Injustice 1 & 2

Its DC fighting time!

This fighting game is like Street Fighter, except with characters from the DC roster such as Superman, who has become a ruthless dictator, and Batman who is running the insurgency against the Kryptonian. In the second game, Braniac comes along to mess with things but in both cases the stories start and end strong but have lots of "filler" in the middle, looking for any excuse to fit as many one on one fights as they can. 

The graphics and controls are ok (though both are improved in the second game) but some of the fighting stances are strange and the power hits make for hilarious moments where someone like Catwoman can single kick an opponent like Doomsday UP and THROUGH multiple floors of a building! Or even, Catwoman can just face tank punches from Superman. Things like that.

Outside the story the first game has an interesting STAR Labs trial mode which challenges you with various game play modes and/or outright unfair situations. The second game drops this in exchange for a leveling and loot end game system which is basically a stock standard series of fights. That's maybe the only part the first game did better for me. Anyway, if you like DC characters and want to watch them pummel each other silly then these games are right up your alley. 

Ranking of Kings

An anime with excellent characters.

This currently two season anime adventure series follows the little prince Bojji who dreams to become a great king like his heroic father, but has some huge obstacles in his way the least of which being that he is small, weak and deaf. The art style is a simple one which lends itself to the child's tale but there are a number of great action sequences and even more great emotional moments in this fantastic story which gives even the side characters little arcs and goes to great lengths to show that no one is one hundred percent bad... or good. Absolutely fantastic series and one I highly, highly recommend!

Alas the second season, titled "The Treasure Chest of Courage" is a collection of short stories that take place in between various episodes of the first season. While it is very fun to have more screen time with these characters, it's structure alone makes it difficult for it to compete with the excellence of season one. Still worth a try if you get into it. 

Gris

Unlocking the rainbow. 

In this beautiful puzzle platformer game you play a woman going through some severe sadness, and while I'm not too keen on the art for the main character herself - the rest of the game is super beautiful and gets more so as you progress through it. This is because her world starts out very empty and as you progress you unlock more and more colors to fill the palette fully. 

It helps that there's some good music too and that the actual game itself isn't in the "too hard" category with simple controls and a gradual unlocking of movement abilities. It's actually easier than (non-challenge mode) Celeste especially as you can't actually die. Thumbs up!

Day of the Jackal

This currently one season series follows a professional assassin "aka the Jackal" (played by Eddie Redmayne) and the law enforcement personnel out to get him. There's a good amount of killing here and an OK story to boot. I especially enjoy the "random NPCs" (or small part characters) being so on the ball for a change, keeping the Jackal constantly off balance.

In this telling the Jackal is also not "flawless" (in this version) as he gets caught up in day dreams, worrying about his family and the like which is fine as it puts him in action sequences more frequently. I did not like the main cop pursuer though. Not sure if it was the acting or if they part should have been written better, but I was backing the Jackal the whole way. I'm looking forward to what season two has to offer!

Heads of State and The Accountant 2

A pair of action flicks!

Heads of State

When arms dealing bad guys try to attack a NATO summit its up to the new(ish) POTUS (played by John Cena) and a grizzled UK PM (played by Idris Elba) to save the day. Luckily they are also both fit dudes because this show is definitely an action comedy one with some good hits of laughs as the two leaders don't really like each other. Big props to the very succinct flash back sequences used and to Priyanka Chopra who actually carries the harder action segments in this film wonderfully. Definitely a silly movie and one you don't want to turn your brain on for. If that sounds like your cup of tea then you will certainly enjoy this!  

The Accountant 2

The autistic accountant/hitman (again played by Ben Affleck) is back and roped into a tricky missings persons case which warrants the involvement of his also hitman/but not accountant brother (played by Jon Bernthal) in a pretty humorous and violent outing with decent action scenes and character growth. While there are still some plot holes I actually prefer this one to the first as the blend between nerdity and violence is much better from the get go. Thumbs up!

Guest Board Game Ranking

I had five extra people in my house for just around three weeks and we played games on every night except four. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to list how I feel they ranked the games they played (they didn't get through my whole collection) just based on engagement and enjoyment (I didn't ask them to fill out a survey) as to compare with how I've ranked things previously. 

From worst to best:

Pandemic - too slow at 7 players and virus cube thing not just cutting it. Loss.

Kiri-ai: The Duel - seats only 2. too obtuse and hard to compete with other games that seat more.

Police Precinct - slow at 6 player and too easy. Win.

Operation Flash Point - 3 player. Was OK but too simple. Win.

Squid Game - 3 player. Better recieved than I thought, but too luck based.

Forbidden Desert - 4 player. Another mostly luck based game. Loss. My components here are getting frayed from years of play. :P

Ra - 5 player. Just "ok". Hasn't been rating high for any of my groups compared to the online accolades.

Horrified - 5 player. Fun and funny but still too slow for some.

Atlantis Rising - 8 player. Seats many is a plus but goes a bit long. 

Magic Maze - 8 player giggle fest, but got old after 2 games.

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea - 4 player mind wreck. Good but headaches occur over time.

Jaws - 4 player might have rated higher if the shark didn't win, but I'm a pretty good shark. :P

The Grizzled - 4 player multi victory. It was easy mode though as I forgot that multi supports cancel out

Lord of the Rings Duel - rated high with the visiting chess player even though he lost to his mom

Mikado "Pickup Sticks" / Jack stone / Tortoise Tumble - physical games enjoyed by many

Mancala - since its much like Sungka it was enjoyed by the visiting Sungka champ who won a lot

El Grande - 4 players. By the time they were working out the strategy it was too late to catch the run away victor (me) 

Black Orchestra - 4 players. Chess player killed Hitler hitting 4 out of 4 dice. OMG.

Risk: Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim - 4 player. Wifey won on victory points followed by chess man. My heroes were super short lived. :P

Darts - 3 players, round the world. My wife is too good at this. :P

The Mind - 8 players. Hilarious and always a good party game.

Klask - fast paced "air hockey" with magnets is always a winner. Seating only 2 is its downside.

Chess - well. When there's a chess player in the house, of course this ranks high. Been awhile since the board got this much use. I lost one blitz as white and won one long game as black using the Caro-Kann.

Escape from Colditz - 6 players. POWs escaped the German guards (played by me) and good fun was had by all. Being too long is its down side.

Lords of Waterdeep - 4 player. Awesome, and my wife still rules this game. 

Crokinole - Fun, fast and seats four. There's a reason its my most played game. 

Sequence - 6 players. The game they liked the best is something I didn't really rate as being that great.

Just goes to show that different games appeal to different people!

Echoes of Exile: The Prince's Pursuit

It's spruiking time as guildie Malkhia has released his fantasy novel Echoes of Exile: The Prince's Pursuit! If you're an avid reader please give it a try. Maybe you'll also enjoy Juris' The Golem City while you're at it. 

While we're doing all things guildie, I may as well up the link to Lyv's music youtube channel and the Dragonarm website where DL does monthly gaming posts or videos.