Alex Riviello

Game Review: Jetpack Joyride

Almost considered buying an iPad just for this. Almost. 

Honestly, I loved my time with the gadget and there’s a surprising amount of great games for it, but the price is still putting me off. Especially since I have a rooted Nook Color and can play games from the Google Marketplace on it. If the iPad were closer to $200 I would nab one in a second, though.

I went nuts picking up great games like Superbrothers, Broken Sword, and Dead Space, but Jetpack Joyride really might be the best one I’ve played so far.

Review here.

Board Game Review: Risk Legacy

Received a great response to my review of Risk Legacy! Glad to see that people are as excited about this game as I am, hope it turns a few more people onto the hobby.

Risk. Besides Monopoly, it’s perhaps the most-played board game of all time. You probably have one rotting away in the bottom of your closet, so why should you drop cash on another version? But Risk: Legacy is no simple reskin of the game; it’s a completely new edition. One which lets you and your friends slowly change a persistent world over multiple games and is, without hyperbole, a contender for the most innovative board game released in years.

Read the full review: http://badassdigest.com/2012/01/18/game-review-risk-legacy/

Game Review: Grand Theft Auto 3 Ten Year Anniversary Edition

While I appreciate that Rockstar was able to cram GTA3 into your phone, I’m not sure it was the best idea.

http://rocksaucestudios.com/tapsauce/post/game-review-grand-theft-auto-3-ten-year-anniversary-edition/

Game Review: A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (2nd Edition)

True to the nature of George R.R. Martin’s most famous work, A Game of Thrones: The Board Game is epic, complex, and will soak up a lot of your free time. At its most basic it’s a war game that sees you trying to control the castles and strongholds scattered among the territories of Westeros, but there’s a delightful amount of backstabbing, false alliances, and just generally screwing your friends over. It’s a good game for groups of friends that like to argue with each other loudly and often, preferably while drinking copious amounts of beer.

Read more: http://badassdigest.com/2012/01/11/game-review-a-game-of-thrones-the-board-game-2nd-edition/

The Next Great Horror Author

Wife sent me an email a little while ago that actually shocked me. She’s up reading mom blogs (shaddup, she’s pregnant) and came across this innocuous entry, where an overworked mom talks about forgetting her new baby. Queue up this comment by one “Liz”, the comment to end all internet comments and certainly kick off a Bram Stoker-winning career.

I never forget my baby. I can understand forgetting they are not old enough to do some things, but forgetting a baby? Isn’t that how kids get cooked in parked cars? Isn’t forgetting a baby the first step toward child neglect? I work my arse off managing a restaurant, a house, auto repairs, a social life, hobbies, writing a novel and look good doing it all. I cannot think of one instance where my 18mo’s safety and happiness is not number one. Am I over indulgent on my boy? My sex life is great, relationships are all healthy, stuff getting done, nobody left out. Is it posh to be vapid? More babies die every year being forgotten in cars and horribly seared, baked and fried, feeling every blistering degree maliciously oxidize their tender innocent incredibly sensitive and helpless infant flesh, in the sun. Or maybe the forgotten baby is simply forgotten and left in a store then abducted and tortured by their cherubic orifices stretched and torn, bleeding horrific fear and pain worse than any an adult can imagine while being brutally raped before their little forgotten baby body is excruciatingly pierced over and over by a cold steel blade or a bullet mercifully pulverizing the brain tissue. Then again the little darling baby might be forgotten on the roof of a vehicle in a car seat, then when the car move the baby slides off and her soft little baby skull is ripped open by hard gravel or concrete and baby bleeds out, screaming and forgotten, wondering why her mommy let her know what horrible agony is, what absolute fear is, and what its like to be forgotten. Is this supposed to be a satire or something? Its not funny.

Watch out, Ed Lee!

Risk: Legacy

Roped the family into a playing my brand-new copy of Risk Legacy yesterday during Christmas and was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it is.

If you’ve never heard of this new iteration, it’s one of the most innovative board games you’ll ever play. Each game will fundamentally change the world for games to come. For instance, you can customize the different armies, giving them various abilities by choosing one of two stickers on a card… and ripping up the other one, so you’re stuck with your choice forever. As armies battle it out you can place various “scars” on the board, stickers that change territories for the better or worse. Win a game, and you’ll be able to name a continent by writing directly on the game board, giving you bonuses for taking it over for every game you play in the future, or found a city and give yourself exclusive starting rights to that spot.

Inside the box there are envelopes full of cards and surprises that can only be opened after various conditions are met, changing up the rules for the game forever. It’s a persistent board game world, and while at it’s core it’s still just Risk, it’s great to feel like your actions have a lasting impact.

Can’t wait to keep writing on my board, ripping up cards, and having my friends desecrate my world. Full review coming to Badass Digest ASAP!