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Heavy Hitters

    It was a time for heavy hitters today. Let's start in New York, on the courts of the U.S. Open. Sharepova vs. Azarenka, blasting shots at one another in a semi-final. It was great tennis, despite a hot, humid day. Sharepova seemed to tire a bit during the third and final set. She seemed flustered, but her dynamic serve held her in the match until the very end. There were shots that made me say "Wow", again and again. Today's women's players hit with such power! The new rackets, the conditioning coaches, whatever. It was fun to watch this one. Azarenka goes on to play Serena Williams tomorrow night, under the lights, I think. Another slug fest, doubtless. How about Nadal and Federer being removed from the path to the championship? It would seem like a prime time for Andy Murray to grab this title.
     In the world of I-Pad games, it was also a day of heavy hitters. This week's games included several premium games. Avengers Initiative (Who hits harder than the Hulk?) has already risen to #5 on the app store. It is $6.99 and a whopping 1.05 Gigs. It is highly rated and is being compared to Infinity Blade in its style and gameplay. I am sure it would be a fun game if you like the punch and kick games. For myself, I can't see buying a high-end game that I will probably get to play half of, or less. I saw nothing in the notes or the reviews that indicated the developers had installed an option for 'easy' difficulty, so I will wait a few months and catch it on sale, perhaps. I did see that reviewers seemed to think that expensive in-apps were nearly a necessity to advance very far, or very fast. I haven't played it and I don't know.
     One of the other big time releases was by Gameloft. It is called Wild Blood. It is also $6.99 and has a huge file of 771 MB. I read every review of this game and there were many good... and some bad. Many bragged on gorgeous visuals and fun gameplay while others bemoaned in-app purchases on top of the hefty price tag. It being Gameloft, you can almost rest assured that the casual gamer will never finish more than half the game. Some of the in-apps run as high  as $49.99. What, all this and no box to put it in? I do like what I hear about the plot. It seems that King Arthur is in a jealous rage because Sir Lancelot is making a move on his woman. So he unleashes some black magic critters on the kingdom. If Lancelot can keep his hands off the queen, he'll have to fight the evil minions. Another game I may enjoy in a few months. Not Guenevere, the video game.
    I gamed a lot today, myself. I had a good time playing The Last Driver. I spoke about this apocalyptic driving game the other day and sure enough, it is a hit. It raced into the top ten on the store. I like it even though I have yet to reach the jungle. I made it across the city and out into the desert. I dodged a T-Rex (another heavy hitter), a tornado and then started up a mountain. Boulders were rolling all over the road and took me out. (Not in a good way)
    I also played Bastion some more. I gave this RPG action offering a good review but I think it is even better than I thought. I can't overstate how I appreciate the developers making the game with unlimited lives, so that casual gamers can just play it without grinding their way through. It is a nice, deep, long game with many nuances and surprises. I don't feel slighted at all in the $4.99 game. It is worth the dinero, even for guys like me who are not huge RPG fans.
     Finally, I played a ton of Trigger Fist. I found a good stand on the map that has the open courtyard. Not the one with fountains and canals. The desert one pictured above. Let's face it, you have to put your back to a wall, where you can see all approaches at once, to flourish against the computer dudes. They are back shooting people with no moral dignity. But hey, they are a PC with fingers. Anyway, work each map until you find a comfortable spot to crouch. For the most part, they will be where you are first spawned into the game. The hardest map is the parking garage, I think. By the way, isn't it a little spooky when your mates start re-spawning around you? Ha, ha. One more thing, when you reload during a battle, try to do it when your pards are around to take the heat while you are unable to fight for those few seconds. Hey, you'd do it for them, right?
    Well, have a good weekend and watch out for all those heavy hitters. The NFL starts again Sunday and they hit hard as well. Go Falcons!
   From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
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