Ernie Noa's RPG Blog

My son and I read "A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeline L'Engle for his school book report. I read the story when I was a little older than him and recall really enjoying it, although I could not remember much. I enjoyed it all over again. It was a bit advanced for my nine year son but he did well and wound up with an A+ on his book report. Today I stumbled on a TV\direct to video release of "A Wrinkle In Time" by Disney on netflix. It's not great, but considering it was a direct to video style production, it was quite enjoyable and a nice way to finish the experience with the book, particularly for my son.

My father in law loaned me 'Dead or Alive' one of Tom Clancy's latest books. I've always been a fan of the Jack Ryan series of Clancy novels, but I stopped reading them after 'Bear and the Dragon', when Clancy switched from Jack Ryan to Jack Ryan Jr. I have to say how pleasantly surprised by 'Dead or Alive' It's well written (which is no surprise for a Clancy novel), exciting and relevant for the current time period, as opposed to his early books like, "The Hunt for Red October". All of the old characters I remember are there, just as vivid as ever. It feels very much as if I am revisiting an old friend. I have about 200 pages to go, and I've borrowed 'Teeth of the Tiger', the first Jack Ryan Jr book which I skipped. In December the Next Jack Ryan book is coming out. I am eagerly looking forward to it.

During the summer a good friend of mine picked up Mass Effect 1 and 2 for me. They were both fantastic games. They had a very cinematic feel and were better than most other computer RPGs I have played. In most computer RPGs the combat system seems to evolve into a pause, heal, pause, use power, pause heal kind of pattern. It become pretty dull. In both Mass Effect 1 and 2 that wasn't necessary, although you can and do need to pause. It really felt like it found a nice line between a 3rd person shooter and an RPG combat system. I would highly recommend both games to anyone. They can be purchased online through Steam. I can't wait for Mass Effect 3 next Spring.