More than Meets the Eye - A Review of Love Letter

Love Letter, designed by Seiji Kanai and published by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG), is one of the biggest surprises to hit my gaming table...I was going to write, "in a while" but I'm instead going to write, "possibly ever"...so, possibly ever.  It is game number four in the Tempest Shared World Game Series, a collection of games whose locations and characters are part of the same created universe, supports 2-4 players, and plays in around 20 min.

The object of Love Letter is to get your letter to the Princess Annette while stopping your opponents from doing the same.  The entire game consists of a rule book, thirteen or so little wooden cubes used for score keeping, and 20 cards (16 game cards and 4 reference cards), all of which fit nicely inside a pretty little red pouch.

That's it.

Here's how you play:  In a two player game, you shuffle the cards, remove the top card from the deck face down, and flip over the top three cards face up so both players can see them.  Then you deal each player one card.  In a 3-4 player game, you skip the step where you flip over the top three cards face up.  Then each player is dealt a card, play moves to the left, and on your turn you draw a card, play a card.  You earn points by having the highest card in your hand when the draw pile runs out, or by being the last player standing in the round.  In a two player game you are trying to earn seven VP (red cubes), three/five, four/four.

That's it.

Doesn't sound like much, I know, but you need only play a few rounds before it's clear that there is more to this game than meets the eye.  Each character has a unique power, e.g. the Priest who allows you to peek at another players hand, or the King, which lets you switch hands with a player, and the way the cards interact is so interesting that players always feel like their decisions matter and constantly keeps them engaged.

Here's an actual example of part of a round I played recently:

My opponent played the Priest on me, which forced me to reveal that I had the Princess card in my hand, the highest number card in the game but her power forces the owner to lose if they ever discard her.  On my opponents next turn she played the King, which forced me to switch hands with her.  I ended up with a lower numbered card and she took the Princess from my hand.  Victory for her, right?  Nope.  On my next turn I drew a Prince card.  The Prince's power is to force an opponent to discard  their hand and draw a new one. Guess which opponent I chose?  In three rounds my opponent went from a mediocre hand to holding the top card in the game to eliminated.  This type of topsy turvy game play happens all the time, and it creates a great balance between strategy and luck.

I have played this game as both a two player and a four player game, and both have been tons of fun, although I think the game works better as a 3-4 player game because you have more options.  As an example, the Guard lets you guess another players hand and, if you guess correctly, you eliminate that player from the round.  In a two player game I guess the hand of the person sitting across from me.  Whom do I choose in a four player game?  The person I think is going to win that round?  The person currently in the VP lead?  The person who eliminated me last round?  Three and four player games let the card powers play off of each other and create dynamics that the two player game simply doesn't (at least not as often).  That being said, this game still plays really well with two players and I wouldn't hesitate for an instant to do so.

So there you have it.  Love Letter, which will probably set you back around $10 (totally worth it) or if you are buying a game online you may be able to tack it on for cheaper than $10 without paying extra shipping (that's what I did, sorry FLGS), is fast, easy (to learn and play, not win), and tons of fun. Worth every penny and then some.

Side note:  I don't normally sleeve my cards, but there are so few of them in this game and they all get handled all the time, so I am going to do so.  You may want to as well.

The Waking: A Tale of Two Mindsets

I was at Boston Comicon a few weeks ago and I picked up a copy of "The Waking" because I had read the first issue before, enjoyed it, and the reviews on the TPB were pretty good touting intelligence, a fresh new twist on the zombie story, a book that will have you on the edge of your seat, etc.  I can see that.  But I can also see this is a book published by Zenescope.  Yeah.  Cover time...

There is a cool concept here, and I'm pretty much going to tell you what it is, so *Spoiler Alert* I guess.  Basically, this little girl, the one on the cover, was killed and the murderer got away with it.  So the dad gets really sad, and starts to hate a lot, so people who were killed come back from the dead to kill their killers.  Apparently murder victims can never be at rest because of the harm done to them, but if they kill their killers, they will be.  But here's the thing, once the zombie kills the person it has come back for, it dies...like for reals.  So daddy doesn't want his little girl to kill the man who murdered her because he doesn't want her to die again.  He figures he'll just bring back everyone who was murdered and one of them will eventually get the guy who killed his daughter, but since she didn't do the killing she won't die herself, and they can be together.

Not a bad idea, I suppose, for a guy who can bring the dead back to life because he's sad, but if you think about it, doesn't that mean his daughter, murdered, will never find peace?  Maybe, but the topic was never addressed.  Other topics were however, but not with much enthusiasm or depth.  The obvious question is whether or not the police detectives, who serve as the protagonists of the story, should try and stop the zombies?  The line of questioning could serve to open the way for some pretty meaningful dialogue on justice, responsibility, the natural order of things, etc., but instead is summed up in about two panels.

Panel 1:  Female cop says, "I don't want to stop them because they're right." (Referring to the zombies...also, I'm paraphrasing.)
Panel 2: Male cop says, "Yeah, but it's our job." (Paraphrasing.)

And then boobs.

"Where did that come from?" you may be asking yourself. But remember, it's Zenescope, so take a great idea and the possibility to really tackle some issues, but imagine that idea was thought up by a fourteen year old boy.  So they let you know that the deep ideas, the good stuff, is there, but then the time and panel space needed to have any kind of meaningful discussion is instead replaced with a detective complaining about too much sex with his nympho wife (because there's plenty of that in this book...complaining, I mean) and shots of his wife naked in the shower...which really progress the story...yup.

There's other stuff too, like how we have four detectives as main characters, three males, one female.  The guys are all in dress shirts, ties, trench coats, typical city detective garb.  Our female detective, on the other hand, wears skin tight jeans and a top that is designed to expose massive amounts of cleavage...you know, the stuff professional women wear to work.  Not to mention that some of the dialogue comes across like it was written by a kid in high school who thinks it's a sign of maturity that he can make sex jokes with girls, while everyone over the age of eighteen lets out a heavy sigh, and everyone in the workplace files sexual harassment claims...

In the end, not to sound like a broken record, but it did come across as if there were two writers; one who thought of a cool idea and wanted to discuss some interesting ideas in an artful way, and the second who works for Zenescope and had to have boobs in a comic...cuz boobs are cool.  So, worth the $12.99 asking price?  Ummmm....I dunno...it's a cool stepping stone to some interesting conversation, but really, if you just read this review...I think you're set.  I will tell you this though, the TPB contains issues #1-4, and is a self contained, full story in it's own right.  The guy at the booth who sold it to me (discounted for the Con) said they're making more and the next TPB issue will be coming out...eventually.  I probably won't be picking that one up.

Dark Rain: A Review

I picked up Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story when I found it on sale at Borders not too long before they closed their doors for good.  I heard awesome things about it, and the book jacket was covered front to back, top to bottom in praises of the work Mat Johnson and Simon Gane put together.  Now I've read the book myself, and the feeling it left me with, when all was said and done, could best be described as, "meh."

Okay, first I want to talk aesthetics.  My copy of the book is gorgeous.  The book itself hardcover with the title of the book and Vertigo pressed into the cover.  The jacket is amazing too.  Nessim Higson and Daymon Gardner did an amazing job with it.  The image of the house in the flood, the map of New Orleans, glossy and textured over the house image, and the image of the man on the back, looking to the heavens as the sun sets (rises?) are all beautiful and eye catching.  The picture on the internet doesn't do it justice, you really need to see it for yourself.

As for the inside of the book.  The artwork is fine.  Simon Gane chose to use a lot of muted blues, greys, and blacks to set the mood of New Orleans just after Katrina.  It's dark. It's stormy.  People are sad, lost and there isn't much hope to go around.  The characters are expressive, and Gane is really good at showing the emotion, the turmoil of the characters involved. 

If I have a problem with the artwork it's that the backgrounds aren't very detailed.  Look passed the characters, the action, and you're going to see blank sheets of blue, black, and grey.  It's fine for the overall look of the book but sometimes I was looking for more.  It may have been done to keep the attention on the characters themselves, but Gane is so good with his expressions and actions I don't think it necessary.  The characters would hold up on there own.  Show me some of New Orleans.  Although, I have to admit, when there were backgrounds, such as a city under water or a couple of bodies floating in the water, they packed a punch.  Maybe that was the whole point; limit the use of detail so that the detail we get hits us harder.  I don't know.  You'd have to ask Gane.

As for the writing, I don't want to give away anything, so I'm not going to really get into the plot, but I have to tell you, when Johnson has a point he wants to get across, he does it with all the subtlety of a nine pound hammer.  It isn't necessarily bad, but I've seen it all before.  Our hero isn't really a bad guy, just a regular guy who made some mistakes.  Really though, he's got a heart of gold.  When he isn't stealing from other people.   The "scary black guys" with backwards hats and backpacks aren't bad guys.  They're the one's handing out food and water.  Like we didn't see that coming four panels away.  And then there are lines like:
"Governments just leaving them to die because they're black.  Most of 'em."
"No.  Because we're poor, black, and never vote Republican."

Not to say there weren't some touching moments.  One scene that got me in particular was of  a mother holding her infant child that had recently passed; knowing it, but trying her best to avoid dealing with it.

At the end of the day I'm not sorry I read the book, but really, if the chance came again, knowing what I know now, would I still buy it.  I'm not sure that I would.  The book has some talking points, I'll give it that, but it doesn't go out of the way to reveal anything we didn't already know, nor does it help itself with statements like the one I mentioned above.  I guess in the end I'll say this, if you can pick it up for $5-$10, it might be worth the time and money.  But for the $24.99 asking price on the book cover?  I'll pass.

It's Been a While

Moved to Laconia from Concord...it's better, still isn't the Apple.  What are you going to do?  I had a reading for my short story "Live Free or Die, Die, Die!" a few weeks back.  There is another one this Friday, Nov. 4, in Manchester.  I'll have to look up where...

Yesterday I dropped the dog off at day care and drove down to Sommerville, MA to take the Phase I test for the FBI to become a special agent.  I'm happy to report that I passed the test and will be contacted soon about moving on, meet and greets, interviews, etc.

I discovered a scar on my arm today that I didn't know I had, maybe an inch above the wrist.

Sommerville, I think that's how you spell it, I'm not going to bother to look it up, seems like a decent place for a college with a cool little downtown area, but driving in and out was such a pain.  Also, the building I was looking for was the end of the street because the street changed names three times in less than a hundred yards.  Who thinks that's a good idea?  It was a good thing I showed up earl for my test because I spent all that extra time just trying to find the building.

I have a training session for my new job today, from 2-9, then I start tomorrow from 8:30-1 as a telemarketer.  Because that's what all lawyer's really aspire to be, telemarketers.  I honestly don't know if I'm going to be good at it.  They want a positive, upbeat attitude all the time.  It's about energy, Energy, ENERGY!!! and I'm...not.  But whatever, I'm going to try it because I need some form of income, even if they don't provide health insurance.

I don't want to work Saturday's...

Occupy Movement

I've been reading a lot about the Occupy movement that started in New York.  Apparently it is spreading and there is now an Occupy Boston, LA, Chicago.

I've also been reading this website (http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/) and I recommend checking it out.  Some of the stories are heartbreaking, and unfortunately, all to easy to relate too.

Also, I found out there is an Occupy Albany campaign that I think I will look into.  One of my old college roommates, who lives in Albany now, is already there.  The next general assembly meeting is 5 o'clock on Sunday, October 9.

If you're interested in any of this, check out the following sites, as well as the one I mentioned above:

http://occupywallst.org/
http://occupywallst.org/http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Albany-NY/208683202530917

Here's my Money, Now Where's the Rest of my Game?

In a recent interview Witcher 2 developer Adam Badowski told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that he didn't like to see "gamers treated like dairy cows."  What he's talking about is DLC, and to an extent, I kind of agree with him.

I'm not against DLC at all.  I think it's a great way to add something new to a game and get people back into it.  But Badowski is talking about studios that are, to keep with the cow metaphor, milking every dollar out of their fans to the point where sometimes players are having to pay around $80 to get the full game.

Not always a bad thing. For example, Fallout 3 released four new missions after the game had been on shelves for a while, allowing characters to reach higher levels, explore new areas on and above the Capital Wastelands, and giving players a reason to jump back on a game they probably already devoted way too many hours too.  But the added material was new, something developed after the release of the initial game, the genuine article.

On the other hand there's L.A.Noire.  I loved L.A. Noire, but before the game even came out it was common knowledge that some cases, for whatever reason, had been cut from initial release and would not be on any of the three disks that came with the game.  That was in May.  Not long after that I checked on Live and there were 4 new missions to do, none of which, of course, were free to download.  Now there is a "Complete" version of L.A. Noire coming out this November.  That's six months later.  See, this is where we have a problem...cutting material out of a game so you can sell it to me later is just grimy.

Don't even get me started on Marvel v. Capcom 3 vs. Ultimate Marvel v. Capcom 3.  While I didn't purchase MvC3, I would be pretty upset if I had.

But I guess what it comes down too is DLC, at least in my eyes, was supposed to be a way to add a new aspect of a game that may have already been played out otherwise.  More and more, however, it seems DLC is being used by studios as a way to drain you of your hard earned cash, holding back on giving you what should be included in the initial release in order to drain you of more of your hard earned cash later.  To me, that's a misuse of DLC.

Just a Thought on Bullying

I don't know if this is true.  It's just a theory.

In high school I saw first hand the difference a good principal and leader can make.  My first year at the school I got a 97 average the first quarter.  The second quarter I was walking down the hall and the principal said hi to the kids who were in trouble all the time and had no idea who I was.  For three years I watched as students would be sent to the office only to be sent back to the classroom.  Nothing got better.

My sophomore year Br. Paul Beaudin became principal.  Now when students were sent to the office they had a good chance of being sent home, sometimes for good.  It was a private school and Br. Paul had the luxury of expelling troublemakers.  I saw a lot of kids who had been trouble in the past turn themselves around.  The whole school was better for it.

But it got me thinking about schools where the principal doesn't have that luxury.  Where did the troublemakers go?  On top of that I heard stories about parents defending their kids bad behavior, and from an outsiders perspective, it seemed as if the public schools in the area were edging more and more towards a climate in which teachers were afraid to discipline students for fear of being disciplined themselves.  Eventually, it wouldn't be worth it, and the inmates, as the saying goes, would be running the prison.

Granted I come from Schenctady school district, and not too far from that is Albany, a school that  counts stabbings the way other schools count missed homework assignments, so my perspective of the public school system is a bit skewed.

Now there is a national outcry to stop bullying.  Has bullying gotten worse in the past few years?  I don't know, I'm not in school, but I do know this, at least when I was a kid I got to go home at the end of the day and what I didn't have to see was a bunch of nasty comments on my Facebook page.  Not everyone today has that luxury.

But that isn't really the point.  I don't think Facebook is to blame.  So who is?  Well, I already said it: The inmates are running the show.  Teachers aren't just supposed to discipline students, they are supposed to protect them, but the two often go hand in hand.  How is a teacher supposed to protect one student when he or she can't discipline another?

You want to stop bullying, or at least reduce it because kids are kids and some bullying is going to happen, but if you want to stop serious bullying then the schools need to stop pandering to the bad kids and even more so the bad parents and give the teachers back their power.  Administrations need to step up or things are never going to get better.

But like I said, just a theory.