Hitman GO: Review (Android)

     In Hitman GO, Agent 47 has taken a turn for the better in being shifted to a world of turn-based minimalism for his pocket-sized adventure.  The game is a brilliant change for the Hitman series, and taking it in a completely new direction by making it a digital tabletop board game with a highly stylized look as opposed to the typical 3rd person shooter.  It also manages to maintain the stealth element of the core series perfectly with the new puzzle mechanics, intuitively adapting them into cleverly designed levels.

     Each game box represents a contract containing multiple levels in the form of individual dioramas with a specific theme, such as an airport or theater, each with their own objectives to complete.  Typically the objectives are simple, such as reach the end unseen, kill all enemies, and collect the briefcase.  Between the levels the variaty of objectives keeps it interesting, and some give small amounts of replay value when they are at odds with each other like kill all enemies versus sparing all enemies- necessitating a completely different way of completing the level's task.

     The limited range of solutions and small environments for each level at first appear to be a negative, but are turn into a grand thing in the long run.  The immediate need to use any items picked up forces players into tactical strategy on the spot.  Players must plan and work in the now, being unable to horde or save items for future use.

     I hope developer Square-Enix Montreal can expand on this formula, especially with Lara Croft GO hitting the market in a couple weeks.  Maybe shifting from the turn-based rail sliding system and give players a more expansive grid to open up a multitude of new tabletop options, and shying away from the more limited trial-and-error form of Hitman GO would be a good thing here.  Then again, maybe not.  It has a streamlined and Spartan design that is wonderfully elegant in its simplicity, and it works really, really well here.  Hitman GO is an ingenious mobile game tied to a larger series in an original way that brings in a whole new audience for a whole new experience.

Marvel Heroes 2015: The Old Fashioned Way

     During this second week of the two year anniversary of Gazillion's Marvel Heroes 2015 game, they ran into some update issues and have been on a long delay.  No big deal to me, although I see a lot of people complaining on the forums, Gazillion is going out of their way in doing the best they can on a Friday for all us fans.
     In the mean time, I am occupying myself by playing the game the old fashioned way.  (See Pic)

As you can see, I even loaded my Rocket Raccoon with a pet Groot. 

    Ah, the good ole days of gaming...

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Miniatures- Greebo Games: Tartalar- Kame no Senshi

     All right, so these aren't exactly official TMNT minis, but rather some really cool looking analogs for the famed foursome and company created by Greebo Games- The Wartarts.

Tartalar - Kame no Senshi

   

 

   

 

     These sculpts come in at 35mm each, so they'll fit in a lot of the newer mini games, most notably the new Knight Models' Batman Miniature Game.  For being a non-licensed product mimicking a well-known property, these are damn good looking.  I may be purchasing them for an addition to other tabletop games I play.
      In addition to the pics I put up here they've got analogs for Bebop, Rocksteady, The Shredder, Krang, April O'Neil, and even the hockey mask wearing vigilante Casey Jones.

     To buy or see more of this set [ Greebo Games ]

     Source [ Beasts of War ]

     For more of my Turtles posts [ TMNT ]

Cards Against Originality: A Great Cards Against Humanity App

     While there have already been a few less than amazing digitized versions of the famed Cards Against Humanity game, this one seems to be the closest to the real thing.  And it has the benefit of being free, with no sneaky sales pitches or microtransactions.  So we can now play it on our phones/tablets/desktops, and it'll even keep tabs on your stats.
     Cards Against Originality contains all the cards of the main set plus all 5 expansions, without the 10 pounds weighing you down.

My first hand.  I think its got a couple goodies in there.

     The only downside to the app is you have to be in the same room with the other players.  Not sure how that works, but it's worth a try, and I've read that there's potentially ways of playing it over communication programs like Skype- so if you have some time- load this up and give it a go.  Click New Game and send the Link it gives you to friends to begin in your match.

     App [ Cards Against Originality ]

     Original Version [ Cards Against Humanity ]

     Source [ Gamespot ]

Knight Models' Batman Miniatures Tournament (Roseville, MN)

     I've been recently playing this new Batman Miniatures game with a friend of mine, and we are lucky enough to be near an official tournament.

Official Knight Models Batman Miniature Game Tournament 
     (Organised by Adam Russell Reeves)

The game play will be the standard 350 points and ($1500 in game).

Date & Time: May 24th from 11am - 6pm

Location:
     Fantasy Flight Games
     1995 County Road B2 W
     Roseville, MN 55113

For more info email:  Batman.tournament@gmail.com

     Due to work and internship reasons I can only appear for the last half of it- so I'll be playing a short game with whoever I can, and not as part of the tournament itself.  This is a very fun game, and I will try to get plenty more matches in over the next couple months to be good enough to play with a group.
     Initially I was planning to play as the League of Shadows, but I can't seem to find any of the Ra's al Ghul 4 packs, so I went with the Joker crew, Elite Clowns, The Riddler, and my personal favorite Mr. Freeze.  Not the best team, but it makes for some interesting play.

Josh News: Bolt Action at The Source Comics & Games: Day 2

     This'll be the second Sunday in a row a few of us got together at The Source for some good World War 2 Bolt Action tabletop gaming.  I think this week went much better as we had much more stuff breaking up combat and forcing movement for progression.
     The next time we have all four of us, we'll actually have the Russian army in addition to the current German and American groups, as well as the added zombie element for some chaotic interference for all players- it'll be adapted for the Bolt Action game so we can see how it goes just for fun.

     Here are some pics for those interested.

Josh News: Playing "Bolt Action" at The Source Comics & Games

     Today a few buddies and I got together for a small round of the tabletop World War 2 game Bolt Action.  The terrain in these pics was all assembled with things found at The Source, while all the figures were painted, assembled, and the bases made by my friend Dan.

     I took some pics of the game, apologies for the quality, as I was in a rush.

     Over the last 9 months or so I've been working on a horror-survival iteration of Bolt Action using zombies and skeletons.  The basis of the future version would be a "Dungeon Master-like" party would act as an in-between with things rising from the dead.  I haven't gotten all the specifics down yet- but essentially the zombies are weak as hell, but are able to take monstrous amounts of damage in an attempt to feed on or overrun soldiers on both sides.  Only head-shots kill them, and a single bite causes a soldier to change into a zombie over a few turns.  So far, I've got a ton of small rules worked out and we may be attempting this in like 6 months once it's set down properly.