What I Played Today: August 25

Mansions of Madness

I was in a car for a very very long time today, but when I finally got to my destination, some games were pulled out, specifically, Mansions of Madness. I was the villain and we played the set with all the cultists. It went well enough, I managed to get all those jerks out of the field as was trying to push them towards the front hall in order to summon a terrible monster. The investigators were rolling horribly, and if they were able to roll well on a dynomite check, they were severely hampered me. But I managed to get the big guy into play, and to ensure my victory, I started killing off the rest of the cultists to get some more monsters into play, and before long the game was over, with them foolishly swinging their fists at the giant monster. But they all had fun.

What I Played Today: March 17

Mansions of Madness, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Oh those mad mansions, they always flummox me. I was on the side of the investigators in Mansions of Madness, exploring a school building that apparently spent every moment being plunged in darkness. This scenario is a weird one because the keeper doesn’t have a lot of monsters running around, so their only options is to build up strength and cause the lights to go out, and attempt to scare the crap out of the investigators as much as possible. My investigators were doing pretty well, I picked up on the clues, but I got screwed in a couple of ways. First, one of the items I found was a ceremonial skull, which either gives the player some skill points or the keeper threat. It takes an action to use, and tests luck, so it’s barely worth it, but when the keeper has the ability to force you to use it? It can get bad, because more often than not he will get double the threat for his effort.

There was also this terrible moment when I was storming around, ready to complete the objective, when my detective Joe Diamond has the misfortune of losing his last sanity point. Usually not that big of deal; you go a little crazy, you become a bit instable, but nothing REALLY bad can happen, right? Actually, no, the keeper threw down a trauma card that causes the investigator to kill himself. It’s a terribly frightening card that really raises the stakes, and it sealed my loss, because it took out the only fighter. A great moment.

Also kinda played Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Well, I definitely played it, but I sure wasn’t winning. I have decided that I’m not that big of fan of the new Assassinate mode, just because it’s a pretty wishy-washy system. The free-for-all means that you are getting attacked a lot, and scores seem to skyrocket quickly. I like having a little control and not having to watch out for seven other people. Up to four is enough.

But, now that I’m level 50, I no longer care if I win or not, just if I’m having fun, and I did have a lot of fun. Disguise continues to be a surprise favorite, especially during Manhunt, because they are looking for those other guys, so they will pay no attention to you, and you can get some sweet stuns. The new map is also really cool, Alhambra, with a lot of different levels and some cool flavor. It’s funny because the word instantly triggers in my mind that popular board game that I’ve never played that seems to have 12 different expansions. So I didn’t actually know what it looked like, just that it looked Middle Eastern like. Turns out, it’s actually in Spain. Huh.

What I Played Today: March 5

Mansions of Madness, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Surviving High School

I played a game of Mansions of Madness with a group today, with three investigators that really got into the game. In this adventure, there were a lot of zombies to threaten the players, but as a keeper I stumbled by not pressuring them constantly and by making the mistake of setting fire to everything. I could raise corpses, but unfortunately whenever a corpse and fire meets, the corpse disappears. So when I thought to cut the players off by setting fire to the main corridor, I also made it really easy for them to get rid of the constant threat of zombies, especially with a gung-ho investigator with a tommie gun. But it was a fun time.

I have hit the top level in the multiplayer of Assassin’s Creed, after a really fun marathon session in which I used disguise and morph pretty much every chance I could. I got a good flow, and while it staggers more than it won, I had a lot of fun. I also figured out the deal with that combo I keep seeing, and have decided that I will not use it, because it’s just so cheap. It depends on triggering the x2 score modifier by forcing five subsequent target losses (which is easy when you just stab NPCs), then using smoke bomb to stop your target, getting a focus, and then applying long-lasting poison. This can skyrocket your score, but it just feels so wrong. So I won’t use it.

Also downloaded a game on the iOS, a story-heavy game developed by Electronic Arts, of all people. It’s been around for over a year, but I kept avoiding it because it’s called, well, Surviving High School. My excuse was always, “DONE IT,” but my curiosity finally peaked and I tried it, and it’s definitely a dating sim. Which is just bizarre, because this is America. So I’ll try some more, see what happens.

What I Played Today: March 3

Mansions of Madness, You Don’t Know Jack, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

There were mansions full of madness today. This is the latest game by Fantasy Flight, set in the Arkham Horror universe, in which you take a group of adventurers into a spooky house, while one player controls all the baddies and the horror. The set-up sounds like Descent, but it’s a lot more story-driven, where the players are looking for clues and trying to avoid all the baddies around the house. Even the combat is story-driven, where each attack involves drawing a card and resolving the text on the card. The players occasionally also have to solve wiring puzzles, which is neat. It’s pretty clever, and I like the game. I almost instantly want more stuff, and I know it’s coming too, because if Fantasy Flight pimps anything, it’s the Arkham stuff.

Two games were played, where I sat on both sides, investigator and keeper. During the keeper game, I was tasked with getting samples from players and raising a shogoth. I thought I was doing alright, but the investigator knew what I was up to and often was able to shoot down the few enemies I could get on the board, and eventually time ran out and I lost. During the investigator game, I was too cautious and wasted time looking everywhere but where the clue was, and I eventually ran out of time, causing everyone to lose. That mission also led to far more enemies roaming the map, but my pretty good rolls kept me from getting killed. That is, until I broke my arm.

I lost a couple of games of You Don’t Know Jack, because I am not good at Jack Attacks. My opponent is just so much faster at getting the answer. There was a neat category in which you had to match the lyric in the song with the dance that went along with it. I enjoyed that, even though I keep losing. (Sad trombone.)

In the multiplayer of Assassin’s Creed, I had four awful games and then one really good one. I think I need to start changing my tactics up; there’s a lot of awesome things I could be doing that I’m just not because I’m depending on the same sets over and over again. I also lose out on a lot of bonus points. I was thinking to myself, “It has been forever since I got a kill streak of something,” and I actually managed tonight, scoring a clean 750 bonus points for getting five silent kills in a row, which catapulted me to a solid lead. I also used the decoy correctly at one point, which was also awesome. I see a possible walking towards me so I trigger the decoy, who bolts away from them. They start chasing after them when I wheel around and bonk them good, which scoring 300 points for an escape stun. But, I really want to use disguise or something again. I never seem to use them.