Resident Evil: AKA Sequel - itis

To be fair, the RE movies aren't completely terrible... if you forget that they are loosely (and I'm talking Red Light District "loose" here) related to a video game with the same name. Of the original three movies, only the first one comes close to capturing the feeling of the game, and even then.... just barely. If you view these flicks as a stand-alone, separate universe from that of the games, they are relatively enjoyable. Think of it a bit like comic books: They've been around forever, usually having slightly different takes on the character with each subsequent set, so... yeah.

As far as Afterlife... it's kinda like a big commercial for 3D movies. Lots of plot devices and special effects used as an excuse to bring 3D into the limelight. There's nothing wrong with it, although it did seem a little tacky. Also, they didn't bring back Wesker from the third movie, they brought in a new dude who... he's alright I guess, but it could have been a lot better.

Now to the gaming part of this post. There are two games I've been spending all my time with: 3D Dot Game Heroes, and the Magic the Gathering Xbox Live Arcade game.

3D Dot Heroes has its moments of sheer frustration, but since it's designed to be kind of like an 8-bit game, that actually works more to its favor than I originally thought. The game seems to have enough content to make any Zelda fan proud, and enough tongue-in-cheek humor so that you don't really take anything overly seriously. Granted, I'm sure I'm missing half of what I'm supposed to do, since I rarely talk to the villagers, so me constantly dying in the dungeons is 100% my fault. It's still a fun game though.

That being said, each boss has an achievement attached to it that I sincerely doubt I'll ever get; To get the achievement, you have to beat the boss without getting hit. Talk about a pain in the ass. Maybe if I ever get enough patience I'll get around to it, but right now, I'm going for a Beat on the Backlog and that's about it. For now, anyways.

I've written quite a bit about Magic already, (most of it being barely coherent ramblings posted while in the middle of a game, or too asleep to get thoughts out properly...), so I'll at least keep this short. The XBL game is fun. It's not overly deep, so a newbie can easily get into it and not feel overwhelmed. It's spelled out a lot better than... say, actually playing a game with someone who has played the game for a long time.

That being said, it's deep enough that even vets of Magic can get a kick out of it. You unlock several 60 Card decks as you go along, and as you win using those decks you unlock cards to add. The only deck editing you get to do is with those extra cards. You can add them to the deck, or remove them as you see fit. A serious lack of real deck building holds the game back for guys like me who have been playing for years, but again, for newbies it's an excellent intro to the game proper.

Besides, when you go to tournaments, most people are using the same deck builds as each other anyways.

Tuesday I'll be talking about my marathons of gaming goodness that I've been taking part of. Until then, pleasant Gammage to everybody!

Magic is Fun II

Xbox Live is an overpriced, almost useless (for me anyways) add-on to a console with a short life expectancy. That being said, every once in a while I find something to pass the time with. Now, that is Magic.

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalker is an Xbox Live Arcade game, and as someone who is addicted to collecting things, this is feeding my addiction very well. Multiple decks, the ability to play online against other people, and expansions that add more decks and cards.

Every victory with each deck adds a card to the deck, up to a maximum of 17. The problem is, you can only edit those 17 cards, so if you want to mess with the original 60 card deck, you can't. Bummer. Also, land gets tapped automatically, rather than you choosing what gets tapped while you cast things. Granted, I've only unlocked mono-color decks, so maybe it'll be different when I get some more cards, but still, it'll be interesting to see how things turn out as I keep playing.

Tonight, Jeff and I are going to torture ourselves by watching the Resident Evil movie. It makes me think: Has Milla Jovovich been in a movie in the last decade that did NOT involve her being some super powered uber being? Ultraviolet, The Fifth Element, Resident Evil, is there ever a time when she's just normal? These are the questions that kept me out of the good schools as a child.

Don't be surprised if this post gets edited when I figure out how bad that movie really is. Until then, pleasant Gammage to everyone.

Magic is Fun

You know what's really sad, ladies and gents? For a long time, I used to play Magic. A lot! Every lunch break at school me and a bunch of friends would spend time playing, and it was awesome.

Time passes, and suddenly there are no more games of magic. Sure, every once in a while I'll buy a box, people I work with say they'll play, and we do, one game or two. But after that? Nothing.

Tonight that changes. Me and two other friends got together and played. I made two decks, one for me, and one for one of the others. You know what's really sad? It was her deck that keeps winning. I don't like it.

I do like the game however. I don't care that I don't win (although getting mana screwed is always embarrassing), I just love the mechanics of the game. I could play for months, never win a single match, and still feel good.

That being said, I will be using her deck as my own from now on. I want to win.

Next post should be more video game related, just wanted to share the wonderfulness of actually getting together and playing stuff. Thanks to online gaming, getting together and actually seeing the people that you're playing with seems to be a lost art, one that will be sorely missed.