STG's

I recently got Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. I've played Wolfenstein 3D quite a while back when it was released, and I was a huge fan of other ID games, such as Doom and Quake, which I played for endless hours. This one is made by MachineGames, instead of ID. Lately I haven't played many ID games because they usually were buggy on my hardware, such as Rage or the latest Doom. When this Wolfenstein was on sale on Steam with excellent reviews, I though I should try it. I'm glad I did - it is very good. I particularly like how they allow you to choose (not always, but a lot of the time) to take a stealthy approach or go guns blazing. The guns are pretty good, there are plenty of them and in an old school way, you can carry almost as many as you want (except for the big machine gun). In that sense, it is quite different and smarter than the old ID games, and there is a lot of alternative options - such as little tunnels - to use. There are also some secret areas. I also l...

I've noticed Rocket League mostly for the videos/GIFs that are posted on Reddit. It made a silly proposition seem fun. So I wishlisted and there was a sale these days on Steam. I got it and it is interesting. I still find it quite hard - specially jumping, but it still is fun vs the lamest bot setting (it'd probably be too frustrating against humans or better level bots, though). I think part of the problem might be my insistence on keyboard/mouse. Having the acceleration switch to part of the rotate controls on jumps is confusing. I really like the graphics, and the music is particularly good. Overall, well worth checking out.

A Night Without Stars is the latest Commonwealth novel by Peter F. Hamilton, which takes place in Bienvenido. Bienvenido got sent out of the Void, and they are in even more trouble with the fallers. But someone is coming to help (if you are a Commonwealth series fan, you can probably guess who that is). As usual, it was excellent. There are many authors that I will not pre-order from, but Peter F. Hamilton has proven to be very safe in this regard. Personally I liked the high-tech bits more, but the low-tech parts were still pretty good. And plenty of action all around. The ending was pretty good, although as usual for Hamilton, it felt a bit deus-ex-machina. Still, it was foreshadowed enough that it felt fair. And the epilogue was very satisfying. Overall, strongly recommended for fans of the Commonwealth series. It'd be pretty confusing if you didn't read the rest of the Void series, though.

The Bloodline Feud is an omnibus edition of the first two books of The Merchant Princes series, by Charles Stross. I had already read the first book, way back when it was new. The story covers Miriam - a journalist that discovers that she comes from a lineage of people who jump between parallel universes. But not everyone is happy with her return, and a series of attacks and assassination attempts follow, while she is trying to create a modern business. Overall, pretty good. I was all set to get the next omnibus in the series, but so many reviews were disappointed with them that I gave up on it...

Kill Process, by William Hertling, of the Singularity series  is a techno-thriller with a lot of very reasonable tech, a lot of hacking and some murder. I was already a fan of the author, so when I got the e-mail notice of the new book I ordered it right away. The beginning is very interesting and goes through a "Dexter" part - where the main lead is a serial killer that chooses abusers. Then it goes on a completely different direction. Both parts are pretty good. I particularly liked that the tech and hacks were all very reasonable (instead of the poorly made nonsense so common in TV and other books). The ending is also pretty good. Overall, strongly recommended.

A Window into Time - by Peter F. Hamilton - is a wonderful novella about the nature of consciousness. I'm a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton series - I have reviewed several here - and if there is a new book by him I can be pretty confident that I will like it, so I got this on pre-order. It is short for a book (106 pages), being a novella rather than a novel, and it certainly feels all too short. I'm not sure how much I can say without adding too many spoilers, but the topic goes into the nature of time and consciousness. I didn't expect it to. The main character is also wonderfully defined. Great ending. Overall, excellent, and I strongly recommend checking it out.

United as One is the last volume in the I am Number Four series. It concludes the story with the final battle between the Guarde and Setrákus Ra. I really liked it. It is a fitting conclusion, although most of the apparent sacrifice is "cheated" out of. Even the aftermath was pleasant and reasonable. Overall, very good. Obviously recommended to all who followed the series so far.

Just finished The Nightmare Stacks, by Charles Stross - the latest volume in the Laundry series. Again, in this one Bob Howard doesn't even appear. I don't know if he's ever going to get back or if he got too powerful for a full book, but this time I didn't mind. In his place is Alex Schwartz, a vampire and a new hire to the Laundry (from 2 books ago). Unlike the last book, which I felt was a bit too annoying, this one was pretty great. The beginning was a little slow, but from the middle to the end it was great. I liked the choice of the "monster of the week", as well as how they were used, and the fact that instead of the hero just stopping the attack at the last second before any damage was done, that this time it went full CASE NIGHTMARE RED. The only thing I wanted was a little more of an aftermath, instead of abruptly stopping at the last second of a conclusion that should have been obvious way back in the book.

Company Town, by Madeline Ashby, is a very nice SF novel. The main character is Hwa, which starts as a bodyguard for sex workers in an oil rig in the future, in the Canada coast. I enjoyed the action, and particularly the pacing and the tech used throughout the novel. Overall, recommended.

War Factory - by Neal Asher - is the second book in the Transformation trilogy, which takes part on the Polity. I liked the first book in the series - Dark Intelligence (as well as all that take place in the Polity universe) and War Factory too. Sverl troubles continue to mount, and Penny Royal is still creating a lot of chaos in its machinations. Overall, pretty good, although I liked Dark Intelligence better, I'm not sure why.

Shadow Warrior (2013) is a very nice PC FPS. I actually almost bought it again on a bundle. After I realized it looked very nice (and that I already had it), I downloaded my previously purchased copy and started playing. It is a very nice old school FPS, where you shoot your enemies (demons, without a lot of strategy involved, although there is some in the choice of weapons) or cut them with your ninja sword. There are lots of secret areas. You have plenty of upgrades - including for your guns, extra skills and powers. It is a bit more violent than most games - you can dismember/behead enemies with your gun or swords, and get extra karma with it. You have plenty of special moves, too - including healing, spinning around with your sword, dropping everyone around with a power wave, etc. Graphics are very good, specially when you consider the game is a few years old now, and not an AAA title. Bosses are somewhat interesting. What I don't like is that it ...

Mini-Metro is a very clever semi-abstract metro design simulator. You have to tie together a metro system by linking stations (that pop-up by themselves) and connecting them so that they don't have extreme waits (at which point you lose). Your tools are metro lines, trains (regular and fast), tunnels and carriages. You get limited quantities of each, and must choose carefully what you do with them. It is very nice to see what can be done with a minimalist graphics approach.

Dark Intelligence: Transformation Book One - by Neal Asher - is a SF novel that takes place in the Polity universe. It has been a while since I read one of Asher's books, and this one really reminded me of how much I like them. I was a bit surprised to not get a notice from Amazon, as I've bought most of his books there already. There are some of the old characters - specially Penny Royal, which is a main focus and really shows what it can do - and several interesting new ones, specially Thorvald Spear - which was killed a century before and was just being revived. Of course, not everything is what it seems... The book was just great, and I can't wait for the sequel!

Mushroom 11 is a PC platformer. Quite common, right? Yes, but you are some kind of green ooze, which moves when you erase parts of it, by multiplying elsewhere. That, and with great graphics. It is very clever, and very innovative, but I only felt it was somewhat fun. Interesting, though.

The Light of Other Days - by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter - is a great SF book about wormholes from the quantum foam being used to watch the present and past, and transfer data. I've read plenty of complaints that the characters are pretty flat and undeveloped, and I can't disagree. Almost all of the focus is in the tech and its consequences, and some interesting imagined visions of the past. The focus on the tech and on what happens what privacy disappears (plus when you can really watch history), however more than made up for it for me. Meanwhile, it also wonders about what would happen to people if they knew a mountain sized asteroid was coming to Earth in 500 years. That part felt a little silly to me - it is hard to believe no one would be able to design some sort of Von Neumann machine (self-replicators) with mass drivers to change the trajectory or just mine the asteroid with all that lead time. What happens to the human race in the end, and their big proj...

Dark Space is a SF book by Jasper T. Scott (currently free on Amazon). After humankind was spread across space, they bumped into an aggressive alien race in another galaxy, and now the survivors are hiding in their last sector - Dark Space. Overall, I found it enjoyable, but not great. It's pretty good for free, and I already got the sequel.

A Dark Shade of Magic - by V.E.Schwab, is a fantasy book about magic and alternate realities. In it, the few remaining blood magicians travel between several Londons - Grey, Red and White. There was a black London, but now it is locked out. I like the idea of the use of magic. One thing that was a bit annoying is how the main "item" in the book had reflections of The One True Ring, as well as reminding me a bit of the green lanterns' ring power. Overall, pretty good.

Soda Pop Soldier, by Nick Cole, is an SF book with a big gaming component. The weird "Soda Pop" of the title is because in the near future, advertising rights are taken by winning virtual wars in a game, and the main character - PerfectQuestion - is a soldier for a cola company. There is another game in the book, however - a Black, illegal game, which PerfectQuestion is playing to get some extra money. Both games are interesting, although there are some slower scenes in the illegal one. The action was pretty good, and had plenty of good twists. The outside world was so interesting though (with space travel and colonies, a New New York over the old one, etc) I felt there was too little of in the book, though. Overall, recommended if you like books where a lot of the action happens in games.

Ctrl Alt Revolt!, by Nick Cole is a fun SF thriller where in a near future AIs are trying to take over the world. As on many other books, this is the excuse for very entertaining adventures in made up games. Not that I'm complaining, I really like these. Some of the future world - including Social Justice Warriors having taken over and mandatory internet passports - is all too believable, too. No wars is much harder, though. Overall, great fun. The only complaint I'd make is that ending pulls a big Deux Ex machina. The ending is not that bad though, just way too convenient.

Turns out that it is really easy - albeit not obvious - to transfer your Apple Music full music list or Playlist to Excel, Text or CSV. Just enter iTunes, choose the full music list, or a playlist. Press Ctrl+A to select everything (or select just what you want). Right-click and choose Copy (or press Ctrl+C). Paste on a text editor or Excel. You'll have your list, and can manipulate any way you want, and save to any format Excel supports.