This...this feels strangely familiar. Have we done this before, friends? Some time, long ago perhaps? Back when young Time mewled alone in the crib of the early cosmos?

Been a dicking long time, is what I'm trying to convey.

Some business before we get to. First, to my boy Qal, as I trust you're obligated to read this, no matter how much it grieves you, you've got a small apology coming your way. I promised you an ordering function for your recaps - it's coming, I promised. Life got in the way, but it's coming.

For the rest of you - and without the mandate of recapping to draw you in, I trust that's a meager few - don't worry too much. I promise there won't be a steady stream of breezes to be shot in the future and today is no more than a chance to excise some frustration, so words you will have, but brief they will be. For better reading, by the by, you won't go wanting today.

Give them a means to build it and they will come



Thanks to the gentle souls who indulged my hastily and poorly assembled contest. It was something that happened, as the people say. Curtailed by the might of my indecision, I ultimately resigned to picking names out of a hat. Congrats manasteel88, the toque was on your side. Sorry to everyone else, but you can't argue with a hat.

Well, you can, sure, but take it from me, you will look the fool.

Latin for "Peace;" Canadian for "I am full of suck"



Just lousy with suck. For the last month or so, some very patient - unbelievably patient - Friday Night Fighters have had to listen to me moan and flip-flop on whether I could go to PAX. Good news, gang, no more of that. Bad news, or, at least more news, looks like the rug has been pulled out from underneath me again. The plans to secure a place to live for the fall which hung like gossamer spiderweb in the dewy morning air have fallen apart like, well, like when you eat half that dang spiderweb accidentally walking into it while running out the door.

With those housing plans dashed, I'm left with about two weeks in which to find a place to live. Not a man who likes to bank on optimism alone, the decision I have to make is putting aside recreation until I can work that out. With a bitterness born of describing a guaranteed hug from Dixon as mere "recreation," I think I have to give up on PAX. I've got some sadness in me over that.

But hey, turns out jandals are a synonym for flip-flops, so that's pretty cheerful.

Insane Shadow Posse



Because I am the greatest man on the face of the earth - no, not just earth, any planet. Because I am the greatest man on any spheroid great or small, I beat Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.

It was okay.

You oughtta know the shtick by now. A metroidvania from this year's Summer of Arcade with, like spaceships and stuff. Yeah, man, spaceships. Puzzles are solved, lasers are lased - or, no, lasers lase themselves, don't they? But maybe we digress. The presentation is a delight, especially so in the visual realm. We talked before about how lovely the splashing is, but a good deal of the environment feels lively in this neon-and-nadir kind of way.

The puzzles, the heart of the game, are a mixed affair. Some of them are really, truly brilliant. In particular, the bosses, at their best, are a seductive blend of thought and adrenaline, like plotting a flash mob bank heist. The worst of the puzzles are less appealing. Truly vexing moments felt more like being pushed along than pulled, moments that were more about following a path well than discovering the way. A positive sum though, with some truly splendid occurrences .

Honestly, and it pains me to say this because there is a lot that stands to be enjoyed, the game didn't leave me with much. That's about the only complaint I can level against it, but it's a grievous one. The experience simply didn't do much to move me. I know some neat stuff happened, but here we are, at the end of the day, and I'm just shrugging my shoulders. Even the finale of the game felt as though the designers sighed and let it slide to a stop.

But hey, don't get me wrong here, it's still a decent little title. Maybe it didn't land with me, but I can see the good of it and it's got a damn fine polish to boot. Go on, check it out.

Still a shark



I know. What're you going to do.