Words On Wednesday

“Castlevania: Curse of Darkness” is a 3D action RPG released on the PS2 and Xbox in 2005. Early 3D games in the Castlevania series existed in a very weird space; they were trying to blaze a trail from a traditionally 2D genre into a third dimension, but 3D models were still fairly low resolution and the controls were often clunky. As such, Curse of Darkness is cursed (pun intended) with this sort of video game adolescence, where earlier games excelled with 2D sprites and traditional mechanics, and later games did something similar but better. However, does that mean that Curse of Darkness offers nothing worth playing today? My experience with Curse of Darkness began soon after it released on PS2. At a time when rentals were expensive and demos only existed for popular titles on quarterly demo discs, you basically had to make a decision off pictures from magazines and familiarity with the series. I played and enjoyed Castlevania games in the past, so it was a reasonably safe bet. Althou...

I needed to restock on bourbon recently and I found a surprisingly decent bottle for surprisingly cheap. Name: Kentucky Gentleman Source:           Barton Distilling Company Style: Bourbon ABV: 40% Price: $8.95 Volume:           750ml Price per oz: $0.35 There’s a time for good bourbon , and there’s a time for cheap bourbon . There is no time for bad bourbon . Friends don’t let friends drink bad bourbon. What I wanted was cheap bourbon. Specifically, I wanted a handle of Evan Williams black label from Costco, but I didn’t feel like driving that far and I wouldn’t be driving back into the office for probably a few more weeks at least. I needed something to tide me over until I could restock the bourbon I actually wanted. The liquor store in the town over with the nice old man who doesn’t drink would have to do. I didn’t want to spend good bourbon money, but I also didn’t want to risk buying a bottle of bad...

  “Devil May Cry” is the first of a long series of action-adventure games. Released in 2001 and originally conceived as a Resident Evil game, it took concepts of Resident Evil and pushed them in a more action-oriented direction. Add in some interesting new characters, and you have the humble beginnings of a very successful franchise. Over two decades later, how does it hold up? My first exposure to Devil May Cry was soon after it originally came out, at least before the sequel came out in 2003. I was far too young to be playing M-rated games, but that’s neither here nor there. Whoever decided it was a good idea that I have the game won out, and I obviously had to get my fill of it. At the time, I was vehemently opposed to playing hard games or playing games on any difficulty harder than the absolute lowest option. Devil May Cry starts you out on normal mode by default. After you beat the first mission, you unlock easy mode. Beating the game on normal unlocks hard mode, and beating ...