Category: review

Not a Review: Elder Sign Omens

As seen on your digital device!

Last month I wrote about Fantasy Flight’s new game set in the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, Elder Sign. If you want to understand what I’m going to be talking about today I recommend you read the linked post first. At the end of last week the company released a trimmed down version of the game for iPhones, iPads, and Android devices called Elder Sign: Omens. Since I enjoy playing the real-world version so much I thought I’d give its virtual twin a try as well. Omens is mostly a trimmed down version of Elder Signs, the only Ancient One you battle against is Azathoth, who when it is summoned immediately ends the game (I imagine this was done to remove the added complication of fighting the Ancient One,) Ally cards are removed from the game, and the random effects that occur as the game progresses (clock strikes midnight) are unknown to the player(s) and there appear to be more negative effects (monsters appear or doom track advances) than not (edit: checking the game’s website over confirms that suspicion and informs me that monsters have been made more difficult too.)  Oh, and players are limited to just four investigators and game play is restricted to passing the device around between players.

This game would look better on a larger device

The nicest thing about turning board games into video games is that all the rules are automated and you can be sure you’re playing the game correctly (Fantasy Flight is notorious for having large, poorly organized, vague rule books. Players live for the FAQs to these games!) They’ve done a good job with Omens in making everything clear and understandable to the player without cluttering up the screen. Tap a location, character, enemy, clock, any item, etc. and a screen pops up explaining what this piece means, does, etc. There are tutorial videos as well to guide players through the game as well. Music, sound effects, and simple animations have also been incorporated into the game.

All in all it’s a pretty good little game. It might get a little boring after awhile always having to deal with Azathoth. One of the coolest moments in Arkham Horror or Elder Sign is failing to keep the Ancient One from manifesting and then having to confront it. Yes, you usually die when this happens but the rare occasions when you defeat them are etched in my mind as some of my greatest gaming moments, ever. That and not being able to play with other people through asynchronous wireless are the game’s biggest problems.

Beer of the Week #6 Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

For people who love bitter, bitter, bitter beers.

from the label (and website) of Stone Brewing Company’s Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale:

This is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory — maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make a beer taste better. Perhaps you’re mouthing your words as you read this.

Too many strive towards complacency as a goal. We grow up thinking that the ability to become complacent is the equivalence of success in life. True Arrogant Bastards know that this could not be further from the truth. The real beauty, richness and depth in life can only be found if the journey through life itself is looked upon as a constant chance to learn, live and find life’s passion. Passion threatens the complacent, and fills them with fear. Fear of the new, the deep and the different. We, on the other hand, seek it out. Endlessly, joyously…and aggressively. To this end we bring you the “OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale.” Another reward for those seeking new sources of passion, and another point of dissension for those who are not.

Yes, all of that text is on the back of the bottle, the crammed in everything else to make room for their hipster, “cooler than you” manifesto to bitter beers. I have a problem with people who let products they purchase define them as a person, as if consumption is a viable alternative to living (Privateer Press’ Page five is another example of such.) This is further compounded by the implication that taste is an objective measurement and that the only enjoyable beer is a very hoppy one.

Deep amber body with a quickly dissipating medium head

Okay, maybe that is just an aggressive marketing campaign, and maybe it appeals to someone, I don’t know who, but someone. It doesn’t tell us anything about the beer. Okay, let’s talk about it’s the beer. Right off I’m going to tell you that this is the hoppiest beer I’ve ever had. I don’t know if Stone Brewing knows makes anything other than hop beers… but, if you don’t like them then don’t bother with this week’s beer. The beer smells toasted, almost burnt with hints of wood and citrus. At first taste the hops hit you hard: bitter, bitter, bitter. Letting the beer rest on your tongue you can get hints of the oak and coffee and then the bitterness returns and that is what sticks with you.

I don’t like hoppy beers, so you can guess, I wasn’t too fond of this beer. People told me that my palate wasn’t developed enough to taste all the subtleties in this beer and that might be true. I know what I like though and what I don’t like. I don’t like hoppy beers, it doesn’t get much hoppier than Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale.

Rating (out of five):

 

 

 

Beer of the Week #5 Hoptober Golden Ale

New Belgium Brewing's Hoptober Golden Ale

I wish I had a picture of this but I guess I forgot to take one or accidentally deleted it. The beer was a lovely coppery color with a thick head. So, now use your imaginations to picture that in a frosted pint glass.

From the label:

Five hops and four malts make Hoptober Golden Ale a vaeritable cornucopia of the earth. Pale and wheat malt are mashed with rye and oats to create a medium-bodied ale with a creamy mouth feel. Centennial, Cascade, Sterling, Willamette and Glacier hops form a bonfire of citrus notes, fruity cheers and a bold finale.

From my notes:

Not as hoppy as I was expecting, the moniker might be a little misleading. This beer smells good. Citrus, spice, and maybe a hint of stone fruit. I was hoping it’d taste as good. But, it doesn’t. There are still hints of citrus and fruit in the beer but those flavors are overwhelmed by bitterness of the hops. Surprisingly, the finish, while bitter, tastes of grapefruit. Plenty of carbonation here. Smooth.

I’m not the biggest fan of hoppy beers. The bitterness of hops always seem to overwhelm everything else in a beer’s profile. So, I was a little leery picking this beer up, but, I’m a fan of New Belgium and so I gave it a shot. I wasn’t disappointed. New Belgium does a good job of balancing the flavors in this beer. I only wish it tasted as good as it smelled.

Rating (out of five):

 

Not a Review: Dark Souls

Masochism the Game
A barbaric game for a barbaric time

When Demon Souls came out and everyone on Talking Time was talking about how wonderful/awful the game was I didn’t pay much attention. I don’t own a PS3 and I, generally, don’t play games that endlessly punish the player. When the unofficial sequel to the game, Dark Souls, came out on the Xbox 360 Talking Time is again abuzz with discussions of the game, its difficulty, and how best to play the game. Now, though I wasn’t as distanced from the game, I own a 360, and in a moment of weakness I picked the game up. I opened it up last night and played for about an hour…

What have I got myself into it?

Much like its predecessor this isn’t a game designed with many modern sensibilities. The designers expect you, nay they actively want you, to die. The gimmick being that death just kicks you back to your last save point and you’re stripped of all the experience you’ve gained but you can reclaim it all if you make it back to the spot where you died. There is no map of the game (so far), the manual is a mere three pages thick and fails to explain anything. There are a lot of stats that effect the performance of your character and none of them are clearly explained nor are the equipment, magic, everything systems. If it wasn’t for the internet (game forums, wikis, FAQs, etc.) this game would, for the majority of people who play it, remain opaque. It appears that there are a number of complex systems operating in the background of the game but there seems to be very little in the way of accessing them outside of intense trial-and-error and numerous replays. This game is dying for a meaty manual, one that could better explain the games background, story, and mechanics. Something akin to the manuals that accompanied such games as Darklands, Civilization, or Baldur’s Gate 2.

Sadly, it seems game publishers have abandoned their duty to inform and enlighten the people who play their games handing over that responsibility to either strategy guide publishers (who will charge you a hefty fee, sometimes more than $20, for information that might not even be correct) or the players themselves. I just don’t have the time or energy, right now, to sit down and play a game endlessly trying to figure out information that should have been included in the manual. I’ll poke at the game little more if I have time and maybe I’m wrong about all this, but not from what I’ve seen so far and heard from those who have played it much more than I have.

I wonder why people don’t complain about this sort of thing when the designer says it was intentional but tear developers apart for the exact same crimes in games in which the inscrutability of the game isn’t advertised as a “feature?” Bad design is bad design intentional or not, right?

I guess I’ll just go back to playing Quest for Glory: So You Want to be a Hero?

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