Avengers Alliance – Mobile Gaming Review

So, since we’re traveling soon, I was looking for some additions for mobile gaming for the trip. Free games are nice, as are pass-and-play games. There’s a new app for Pandemic, and we’ll have to report back about that later. There’s also pass-and-play for Ticket to Ride now, and more options now for Small World. So we’re excited for these.

A free one I had downloaded but not actually tried was Avengers Alliance. This game was originally on Facebook, it seems, and so has a massive in-game store. But I’ve played Infinity Blade, and had a friend playing it and when he bought gold, he was disappointed because all it did was decrease playability – the game is in the unlocking. So the store shouldn’t be an issue, right?

I’ve played a bit of this game over the weekend, and I want to tell you about it – and then I have to ask, have any of you played it? I could use some input. So if you play Avengers Alliance, in particular, read on and let me know!

Verdict: Ironside

So last week Ironside premiered on NBC last week, I being out of town did not get to check it out until this weekend so here is my look at Ironside. The basic premise is that there is a cop who is in a wheelchair who runs his own team and solves crime. The questions that definitely come up is how he ended up in a wheelchair and why he is still a cop. I was only slightly curious about the show to begin with, but was curious how they would handle a cop in a wheelchair.

The general thing about the first episode is it is not bad, but it does not do anything different. Blair Underwood does a fantastic job as the main character Robert T. Ironside who is a tough cop who is dealing with being a copy while dealing with the fact that he is paralyzed from the waist down. At the same time it does not bring in anything new to the genre to make it interesting enough to pull me away from my other crime shows. 

Bioshock Infinite and the Statute of Limitations

This hasn’t been a great year for me playing videogames. Been so busy, so many things going on (not least of which is Comparative Geeks…) that I have a number of games that are incomplete. I have mentioned my thoughts on Diablo 3, which Holly and I should beat here at some point soon on the console (which I have also reviewed). I wanted to get Dragon Age 2 beaten, but still have not moved past the decision point I wrote about before (plus, how much will my save game matter now?). I still need to beat Final Fantasy XIII-2, though like Dragon Age 2, I have seen the end because Holly beat it. I am close to beating Final Fantasy Dimensions, but still haven’t. KotOR I have reached the point where it’s more open-ended where I go… twice. Holly beat Portal 2 recently, and I still need to finish the single player for that.

Really just a lot on the table.

So what game have I been playing? I have finally been getting back to Bioshock Infinite and working on beating it, and the further I get, the harder it is to put down! I am glad I did pick it back up, because it is phenomenal. There’s so much to say about it!

Winner of over 80 awards… so it says on my preorder copy of the game. Those are awards they got before the game came out.

And yet, I don’t feel like I can. Every time I see someone start a conversation about Bioshock Infinite, they cut themselves off. They’ve been respectful of spoilers. And so I feel like I need to be too – because the game experience, unspoiled, is fantastic. So spoilers not ahead for Bioshock Infinite!

Science Fiction versus Fantasy

I have given a definition of both Science Fiction and Fantasy before, and I love both, so I care. If you look back at our Liebster Award nomination, I said that one of the more important things to me is Science Fiction being taken seriously. And I think I would happily include Fantasy in that as well. There are a lot of other causes out there, and things to be done – I’ve talked about Geeks and Charity as well – but the discussion about Science Fiction, and its place in thought, in learning, in the classroom… That seems like something I can influence a bit, right?

So recently we listened to George R.R. Martin on the Nerdist Podcast. And first off, if you like George R.R. Martin, it was a lot of fun. It was right after he destroyed the guitar (which we talked about before) at Comic Con. He talks Game of Thrones, and conventions, and writing, and, to the point here and now, he talks Science Fiction and Fantasy.

If part of the reason I like the quotes from Frank Herbert and J.R.R. Tolkien is because they are the fathers of the genres. However, George R.R. Martin is something of a current crown prince, or some other metaphor, in Fantasy. So what does he add to my thought? And where do we draw the lines?

Five Great Parts of Final Fantasy VIII

My theory is that most people’s favorite Final Fantasy game is the first one they played. In a lot of ways, this makes sense. Because the series is so self-referential, when you play a later game, the nostalgia you feel takes you back to that first Final Fantasy game you played.

My first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy VIII. It was also one of my first console games, back on the PlayStation. So for me, a lot of my expectations of other RPGs, other console games, and other Final Fantasy games, all go back to Final Fantasy VIII.

Found on http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VIII

Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite Final Fantasy game, but that’s something of a rare statement, and the game seems to get a bit of flak from gamers – or is simply ignored. But there are a lot of elements to this game which I love, and so I thought I would write a post in defense of Final Fantasy VIII. Rather than try to defend the plot or game system – which are the parts easiest to be emotionally attached to or turned off by – and instead look at some of the broader items that were interesting in the game.

So here’s my list of five great parts to Final Fantasy VIII!