Oh Christmas Tree ...

For the first time in my adult life I actually have a Christmas tree. Not a "real" tree, mind you, as they tend to be messy and have a habit of needing to be watered (something difficult to do when both I and my boy will be flying to our respective homes for a week for Christmas) or else there will be a not so nice Christmas surprise of a dead tree and a pile of needles on the floor. Not to mention the obvious problem of where to find a real living Christmas tree here in Memphis; its not like living in Michigan where every corner seems to have some display of Christmas trees for sale. Its about 6' tall, strung with lights and as of last week, decorated mostly with my old childhood ornaments that my mom was kind enough to send my way.

My first two years here in Memphis, Christmas snuck up on me; I was heading to the airport to catch a flight home before it even sunk in that it was the holiday season, let alone nearly Christmas. Christmas' sneak attack was not solely made possible by my lack of Christmas decorating (the fact that it snows maybe once a year here in Memphis and rarely drops below 40 degrees certainly helps mask the fact that the winter holidays are rapidly approaching), but it surely played it's part.

I've certainly enjoyed the Christmas/holiday spirit that the decorated tree has brought to our apartment. I'm a rather rational (some might say usually lacking in emotion) person, but Christmas still has a magic to it, one that I can surely feel this year. The tree seems durable enough, so I expect to be setting it up in whatever apartment/condo/residence in whatever state and city that I call home next year (the IRS has been dragging its feet, but I have to imagine I'll be in and out of training come this time next year).

Prince of Persia

Because lately I have a good deal of time on my hands (not complaining in the least, mind you), I decided that before I actually got into the new Prince of Persia (I picked up my pre-ordered copy last Wednesday as all pre-orders were upgraded to the collector's edition for free), I would check out the old trilogy that was on the PS2/Xbox. I picked up used copies of the 3 games (Sands of Time, Warrior Within and Two Thrones) on the Xbox (at Gamestop) for $4, $5 and $10, respectively. I'm glad I did. I just finished Sands of Time earlier this evening (morning) and I loved it. It's a relatively short game (it took me just under 10 hours to beat), but it is a treat to play. The graphics, for its time as the game was released in 2003, look great, the controls are smooth and the gameplay, while challenging, is not stupid, make-you-want-to-throw-your-controller-at-the-tv, impossibly hard. Once you beat Sands of Time, you can unlock the original Prince of Persia (on the PC, back in the late 80s I think) game, though if you play the game on your 360 like I did, when you try to play the original Prince of Persia the screen just goes black. It's easy to see after playing Sands of Time where Ubisoft got the idea for Assassin's Creed.

The 360 Prince of Persia is calling my name pretty loudly, so I may be waiting to play the rest of the Xbox trilogy until after running through the 360 game. I haven't seen more than the opening cut scene of the 360 game, but the graphics are simple yet stunning and the music is beautiful (as a nice bonus, a short game soundtrack is on the collector's edition disc).

Incredibly Cute

I'm not quite sure why of late I feel motivated to write about video games (not reviews, per say, though I have considered doing those as well), but here goes. I was meandering through the xbox live arcade games earlier this morning (as a side note, most of the "classic" games are now down to 400 pts; I've already grabbed TMNT and Streets of Rage 2) and happened upon A Kingdom for Keflings. Its a very basic medieval-themed strategy game (think the original Warcraft, only no combat) in which you, as your avatar (or you can pick one of the game's characters, but that's not half as much fun imo), help the keflings (very cute tiny humanoids) go from a humble village to a full-fledged, complete with a castle, kingdom. You can train the Keflings to complete basic tasks (harvesting lumber, mining minerals, etc.) by picking them up and dropping them on the resource and then picking them up and dropping on the drop-off point (the Town Hall, Lumber Mill or wherever you want the resource to go). To change their job, you simply pick the Kefling up and take off its hat, thereby erasing your training and allowing you to retrain them in whatever means you choose. If a Kefling gets in your way, you have the option of sending them flying with a well-placed kick. Its very mean, but can be strangely satisfying.

All the actual construction of buildings in the kingdom is done by you, not by the Keflings. Each building has a blueprint (they unlock as the game progresses) composed of various pieces, which can range from a couple pieces to over eight, and each piece is made at one of the workshops. Once the pieces are made, you pick them up and drop them in the intended location and when all pieces are in place, the building appears.

All in all, the game is very simple and not particularly challenging (there are no rival tribes to fight with, no natural disasters or similar destructive forces at work), but it is quite enjoyable and you have nearly free reign to customize your kingdom as you see fit, everything from having Kefling sculptors building statues in tribute to their great leader to having the town painter paint the town (or every building's roof anyway) red. The game, for me, is a nice break from attempting wave after wave of horde on Gears of War 2 and trying to beat Streets of Rage 2 on Hardcore.

If anyone reading this has A Kingdom for Keflings (or Streets of Rage 2, TMNT or Gears of War 2 for that matter) and wants to play online, my Xbox Live Gamertag is Kestrea.

Dead Space

A couple of days ago I finished playing what has to be one of the best survival horror games and a game that would rank in my top 25 games (a list I keep meaning to finalize and post ... one of these days). The game is Dead Space and it is a game that should be played by any survival horror fan (Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc.) and probably by any fps fan (the game is done in a 3rd person over the shoulder view, similar to Gears of War). The gameplay makes you feel like you are in a sci-fi / horror movie (Event Horizon, the Thing, etc) and made me jump more times than I'd care to admit. The game brings a sense of realism which adds to the suspense. You can't, for example, pause the game, go into your inventory screen and heal yourself or reload your gun like you can in Resident Evil, instead, your inventory is accessed in real time. Also, a nice touch is in areas of the ship that are in a vacuum, your flamethrower doesn't work (as there is no oxygen to sustain the flame) and the lower your health gets, the slower your character runs and the more labored his breathing sounds. There is no HUD or status screen, your health meter is displayed on the back of your suit. You can upgrade both your suit (rig) and your various weapons at benches scattered throughout the game. As far as upgrading your suit, there is no such thing as too much health and too much air. As for your weapons, your character, Isaac, is no soldier and as such, the majority of the weapons are tools (a plasma cutter, industrial chainsaw, etc); there is only one weapon, the plasma rifle, that feels like a traditional gun. I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at this, if you like to play survival horror or fps, you should give this game a shot, go rent it or if you know someone who has it, borrow it from them.

For those of you in Grand Rapids, I'm going to try to bring the game with me when I come home for the holidays.