Monument Valley, USA
16 Feb 05
Comments Off on Monument Valley, USA
Early morning fog over Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona, USA.
Boardgame Review: Doom
16 Feb 05
Comments Off on Boardgame Review: Doom
Anyone who has any interest in the history of computer games has heard of Doom, the game that arguably kicked off the craze for first-person shooters. Recently Doom 3 was released to great fanfare (and sales).
But for those of us who prefer our sci-fi demon killing mayhem in good old-fashioned boardgame form—more sociable, more fun, less stress—Fantasy Flight Games have released Doom: The Boardgame. If you’ve ever played and enjoyed such games as Space Hulk or Advanced Space Crusade you’ll be in familiar territory with Doom. Your marines explore the corridors of a dark, bloodstained complex, fighting off all manner of huge ugly beasties with an array of satisfyingly effective weaponry.
FFG have pulled out the proverbial stops with this game, and it shows. The big box is chock full of corridor and room sections, beautifully illustrated and printed on thick, hard wearing card. There are 66—count them, 66—figures with which to fight your battles, nicely modelled in plastic and some of them huge. Prepare to use hot water to flatten the bases of these figures as the plastic is somewhat bendy. If you enjoy painting your miniatures there’s plenty to keep you occupied here, but even a few simple coats of paint and some dark washes will improve the look of your games immeasureably. Finally, numerous counters, cards and reference sheets fill out the box. This is definitely one of the more satisying ‘rip off the shrink wrap and rummage happily through your new game’ moments I’ve had for a while!
The gameplay lives up to the quality of the components; Doom is a pleasure to play. The games can last a bit long—our last game clocked in at about five hours—but without the ‘game fatigue’ that usually results, thanks to the easy and enjoyable mechanics. Each game is scenario-based (hopefully FFG will make more available soon), with the creature player setting out the board pieces, opponents and pick-ups as the marines discover them, along with ‘spawning’ extra creatures with the play of cards. Some reviews have concluded it’s too difficult for the marine player(s) to win, but I’ve found the game balance to be about right; and FFG have recently made available a downloadable expansion that allows players to set the difficulty level.
Doom is a lavishly produced, highly enjoyable game that fans of the 80s ‘big box’ games like Space Hulk and Heroquest will especially love. And it may even bring a few trigger happy video game players into the world of boardgaming.
Four and a half BFGs out of five.
Don’t forget to check out my Doom Rules Summary and Reference Sheet here.
TV Review: Battlestar Galactica
14 Feb 05
With the spate of ‘re-imagining’ going on these days, it’s the luck of the draw whether your childhood memories are going to be skewered through the heart or not. They blew it with Lost in Space (though I hear there’s a new pilot, directed by John Woo and written by Doug Petrie of Buffy), but, while Battlestar Galactica never held as great a place in my sub-teen heart, this time they’re right on the money. The new four-hour pilot held me spellbound from start to finish.
Despite the public complaints of a few oldies like Richard Hatch (Captain Apollo from the original series—since mollified by a role in the new series), Battlestar Galactica goes back to the start of the ‘saga’ and turns a pretty wimpy premise into a hard-hitting, gritty, modern sci-fi drama. The characters are real, the script doesn’t hold your hand and treat you like an idiot, and there’s an excellent balance of human drama and gung-ho action. Executive Producer Ron Moore gives a few respectful nods to the original series and then takes it to a new level of sophistication.
Commander Adama is played with stoic, battered intensity by Edward James Olmos (of origami-folding Blade Runner detective fame). In one scene we see him fighting hand-to-hand, but no fancy martial arts moves here; the scene is shockingly effective in it’s violent realism as he desperately struggles to win. Far from squeaky clean ‘models in space’, the characters are fallible (an alcoholic second-in-command) and interesting (the newly appointed president dealing with responsibility and newly-diagnosed cancer), and scenes don’t always play out the way you expect. Changing Starbuck to a woman was a masterstroke, as was upping the level of intensity to make her abrasive and confrontational rather than just cheeky.
The effects by Zoic Studios are stunning. They pioneered this kind of ‘hand-held in space’ camera work on the sadly short-lived Firefly, and there’s no doubt they are doing the best and most original effects work out there right now. Unlike Firefly, there is sound in space this time, but cleverly the sound is ‘compressed’ for the space scenes, an effect like listening to loud noises through earplugs, which gives us an eerie, spacious counterpoise to the action.
I’m looking forward to the start of the mini-series in a week’s time—here’s hoping they can keep the quality at this high level.
Four rag-tag heroes out of five.
Live Music review: The Shins
10 Feb 05
Comments Off on Live Music review: The Shins
My girlfriend has The Shins CD Chutes Too Narrow and I’d given it a perfunctory listen, but was a bit turned off by the lead singer tending to strain at the top of his register, and also some strange impression I’d formed of him being some annoying West US coast surfer with a backing band … god knows where I got that from—I certainly couldn’t have been more wrong. This bunch of incredibly likeable lads from Portland, Ohio, put on a fantastic show at the Metro in Sydney last week. Supported ably by our own ’78 Saab, whose crisp rock show left me wanting more, The Shins were fun, entertaining, and obviously having a great time. Not surprising considering their last show down here was at the Gaelic Club, a venue about a fifth of the size, and this time they’d sold out the Metro with a crowd that was going crazy.
Singer/songwriter James Mercer’s voice comes off better live, but centre stage was occupied by the grinning keyboard/guitar player, who did most of the talking and was infectiously happy—”Do that thing you do James!”. Mercer was no doubt fully occupied by playing the guitar and getting out his poetic, bizarre and very convoluted lyrics to reply. Also worthy of mention were the snappy, interesting rhythms that came out of a big drummer with a surprisingly light touch. This is complex, interesting pop (in the old sense of the word) played with great confidence and fun.
Four planes flying into the sea out of five.
Boardgame Review: Heroscape
07 Feb 05
What a great sound: a handful of dice being thrown across a plastic board. That’s not the only thing that brings back vivid memories of childhood when you play Heroscape, the new return to ye olde days of big games with lots of plastic components from Hasbro. Sure, open that big brightly coloured box, see all the plastic bits and you might think we’re starting to cross over that nebulous line between game and toy here, but the important thing is, is it fun? You bet it is. If you used to play miniatures games but rapidly got sick of spending valuable game time reading all those intricate rules, mucking about with tape measures, and painting figures, then this is the game for you.
Heroscape comes in a big flimsy box bursting with plastic bits. You make up your board from snap-together 3D plastic hexes that come in a variety of types: grass, rock, sand and transparent blue water tiles. Choose your armies using one of the scenarios supplied or use the simple points system, and have at it! The figures are good quality and well-painted (though I shudder to think of the Chinese sweatshop where this is being made … someone out there is painting just the sword on a samurai figure then passing it to the worker on her left) and best of all, ready to fight.
There are Basic and ‘Master’ rules, but go straight to the easy-to-learn Master rules. There’s nothing new here; it’s roll for initiative, move, and attack, but simplicity is what makes Heroscape such a blast to play. The combat system is spot on: the attacker rolls a bunch of red dice and the defender rolls blue; every Shield on a blue dice blocks a Skull on a red dice; those that get through cause a Wound. This makes for a lot of enjoyable head-to-head dice rolling. Special abilities for different figures mix things up a bit.
Our first game was a fast and furious battle that came down to a close fight between our last two figures; and if you don’t enjoy a slug-a-thon between a WWII paratrooper commander and a robot that looks like it wandered off an episode of Dr Who, you’re not going to enjoy this game. Yep, the background rationale is flimsy—warriors gathering in Valhalla to slug it out over some mystical Wellsprings—but that’s not what this game is about. Hasbro are onto a winner with Heroscape’s flexibility and expansion potential, and the inevitable extra figures are already hitting the shelves.
You’ll find my Heroscape rules summary sheet in the Freebies section.
The perfect ‘beer-and-pretzels’ wargame. Four and a half plastic hexes out of five.
San Gimignano
06 Feb 05
Comments Off on San Gimignano
Rooftop panarama of San Gimignano. Tuscay, Italy.
Film Review: Sideways
06 Feb 05
Comments Off on Film Review: Sideways
I read an article in the paper recently that there was no history of exploring male friendship in cinema, citing the storm and bluster of films such as Top Gun as examples of the kind of competitiveness that infuses male relationships on the screen. Maybe, but for an example of real male friendship, look no further than Sideways.
The latest film from the director of Election and About Schmidt, Alexander Payne, is about Milo (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Hayden Church), on a week’s holiday in Californian wine country to celebrate Jack’s impending marriage. Milo, wine connoisseur currently on depression medication, is still grappling with his divorce of two years ago, and Jack, slightly has-been TV and commercial voice-over actor, is determined to get laid (as many times as possible) before he gets married. In between drinking a lot of wine, they meet Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Maya (Virginia Madsen).
Beyond the clichés (men only talk about sports, men don’t express their feelings for each other etc) men have friendships every bit as emotionally complex as women. It’s just we don’t often see them explored on the screen in as real a way, and with such subtlety, as this. Milo and Jack are flawed, but very real people, and there are times during the film when we don’t really like them. Milo is depressed, drinks too much, and can’t move on emotionally from his wife; and Jack is like a middle-aged man with all the enthusiasm and emotional immaturity of a kid.
There are many moments here I recognised from my own life and friendships. Payne is making great films because these people and characters are so recognisable, and like life, the situations they get into and the choices they make aren’t neat and packaged and end happily every after. We recognise life as the struggle it often is, but then are reminded of our opportunities to see and appreciate the simple beauty in the everyday. With wine, you can swig it down or you can linger over every mouthful and examine every nuance—the trick is not to drink the same way all the time.
The acting in Sideways is effortless and the chemistry between these players a delight, especially between Giametti and Madsen, whose moment together out on Stephanie’s porch was so real it made me hold my breath. Like a fine wine, there are many layers of complexity to enjoy.
Four and a half pinot noirs out of five. And remember—don’t drink and dial, kids.
Graffiti, Taylor Square, Sydney.Doin’ the iPod Shuffle
31 Jan 05
Comments Off on Doin’ the iPod Shuffle
I’ve been casting a covetous eye on my girlfriend’s iPod mini, so when we dropped into our local AppleCentre this weekend (so she could get the mini’s malfunctioning battery repaired, ironically) I couldn’t resist snapping up a new iPod shuffle.
Now—mwha ha haa—the tables have turned. She thinks the shuffle is exactly what she was looking for in the first place.
Let’s face it, at AUD$149 this one’s a no-brainer. The thing is unbelievably small and light, it recharges from your USB port, you can set up playlists in iTunes for any occasion —about 120 songs worth—and despite the catchline you can play your songs in random order and in order. Like so many others, I’m hooked on random playback; you sometimes segue from one song to another in beautiful ways. Did I mention how small and light it is? Man, this is the best thing Apple’s made since the Newton (hey, I loved my Newton!)
The best thing about that visit to the AppleCentre was however, I actually found myself waiting for my girlfriend to finish looking around. Wow … and she was a PC user up until a few weeks ago.
Things I don’t get
30 Jan 05
I don’t get men who were their floppy polo neck shirt collars up. I don’t get gangsta rap. I don’t get people who name Dirty Dancing as their favourite film. Or George W. Bush supporters. Or people who think the world was made in 7 days and is only 6,000 years old. I don’t get very overweight girls who wear really tight midriff tops; guys who drive around in bright yellow ‘modified’ cars playing loud doof-doof-doof music; shops that use price stickers that don’t come off; property developers; those trucks and bikes with advertising signs attached to them that drive around the city; skywriters; fundamentalist Christians; people who only read magazines and not books; people who borrow books and don’t return them; people who talk really loudly in restaurants; parents who think that ignoring their kid when it has a public tantrum is good parenting; fluffy toys on car dashboards; Oprah Winfrey; Starbucks coffee drinkers; people who don’t drink any form of alcohol just because they got pissed on Southern Comfort and threw up once when they were 15; Australian Idol; water features; greed; waiters who think being rude to you will somehow put them above you even though they would get much more respect by doing their job well; pokie machines; nightclub bouncers; people who buy a house next to a pub that’s been there for twenty years and then complain so much about the noise that the pub has to close; the bullshit sincerity of late night infomercials; and the fashion for pastel T shirts with bad graphics that look as though they all came out of the same factory. I don’t get forcing your beliefs on others. Or people who talk in cinemas.
What do you not get?
Recent Comments