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Scrolls

Right now, if you own a copy of Scrolls you can gift a copy to someone (until January 31). Big thanks to the person who gifted me the game, as I’d been wanting to try it out since its launch. It’s by Mojang (Minecraft), and is at its base a collectible card game, but the combat is done on a battlefield, and so positioning of the creatures you summon is important. I’ve played a couple of matches so far, and so far I’m really digging it. Too early to say if I prefer this over Hearthstone, although I think they’re different enough that you can really enjoy each for different reasons. Great presentation too. Of course, since I don’t do much gaming on my Mac, it’s something I would much rather be out for iPad, but I still plan on playing more of it.

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The Walking Dead: Season 2

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The first episode of Season 2 has just come out – thankfully on iOS at the same as all the other platforms this time – and I just played through it in one sitting (as you should). Wow. Just as good as the first season, and it already made me feel extreme sadness (the dog sequence) and made me wince (the suturing sequence). I’ve played through pretty much all of Telltale’s games that have come out over the past few years (Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Law & Order, Puzzle Agent), and am constantly amazed at how each new release keeps getting better and better. Just makes me that much more excited for next year’s Game of Thrones and Tales From of Borderlands games (on top of the next Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us episodes).

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Fringe

It’s taken me a long time to really get into this show, but man, it certainly has me now. I watched the first season after it first aired, and although by the end of it I was enjoying the overarching storyline, I stopped watching when season 2 started as it was back to monster-of-the-week episodes. I started watching it again a few months ago from the start with my wife – the first two seasons are on Hulu JP – and we quickly became quite addicted to it. This past weekend we finished the second season – with those mind-blowing 2 episodes at the end – and now I’m having a hell of a good time watching the third season. It’s just crazy how good this show got – talk about a slow burn. Can’t wait to see where all of this goes – and it’s great that it’s already all finished, so I can watch at my own pace (i.e. binge).

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The Walking Dead

I have a love-hate relationship with The Walking Dead TV series. At times I like it, at times I think it’s boring as shit. But I keep coming back – probably due to my continued love of the comics and the Telltale game – and in the end I’m glad I do. This past weekend I binged through what we have so far of the latest season (8 episodes), and the experience I’ve had in the past with the show continues – I thought the first half was pretty boring (dealing with sickness in the prison), but then when you-know-who showed up, things got incredibly good, and that final episode was absolutely riveting, and sets up a lot of big changes for the second half of the season. I will say that as much as I like seeing the Governor in the show, he’s never lived up to the absolutely terrifying figure that we saw in the comics.

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Arrow

I wasn’t particularly interested in checking out this show when it first started, thinking it was just cheesy, but a friend of mine kept saying how good it was, and so I finally decided to dig into the first season, and I must say, I’m having a lot of fun watching it so far. I’m 13 episodes in, and things keep getting more and more interesting – and I’m told that season 2 is even better. I also like that if you know the comics, you get hints based on character names, and they’ve been able to attract some great actors too, like Torchwood/Doctor Who’s John Barrowman and Spartacus‘ Manu Bennett. Sure, there are still cheesy elements in the show, but for the most part it’s nicely done, and the flashbacks to the island add suspense to the narrative.

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The Last of Us

I’d of course been wanting to play this along with everyone else, but hey, better late than never (and thank you Play-Asia for the great sales price). I’m about 5 hours in and it’s definitely as good as everyone has been saying. The outdoor environments are fantastic – despite the death and decay, the lush green overgrowth adds beauty to the surroundings. Also, same great acting and characters that you expect from a Naughty Dog game. Just makes me that much more excited for the Uncharted game we’ll get to play on the PS4 – although I do prefer the stealth combat of this game over the mindless shooting of the Uncharted series.

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Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD

I downloaded the Vita version of this recently as it was free for PS+ members (and I think it still is). I love the Oddworld games, but had never played this one because the Xbox is the only modern console I never owned. It’s certainly quite different from the platform puzzling you usually get in an Oddworld game, presented as a 3rd person actioner, with lots of zooming in to first-person to use your crazy-ass crossbow. I haven’t played much yet, so I’m still not sure if I’m really digging it or not – I find the controls to be a bit frustrating at times – but I do like revisiting this world, with the wacky touches you see throughout (like your ammo taking the form of tiny critters). But isn’t it about time we get a brand spanking new Oddworld game, not just another HD remake?

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Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

I started playing this earlier in the week – I recently grabbed it at the crazy sales price of $10 on the PSN Store – and boy am I loving it. I do still enjoy getting into a good JRPG every once in a while, and this feels like it’s going to scratch that itch perfectly. Ghibli fan that I am, I’m of course digging the Ghibli touches in this, from the character designs all the way to the lovely animated cut scenes that pop up every once in a while. The combat is also interesting – a bit more involved than simple menu selections – and some of the boss battles so far have already been challenging. As for the graphics, sure, it’s not what I now want from PS4-era games, but for something on the PS3 it looks lovely, and I especially love the way the world is rendered, with an almost painted quality. I also love the way your magic tome is presented, with beautifully designed and illustrated pages that you zoom in to read, giving you info on all aspects of the world, as well as offering up some fun fables. I’m only about 5 hours in, but so far this feels like it should have gotten way more attention that it did.

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Hearthstone

I never thought I’d get into this damn beta, but lo and behold, early last week I received my beta key, and so was able to give it a try. I was really excited to play this, and have to say that they’ve done a really fantastic job of creating a card game for the digital world – meaning, you’re not stuck with the issues affecting bringing Magic: The Gathering to digital, mostly when it comes to having to wait for another player to react to your plays. And it sure looks good, with really wonderful sound design too – I crack up every single time I hear “job’s done” at the end of a turn. I really can’t wait for the iPad version of this to come out though, because that’s how I really want to play this game.

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Grid 2

I played this for the first time this morning – it’s currently free if you’re a PlayStation Plus member – and man, was I ever having trouble driving, probably due to the fact that all my racing of late has been in Need for Speed Rivals, which is very arcade-y in the way it plays. Here, it’s more sim-like, but not to the extent that Forza or Gran Turismo is, so I’m having trouble finding the balance between speed and taking it easy on curves and tight corners. It also felt really shitty to play the opening race of the game – it just throws you in immediately on start – and after having a miserable run and coming in dead last, being told I was amazing. I now have a better handle on things though, and have won some races. This is my first Grid experience, but I’m a big fan of Codemasters’ Dirt series. Graphics look good too, although now that I’m playing racing games on PS4, it just can’t compete.