Reviews
“Dishonored” (2012) is one of my favorite games in quite some time. I haven’t put as many hours into it as I have into, say, “Endless Space” or “XCOM: Enemy Unknown”, but it has a moral resonance, stealth flavor, and a multipath openness that’s refreshing, particularly when compared to “Tomb Raider” (2013). I’ve played the [...]
Continue reading about “Dishonored DLC: The Knife of Dunwall” — a brief review w/spoilers
[UPDATED AND REVISED 03/08/13 1423 MST] I completed Tomb Raider last night; while I did use walkthroughs for a few segments (without shame, I might add), I mostly did it on my own. Total playing time was a bit over 20 hours. Even though — as I note below — there are some aspects to [...]
I have been playing computer games off and on since the mid-70s (“Star Trek” on the DECSystem-10 at BYU) and did game design and development myself in the 80s (Sundog: Frozen Legacy) while also writing for two gaming publications (The Space Gamer and Computer Gaming World). My favorite genre over the decades has been the [...]
Continue reading about Endless Space from Amplitude Studios — a review
Over at bfwa.com, I’ve started a new series of posts that will present brief reviews of and excerpts from my library of software engineering and IT project management texts. Here’s the introduction to the series; and here’s the first post, covering Jerry Weinberg’s The Psychology of Computer Programming. ..bruce..
Continue reading about New series at bfwa.com: “Readings in Software Engineering”
Great movies that hit their target are hard to review, and Joss Whedon pretty much smacked this puppy out of the park. He made a 2:23 ensemble superhero movie that never lags and that doesn’t shortchange any of the characters. The real telling sign: my sweet wife, who is more tolerant of than eager about [...]
Continue reading about “The Avengers” (2012): a brief review, w/spoilers
My sweet wife and I went to see “The Hunger Games” today. I’ve read all three novels and enjoyed them — they are a cut above the usual Young Adult novels and are a bit dark and unrelenting. The release buzz for the film itself was very positive, so I was interested to see just [...]
Continue reading about “The Hunger Games”: a brief review w/spoilers
I first read “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs early in high school, over 40 years ago. I loved the novel and enjoyed the ten (yes, ten) that followed, though none were quite as good or as wildly romantic. So I’ve followed with interest over the past several years the various attempts to [...]
Continue reading about “John Carter”: a brief review, with spoilers
[Originally posted over at Ace of Spades] Those who “abjure” violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf. — George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism This film has gotten a fair amount of ‘net publicity — though probably not nearly enough regular marketing — because of its fundamental concept: film a [...]
Continue reading about “Act of Valor”: a brief review, w/spoilers
My sweet wife and I went to see the new remake of “The Woman in Black”, starring Daniel Radcliffe. We had watched the original (made-for-British-TV) 1989 version when it first came out on video and at least one time since, but it had been many, many years since then. We thought the original was very [...]
In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that I’ve been a Nicolas Cage fan ever since “Raising Arizona”. It doesn’t mean that I like (or have even seen) all the films he’s done, but I do like some of his films (“Next”, “Knowing”) more than the general consensus. On the other hand, his [...]
Continue reading about “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” — a brief review, with spoilers