November was a busy month. Lots of work and lots of activity on the homefront. I lost my last maternal aunt. She’s been a component of my earliest memory, and now she has departed us. As usual, my own clock ticks on and I am reminded of my mortality. I made my GoodReads reading goal of 20 books this year. Yay! I succumbed to temptation and picked up a Steam Deck. I generally take my Kindle in situations in which I have to wait somewhere (car service center lobbies, patient waiting rooms, etc.) So, now will my reading suffer? I don’t know, but this thing is so much fun, I don’t care!
Act of War: Direct Action on PC: I’ve tried playing this game a few times over the last two decades, but for some odd reason it would not work with the AMD processors I was using at the time. With its release on Steam, and my now Intel processor based rig, I was able to fire it up again and this time it worked! The story was written by USAF retiree and action thriller writer, Dale Brown and is pretty much a Command & Conquer: Generals copycat. It bears the same cheesy FMV acting and the usual hyperbolic storyline involving a near future debacle in which terrorist take over major energy sources. Critically lauded, I’m not sure why. I thought the game was difficult enough that I had to employ a money cheat to finish the game. But I have to admire that it took itself so seriously, and that made me want to see it through to the end.
Battlefield 1 on PC: This is probably the most beautiful game I’ve played on my PC in several years. And it came out back in 2016. The single player campaign had my eyes lugubriously wet with tears, or it would do a 180 and have my flesh tingling with goosebumps, overly excited about what was going down in the mission. Unfortunately, as with all EA Battlefield games, the current multiplayer situation is lacking. Despite having some wonderful mission maps, the only online presence now is the Conquest maps (which are still fast and frenetic and frustrating, those silly snipers! I’ll never figure out why EA consistently undermines themselves and keeps releasing Battlefield games in such quick succession.
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger: (Shamelessly plagiarized from my very own GoodReads review.) I added more Leif Enger books onto my To Be Read list before I even finished this book. This is a testament to Enger's wonderful writing. In the last chapter, several pages before the book ended, I felt a great sob rise within me, a slowly moving floe of ice as big as a glacier. I read through glazed eyes struggling to get to the end. It's not often a book has such a power over me. This is the story of a religious man who’s son shoots a home intruder to death and then goes on the run. The man, a single parent, gathers his children and his Airstream camper and they go on a long-distance journey to find the prodigal son. I’m surprised this hasn’t been made into a Hollywood blockbuster.
Steam Deck on PC or bed, or the kitchen table, or the toilet, or wherever!: I was going to hold out for one of these until Valve released a Steam Deck 2.0, but when they released this in a limited edition white version, I couldn’t resist. I had a Nintendo Switch before, but the poor thing sat in its case where it would otherwise collect dust. This Steam Deck is having the opposite effect. I can’t keep my hands off of it. It’s the ultimate portable mini PC built for one purpose: gaming! It’s a DIY modder and upgrader. And it has a great Steam community it was built around. It’s big for a handheld, and if I try to hold it up while I’m lying down, it eventually gets my hand to cramping. But boy is it spectacular. Next time you’re going on a long flight, or a hospital stay (the inevitable place I’ve come to know well) grab yourself one of these. You won’t want to check out.
Slay the Spire on Steam Deck: You, being the adventurer you are, have to fight a multitude of baddies and bosses in dank dungeons. All of your blocks and strikes are dictated by a deck of cards. You can only play 3 cards, initially. Do you choose all blocks? One block and two strikes? Or do you go all out, damn the defense, and simply charge in with total offense? This game will make you take such questions seriously. Each victory awards all kinds of sweet loot such as card upgrades, more health points, or potions that weaken foes. This is one that’s hard to put down, and despite its difficulty, meeting with death and defeat simply makes you want to boot it up and try again.
Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring on 4K Blu Ray: I rewarded myself with an early Christmas present and picked this up on a Black Friday thingamajig. Let me tell you, this movie looked better than when I saw it in its original theatrical release. 4K puts you right there as if all of these events are happening next to you. It’s almost disconcerting. I remember reading the trilogy of books right before going to see this movie, and as expected, much was omitted from the film, but I thought Peter Jackson did a wonderful job with this movie version. Watching this made me want to finally get back to Baldur’s Gate and finally finish it. This is a movie with a pitch-perfect cast and over the top production values. It may be one of the most fantastic movies I’ve ever seen.
Balatro on Steam Deck: Right up there with the chocolate crack that is Slay the Spire, this is a simple poker game where winning hands allow you to purchase jokers that offer buffs, basically cheating at the game. Imagine a world in which a cheater can be regarded in high esteem! Hypnotic in its iteration, this game will make hours feel like minutes and dazzle you with its early aesthetic like something from an arcade machine in the back corner of a bowling alley in 1970. PC Gamer Magazine reviewer Abbi Stone said, “The Steam Deck should have been called The Balatro Deck.” I can truly believe it.
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