My Own Kind of Freedom Review

I was late to the Firefly party. I rectified that earlier this year by watching all of Firefly and Serenity and even posting a review (here). The characters are great and the setting is very interesting. Like many who like the show/movie, however, it is over all too soon. Amazingly, as I was doing a different review, I happened to find on Wikipedia the Firefly media tie-ins list. There I noticed a reference to some books that were commissioned but never, ultimately, approved by Joss Whedon for release. One of those books, My Own Kind of Freedom, was written by Steven Brust and posted online for free. Get your copy here.

For those who don't know, Steven Brust has penned over 20 novels over the years with the most famous being in his Vlad Taltos series about a human assassin and crime boss living in as an alien in an Empire ruled by a race called the Dragaerans. It is great stuff as is the Khaavren Romances set in the same world (though at an earlier time). Finding out about My Own Kind of Freedom, I thought hey one of my favorite authors, a franchise I like, a free book - that is right up my alley, I need to check it out.

Literally, I just finished the book as I am typing this review. First off, if you don't know the Firefly universe, you should start with the television show. Following that, eventhough it isn't approved (meaning Joss Whedon didn't approve the story), My Own Kind of Freedom takes place sometime between the end of Firefly the series and the movie, Serenity. Which, if you know the show should give you an idea of who is in the story. Like any Firefly story, we find the crew taking on a job and things go awry from there.

In this case, Mal and crew have taken a job bringing wood to a major landowner on Hera. Hera being a site of historical importance in the show as the world where the Battle of Serenity Valley took place. Watch the show to get the reference - you can't miss it). It is a typical delivery job, but nothing can go quite as easy as you would hope for the Serenity crew.

What is great about the book is that it feels just like the show. The dialogue, the character's inner thoughts in their point of view sequences, the situations all feel straight out of an episode of the show. Each character feels right and thus the story is exactly what I was looking for, an extension of the show and universe. We even get flashbacks to what some of the characters were like before the events covered in the Firefly series. This is mainly done as a way to introduce some characters important to My Own Kind of Freedom, but also does more to expand our knowledge of these characters we love.

The only nit I found to pick were a couple of instances where some of the point of view sequences are a little different than what I would expect to have going on in the character's heads, but those are few and far between. They also don't detract from the overall tone, feel and story.

If you like Firefly/Serenity and want more, this is the ticket (did I mention it was free?) Think of it as a way to hold you over until the mobile game comes out in 2014. Also think of it as a way to get exposed to Steven Brust if you haven't already and then you can pick up his Vlad Taltos series to give you even more to do to fill your time. My Own Kind of Freedom gets 4 Mick Happies - not quite the original Firefly/Serenity, but a very good addition to it. Too bad there aren't more of these expanded universe novels approved. Guess we will have to settle for that mobile game and the graphic novels.

M.U.L.E. Returns Review - (Updated Dec 17)

Has it really been 30 years since M.U.L.E. was first released by Ozark Software? It has! To the benefit of all of us filled with nostalgia for the game, Comma 8 Studios, has brought M.U.L.E. Returns forward to iOS (Android coming in 2014). For those who don't know, a M.U.L.E. (or Multiple Use Labor Element) is a strategy game of supply and demand. You play a colonist dropped with 3 other colonists on the planet of Irata with the goal of developing a successful colony. Here's how it goes.

The game is setup in turns with each turn consisting of land selection, land development, resource collection and an auction of resources. The developer's website has a great strategy guide to help you with all the details of the game, here. Basically, each turn starts with a view of the game board with all of the plots of land shown. As you watch, the plots are highlighted one after the other. When the one you want to own is highlighted, you tap the screen to select it. In a game against AI opponents, this is done simultaneously, so it is possible that your opponents will swipe the plot you want right out from under you. Land is how you obtain resources. Each plot can sustain one M.U.L.E., a mule-shaped robot that you outfit to harvest either food, energy or smithore (think iron). If the plot has a river, you get more food from it, if it is just flat land - more energy and mountains/hills = more smithore.

After selecting land, you then can buy a M.U.L.E. from the colony store and pay to outfit it for the type of resource you want it to develop. Using tapping and dragging controls, you navigate the M.U.L.E. into vendor stalls to outfit it and then exit the store to take it to your land plot. Once at the plot, you tap to install your outfitted M.U.L.E.. The turn continues until you run out of time (how much you get is defined by how much food you had at the start of the turn - too little food means less time). On each land development turn, you can also hunt for the Wumpus, a little creature who pops up on mountain plots that if you are on the tile when he shows up, you can tap the plot and catch him to gain some money. You can also go to the Pub/Casino at the end of your turn to try and earn some extra cash.

After land development, the turn moves to resource collection where you see what your plots have produced. Each one makes a few of the resource you have setup the M.U.L.E. to collect. There are modifiers that can increase or decrease the amount as well as events that may happen to boost or decimate your production. After that, you move to the final stage of the turn: the auction.

The auction is where you convert your resources you have gained into cash, or buy resources you need for the next turn. At each resource auction, they happen one at a time starting with Food, you get to choose to either buy or sell. Once you choose, you use a up/down button to raise or lower the amount you offer to see or buy at until a price is agreed with another player or the store. Here is where the real strategy of the game shines. Will you try to corner the market on a particular resource by buying all of it up? Will you flood the market by selling tons of a resource and making it worthless for your opponents to develop? All are options.

The real trick of the game is that while you are rated on your total score at the end to determine who has won, the colony score (total of all player's scores) at a whole is also considered. The best players will find a way to score high (lots of money, resources and land) while also helping their opponents also score well enough to have the colony overall do well.

M.U.L.E. Returns is a faithful and re-skinned homage to the original M.U.L.E., the original often finding a place in the top 10 computer games of all time. The updated graphics and soundtrack are great. Plus all of the favorite game play elements are there and the game offers the same deep strategy of the original. And multiplayer, which was one of the key features of the original M.U.L.E., is coming soon. You should know, however, that there are some quirks of the touch interface that will take some getting used to. It can be a little touchy to get the right price level in the auctions using the touch buttons. Additionally, it can be difficult to get timing right on stopping buying or selling on the number of items you want when selling at auction. Finally, a end auction button to move to the next auction would be helpful as you are sometimes left waiting for the timers to run down with nothing happening on screen.

[Update: Only a couple hours after posting this review, an update was made to M.U.L.E. Returns for iOS that addresses many of the suggestions/little issues with game play I mentioned above. Great job, Comma 8!]

If you want a great strategy game that feels like a board game made into a video game or if you liked M.U.L.E. and want it back for the 21st century, M.U.L.E. Returns is for you. M.U.L.E. Returns gets 4 Mick Happies. Off to get my M.U.L.E.s to work. See you on Irata.

Doctor Who: Legacy Review

It is very rare (read basically never happens) that my wife and I like the same game. I am all about role playing, strategic, action RPG, simulation type games. She likes hidden object and match 3 games. What we both like though, is the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant Doctors. If you don't know what those are, you must be under a rock since they are part of the BBC's long-running Science Fiction show, Doctor Who. And a couple of weeks ago, Tiny Rebel Games released a licensed Doctor Who game called Doctor Who: Legacy (DW:L).

DW:L is a free to play match 3 game where you assemble a team consisting of the Doctor and up to five companions to try to defeat levels that the game calls episodes. These episodes are based on some of the actual episodes from the TV show, starting with Season 7.

To play the game, you match 3 or more gems of different colors. To match gems you just touch and drag the gem where you like it to be. No swapping with just the gem next to it, you can move it anywhere on the board. How you move it to where you want it will impact how the gems displaced move. Depending on the color you matched, one of your companions (or the Doctor) will attack the enemies shown at the top of the screen. The amount of damage done is dependent on the attack value of the character (more on that later). Combos (matching several gem groups of 3 or more) amplify the attack or healing effect of the matched gems. When each of the enemies health bar gets to zero, you move to the next wave (or win the episode). Each enemy you defeat has a chance to drop a time fragment or unlock a new companion or alternate art for your characters. (When you select the episode you want to play, it tells you what rewards are possible). You may even get a time crystal which can be spent in the game's store to unlock new companions.

Each of the characters in the game are from the TV show. Some are generic like the UNIT Commander, while others are well-known from the show like Rory and Amy Pond. Each character gains experience when you successfully complete episodes. That experience can be used to level up the character and allow you to raise their health, attack or heal values (all used during episodes to keep the team alive or defeat enemies). Each character also has a special ability that can be used after a specific number of turns or matches of gems. For instance, Rory's ability is Brace, which can heal allies for a certain amount of health. You start the game with the Matt Smith Doctor and Madame Vastra as your companion, but soon you will have a whole slew of characters to choose from.

Companion characters max out their level at 10. Then to progress them further, you use the time fragments you unlocked to raise their rank (unlocking the next 10 levels for them to gain). Even the Doctor's rank can be raised with the right combination of time fragments. Raising the rank also makes each character's special ability more powerful. This is essential as each episode of the game gets progressively harder and you need a maxed out team to defeat some of the hardest.

Earlier I mentioned that this is a free-to-play game. Unlike other free-to-play games, there are no timers. You can play as long as you like. The currency in the game (time crystals) seems to only be usable to unlock new companions at the moment, which is not necessary as new companions can drop from episodes. Note that some companions drop automatically on a given episode (like Porridge) while others seem to never drop no matter how many times you play the Angels Take Manhattan episode (River Song). Maybe I am just unlucky.

For those who aren't patient, you can purchase time crystals and use them to get companions (randomly) or through the Women of Doctor Who pack that contains Amy Pond, River Song, Clara Oswald and Nefertiti. I can imagine that eventually new "seasons" of episodes may also be available from the store by spending time crystals. Purchasing a pack of time crystals also opens up a fan area in the game that has more goodies to play with. So far, nothing feels like you need to spend to win. My wife did by some time crystals just to support the developers.

The developers for the game, Tiny Rebel Games, have done a great job with it and are actively with their player base. For the month of December, they are doing an advent calendar promotion by providing codes to unlock companions, time fragments or new outfits for characters and opening up special (very very difficult) bonus levels to play through when you have completed most of the other content in the game. All of which is free from their website. I particularly liked my new K-9 companion.

DW:L is a fun, easy to pick up but full of depth match-3 game. No timers and little need to spend to win. It is available on Android and iOS. If you are a fan of match-3 games or Doctor Who, go check it out. DW:L gets 5 Mick Happies. Allon-sy.

Flick Kick Football Legends Review (Updated)

I played a lot of Flick Kick Football from Pik Pok on my iPod. When I saw that they were releasing a new Flick Kick game called Flick Kick Football Legends (available for iOS and Android), I was certain I would pick it up and give it a try. The original game, typically $0.99 or $1.99, uses a 1970's shaded-cel feel with a swiping mechanic to shoot soccer balls at the goal. There are often players put in the way as obstacles that you have to bend kicks around. All in all, a fun game.

In Flick Kick Football Legends, Pik Pok has taken the same 70s feel and the flick mechanic and expanded it to a full game. With game clock running, you will use the flick mechanic to pass the ball to teammates and attempt to score. Hit an opposition player, they will steal the ball and then you have to use the flick mechanic to dispossess them before they score on you. There are also Nigel and Kevin, the announcers who share some witty reparte after every match.

The game also has a player card mechanic added - each of your team members have their own trading card that shows their level and special abilities (like making the goal a little wider, stronger shot or better bending ability on shots). You swap players in and out depending on the mix of abilities you want on the field. There are also different rarities of cards, which translate to more or fewer abilities for that player and also impact their level cap (basic cards start all maxed out with no abilities, commons have one ability and can level 3 times, uncommons have 2 abilities and can level up 6 times, etc.).

You play your team through various divisions, earning promotion to the next level by winning your league. The amateur league has fewer, easier opponents and each subsequent division has more opponents, stronger competition and more games to play before the season is over.

As with most free-to-play games, you can earn two types of in-game currency. Gold coins are earned for winning matches, 10,000 of them can be spent on a basic pack of 3 common (possibly one of which could be uncommon) cards. Cash is earned by winning your league and 250 cash can be spent on a pack 3 cards and at least 1 uncommon or better card. Or you can spend more cash for better packs. There is also a stamina counter that limits how many matches you can play in a row before you have to wait for the timer to finish its 30 minute countdown and the stamina bottle to refill a bit (1 game worth per 30 minutes). Oh and did I mention ads? They show up as well - as banners at the top of the screen and full page ads you have to click out of between halves or after matches. According to Pik Pok, the ads will go away after making an in-app purchase and rebooting the app.

It is these free-to-play elements that actually overwhelms an otherwise fantastic game. I understand wanting to make money off the great game you have made, but the constant ads, stamina timer, slow cash earnings limiting getting more players all detract from a great swiping game mechanic with cool card/player leveling system and game progression through seasons and promotion to new divisions.

Where Pik Pok could have gone is to make this a paid app (a couple dollars) and then still leave in the currencies. If you want to pay to get quick cash - go for it. If you want to play to earn what you can - do that. Oh and remove the stamina timer as all it does is make me stop playing the game. Or change it to a player stamina timer so you have to rotate players (available skills) for some matches or just wait until playing. If those things were changed, Flick Kick Football Legends would be a 4 or 5 Mick Happy game. As it is, it is at best a 3 Mick Happy game due to the interruptions, timers, etc. It is really too bad that a great game is hobbled by the implementation of free-to-play.

As an aside, I have taken it as a personal mission to progress as far as I can in the game without spending a dime due to the annoyance I have with the In-app Purchase and timers. Which is a shame as I would have spent 2 or 3 dollars on the game otherwise. For another free-to-play game that has in-app-purchases done right, you should check out Dr. Who: Legacy.

Fall TV Thoughts - 2013

It is that time of year. We are, in some cases, almost a quarter of the way (or more) through the season run of TV shows for this year. As is the usual case in our family, we have purchased Season Passes for some shows and checked out the free pilots for still others. Below is a brief summary of my thoughts on the shows we have sampled so far.

The Big Bang Theory - If you checked out my Fall TV post from last year, you are aware that we have been watching BBT for several years and last season we started to see a drop off in our enjoyment of the show. Sad to say that is continuing into this year. The lack of character development for Sheldon - at times he is infuriatingly mean to other characters (and doesn't need to be). The flip-flopping for Raj - sometimes sensitive and then sometimes a jerk and then a complete disaster in front of women. They might as well just have Raj and Stuart start dating as at least that would be funny. Amy's character just continues to be the long-suffering girlfriend who has to roll her eyes at Sheldon. What can be done to raise the bar for this show is more episodes like The Romance Resonance, which was clever and sweet. They should also mine more geeky tropes like in the The Raiders Minimization (albeit without the subsequent lame response from Sheldon). Is the show bad, no. Is it as good as it has been, no. Worth watching, but not nearly as must see as it has been in the past - 3.5 Mick Happies.

Elementary - The show continues to mine the Sherlock mythology and provide insightful mysteries for the duo of Holmes and Watson to solve. If you have liked the show's first season, there really is nothing to keep you from liking the second season. The one concern I have is that the show seems to be modeling some of the episodes off of headlines from the news. While this has worked in the past for shows like Law & Order, it takes me right out of the story with Elementary. This is probably due to the mysteries seeming so unique in season one. We'll have to see if this is a trend of just a couple one-off episodes. - 4 Mick Happies.

Grimm - Coming off a big cliff-hanger from the end of season 2, Grimm could have gone seriously wrong with the start of season 3. Happy to say that the show runners quickly resolve the main story line from the end of last year. There are some long-term concerns that Nick and crew need to deal with and the writers probably need to stop trying to find relationship tension for Nick and Juliette, but overall the show is still fun and action-packed - 4 Mick Happies.

The Goldbergs - A 1980s-based sitcom covering the real-life antics of show runner Adam F. Goldberg's family. I made it through 2 episodes before deciding to not buy the complete season pass for this show. The nostalgia is there and it is funny, but not funny enough to sway me to vote with my dollars to watch the full season as it airs. What you get here is big hair, leg warmers, bright clothes, the start of rap hitting mainstream, teen angst, family bonding, etc. All the hallmarks of a family sitcom from the 80s. Oh, did I mention the roller rink? Look it up, think indoor skate park without the jumps (and most of the bruises). - 3 Mick Happies

Last Man Standing - Over the summer, we took advantage of Netflix to start watching the first two seasons of the Tim Allen, Nancy Travis starred family sitcom. Tim Allen plays Mike Baxter, the marketing head for an outdoor sports equipment chain. He handles work and his family consisting of wife and 3 daughters. The show also stars Hector Elizondo as Mike's boss and one of the standouts is Christoph Sanders as Kyle, a nicer than smart employee at the sports store who dates one of Mike's daughters. It is fun and easy to get into type of show. If you liked Home Improvement, there are shades of that here but doesn't feel like a re-hash. Note that there was a casting change in the oldest daughter between seasons one and two, but you will get past that quickly. Catch up on Netflix and then dive into season 3. Fun - 4 Mick Happies.

Super Clyde - This is the failed pilot from Gregory Garcia (Raising Hope, My Name is Earl) starring Rupert Grint (Harry Potter) and Stephen Fry. The show is about Clyde, who inherits a lot of money from an eccentric family member. Eventually he finds out what his (I think) uncle was doing, dropping wallets of money and helping those who returned the wallet. Clyde, with the help of his butler (played by Fry) becomes a super hero of sorts when he takes up where his uncle left off. This seems to follow in the same vein as My Name is Earl, helping people who need it on a weekly basis or at least it would have if picked up. You can probably find the pilot online and it is worth a view if just to see Rupert Grint in a part other than Ron Weasley. - 3.5 Mick Happies.

Almost Human - I have been waiting for this show since I heard about it. Karl Urban as an acerbic cop in a crime-riddled future who has to work with a android partner? Sign me up. Urban is partnered with an outdated android model that is programmed with empathy and feelings named Dorian (Michael Ealy). The show has action, funny dialogue and will have you wondering who is more human, the driven cop with regrets and bad interpersonal skills or his sympathetic android partner. Two episodes in and I can't wait for number 3. - 4.5 Mick Happies.

Those are the shows we are watching so far this season. Can't wait for Lost Girl to start up again and I did get to see the 50th anniversary episode of Dr. Who, but the ones above are where I have spent most of my TV show viewing time. Hope you enjoy one or more of them too.

DVD Quick Reviews - Attack of the 3.5 Mick Happy Movies

Feeling a bit lazy this week, probably due to too many hours playing Path of Exile, so here are some quick reviews of movies I have seen on DVD lately. All of the movies are out and available in the US through Netflix (and other sources).

I don't know about your house, but in our house we like to tease each other regarding our celebrity "girl/boyfriend" - those celebrities we think each of us secretly wants to end up with. This game tends to be more fun for my wife who has decided that there are several actresses I secretly want to date and there are very few actors that she cares about. Her ideal man would be Al Giordino from the Dirk Pitt series of novels by Clive Cussler. Basically a capable, no-nonsense, hands on guy with snarky humor who helps get the job done without having to have all the ego of the main character.  Which brings me to this week's movies - two of which star one of our girlfriend/boyfriend celebrities.

Byzantium - Neil Jordan's (The Crying Game) 2013 vampire movie starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan. In modern day, we follow two woman, who look like sisters, as they move from one town to another avoiding discovery. This is a moody and sometimes violent movie that plays with the vampire idea (yes they can walk in the daylight - though they don't seem to like it). It is an interesting film, but a little angsty. My wife thought I only got this movie since it had my "girlfriend", Gemma Arterton, in it. Byzantium gets 3.5 Mick Happies. P.s., if you want to see more of Saoirse Ronan doing a fantastic job in a really good movie, check out Hanna.

The Heat - Paul Feig's follow up to Bridesmaids stars Sandra Bullock as an up-tight FBI agent who has to work with a shoot from the hip detective played by Melissa McCarthy. This straight-up buddy comedy takes us along for the ride as these two learn how to work together to stop a drug ring in Boston. There are laughs here and awkward moments but overall a fun movie. Not as funny as say The Proposal, but worth watching. Doesn't hurt that it had my wife's "girlfriend", Sandra Bullock, in it. The Heat gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

Pacific Rim - We round out this post with Guillermo del Toro's homage to the Japanese Kaiju (monster) movie. Here, gargantuan monsters invade Earth from a inter-dimensional portal under the Pacific Ocean and wreck havoc on the countries in the Pacific Rim. Enter the Jaeger (hunter) program consisting of giant robots piloted by two humans who have melded their consciousnesses to allow them to work together to run the huge machines. The rest of the movie is about mankind's fight to stave off these monsters and save the world. Standard science fiction fare here with some humor, an obligatory love interest story line and a guy who was a cocky hero, fell out and has to come back to try to save the day. There are some cliched bits to the story and nothing here is overly surprising. But it is a visually great film and there are lots of fun battle scenes if that is what you like. All in all, I give Pacific Rim 3.5 Mick Happies.

There you have it. A post full of celebrity girlfriends, action, comedy, vampires and giant robots. What more could you ask for?

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Beta Review

In honor of Blizzcon 2013, I thought I would share my thoughts on Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Blizzard's in-development digital-only collectable card game for Mac, PC, iOS and Android. I was lucky enough to score a closed beta code to access the game prior to release and have been enjoying kicking the tires on this free-to-play tactical/strategy game. As noted in other posts, I have some experience with the CCG genre from Magic the Gathering to Wheel of Time and others, so I may use some jargon in the rest of this review.

Earlier this Summer, Blizzard announced what I think is their first free-to-play offering, Hearthstone. At it's heart, Hearthstone is the digital evolution of collectible card games (though not the first given the release of Mohjang's Scrolls). The object of the game is to use a deck of 30 cards to defeat a computer or human opponent by reducing their avatar (a character from Warcraft) to zero life.

Each player in Hearthstone starts the game with the tutorial where you get to try the game as one of the nine avatars that are available in the game. Each avatar has a unique set of cards (as well as shared cards) they can use to build their deck - during the tutorial the deck is pre-set. To play you start with a hand of 3 cards (4 if you go second) and "cast" cards from your hand using the mana you get from mana crystals. Each turn you can take as many actions as you like from casting cards from your hand to attacking with minions (creature cards) or using your avatar's special ability (such as a fireball that does 1 damage to a specific target for 2 mana crystals). Creatures have the usual health/attack attributes as well as abilities that trigger when they are cast or based on certain actions in the game. There are even abilities and cards that give your avatar attack and armor allowing them better protection and the capability to attack your opponent directly.

Unlike other CCG, the resources used to cast cards is relatively fixed starting with 1 mana crystal and gaining another every turn until you reach a maximum of 10. This takes the randomness of drawing resource cards from your deck out the game, meaning that decks are smaller (30 cards) and games are typically played much faster than other card games (5 - 10 minutes on averages - sometimes longer). It also allows the player to focus on tuning their deck to the strategy they want to follow.

At the start of the game you have a single avatar to play and a deck of 30 basic cards. As you play, you gain experience that levels up your avatar, unlocking new basic cards until by level 10 you have unlocked all basic cards for that avatar. There are 3 play modes, Practice, Play and the Arena to choose from. When first starting out, you can play practice games against the AI and when you beat a given avatar opponent the first time you unlock that avatar and deck to play. Practice is also the place where you can test decks before trying them against human opponents.

The Play mode is 1 v 1 games against human opponents that the game tries to match you agains skill wise for a competitive game. You gain experience from those games as well and can also earn medals over time to help rank you for future matches. In the Arena, you pay gold (the in game currency) to get to basically build a sealed deck where you pick 30 cards one at a time from a selection of a few cards each pick. You then play with that deck until you have lost 3 times. The more game wins you have with your Arena deck before losing the last time, the bigger reward you unlock at the end. Also, Arena games do not have to all be played at the same time, allowing you to start an Arena game and then go back to it another day if you don't have time to keep playing.

The reward system, including Arena rewards, is based around gold, which can be used to start Arena games or to buy new packs of cards. Arena rewards can also offer packs of cards, gold or arcane dust. Each pack of cards (also available for real money purchase) give you 5 new Expert cards for your collection with at least one of them being guaranteed rare, epic or legendary (more valuable). The arcane dust reward can be used to upgrade cards into other, often more powerful cards - Expert common, rare and epic cards can also be disenchanted (destroyed) for arcane dust. All of which can be used to expand your card collection and thus allow you to build more powerful decks.

The gameplay of Hearthstone will be familiar to any Magic the Gathering player while removing a little of the randomness that game suffers from due to the reliance on land cards for resources. All of the common strategies are present in Hearthstone - overwhelming creatures, control, card advantage, removal, etc. What makes Hearthstone a potentially great game is how simple it is to pick up and play alongside all of the depth of deck building, avatars, card crafting etc. The crafting mechanic, the ability to always find a human opponent and the quick game play is great.

How Hearthstone will stand out from other games like it will be the cross-platform access that is coming. The game seems built for a touch interface. I imagine I will be playing a game or two before bed every night once the iOS tablet app is available. During the beta I have also found no need to pay for anything as long as you don't mind grinding out games to earn gold (you get gold for every 3 competitive game wins against a human opponent) or completing daily quests (win a few games with a certain avatar deck or kill a specific number of minions). The free-to-play model (as implemented right now in the game) seems to fit very well, where you can wait to get more powerful cards/decks if you have the patience or, for those who want to be more competitive fast, you can spend to get the cards you need now. Hearthstone will be a hit and if you like physical or digital card games, pick it up immediately when it becomes available to you. Hearthstone gets 5 Mick Happies. See you in the Arena.

Ender's Game Movie Review

Original Ender's Game story didn't even make the cover page of Analog

Today, after over 30 years, I got to see the Battle Room from Ender's Game. For those who don't know, the new movie, Ender's Game, written and directed by Gavin Hood is based on a novelette and later book by the same name. Ender's Game the novelette was written by Orson Scott Card and first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine in August 1977. The novelette was expanded to a full length novel published in 1985, winning both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

In the future, some 50 years after contact and war with an alien race, the Formics (or Buggers), mankind is training for another conflict. To prepare, children are monitored in their early childhood and then the most promising are chosen to go to battle school (and later command school) to train for the future conflict. What follows is the story of children, including Ender (played by Asa Butterfield), training into soldiers and commanders. Training that mainly takes place at the space-based Battle School run by Colonel Hyram Graff played well by Harrison Ford.

Hard to see here, but in the future there are still Audi cars

My ten-year old and fifteen year-old self really connected with this story. For many years it has been one of my favorite stories. There are details of the plot and backstory that I won't spoil in this review. My most favorite part of the story is the Battle Room, a zero gravity space where cadets in suits battle with "freeze rays" against other students in mock battles. I could imagine what it would be like flipping, flying and floating in that room while firing on opponents. Even back then I thought that this would make a fantastic team-based video game. I am happy to say that Ender's Game the movie nails the Battle Room in every detail (which unfortunately the picture of the room is blurry).

Ender's Game the book is a dense story with many plots and sub-plots that can't all fit into a movie (naturally). Some threads are cut entirely from the film, but are not central to the plot of the story. What I think is a detraction for those going to see the movie is that everything seems a bit rushed. I don't know if someone not versed in the story of Ender's Game will get the same detail and sense of character development in the movie that happens in the ~300 pages of the book. This means that some details of Ender's development at the Battle School don't have the impact or depth that I hoped to see.

Where's my damn holo display tablet?

The movie is visually stunning with terrific special effects. All of the story elements that matter are present, if not told in the same way as the book. What I am left feeling at the end of the movie is a little sad over how brilliant this story could have been as a three season run of 11 episodes TV show from the BBC or HBO. There the sub-plots that were dropped and the depth of the character development could have been fully realized along with more Battle Room and other training scenes. Instead we have all of the pieces, beautiful to look at, put together well with good acting but not the depth the whole could have had with more time.

Yeah, this looked pretty awesome on the huge IMAX screen

Ender's Game is worth watching and in IMAX looked great. The film, however, feels rushed and some of the details of the story lost their impact by fitting them into the 1 hour 50+ minute run time. Overall, I give Ender's Game 3.5 Mick Happies. Well worth seeing, but I recommend seeing it after reading the book to get the full impact of the story.

Haute Cuisine Film Review

About a week ago a new French-language film popped up in Netflix's on-demand service. The film, Haute Cuisine, is directed by Christian Vincent and tells the story of Hortense Laborie, a renowned regional chef who served as the private chef of French President. Originally titled Les Saveurs du Palais, Haute Cuisine is the fictionalized real-life story of Danielle Delpeuch, the private chef of Francois Mitterrand.

In the movie, Laborie (played by Catherine Frot) is taken from her farm (bed and breakfast) and asked to provide all of the personal meals at the Elysee Palace for the President. To do this, she has to learn to navigate the bureaucracy of the government and even more importantly, the kitchens and staff of the Palace.

I enjoyed how the film introduces the viewer to the palace, overwhelming us just as Hortense would be on taking on the position of private chef. The story interweaves between Laborie's time in the Elysee Palace and what we assume is present day at a French research outpost off Antarctica where she is the chef. All throughout we get a sense of the lead character's ability to win over those around her through her strength and skill. While I am fairly certain I wouldn't care for the meals prepared in the film, I can recognize the skill that must go into the preparation.

Haute Cuisine is funny and endearing and if you speak French or don't mind subtitles, well worth your time. Not a spectacular film based on a true story like the The Intouchables, but very good. I give Haute Cuisine 3.5 Mick Happies. Bon Appetit.

P.S. Short review this week. I have been spending my free time playing the full release of Path of Exile. If you aren't playing it or haven't tried, download it from the developer's website or through Steam. It is free to play and very good.

Quick DVD Movie Reviews

Over the last few weeks, I haven't been making much progress in the book I am reading, so no review of that this week. I also haven't been finishing any new games. What I have been doing is watching movies with my wife and daughter. What follows are some quick reviews of the movies we have watched on DVD from Netflix.

Oblivion - A science fiction action film set in the future where humanity has left Earth for Titan after aliens arrived and the fight to stop them devastated the planet's eco-system. Tom Cruise plays Jack Harper, a repair tech who keeps water harvesters drawing sea water to generate power. I enjoyed the post-apocolyptic visuals of future earth in this movie. The story also contains multiple thrilling movements along with several twists and turns. Oblivion gets 4 Mick Happies.

This Is The End - In the present day we are given a view into the life of several celebrities (playing extreme versions of themselves) when the apocalypse arrives. Starring Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogan, James Franco, Jonah Hill among others. I spent quite a while fast-forwarding this one. The story could have been interesting and funny, unfortunately it is over the top idiocy that is more a ego-vehicle for the stars than a actual story-driven film. Less then 2 Mick Happies here.

The Fast and The Furious - This past weekend we went for a double-header of street racing fun. The Fast and The Furious (2001) stars Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in a film about road heists of semi-trucks based in and around the world of Southern California street racing. Vin Diesel plays Dominic "Dom" Toretto, a tough racer with a police record is at the center of an investigation into a number of daring thefts. Big cars, loud engines and adrenaline. This was the film that launched a series of 5 sequels so far and is a thrill ride. The Fast and The Furious is 4.5 Mick Happies good.

The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift - This is the third film in the franchise and takes Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), is sent to live with his father in Tokyo after getting in trouble racing. Sean falls in with a crew of street racers headed by Han (Sung Kang), who teaches Sean how to drift so that he is competitive. The story follows the evolution of Sean and Han's friendship and the dangers of organized crime and racing in Tokyo. The visuals are amazing and the special effects are great - watching the special features on the DVD you learn just how good they were. This film introduces Han who is later in Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. This is another adrenaline filled thrill ride and gets 4 Mick Happies.

Those are what has been on the tube the last two weeks. Definitely some good ones in there, but can't recommend avoiding This Is The End more.

Healthcare, Re-reads and Peggle

For the last few days, I have had some sort of viral issue with my sinuses. According to the Urgent Care physician I saw, this happens and there isn't much that can be done. Apparently the test to determine if something can or can't be done is to tap or put pressure on your face (over the eyebrows, dead center between the eyebrows and on the cheek bones below the eyes). If it is uncomfortable/painful and you already are stuffy/drippy, etc. you might have an infection. Otherwise, stuffy/drippy stuff in your head that moves around when you lay on one side or the other may just be something viral that will have to just run it's course. Notice all of the ifs and maybes here? It seems like a lot of guess work.

It doesn't help that all of it just dehydrates you like a mad-man (or woman) and makes your eyes all scratchy so playing games/reading/looking at the world is not nearly as much fun. The doc prescribed a steroidal nasal spray to reduce the inflammation and said he would leave a note in my file that if I called with pain they would call in an antibiotic prescription without me needing to come back to the clinic. Now on to healthcare.

Working for a company that provides health insurance options, I have what is called a high deductible plan with a Health Savings Account (a pre-tax funded by your own money - or company contribution - account for healthcare related expenses). This means I pay every bit of the health costs until a meet a deductible ($3000 for the family) and then I pay 10% of costs until I reach out of pocket maximum ($4,500 I think). While paying all of the fees, I still get the insurance negotiated rate for any health services. Sounds normal, right? Guess what a 1 hour visit to Urgent Care (where I saw the doc for 5 minutes and most of the time was spent filling out my paperwork) and a 30 day supply of Nasonex from the pharmacy costs at "negotiated rates"? $308. A $167 for the office visit and $141 for the prescription.

It probably didn't help that right now is open enrollment for benefits at work and my annual premium for health insurance is going up $250 a year over last year. The max pay increase I am eligible for is 1.25%, so basically after taxes my raise will cover the health insurance increase. Yay!

So what does this have to do with re-reads and Peggle? When I am sick, I have more free time on my hands than usual because the family won't come within 15 yards of me (except the dog, but she is a kindly idiot). Unfortunately, I don't have much will to do anything. After trying to watch Eureka! on Netflix, continue to read Reamde and play ShadowRun Returns, I found myself mainly reading Twitter and playing Peggle. Twitter reminded me that Leigh Butler is still finishing her A Memory of Light (spoiler-filled) re-read over on Tor.com and when I popped over there I was instantly sucked in (again). I don't know if it's the fact that I have already read the books so that this is just refresher or the witty commentary, but in my unhappy state it is easy to follow and the posts can be read in 10 - 15 minutes (perfect amount of time between nose blows).

And that brings us to today's review of re-reads and Peggle - since I don't think you care about the best way to blow your nose without killing your family with germs review. Re-reads, and there are many of them on the internets - especially at Tor.com, are when someone summarizes what happens in a book and then comments on it. They tend to provide insight into how the story relates to other books or pick out foreshadowing and other easter eggs in the story you might have missed. Each post tends to cover one or more chapters of a book (there are also re-watches for TV shows and movies out there). I find that they are like being in a book club without a) having to have book club people to deal with and b) having to do any "homework" for the club. You get to read other people's opinion on the story, get some interesting insights that you might have missed when you read the story and the comments on the post are usually amusing as well. I highly recommend finding one based on one of your favorite books or series. Leigh Butler's Wheel of Time re-read is very good and nearly complete and I highly recommend it if you like Wheel of Time. I am even mulling over doing a re-read here on H. Beam Piper's Space Viking - so maybe watch for that (plus the book can be found for free so you could read along).

On to Peggle. If you have lived under a rock, don't play games or generally don't like fun - you might never have heard of Peggle. Peggle is a fun little game from PopCap Games (yeah those Plants vs. Zombies folks). It has been around for YEARS and is on just about every platform you can think of including mobile, PC and console. The gist of the game is a physics-based puzzle pinball/pachinko variant where you shot 10 balls at little lighted pegs trying to clear all of the orange pegs before you run out of balls. If you hit enough pegs on a shot, you can earn an extra ball. Or if your ball hits the moving bucket at the bottom of the screen you can also get an extra ball. I had a pachinko machine growing up, so this brings back fond memories.


To add a little variation to the game, on each level you are helped by a Peggle Master (a character with a special power up) who, once you hit one of the two special green pegs, will let you use their power for a turn or more. The power-ups might be spooky ball, where the ball falls off the bottom of the screen only to reappear at the top to drop through again and take out more pegs (very high scoring). Or the Fireball that shoots straight and wipes out any pegs in it path. Or Zen ball, that nudges your shot to a more favorable outcome before you fire.

This is a simple little puzzle game that rewards you for placing the ball trajectory just right. There are 50 main levels in the Adventure mode of the game and then many challenge levels to beat as well. There is also a sequel, Peggle Nights, if you beat everything the game has to offer. I also like that Ode to Joy is played when you beat a level - a great way to celebrate. Warning though, the levels go by quickly but you might just keep playing and playing. I have picked it up thinking to do one level only to look up and 45 minutes are gone.

There you have it. If you are sick, try finding a re-read to remind you of one of your favorite books or pick up Peggle, kick back and shoot some pegs. I give Peggle 5 Mick Happies. Until next time...

Firefly/Serenity Spoiler-Free Review

As a Science-Fiction fan, it is surprising how long I waited to sit down and watch Firefly, the space frontier TV series from Joss Whedon. Over the past year, I have slowly watched all of the Firefly episodes on Netflix on-demand and then followed it up with Serenity, the full-length motion picture sequel to the series.

Firefly is the story of the crew of a Firefly-class spaceship, Serenity, traveling to frontier planets in human-controlled space. Earth is only mentioned as where mankind came from but is never shown in the series/movie. On Serenity, we have Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), his first officer Zoe Washburn (Gina Torres) and her husband - the pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburne (Alan Tudyk). The rest of the crew includes hired gun Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin) and ship maintenance expert Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite). Also on board is a companion, a kind of escort/courtesan that carries a level of prestige in the future, named Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin) who rents one of Serenity's shuttles. There are other characters added to the ensemble cast over the course of the series as passengers come on-board Serenity.

The crew of Serenity travels between planets and terra-formed moons to trade, do commissioned jobs or smuggle. The controlling government of the area is called the Alliance, having taking control a few years in the past after winning a civil war. A war that Mal and Zoe participated on the losing Independent planet's side. During the show, Mal tries to steer his ship clear of the Alliance and keep himself and the crew off the government's radar.

Firefly does a great job of mixing wild-west feel with space opera elements. You really feel that the crew is working on the fringes of society and just barely scratching out a living. There are also great tension moments brought on by the various bad-guy elements brought into the story. While the tv series is fairly episodic, there are some underlying story threads throughout and these are expanded on and brought to a satisfying conclusion in Serenity.

I can understand why the series and film have such a wide following and why fans were so upset when the show ended after only a few episodes (only 14 episodes were made plus the movie). Luckily, the show did get a follow up movie and has had several prequel/bridge and upcoming comic/graphic novel tie-ins created to expand the story (similar to what was done for Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer series).

Hands-down my favorite character in the series is Kaylee and the way she blends optimism with capability (in how well she keeps the ship humming along despite sometime difficulties in getting parts) - Jewel Staite does a great job in this role. The other actors/characters are also good with Nathan Fillion a believable Captain and Gina Torres very good as his strong 2nd-in-command. The stories are often fun, adventurous and tension-filled. Serenity, the movie, expands things even further in scale and scope while remaining tied tightly to the story-lines that developed throughout the series.

Realistic, gritty, funny and sometimes poignant, Firefly and Serenity are a must watch if you are a space opera or science fiction fan. That they are continuing the story in graphic novel/comic format just means there will be more story to enjoy in the future as you will want to keep coming back to these characters and the setting. Firefly and Serenity get 4.5 Mick Happies. Now if only they would make a Mass Effect-style game set in the universe either letting you travel about like the crew of Serenity or even a more combat-oriented game set during the civil war. I would play it without a doubt.

P.S. Researching links for this review I found out that Steven Brust (a very good author - read the Vlad Taltos series) wrote a Firefly novel, My Own Kind of Freedom, that was ultimately not approved/released, but is available for free via download under a creative commons license from his website here.