February is upon us as we plunge headlong into another year. I’m still looking at new PCs. I’m wanting a beast of a rig, we’re talking an I9-9900K with a Geforce 2080 video card. My blessed old I7-3770K is still holding its own quite well, but sheesh, it’s six years old! I used to build my own rigs, but NZXT BLD will build you a state of the art machine with a two year warranty on all parts for $99. The total price is as cheap as if I built it myself. I think it’s worth it. Ironically, I’ve not been playing PC games as much. I’ve been catching up on my reading, engulfed in my guitar and discovering the joys of board gaming. And I’ve inserted the time to discover some cool new music as well.
1. Wing Commander II on PC: I played the original almost 30 years ago but didn’t get very far. There were no difficulty settings on these old games, nor were there any cheats back then. I picked the game up on Gog.com for under two bucks on sale and it’s been tweaked for modern rigs. I remember this game was lauded for its “amazing graphics!” and this along with its predecessor Wing Commander is what made Soundblaster a household name. Today, despite the wonderful tweaks Gog implemented to ensure the game runs well, the game looks like utter mud. And the sound that seemed so stellar back in 1991 is simple 16 bit midi tones that sound slightly better than old NES game tunes. Still, this series is regarded as one of the best space flight sims ever and it’s worth a play through. Completely innovative for its time, it featured a branching story line depending on whether you were winning or losing the great war between the factions, the Terrans or the bipedal feline aliens known as The Kilrathi. It was one of the first games to feature a dynamic soundtrack that pepped up as you headed into battle, or softened to a melancholic dirge if your ship was destroyed. The original game actually prompted me to upgrade my 286-12 mHz to a blistering quick 386-25 mHz. Ah, those days!
2. Wes Borland “Crystal Machete” on Amazon Music: I was never really a fan of the band Limp Bizkit. I always harbored an aversion to Fred Durst’s lack of vocabulary. And to attempt to overcome it with profanity, to me it’s just dismissive. Limp Bizkit’s guitarist, Wes Borland, on the other hand, I’ve always had a certain fascination for. From his humble beginnings of learning guitar from his church pastor who believed in chords to the max “Wesley, let me teach you another Merle Haggard song,” to his crazy on-stage costumes. With his Will Robinson spitting image looks he’s no shredder and he’s certainly not a Jimmy Page or Eric Johnson technician, but boy is he a “soundscaper.” Did I just pen a new word? I picked up his recent “Crystal Machete” and I easily inferred it as a labor of love. I’ve been going crazy on auto repeat on the album. If you’re a fan of ambient music you owe it to yourself to check this out. Listen to “The Cliffs.”
3. Extraordinary Tales on Netflix: A collection of animated tales based on the works of Edgar Alan Poe and coming in at one hour and fifteen minutes, this is a short film worth watching. Each story is a showcase for modern animation. And the tales are narrated by some heavy hitters. Bela Lugosi tells “The Tell Tale Heart.” Yes, THAT Bela Lugosi. It’s eerie to hear his voice transcribed from a scratchy old record album recording paired with such modern animation, but works beautifully. Giullermo del Toro is also cast as a narrator. I remember skimming and skipping over Poe in high school because it seemed like boring writing to me. But in truth he’s paved the way for Lovecraft and King in future years. This show makes me want to revisit those stories in book form and take them seriously this time around.
4. Band of Brothers: Hell’s Highway on PC: I finally finished this, the third game in Gearbox’s strategy/shooter WWII series. The story involves Sgt. Matthew Baker and his men fighting on the sidelines of Operation Market Garden September 1944. In actuality this is the story of a man’s journey into madness brought on by the horrors of war. The set pieces and game mechanics still hold up despite the game’s age (2008.) Gearbox put their all into this one, making it the best in the series. Perhaps the most compelling thing about WWII stories, whether they be books or the great movies that have been made in the past two decades, is the camaraderie depicted. It’s enough to make any of us envious, wanting to travel back in time to be a part of that “brothers in arms” concept. I served in the peacetime military myself, and I never experienced that. Maybe it’s something only truly felt in war. This game seems to nail it.
5. Pandemic by Z-Man Games: My daughter and I have been playing this board game, and it is as addicting as chocolate crack! It’s a co-op game pitting the players against the board game itself. You play as agents of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta battling an outbreak of four different diseases taking over the world. And the game shows no mercy. We played six games straight and won two of them, and that’s not even on the highest difficulty.
6. Gretta Van Fleet: “From the Fires” on CD: One brother plays guitar, one brother plays bass, and one brother sings, and oh man can he sing! This band has been lauded and hated for sounding eerily (and almost identically) to Led Zeppelin. They took a Grammy this year for best new Rock band, and I can see why. Even Robert Plant approves. It is strange, but in a good way to see this band surface. I remember as a kid hearing Led Zeppelin on the radio. My brother still has to have his dose everyday on his way to and from work. It's as if listening to this album conjures up memories of me in an alternate universe since Zeppelin never sang these songs. If you miss or are nostalgic for 1970's rock but with a slightly newfangled twist pick this CD up. I really think you'll enjoy it.
7. The Trail of the Fox by David Irving: I’ve only started this fabulous biography of Germany’s revered WWII general, Erwin Rommel, but so far I can’t put it down. He was so universally respected that even British officers hung his portrait in their tents and quarters. Eisenhower and Montgomery were fond of such sentiments as “The only good German soldier is a dead German soldier.” Rommel never said such things. He always admired his enemies, and even instructed his invading German troops, “there is to be no pillaging, raping or looting.” Rommel’s sweetest victories were those in which he totally confused the enemy, outflanked them or came from behind them and caught them in complete surprise. Rommel was one of the early supporters of Adolf Hitler simply because of how Hitler put the military in such high esteem. Supposedly this book, a genuine tour de force, is THE Rommel biography for the ages. I’m looking forward to delving deeper into it.
8. Memoir ’44 by Days of Wonder Games: I’ve written about it before on here, but this game is truly the entrance down the rabbit hole of board games. Depicting the invasion at Normandy on into the glider landings and the failed attempt of Operation Market Garden, this game uses cards, dice and figurines of soldiers, armor, bunkers, sandbags, and bridges to mimic every battle and skirmish that occurred during this time. Taking only a few minutes to learn, this game is a blast to play. I just introduced my oldest daughter to it, and now she’s hooked.
9. Dragon Age II on PC: I’m still continuing my journey in this wonderful EA game, the second of the trilogy. I survived my jaunt through The Deep Roads. I lost a sister through it, but gained a level or two with my rogue, Edward Hawke, finally acquiring level 12. This game is right up there with The Witcher as far as enjoyable RPGs, and honestly, this is perhaps the most fun I’ve had in any RPG. Every quest is a blast to play through. Critics panned the console-like mechanics of the game, but to me the game is highly polished and plays just fine. I don’t even have a problem with the confinement of playing basically a pre-made character. I’m probably half way through the game and still each time I sit down to play it is a great experience.
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