Tag Archives: games

Twenty Games I’d Like to See Get a Sequel

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If there is one thing I like best about video game sequels, it would be the continuation of a story or enhancement of a casual game. While I love hearing news of an upcoming installment that will add to a series I enjoy, there are many games I’ve played in my lifetime that sadly never got a follow-up.

Below is my list of twenty games, including some obscure titles, I would like to see a sequel for.

1) Phantasmagoria (1995)\Puzzle of Flesh (1996) – An interactive horror game series that filmed actors against a blue screen, Phantasmagoria was quite innovative for the technology of its time. While the original entry and its sequel, Puzzle of Flesh, told stories unrelated to each other, they were the most suspenseful and goriest games I’d ever played up to that point. If the company that produced them hadn’t gone out of business, it would have been interesting to see the series evolve with the times.

2) Portal 2 (2011) — I love the Portal series for its interesting blend of logistical puzzles and humorous stories. It centers around a mute girl named Chell who is being used as a test subject in an underground facility run by a sadistic artificial intelligence called Glados. While Chell is let out into the surface world at the end of Portal 2, it shouldn’t necessarily mean the series is over. I feel that there are other stories that could be told – maybe even with a different protagonist. I hold out hope for news of a third game on the horizon.

3) Gauntlet Legends (1998)\Dark Legacy (2000) – Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy both exist as bold, larger than life reimagining of the original two-dimensional game from 1985. Legends took the basic concept and made it a hundred times better with a three-dimensional environment and more resources to keep the player’s character alive. Legends and Dark Legacy were so enjoyable that they had me visiting the local arcade on a weekly basis. What’s even better is that the arcade game saved my progress and character level because I typed in a password on the machine. While I wish that there was a sequel to expand on the two existing games, they remain some of my all-time favorite dungeon-crawlers.

4) Command and Conquer: Renegade (2002) — While I am a fan of the Command and Conquer franchise in general, Renegade stands out for being the only game in the series to let you assume control of a single character rather than directing one army to fight another. In Renegade, you step into the shoes of a commando named Havoc who takes on missions to destabilize an evil organization. I spent countless hours playing and replaying levels on all difficulty settings. I would have liked to see another Command and Conquer game use the same formula. But since the production company went out of business a year later, it seems all I can do is dream.

5) Emperor: Battle for Dune (2001) — Though loosely derived from writer Frank Herbert’s Dune series, Emperor tells an equally intriguing story centered around a battle between three factions to seize control of a planet holding the galaxy’s most valuable resource. I spent countless hours with the roleplaying strategy game, sometimes spending half a day just trying to get through a single mission. The ending of the game remained the same no matter which faction was picked and was left very open-ended. I would have loved to see a follow-up that would answer some questions about the conclusion of Emperor. Unfortunately, the same company – Westwood Studios — behind Command and Conquer was also the one that produced Emperor: Battle for Dune. The closure of the company pretty much guaranteed that a sequel would never come.

6) Fable III (2010) – Though I don’t consider Fable III as the best PC game I’ve ever played, it still had good qualities I’d like to see improved upon in a fourth entry. In Fable III, you play as a young prince or princess – dependent on player preference – whose older brother is a cruel ruler who is asking for a revolution. The younger sibling escapes the palace and proceeds to forge alliances to take back the kingdom. The player decides if the main character will be a benevolent or downright evil ruler. But I feel there could have been better ways to exemplify the paths chosen. For me, it’s very off-putting to see the main character show his or her willingness for evil by farting in someone’s face. Sadly, the series hit a dead end following the release of a standalone game in 2012. Since the company behind the Fable series – Lionhead Studios – closed down in 2016, there may never be a Fable IV.

7) King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity (1998) – The only thing that this particular game has in common with the first seven entries in the King’s Quest series is the title. Mask of Eternity is a role-playing, dungeon-crawler game that hardly seems to fit with a series of point-and-click fantasy games. Nevertheless, Mask of Eternity is very enjoyable for what it is. While I never made it all the way to the end thanks to a game glitch that halted my progress, it would be nice to see a follow-up in the same vein.

8) Dead Island: Riptide (2013) – The Dead Island series consists of the most intense zombie survival horror games I’ve ever played. Both the original game and Riptide are hardcore enough to have me angrily cursing every five to ten minutes. There are also moments where I’ve felt like a total bad-ass with some of the zombie kills I got. The first two games are set on separate islands in an archipelago where an outbreak has occurred and both games allow you to play as one of 4 to 5 characters with different strengths. There was an announcement for a Dead Island 2 – to be set in California of all places – that was scheduled to be released in 2015. But production problems resulted in the sequel never seeing the light of day. Whether it will ever be released is anyone’s guess.

9) Oregon Trail 2 (1995) – Oregon Trail 2 is an excellent educational simulation game where the player strives to get pioneers safely from their starting point to a new life in the west. I can’t even count the number of times I attempted to traverse the trail, but most of my playthroughs ended with the wagons getting trapped in a mountain pass during the winter. I feel that a potential third game would be outstanding with today’s technology. I strongly hope to see Oregon Trail 3 become a reality someday.

10) Icebreaker (1995) – Of all the games I’ve played in my lifetime, Icebreaker wins top marks for being the most unique. It is an addictive arcade-type game where the player controls a 3D triangular icon that can shoot bullets or smash certain objects in the game by ramming them. The goal to beating each level is to completely destroy a grid of pyramids. Some examples of what makes it challenging are that the stationary pyramids require different methods to demolish, while the mobile pyramids can kill the player-controlled icon if they catch it. As if that didn’t ramp up the difficulty enough, there are also hidden traps or hazards to watch out for, such as a pit to fall into. I got so much enjoyment from Icebreaker that I’m sad it never got a bigger and better sequel.

Top (L-R) Altered Beast, Phantasmagoria, Command and Conquer: Renegade
Middle (L-R) Plants vs. Zombies 2, Super Puzzle Fighter II, Maniac Mansion
Bottom (L-R) Battle Slots, Dead Island: Riptide, Icebreaker, Darkseed II (photo credits at end)

11) Plants vs. Zombies 2 (2013) – The Plants vs. Zombies series consists of games that are kid-friendly, but still very enjoyable. It is exactly what the title suggests and consists of the player picking a roster of eight to nine plants per level to ward off zombie attacks. When I first heard news of a sequel to the original game from 2009, I was ecstatic – until I found out it would only be playable on an Android device instead of a PC. I greatly hope that there will be a Plants vs. Zombies 3 someday and that it will be compatible with a device that I actually own.

12) Maniac Mansion (1987)\Day of the Tentacle (1993) – Maniac Mansion was a comical puzzle game series that was so challenging I had to frequently look at hints on how to get through it. While the plot was too bizarre to try to make sense of – a mad scientist kidnaps a college girl because he’s being mind-controlled by a meteor – the game greatly appealed to me at my young age. Day of the Tentacle brought back some of the characters from Maniac Mansion, but there’s no way I could summarize the plot in a way that would do it justice. I would have liked to see a continuation, but I guess there was only so much weirdness that the series’ production team could come up with.

13) Age of Mythology (2002) – Age of Mythology is one of the best strategic battle games I’ve played and features tons of elements from Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. The game also has an epic story that sees heroes from each civilization band together to prevent the release of the imprisoned Titans. Most levels allow you to utilize God powers, such as summoning an earthquake, to help defeat the enemy armies. Good luck on figuring out how to get through the game on the hardest difficulty – I never could, but I still enjoyed playing it very much. I recently learned that there was an expansion pack – which focuses on Chinese mythology — developed last year for a remastered version of Age of Mythology. But I still would very much like to see a sequel made.

14) Origamo (1994) – Origamo is a casual puzzle game that’s similar to Tetris and consists largely of using polygonal shapes to fill in a given origami-like image for each level. While it might not have appealed to everyone – especially since it seemed impossible to beat the game on the hardest difficulty setting – it is one that holds a special place in my heart. Part of me will always wish it had been popular enough to warrant a sequel.

15) Altered Beast (1988) – A game I was frequently drawn to during trips to the arcade, Altered Beast is a side-scrolling fighting game that pits the generic main character against a wide variety of supernatural monsters. During each stage, the player can use power-ups to transform their character into a beast – such as a werewolf or were-tiger – to better decimate the monsters encountered. I loved this game so much when it was still around that I once spent an entire day feeding quarters into the machine just to get all the way through it. What I would love even more is to see a modernized version of it made available for gamers.

16) Darkseed II (1995) – The Darkseed games hold the distinction of being a showcase for the artwork of H.R. Giger, the artist who designed the title creature in the popular Alien film franchise. Aside from being visually stunning, this sci-fi PC series has some good stories. The basic plot for both games has a man named Mike Dawson striving to stop aliens – from a place called the Darkworld – from succeeding in a plot to destroy the Earth. It disappointed me that Mike was killed at the end of the second game. I often felt that the story shouldn’t have stopped there. I’ve seen many other video games come up with something creative to bring a supposedly dead character back to life. It’s doubtful that the Darkworld aliens would have stopped aiming for Armageddon. It would really be nice to see the series revitalized after all this time, but I won’t hold my breath.

17) Mystery P.I. (2007 – 2011) – Mystery P.I. is the collective title given to a series of hidden object games for the PC. Featuring elaborately designed levels, Mystery P.I. really made it a challenge to locate all the objects on the given list. It is a series that easily could have kept going, but sadly came to an end after the release of the eighth game.

18) SimCoaster (2001) – I know there are a lot of video games that allow the player to build their own theme park, but I regard SimCoaster as a personal favorite just for its simplicity. It is another game I never got to play all the way through thanks to some bugs in the code, but it is one I never tired of. If a more modern version should ever be released, I would snap it up in a second.

19) Battle Slots (2011) – Battle Slots is a highly creative video game that combines slot machines with a duel-to-the-death fighting game. Your victory in battle against your opponent is dependent on how many good spins you get on the slots. The concept is so original and innovative that I’m surprised a Battle Slots 2 never came to be. Fingers crossed that my hopes for a sequel will one day become a reality.

20) Super Puzzle Fighter II (1996) – Super Puzzle Fighter II, an arcade game that I frequently fed quarters to, was a combination of Tetris and Street Fighter. The primary goal was to clear rows on the Tetris board as quickly as possible to decimate the other player or computer A.I. controlled fighter. It is one game that I really miss playing, especially because I was particularly good at it.

I’m glad that I’ve lived long enough to have played so many different video games over an ever-changing landscape. It’s a far cry from the two-dimensional environment of Maniac Mansion to the realistic high definition characters and settings presented in Dead Island. For me, each of the games on this list deserves either a follow-up or modernization of a terrific concept. Whether or not a sequel comes to pass for each of them, the fond memories I hold for the games on this list will never go away.

Photo credits:

Phantasmagoria — https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/shacknews/assets/editorial/2016/04/phan2.jpg

Command and Conquer: Renegade — http://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/371631/800full-command-%26-conquer%3A-renegade-screenshot.jpg

Dead Island: Riptide — https://media.takealot.com/covers/covers/31999483/di6-zoom.jpg?1406707585

Icebreaker — http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ibEwDvznSZ4/VIcS0nERdII/AAAAAAAAMrw/xNLKn7XA97Y/s1600/Icebreaker_03.png

Plants vs. Zombies 2 — https://o.aolcdn.com/images/dims?quality=100&image_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogcdn.com%2Fwww.joystiq.com%2Fmedia%2F2013%2F06%2Fplantsvszombies2.jpg&client=cbc79c14efcebee57402&signature=82c0cf06949e670dfdd42e0f1facdf581563dd6a

Maniac Mansion — http://www.honestgamers.com/images/games/13/M/16468/16.jpg

Altered Beast — https://www.arcade-museum.com/images/118/11812416304.png

Darkseed II — https://www.cdh.cz/galerie/15503-6.jpg

Battle Slots — https://www.gamingnexus.com/Images/Article/kdxlyf3047/1.jpg

Super Puzzle Fighter II — http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/271672/5816060/1266519736607/Super-Puzzle-Fighter-II-Turbo-HD-Remix-1.jpg?token=7iVN9WJB%2Bq9Ggza6oG9xUzNCHw0%3D

My Top Ten Favorite YouTube Gamers

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Have you ever wanted to play a certain video game but didn’t have the time or motivation to go for it?  I know I have.  I found an answer to this dilemma with YouTube.  I started out by watching videos of entire games that I believed I would never play myself.  Gradually, I discovered enough likeable personalities, game vloggers, and highly creative YouTubers to compile a list.  I’d like to share with you my top ten favorite YouTube gamers.

10) RadBrad – RadBrad has the distinction of being one of the first gamers I discovered on YouTube, though I can’t recall what was the first game of which I saw him do a playthrough.  I thought him to be funny enough that I kept tuning back in to hear his commentary on a number of video games.  The one thing that keeps him from getting a higher spot on this list is that he doesn’t always finish the games he starts.  I suspect he makes a living playing video games based on how many videos he uploads on a weekly basis.  But I also imagine he doesn’t have enough time to see all these games through to the end.

9) Cloud8745 – When I took a video game design course in college, a classmate told me about one of the most sadistic games ever made – I Wanna Be the Guy – where just about every object in the game is designed to kill you.  Curiosity led me to look up the game online, which in turn led me to the YouTube videos of Cloud8745.  His unique commentary or rants on some of the game’s scenarios made me an instant fan of his.  Sadly, he has difficulty maintaining his own YouTube channel.  Many of the videos showcasing his gaming antics have been made available by fans of his.

8) Yeti112 – He is a YouTuber who has the distinction of making animated parodies of video games, particularly the Resident Evil series.  I’m not entirely sure how or when I stumbled across a video showcasing Yeti112’s work, but I found it highly entertaining and clever.  I especially love his ‘Resident Evil Stories’ series for their running gags and humorous situations.  While he doesn’t upload new videos that often, his work is unique enough that I get a kick out of it.

7) Jordan Underneath – I stumbled across Jordan Underneath due to our shared love of the Resident Evil series.  I was drawn to his honest critiques of the games and the monsters therein.  He can be counted on to give it to you straight instead of ranting or being preachy.  While I’ve enjoyed his videos pertaining to games he’s played, he has recently turned to making dark or surreal artistic videos instead.  I know he suffers from depression; though some of his recent videos have gotten me concerned about him, I’m glad to see he’s still going strong.

6) Dartigan – What makes Dartigan a unique YouTuber is that his videos consist primarily of him nitpicking the newest or most popular video games on the market.  Granted, I’ve seen other YouTubers who do the same thing, but I find Dartigan’s nitpicks more well thought out and humorous than most.  I routinely tune in to his channel to see whatever new game he’s scrutinizing.  One of my favorite video games to hear him pick apart would be Final Fantasy XIII.  I haven’t played this game myself, but it’s not necessary to understand most of the nitpicks.

5) Proton Jon & Superjeenius – If there’s one thing I love about watching gameplay videos on YouTube, it would be listening to the commentary of the player – the more humorous, the better.  Watching Proton Jon’s and Superjeenius’ playthrough of Resident Evil 5 is guaranteed to get me rolling on the floor laughing.  Whether it’s hearing Jon make a random reference to football – which a drinking game could easily be built around — or Superjeenius’ irrational fear of computer-generated spiders, I can always count on their videos to brighten my mood whenever I’m having a bad day.  For anyone who doesn’t want to see their run-through of the entire game, I would recommend checking out their top 20 best moments.  The one downside – this is the only co-op game I’ve seen them partner up on.  They play off each other so well that I wouldn’t mind seeing them team up for another video game.

4) ZackScottGames –  He is another active gamer whose commentary I enjoy, but I’m not sure which game led me to discover his channel.  I find ZackScottGames to be very personable and he has a laugh that I find infectious.  Though he gravitates more toward kid-oriented video games, he does occasionally work in a horror game.  My personal favorite videos are his highlights of Resident Evil: Revelations or Don’t Starve.  I also love that he ends each of his videos by introducing his two cats – one of which sadly passed away recently.  If you are looking for a fun YouTuber who can be counted on to provide a good laugh, he is definitely one to check out.

3) Jazzman1226 –  I don’t know if Jazzman1226 is a gamer per se, but he or she is a master of putting together musical tributes to video games or movies.  I love how this particular YouTuber edits together clips from the various Resident Evil games to match a particular song of his or her choosing.  Of all the fan-made music videos I’ve added to my personal YouTube playlist, the majority were created by Jazzman1226 (but shout-out to the runner-up, MrAlbertWesker0).  I look forward to whatever new tributes Jazzman1226 has in store, especially if they are on par with my particular faves of “Super Psycho Love,” “Something I Need,” “The Silence,” and “Unknown Soldier.”

2) Tipster – A prolific game vlogger I discovered just a month ago, Tipster earned a spot near the top of the list for the hot-off-the-presses news he provides about the gaming industry.  He is definitely a YouTuber worth checking out whether he’s relaying info about a new game console in the works or sharing his opinion of newly announced video games.  I don’t know of very many vloggers who are as active and comprehensive.

1) Radtv5150 (with Audemas) – As with the other game commentators who made the list, Radtv5150 is one to check out for a good laugh – especially when he does a co-op game with his buddy, Audemas.  What sets Rad’s videos apart from the rest is that he easily freaks out – in ways I find downright hysterical — when faced with video game creatures ranging from crocodiles to mutated monstrosities.  And Audemas will sometimes instigate a situation that gets his gaming partner, or both of them, killed.  What’s better is that Rad isn’t the best when it comes to aiming.  In his playthrough of Resident Evil 4, he even manages to miss a very large target with a rocket launcher.

The majority of unique personalities on this list can still provide a source of entertainment even if you’re not a gamer.  Whether you’d prefer exploring the creative artistry of Yeti112, Jordan Underneath, and Jazzman1226 or laughing at the comedy stylings of Proton Jon, Superjeenius, ZackScottGames, and Radtv5150, I would highly recommend checking out one or more of these channels.  I hope you found something on my list that appeals to you.

Resident Evil: Vendetta – Movie Review

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Warning:  There are spoilers in this article.

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me is aware I am a huge fan of the Resident Evil video game series.  The same cannot be said for the live action “adaptation” films starring Milla Jovovich.  Though they featured many of the same characters from the game series, it was in name only.  My main problem with the live action movies are their complete disregard for the established stories, conflicts, and character histories that make the games so resonant and fantastic.

I much prefer the anime films which are more closely tied to and expand on the game series.  I enjoy Degeneration (2008) and Damnation (2012) so much that I’ve made them part of my DVD library.  When I first heard news of a third animated film called Vendetta, it instantly was added to my list of movies to see.  And that was before I found out it would mark the return of a character – Rebecca Chambers – who hadn’t been seen since the first two chronological games in the series.

I was even more excited to find out I would be able to see Vendetta on the big screen.  I purchased a ticket ahead of time on the site, FathomEvents.com, for a one-night showing on June 19.  This was something I had never done before, but it is a site I may go back to since they also bring older films back to select theaters for special showings.

I was pleasantly surprised by the décor of the theater – AMC Livonia 20 — showing Vendetta.  It looked much nicer and neater than the one I usually frequent – Star Southfield.  The one thing I was even more surprised about was that there was even a bar serving alcoholic beverages on the premises.  I’ve never been to a theater that featured such a thing.

As an added bonus, the theater had airplane seats that were quite cozy.  It wasn’t long before I settled in and waited for the film to start.  I was the first one there, but the place gradually filled with at least twenty to thirty more people.  I even struck up a short conversation with one of the movie-goers, whose husband was a bigger fan of Resident Evil than she was.  We didn’t exchange names, but I did find out the latest entry in the game series terrified her.

What made Vendetta even more enjoyable was that a documentary was shown prior to the actual film that talked about the making of the movie.  It even had the three main voice actors sharing their thoughts about the film.

Though I had seen a YouTube video depicting the first nine minutes of Vendetta ahead of time, the theater had such a good sound system that it made the opening sequence very creepy.  There were parts that were so explosively loud that it raised the tension level, especially when preceded by a quiet moment.   The sound of a gun being fired was at such a volume that it seemed like it had leapt off the screen.

Clockwise from top left – Leon, Glenn Arias, Chris, Rebecca

 

Joining the ranks of the many villains in the series is Glenn Arias, a bad guy with a tragic backstory.  In an effort to take out the notorious arms dealer, the government launched an attack on Arias’ wedding day.  Though he survived, he lost many of the people he cared about, including his new bride.  In retaliation, Arias went from dealing in conventional weapons to bio-weapons.

While it’s unlikely that Arias knew how to manufacture a new virus to threaten and potentially destroy the world with, he is quite the formidable villain.  I thought he was very similar to the franchise’s biggest baddie, Albert Wesker, but without the superpowers.  Arias is still a fast and spry enough fighter to give experienced soldier Chris Redfield a run for his money.

The movie’s fights are spectacular, especially for an animated film.  The mix of motion capture and choreography churns out some of the most amazing battles I’ve seen.

However, there were also moments that seemed a bit over-the-top and unrealistic.  For instance, seeing government agent Leon Kennedy shoot and take down a creature while leaning off the side of a motorcycle he’s driving on the freeway can’t be physically possible.

I also loved the story and the character arcs.  Each of the main characters is given their moment to shine, especially university professor and biochemist Rebecca.  Not only does she break up an argument between Chris and Leon, but she also reminds both why they’re in the fight against bio-terrorism.

One thing I found a bit iffy is that Rebecca becomes the damsel in distress in the second half of the film.  Arias abducts and attempts to woo her because she bears a strong resemblance to the wife he lost.  The mere fact that he believes she’ll reciprocate demonstrates just how psychotic he is.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie – though I would have liked to know more about this new virus and how it worked.  Creating a strain that allows the host to differentiate between friend and foe rather than attack everyone in sight seems to be too complex for an arms dealer.  I’m inclined to think that Arias had help in this endeavor.

I look forward to more animated films in the future, especially if they match the caliber of Vendetta.  And it was good to find a new favorite movie theater in the process.

 

Photo credits:

Glenn Arias — https://images.nowloading.co/images/c_limit,q_auto:good,w_600/uvj7sycwjrjglfbsfrch/let-s-take-a-closer-look-at-the-player-characters-of-resident-evil-vendetta.jpg

Chris – http://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/15337152_1833873270157948_2646422972209823744_n.jpg?ig_cache_key=MTQxMjYwMjk1NDc1ODcyMjY0NQ%3D%3D.2

Leon – http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/f/ff/Resident_Evil_Vendetta_05.jpg/600px-Resident_Evil_Vendetta_05.jpg

Rebecca — https://i.ytimg.com/vi/C5uGdP_xtxo/maxresdefault.jpg

Coffee Shop Chronicles: Making friends in coffee shops, Part 2

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The Fine Grind, a coffee bar

Little Falls, NJ

March 2017

Now that I have a seat, I’m restless.

It’s March, and far from feeling like winter. I settle into my cushion bench seat and look around the room.  This is still the only place to sit.  I reach for my writing bag when my for-here mug of Columbian coffee is brought to my table restaurant style.  What unexpected service.  Coffee shops are usually more self-serve.  I already know I’ll be back.

Time to look busy.  First thing, set up the tablet.  While it boots, I’ll look even more productive with my Happy Planner calendar on the table.  It has my blog schedule in it.  Next, my yellow notepad, a few colored pens and voila!  I’m all set to do work.

I don’t feel productive.  I feel cluttered.  I’m restless.

I always carry a few distractions in my workbag.  The item I’m craving to use is my Café Bingo game.  It was a gift from my writerly friend, Kelly, who said, “I thought of you instantly when I saw it.”  Yep, she got me right.  The idea is to Bingo with coffee shop stereotypes.  There are 12 cards, but I can play by myself.  I wonder: can I cover the entire board, or at least get a bingo?  There’s 0nly one way to find out.

These cards are reusable.  Cool!  I wasn’t sure how that worked.  When I read “pushing back” the squares on the package, visions of pieces popping off onto the table, never to be replaced again filled my head.  With this, you fold the cardstock squares back while playing and then refold them when you’re done.  I’m set to play with only one rule: I can’t count myself in any of the squares.

— Barista

That’s the center square and a gimme.

— MP3 player

Who carries these anymore?  I amend that to seeing a cell phone with headphones.  I see a hipster guy plugged in over in the comfy chair corner.

— Tip Jar

There’s one at the register where I ordered.  I don’t recall the handwritten note on it, but I’m sure it’s something like “Fear change? Leave it here” or “Tipping isn’t just for cows.”

— Newspaper

Sure enough, there’s an older man in a comfy leather lounge chair in the corner.  He’s reading a real newspaper, buried beneath an umbrella of inky pages.

— Laptop

Uhhh…yeah.  Who doesn’t come to a coffee shop without a laptop?  You have to look hip and trendy and productive.  Okay, I’m two for three right now, but my Surface has a detachable keyboard, so it would count for that square, if I included myself, which I’m not.  I’m still hipster-ette.

— Briefcase

There’s a guy in business clothes–a suit, maybe–with a speckled tan bag next to him.  I can’t see it exactly because it’s sitting on the floor and I don’t have a clear shot.  I count it.  I wouldn’t expect to see one of those hardcover square boxes with a latch and handle, and I’m surprised I think that.

— Cell Phone

This is another gimme.  A more challenging square would be “No cell phone.”

— Reuse of Cup

Remember, I can’t count myself.  A lot of people have for-here mugs on their tables.  Some people don’t.  What a waste.  Unless it’s tea.  Tea almost always needs a disposable cup.

— Date

I’m not sure how to count this.  The square shows two stick figures holding hands with a heart between them.  It’s just past lunchtime, so there are no caffeine kisses here.  There are lots of people sitting together in twos, and I’m sure someone is on some kind of date.  Meeting a friend for lunch, I count that.

— Iced Drink

I don’t see ice cubes anywhere, nor a dome lid cup sitting on any table.  Straight ahead there’s a woman with what looks like an icy blended drink.  It’s a shade color different than the store’s cardboard cups, but that’s good enough for me.

— Bulletin Board

This is a local coffee shop. Of course, there’s one.  Heck, even Starbucks has them.  The Fine Grind has theirs on the back wall between the bathrooms.  I saw that the first time I was here, but I found it awkward to peruse while people pee nearby.

— Spilled Drink

I didn’t expect to see this, but within five minutes of pulling out this game, a patron sloshes something on the floor.  It looks like water, but I feel rude staring at him.

— Meeting

There are no poster-board graphs or carpet swatches anywhere in here.   There’s no table of suits. There’s no cluster of notepad papers.  I bet some of these couples are in some sort of business meeting.  I glance at Briefcase Guy and wonder, can I count him twice?

— Rushed Patron

There’s one person walking deliberately to the door, so I count him.  He’s walking with a purpose not trudging along.

Now even the game is making me restless and bored.  I don’t think I can find the rest of the squares right now.  I can’t see outside the door, so I’m not sure there’s a Dog Waiting, another game square. This coffee shop is smooshed in a strip mall, not stretched on a quaint, tree-lined street among boutique stores, so I doubt I’d ever find one.  The woman at the high-top table against the wall, she may be dressed in All-Black Attire, again another game square, but I can’t tell if those are black pants or dark blue dress pants.

The other items I can’t find now are: Book; Menu Typo; Foreigners; Student; Latte Art; Goatee; Political Debate; Pastry Crumbs; and Artiste Glasses.

What I can’t wait to find is a friend to play this game with.

First Experience with Mass Effect: Andromeda

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Note:  There are spoilers in this article.

 

Being an avid fan of the Mass Effect series, I had been looking forward to Mass Effect: Andromeda for what seems like forever.  Enough so that I couldn’t resist purchasing the Super Deluxe Edition to get twenty weeks of bonus content for the multiplayer side game.  As with Resident Evil 7 and Dead Rising 4, I was certain that Mass Effect:  Andromeda would not run on the computer I have.  Even more so in this case, since my PC is an i3 with only 6 GB of RAM and Andromeda required an i7 with 16 GB.

I still had to try, if only to cash in on the multiplayer content, but my PC became the Little Engine That Could.  I watched in awe as the game not only booted up, but actually ran without crashing.  I launched the multiplayer to collect whatever booster packs were available – I got an ultra-rare combatant and some nice weaponry in the process – before delving into the main game.  The picture is very grainy and there are a few minor bugs here and there, but nothing that really ruins the overall experience for me.

The story for Mass Effect: Andromeda is fairly simple.  You are playing as Sara or Scott Ryder, the default names given to a set of twins at the core of the story.  No matter which twin you choose as your character, the other still has a role to play.  You are part of an expedition to build a new home for humanity in a galaxy far removed from the Milky Way.  Such a task proves to be a challenge when it’s discovered that an unforeseen calamity has rendered all potential “golden worlds” uninhabitable.  It has also left the space station hub meant to be a waystation for colonists in dire straits.

To make matters worse for Scott or Sara, their twin is rendered comatose and their father, the expedition’s leader\Pathfinder, is killed at the end of the game’s first mission.  The task of finding planets to colonize and thus save thousands of people aboard the space station falls on the shoulders of Scott or Sara.


One of the things I love about Mass Effect: Andromeda is the character customization.  For my first outing, I picked the female Ryder twin, who I renamed as Claire.  The look I chose for her also determined the appearance of her brother and father.  The notion of having a non-playable character’s look be established by what is chosen for the main character is a feature I’d previously seen used in Fallout 4; I really dig the concept and hope to see it utilized in many more video games to come.

My character, Claire, and her father.

Though I had some idea of what to expect from having watched Youtube videos of the opening, I still felt like a out of my element at times.  The first thing that took some getting used to was jumping, particularly over long distances.  The game didn’t offer very clear instructions on how to leap over the more dangerous chasms on the first planet you explore.  I had to resort to trial and error and a lot of failed attempts before I made it across.

The next hurdle was in navigating the terrain.  I got turned around a number of times and was going in circles since there isn’t much deviation in the landscape.  The occasional fights I got into added to my confusion on which way I should be heading.  It’s a wonder that I even made it to a spot on the map where the story would advance.

It took me some time to get through the first mission, but all my roaming still yielded some discoveries about the planet I hadn’t seen in the Youtube videos.  Some landmarks I stumbled across got me inclined to think that this world will be revisited at a later point in the story.

Despite my eagerness to start exploring the next world to potentially colonize, I spent a good deal of time wandering around the space station hub – the Nexus – to talk to people and complete side quests.  After roughly two and a half hours spent “goofing off”, I finally ventured to the area of the Nexus where my character’s personal starship, the Tempest, could be found.  I might not have the best quality picture for the game, but I thought the ship looked beautiful when I first saw it.  In some ways, it looks nicer than the Normandy from the original Mass Effect trilogy.

The game crashed when I initiated a conversation with the Tempest’s pilot, but so far that’s been the only instance where it did.  There was no recurrence of this when I tried it again, so I gleefully surged ahead into the next part of the story.

Exploring the desert planet, Eos, came with its own set of challenges.  Soon after making my way to the planet’s surface, I uncovered a ground vehicle that could make it easier to get from one location to another – unless you’re like me.  As I’ve learned from many other video games that came before, I suck terribly at driving.  This largely led to me spending a half hour doing donuts around the derelict outpost where I found the vehicle or attempting to get up a very small hill with little success.  Part of the trouble associated with the latter was I couldn’t figure out how to shift from four-wheel to six-wheel drive.

After gaining access to and exploring an entire underground vault, I decided to shut down the game for the time being.  Mass Effect: Andromeda was set up so the game could be downloaded at the same time it was running.  I was disappointed when I saw the download, though near finished, had inexplicably halted.  I couldn’t figure out how to get it going again, so chose to cancel and restart it.  This turned out to be a mistake when the download started over from the very beginning.  I was unable to continue my saved game or access the multiplayer side game until it reached a certain point.  My internet connection isn’t the best, so it took two days to pick up where I left off.

As soon as I was able, I accessed the multiplayer game to participate in a few skirmishes.  I had no trouble joining a four-person team, but the load time to start the actual fight was unbelievably long.  After waiting several minutes to join in on the skirmish, I got a message saying my internet connection had been lost.  I subsequently tried a solo run.  While that one did launch after an excessive load time, I quickly got swarmed by the enemy units I was up against.  If that experience taught me anything, it’s to not stay in one spot for the entirety of the fight.

When I was able to resume the main game, I went about establishing a military outpost on Eos to serve as the first successful human colony in the Andromeda galaxy.  I then journeyed to another planet called Aya, where I met with the peaceful alien race, the Angara.  Sadly, this is where my fun came to a screeching halt.  After I recruited an Angaran team member, the game went into an infinite loading screen.  I thought if I gave it enough time, I would be able to carry on with whatever adventure came next.  After waiting nearly four and a half hours, I decided I would have to call it quits.  It appears I will need a new computer if I want to play out the rest of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Until such time, I am determined to stay spoiler-free on what comes next in the story.  But the game has done such a good job setting up several mysteries with the antagonistic Kett alien race and the underground vaults built by an ancient species known as the Remnants that I will anxiously await the day where I get to see how the narrative plays out.   I can promise a continuation of my impressions of the game when that day comes.

©3/28/17