World War Z

On the return flight from a trip overseas (US to the United Kingdom) I caught World War Z on the small screen in the back of the economy seat in front of me. I knew about the movie for a long time, having heard good things about the book World War Z by Max Brooks and knowing that Brad Pitt was to star in the adaptation.

The premise of the movie is that Gerry Lane (Pitt) has recently stopped his work as a UN Investigator to spend more time with his wife and two daughters. While driving with his family, something happens, an outbreak of some kind, and he must save his family from what seem to be ravenous human beings (very fast zombies) attacking everyone they see. Lane hooks up with his former UN boss to protect his family. What follows is a thriller where Lane works to determine what caused the outbreak and how to stop it, if he can.

This is a pretty adrenaline-filled race around various locales as Lane seeks answers to what is happening so that he can help the powers-that-be figure out how to overcome. There is suspense, tense moments, heroic actions and frustrating setbacks. Some of the best scenes have a real feel of menace to them without major violence. Don't get me wrong though, there is a lot of violence and blood.

One of the minor issues I had with the film is the way the director helps the viewer see some of the same clues that Lane is cataloging throughout the story that give him insight into the outbreak. The camera lingers on them a little too long and we get a voice over clue into others. These might have been more effective if just shown like any other action in the movie and then later flashed back when Lane is thinking about what he has learned. The other drawback I saw with the film is the hyper nature of the zombies, which makes you wonder how anyone could survive.

The locations in the film are good, they really captured the look of Wales in the few outdoor scenes in the later part of the movie. I know that lovers of the book were upset that the story lost some of its global feel, but not having read the book I didn't have that same reaction. One of my favorite characters was the Israeli soldier, Segen, played by Daniella Kertesz. She doesn't say a lot, but is focused and does a job while overcoming major setbacks.

In the end, what you get, is an action-packed thrill ride to try to save humanity. Sure, the threat to humanity could have been pretty much anything that makes us turn against ourselves, but in this case it was zombies and it works. I give 4 Mick Happies to World War Z and it is certainly worth your time. Gotta go prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Movies on DVD Quick Reviews

I haven't done much in the way of game playing in the last couple weeks (except Path of Exile) and I am currently in the middle of Cool Days by Jim Butcher. So in the lull, I thought I would give some quick thoughts on the movies I have seen in the last three days. You see at our house, we have a 3 DVD Netflix subscription and streaming as well and we spend most nights on the couch together to watch at least one TV show or movie together. I can't think of a better way to relax and have some dessert or popcorn. Here we go…

The Family - Luc Besson's dark comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro is set in a small town in France where a mob-boss who testified against his former crime family is in witness protection. This movie has action and thrills, morbidly funny moments and explores what happens when a crime family (literally) moves in on a sleepy town. From the kids scoping out all the angles going on in the local school to the parents dealing with the haughty nature of their new neighbors. Plus it has Tommy Lee Jones in it. A fun romp that may just take your head off in a couple of the scenes. Four Mick Happies.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters - The second installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians film series sees Logan Lerman back as the title character with his friends, Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) and Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) as they go on another epic quest. Thrown into the mix are other half-blood offspring of the gods as the trio (and friends) seek to save their home. This is more of the same from the first movie with over the top special effects with Greek mythology tropes brought into the modern day. The only drawback for me was the lack of screen time for Grover and the reduction of Annabeth from the rough and tumble character in the first movie. Still a lot of fun - 3.5 Mick Happies.

Kick-Ass 2 - The Jeff Wadlow sequel was actually the bigger disappointment of the four films I watched. Kick-Ass was a brilliant, hyper-violent and over-the-top action film that I found to be great. All the living characters from the first film are back. Here we see what happens after "super"-heroes become more common and the effects of their crime-fighting spawns a "super"-villain gang to fight them. My biggest disappointment in this film was the middle part of the movie where Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) tries to fit in to high school norms. My second biggest issue was the violence directed against characters other than the "super"-heroes and bad guys. I understand it, but I don't need to see police officers cut down in droves. Could have been great, has moments, but not up to the high bar of the first movie - 3 Mick Happies.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - Stars Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner as the title brother and sister. Surviving (and defeating) a witch as children, the siblings grow up into traveling bounty hunters taking on monsters (mainly witches) of all kinds - saving towns and children along the way. This is a campy fun take on the whole Hansel & Gretel and monstrous witch motif. There are way over-the-top weapons and modern references (a H & G fan boy) throughout. The modern references (and language) do take you out of the time period and theme of the movie at times. There is still fun being had - too bad there wasn't more story and less save the world going on. Why can't people just make a small episodic movie that has a compact but good story? Still not the waste of time that a lot of critics labeled it to be - 3 Mick Happies.

There you have it, four movies newly on DVD (or streaming) for you to pick from. Hope you find one to enjoy.

Game Dev Tycoon Review

I have to say that I like simulation games, though I am not usually very good at them. Recently, during the Steam Holiday Sale, I was able to pick up Greenheart Games' Game Dev Tycoon for next to nothing. That was great for me, but possibly less great for the developer so I thought I would do my part by posting a review.

Game Dev Tycoon, as the name implies, has you starting out a new game development company in your garage. You get to choose what platforms to make your games on, what genre and type of game as well as how much money and time you will put into the various aspects of the game. All of this is done with a simple pop-up menu system while you look down into your fledgling game studio.

All of the usual hallmarks of a tycoon simulation are there. You have the tech tree that you can research to unlock new technologies for your game engines (surround sound, cut-scenes, dialogue trees, full-motion video, etc.). You also are responsible for hiring, developing and/or firing your staff as your company grows. You choose what type of booth you want at the annual convention and how you want market your game. You also decide when the games you develop are finished and ready to ship.

To make a game in Game Dev Tycoon, you select the genre, platform and type of game you want. What you can choose depends on what systems you have licenses to, what you have researched and what type of game engines you have developed for your team to code on. As you make games, you will gain research points that can be spent (along with the money you make selling your games) on training your staff or researching the latest and greatest technology. You also are responsible for balancing your staff on projects (once you start doing medium or large projects) to ensure no one is over-allocated or burnt out.

Once a game is finished, you release it and then get to see the reviews come in. The reviews are all a simple phrase and a number from four different game reviewers. The higher the review score the more-likely you will have a breakout hit that can make millions for your company. If you have a string of poor games or need money, you can also take on contract work for some quick cash to keep your studio afloat. You can also work with a publisher on a game, which may give you access to a larger audience but at the expense of them taking the lion share of the revenues and dictating what type of game you have to make.

I really liked how the game systems that you can develop for are modeled on real-life systems. That does have a drawback of making Game Dev Tycoon a little easier if you know your console history and which platforms to avoid. It is also always suspenseful waiting to see what rating your new game will get, hoping for a blockbuster. I still haven't figured out exactly what makes the reviewers like a game most as each game you develop has to have the right genre and style for the platform as well as a lot of design and technology invested by your team to seem to get a lot of customers but that may not result in a highly rated game.

If you like to do some high-level managing of a game studio and call the shots, Game Dev Tycoon is an easy to learn & play and fun way to do that. It is also relatively cheap whether on sale or not (typically $9.99 on Steam). I give Game Dev Tycoon 4 Mick Happies. Now I have to get my studio, Entertainbert, back to making PoE 2.

Despicable Me 2 Monopoly Review

Happy New Year. Hard to believe that it is 2014 already. This past Christmas, like many times before, we had some new board games under the tree for the family to try out. This year it was Big Bang Theory Clue (a very fun version of that game) where you try to determine who annoyed Sheldon, what they did and where they did it in classic Clue fashion. The other game was a new Despicable Me 2 version of Monopoly.

Over the years, we have owned (and played) a lot of branded Monopoly games; from the original to Dog-opoly to the Monopoly Horse lover's edition. Of them all, I think that the Despicable Me 2 version is the most accessible for younger players and has the best play improvements over the original I could ever imagine.

In classic Monopoly (if you have never been exposed), you move your metal game piece (all shaped like a familiar object - car, dog, thimble, etc.) around a the game board buying properties and upgrading (placing houses and hotels) them once you have a set of the same color properties. As you go around the board, if you land on properties owned by other players you have to pay rent to stop there. The game ends when all other players have gone bankrupt except the winner. There are nuances to the game, of course, in that you can mortgage properties you own to get some quick cash, you can trade with other players, etc.

In Despicable Me 2 Monopoly, the game has been simplified for a younger audience. The game pieces have been replaced by minions, which are all unique and according to the box there are 50 of them. The houses and hotels have been replaced by cupcakes and sundaes. Most importantly, the dice have been replaced by a spinning top and the potential outcomes of a spin are 1 - 6 (as opposed to the 2 - 12 with the dice version). To accommodate the lower move numbers (1 - 6), the number of properties on the board have been reduced by 1 per set and there are no utilities or railroads. As is typically the case, each property is named for a significant item from the Despicable Me movies (Park Place and Boardwalk are now the Pyramids and the Moon).

Each player starts with a certain number of banana bucks (the currency in the game) and each buck has a value of 1. In addition to the changes listed above, there are three big rule changes that make the game easier, more accessible and faster.

1. If you land on an unowned space, you must buy it.
2. When you buy a space, you get to place a cupcake on it (you upgrade that to a sundae when you own both spaces of a color set).
3. If you go to jail, you pay and get out of jail the very next turn.

As little as those changes seem, they really do change the whole dynamic of the game. You go from a game that can take hours (in some cases) and drag on as you try to drive all of your opponents into bankruptcy to a quick game that will take 30 - 45 minutes to complete. It also removes a lot of the bank work by reducing the transactions in the game to solely buying properties and paying rents.

This version of Monopoly is rated for kids ages 5 and up. I am not sure if it will hold the attention of kids at age 5, but for those at 7 - 10, it will be great. The spinning to determine how much you move, the simplified Monopoly game board and mechanics and the minion theme are all great and should be more than enough to hold the attention of a younger player. For those adults, it is cute and the shorter game play makes it more accessible than sitting down to a full-blown Monopoly game.

If you like Monopoly, minions and don't care for how long the original game takes, then this is the version of Monopoly for you. Despicable Me 2 Monopoly gets 4 Mick Happies. Next time, I hope I get the Pyramids and the Moon!