Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

People often say that good things come in threes. But when the second part of a trio is a disappointment, most of us would reevaluate our belief in that sentiment. After finishing up Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (sort of, at least), I'll admit I was a bit hesitant to see how The Two Thrones would shape up. Thankfully, the last entry in the trilogy returned to its roots, a little bit wiser from the previous game's detour.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

"Most people think Time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is like an ocean in a storm."

When I first played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time back in 2005 or 2006, I immediately fell in love with the game. Yes, this was still back in the era of Gamecube graphics, but the mixture of great voice acting, interesting story and game mechanics, and parkour really sold me on the game. I even dressed up as the Prince for Halloween that year. So when the entire Prince of Persia franchise went on sale on Steam last year, I snapped it up as quickly as I could. Sands of Time was amazing, so the other games would be too, right?

So far, that prediction has not panned out.

Thoughts on the New Year

The arrival of 2013—while certainly disappointing to the disillusioned believers in the apocalyptic Mayan "prophecy"—has started me thinking about my personal goals, both those I set for myself last year and those I am considering for the upcoming year. And while I may not have hit every benchmark I was hoping to in the last twelve months, I feel that the future is looking brighter, or at least more attainable.

Kickstarting tremulus

I've blogged before about my enjoyment of tabletop role-playing games. Hopefully, it's not a shock to many of you that I happen to be that nerdy. :) In my almost-never-ending quest to find the One and True Role-Playing System for Every Genre, I've seen a lot of rules systems. And while I'm currently having a lot of fun learning the detailed nuances of the Savage Worlds core rules and Super Powers Companion, I keep my eyes open for supplemental material that I can use in my games. My search led me to Reality Blurs, Sean Preston's purveyor of fine RPG settings. With supernatural spy action in Agents of Oblivion, mind-bending Mythos mysteries in Realms of Cthulhu, and steampunk and shadow adventures in RunePunk, they've become my favorite third-party publisher for Savage Worlds material.

The Backlog War and Indoctrination

Last week wasn't terribly productive for me, for a variety of reasons. I am happy to report, however, that the Great Backlog War of 2012 rages on, and by all accounts, I'm winning. Just yesterday, I was able to knock both New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Trine off my list. This is a special victory for me since Trine has been sitting in my virtual pile of Steam games for at least two years. I now only have 29 games to get through before the end of the year, many of which I already have some measure of progress in. I should be finishing Arkham City any day now, and Alan Wake shouldn't be that far behind. (Unfortunately, Final Fantasy 2 may take some time. I'm currently stuck in a tower with a bunch of enemies who can turn my party members against each other. :( )

Mass Effect 3

We've come a long way since 2007 when the original Mass Effect was released, and Commander Shepard et al. have had quite the ride along the way. From saving the galaxy from Sovereign in the first game to defeating the Collectors in the second, Mass Effect 3 finds our stalwart commander ... in prison? What kind of opening scene is that? Oh, right. I guess he did work with a known terrorist group and—spoiler warning if you haven't played ME2 DLC "Arrival"—destroy a mass relay in batarian space and wipe out that entire solar system. I guess it's not that big of a surprise that the Alliance brass stripped him of his command and tossed him in the brig. But when the Reapers do finally arrive and start harvesting Earth, who do you think the Powers That Be expect to save them? Funny how life turns out, huh?