Search

Search only in certain items:

<b><i>I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
Heilig’s debut novel is inspired by Hawaiian myth and folklore and has an entirely diverse cast with a biracial main character, a Persian love interest, etc. (I’ve completely forgotten about everyone else).

Have I mentioned time traveling is through maps?! If the Hawaiian myth and folklore don't grab you, then the maps definitely should.
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Paradise is a promise no god bothers to keep. There’s only now, and tomorrow nothing will be the same, whether we like it or not.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/some-of-those-arcs-from-last-year/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
Google Maps - GPS Navigation
Google Maps - GPS Navigation
Navigation, Utilities
9
8.7 (141 Ratings)
App Rating
Traffic navigation (0 more)
Use of data (0 more)
Reliably accurate
You can use this as a traditional satnav if you download the maps but I use this everyday on my commute into the city with my data on as it redirects me according to traffic build up. It has cut down my commute time a little and I appreciate that. I find it easy to navigate through the app and have common routes preset.
  
My Disney Experience
My Disney Experience
Travel, Lifestyle
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
App Rating
Let's you get your plans sorted, book fast passes, make reservations, check your memory maker and much more, whilst giving you maps of the entire site so you can get around easily. (0 more)
It's on an unsecured network if you are using their WiFi. My phone got hacked, over and over I was having to change all my passwords for my personal accounts, ebay, FB, my email account. Everything. (0 more)
  
Tiny Epic Tactics: Maps Expansion
Tiny Epic Tactics: Maps Expansion
2019 | Fantasy, Fighting, Medieval
In the expansion review series, we take a look at a game expansion to discuss whether it is a necessary purchase/addition to one’s collection.


This breakdown is for the Maps expansion for the game Tiny Epic Tactics.
The Maps expansion for Tiny Epic Tactics offers players of the game 2 new locations in which to play: The Winter Highlands and the Savage Wastelands. Although the rules and gameplay are identical to that of the base game, the new locations are set up in different configurations, providing players with a variable setup of sorts with which to play the game.

The components of the Maps expansion are as follows: a new map scroll for each location, as well as a set of 6 box covers depicting the artwork of the location. The map scrolls are cloth, and are the same quality as the map scroll of the base game. The box covers, however, leave much to be desired. Instead of providing new sets of actual boxes, this expansion instead has cardboard covers for the existing base game boxes. They are folded and flattened in the expansion box, and then are popped up and fit over top of the base boxes. My main issue with this is that with many plays, I anticipate that the thin cardboard box covers will start to tear or break. Also, since they are stored flattened, sometimes the covers do not fit snugly over the boxes, causing some of the sides to curve out a little bit. With how high quality all of the Tiny Epic games are, the box covers in the Maps expansion just don’t meet my expectations.

All in all, is the Maps expansion necessary for complete enjoyment of Tiny Epic Tactics? In my opinion, no. These new locations do not change any of the rules or gameplay. The purpose of this expansion really is to just provide players with a couple of alternate locations. Since each of the new locations does set up its boxes differently than the base game, there is a bit of uniqueness in each map. But by not adding any new rules or mechanics, it kind of falls a bit flat for me.

Official recommendation: If you play Tiny Epic Tactics so often that you are bored of the base game map setup, then I would definitely check out the Maps expansion. It just offers a new setting to freshen up the gameplay. If you are like me, though, and don’t get around to Tiny Epic Tactics enough to feel bored by the game layout, then this expansion really is just to satisfy your completionism. If the components were higher quality, I would be more willing to pull this expansion out more often. But the shortcomings of the production, as well as the lack of real changes to gameplay, keep it on the shelf for me.
  
40x40

PyroTheDragon (6 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Mass Effect: Andromeda in Video Games

Nov 14, 2018  
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect: Andromeda
2017 | Role-Playing
Call for a ehhhh time.
It's huge. So many world's so many stories to follow. I feel like that takes away from the game itself. I couldn't finish it, the game ended up feeling like a chore. I did however get into the coop online multiplayer, until the same four maps and three enemies got old. Worth a play, huge fans of the series will.more than likely have a good time playing it.
  
Catan Seafarers
Catan Seafarers
City Building, Exploration, Game Expansion
Components (2 more)
Gameplay
Quality of game
Very simple addition to core game (0 more)
I ca'tan believe how good it is!
A simple, yet great addition to the core game of catan. Very simple to play and easy rules to follow. Doesn't change too much on the game mechanic but adds different maps and ideas to the game. Also has enough tiles and extras to possobly create your own tile map and have plenty of fun!
  
STAR WARS Battlefront II
STAR WARS Battlefront II
2017 | Shooter
Best Star Wars game yet from a visual perspective (3 more)
Game-play is addictive and challenging
Free DLC so far from EA/Dice has only made game better
The whole 'Microtransactions' saga was unfounded and people who jumped on the bandwagon should actually play the game first before judging.
Lags too often during peak times (3 more)
Online Matchmaking takes too long (especially Heroes vs. Villains mode)
Not enough characters/maps (yet)
Starcard system needs an overhaul
Battlefront 2 Overview
  
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride
2004 | Transportation, Travel
simple (2 more)
elegant
charming
Perfect Gateway Game
take that has never been more civilized. you are trying to build your routes before someone else does. And don't tip your hand, but hurry to get it done. This will always be an all time top 10 game for me and I never grow out of it. with tons of different expansion and maps to play with it's always a great choice with non-gamers.

I cannot recommend this game highly enough.
  
Terraforming Mars: Hellas &amp; Elysium
Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium
2017 | Space
Different tactics (0 more)
Variation to the base game
The addition of two different maps for Mars is a welcome variation; the changes to the Milestones and Achievements is also a nice touch, as it changes the way people can score points from what they would usually aim for in the base game.

Although I do enjoy the different maps, and they are different enough, they dont really have a huge amount of "uniqueness" which the original one has. There are several cards which have been altered (Noctis City, for example) due to the location being on the other side of Mars. While this is an obvious side effect, it reduces the 'difficulty' of playing these cards hugely, so they feel less special.

It would have also been good to have had a small bundle of Hellas and Elysium cards included, even if it meant removing the original-location specific cards, but this opportunity was missed.

Out of all of the expansions, H&E adds the least, unless you have played the base map dozens and dozens of times.
  
Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Vengeance
Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Vengeance
Shooter
Fans of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 who are waiting patiently for the November release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, can put their skills to the test with the latest map pack DLC. The collection is named Vengeance and it offers four new multiplayer maps as well as a new Zombie campaigns for players aching for more of the wildly popular series.

The set is the third of a planned four map packs and for fans of frantic, run and gun action, this is the collection for you. This is not to say there is not a place for players who wish to snipe or use stealth, but the developers have clearly put the focus on smaller maps which bring the action front and center and force players to get into the action fast.

Like the previous map collections the players are limited to either Mosh pit or Hardcore Moshpit that puts teams of players in a series of online games where the objective is varied. There is the usual mix, Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, and Demolition modes and the mode as well as your teammates change with each map.

Accessing the new maps is easy as once you start in multiplayer mode, the option to select Vengeance is shown on your menu. Players who have the previous map packs which are not required to play the new ones, will be able to access them in the game mode of their choice now as they would for the maps that came with the initial release of the game.

The first map I played was called Uplink which is an updated version of the Summit map from Black Ops. This time out the snowy eastern Europe locale has been changed to a rainy Asian locale. It took me a few times around and a few deaths before I realized there was something familiar about it. This helped me get adjusted to likely areas for attacks and defense much faster than usual and I soon found myself dishing out the damage instead of being a walking target.

The next map is called “Detour” and this takes places on a bombed out suspension bridge that has cars and trucks as well as blast holes littering the roads. Players can take the side paths and lower areas but can also engage the other team in the clutter up top. Be prepared for plenty of flying grenades as well as mines and other traps in this one. I usually need around five rounds in a map before I am comfy enough to really let loose and this one after some initial frustrations paid off big,

A recent kill streak earned me a sentry gun, which when deployed racked up an impressive number of kills for me thanks to the choke points and strategic placement near an enemy objective.

Up next is “Cove” and while it took me a little bit to differentiate the enemy attire from that of my team, I soon found this to be an early favorite for me. The setting is a tropical island complete with a crashed plane. The plane became a great shield to toss grenades over and I loved walking around the beach in my efforts to flank the other players. For a person who loves a run and gun, devil may care style of play, coming around a rock and finding two or three enemy players facing away from me was a great thrill as was having a cluster of them camped out on a ledge above or in a rocky cave..

There are plenty of cliffs as well as snipers love to setup on the ridges and let loose as do players who have earned a sentry gun or other reward. This became tough when most of the objectives involved either planting or defusing a bomb. Fighting to an objective only to be cut down as you were seconds away from completing a task is a frustration indeed but also part of the fun.

 

The final map is entitled “Rush” and the title not only describes the fun of playing it but also the best way to play it as it is set in a paint ball venue. There are tons of paint-soaked vehicles, wooden buildings, and venues that anyone who has ever played paintball will be all to familiar with. The real joy comes when you head into the shop and have to battle in the pro shop, indoor arena, and other locales. The colors are vivid and the attacks can come from all angles at any time.

As much as I liked “Cove” “Rush” quickly became my favorite of the maps as I was able to record my best scores of the new maps the first time I played it, and was able to maintain my lucky runs with each subsequent match.

Zombie fans will love “Buried” which like previous Zombie modes allows four players to work with one another as they fight off legions of undead. Like previous modes, players must heal fallen players and purchase weapons and ammo. This can be a challenge as starting off with just a pistol, grenade, and knife, you have to take down more than a few bad guys to earn needed funs for the big guns.

Cash can also be used for health, to restore barricades, as well as unlock new areas of the map.

Set in an underground western town, and I have to admit to really enjoying mowing down legions of undead as I came out of the saloon and enjoying the detail level of the map.

Skilled players can earn the Ray Gun Mark II and really fry the undead to a crisp.

Picky fans will say that Vengeance does not offer as much as some map packs as more than one person I played with lamented the fact that they did not get any new weapons like they did with the first map pack, and how one of the four maps was an older map that was remade.

To me it all comes down to a matter of choice as the maps are available in a set for $14.99 or players can purchase a season pass which will allow them to obtain all four map packs at a discounted price.

If you are a fan of the game and play online on a regular basis then you will want the maps as they do offer something new and are enjoyable to look at and play for gamers but be prepared to take your lumps early as most of the players have already mastered the previous maps and showed no mercy for players who were trying to get their bearings in the new offerings.

In the end, if you’re a hardcore player or simply love the series, then you will enjoy the maps as they offer something new while players wait for the final collection and the November release of Call of Duty: Ghosts:

http://sknr.net/2013/08/06/call-of-duty-black-ops-2-vengeance/