Posted on October 31st, 2007 by Nathan
Filed under: Personal Blog | 1 Comment »

Talisman is kinda like the Game of Life, but with wizards n’ shit. You roll the dice, you go left or right. Every once in a while, you have a decision to make, but not often. It takes forever to play, and eventually you get a bad roll and get set way back.

Despite that, I was unable to resist buying a copy of the recently-released 4th edition. It might be because it’s one of those titles I played when I first got into hobby gaming, or it might be because there’s really a pretty fun game when I and others are in the right mood. It might be because previous editions went for absurdly high prices on Ebay, and I just want it in my collection.

Maybe I’m just not-smart.

Posted on October 28th, 2007 by Nathan
Filed under: Commentary, Personal Blog | No Comments »

I miss you, weighted companion cube.

Posted on October 17th, 2007 by Nathan
Filed under: Commentary | No Comments »

I could write a longer review, but on a game this hyped, this covered, it’s hard to say that I’d be adding much. Halo 3 is probably the most competent shooter released this year. The controls are tight, the set pieces are exciting, and the difficulty curve is about right.

It’s also totally on rails, which isn’t bad by itself, but the level design emphasizes it (Why is everything on a coastline or in a canyon?) The enemies average out to boring, with Grunts being entertaining and the Flood being infuriating.

The single-player portion of Halo 3, at least, is coolly uninspired. It does nothing new, but it does old things very well. This article at Wired describes the research that went into designing the game for its audience. In discovering what the average gamer likes, they’ve made an excellently average game.

I haven’t played the multiplayer much. I intend to, but with the full version of Team Fortress 2 releasing this week, we’ll see what happens.

Posted on October 7th, 2007 by Nathan
Filed under: Commentary | No Comments »