Author: Shmee

Posted on

Don’t Get Outfoxed!

My daughter got the game Outfoxed published by Gamewright for a present, and she loves it. What surprised me is that I like it as well. Don’t get me wrong, this is a game for kids, and it doesn’t really offer up a meaningful challenge. However, there is a good variety of play, and it teaches kids some important board gaming skills. I won’t be playing it with my crew, but it is what I will be asking my daughter to get out of the closet if she wants to play a game.

The rules are simple. You roll dice and try to get clues and suspect cards to find who has stolen a chicken pot pie before the thief escapes. There are three dice. Each with a 50/50 chance of having a paw/paws or an eye. You need all three dice to have either the paw/paws icon to move your token to get clues, or all three to have the eye icon to flip over a suspect card. You get to re-roll dice that do not match two extra times, so three rolls total. If you don’t match all three dice, the fox moves three spaces. If the fox gets to the end before you figure out who did it, the players lose. To check the clues, at the beginning of the game a thief card was randomly selected and then put in a plastic case. The clues fit in an insert and then you can see if the fox in question is wearing or has the item in the clue. Find all three clues, or narrow down the suspects to one, and the players win.

So essentially it is a modern take on Clue Jr., but the push your luck element with the dice, and the deduction of whether a suspect is the thief help this game feel more “gamey” and less an exercise of seeing who can roll or spin or flip the highest numbers. Which are what most kids games amount to. Plus, the plastic case for the clues and the thief cards just feel good. It is fun to put in a clue and then slide open the little panel. It is a thrill when you get one that matches, but it is still fun when it doesn’t, so you can eliminate a bunch of suspects. Like I said, there is not a lot of thinking going on here, but for a kids game this level of gameplay feels like a breath of fresh air, and that is not even the best part! Check out this insert:

Oh man! That is a good insert. Everything fits in its place and doesn’t move around, and it is so well laid out my five year old can set it up and put it away by herself! Look, this game is under $20 US on Amazon right now, and it has an insert that puts games that cost three times as much to shame. I still don’t get why this can’t be the standard for board game manufactures. I know they say it is expensive, but a lot of games can’t even be bothered to include enough plastic bags let alone inserts. Let’s just say it is a pet peeve of mine that games force me to do arts and crafts to put them away.

All that being said, Outfoxed is a great game for kids. It is much better than the standard roll and move games or dexterity games they usually get. It is reasonably priced, and it may have won insert of the year (for whatever year it came out). If you have kids that like to play board games, and you don’t think you can handle another game of Life, give Outfoxed a try. You will be glad you did.

Posted on

Dead To Me Is Not Lifeless!

It was impossible not to watch Dead to Me on Netflix. Once I saw that it starred Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, and it allowed them to use their sharp wit in full force. It was a must watch. Though what the show was billed as, a dark sitcom, and what it is, noir thriller drama sitcom(?), are two different things. The leads carry this show, and the strength of their performances cover over any flaws Dead to Me may have.

Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini) meet at a local church grief counseling group. Jen lost her husband in a hit and run accident, and is full of rage, and Judy is doing her best to stay chipper and positive despite losing her fiancé to a heart attack. If this was a normal show it would be about these two learning to lean on one another to overcome their sadness. This is not a normal show.

I don’t think Dead to Me’s writing is always consistent. It can feel choppy at times, but as a vehicle for Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, it is wonderful, and it was smart of the producers to stick to the thirty-minute sitcom format even though a show like this would generally feel more at home as a one-hour drama. That way it doesn’t outlast its welcome. It is a tight five hours of programming.

With the about eight billion dollars’ worth of original programming hitting Netflix at any given moment it is hard for a show to stand out, but having Applegate give a tongue-lashing to a woman dropping off a Mexican lasagna was a great way to do it. Add in a James Marsden, Ed Asner and of course Linda Cardellini, and it is hard for a show not to gain attention. It is worth your five hours, and I am sure the next five hours will be as well (it just got renewed). There is a lot of life left in Dead to Me.

Posted on

Stranger Things Season 3 Lives Up To The Hype!

Stranger Things is Netflix’s biggest show, not by viewership, that is The Office, but by mindshare. Everyone talks about Stranger Things and looks forward to bingeing it when it comes out. Media outlets post articles about it in the months and weeks leading up to its air date, and then think pieces are released after. It is must stream TV, and you have to stream it before spoilers are everywhere. The only place you can watch it? Netflix. Netflix needs the show to be good, and season three might be its best yet. Season one is was a mystery, season two expanded the lore, and season three amps up the action and tension.

A couple years have passed since season two, and the residents of Hawkins Indiana are going about their lives. After all Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) ended the threat at the end of season two, so there is nothing to worry about. Unless of course the Russians are trying to bore holes in to another dimension. That would probably be bad.

What I love about season three is that it really leans in to the 80’s action movie tropes. Of course their are Russians, and if you are fan of movies from that decade, there are a lot of other fun things you will notice as well. While, tropes and call outs are fun, the best part is still all the characters, they are as good as you remember them. Mike (Finn Wolfhard) can get a little annoying, but he is supposed to be. Stranger Things season three is also much more tightly scripted than two. It builds and builds until everything blows apart.

If you are a fan of Stranger Things, you have probably already seen season three, but if you are not a fan, it is well worth watching. I don’t think Netflix knew what Stranger Things was going to be when it greenlit the series, but now it needs it, and if it keeps getting better, we may start to need it to. I hope we don’t need to wait another two years for season four.

Posted on

Woody Goes On One More Ride In Toy Story 4!

I am not sure how Pixar does it, every time I think I am done with the Toy Story franchise they bring it back and make it great. Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending to the Toy Story series, so I wasn’t too excited about a fourth big screen outing, but here we are, and it is great. I am not sure it is as good as 3, but it is close. Which is a minor miracle.

Woody (Tom Hanks) isn’t having the easiest time at Bonnie’s (Madeleine McGraw) house. He is just another toy to her. Things get even more complicated when she brings home a spork she made in to a toy named Forky (Tony Hale), and it is now her favorite. Woody will have to do his best to mold this spork in to the friend Bonnie needs him to be. Woody will need some help, and luckily he runs in to old flame Bo Peep (Annie Potts) who is more than up to the task.

The writers found another interesting story to tell about the Toy Story crew, and that is why this movie works. From the trailers it just looked like it was a retread of movies 1 and 2, but it is its own thing. It still follows the Pixar formula: gut punch in the opening minutes, and then a journey of self discovery with an emotional conclusion, but I don’t see them ending that story loop any time soon. It is a good one, and there are a lot of tales you can hang on those bones. Pixar loves it when everyone gets a good cry in the movie theater.

There is not much left to say about the cast, it is excellent, but most of the old crew isn’t given a lot to do. It focuses a lot on Hank’s Woody, Pott’s Bo and the new characters. Which may be disappointing for some, but like always, Pixar found the best people for the job, and everyone fits in perfectly. Plus, they worked in Carol Burnett and Betty White, so listen for that!

The Toy Story films have always been a showcase for how far the visuals in computer animated films have come, and Toy Story 4 does not disappoint. They are very close to making real life quality images, without falling in to the ‘uncanny valley’. I have recently re-watched the last three Toy Story movies, and while they look good, 4 blows them out of the water. It is stunning.

I didn’t want to like Toy Story 4. It felt like they were milking something that should be left alone, but they managed to find a new worthwhile tale to tell, and look great while doing it, so I guess I will not doubt them in nine years when Toy Story 5 comes out.

Posted on

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Isn’t Quite The Sum Of Its Parts

When Pokémon Go came out, people came down on it hard (including myself) for being a shallow experience. There was nothing to do but walk and swipe, and to the developer Niantic’s credit they have added a lot of the fan requests to the game, but the core gameplay loop remains the same. Niantic must have taken all that criticism to heart because Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has a lot of things to do, but it can’t quite bring all those pieces together in to something cohesive.

There is a story to Wizards Unite, magical stuff has leaked out in to the muggle world, and you have to go find all these “foundables” and defeat all the “confoundables”, so that the magical world stays secret. Which is a surprisingly good setup, but the problem isn’t with the story. The problem is that there isn’t the same compulsion to play that Pokémon Go has.

I think the problem is that it is too overstuffed. Yes you still walk around and find stuff, but then you have to trace out a spell, then you have place the picture of the image in your book, you have to pick up potion components, then brew your potions, and be sure to be stopping by all the inns and greenhouses for more potion stuff and spell energy (Pokéballs). You need more to do? Good, you can update your profession’s skill tree, dungeon crawl at fortresses, play the mini-game to brew your potions faster, and don’t forget to read all the text pop-ups from Harry and some new friends.

There is just sooooo much to keep track of. It is a lot to handle while walking. Pokémon Go’s simplicity makes it the perfect thing to do while walking around, and it adds the thrill of finding something new, or getting enough of a Pokémon to evolve it. With the amount of things you have to do in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, you have to stop every five feet, so instead of walking, you are standing around like a creep.

That is not to say Harry Potter: Wizards Unite isn’t fun. It is, but it seems that Niantic over corrected due to the complaints about Pokémon Go, and the game suffers for that. Still, it is a solid base, and if they get enough Harry Potter fans playing, I am sure they will tighten things up like they did with Pokémon Go. If you like Pokémon Go, or you are a Harry Potter fan, it is worth trying out. If nothing else it is fun to make up your avatar picture like you are a resident of the Wizarding World.