Killzone 2 - Playstation 3

    Two years ago, the Helghast invaded Vekta. Two years ago the Helghans murdered civilians, burned buildings, and attempted to seize the Vektan homeworld. The Helghast invasion was repelled, but barely so. After two years of recovery and build-up, the Vektans are ready to take revenge on the Helghans for the destruction suffered during the attack. The Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) has loaded up their cruisers with soldiers and weaponry and blasted off for the Helghan homeworld. This time, they're going to make the Helghast feel what it's like to defend your own home against an enemy.

Assassin's Creed III - Xbox 360

    Assassin's Creed has proven to be quite a successful and prolific property for developer Ubisoft. At the time of this writing, a total of 20 video games, a live-action film, a series of comics, and a series of novels have been created with the Assassin's Creed name. Unfortunately, I am horrible at keeping up with playing games as they come out. So, while Assassin's Creed III was the 8th chronologically out of the 20 games released, I'm just now arriving to the party. Partially this is because I found myself feeling disappointed with the series after playing and reviewing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Against my better judgment, I forced myself to play the next game in the series, Assassin's Creed: Revelations soon after finishing Brotherhood. Revelations was so similar to Brotherhood, including all the things that I didn't like from the earlier games, that I found myself very burned out with the Assassin's Creed series. So much so, that didn't play another one of the games until...well....now. I'll admit that I had pretty low hopes going into Assassin's Creed III due to my past experiences, but I actually ended the game feeling a little better about the series. This review will cover the game's single-player mode only, as I did not attempt to jump into multiplayer.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Xbox 360

    Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a direct sequel to 2010's Final Fantasy XIII and is only the second time that developer/publisher Square Enix has released a direct sequel to a numbered Final Fantasy release. The game was released in 2012 on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. While XIII-2 keeps much of the same gamplay features that XIII had, new characters as well as some major changes keep the release from feeling as though the game is simply more of the same.

Wild Sour Series: Syncopathic Apricot - Destihl Brewery

    Wild Sour Series: Syncopathic Apricot is a Sour Ale brewed with Apricot and is dry hopped. The beer is brewed seasonally by DESTIHL Brewery in Bloomington, Illinois. From what I can tell, the "Syncopathic" sour series are named after their blending (or syncing) of flavors which may not normally go together. For example, Syncopathic Apricot combines the classic apricot sour ale with hops that are usually seen in Pale Ales.

    Syncopathic Apricot pours an orange-gold color with a massive, fluffy head that lingers. I wasn't expecting so many bubbles to hang around on top of the beer!

    The beer smells strongly of acidic tartness. I'm almost scared to taste it after that smell. Luckily there is also the pleasant, sweet aroma of apricots. It's almost like the smell of a candied apricot rather than the fresh fruit itself, and is very nice. There is also a slight scent of wheat behind these two strong aromas. I get the slightest hint of a weird metallic smell to the beer as well.

    The apricot sour sports a medium level of carbonation alongside a similarly medium body, making it quite smooth. This entry in the Wild Sour series comes in at an alcohol content of 6% ABV.

All the flavor of apricots, distilled into your beer!

    Oh wow. This beer is sour. Like, pucker-up, kind of burns your mouth, cloyingly sour. In fact, this flavor reminds me of the "extremely sour" candies coated in citric acid that I used to love as a child, and once burned the skin off of my tongue by eating too much of. Luckily the sweet and mildly earthy flavor of apricots is also present and balances out some of the acidic sour's assault on my mouth. Nice citrus and pine hops blend extremely well with the apricot, which convinces me further of the origin of this beer's name. Slight notes of bready malts lie underneath the apricot flavors as well. That weird metallic-ness from the aroma is also present in the beer's flavor. You know, those candies I used to love were all fruit flavored as well, but the star of the show was the citric acid. You would suffer through the sour layer and then be rewarded by the sweet but mild fruit flavors in the middle. It was cool to me as a kid, but I'm not such a fan of the same idea being used in beer. Syncopathic Apricot finishes dry, and luckily the cloying sourness doesn't stick around too long after you swallow.

    Wow, I wasn't expecting to be nearly blown out of the water by sourness on this one. Most of what I love about sour ales is the balance between tartness, funkiness, and malts or fruit flavors. This beer is definitely lacking in the balance department. It's really too bad as well - the apricot and hops flavors are delicious together! Maybe I'm just extra sensitive to sourness today, but I really feel that this beer is almost sour to the point of undrinkability - it's a sipper if anything, to be sure. I feel like DESTIHL mixed a really good flavor profile with a sour novelty in this one.

Amulets and Ale Rating:

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Wolfenstein: The New Order - Xbox One

    The year is 1960. Nazi Germany controls most of the world, with just a few continents struggling to resist the ever-encroaching Nazi machine. Years of ethics-free research has provided the Nazis with a massive armament of high-tech weaponry and armor. Using their superior arms and numbers, Nazi forces have forcefully oppressed all local resistance into oblivion. Those resistance members who were not killed in battle are held captive in prison work camps in which they unwillingly help to strengthen the Nazi Empire even more. Rumors among those unhappy with Nazi rule speak of a resistance group operating in Berlin, the Heart of the Nazi Empire. Does this group have what it will take to topple the Nazi giant, inspire the rest of the world to rebel, and to survive?