iOS Puzzle Games - Hoplite Review

I like iOS games for playing when I want to be distracted for a little while (except Hearthstone, which can keep me distracted for a long while), usually before bed or on a lunch break when not reading. That is why I love it when things go on sale and this is the best time of year for sales. I recommend, if you have an iOS device and like gaming, that you get a copy of the TouchArcade app and start "watching" all of the games you are interested in…that way you get notifications when they go on sale. Well this week two games I have been watching for a while went on sale for the massively low price of "free". The games, Hoplite (free thanks to Pocket Gamer UK) and The Nightmare Cooperative, are similar in that they are both turn-based puzzle games with RPG and definite Rogue-like elements. I thought for this week, I would review Hoplite.

Hoplite was created by Doug Cowley at Magma Fortress and it is a great game that was originally generated as part of the 2013 seven day Rogue-like challenge.. You are an adventurer on a quest to descend 16 levels into a dungeon to get the Golden Fleece and return safely. The game is played on a hexagonal grid and you try to make it safely to the stairs before being killed by the enemies on the board. You have to watch out as some will throw bombs or fire arrows or shoot fire at you. To help you, you have the ability to leap, bash, throw or stab your opponents. Unlike other games, you only have to move toward your enemy (ending your move next to them) in order to stab them to death. To also help you, there is a shrine on every level where you can heal or upgrade your skills (or get new ones).

Here I tapped on the enemy archer to see where he could attack next

The graphics are simple but effective. The touch interface is also simple, which means that a lot of effort was put into refining it to make it great. Touch where you want to move. Movement is one tile at a time when there are enemies on the board but then you can speed ahead once they are gone. Touch an enemy to determine where it can hit from its current location (they can only seem to attack if they don't move that turn). Touch to select or de-select a skill you might want to use. All working great and playing into the need to think through every move. The game gives you the feeling that with the right planning you might make it across every level uninjured and without killing an enemy.

Hoplite is also deep in its simplicity. While there isn't much in the way of an item system (it differs from the typical Rogue-like in not needing a lot of items to gather). There is an achievement system that helps you gain access to new and better skills that will then be available in game at the shrines. The strategy comes in when you have to choose between healing at the shrine or taking the upgrade to your throwing ability, allowing you to hit enemies from farther away (at a safer distance).

The typical game length (if you are as bad as me) will last you about 15 minutes at the most. I really like the simplicity and depth combination that the developer has come up with here. Looking through the achievement list, I know I will have a lot more to do in the game to get good enough to get all of them. Hoplite is a great addition to the grand old tradition of dungeon crawlers that didn't start with Rogue, but continues to drag people like me in with each new iteration. Hoplite gets 5 Mick Happies.

San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal (Safari) Park Review

 Fennec Fox at Safari Park

I have to admit that when it comes to zoos, I am spoiled. The first zoo experiences I ever had were at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park (now called the Safari Park, but will always be WAP to me). Since then I have had the opportunity to at least see a couple other zoos, such as the Minnesota Zoo and the only zoo in Connecticut, Beardsley Zoo. Neither of them hold a candle to the zoos in San Diego for the diversity of animals and the size/setup of the enclosures. I know there is a whole dialogue that can be had about animal rights and whether or not it makes sense to put animals in zoo and on display, but you can't deny that zoos like the San Diego Zoo have done a lot for preservation of animals. That out of the way, let's talk about the Zoo and Park.

Educational encounter at Safari Park

The San Diego Zoo is located just north of downtown San Diego in Balboa Park. It winds over a set of tree-lined hills with multiple valleys. The designers have setup the park so that as you walk down various trails you travel through different environments. You'll move through the Monkey Trail, Sun Bear Trail, Panda Canyon, Africa Rocks, etc. The zoo is home to many diverse animals from Giant Pandas, Gorillas, Elephants, Tigers, Meerkats, Fennec Foxes, insects, birds and reptiles. My favorite part is the Children's Zoo, where they have Meerkats and Fennec Foxes and a pretty wild insect house. My wife loves the monkeys and gorillas and could sit and watch them for hours. One of the best parts of the zoo is that they have setup some open areas like the Gorilla and Hippo exhibits where you can get very close to the animals with only a large window between you and them. In other areas they have some older enclosures that really need an upgrade, but they are working on it.

 Leafcutter ants at the San Diego Zoo

Other insect examples at the San Diego Zoo

The Wild Animal Park is a much larger zoo in North San Diego County. Way out on the east edge of Escondido, the WAP is a massive place with huge areas built out to be reminiscent of the Asian and African plains with herds of animals that would be found in those areas. Want to see giraffes and rhinos, this is the place for you. The WAP also boasts a great lion exhibit that uses the same window technique to let you get close to the mama and papa lion and their cubs. They also have a nice bird show and often have animals out with handlers giving up close educational opportunities. To help you get out to see the animals in the African exhibit, there is a tram tour that will take you around there. Unfortunately, the 45 minute monorail ride that used to show you both the African and Asian exhibits is gone. The only way to see the Asian exhibit is a lot of walking, paying a lot or a zipline ride or pay a lot for a caravan safari on a truck out to the exhibit where you get up close an personal with the animals. They also have the new lemur walk letting you go into a large enclosure with the lemurs.

Both of these zoos have a wide array of amazing animals on display. I used to think the WAP was the better of the two, but since seeing both of them recently, I think the Zoo is actually better. The Zoo is cooler (being closer to the ocean) and has more shade as you get a massive amount of exercise walking and seeing the animal. Both are great for that exercise. I also think the Zoo has slightly better animal diversity (less herding animals) but some of the enclosures are better at the WAP. One big downside of the WAP is that it has gone very commercial with things like their flight line safari, which will run an adult $75 (after park admission costs). Not to mention the safari tours that will run $50 - $155 a person. I appreciate that they need to support the park, but to have the best way to see the animals be an up sell from the park admission is a bit annoying. That isn't the case at the Zoo.

Fennec Fox at San Diego Zoo

(this little guy needs more space and no mesh fencing and a friend)

If you are in San Diego or live here and don't know about these parks, you should go if you like animals. The best way is to get a zoo membership that will allow you access to both parks. If you can go multiple times, it is the best deal and makes it easier to see everything as that is difficult in a single trip. Next time you're around the area, go check in on my Fennec Fox friends. The Zoo and WAP get 4 Mick Happies.

Quick Movie Reviews and Does the Dog Die...

I have to start this post stating that I am not a Peta member or vegan or anything like that. However, I do have strong opinions when pets are depicted being killed in movies or TV shows. I just don't like it. It will make me actively avoid a given movie because I just don't need to see that. For instance, I "was" interested in the Keanu Reeves movie John Wick. Then I learned what drives his character's actions and I was like, "I'm out". I will probably never see that movie. So when I know it is going to happen I will avoid it. When I don't know it is coming, I tend to like whatever movie I was watching a lot less than before. That brings us to this week's movies…

Space Station 76 - This movie looks at the lives of people living on the Omega 76 Space Station in a future that looks a lot like what would have been envisioned in the 1970s. You have holograms and space ships, yes, but catalogs from stores come on ViewMaster disks and people smoke pot and see their therapist robot for Valium, etc. Plus just about everything is colored in white, yellow, greens or browns. Space Station 76 stars Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Matt Bomer and Jerry O'Connell, among others. All of the actors do a very good job with the material they are given. The movie also gives an interesting view of a retro-looking future and could have been really great if it had swung more to straight comedy rather than trying for a bleak version of comedy. You have the narcism and neglectful parenting, a little bit of the loose morals of the 70s being shown, but it could have been even better if those things were exaggerated even more. Instead what you are left with at the end is just feeling down. Oh yeah, and then there is a bit with a cryogenically frozen dog that could have been left out and I would have probably been able to give this a 3 Mick Happy rating. Instead I have to go with 2.

Automata - This film stars Antonio Banderas as an insurance agent for a company that supplies androids to help mankind. This is set in an apocalyptic future where solar flares and activity have burned up most of the vegetation on the earth and reduced earth's population by >99%. Here Jacq (Banderas) finds some androids have somehow circumvented the two rules that regulate their activities (1. can't hurt humans or allow them to hurt themselves and 2. can't modify themselves). As he investigates the things his world starts to unravel and he begins to suspect that the company he works for may not be doing good things. The main problem I had with this movie started very early on when Jacq goes to investigate a complaint that an android has malfunctioned and killed a family pet. It didn't, and the family was using that as an excuse to try to get money. The film didn't need to go there. They could have injured one of the people and said the android hurt them instead. That is just frustrating as they hurt the pet just to drive an emotional reaction that they could have gotten in a different way with a little more effort. Anyway, this is a bleak future movie and weird. It also gets 2 Mick Happies but mainly due to the choices of the screenwriters than any other major shortfalls.

Which leaves us with this. If you are like me and don't like it when the pet is the one who gets it in the end. There is a website that can help us. It is DoestheDogDie.com and they have over 700 movies listed and will let you know if the pets are okay, injured or presumed dead but end up okay or are killed. They obviously don't have all the movies and didn't have the two listed here but they do have a lot of favorite movies listed. Check it out.

Edge of Tomorrow Movie Review

This weekend I finally got my hands on a DVD copy of Doug Liman's Sci-Fi action movie, Edge of Tomorrow. The movie is set in the near future where mankind is in a fight for its life with alien invaders called Mimics and based pretty closely on a Japanese manga novel called All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Enter Tom Cruise as the main character, Major William Cage, a PR guy who gets himself put on the front lines of the human invasion to stop the aliens. There he is killed but not before he comes in close contact with one of the aliens and acquires the power to reset his day when he dies.

As Cage relives his day over and over he comes in contact with Rita Vrataski, played by Emily Blunt, who is a war hero, the one person who has killed more than a hundred Mimics in the battle of Verdun. Cage learns that Vrataski had also had the ability to reset until she lost it and together they try to figure out how to stop the Mimics. Through in some powered exo-skeleton armor and you have a party.

The movie plays on the usual theme of time repeating, which is of course classically portrayed in Groundhog Day. Here we see Cage living through a horrible couple of days over and over. Liman does a great job of depicting the frustration of trial and error and growth for Cage as the movie progresses. The interactions between Blunt and Cruise are also terrific with Vrataski's single-minded focus on defeating the aliens a very nice contrast to Cage's reluctance to be at the front lines. Vrataski as a character is pretty bad-ass though you don't get to see enough of her kicking butt.

Overall, I really liked Edge of Tomorrrow. I think the movie got a little rushed at the end and lost some of the deliberate, very well done, build up that the early parts had. At the end I thought that Vrataski's character might have been the more interesting and it would be nice for Liman to film a prequel about her experiences at Verdun. I know it won't happen because, a) they have already mentioned the highlights to the story in this film and b) it wouldn't have Tom Cruise's star power behind it to get it made. It would be awesome, however, as Vrataski doesn't have a mentor to guide her at Verdun the way Cage does here. Also some of the trials she mentions would have been interesting to see on film but Cage doesn't repeat those trials.

If you like Sci-Fi action films or just want to see Tom Cruise die, a lot, then Edge of Tomorrow is a great way to spend 2 hours. Could the film have been even better, sure, but what you do get is at least 4 Mick Happies worth of butt kicking for goodness. Now where can I get some time resetting powers as there are a few mistakes I would like to do over yesterday.

The Gathering Book Review

Like many "gamers" of a certain age, Magic the Gathering holds a special place in our hearts and minds. In 1993, I was introduced to the game by some college friends and we proceeded to shuffle and trade and scheme around these crazy fantasy game cards with amazing art on the front. My wife and I met in 1994 and I was still playing. She suffered for many years with me going off to "play cards" and sit in rooms with many kids younger than me. Its been more than 10 years since I sold off the bulk of my Magic cards, and looking back it was the right thing to do at the time. However, that doesn't mean I don't miss my Beta Serra Angel, Mox Sapphire and the other "bombs" I had opened in those early packs. Knowing that, and being the best wife anyone could ever have, she bought me The Gathering - Reuniting Pioneering Artists of Magic the Gathering for Christmas last year.

The Gathering is a book that combines a retrospective on some of the art from the early days of Magic with short essays from the artists who brought the vision of Magic to life. It was originally a successful Kickstarter project back in 2013. Not having been involved in Kickstarter at all, I had missed any opportunity to back this project. My wife, however, is a ninja when it comes to thoughtful gifts and tracked down the folks at Full Steam Press who published the book and picked up a hardcover copy. She also convinced them with her Jedi mind powers to send along four of the promotional standard edition sketch cards that included a sketch by Doug Shuler of…the Serra Angel! Major points for the wife.

The Gathering is a little over 100 pages and gives some insight into the early days of Magic when artists were paid less than $100 per piece of art and, I am glad to have learned, were given some shares of stock in Wizards of the Coast. It's great to think of these artists who were making 5" x 7" art that went on to be printed on millions of cards all over the world were able to share in the success of Magic over the years. It is also nice to hear a little about the guidance given to the artists for the cards they illustrated and how they might have done things differently if they had known then what a success this would become. Many of the artists in the book have moved on to other genres or are focusing on different media these days, but their contributions to Magic and pop culture will remain for years to come if the past 20+ years of Magic are any indication.

You can still get a copy of the The Gathering from the Full Stream Press site here. I recommend it for any long-time fan of Magic or casual fan of art in general. Great gift for those of us who were in college  right when Magic first unleashed itself on our world. The Gathering gets 5 Mick Happies for awesomeness. If you do get the book, you even get contact info for many of the artists if you want to look into their art in more detail.

Le Chef Review

As I continue to read Honor Harrington books and really only play Path of Exile, many of my recent reviews have been things I have watched on TV (or on TV off DVD). This week is no exception. On Friday night, the family and I sat down to enjoy Le Chef, a French comedy written and directed by Daniel Cohen and starring Jean Reno.

We have liked Jean Reno movies for a long time, starting with The Professional and continuing with roles in French Kiss, Couple Retreat and others. We also have enjoyed several French movies in recent years like The Intouchables, so a comedy including Reno and cooking seemed like a good bet (and turned out to be much better than The Tasting Menu, which we watched a few weeks ago).

Le Chef is the story of Jacky Bonnot, played by Michael Youn, a cooking enthusiast who has had difficulty holding down a job, causing much consternation for his pregnant girlfriend, Beatrice. Jean Reno is Alexandre Lagarde, a famous chef with a 3-star restaurant and a cooking show who is under pressure from his restaurant's owner's son who wants to make the restaurant avant-garde. As the story progresses, Jacky and Alexandre are thrown together with their love for cooking after Jacky is found cooking clandestinely at a retirement home where he is a painter. Alexandre gives him a trial at his restaurant while Jacky tries to hide the fact he isn't painting from his long-suffering girlfriend.

The movie has many funny moments when Jacky and Alexandre clash over Alexandre's reluctance to give up control in his restaurant and Jacky's complete lack of a filter when it comes to what he thinks should be done. Throw in a trio of somewhat bumbling but completely fun cooks at the retirement home and some over the top bad modern cuisine to compare against Jacky and Alexandre's more wholesome fare, you have an interesting mix that comes out tasting good.

Nothing overly special or really new is on tap here, but there are pretty restaurants, food that looks like something you might actually eat and lovable characters. All in all, you can't go wrong with Le Chef. With all 3 of us at my house, Le Chef gets 4 Mick Happies. Now we are all looking forward to Jon Favreau's Chef next weekend.

X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

I waited a long time to see X-Men: Days of Future Past. I had intended to see it in the theaters when it released, but things conspired against that happening. Then it was available to download on iTunes for a couple weeks and I almost purchased it then. Finally, with the DVD release this past week my wife put me out of my misery and bought me a copy. X-Men: Days of Future Past (X-M:DoFP) is the latest installment in the X-Men franchise, directed by Bryan Singer and based on the classic Chris Claremont and John Byrne The Uncanny X-Men storyline, Days of Future Past.

X-M:DoFP continues the story from both the X-Men: First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand films.  X-M:DoFP starts with a view of a grim future where mutants, those who help them and those who might become them are held in internment camps and are pursued by giant robots called Sentinels. We find out that those who remain of the original X-Men (Iceman, Professor X, Magneto, Kitty Pryde, Wolverine) are hanging on by a thread with the support of some new mutants, Bishop, Blink, Warpath and Sunspot. They devise a plan to stop their future by using Kitty Pryde's ability to send the consciousness of Wolverine back to the 1970s to stop a killing that leads to the Sentinels being activated to protect humans from mutants.

The storyline of X-M:DoFP has some timey-wimey bits that you have to either think too hard about or just go along for the ride on. No, we don't see how Professor Xavier is alive in the future, but hey, that's okay. There are bits of the movie where you see something happen then it hasn't happened - but that is explained. It is interesting to see the younger and older character versions in a film that does a better job of things than Star Trek: Generations did - which also starred Patrick Stewart.

One of the best parts of X-M:DoFP is getting to see the bleak future and the cool skills of the mutants as well as getting to see all of our old X-Men movie favorites. The skills of Bishop (played by Omar Sy) and Blink are colorful and excellent on screen. It was good to see portrayals of the older Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) and Wolverine (you can tell he's older by the grey hair). However, the best character in the film, hands down, has to be Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters. The incredibly fast mutant is snarky and portrays the character's suffering because everyone else is so much slower than him well. His character also gives the most awesome special effects moment in the movie.

Which actually leads to the main niggle with the movie. We don't get enough variety in the mutants except in short spurts. The thing that made X-Men and X2 even more fun was the diversity in mutants and their powers. Here we spend a lot of time with Magneto, Professor X, Beast, Wolverine and Mystique and unfortunately they aren't the most interesting of the characters (see note above about Quicksilver). However, there is hope that X-Men: Apocalypse will broaden the number of focal characters again and hopefully will be even better for it.

X-M:DoFP is a great entry into the X-Men movie franchise. I found it better than X-Men: First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand and certainly it was worth the wait. Overall, X-M:DoFP gets 4 Mick Happies. Now, when is the Quicksilver movie going to happen?