What I Played Today: December 11

Labyrinth: The War on Terror, Mass Effect 2, Deadly Premonition

I got a lot of new games today, including 7 Wonders, Mass Effect 2 with a working first disc, and Labyrinth: The War on Terror. This is a war game by GMT, but it has an intriguing and almost terrifying premise, stopping (or controlling) the Jihadist movement in the Middle East. It’s a weird game in which there is very little direct conflict, with the US army powerful enough that it can completely take over a country with a single play. The only problem is that it locks down nearly half the units, and the US still has to worry about the Jihad taking out of governments of the 16 or so other Muslim countries in the region. It’s a weird game, that focuses on a lot of weird things. It’s also interesting to see how certain controversial events in recent US history are interrupted in game terms. For example, the Patriot Act is actually very good for the US player, because it successfully keeps the Jihadists out of the US pretty well, and enables cards that can take a big hit to the terrorist’s funding. Which is good, because if the Jihadists manage to set off an WMD in America…they win. I literally gasped when I read that was a potential win condition.

I played the solitaire game for a while, which is tough. If you don’t take control of how things are going in the Middle East, things get bad quickly, with the automated spread of extremism can go unchecked and turn governments poor quickly. I played for three hours (took a while to learn how to play and stuff), but felt completely screwed, because Europe was growing soft on terrorism, making my initial “get-er-done” attitude difficult to maintain, and I couldn’t swing it around to get rid of the massive penalty I was taking…so I cleaned up and gave up. Hopefully the next time I try I’ll know what I’m doing.

Also got to play Mass Effect 2, which I instantly like. I didn’t like the fact that the game felt like pulling a huge reset button at the beginning, but it’s almost believable, and they streamlined enough to make the game interesting without bogging it down. The amount of history is also great, although the world has changed a ridiculous amount in two years. I was a bit concerned how many robots there were just hanging around, considering…well…the Geth. But hey, guess that’s something you just get over.

Also more Deadly Premonition, in which I got past the hospital scene I saw before and got into stuff I hadn’t seen yet. Had some lunch, chatted some more, went to the gas station to see a hot chick clean my car and meet her meathead husband who likes to talk to “Benjamin Franklin.” I also found a human arm bone, which is stupid suspicious, but Agent York just takes it in stride.