I bragged about being a “super dodger,” one of the fortunate few who have never been stricken with a coronavirus. Oddly, on a Friday this month while at work I started feeling badly. When fever hit, I bailed from work and went to my local walk-in clinic. I tested positive for Covid 19, What?? I thought I was exempt. In my week long quarantine I experienced a strange phenomenon. My first three days I could not sleep. I wasn’t tired and I wasn’t sleepy. I simply had no need for speed. It was like acquiring some strange superpower. Anyway, I’ve had worse bouts of flu. Another big negative this month. My email address (at the ISP level) got cracked. There’s nothing quite like logging into your email (and sites which require you to use your email address for access) and find yourself suddenly locked out. I spent all day Christmas and the day after changing access credentials and communicating to these sites, convincing them I was who I was saying it was. There haa to be some heinous people in this world to hack someone’s account on Christmas Day. This is going to be a Christmas to remember. Still, I made it another year; there really is a lot to be grateful for.
Nemo’s War by Victory Point games: It had been a while since I’ve played this beloved game. Setting out on the table with its glorious ancient looking maritime map/chart with its myriad tokens and cards, this game makes you look smart to passersby. And when they see you playing it alone, it makes you look like a geek. It IS a solo game after all. In all honesty, I’ve probably said it before, but this is the best board game I’ve ever played in over five decades of gaming. I have yet to win it. Out of thirty gaming sessions I’ve only earned a mediocre score once. Yes, the game is that difficult.
Dark Mountain by Richard Laymon: There amongst the Dean Koontzes and the Stephen Kings and the John Sauls (and my personal favorite, Robert McCammons) there’s another writer named Richard Laymon who was every bit as prolific, and unbeknownst to me. I stumbled across one of his books in my pile of unreads and started it. I was quickly consumed. “If you’ve missed Laymon, you’ve missed a treat.” – Stephen King. There you have it, right from the man, himself. Mr. Laymon is a good writer for sure. I enjoyed every bit of this horror story about a group of campers terrorized by a madman and his equally as deranged mother.
Hell Let Loose on
PC: I’ve written about this one in the recent past. This is as gritty, muddy
and bloody as PC warfare gets. I love being a tiny cog in a massive multiplayer
effort. I love the difficult guns, the overwhelming audio plinks and snaps of
passing and near hit bullets, and the high stakes of even one of those bullets
hitting me. Hell Let Loose captures the essence of that in spades. Your
kills aren’t even reported until after the match (which can last an easy hour
or longer.) The game is still in early access, but it’s updated constantly. The
developers love their baby, and it shows. This one is a keeper.
Lancer: My friend, Ross Downhour, from work recently got me involved in this online game, reminiscent of a tabletop D&D adventure. Except this one has spaceships, and giant mechs, and pretty anime looking female starship captains. I’ve only experienced one gaming session so far, but it was blast, and the love and attention Ross has put into creating this little world for the players is amazing. Ross thinks I talk like Tom Cruise, and I suppose we do have a similar tone of voice, but he inspired me to create a character named Pete Mitchell, callsign: “Maverick.” I’m anxious to see where Ross’s mad dungeonmaster skills take us.
Company of Heroes 2 on Steam: Seems this game is always sneaking in a month’s mix one way or the other. I can’t help it. The game is maddeningly addictive. My friend, Vic Berwick, and I are stuck on the same mission. Playing as the marauding German Wehrmacht, we have to storm through Russian bases near Stalingrad and control them. Fortunately, we have a monstrous King Tiger tank to aid us. Unfortunately, the game is rigged. It sends horde after horde of defenders after you. I started on the highest difficulty, and then lowered it to medium. I STILL couldn’t beat the mission, and so to my chagrin I dumbed it down to the easiest level where I could finally beat it. Vic is steadfast about completing it on medium difficulty. I wish him the best. I couldn’t do it.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea on DVD: This movie made James Mason my favorite actor because he WAS Captain Nemo. The movie and Mason’s role role has made me fantasize about being one of the crewmen aboard the extraordinary Nemo. And despite the campiness in the movie, Disney achieved victory with this one. It is my second favorite movie of all time. I watch it every few years, and of course this viewing was inspired by my playing of Nemo’s War, but this time I watched it with my youngest grandson. I daresay, I believe I turned him into a fan. The DVD version is by far better than the old VHS, but I’d really like to pick this movie up on Blu Ray. I wish it wasn’t so dastardly expensive. (And I’ve read that it doesn’t have nearly the special features the Special Edition DVD has. Oh joy.
For the King on PC: Looking like a cutesy game comprised of Fisher Price figures stolen from a Fuzzy Pumper Barbershop, this game is much more than meets the eye. It comes off as a simple RPG, but boy was I wrong. As I played it, I felt almost hoodwinked with how easy it was so lose hours to it but ultimately realize the game defeated me. Don’t get me wrong, I like difficult games (yes, I beat Dark Souls) but the deaths in this game felt contrived and unfair. It’s sad, because I really wanted to finish this game.
Resident Evil 2 on PC: I always felt I was missing out not playing this series. My friends over the years always talked about it being such a great series. I didn’t play on console, however, so in truth, I did miss out. And then I stumbled across a collection of the series on Humble Bundle and picked it up on the cheap. I started with Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil HD, both of which were remastered versions. I didn’t get far. I bailed on them both, unable to finish them because the controls were simply to wonky. So, I peeked at some YouTube videos to catch up on the storyline (which is more convoluted than film clippings of Twin Peaks left on the cutting room floor. And then I began Resident Evil 2 (which is the real origin of the game) and made some progress. This was my first exposure to the art museum converted to the Racoon City Police Department. With its creepy corridors and eerie rooms, this is one of the scariest in-game worlds I’ve seen in all my years of gaming. This is game design done correctly. Halfway through, however, I streamed it for a couple of buddies and seeing me with all my ammo spent and surrounded by the city’s infected denizens, they convinced me to start over. I struggled, wondering if I were even going to be able to finish the game. Once I escaped the Raccoon City Police Department, and made my way past the alligator in the sewers, I realized I was going to be able to finish it after all. I’m about 15 hours into it, and I’m told considering the point I’m at in the game I have about two hours left.
Legend on Blu Ray: This film left an impression on me. It’s not the highly stylized visuals or the age old good versus evil story Ridley Scott embraced after reading fairy tales, including Brothers Grimm stuff and being inspired by old Walt Disney animated films. It was the music score for the film and the odd behind the scenes shenanigans concerning it. Jerry Goldsmith, who all Americans know and love as one of our greatest film composers, was commissioned to do the score. Ridley Scott was pressured to find someone who could make a soundtrack which would appeal to a younger audience. The German ambient group, Tangerine Dream, was employed to re-do the soundtrack. I personally liked the Tangerine Dream version better. “The Unicorns” will always be one of my favorite hauntingly beautiful pieces of music in any film I’ve ever watched. Bryan Ferry sand, “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” over the end credits, accompanied by David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) on guitar. The funny thing is, Ferry’s song was originally cut from Roxy Music’s epic Avalon. (Talk about a last minute rescue!) Getting back to the film itself, Ridley Scott originally approached Walt Disney Studios about producing the film. Disney declined, claiming the film was too dark. Johhny Depp, Jim Carrey and Robert Downey Jr., were considered for the roles of Jack. Ultimately Tom Cruise was picked. In Cruise fashion, he does all of his diving and swimming stunts in water that harbored alligators. Bombing at the box office, the movie has long since become considered a cult classic. In 2021 a 2 disc limited edition set was released through Disney Studios, who now owns the rights. Go figure.
