Edward's December 2015 Mix

 

December. It’s a been a month of Christmas shopping, crazy weather, a nice somewhat long week and a half vacation, and most important of all the annual Steam Winter Sale (which was incredibly lackluster this year. More on that later.) I got beat out of a big job promotion, but on a brighter note my daughter got promoted into upper level management. Kudos to her!

1.      Need for Speed: Shift  on PC: Still playing this arcade racer I began last month. It’s a blast for what it is.You can’t help but feel as if you’re Steve McQueen or Nicholas Cage in Gone in Sixty Seconds as you’re playing it. I’m playing it on medium difficulty which is fair enough. I podium finish about 40% of my races and I feel challenged. The game doesn’t seem to suffer the infamous “rubber band” physics other NFS games have suffered (whereby the car behind you no matter how far back, despite that you saw it rolling somersaults in your rear view mirror will rapidly catch up to you before race’s end.) The only thing really missing is the hammy acting performed in the between-the-races cut scenes, of which, there are  none in this game at all. It’s simply a menu drop down pull and the action is on.

2.      House of Cards: Season 4: Oh my, talking about a cliffhanger ending! Doug Stamper, how could you? You redeemed yourself in my eyes, despite your reptilian style. You chose to forgive Rachel (albeit for bludgeoning you in the woods in the down pouring rain and leaving you for dead) but then you reneged! And Francis, hot on the campaign trail and thinking you were a shoe-in, hmph! Even Claire, your First Lady’s decision to do what she did at the close of the episode took you to your knees. I don’t often get caught up in any current television hoopla, but this Netflix series is my one exception. I eagerly look forward to the release of the next season. And I’m sure I’m not alone on this one.

3.      Star Trek The Next Generation:  Season 2 on Blu Ray: I’m wrapping up the second series in this wonderful Gene Roddenberry vehicle. The second series suffered a setback from a writer’s strike that affected the entire industry in 1988, but the second series proved one thing: STTNG was here to stay. Dr Beverly Crusher was replaced by the more “McCoy-like” Dr. Pulaski. I have to admit she had to grow on me, and I welcomed the addition of Guinan. She always made me look forward to the scenes that occurred in the Enterprise’s lounge, the Ten Forward. We got a sneak peak of  the Borg, one of the universe’s most nasty denizens. Favorite episodes: “A Matter of Honor” in which Riker goes TAD aboard a Klingon vessel, and “Up the Long Ladder,” which cast Barrie Ingham as a stereotypical drinking Irishman who, along with his clan, is rescued and ferried aboard the Enterprise. Ingham’s antics was some of the funniest I’ve ever seen in a Star Trek episode.   

4.      The Silversun Pickups Neck of the Woods on CD: First discovered on a local college station in town I listen to, I was so captivated by their song I called the DJ to find out who the band was and ordered the CD on Amazon the next day. I’ve continued my love affair with the band since. Brian Auburt’s androgynous sounding vocals and the band’s heavily distorted sound often have them compared to The Smashing Pumpkins, which I can definitely see. This album seems to be a little more grungy sounding than their previous efforts. And it took me a couple of listens to envelope it like I did the band’s previous works. I particularly like the first song the best, “Skin Graph.”

5.      2015 Winter Steam Sale: Lackluster at best. I’m really disappointed in this one. Steam nixed the flash sales, so everything that went on sale went on sale from the first day at its rock bottom price. In order to acquire Steam’s trading cards you have to click through a Steam prepared “discovery queue” a scrolling showcasing highlighting games Steam thinks you would like based on friend recommendations and prior purchases. The historically fun mini games, and acquiring cards through votes for the next game to go on a flash sale are just that now: history. In light of my own negative sentiments, and from what I’ve seen from friends’ comments on my activity feed on Steam, I’ll venture to say this will be the last sale Steam conducts like this. This one was an epic failure; I bought two games for myself this time around. I usually buy at least six.  

6.      Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2) by Lee Child: Ever since the movie with Tom Cruise, I’ve harbored an interest in Lee Child’s almost superhuman character. In this engrossing tale which opens with a bang, Reacher simply happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up as an innocent bystander in a kidnapping plot. This book moves with a brilliant sense of speed and action. I’m only one hundred pages in, and I can hardly catch my breath. I’m still working my way through Anne Rice’s Vampire series, and I’ve recently started George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Fire and Ice. I really didn’t need to start yet another series, but I’m sure glad I found this one.

7.      Star Citizen (pre-alpha) on PC: I’d read about this in my treasured bible, PC Gamer magazine for a few years now. And then I saw where the game set a new record for crowdfunding, over 100 million bucks, and this intrigued me. At the same time, my good friend, Tom Stevens bought into it. Him talking it up and sharing links with me is what sold me. Call me crazy or stupid, but I spent $140.00 on a ship of my own, that I can’t even fly yet, for a game that won’t be out until 2017. Walking into the hangar for the first time and seeing my ship made it all worth it. Definitely a hallmark moment in my gaming life. Where’s your sense of adventure?

8.      Borderlands on PC: I played this game way back in 2010, and mostly playing solo I beat it in 70 hours. Thanks to a recent HumbleBundle collection I was able to score the DLC I had missed out on in the original game. So, now I’m playing it again, but this time I’m playing it with friends. And I must admit it’s the most fun I’ve had in a game in many moons. Gearbox’s venerable Brothers in Arms games have always been a personal favorite, and despite their epic hurl, Aliens: Colonel Marines, the company is not afraid to take chances (Duke Nuke’em redux, anyone?) but the Borderlands games are their flagship and rightly so. The games’ arch villain, Jack Handsome is my favorite all-time in-game arch villain.

9.      Xcom: Enemy Unknown on PC: I bought this on a Steam sale way back in 2012. I’m just now getting around to playing it, but it’s been worth the wait. I love being able to create soldiers named and based on my RL friends and then putting them into harm’s way, fingers crossed they won’t die. Some of the missions are damn tough, but pulling one off is rewarding quite like nothing else I’ve played recently. I remember playing with the original game (1994?) and I wasn’t crazy about it. But this game is a great turn based strategy game that reminds me a lot of Jagged Alliance, which I played the hell out of back in 1997.