Frozen Synapse.

I finished up Splinter Cell Conviction. Similar to how I felt about Shank, it's a short game, but also too long. It was probably 5 hours long, maybe 6 or 7, I'm not sure. But by the time it was over (speaking strictly about the single player), I was totally done with it.

The main reason I was interested was just to continue to get familiar with the controls and methods of navigating the environment, and to unlock all the weapons. What I'm really interested in are the Deniable Ops and Co-Op missions (which the unlocks carry over to). The non-story driven modes are really where the game shines, and at the price you can find Conviction (25 on Amazon, last I checked) it's a pretty easy recommendation.

But even more exciting that co-op spy action is Frozen Synapse. I've given it some more hands on time, and I'm officially smitten with it. It's amazing.

The "play by mail' mode I described in my last post works wonderfully. Tonight I signed up, and played with the other people on line. I would send a challenge and make my first move, only to receive another challenge from someone else. I constantly had 3 or 4 games going. I'd jump from game to game, taking a turn here and getting a notice just as the other player completed their turn. It's a blast.

I can see the community being a problem, however. The game isn't released yet and the beta's been going for months now (I remember first hearing about the game a long time ago and barely understanding what it was), so maybe it's not the hype train or anything, but it seems like there's usually no more than 10 people on, and usually there's only 4 or 5. I'm not sure if that's representative of the entire community, or it just picks a few to show you... but I would be surprised if that's it.

Which is a shame, because this seems to be a great multiplayer experience that doesn't require any effort or socialization. It CAN require effort and it CAN accommodate socialization, but it's only if you want it.

So maybe I should evangelize Frozen Synapse amongst my friends, but I know for a fact it's probably too slow and abstract to even get their attention. It's a shame.

Also, there's auto-publish to Youtube button. Which is not that useful, I guess, but a lot of fun. Here's a match I started out doing well, but ended up losing.

I think I could have zoomed in a bit, but I'm kind of unfamiliar with the process so far.