Settling into the new job despite the occasional curve ball, it’s a move I’m glad I made. I especially love the hours. I don’t know why, but it just feels like I have more time off. I guess in a sense I do. (No more 12-14 hour days.) I’ve been engaged in more extra curricular activities. I joined a pretty active board game group. And I’m sojourning to a neighboring town for Friday night Magic gaming sessions. I’m still trying to nail down Rush’s “Closer to the Heart” on my guitar. The solo is quickly becoming my favorite solo to play.
Undaunted by Osprey games: I’ve talked about it before, but this game is a brilliant mix of cards and dice and beautifully art rendered tiles that form battlefield maps. Using squad level tactics, players try to run each other out of cards (or render their deck hands useless by clogging them up with unusable “fog of war” cards. Of course, it’s a two player game, but I have few friends interested in it so I play it alone, which is entirely possible. It’s a great game to brew up some hot chocolate with and play a battle or two.
Euro Truck Sim 2 on
PC: It’s amazing how a game that emulates
the mundane tasks of hauling freight from one European city to another can be
so hypnotic. But it is. The cities and the highways are varied enough not to
mention the changing times of day and night, that the game holds a certain
fascination for me quite unlike any other. An update just remodeled some of the
cities and added a dynamic moon. Little things, yes, but they just serve to make
the game that much more dazzling. You need a wheel/paddle/shifter set to do it
justice, but if you make the plunge for that type of hardware, it will be worth
it.
Magic: The Gathering: After a many year’s hiatus of this great collectible card game, a buddy at work named Ross, got me interested in the latest iteration. So far, I’ve spent far too much moolah to make a formidable deck, and at this point, I’m not doing so well with it. This new Commander style might just be the death knell for my interest in the game. I tend to be masochistic when it comes to gaming. (I’ll play on the hardest levels of difficulty.) But I think this game is making me a glutton for punishment. Maybe time to call it quits.
Red Dead Redemption on Steam: I’m always late to the party when it comes to PC gaming. I just have always been one to avoid virtually all hype (there have been exceptions, albeit rare ones.) So, when I finally did delve into Rockstar’s venerable western, I found it oddly overwhelming. There was just too much to do, although I spotted many moments of brilliance within the game. I gave it another go this month, and did manage to finish 25% of the story, and that’s after having uncovered only a small portion of the map. I keep hearing it’s a game that eventually gets its clutches into you and turns into a blazing race to get to the finish. I’m waiting.
Aliens Fireteam Elite on Steam: Me and my buddy Vicster have been making some progress in this game. A special thank you goes out to our mutual friend, Loxlo, who pretty much carries us through these overtly over the top difficult missions. I’ve said it here before, it’s basically Left 4 Dead set in an Alien environment. It’s not AAA game, but it’s solid enough to ensure a great time, especially with friends. Hopefully, by the time you read this, Loxlo, will have carried us through to the end.
Terminator Resistance on Steam: Vicster convinced me to pick this one up after I watched him stream it on Discord. It’s was a plunge I’m glad I took. Developed by Teyon Studios, this is a game sent out as a love letter to Terminator fans. You’ll get no ray tracing or DLSS here; this is a game created by a small studio. But they acquired the license and did a hella good job with it. One Steam reviewer said it best: “This is the third Terminator movie the fans should have got.” The game is entirely authentic and makes you feel like you are the last bastion of salvation for humanity.
Moby Everything is Wrong on CD: This is Moby’s third studio album release. I bought it simply because it has the song, “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters.” It was the strangely fitting beautiful ending dirge to the great Deniro/Pacino movie, Heat. But to my surprise I discovered another truly great song on the album called “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die.” This is one of those albums I missed out on, and now wonder who I could have.
Pandemic by Z-man games: Another great board game not particularly favored by my friends, so I play it alone. But that’s okay. The game is setup for solo play. Definitely one of my favorite gateway games. When you’re ready to move away from Monopoly and Sorry! I’d suggest you pick this one up. Racing to squelch four worldwide viruses in a race against time.
