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.