Edward's December 2014 Mix

December. The last month of the year. Christmas. Another year coming to an end and another year, ah, it never ends, well, until it does. And speaking of Christmas, for goodness sake, where did it go? Everybody works now, there are no more long Christmas breaks, and in the spirit of the season there used to be every other house on the block that was festooned with lights now you may have only two or three houses on the whole block. I’ve heard that it’s now politically incorrect to say Merry Christmas anymore, well, that is if you believe Facebook memes. Personally, I still say “Merry Christmas,” and in my neck of the woods so does everybody else. But one constant that remains is the Steam Winter Sale, but, ugh! Even it left something to be desired this year. There were no crazy sales to speak of. Car Mechanic Simulator 70% off for six hours? For real?

 

1. Air Conflicts - Secret Wars on PC: There are 118 reviews on Steam for this game, mostly mixed. That generally means a game is bad. And okay, despite the hammy voice acting and the storyline that is Indiana Jones adventuredom amped up to eleven, I fell in love with this game. It’s a take on WWII as told through the eyes of a smuggler pilot, an Amelia Earhart copycat who gets caught up in the war and flying missions based on personal scruples. The flight simulation aspect of it is wholly arcadish, equally as comfortable with an Xbox controller or a joystick. The graphics are typical 2003 fare, but the static cartoon cut scenes exude a certain charm. The icing on the cake is the bomb runs. Dropping a bomb on a ground target hearing the over the top death screams of the poor victims on the ground make this a must play.

 

2. Dragon Age: Origins on PC:  It was inevitable. All of the hype surrounding the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition (Dragon Age 3) got me perked. And then watching the trailer for Dragon Age: Origins coerced me into reinstalling and playing this fine game all over again. I was a human mage the first time I played it. This time I’m a City Elf rogue distraught and on the run for killing castle royalty up on the hill because the king’s son and his buddies stole my bride on my wedding day and took her to the castle for their own party where they raped her. I join the Grey Warden and am subsequently pardoned. This is the stuff of a Hollywood feature film. I try to be a bad boy pickpocket and cut throat, a doppelgangerous Peter Pan, but it’s not working out quite like that. It’s just too difficult for me to be evil in games. I just hit level 8 and it’s as fun as the first time I played it three years ago, despite the rather difficulty of the combat.  

3. Mission Impossible: Season Two on Netflix: Despite the technology that looks like it was created in the 1800s, this show is still a roller coaster ride hinging on near getaways, foiled deceptions, and cloak and dagger international espionage. Don’t forget, this show is the reason we keep seeing Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movies. The second season introduced Peter Graves as the new Impossible Missions Task Force leader. He’s as somber and effective as his first season counterpart. Greg Morris and Martin Landau are the underrated standouts. And if you want to see slices of Americana in the late 1960’s, the cars, the clothes, ubiquitous smokers, then watch this series.  

4. Shine Down: The Sound of Madness on CD:  This quartet of rockers have compiled a great CD of ballads. I picked up this, their third album, because of the song “The Crow & The Butterfly.” To my surprise, their song, “Second Chance” is the song that propelled them into fame. Apparently it was a surprise to them as well because they stated they hated this song. The band reminds me somewhat of Theory of a Dead Man without the emo screaming. 

5. Rush on Blu-Ray: I have played car racing simulations since 1990, and I love them. I have never watched a Formula One race on television, but I’ve played all the simulated tracks enough over the years that I have a passing familiarity of F1 Racing. This movie, which profiles the heated rivalry of James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1976 F1 Season. The subject matter is an excellent vehicle (pun intended) for Ron Howard’s usually commendable directing abilities. This movie, however, left something to be desired. Claudia Puig, USA Today, said this movie was “Ron Howard’s best film ever.” The movie barely showed any racing footage at all. Most of it centered on the off track antics that occurred between the two racers. This was no Backdraft or Cinderella Man. The Blu-Ray picture quality was excellent, however, and offered up a documentary-ish grain to the film. I suggest the 1960’s film, Grand Prix starring James Garner or even Tom Cruise’s Days of Thunder for a much better racing flick fix.  

6. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on Blu-Ray: Great concept. Imagine America’s finest Victorian Age literary characters coming to life in an action movie, bonded together, led by Allan Quartermain and attempting to save us all from a meglamaniac bent on destroying the world. The casting was over par, and the script was fun. But what killed it for me was the role Jules Verne’s Nautilus played in the movie. The vessel was depicted as being opulent, grandiose (the size of a small skyscraper turned on its side), and the epitome of Steampunk, but all of the interior shots betrayed any sense of maritime credibility. Each inside shot looked as if it was taken from some modern day metropolitan museum. Perhaps they should have borrowed (or stolen) from Disney’s epic Nautilus. The Blu-Ray transfer was okay, nothing to write home about. It wasn’t nearly as dazzling as Blade Runner or John Carpenter’s The Thing which I have recently watched.  

7. StarCraft on PC: Of course we all know Westwood Studios created the very first RTS (Dune II), but it was Blizzard who pioneered what I call the Q-RTS, the “quick real time strategy” genre. Warcraft was their first brainchild, but StarCraft was their second, and oh, what a sophomore effort. This is the stuff of history. It’s as much a strategy game as it is workout for your index finger. But this was RTS pure. There were no levels of difficulty. You either beat the game or you didn’t. I did not; I didn’t even finish the human campaign. I’ve got slowtime this week because of the holidays so I thought I’d give it another go after all of these years. (It was 1999) the last time I played it. I’ve got 9.75 hours into it and I’m on the final chapter of the Terran (humans.) This was the first RTS I ever played online as well. I’ll never forget getting my butt handed to me by my friend, Vic Berwick, over a dial up modem. Incidentally, I never defeated him in a single game. (I have since made up for that in Company of Heroes against my friend where I was able to reciprocate that scenario.) But it’s bringing back fond memories playing this. The music, Jim Raynor’s snark, the sound of the SCVs cutting the crystals with their torches. It’s all a nice journey down the corridors of my PC gaming history.

8. Dove Season by Johnny Shaw on Kindle:  Probably one of the most adventurous novels I’ve read this year. It’s fun to discover a first novel this good. With references to the PC game, Doom, and descriptions of the desert being a place where everything is thirsty, sunburned and pissed off. “Even a desert hare will take the finger off of a dumbass that tries to pet it. If the desert can make a bunny that angry, imagine what it does to people.”  I couldn’t help but like this book. The novel concerns a young man who returns home where his father is dying after being away for 12 years, and getting caught up in all kinds of trouble, all conjured up through his dying father.

 

9. Verdun on PC: The grittiest, most realistic, dirtiest modern combat simulator out there. This game is a time travel trip back to No Man's Land in the trenches of World War One. Kills are hard earned, and a game's winner is always revered and respected. If you really want to test your mettle, take on a bout of Death match. It's basically a free for all involving long range sniping. The game is difficult enough as an Early Access title. It will more than likely feel like a pushover once it goes gold, but if you want to play the game right now that makes Red Orchestra feel like a Youtube, "Let's Play," then you need to pick up Verdun, right now. Prepare to get bloody and dirty.