Last year RTJ2 had it’s 10 year anniversary. I didn’t celebrate it by spending time with the album again, but instead bought a puzzle. Then I put said puzzle on the stack of other puzzles. A missed opportunity.
Consider it rectified. I started the puzzle last week and every time I sit down to work on it I put on the album and appreciate it all over again. The puzzle has naughty Where’s Waldo energy, as it makes loads of references to the lyrics in it’s illustrations. Crass, clever and fun. And not for a certain caliber of guest to come over and see on our dining room table.
I bounced off of every souls and souls like game until Elden Ring finally unlocked my brain in 2022. I don’t know the true origin of the genre, but at a minimum Demon Souls came out in 2009. That is a long stretch of me trying and bouncing off of these hard on purpose games and all games they spawned.
To be fair Elden Ring is a fantastic game, but it’s difficulty curve has been filed down a bit. So I hadn’t actually tested my “unlocked” brain on the real thing. Until Lies of P. It follows the souls model, looks gorgeous, is set in an interesting world, and really makes your earn every step of progress. And there is DLC coming later this year.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023) is off the list. As sequel to Fallen Order, this game is the better of the pair. Kind of like original Assassin’s Creed, filled with good ideas, but needed a polish pass.
Of course This Old House has a YouTube channel, but why did it take me so long to discover it? I grew up watching it, re-discovered the This Old House hour once I became a home owner, and one time I saw Tom Silva in the Boston airport. It was late though and he had on sunglasses inside. Didn’t seem like he wanted to be bothered, so I didn’t.
I am subbed and now getting regular bite sized clips of TOH goodness. You should too.
A good “who done it” movie or show is right up our alley. A show that feels very inspired by Knives Out and Glass Onion, all the better. A cast full of odd ball characters played by actors and comedians that we already like, sold friend. I’d watch watch a few more series of Uzo Aduba as Detective Cordelia Cupp, solving a new mystery every season.
I saw this game pitched as a Limbo-like, but after playing it I’d say that is disingenuous. It has so much more going for it as a creative and challenging platformer. While being set in a quiet alien world that is equal parts eerie and beautiful.
It’s mechanics and puzzles have a healthy dash of Portal. You are introduced to a basic mechanic like swapping yourself with an object you tag and then slowly bend your mind around it in creative ways. Then another mechanic like slowing down time. Now you’ve got them both down. So combine them and nail the timing because things going to move quick.
Spider-Man 2 (2023) is off the list. As a sequel to two amazing games, Spider-Man 1 and Miles Morales (#24), it didn’t bring enough to the table to make it stand out. Good game that rested too much on it laurels.
This show came along as a recommendation from a friend and the trailer was compelling enough to give it a try. Glad I did and then fell head over heels for it. My wife and I watched all eight episodes in three nights. It is a good combo of humor, action, and just enough drama to keep the story moving along.
Watching this unlocked some long dusty part of my brain that really liked the American Ninja 1 and AM 2 back in the late 80’s. This show is way and I mean way better. They are only linked through ninjas of course, but I’d forgotten all about it.
This little and cheap electric truck made the rounds over the weekend, after it was revealed by it’s Michigan based start up. Cheap is an understatement if it can actually stick the landing on it’s $20K price point. And the barebones to hobbyist modular design approach is compelling. Color me interested enough to pay attention, but not get on the wait list just yet.
Also side note, it is little, but not as little as the video would have you believe. The host showing it off later on reveals he is 6’10”. I feel like you have to get that out up front. I thought this thing was built for people under 5’10” at first.
Earlier this month a new record dropped from Teen Mortgage. A stand out group in my continuous rediscovery of rock and punk since a long hiatus in my youth.
Everybody loved It Takes Two, I’m more of a Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons man myself. Well, actually I didn’t find anyone to play it with and was jealous of all the people that did. So when their next game was announced I was paying attention.
Split Fiction mostly reminds me of Wario Party. But wrapped in a narrative, and fun art, and spectacle, but the mini games are longer, and creatively thoughtful about how two people will do them together. So not Wario Party, but you get it. It is at it’s best when everything it’s doing is in service of asynchronous cooperative game play that changes just often enough to not get stale.
It does that 9 times out of 10, and that 10th time is when it over stays it’s welcome. Either a mechanic or mini game just stops clicking and you get to look around at the set dressing that is holding everything up and question it. But not for long, because you’ve just been whisked into a side story where you are pig that does big farts. Now we are back to the fun and your doing it with a friend.
Metroid Dread (2021) is off the list. My entire run of this game was a week at the beach for Thanksgiving. It had my full attention and was a great modern take on the genre it inspired. But when I got back to regular life I never went back to it.
180 Lunches 