A couple of my friends from high school put together a highly polished parody of the TV series ‘24‘ entitled: 24 Hour Pizza Delivery
Mis amigos are the writer (Bill Zilliox) and director (Scott Ricamore). Scott and I took a Cisco-sponsored network engineering class that met a couple hours each day… and Bill was in the same class at a different time. We kept in touch over the years by attending a local junior college during the summers and visiting many computer game conventions (e.g., PGL events, QuakeCon).
If nothing else, this shows what you can do with a lot of talent on a low-budget.
Great script. Perfect editing. Excellent intensity. Hire them.
And another friend sent me this recently made parody of 24 and the Boston/Aqua Teen Hunger Force bugaboo created by National Lampoon staff members.
Note: I can’t say I’m a fan of 24, it is way over-the-top and if anything, only adds to the sky-is-falling attitude post-9/11.
You’re probably familiar with the sensational Boston Bomb scare by now.
A friend just sent me this well-made parody video.
The only question I have is, how on earth did the producers make such a high-quality production in less than a week?
Over the past week I had a chance to sit down and play two of the newest games in the turn-based strategy genre.
I can’t say that I like either one a whole lot — and I’ve played the previous versions.
For those unfamiliar with either game, EU 3 and Medieval 2 both have a table-top map in which the player chooses a specific province or country to play as (kind of like Risk).
Medieval 2 starts in the year 1080 AD (after the Norman Conquest) and ends 400+ later. Its underlying game engine is also used on the History Channel, for shows illustrating the Roman war machine. And, EU 3 begins in the year 1453 and concludes in 1792. Both require city management, diplomacy (or lack thereof), and continuous historical warfare.
[Note: in some respects, Medieval 2 closely resembles the early '90s game, Castles and its sequel (Castles II: Siege & Conquest), which you can still play thanks to Abandonware]
While several new features have been added to the foray, EU 3 felt simply like an slightly patched up version of the 2nd one. I say this despite the fact that it boasts a novel 3D engine.
The problem is that despite being released last Fall, Medieval 2 has a much better look and feel to the grand strategy portion of it than to the week-old EU 3.
EU 3 had a ton of potential, due in part to its much more open framework — you can choose to start from around 250 obscure nation-states, where Medieval 2 only lets you play the grand campaign through the eyes of 10 global players (including the up-and-coming Scotland…).
In addition, I did like the speed, and date-based calendar employed by EU 3 moreso than the seasonal turns used in Medieval 2 (the historical events felt more organic). I also liked the hundreds of conquerable provinces in EU 3, 1500 or so (versus the logarithmically lower amount found in Medieval).
One problem I found with Medieval 2 was that the actual real-time battles that are continuously advertised are simply not fun to play — and it completely defeats the purpose of having a high-end graphics card (7600 GT). It is really two-games-in-one, which some players enjoy, however I found myself letting the computer automatically duke it out, rather than wasting my time setting up and moving the troops around. Thus, only half of the game is worth paying for (you can’t even play the table-top map game in multiplayer, only the real-time battles).
This issue is the same complaint I had towards Stronghold and its sequels because you could never click on individual units that are just sitting around. The pathfinding AI used in Medieval 2 left a bad taste in my mouth (in every battle there are always dozens of units that just stand around, rather than helping their comrades fight).
Never fight an elephant with a horse
If I had my druthers, I would like to mix the enormous scale found in EU 3 with the graphics and clean interface of Medieval 2 and the army management found in games like Age of Empires. On that note, perhaps both sets of developers could create a sequel which allows you to manage naval units during battles (like Age of Sail or AoE).
Oh, and while we are at it, I would love for someone to make a better version of Stronghold, because building and defending castles is a lot of fun to this cosmopolitan Aggie.
The Verdict
EU III: 3 out of 5 stars — if you have an unhealthy fetish for the previous 2, you’ll probably like this one
Medieval II: 3.5 out of 5 stars — again, if you are fan of the TW series, then this is up your alley, otherwise play the demo and see if it is your thing
Gameplay note: Spain totally kicks ass in Medieval II (playing as England is difficult, and France is almost impossible once Milan and Sicily show up). Oh, and in EU 3, don’t invade Savoy if you are playing as Switzerland. Hell, don’t invade anyone if you are playing as Switzerland. And no matter which game you try, never waste your time on a crusade — just ignore the Pope.
And speaking of the Crusades, be sure to watch Kingdom of Heaven — it really puts some perspective to the cut-scenes in the “Historical Battles” found in Medieval 2.
