majesty: For the Realm (hereafter referred to as Majesty) is the latest game from the designer of Splendor (I believe). After the disappointment of Cities of Splendor, does Majesty recapture the magic. The short answer is: yes. The longer answer: it is perhaps one of my games of the year.

Majesty is a simple game. You have a set of locations in your empire. Everyturn, there is an offer where you choose a card. You have to pay to skip the cards at the beginning of the row and get other stuff (sometimes better, sometimes worse).

In addition, there is some attacking. Attacking is very non-personal and the game is so short that, even if you get caught out by attacks, it never feels too personal. Also, there are multiple ways to mitigate against attacks, so it doesn't feel overly important.

As you draft cards, you activate various combo's and effects in your tableau. At the end of the game, your non-injured cards score for majorities and variety. Every card you draft gives you something, and although it is a short game, the decisions feel pretty meaningful.

The only criticism is that perhaps by the end of the games, it might feel a bit samey. That is where alternate locations come in. This keeps the game feeling fresh. In addition, you can come up with your own combinations of location cards to explore different set-ups (although the balance might not be there). 

This is another great game in the same style as Splendor. Simple rules, quick playing, but engaging decisions. This has slightly more interaction than Splendor due to attacking, but doesn't overdo it. A great game that entertains a wide variety of people.

5 out of 5 Majestic Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: ESCAPE PLAN (2013)

Escape Plan is a a suprisingly good movie, even if predictable. This is an example of where predictability in movies isn't always a bad thing if the premise it is crafter around is good.

Escape Plan stars Stallone. He is a professional jail-breaker. In that, he is hired to test out maximum security prisons and exploit there weaknesses to ensure that future jail breaks cannot happen. He then takes on his latest job: get out of an unbreakable prison. While there, he meets up with other inmates, including Schwarzenegger.

This movie is a good jail-break style film. You see Stallone work around things that seem insurmountable. Little things come back later as being meaningful and key for the future. This is done with voiceovers and flashbacks, and works well. The movie really comes together well as a good heist-style movie.

The only time this falls down is when it turns into a more generic action movie. The other thing is the slight plot hole where Stallone doesn't face consequences for what he does in leaving prison. For example, in the opening of the movie, he kills a man during a prison fight. However, this is never brought up again.

All up, this movie is generally one to check out. It reminds me of the old-style heist movie with a tight plot and clear goals. It may be predictable, but it is well put together.

4 out of 5 escaped waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: WARCRAFT (2017)

Warcraft is a movie based on the popular Blizzard entertainment games that have spawned real-time strategy and MMO games. This is essentially a story right at the beginning of the games, and that is probably one of its major failings. There may be some spoilers below.

The story follows the Orcs and the Humans as they make contact with eachother. The Orcs are massive beasts that easily overpower the humans as they invade. The humans are struggling to defend their lands, learn about the threat, and form the Alliance made famous by the games.

The movie moves along at a good clip. The main characters are the human Guardian, the kings brother, an Orc female runt or half-orc or something, an orc shaman, and an orc chieftain. The plot mainly suffers from 2 things. One of them is that it is just too convuluted for a movie.

There are so many subplots going on and intertwining that the movie struggles to make any feel particularly important. For example, the close of the chieftains final arc is designed to expose a truth to the Orcs. However, he exposes that truth.... and it leads to nothing. Because the other plots and the movie demand a fighting climax. Similarly, there is a big showdown that happens after the final climax that makes no sense in the course of the movie and how other events wrapped up.

The other problem is it is set before the games. This means that "open for sequel" is splayed across the middle and ending of the movie. For example, the races are reluctant to form an Alliance with the outmatched humans, for no discernable reason. Similarly, one Guardian is given high status in the council and deferred to for all... but for no real reason. No story arcs are really concluded for the movie, which is a major problem.

Which is a shame. Because, when the movie works, it works incredibly well. It looks great, the fight scenes are visceral, and the characters are done well (for the most part). However, what this movie needed was to choose a tighter, more focused story and cut some stuff out. Instead of trying to set everything up for a future movie, it needed to be a good self-contained movie.

2 out of 5 For The Waffles!

SOLO BOARDGAME FAST THOUGHTS: ROLL PLAYER, ONE DECK DUNGEON AND SUPERHOT

So I thought I would put up my thoughts on a few games that I have been playing solo lately and my thoughts on them. I will say that I have been enjoying all three of these games but haven't quite played them enough to fully review them.

Roll Player: Roll Player is a nice puzzle game that forces you to make some tough choices (sometimes). Here, you draw and roll some dice, then the dice are seeded from lowest to highest. The higher you pick, the more the AI will do on there turn. The expansion also adds an extra layer of things to do, which is good, although the majority of the fun is still from the core skeleton of the game. The biggest thing it adds is another fail state for the end game to challenge you. Definitely a very good game of dice allocation and would recommend it. 

One Deck Dungeon: Another puzzle-type game. Here you roll your dice allocation, hope to beat the monsters arrayed against you and advance lower into the dungeon. Eventually you want to beat the boss. Once again, the recent stand-alone expansion adds character progression and a few extra mechansims. A bit more dictated by luck but small and fun to pull out.

Superhot: An interesting game where you are managing two decks simultaneously in order to not hit the fail condition and complete your objectives. You are balancing your speed of movement to avoid attacks with actually defeating enemies to make sure you keep the decks "balanced". A very interesting puzzle and some simple rules make an intriguing game. It is designed primarily as a solo game so it is quite fun. I fear it is a bit too fiddly for its own good but I still very much enjoy it.

So those are three games that I want to play a bit more before fully revieiwing. This is more my initial thoughts on them. Some I definitely want to play more multiplayer or just have a couple more games under my belt before my final thoughts.

MOVIE REVIEW: GAME OVER, MAN (2018)

Game Over, Man starts with so mich promise. The premise of the movie is a die-hard-esque movie with some unlikely heroes in a besieged hotel. The twist is the heores, villains, bystanders, etc. are modern-day celebrities.

The movie follows three male-waiters in a hotel. During a party for an internet celebrity, a group of terrorists takes over the hotel. The three male waiters than become unlikely heroes, fighting the terrorists using their eccentricities.

This movie answers the question: what happens if in a siege-type Die Hard-esque movie, all the characters were unlikeable jerks. Instead of helpless prisoners, they are cocky, arrogant people. The most relatable character is actually the big bad villain, and the most sympathetic.

So with no characters to relate to, you are only left with a bunch of characters and slapstick comedy. The comedy is very good in the beginning. However, after this, it just falls into old cliches. While the cliches and plays on stereotype roles work at the beginning, the creativitiy and originality quickly drains. Then you are just left with a bunch of jokes that don't even come close to the mark.

So overall this movie is a big miss. The comedy and premise start with promise. However, the characters that you are meant to be hopiing survive and prevail are so unlikeable and unrelatable that you are left numb and uncaring by the end.

1.5 out of 5 Game Over Waffles.

ANIME REVIEW: B THE BEGINNING (SEASON 1)

B The Beginning is an anime currently available on Netflix. It is in the genre of mystery-thriller-esque anime, with characters movig through the stories and a central mystery surrounding it all that ties into everything.

The story follows the main characters of a police force (Royal Investigation Service) that is tasked with solving a string of murders by Killer B. Its main character is Keith, a detective genius. During this investigation, they uncover twists and turns that threaten far more than anyone initially thought.

Without spoiling too much, the main mysteries of the show keep the action enthralling. From how the mysteries are tied together to the impact the characters have, the storyline is very engaging. Although it sometimes falls into anime tropes, watching the story play out is very engaging.

The actual animation is also very good. The fights have a sense of visceral weight to them, and the audios also match here. The characters voices sound like they should match the characters personalities, which is always good. There isn't too much to fault with the presentation of the anime. 

One of the flaws is potentially the characters. Some of the characters and plots arcs are put together too fast or thrown by the wayside in the service to the story. A little more room to breathe would be good. The other thing, which is more off-putting, is that it often tries to do some slapstick or comedy. Sometimes this works, but more often than not it is jarring as the tension in a scene is quickly dissipitated. 

Overall, except for these minor flaws, this is an anime that I would recommend. A solid mystery thriller, this is unlikely to leave you disappointed. 

4 out of 5 B-Class Waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES- OUT OF THE SHADOWS

The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie did not get good reviews. Featuring over-designed turtles, a lack of respect for the TMNT history, and contrived villains and plots, the question becomes should it have gotten a sequel. The answer is no, but the sequeld manages to squeeze over the lowest of bars that was its predecessor.

In this movie, Shredder escapes prison and meets an alien entity Krang. Stockman, Karai, Beebop and Rocksteady are also present in the film. All of this is just window dressing as none of the characters seem to be their for more than fan-service, outside of Krang (as the main protagonist this time). They never get too much development and if left out, wouldn't affect too much.

The over-designed turtles are back and so is April. She is joined by Casey, a cop with an anger-management issues who likes Hockey. He sees the turtles and Shredder escaping, but no-one believes him (for some reason) and he has to become a lone wolf. The turtles also have a hang-up about not being accepted on the surface suddenly, for some reason. But hey, at least there are more fun moments throughout the film. More moments like the elevator rap from the first.

The film has an idenity problem. It can't decide whether the Foot are elite ninja's, cutting through a police station with ease, or simply cannon fodder. Similarly, Michelangelo has a leadership problem but it seems that he never actually leads anyone. Is Shredder a master fighter and big threat, or is he simply a mook now for Krang. The movie seems to switch in scenes between slapstick and serious. 

This isn't to mention that the plot is silly, the only likeable character is April (Megan Fox), and the conflicts are contrived. However, it manages to jump over the bar set by the first movie and the special effects and action scenes are better. And it doesn't insult the source material again and seems to sweep the starting movies lore under the rug as much as possible, which is also a plus.

1.5 out of 5 mutated turtle waffles

BOOK REVIEW: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1873)

Around the World in 80 Days is a classic book by Jules Verne. In this book, Phileas Fogg attempts to traverse the world in 80 days to win a bet. This is obviously before the age of planes, which makes the timeframe near trivial.

In his journey, he is assisted by a french assistant and other companions he meets on his trip. He is also hindered by a case of mistaken identity and a tensionless game of cat and mouse. His wager is effectively for his fortune, held by the men of the reform club on his wager.

This book is a bit of a classic, but I think it is more for the audacity of the feat at the time. The book is quite tensionless. Things are hardly ever given time to breathe and sink in, as the protagonists seem to jump between crisis and diversions. Even then, most of the obstacles are overcome without any real tension.

In fact, most of the tension here is derived from people acting without sense for the plot. From the mistaked identity, to his assistants unnecessary secrecy and loss of urgency at key times, this book does not organically generate tension. Everytime they are backed into a corner, there is no ingenuity at play. In fact, most of the challenges are overcome by the inexplicable fortune of Mr Fogg.

With modern technology (i.e. airplanes) making the 80 days qiute arbitrary and no sense of danger for the protagonists, this book is quite a slogg to get through. It is well written, but the plot does not hold up with time.

1.5 out of 5 ballooning waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: 9 (2009)

9 is an animated movie. based on an alternate, Skynet-like history. In the movie, humans have been wiped out from the world. Now, a bunch on sentient ragdolls designated by their numbers are trying to survive. Some spoilers ahead.

9 fails to rise above any tropes. This is perhaps its most disappointing trait. While the animation and music is good, the story just feels so generic. Not only that, but any failures by 9 are quickly swept under the rug in the name of plot advancement. In fact, most the ragdolls stupid moves are their simply so the plot can advance.

All the characters are very generic. You have the dumb bruiser, the eccentric inventor, the old man set in his ways, and the naive newcomer determined to change things. The problem is the newcomer has been there for a whole 2 seconds before he is getting everyone to follow him and sacrifice their beliefs for him. This is a very bad example of an author projecting into his work. 

The only problem is that the author projection and plot advancement don't mesh. So the perfect character has to do something stupid to advance the plot, but then it is quickly forgotten about. This movie is a cringe-worthy miss with its simplistic plot, and the monsters are far too scary for most children who wouldn't mind the simplicity.

A definite miss on this one.

1 out of 5 ragging waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: FANTASY DEFENCE (2018)

Fantasy Defence is a 1-2 player co-operative card game that was on Kickstarter. It is by Sweet Lemon Publishing, and is a fast-paced card game where you have to survive and destroy a hoard of enemies. This review will be including the Stone King campaign expansion as well.

The game is quick. In the game, you have a deck of defenders, a bunch of battlements and a deck of enemies trying to break through. There is also a boss enemy you have to defeat, some spells that help you out, and a leader who is quite powerful. Your units can move a limited amount between battlements between the enemy assaults, and you have to either defend the gate or take the loss of health (called morale) for the greater good.

In the game, you have a choice of 2 factions that play very differently. You have the manuevarable elves or the combo-tastic humans. Each plays very differently with just a few changes in the power match-ups of the cards, and it is very well done. However, the problem with the game is that you see your whole deck and the enemy deck every game. Without the Stone King campaign expansion, there is no variety between games. You see the same enemies, same abilities and have the same units availale. This makes the puzzle very static.

However, the Stone King expansion is nearly a must for this. This adds allot of different enemies with different abilities, new units for you to use and events to play through, amongst other spoiler things. The story is really good to play through, with changes between levels to keep things fresh. However, the most important part is that now you can introduce changes (or use a random subset of enemies and defenders) between non-campaign games. One suggestion is that you keep to the story suggestions about which units get replaced, otherwise you may end up with too many low powered units for the big creatures.

The Stone King expansion is a must for this game. Without this, there is very limited plays in the base box before you have seen most the game has to offer. With the expansion, it adds allot of variety and makes it a very smart game. It should have been included in the base box, or at least some variety included in this (i.e. maybe some monsters you deal out of the monster deck) as opposed to just the order of monsters. So be warned, without the Stone King, this game would be a solid pass.

3.5 out of 5 fantastic waffles (with Stone King expansion).