The life of a pirate can be an appealing one at times…no responsibility, no one to answer to, and all the gold & adventure you can handle! “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, a cooperative board game seeking your help on Kickstarter, promises the latter in spades. Like the ever popular “Pandemic”, “Flash Point: Fire Rescue” and “Forbidden Island”, players will be racing to complete particular objectives while up against a ticking clock. In this case, you and your friends have already done the hard work of catching up to and shredding a ship full of the undead. It’s up to you to board it, take the treasure, and get out lest ye share a locker with Davy Jones.
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I generally shy away from tactical card games nowadays…not because I don’t find them appealing, but because I’m usually too busy to devote many hours to a single game. “Ruckus” breaks with that tradition, offering a tactical card game experience in under forty minutes, max. To sum this bad boy up, you and your opponents will be preparing a goblin army in an attempt to win skirmishes and earn victory points. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Michael Lubbers from Goblin Army Games for providing me with a free press copy. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because they are the same folks who developed “Monolith“.
My fourteen-year-old stepdaughter Carolyn introduced me to this game via an app for her mobile device. Don’t ask me if it was an iPhone, iPad, iTablet, iNook, or iCarly, because I couldn’t tell you. I’m getting too old for all that crap. All I know is that one night, my family was taking turns holding an electronic device up to their heads while everyone else shouted at them in strange accents. Being a gamer who enjoys a wide variety of genres helped me to determine that they weren’t all in need of a straight jacket. Rather, they were playing “Heads Up!”, a game featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. As I’m wont to do, I got curious and reached out to the developer for a press copy of the board game. Along those lines, I’d like to quickly thank Maria Aguilar from Spin Master Ltd. for providing me with one.
I’m taking a timeout here to blog about something I’ve seen on social media everywhere…the mass dumping of ice water on people’s heads in the name of ALS. This meme/fad originally started with Pro Golfer Chris Kennedy and his trainer, James Whatmore, when the latter was assigned to complete an ice bucket challenge and pass it on. The idea here was that you had to donate to charity should you fail to complete the challenge within twenty-four hours. This started a revolution that swept the nation, to the point where celebrities and other famous persons became involved. I’ll be honest, this idea is both ingenious and incredibly stupid. Just as a side note, I had originally titled this article as “Freezing your ass off for ALS”, but opted not to for SEO reasons.
Holy Early Access Batman…they just seem to keep coming! This time on “DGA’s Early Access Corner”, we’ll be featuring a few more promising up-and-comers that I’ve been gifted via their respective developers. It’s important to note that these are NOT reviews…rather, an overview as to what they currently offer.
It’s been about a year since I bought my Nikon D3100 and unfortunately, about that same length of time since I’ve last blogged. The title, as it suggests, is meant to address both issues. I’ve learned a LOT over the past year, though I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself an expert…at least, not yet. A year ago, it would have taken me a minute to play with the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings to get an ideal picture of whatever was before me. Now, adjusting these settings based on the current situation is almost second nature. If it’s really bright outside and I’m trying to take landscape photos, for example, I know to start with a shutter speed of 1/500-1/1000, maintain a low ISO, and go from there. Of course, a good photographer will be able to adjust these on the fly as the need arises…I think I’m at the point now where I can safely say that I’m there.
Greetings, fellow gamers! As you may have probably guessed, it’s time for another edition of “DGA’s Early Access Corner”. Like the previous article in this series, I’ll be taking a brief look at some of the Early Access games that I’ve been gifted by their respective developers. It’s important to stress that these are NOT reviews…rather, an overview as to what they currently offer.
The last episode left us in a rather dicey spot, though this seems to be the running theme with Telltale. My experiences with “Back to the Future: The Game” and “The Walking Dead: Season One” ended up much the same way…that is, I was chewing on my fingernails vigorously in between episodes because I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. It’s worth noting that this article will contain spoilers, so do NOT read further if you plan to play the game in the near future. If you haven’t played Season One by now, then may whatever gods you believe in have mercy on your soul…you don’t know what you’re missing!
Like “Scrabble”? How about “Dominoes”? If you said yes to either question, then you may want to pay attention as “Double Double Dominoes” is a blending of both games. Players will be tasked with placing their dominoes in “Domino” fashion on a game board reminiscent of “Scrabble”. Placing dominoes on point squares will net you a path up the victory point track, though you may also inadvertently cause your opponents to do the same…more on that later. Before we dive into this particular game, I’d like to thank both Ray Wehrs and Cassidy Werner from Calliope Games for providing me with a free press copy. Calliope Games are the same people who brought you “Tsuro“, “Tsuro of the Seas“, “Roll For It!“, “Got ‘Em!“, and “Ugh!“, for those of you who recognize the name.
Sometimes it pains me to only have one brain and ten fingers…there are just so many great “Early Access” games out there with tons of potential. Like the previous articles in this series, this is a quick look at the games I’ve been gifted via their respective developers. All of them are currently in an Alpha or Beta state (as of today’s posting), so this is less of an official review and more of a quick look at what they currently have to offer in their present state. Enjoy!
“Ugh!”, as best as I can describe it, is a press-you-luck set-making game with a caveman theme…I’ll give you a few seconds to process that. It’s not as complicated as it sounds, though it does offer players some interesting choices. Before we get into all of that though, I’d like to thank both Ray Wehrs and Cassidy Werner from Calliope Games for providing me with a free press copy. If the names sound familiar, it’s because Calliope Games are the same folks who brought you “Tsuro“, “Tsuro of the Seas“, “Roll For It!“, and the more recent “Got ‘Em!“.
I’ve been following “Yushino” ever since it was successfully funded through Kickstarter in September of 2013. In short, it’s “Scrabble” but with numbers. This crossword game will likewise test your math and number recognition skills as opposed to your spelling abilities. Originally, the developers wanted to name this game “Enable the Numbers”, but instead opted for a shorter name. Having used “Google Translate”, they came up with “Sūji o shiyō kanō ni” and took parts of it to come up with “Yushino”. I admittedly don’t speak Japanese, but the name is catchy enough. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Yiannis Tsiounis, the Founder & CEO of “Yushino”, for providing me with a free press copy.
Four different factions? The ability to customize each faction with units of your choosing? A customizable battlefield that offers a unique experience each time you play? Where do I sign up? “FACTIONS”, a game currently seeking your help on Kickstarter, promises all of these things and more. It’s like “Stratego”, but on seven different types of steroids. Your goal? Manuever your armies to capture key victory points on the battlefield all the while taking the battle to your opponent. Each faction/unit has unique abilities that will keep things fresh and exciting.
Wow, another DGA Early Access Corner article…these games just keep coming! Like the previous articles in this series, this is a quick look at the games I’ve been gifted via their respective developers. All of them are currently in an Alpha or Beta state (as of today’s posting), so this is less of an official review and more of a quick look at what they currently have to offer in their present state. Enjoy!
Elimination games can be hard to play with others sometimes, depending on the group. Those who hate losing or always feel like they’re being ganged up on can ruin the entire experience for everyone else. “Tsuro” is one of those rare games that my household will play on a regular basis, despite the fact that winning involves being the last one on the board. I think it has to do with the fact that you’re limited to placing tiles adjacent to your own pawn…if others happen to be affected by it, all the better. There’s a little of that in “Got ‘Em” as well, though it does tend to be a bit more aggressive. Before we take a brief look at what this game has to offer, I’d like to thank both Ray Wehrs and Cassidy Werner from Calliope Games for providing me with a free press copy. If the names sound familiar, it’s because Calliope Games are the same folks who created “Tsuro“, “Tsuro of the Seas“, and “Roll For It!“.
Steam’s Summer Sale has been both a boon and a curse in that my Steam library is practically exploding at the seams while my wallet is crying for me to fill it back up again. Normally I’d hold off on reviewing games I’ve personally bought in favor of those games I received for free from their respective developers, but this one was too different to pass up. This game, as best as I can describe it, is a twenty-minute murder mystery that you’ll be trying hard to solve. As the detective, it’ll be your job to visit locations, gather clues, and arrest the culprit before the time limit expires. If you made “Clue” into a single player video game (which has been done before) and added pixel art and a noir setting, you’d get “Noir Syndrome”.