GeekHype

New comics!

2010-06-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Geez, I've been gone for awhile! Still getting settled in after the big move from Florida. Finally able to spend a little more time on the internet! Yah!

So I picked up a few comics since my last posts to include The Complete "Bone" by Jeff Smith.

I also got pretty much the entire manga series "Parasyte" by Hitoshi Iwaaki. On top of all those books, I also managed to get "Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea" by Guy Delisle & "Palestine" by Joe Sacco! Once I'm done reading these books I'll be sure to post a few reviews!

Three Guys From Miami Recipe: Cuban Sandwich

2010-04-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

I love Cuban Sandwiches and I'm going to the store to buy some ingredients ;)

Three Guys From Miami Recipe: Cuban Sandwich

First Impressions - Fist of the North Star

2010-04-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

So I've been watching anime since the 8th grade unless you count Voltron which makes it more like 1st or 2nd grade. That's about 15 years or so! Wow, that's intense ;) I'm getting old, lol! Anyway, I've watched a lot of anime over those 15 years. Some of it obscure, some of it more mainstream, but there was one anime I had never seen but I've seen the name a hundred times. Fist of the North Star... I don't know why I never attempted to watch it, I guess I had other priorities. I was listening to an episode of my favorite geek podcast, GeekNights and they mentioned the show and it sparked my interest!

I didn't watch the show right away, in fact, I kind of forgot about it until a few hours ago when I was on Hulu and I saw they had all 152 episodes! It was time to watch this show...

All I can say is...AWESOME! Take Dragon Ball Z & Mad Max, throw them in a pot and mix 'em up and you have Fist of the North Star!

I just finished episode 2 and I'm hooked! I must say that the art is dated, but I mean it is nearly 25 years old!

As far as I can tell, it is set in a dystopian future where nuclear flames have engulfed the Earth. The survivors have formed tribes across a desert wasteland. Their sole purpose now is to find water and food. However there are some tribes that have become more like gangs and are tormenting the people of this new future. Pillaging every tribe they come into contact with! A man named Ken, the main character in this show, is a wanderer who has flashbacks of a violent past. He has what looks like bullet wounds in the shape of the big dipper on his chest. He is able to perform amazing martial arts moves that focus on pressure points in the body that cause people to explode! Nice, right?

Anyway, that's about all I got so far! The first two episodes were great and I look forward to seeing more! If you're interested go over to Hulu and watch an episode!

Review - Y: The Last Man TPB #1

2010-04-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

So I picked up the first trade paperback of Y: The Last Man the other day and I must say I enjoyed it very much! I didn't know much about the series before I bought it but reading the back of the tpb I decided to give it a shot! This comic is about a world where every living creature with a Y chromosome is killed instantaneously including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm. However, a man by the name of Yorick Brown & his monkey Ampersand survive this terrible event!

Yorick Brown is the Last Man on Earth! It's a really neat idea and creates this constant sense of suspense.

I really do like the artwork in this comic. I do have to say that I've been away from the comic scene for a good 10 years so I'm a little behind the times! I must say though, they've improved immensely and they really have become a wonderful form of entertainment! I have hundreds of comics from the '80s and '90s and to be honest... they aren't very good... The stories were kind of lame and I don't know if it was printing technology or what, but the artwork in some comics were horrendous! That's definitely not the case with Y: The Last Man! I like the move towards the trade paperback format where I can get 5 or more issues collected into one volume. It's very convenient! I'm really happy with my purchase! I cannot wait to read the next book! I guess there are 60 issues of the comic collected in 10 trade paperbacks so I will be enjoying the series for a descent amount of time! I also read that New Line Cinema has acquired the movie rights to make a film adaptation. They're working on turning it into a trilogy! I think they have a real winner here!

Review - Clash of the Titans

2010-04-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

I saw Clash of the Titans last night and I enjoyed it very much! The special effects were great! The story flowed fairly well although the pacing seemed off a little during the Medusa scene. That part of the movie was done and over with far too quickly, but it was still very cool!

I was thinking about watching it in 3D, but decided not to after reading some reviews online. This was taken from screenrant.com:

"Imagine watching a close up of an actor delivering a dramatic
line… while the back part of his head or hair seems to float, disconnected from the rest of his head. Imagine watching a scene in 3D in which the “front” layer is utterly obviously separated from the “back” layer. 3D in which the visual depth that they’ve gone out of their way to tack on doesn’t even stand out that much except to distract you by how obvious and tacked on it looks. The image above can only approximate how terrible it looks.

The idea to turn this into a 3D film was a last minute decision and the process was rushed – and boy does it come across on the screen. Unless you’re easily impressed with 3D and haven’t seen the likes of Avatar or Coraline, then I cannot recommend strongly enough that you skip the 3D version of Clash of the Titans and go watch it in standard 2D."

I did see Avatar in 3D and it was amazing! I don't want to pay $15 to see a movie that has done a poor job of 3D... Anyway, the movie was great though! The three witches were super creepy, the Kraken was nasty, Medusa was vicious, and I feel they did a great job with casting! I'd give this movie an 8.5 out of 10.

Review - A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game

2010-03-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Designer: Jason Hill

Publisher: Flying Frog Productions

Year: 2008

# of Players: 2-8

Playing Time: 120 min.

Website: http://www.flyingfrog.net/atouchofevil/

Taken from the website:

Tis the dawn of the 19th century; an age of science, superstition, and witchcraft. Howling fills the night as a full moon rises over the small, secluded village of Shadowbrook. Gruesome murders have become a daily occurrence and terror haunts the streets at night. An evil creature has taken up residence here and the countryside is engulfed by a tide of darkness. But all is not lost...not yet.

A small group of heroic individuals, with the courage and strength to fight, have arrived in town. Some just passing through while others have come with a purpose; but all will be put to the test as they race to save this cursed town from falling into darkness. It will take a cunning mind and strength of spirit to determine who is friend and who is foe...to solve the mysteries and hunt the beast to its lair.

But the secrets of Shadowbrook run deep. Gossip and rumors run rampant and these few Heroes may soon discover that they are outsiders here and this town is already so rotten from within there is little left to save.

So right off the bat this feels a lot like the movie Sleepy Hollow. All of the images taken for the cards are really thematic and add so much to the game! So with that being said, let's take a look at the components!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/364673/a-touch-of-evil-the-supernatural-game

Flying Frog Productions is one of my favorite board game companies! Not only because of the games they design and publish, but because of the INSANE quality of their components! All the counters, chits, cards & board are embossed in what seems like plastic! They are very shiny and combined with their use of real actors as characters in the game make the components a real joy to play with!

Next we have the miniatures. Now, don't get me wrong, they are nicely detailed miniatures, however, they are a flexible plastic which is a pain in the butt when you want to paint them! They will sometimes crack but I guess it isn't a game ender ;) They do look really nice on the board but unless you paint them, you may have difficulty figuring out which figure your looking at!

The board itself is reminiscent of an old map and consists of four corner locations; the town center, various connecting roads (one of which will connect to future expansion boards), and a few other areas. The board is the perfect size considering that you have all kinds of components that need to fit on the table! I always have a problem with Arkham Horror because the board is huge and all the components take up so much space, you almost always need a large, dedicated gaming space...

Components: 10/10

Well, a game can have the prettiest pieces in the world and totally blow, so, how fun is A Touch of Evil to play? All I can say is that it's a BLAST! And here's why!

So, after the board is set up you need to pick your characters. You can either pick them randomly or pick whichever one you like. There are a lot of neat characters, each with their own stats & special abilities.

Inspector Cooke for example can take 3 wounds before dying, & when rolling for skill checks, he has 1 Spirit, 4 Cunning, 2 Combat, & 4 Honor. He also has a special ability which allows him to take an additional investigation token. All characters have there own strengths and weaknesses which allows for a lot of replayability!

Next you'll need a villain to fight against. (There are 4 total in the base game) You can pick them the same way you picked your hero. The villain has a little bit more to it than the heroes. They consist of a villian card & minion sheet.

The villain's card shows you how many wounds & how many combat dice it rolls. It also shows its special rules. In green are the basic rules & the red adds the advanced rules. Each villain adds a variety of special rules and increases the re-playability of this game even more!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/584417/a-touch-of-evil-the-supernatural-game?size=large

The villain also has a minion chart used when rolling to see what minion will be going on the board. It also sometimes has events that can occur as well! Each chart has a basic & advanced game side so when you are starting out, you can start with an easier version of the villain.

OK, you have your character and villain picked out, what's next? Well, I guess I should explain all the different cards & decks in the game.

Each corner location (Manor, Olde Woods, Windmill, Abandoned Keep) has its own "encounter" deck. Whenever you end your turn on one of those spaces you must draw from the appropriate deck. It could have an enemy you need to fight, an item that you found, an ally joins you, etc. There is also some additional flavor text that adds to the game vibe. There are other locations on the board such as the town hall and its surrounding areas that allow you to draw event cards.

Event cards are cards that you can take into your hand that no one else can see and they will help you in your fights or they can make it more difficult for the other players. Sometimes there are items and sometimes there are Play Immediately cards that, like the name states, need to be played immediately. They can affect game play or they could just be bonuses you can add to a character.

There's a Town items deck that, once you enter the blacksmith, you can purchase items from it with investigation tokens.

The Lair Deck contains cards that have all the named locations on the board on them. They are used when determining random locations for dropping minions. They are also purchased so when it's time for a showdown with a villain, you can travel to the location on the card, pay the amount on the card and have a showdown. There is also additional text on there that can make it easier or more difficult for you when you confront the villian!

Once everyone has moved and taken their turns, the player with the first player token draws a card from the Mystery Deck. Cards in this deck make life more difficult for the players... These cards can make the villain stronger, cause minions to appear on the board, etc.

Finally, one of my favorite parts in the game...the Town Elders! Jason Hill added a neat aspect to the game with the Town Elders. There are 6 Elders in the game and they are placed at the top of the board for all to see. Each Elder has its own stats and special ability but, they also have their own secrets... During game setup, you grab the Secrets Deck and place one card randomly underneath each Town Elder. During the course of the game, you can pay two investigation and look at the Town Elders secrets. Some secrets aren't bad at all, others show you the evilness of that Elder. Now why is looking at these Secrets important? Well, when you decide to fight the villain, you have the option of enlisting two Town Elders to help you in your fight! If they are evil, they will join the villain and fight against you. The neat thing about the Town Elder cards is that they are two sided. Once they go evil, you flip the card over and they change into an evil version of themselves. All the pictures are quite fun to look at ;) Also, during the course of the game, additional secrets can be placed underneath the Elders screwing up your plans! HAHAHA! :D

Well, those are all the cards in the game! As far as game play goes I'll be brief. You roll, you move, you fight, you draw a card. You can buy items, look at the secrets of town elders & fight the villain in the end and save the town. The End ;)

You can check out the rulebook @ http://www.flyingfrog.net/atouchofevil/pdf%5CATOE_Rulebook_Web.pdf if my above game play description wasn't enough for you!

So that's it! I love this game! There are a lot of neat mechanics in this game. It looks beautiful! You can play it in 2 hrs. The replayability in the base game is immense. I'm looking forward to trying out the expansions in the future! And on top of that, there is web content to download and print out! Check it out here!

Buy the game from Funagain Games for 20% the retail price! $39.99 is a great deal for this game! Click to Buy

If they are out of stock you can also try purchasing from Amazon.com! Click the image below!

Going Cardboard: A Board Game Documentary

2010-03-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

I came across this site http://www.boardgamemovie.com/ while on BoardGameGeek and thought I would share it!

This is the description taken from the site!

"Going Cardboard is a film about the new board gaming, a phenomenon going on right under your nose, probably in your very community! This film will take you into that world to meet the players and designers responsible for this radical departure from technology. And you just might discover it's the hobby for you."

Here's a trailer of the movie. I'm really looking forward to this and maybe it will help this hobby become even more popular!

Collecting Designer Board Games from Lorien Green on Vimeo.

I'm back!

2010-03-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, I'm back! I was away for half a year doing tech training with the Air Force & now I'm back! A lot of geek-worthy things have happened in the past 6 months and hopefully I can cover them all! I'm going to work on the format of the blog and start posting over the next few weeks!