More content to come for December.

I've been neglecting my blog for too long.  Time to add some content for the month.

Personal: My random day

I was out and about doing errands in Dearborn.  I met up with an old friend for a ride then once done with my task I decided to walk back to Detroit where I could catch the bus back home.

After taking what I considered a scenic route, I ended up running out of road to walk on because the service drive turned into the freeway.  I however had already walked a mile and didn't want to walk a mile back so I pressed on.
I ended up walking through tall grass towards a place under the freeway bridge hoping it wasn't another highway as it was fenced off.  I found a path to walk down which led to an opening in the fence.  I walked through and saw tall hills far from me but directly in front was a small muddy stream.  I thought about walking back the way I came because being here seemed like a bad idea but I pressed forward anyway.

Under a bridge to the west I noticed a man and his collection of items.  The man obviously lived there and was making water in the stream.  I quickly walked east, to avoid contact and being sighted by the man.   I was headed towards what I believed to be my destination somewhere near Greenfield.

I observed the birds and insects around noting hawks, geese, ducks, butterflies, and whatever was rustling in the tall grass and in the stream.  I walked on in the hot sun and contemplated crossing the stream because I concluded that I could reach my destination quicker that way.  Behind me I noticed a group of men all on motorcycles quickly approaching on the other side of the stream.  As they got closer I noticed they're all older white men.  That made me suddenly more nervous, a natural instinct.  I watched them pass by and snapped a few photos of them.  Across the stream I noticed more men standing and talking and then noticed some sort of water release gate like in a dam.  Further ahead on that side was a golf course.

I watched the bikers as they bobbed and weaved up and down on the causeway.  I had hoped they would lead me to an exit but those dreams were dashed when I discovered I didn't want wet toes.

I walked on and grabbed a walking stick because a journey aint a journey without one.  I walked nearly a mile down noticing that my way out was barred by tall weeds and a tall fence.  In the weeds some creature stirred, rustling the bushes loudly.  I looked but couldn't find the creature and was glad to keep it that way.

I walked under a quiet little shadowy bridge where I couldn't even spot a bird or any other sign of life besides graffiti.  On the other side of the bridge I had hoped to find an exit and wasn't disappointed.

There were thick weeds all about but in the middle a path was made which made the walking path look more like a tunnel.  I smiled at my fortune and walked up the path which quickly turned into a hill.

I dropped my stick and marveled at the civilization around me.  I now saw where I was, it was some sort of flood control area.  I looked around at the street signs and saw that I ended back at the street I first started on.

"How the hell did I end up back here?  Stupid shortcut!"

My Top 3 Ouya Games So Far

So far I'm enjoying my Ouya.  The truth of it is that they need better quality software for it.  A lot of the games are either shovelware or unplayable and are already saturating that market.  However with free downloads I don't care about that so much.  There are however some pretty solid gems in the lineup.  Anyway here's a list of my top three personal favorite Ouya games:

Shuttle Rush is a timed platformer where the goal of the stage rests in keeping yourself alive.  You play as some type of spacefarer in an oxygenized spacesuit.  At the beginning of every stage the spacefarer's oxygen supply is punctured (in a hilarious animation) which starts your mad dash for the exit.  You can temporarily refuel your oxygen in most of the levels but you must escape to survive.  The levels require tight platforming and, for most, rudimentary stage memorization for success.

+ It's fun, levels are fast but require a lot of thought, there are plenty of levels, there's progression in the form of character upgrades such as a stun gun, tight platforming.

Vector is a 2d platform game that harkens back to the first person parkour game Mirror's Edge (in style and setting) and the old school 2d Prince of Persia games.  Your character is always in constant motion as he attempts to outrun an equally nimble futuristic law enforcer.  Throughout the level you're using buttery smooth and simplistic controls to make your character jump, slide, climb, and 'trick' his way to the end of the level.  There are plenty of hazards like pits and if your platforming isn't timed tightly enough then you'll lose precious time and get caught by the enforcer and tasered which starts you over.

The art style takes a minimalist approach with simple colors combined with black and white characters and objects.  Which is fairly cool and fits the game perfectly.  The animation in the game is top notch too, especially on the special unlockable parkour "tricks" which are actual parkour moves.  I know because I dabbled with the hobby.  There were several moments in the game that had me step back and go like "oh s***!"  A lot of the jumps and obstacles really get the blood pumping.  There is some slowdown sometimes though.

My only hope is that with the sequel they give you more control over the movements and allow you to use the buttons to jump and stuff.  I guess what I want from it is to take a few more elements from traditional platformers but as it is it's definitely solid.

+ Cool minimalist art style, detailed animations, real life parkour techniques and tricks, ramping difficulty, cool high flying moments

ChronoBlade is an arena style beat-em-up with various rpg like items and spells thrown in.  The art style reminds me of League of Legends and so do the main champions.  The two playable characters that I had (not sure if there are more in the paid version) were very unique.  There's a small girl that uses some intricate martial arts in combination with this floating metal ball for some brutal combos.  The other guy is large and uses some sort of twin claw axe weapon and does heavy damage, he can also launch his claws off and pull an enemy towards him.  Both characters have long flowing combo sequences but I enjoyed the girl's play-style a lot more.

The game starts you off in a room full of loot and so you do what comes natural to your videogame influenced mind and reap those resources.  After that you walk to the arena and the combat begins.  It's deceptive because you get your punching bag enemies immediately but then comes boss after boss and enemies that can juggle you and attack through your guard.  It's definitely a hard ass game but the difficulty keeps you playing to win.  It's definitely unbalanced though.  Once I learned what all the spells were I was clearing out rooms of the difficult enemies until I ran out of it and got juggled which took my full health bar to zero.  As unbalanced as it is I still had a lot of fun.  There's also no tutorial here but if you're not afraid to experiment with buttons then it isn't difficult at all to hop right into the action.

+ Unique characters and fighting styles, tight and fun beat-em-up action, plenty of moves and magic

I'm hoping that the Deus Ex mobile game comes to the system.  I'd get that in a snap.