Mysterium is an English reprint of a game about a bunch of psychics trying to read visions sent to them from a ghost. It is a fully co-operative game, with one player as a ghost and the others looking at cards passed out by him.
The aim of the game is for each psychic to guess who in the past they are psychically connected to, and then which one of them murdered the ghost. It is a bit like Cluedo, but the ghost controls the information from a hand of 7 beautifully illustrated abstract-style cards.
This game is a really fun social game that has a low barrier to entry in terms of rules and knowledge/past game experience. However, it looks nice and can draw people in from the artwork. That and it is always a blast to figure out things or have a surprising guess be correct.
The downsides of this game is the final guessing round. It feels far too random and lucky for all the effort spent to get there. I have no solutions off the top of my head. Of course the other problem is that it may be too light for people who like heavier games.
In the end, Mysterium is just allot of fun. The assymetric roles, the beautiful cards and the solid mechanisms make a really good time. The climax leaves a bit to be desired, but you can't fault the rest of the game.
4 out of 5 spooky waffles.
Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Thursday, 1 June 2017
MOVIE REVIEW: APPLESEED ALPHA (2017)
Appleseed Alpha is an animated movie set is a post-apocalyptic future. In it, there is a women and a former cyborg soldier who hire themselves out as mercenaries. However, on their last mission, something goes wrong and they end up protecting another girl and her cyborg protector. These new survivors may just hold the fate of the world in their hands.
Appleseed Alpha's story is not interesting. It is highly predictable, leaning very heavily on the tropes of the past and not bothering to change any of them. The innocent girl who bonds with them. The disgruntled soldier. The loveable former thug who repents. The death to raise the stakes after a final speech.
And that would be okay if there were other things the movie offered. Instead, what we have are female characters in plenty of poses and cleavage drawn for the male gaze. Even if this were not the case, the action scenes and environments are quite bland and uninspiring.
So in the end, I can't really recommend Appleseed Alpha. It is competent but boring. Considering that this is meant to be for entertainment, competent is simply not good enough.
1.5 out of 5 Apple Waffles
Appleseed Alpha's story is not interesting. It is highly predictable, leaning very heavily on the tropes of the past and not bothering to change any of them. The innocent girl who bonds with them. The disgruntled soldier. The loveable former thug who repents. The death to raise the stakes after a final speech.
And that would be okay if there were other things the movie offered. Instead, what we have are female characters in plenty of poses and cleavage drawn for the male gaze. Even if this were not the case, the action scenes and environments are quite bland and uninspiring.
So in the end, I can't really recommend Appleseed Alpha. It is competent but boring. Considering that this is meant to be for entertainment, competent is simply not good enough.
1.5 out of 5 Apple Waffles
Sunday, 14 May 2017
TV SHOW REVIEW: BOYS OVER FLOWERS
Boys Over Flowers is a Korean television drama series. It follows the story of a young Korean high-school student and the cool clique of school, of which the coolest and richest is trying to be her boyfriend. It also has things such as lost memories, kidnappings and the like.
The show isn't good. It has allot of problems stemming from the main characters and how she is written to interact with everyone around her. For a start, she is presented as the only person in the school willing to speak her mind and stand up to the traditions and stereotypes of the school.
And then of course, this means that most the men in the show like her. Well, not most of them. Just the richest, popular and handsome of them. They do things such as close a whole mall just to give her a shopping trip. And when she goes to a new city with no plans, she instantly makes friends with the richest woman there. Of course all their wealth is inheritance as well, otherwise they may have to take a break from fawning over her to actually work.
And that is about it. A clear author-avatar character is sitting there going through life. Every challenge that comes up for her feels contrived and multiple characters have to take the idiot ball to keep the plot going. This is definitely one to skip.
1 out of 5 Flowering Waffles.
The show isn't good. It has allot of problems stemming from the main characters and how she is written to interact with everyone around her. For a start, she is presented as the only person in the school willing to speak her mind and stand up to the traditions and stereotypes of the school.
And then of course, this means that most the men in the show like her. Well, not most of them. Just the richest, popular and handsome of them. They do things such as close a whole mall just to give her a shopping trip. And when she goes to a new city with no plans, she instantly makes friends with the richest woman there. Of course all their wealth is inheritance as well, otherwise they may have to take a break from fawning over her to actually work.
And that is about it. A clear author-avatar character is sitting there going through life. Every challenge that comes up for her feels contrived and multiple characters have to take the idiot ball to keep the plot going. This is definitely one to skip.
1 out of 5 Flowering Waffles.
Tuesday, 2 May 2017
BOARD GAME REVIEW: ENDURE THE STARS (2017)
Endure the Stars is the first game out by Grimlord Games. It is a game that has a bit of an identity crisis. By the same token, it is also a game that encompasses the worst aspects of Kickstarter.
Endure the Stars is a space-themed dungeon-crawl type game. In the game, you and your team are on board a spaces station where something has gone wrong. The corridors are teeming with alien monsters, deadly machines and crazed cultists (depending on which scenario you play). Each scenario gives you some objectives to complete to get through, with multiple scenarios capable of being stringed together as a campaign.
The identity crisis comes because the game doesn't know what it is trying to be. Originally, it looks like it may be a survival horror. It even has some mechanics to support that (resolve checks, noise generation, diceless damage from the monsters). However, it then plays out more like a light dungeon crawler where you get your items and chuck some dice to kill stuff. And it is where these two mechanics merge where the problem lies. There isn't enough mechanics to make searching and then moving out with the best weapons a negative, but so many enemies spawn and move that without doing this or exploiting certain rules, you quickly get overwhelmed.
The worst part of the Kickstarter come with the rules. There is already a 3 page FAQ and 1.1 rulebook out that adds a couple of rules and changed. However, the added rules do not appear to be well tested. Similarly, a lack of playtesting (particularly blind testing) is apparent in how some rules and mechanics did not work. And for a game that was this expensive on kickstarter, it just isn't worthwhile.
You definitely get plenty of component bang for your buck inside the box, with nice tiles and miniatures and a variety of heroes to choose from. With maybe another 3 months of solid development and proper testing, this could've been a real gem. They should also have doubled down on a certain theme and modified the game to suit (i.e. survival horror with stronger but fewer monsters, limited searching and weak items but diceless; or dungeon crawl with no noise mechanic, constant minion spawning and unique starting items for each character and no searching). At the moment, it just feels like a bit mess. Which is a shame because it feels like it is about 80% of the way there, but so many other games in both genres are 100% (Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition; Dungeons and Dragons series of games).
2 out of 5 Enduring Waffles.
Endure the Stars is a space-themed dungeon-crawl type game. In the game, you and your team are on board a spaces station where something has gone wrong. The corridors are teeming with alien monsters, deadly machines and crazed cultists (depending on which scenario you play). Each scenario gives you some objectives to complete to get through, with multiple scenarios capable of being stringed together as a campaign.
The identity crisis comes because the game doesn't know what it is trying to be. Originally, it looks like it may be a survival horror. It even has some mechanics to support that (resolve checks, noise generation, diceless damage from the monsters). However, it then plays out more like a light dungeon crawler where you get your items and chuck some dice to kill stuff. And it is where these two mechanics merge where the problem lies. There isn't enough mechanics to make searching and then moving out with the best weapons a negative, but so many enemies spawn and move that without doing this or exploiting certain rules, you quickly get overwhelmed.
The worst part of the Kickstarter come with the rules. There is already a 3 page FAQ and 1.1 rulebook out that adds a couple of rules and changed. However, the added rules do not appear to be well tested. Similarly, a lack of playtesting (particularly blind testing) is apparent in how some rules and mechanics did not work. And for a game that was this expensive on kickstarter, it just isn't worthwhile.
You definitely get plenty of component bang for your buck inside the box, with nice tiles and miniatures and a variety of heroes to choose from. With maybe another 3 months of solid development and proper testing, this could've been a real gem. They should also have doubled down on a certain theme and modified the game to suit (i.e. survival horror with stronger but fewer monsters, limited searching and weak items but diceless; or dungeon crawl with no noise mechanic, constant minion spawning and unique starting items for each character and no searching). At the moment, it just feels like a bit mess. Which is a shame because it feels like it is about 80% of the way there, but so many other games in both genres are 100% (Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition; Dungeons and Dragons series of games).
2 out of 5 Enduring Waffles.
Thursday, 27 April 2017
MOVIE REVIEW: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy. Based in the Marvel cinematic universe, it picks up where Guardians of the Galaxy left off in following the adventures of Starlord and company through the Galaxy.
This time around, the plot centers around how the Guardians are going to stay together when half the galaxy has a bounty of there head. They don't help matters when they make some new enemies. They get a break when they meet Starlord's dad.
This time around Guardians feels like a very chilled ride. For approximately two and a half hours, we follow along with them as they interact with old and new characters and their various adventures. Although it is pretty obvious who the big bad will end up being, it takes its time getting there and never feels like it needs to get somewhere.
And that is what makes it so great. It never feels like it needs to rush or shove in some action to keep people interested. It is definitely more a character piece, despite being a blockbuster super-hero movie. The opening is also great, looking like it will be a bait-and-switch and then not being.
The only criticism is that it falls into the trap of trying have too much humor in some stages. One or two jokes less in the movie would've gone along way. It feels like the writers saw how much people liked the Guardians humour, so they tried to force humour where it doesn't belong. While Guardians felt a very natural, here it feels a bit forced.
I do have another criticism. Gamora's acting sometimes comes across as a whiny sitcom teenager. This is a very small issue in a couple of scenes, but it stands out as the rest of the acting is really good.
At the end of the day, this was an awesome time. The small criticisms are just that- small. The action is awesome, the story is chilled and yet ramps up nicely. The new and old characters are well done, even adding some new wrinkles to old characters. Definitely worth checking out.
4 our of 4 Living Waffles
This time around, the plot centers around how the Guardians are going to stay together when half the galaxy has a bounty of there head. They don't help matters when they make some new enemies. They get a break when they meet Starlord's dad.
This time around Guardians feels like a very chilled ride. For approximately two and a half hours, we follow along with them as they interact with old and new characters and their various adventures. Although it is pretty obvious who the big bad will end up being, it takes its time getting there and never feels like it needs to get somewhere.
And that is what makes it so great. It never feels like it needs to rush or shove in some action to keep people interested. It is definitely more a character piece, despite being a blockbuster super-hero movie. The opening is also great, looking like it will be a bait-and-switch and then not being.
The only criticism is that it falls into the trap of trying have too much humor in some stages. One or two jokes less in the movie would've gone along way. It feels like the writers saw how much people liked the Guardians humour, so they tried to force humour where it doesn't belong. While Guardians felt a very natural, here it feels a bit forced.
I do have another criticism. Gamora's acting sometimes comes across as a whiny sitcom teenager. This is a very small issue in a couple of scenes, but it stands out as the rest of the acting is really good.
At the end of the day, this was an awesome time. The small criticisms are just that- small. The action is awesome, the story is chilled and yet ramps up nicely. The new and old characters are well done, even adding some new wrinkles to old characters. Definitely worth checking out.
4 our of 4 Living Waffles
Monday, 6 March 2017
MOVIE REVIEW: MOANA (2017)
Moana is a 2017 animated film following the adventures of a young girl, Moana. She is a girl who doesn't feel like she belongs in her tribe and has an urge to go exploring. However, her father wants her to stay in the tribe and take over the role of chieftain from him. Add to this a legend saying that a demigod, Maori, has to restore the Heart of Ishta to stop the land dying, and you have the makings of a grand adventure.
Without going into too many spoilers, Moana meets Maori and they travel on their quest together. That is all I really want to say about it as the twists and turns are best left to be seen and thought through on there own. Suffice to say, the story plays out exactly as expected but still has a few cool twists and turns thrown in.
The animation is beautiful and vibrant in this movie, which is on par with big studio productions these days. However, the story and music really come together, creating several cool songs. The songs in here don't feel like they come out of nowhere and are really good (so much so that I put a couple on my playlist). It all comes together as a really good package.
Overall, this is a really good movie. It has good characters and a good story where the characters grow to the world around them. The animation and music really set the whole thing off and make this an animated movie that shouldn't be missed, by both children and adults alike.
5 out of 5 tattooed waffles.
Without going into too many spoilers, Moana meets Maori and they travel on their quest together. That is all I really want to say about it as the twists and turns are best left to be seen and thought through on there own. Suffice to say, the story plays out exactly as expected but still has a few cool twists and turns thrown in.
The animation is beautiful and vibrant in this movie, which is on par with big studio productions these days. However, the story and music really come together, creating several cool songs. The songs in here don't feel like they come out of nowhere and are really good (so much so that I put a couple on my playlist). It all comes together as a really good package.
Overall, this is a really good movie. It has good characters and a good story where the characters grow to the world around them. The animation and music really set the whole thing off and make this an animated movie that shouldn't be missed, by both children and adults alike.
5 out of 5 tattooed waffles.
Thursday, 2 February 2017
BOARD GAME REVIEW: SHADOW HUNTERS (2005)
Shadow Hunters is a weird game for me. I didn't really like it, but it took me awhile to pinpoint exactly why. When I did, it was so obvious that it took me awhile to accept that I didn't see it sooner. At its heart, Shadow Hunters is a dice chucking, social deduction game.
In Shadow Hunters, players are secretly assigned one of three factions and are either on the team of the Hunters, the Shadows or a Neutral (sort of like individuals). They then roll dice to move around a board, pick up random cards from there location, and then roll dice to attack. In amongst all this, players are trying to figure out who is on who's team to eliminate them for there team to win.
And that is my problem. There are so many elements of the game where the game feels like it is playing you, and not much way to gain more control. Your options are often to either attack or don't attack, A certain dice roll and 2 locations give you options of what to do, otherwise it is mandatory to play the card you draw. And you can reveal your character to activate your power.
So this ends up being a social deduction game where the main thing clouding peoples judgement is random chance. Other games have things such as alternate objectives (i.e. Dead of Winter) or potentially choosing from bad choices after trying to help (Battlestar, Dark Moon), but this feels much more random. This effectively just makes the start of the game extremely slow as people draw random cards to help determine who the opposing player is.
Add to this that it is effectively a dice chucker, with some hilarious final encounters sometimes when 2 players can't seem to land in the same location, with extremely swingy combat, and the fighting misses (when you get around to it). The game definitely gets too long for what it is. Especially with more than 5 players and the lack of player agency here.
Overall, Shadow Hunters is a good concept. However, it is let down by substituting a good set of rules for what is effectively role and move. The luck based combat that can be extremely swingy and the social deduction just serves to draw the game out. It is extremely dependent on luck to even achieve any agency by the end of the game. Overall, it is just alright but definitely prefer allot of other games.
2 out of 5 Shadow Stepping Waffles
In Shadow Hunters, players are secretly assigned one of three factions and are either on the team of the Hunters, the Shadows or a Neutral (sort of like individuals). They then roll dice to move around a board, pick up random cards from there location, and then roll dice to attack. In amongst all this, players are trying to figure out who is on who's team to eliminate them for there team to win.
And that is my problem. There are so many elements of the game where the game feels like it is playing you, and not much way to gain more control. Your options are often to either attack or don't attack, A certain dice roll and 2 locations give you options of what to do, otherwise it is mandatory to play the card you draw. And you can reveal your character to activate your power.
So this ends up being a social deduction game where the main thing clouding peoples judgement is random chance. Other games have things such as alternate objectives (i.e. Dead of Winter) or potentially choosing from bad choices after trying to help (Battlestar, Dark Moon), but this feels much more random. This effectively just makes the start of the game extremely slow as people draw random cards to help determine who the opposing player is.
Add to this that it is effectively a dice chucker, with some hilarious final encounters sometimes when 2 players can't seem to land in the same location, with extremely swingy combat, and the fighting misses (when you get around to it). The game definitely gets too long for what it is. Especially with more than 5 players and the lack of player agency here.
Overall, Shadow Hunters is a good concept. However, it is let down by substituting a good set of rules for what is effectively role and move. The luck based combat that can be extremely swingy and the social deduction just serves to draw the game out. It is extremely dependent on luck to even achieve any agency by the end of the game. Overall, it is just alright but definitely prefer allot of other games.
2 out of 5 Shadow Stepping Waffles
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