Lost Girl Season 2 Review

Lost Girl is an urban fantasy television show created by Michelle Lovretta and airing on Canada's Showcase (and Syfy in the US). It is the story of a Succubus, a Fae that lives off sexual energy, named Bo who grew up not knowing that she was Fae. Bo, played by Anna Silk, learns in Season 1 that there are Light and Dark Fae and that she must choose a side. Instead Bo chooses neither and along with her human best friend, Kenzi played by Ksenia Solo, she becomes a sort of private investigator helping those Fae (and humans) who can't get the help they need from the leaders of the Light and Dark Fae.

Season 2, which is available on demand from Netflix along with Season 1, finds Bo and friends dealing with the effects of the end of the last Season. I won't spoil plot details, but relationships change, new ones form and under it all there are big problems coming for Bo and her friends. Through it all, the show is interesting and doesn't get stale with just a Fae problem of the week rut.

The characters in Lost Girl are smart and witty. The show has two strong female leads in Bo and Kenzi especially with Kenzi being a human who has to rely on her street smarts to keep up in the world of the Fae. They are joined by the Fae cops, Dyson and Hale, who are a wolf-shifter and siren respectively. Add in a human doctor, a bartender who is not all he seems to be and a bunch of light and dark Fae politics and you have the ingredients for an interesting show.

I like that the writers of Lost Girl don't make you wait all season to get to the meat of problems. Issues are encountered and dealt with fairly swiftly in the show with a couple of overarching plot lines moving throughout the season. There are also nice hooks to setup what will be an eventful Season 3. The show also does well with character development from Season 1 through Season 2. Throw in a few steamy sex scenes, some kick-butt action and Kenzi's snappy dialogue and there is something for everyone (including a Fae Tony Stark inventor to spice things up). The writers also don't mind poking fun at the actors themselves such as when they have Bo mention that Dyson, played by Kris Holden-Ried, has hair like Chris Martin from Coldplay (which my wife has said has been distracting her since Season 1 but she was finally able to get past it).

If you like shows like Supernatural (first 3-4 seasons) and Grimm Season 1 then you should check out Lost Girl. We just picked up our Season 3 pass on iTunes. This show is what True Blood should have been. Lost Girl gets 4 Mick Happies. On to Season 3.

Star Traders Elite Review

I can't remember how I first came across Star Traders from Trese Brothers in the App Store (it is available for iOS and Android), but I am sure it was from reading Toucharcade or from some podcast or other. However it happened, I downloaded the free version of the game and proceeded to travel about the galaxy trying to make it in the harsh vastness of space.

Star Traders is a space exploration and trading role playing game where you are the captain in charge of a space ship and responsible for the well being of your ship and crew. Your objective is to survive, get rich and see the stars. The game breaks down into ship battles, random-seeming exploration of planets, missions and trading. All of which are displayed on screen in a simple user interface and a kind of turn by turn based choices. As you explore the galaxy you become revered or hated by various political groups, buy or upgrade your ships or take those of NPC captains.

The game is fairly complex in what it will allow you to do for a free version, but does have several features (ships, more spaces to explore in the galaxy and starting professions) locked in the free version. Even with those limitations, you can get hours of time logged in the game without feeling the need to upgrade to the Elite version. I splayed two games (dying in battle both times) before the Elite version of the game was released as a standalone app that I promptly bought. I'm not keen on in app purchases, so I was happy to see the Elite version released.

Star Traders reminded me of the old game Elite for the exploration and trading aspects, though it may remind me of the equally old Universe games more than that. But unlike the Universe games, there doesn't seem to be much of an underlying story arc to the game (unless I have missed it so far by dying too soon). Can't wait to find out.

If you want a light on graphics space trading, battle and exploration fix, try Star Traders - especially the free version before picking up Elite. The game may get a bit repetitive, but I haven't stopped playing yet. Star Traders Elite gets 3 Mick Happies.

The Karaoke Channel on Xbox Review

We like singing games around our house and are fairly willing to try new ones to find one that fits our tastes. Over the years on PS2 and Xbox we have accumulated: SingStar 80s, 90s, Pop, Country, CMT Karaoke Revolution Country, Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band 2, Rock Band 3, and Lips, Lips Part Classics, I love the 80s, and Number 1 Hits. Not to mention many many song downloads.

Imagine our interest when we found out there was a karaoke app on the Xbox that had thousands of songs and it was made by the same people who did Lips. We were in for a tryout at least. I loaded up the app and tried one of the few free songs to get a feel for how it all worked. In the app you choose songs you want to sing and make a list (or play individual songs) the you see your avatar get on stage ready to sing for a crowd of random avatars. Unlike competitive singing games with guide lines you have to hit with your pitch, the Karaoke Channel app (KCA) just gives you the lyrics and a visual timing guide for when to sing. Scoring is done by how many fans you attract with your singing. I imagine the better you know the timing and cadence of words the better you do. As you do better more and more avatars appear at the venue you are performing at to cheer you on. There is also a Kinect element allowing you to increase your fans and bonuses by matching poses your avatar does on screen.

The mechanics are all good here though the poses for Kinect should be more power stances and rock moves than the current make you look silly at your party type they are now. To access the song library for the game you have to buy a pass. It is a few hundred Microsoft points for a few hours of access. WARNING: the pass is real time and only for your account. No sharing for everyone logged in. If you want to sing the songs or earn the achievements you have to get a pass yourself. If you buy a 4 hour pass at 2 pm, it is done at 6 pm. This is a major pain and just poor on the developer's part.

When you finish songs, you get rewards (new items for your stage or avatar unlocks) based on how many fans you attracted. I liked the song selection and the fan attraction part of the game. The singing was also easier than other games mentioned above as there is no failure just fewer fans coming to rock out. This plays into the social party style of the game. KCA is really geared to be a game played by multiple people at a party. At least if they all play on one account.

KCA is somewhat fun, has a large song selection (though not some of the biggest songs on radio right now) and an accessible casual singing game for Xbox. It loses me with the pass issues and goofy poses. It's not as fun as the other singing games I mentioned above even if it does have a larger song library. We will just have to hope they keep adding songs to Rock Band since Lips is dead. The Karaoke Channel App gets 2 Mick Happies. Sorry if you happened to hear me singing, your ears will stop bleeding soon.