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(05/09/13 3:53pm)
It always warms my heart when I stumble upon an indie gem as these games tend to offer vastly different experiences than from your typical AAA release. They will be cheaper, usually offer a unique visual style and feel more like a video game due to their lack of cut scenes, dynamic cameras or other things that games with a bigger budget use to create a more “cinematic” experience.
Guacamelee! is such a game, developed by newcomer DrinkBox Studios, and if this is their first attempt into the game-creating world, let’s say that I am holding my breath for what they release next as Guacamelee! Is an impressive debut.
Guacamelee! tells the story of Juan, a simple agave farmer and tequila maker who, after a fire at the Presidents house, rushes off to rescue his childhood friend, the presidents daughter. Calaca, an undead skeleton who wishes to use her for a ritual that will merge the worlds of the living and the dead so that he may rule all, has kidnapped her.
Juan challenges him to a battle, only to be killed nigh instantly. It’s in the world of the dead where he discovers a magic luchador mask which grants him life as well as newfound strength and speed, exactly what he needed to stop Calaca.
The first thing you will notice is the visual style, a comic book feel with a Mexican luchador motif. Lots of vibrant colors, sombreros and dia-de-los-muertos skeletons all inhabit the lush, but small world of Guacamelee!.
Guacamelee! is a love letter to the Metroidvanias, as it uses this classic formula, but in new and exciting ways. The game is a 2-D side scroller which only progresses when the players find new special moves, which allow access to areas were previous not accessible. True to the genre, there are also plenty of special nooks and crannies to find and explore, usually containing pieces of sugar skulls, which increase your stamina, or heart pieces, which increases the length of your health bar.
The combat is also incredibly simple but still statisfying. Juan has his basic three hit combo, but once a character is weak enough, Juan can grapple them. Once grappled you can throw an enemy in any particular direction, suplex him, drop kick him, or just throw him into the air to begin an air combo. This creates a thrilling combo based combat system that feels true to the luchador motif the game is portraying.
The most interesting mechanic in the game however is the necessity to switch from the world of the living to the world of the dead, and vice-versa. At first this will be done through little switches floating, but later in the game Juan gains the ability to switch between the two at will.
By switching worlds, the environment immediately changes around him, walls may disappear, enemies that were not there may suddenly appear and the actual visual look changes as well, it is this mechanic that separates Guacamelee from its predecessors, and it works very well as it creates well-designed platforming sequences where a combination of aerial moves and quick world-switching are needed to succeed.
However the game is not without its faults, for one, it is far too short. The game only has three real boss fights, and while they are enjoyable and fun, its still only three boss fights.
The game is also littered with internet memes and game references. Some are contextual and enjoyable, such as the fact that Juan obtains his new moves from breaking Chozo statues, a throwback to the Metroid games. Others are just obnoxious memes that add nothing to the feel of the game and just feel desperate.
Guacamelee! is currently only available on the Vita via download, but there are talks of porting it to PC via steam, which I certainly hope they do, as this is a fantastic game with a lot of great ideas, an affordable price tag of $15 and a cool visual motif.
Guacamelee! gets an 8/10
(04/25/13 4:01am)
“Save me!” yelled the avatar of a complete stranger. The Harpy overhead flapped its massive wings looking for its next victim to devour with a devastating multi-hit combo that would demolish more HP bars. My other two teammates had begun to use their summoning or transformation spells. Since these are usually saved for last-ditch efforts, I could tell that we were all running low on resources. This fight had gone on for too long, and it was starting to show. A female sorceress gets a concentrated hit on one of the Harpy’s wings using a projectile flame spear attack, taking this opening I rush over to my teammates near lifeless corpse. Sacrifice? Or save?
Sacrificing him would have surely given me the power boost I needed to fell the winged demon, but it would have permanently killed him. I mean, he is just a stranger after all, right?
“Save me!” I hear his character claim again. Not being able to ignore his pleas, I “save” him, which brings him back to life and grants some life back to me too.
The fight continues for a few more minutes as the ally I had just saved lands the final blow on the boss. Victory was at hand!
His character says, “This is for you” and grants me the privilege of deciding whether we save or sacrifice this beast, I sacrifice it, as the permanent boost to my offensive magic was too good to pass up. The team says good-bye and we all continue onto more quests. Welcome to the demo for “Soul Sacrifice.”
“Soul Sacrifice” is an arena-based Japanese RPG, a new IP and a game exclusive to the Vita. These three things alone set “Soul Sacrifice” apart from similar games such as “Monster Hunter.”
Despite what I had just described, you don’t actually play as a sorcerer but rather a faceless, nameless prisoner who will soon be the next in line to be sacrificed to a powerful arch-sorcerer. In your small bone-made prison you find Librom, a living book who can re-tell you the tale of his original author, which will, in turn, teach you sorcery so that you may stand a chance against your captor.
Using Librom, you can partake in shadow quests, where your character will relive the memories and missions of the previous owner. These quests usually have you entering an arena, finding a specific monster and killing it. As you kill enemies you will always have the option of saving or sacrificing it. Saving it increases your defense and health while sacrificing increases your offensive power. As the game progresses picking one option or the other will eventually begin to subtract from the other.
At your disposal is a repertoire of spells that do different things. Some throw shuriken, others turn your arm into a giant fist and some even have you transform into a monster for a small amount of time.
Then come your big spells, the black rites. This is where the game’s title comes in. Certain spells, like the black rites, require a sacrifice from the player. The one I received in the demo was one that requires me to burn the entirety of my skin off (thus suffering massive damage and a huge permanent loss to my defense stat) but temporarily transformed me into a Fire Demon and proceeded to burn all in my path.
The risk-reward system of Soul Sacrifice makes for some really compelling gameplay, all tied up in an interesting universe that gives it context.
The demo is the entire first chapter of the game, plus the multiplayer, which is a blast. On top of all this is an insane amount of lore about the characters, the monsters, the bosses, the spells, everything. And all of this makes sense, because obviously it’s all contained inside a book! The best part of the demo is that once you complete it, you can still play the multiplayer and then transfer your character from the demo into the main game.
“Soul Sacrifice” is exactly what the Vita needs and anyone a fan of handheld RPG’s should check out. The demo is available now, for free on PSN while the full game releases both as a download and in retail on April 30.
(03/14/13 4:00am)
What happens when you take the genius fourth wall breaking moments, boss design and plot of industry veteran Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear series and combine it with Platinum Games talent of removing every inch of subtlety and realism from combat systems? You get something like Metal Gear Rising (MGR).
MGR is a spinoff title (hence the “Rising” and not “Solid”) that has the player taking the role of Raiden, yet again. But you won’t be doing any naked cartwheels this time around. Now, Raiden has a ninja cyborg body and he’s out to use it to stop a group of fellow cyborgs who are kidnapping children and training them to be child soldiers.
Once a child soldier himself, Raiden hopes to avoid these children of his fate, something he considers worse than death. The story begins coherently enough, but as the game moves on the game almost seems to lose focus of itself, dabbling in discussions of philosophy about the benefits of war and how it relates to the nature of man. At times it seems convoluted, but it provides an interesting context to the games real strength: combat and gameplay.
MGR is a third person hack-n-slash game with a combo-based combat system. With your trusty HK-blade you’ll be cutting through all sorts of enemies ranging fromcyborg soldiers to robot gorillas, bi-pedal mooing tanks and even robot raptors. Unlike similar games, MGR does not have a block button, but rather a parry option in which you must press X and move the stick in the direction of where the attack is coming from. If you parry at the right moment, Raiden counter-attacks and you are given what is basically a free combo — on the earlier enemies, anyway.
The other big aspect of the game that is completely unique to MGR is the “blade mode” concept. By pulling on the left trigger, time slows down, and Raiden is given the ability to make exact, precise cuts on his enemies. The player is rewarded for making precise cuts, taking off limbs of human enemies or cutting the enemy up into as many pieces as possible, as it is with the robot enemies. Those really skilled in MGR’s combat will switch from the free-flow combo system into blade mode when needed without much indication.
Sometimes, the game tries to live up to its stealth roots — I don’t know why, but it tries. If you fail, all the enemies swarm on you and you proceed to chop them up anyway.
The game also features some of the best boss fights you will play this season. While some of the bosses are larger-than-life foes that have you jumping from missile-to-missile to chop the boss up, the game truly shines when you face one of the more human bosses (despite the fact that they’re all cyborgs) and you find yourself in a one-on-one duel to the death. They are all incredibly varied, have multiple stages and are even accompanied by their own track that gives the entire fight a much more serious air. The end of these fights will have you taking some deep breaths as you lower your accelerated heart rate.
The experiences are a complete thrill ride; but how could they be even better?
Simple. Platinum games took the Megaman route and allowed for the bosses’ signature weapons be available for use by the player after they are defeated. Sadly, despite the game’s incredibly high quality of gameplay, it is criminally short. I was able to finish the game in less than five hours, which was even shorter than other runs I’ve seen online. It’s really hard in this day and age to justify a $60-dollar purchase on five hours of entertainment, no matter how good it may be. But that’s exactly where my conflict arises: those five hours are incredibly tight and really fun, especially the boss fights. Once this game hits the $40 mark, or if you can just happen to find it on sale, pick this one up, especially if you’re a fan of the Metal Gear series — despite the fact that Rising feels like an entirely different game on its own.
Metal Gear Rising gets an 8/10.
(02/28/13 5:00am)
There are two very specific genres of video games that I love above all others: third person hack-and-slash games that have no regard for realism (Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, God of War etc.) and grid-based turn-based strategy role playing games (Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Advance Wars etc.).
The newest installment of the Fire Emblem franchise, Awakening for the 3DS falls in the latter category.
The game allows you to create your own character, a first for the series, and by using a small yet varied collection of options, you create your tactician, down to their particular strengths and weaknesses.
Along your travels you will meet a multitude of characters, all of which bring different strengths and weapon types to the field, adding versatility to your team.
The game follows a simple yet effective formula: a scene of dialogue between various characters before conflict arises, followed by a selection of which units you want use and then combat.
Combat goes through two phases: yours and the enemies. During your phase, you can command your units in whatever sequence you want. But there are a multitude of things to keep in mind: the weapons in the game follow a rock-paper-scissor format and one must make sure not to leave any weaker units alone, as units gain combat bonuses when attacking next to a friendly unit. There are also certain special units such as archers and mages that do not follow the typical weapon triangle and must be dealt with accordingly.
What this culminates into is a deep and complex combat system where thoughtful planning is key.
As you will quickly find out, one mistake can mean the death of your unit. And much to the Fire Emblem tradition, if one of your units dies in battle, he or she stays dead, unless of course, you decide to play on casual mode, which I really do not recommend.
Fire Emblem has always been a franchise about careful planning and thoughtful strategy and by removing the fear of losing a unit forever, the player can throw caution to the wind, which I believe leads to a lesser gaming experience.
But as some people have pointed out to me, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot just shut down the game and restart again right before the mission in which you lost one of your units.
But this is not the point of Fire Emblem, the point is to acknowledge that your decisions to carry the heavy burden of consequence through each and every mission you choose to partake in.
This is especially true for the optional missions one encounters every so often to possibly recruit new members to your party. I highly recommend you take these up whenever possible as it is always good to have some backup units as you will be losing some every so often.
A new addition to the series that I particularly enjoy is the fact that you can actually foster relationships between your units, and this will affect the bonuses they give each other during battle. The player can cultivate good feelings among his/her units through a couple of different means. The first is too visit the barracks, a small home you establish for you and your units to rest in between missions. Here you can overhear conversations between characters. The other method is during combat itself, you can place units so that they finish their turn next to each other which will cause an adorable little heart to appear above their heads afterwards, signaling that they have become somewhat close as a pair.
If they grow fond of each other, they may even marry and have children of their own, which you can also recruit to join your team.
So not only are you in charge of their battle tactics, but their love lives as well. It’s great to be king.
The story is about a war that is currently taking place between two different kingdoms. While this war is going on, interdimensional zombie soldiers are attacking the land, known as “The Risen.”
While this sounds completely ridiculous on paper, it actually sets up the stage quite nicely. While most of the story is told through dialogue, the game sprinkles in some beautifully rendered and voiced cut scenes. These are the only instances in which I would recommend turning on the 3D on the 3DS, as it looks terrible in absolutely every other instance of the game.
Frankly, I have nothing bad to say about this game; it is highly accessible to veterans of the Fire Emblem series, while still making it accessible enough for new players without dumbing it down. I’d say this game may even be worth the investment in a 3DS.
Fire Emblem Awakening receives a 10/10.
(02/21/13 5:00am)
On Friday, Feb. 19 the McCullough Social Space was once again the platform used for the annual Winter Carnival stage show. This year the College welcomed comedian and actor Adam Ferrara.
Before Ferrara hit the stage, the crowd was treated to the comedic stylings of Greg Dorris ’13. Dorris discussed a time when he found himself in charge of mascots for a local baseball team. The audience received Dorris very well as he delivered his bits with confidence. Notable in his performance was that his stand-up was very clean and appropriate for all ages. This is a quality not commonly seen in many stand-up comedians and offered a refreshing change of pace.
Following Dorris came Adam Benay ’13, which discussed various things that he had observed, contrasting with Dorris’s story-telling style of humor. When Benay began talking about Spiderman, specifically Peter Parker’s relationship to the spider that would eventually give him his signature super powers, I could not help but be brought back to Wyatt Cenac’s show that occurred in the fall of 2012, who also briefly discussed Spiderman.
It made sense that these two students were the opening act: both are members of Otter Nonsense, one of Middlebury’s improv groups.
Eventually, Ferrara took the stage. Almost immediately, Ferarra exploded with a comic energy that foretold that this was going to be a good show. Ferrara explored many different topics, beginning almost immediately with the fact that Middlebury is in the middle of nowhere. As the evening progressed, Ferrara picked a couple of targets from the crowd and he often play-mocked them to add to the hilarity. Despite being on campus for less than a day or so, Ferrara was able to find some nuggets of truth about the College. After asking multiple students what they wanted to do with their degrees post-graduation, almost all of the students answered with the familiar phrases, “I’m not too sure” or “I don’t know.” This is where Ferrara’s frustration with our lack of participation began to show.
“I go to Middlebury College, I majored in indecisiveness!” said Ferrara.
Ferrara had great energy, was willing to poke fun at the College and really engaged with the student body.
After the show, Ferrara, Dorris and Benay met with the Middlebury Campus for a brief interview.
Middlebury Campus (MC): Tell us a little bit about your work with “Top Gear.”
Adam Ferrara (AF): It’s funny ... the stuff we actually think up on the show gets done. I mean you’re sitting in a creative meeting and they say ‘What do you want to do?’ [and you say,] I want to put guns on cars! ‘Brilliant!’ And that’s when I realized: there’s no f***ing adult in the room. So we put paintball guns on an El Camino and Rut, the other guy on the show, put them on a Honda and we shot at each other because it was amazing. I went to Iceland, I drove on a volcano, I drove on a glacier … There’s my episode that comes out this year and I got to drive a GT 40 .. it’s an $11 million car and they let me drive it six feet. I got to roll it, start it up, put in gear — and that was about it. But, I got to drive it — not far — but I got to drive it.
MC: In terms of your stand-up, who or what inspires your material? What is your source?
AF: I’m a confessional comic so I pretty much just talk about my life. I didn’t do a lot of that tonight because a lot of it was improv. A lot of it is about that I’m married now, [and that] my father passed away, so there are just certain things in my life that I want to examine and make funny and when I can make those funny, even though they might be serious things [and] it connects with somebody it’s that much more of a experiential laugh. Well my dad was going through cancer on my last special, and I actually talked about his chemotherapy and it was nice to connect with someone else. I got a lot of nice letters about their families going through it. Bottom line: it’s got to be f***ing funny. No one wants to hear your troubles — everyone’s got their f***king troubles — make it funny! So if I can draw from that, put that through the filter, and make it funny, that’s the most rewarding stuff for me. I didn’t do a lot of it tonight because I’m at a different point in my life, so I just like to talk to the students and see where they’re at, and to see what’s important to them. You can just tell that by talking or taking the temperature [of] what they’re laughing at, what they’re not laughing at, and to improv with them. We will do a lot of improv at college shows because we’re all in a space together. It’s still a performance but it’s like we are creating this together and using the audience as the chisel.
MC: What comedians do you personally like?
AF: Greg and Adam, they were the best two tonight.
MC (to Adam Benay and Greg Dorris): What is the process when someone like [Ferrara] comes to Middlebury to open for them?
Greg Dorris (GD): They asked the Otters if we wanted to open because [Ferrara] was coming up here without his own opener and we said, “That’s a terrible idea; we don’t want to do a 20-minute improv set before stand-up.” Adam and myself have been doing lots of stand-up this year and we were scratching for a chance to perform, [so when] we asked about doing some time, they were like, “Yes please!”
MC (to Adam Ferrara): Where’s your next show?
AF: I’ll be at the Improv in Chicago ... the weekend of the 21st.
MC: Did you start in stand-up?
AF: I started as a stand-up comic first and foremost. That’s kind of how I define myself. I’ve been fortunate — I used to do a lot of different things — but I get to do my stand up. [This] is the purest expression of yourself because you’re the writer, you’re the producer, you’re the performer and it’s immediate feedback. You know if it sucks, the audience will let you know.
And then I got to be an actor and I really studied the craft of it because it’s just something I wanted to do. It was an adjustment coming from stand-up because there’s no guidelines … You can use the audience as a wave you’re surfing on, and there’s rhythm between the two energies. When you’re an actor that rhythm can happen in two different people; its much more of an intimate thing. So it’s a little more difficult for me as a stand-up [comic] because it’s easier to tell your truth to 400 people than it is to one person. You know, I can look at 400 faces [and] be totally comfortable, but when you’re looking into someone else’s eyes and say whatever that truth is, then that is a little more daunting. So I started as a stand-up, got to be an actor [and] now in “Top Gear” I get to drive all these cool cars. But I also get to be back and acting, as I’ll be on “Nurse Jackie” this season. I did seven out of 10 episodes in that show.
MC: Have those episodes premiered?
AF: No, April 14 is the premiere of the show, but the episodes have already been shot.
MC: Is there anything you can tell us about your role on the show?
AF: I play Sergeant Frank Bareli; I am a police sergeant who is Jackie Paton’s love interest.
MC: What is it like working with Edie Falco?
AF: She’s great. To work with someone of that level is truly great. I’ve been really fortunate. I got to work with Dennis Leary for two, three different shows? And now I get to work with Edie. I’m a very fortunate man.
MC: What got you into stand-up originally?
AF: I saw Richard Pryor when I was 12 years-old. I went to one of his family parties … All the adults … left to have coffee in the other room and I snuck in ... pushed play, and it just blew my head. I didn’t understand a lot of it because I was a kid, but it just seemed important to me. It made an impression. I just remember thinking, “Wow, look at what this man can do.” And I remember the bit [when] he was just walking through the forest ... about why white people get bit by s*** all the time. [In the bit he says] black people don’t get bit because they walk all cool through the forest, and he’s just walking across the stage. He’s taking forever, and he gets to the end and he just goes “snake.” And he gives that one f***ing glance and boom! The audience blows up and it was just like it seemed very important what he was doing. I just remember that memory, “That’s what I want to do!” I didn’t have that; I had “Look at what this guy can do.”
MC: What is your favorite joke?
GD: I listen to John Moloney talk about “Law and Order” over and over again. I’d have to say his joke about that show and people stacking boxes or looking at pictures. He’s got a way of talking about things that I’ve seen a million times ... Every time I hear him it makes me angry and sort of want to quit but also makes me want to write a lot.
Benay: I saw Mike Birbiglia’s show outside of Burlington, and he has this one line [about] when he was in middle school, he was talking to a girl on the phone about homework. And she said, “Mike stop it, you’re gonna make me laugh so hard I’m gonna pee.” And then he said, “And that’s what I’ve been trying to do my entire life because it was the closest thing I had ever come to a vagina.”… I really liked it.
AF: My favorite bits ... Pryors heart attack bit — that was brutally funny. Louis Black’s weather bit ... I saw that one live … Greg Proops has nine f***ing bits I want to steal … There’s just too many.
(02/13/13 11:28pm)
I’ve played a lot of video games in my time, and I know that plenty of games are able to tell stories of love, such as Shadow of the Colossus. This game centers on a man named Wander, who must kill legendary colossi to resuscitate a dead girl named Mono. There are also the games where romance manifests itself in one of the female characters, who are usually very busty and not very well dressed for whatever occasion is going on.
Despite all this, very few games explore what it means to be in an actual relationship. Sure, I guess you could turned to the terrifying, niche genre of the “dating simulator” which essentially just boils down to you, the player, saying what the girl wants to hear, then being “rewarded” with a sex scene.
Moving away from these obscure games, we enter the Bioware role-playing games, specifically the Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. Both of these games offer various romantic partners that the player can choose to woo and/or sleep with. Mass Effect did this much better than the high-fantasy Dragon Age because the relationship was able to build over time, thanks to the ability to import your save files, and therefore your in-game decisions, into each of the sequels.
Dragon Age seems to trip over their own feet when it came to the “romance characters,” as the relationships often boiled down to a shallow system of giving them presents, or making in-game decisions that coincide with their predictable political opinions (sort of like managing and maintaining followers on a Tumblr blog).
But even with these games, something felt missing. The relationship felt like just another side quest. It boiled down to knowing what to say, when to say it and the successful completion of that characters optional side quest.
Despite flowing naturally with the rest of the game, it ultimately felt like another chore in the game.
However, there does exist one game where a relationship is not only an important factor to the plot, but it also establishes the entire context of the gameplay.
That game is Catherine. I’ve reviewed this game before, but want to revisit it, as I do believe it is one of the more important games to be released this generation.
Catherine tells the story of Vincent, a 20-something software programmer who lives by himself.
Vincent isn’t a fan of change and enjoys his current life: drinking with his friends at the local watering hole and spending time with his five-year girlfriend Katherine (with a “K”). Katherine puts the pressure on him to make the next big move (marriage), but Vincent is secretly terrified of this.
To deal with his anxieties he retreats to binge drinking, where he meets Catherine, a beautiful blonde with a bubbly, fun personality.
One thing leads to another, and next thing you know Vincent finds himself not only in bed with her, but having reoccurring nightmares where he must climb a puzzle block tower, or face death at the hands of the things he fears most.
While the gameplay is fun, incredibly stylized and very hectic, the story is where it shines.
When you’re not in the dream world, you control Vincent in the bar where you are allowed to do a multitude of things.
One of these things is, much like real life, texting. As the night progresses you will be texted by both K/Catherines and the way you choose to reply to them affects your standing with each woman, which in turn affects the story which then measures up to one of five different endings of the game.
The reason why I always bring this up is because of how real the simulation feels.
The text messages accurately portray certain aspects of each girl’s personality; sometimes it reaches the levels of hyperbole (such as when Catherine sends you half-naked costumed pictures for little to no reason).
You’re a man under a lot of stress as you try to balance two relationships at once.
Eventually the game transforms into a story of forgiveness, making decisions and taking change head on. But even Catherine fell flat on its face in one crucial aspect: the inclusions of a “morality bar.”
Sticking with Katherine netted you points on the “law” side while staying faithful to your new lover, Catherine, netted you points on the “chaos” side.
This bar would come up whenever you sent a text message or answered one of the games many polling questions.
The inclusion of this bar takes away all ambiguity and turns it too much into a video game.
By removing this ambiguity, there would have been additional stress added on the player because, much like reality, one could not have been sure of whether or not what you were doing was “the right thing” in the relationship.
While it pains me to see that no other games have explored such a distinctive aspect of the romantic relationship, I hope it is something that can be explored beyond easily-predictable decisions and character pandering.
(01/17/13 6:41am)
Imagine an acting technique so extreme that it took all those who used it to an entirely new level, a technique designed to inject even the smallest role with a dose of sex, violence and death. Such a technique exists, and is known as “The Approach.” It was created by acting instructor Stella Burden, and combines “risk-based rituals” as well as various western acting methods. “The Approach,” known among some circles as “the most dangerous acting technique in the world,” is also the subject the upcoming theatrical performance of The Method Gun.
The Method Gun will be performed at College by an acting troupe known as The Rude Mechanicals (or The Rude Mechs, for short) at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18 and 19, at the Seeler Studio Theatre in the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts.
Tickets will be $20 for Middlebury ID holders and $6 for students.
The Rude Mechs are an Austin, Texas-based 28-person acting company that according to that has been dubbed by the New York Times as one of theater companies in the United States “making theater that matters.”
The Rude Mechs has been the recipient of over 180 combined nominations and awards for their various works and has been given two off-Broadway premieres and have performed in various well-known national venues such as the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, the Wexner Center in Ohio and Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C.
The play will be based on various journals and texts of Burden’s acting company of the past. The Method Gun will be exploring the last months of Burden’s acting company rehearsing an enactment of Tennessee’s Williams’ classic drama A Streetcar Named Desire, this rehearsal was the culmination of nine years of production time.
According to the Rude Mechs’ press release, the “diaries and letters from actors in the company express a sense of desperation, inadequacy and frustration inherent to the process of creating meaningful work for the stage and in everyday life.”
In addition to their performances of The Method Gun the Rude Mechs will also participate in a week-long residency of workshops which will be available to students.
(12/05/12 11:40pm)
5) Gravity Rush
The Playstation Vita (PSV) is Sony’s newest handheld and the successor to the Playstation Portable. It is an incredibly powerful piece of hardware that gives a very close simulation to home console-quality games on the go. However, the PSV has started out somewhat weak due to an expensive price tag and even pricier proprietary memory cards. But luckily it has not been held back by a lack of quality games. Gravity Rush is one of those games. Gravity Rush tells the story of Kat, a girl in a strange city in the sky who discovers she has the super power of controlling her personal field of gravity (and anything else close to her). This is directly tied into the gameplay as the player can change the direction of Kat’s gravity with a few simple button presses. With her powers, Kat can fly, walk on walls, walk upside down and even pick things up to throw them at enemies. Along the way Kat meets various other citizens that help her out on her quest to discovering who she is as well as the mysterious creatures that seem to be attacking her fair city. Kat also partakes in other random challenges scattered throughout the game.
Gravity Rush’s biggest strength is Kat herself. She is a female protagonist, and while she has some questionable outfit choices (besides her super-heroine outfit, you have some awkward choices such as a school uniform, a maid uniform and a slick secret agent suit), she’s a legitimately kind-hearted individual who only wishes to do good and feels the pain of those she tries to protect when collateral damage becomes an issue. However, I feel that sometimes she is almost too nice, almost to a fault, and is often manipulated because of it. With a great plot, fun characters and great gameplay, it’s a shame that Gravity Rush can only be enjoyed by those who shelled the hard-earned cash for the PSV.
4) Mass Effect 3
The conclusion to BioWare’s trilogy of space role-playing games finally comes to a close in the third installment. Every major decision you have made since Mass Effect 1 will have some sort of repercussion in the third game. The Reapers, a Lovecraftian army of sentinent robots based on eliminating all organic life have made it to Earth. As Commander Shepard, your last mission is to collect allies from all across the galaxy to push the Reapers back once and for all. Mass Effect 3 gives you a significantly smaller squad than the other games, consisting of characters both old and new. Everyone you knew and loved (assuming they are still alive in your playthrough) make at least one important cameo and significantly facilitate things. The strange thing about this game is that it is nearly flawless, as the story is littered with heart wrenching plot developments and fascinating interactions between all the side characters, something that has always been the Mass Effect series’ greatest strength, in my opinion. In this third game you will mostly be fighting the various forms of the Reapers, as they harvest corpses of other species and rework them to their own needs — basically, space zombies with powers and/or guns. But you will also be facing your allies from the second game, Cerberus, the human-interest group bent on exerting humans’ rule over every other species. Mass Effect’s third person combat was tight but as soon as things got close, things got incredibly awkward if you weren’t playing a combat-specific class such as the soldier or vanguard. Mass Effect 3’s other biggest fault was its ending, as the Reaper’s motivations are explained and a final decision is presented in front of you. One can’t help to shake that following this seven year trilogy was, in the end, really all for nothing. It just created a feeling of emptiness inside. But despite that, Mass Effect 3 is an authentic gaming experience with an incredible cast of diverse and interesting characters who go through some tangible growth. Long after the game is finished, one will never forget the likes of Tali, Mordin, Wrex and any other of Shepard’s lovable bunch.
3) Borderlands 2
Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the first game, Borderlands. While the first game introduced a lot of novel ideas, such as a role-playing style of character progression, stat-based weapon and shield systems, as well as scaling enemies in what was essentially a twitch shooter, the game was often boring, and offered very little in terms of plot and replay-ability. Borderlands 2 is on this list because the sequel directly addressed every single one of the complaints of the first game and remedies them in an incredible way. Borderlands 2 introduces a fascinating new villain, Handsome Jack. While sly and treacherous on the outside, Handsome Jack slowly reveals himself to be an understanding, almost tragic character. As you play the game, Jack will often come over your radio to mock you and generally undermine your attempts at surviving Pandora’s plethora of horrible things waiting to kill you. Bandits, pirates, soldiers, robots and animals of all sorts are just waiting to take you down. But luckily, you don’t have to go alone. The multiplayer of Borderlands 2 has significantly improved as the game runs much more smoothly thanks to a much more stable netcode. Its RPG elements remained in tact as Borderlands 2 introduces five new classes of characters , each with three unique branches. While that doesn’t sound like much on paper, there really are differences in the character builds. My friend and I were both playing the Siren, but he had built his in a way that was much more support-oriented — he would often be healing everyone else while usually providing cover fire. My character was built to inflict the various types of status ailments that exist in the game. While I was busy lighting enemies on fire (or acid, or electricity), my friend was keeping tabs on our health making sure none of us would die suddenly.
The game is made for some great fun with plenty of interesting and challenging side quests to take up once the story is over. The only major problem I see with Borderlands 2 was the time it was released, with Halo 4 and the new Call of Duty releasing shortly after, I’m afraid it didn’t have much of a lifespan. Speaking of Halo…
2) Halo 4
Yet another first person shooter makes the list. The only game on this list that I chose not based on plot or characters, Halo 4 is fun, and perfectly encapsulates that primal urge to just shoot things. Lots of doubts were had during the time that Halo 4 was developed because newcomers 343 Stdios were taking the helm of Bungie’s legendary franchise, and they nailed it. Halo 4 throws you back in the seat of Master Chief, doing something or other. The only thing that really stood out to me in the campaign were the new enemies, the Forerunners, who were an incredible breath of fresh air. After six or so games it was boring to just see the same mix-and-match stylings of just a few enemy types.
The game’s true strength lies in its easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master multiplayer. The large variation of maps, game modes and cosmetic customization options always keep the game fresh. It’s also one of those rare modern games that has also included split-screen multiplayer as well as online, so everyone has some method of actually playing the game. While I was at first hesitant as the multiplayer followed the Call of Duty model of receiving item drops after a certain number of kills, it strangely works better than Halo’s old model of having a specific set of weapons in specific places on specific maps. It keeps the game more random, and in many ways, much more dangerous. Halo 4 is a game that my Xbox will be chewing on for a very long time and easily the best value for your money in terms of replay-ability on this list.
1) Virtue's Last Reward
Virtue’s Last Reward (VLR) is a direct sequel to the Nintendo DS game 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors (999). When it was first released, 999 was my favorite game of 2010, and it continues to be one of my favorite games of all time. When I heard that it had sold well enough to consider bringing the sequel overseas, I was quite excited. But after all the twists and turns the first game brought about, including a final plot twist that would make M Night Shamalyan blush, how was there anyway that VLR could surpass it? But as it turns out, my expectations were passed yet again. VLR places you in the role of Sigma, a college student who is abducted from the local library on Christmas and wakes up to find himself in a room with a mysterious white-haired girl named Phi. Just like in the last game, you and eight other strangers are forced to play the Nonary game, but this one is focused in the idea of the “prisoner’s dilemma.” The game consists of two major portions: novel and escape. The novel sections are just that — novels. These are the sections that move the plot along. There’s a lot of text and reading, so if words are not your thing, stay away. When you’re not reading, you will be presented with the escape rooms: rooms filled with puzzles with the end goal to find the key and escape the room. Just like the last game these puzzles range from “fun” to “oh God, what?” levels of difficulty. But there’s nothing quite like the feeling of satisfaction when you open that final safe on your own without the use of any guides or help. Another thing about this game is that there are 24 different endings. You don’t have to start from the beginning every time, since there’s a handy flow chart in the game that allows you to jump to any section of the game that you want. You can also skip over text you’ve already seen, and the skip function is designed in such a way that it will not let you accidentally skip text you have not seen yet. Genius!
The various characters you meet are all fascinating and delightful to talk to, such as the interestingly-dressed secret agent Alice, the armor-wielding amnesiac K and the circus leader Dio. The character that steals the show, in my opinion, is Zero Jr., an AI who takes the shape of a rabbit and often taunts you and the other participants of the Nonary game. While playing 999 is not necessary to enjoy VLR, you will be missing out on a lot of important plot details that had a major impact on me, only because I had the context of the previous game to guide my judgment of what was going on. Kurt Vonnegut, theories of quantum physics, math and astronomy are just an example of the various topics the game presents within its story. This is something that will keep you gripped until the very end. I know I’ve lost some sleep over it. The only disappointment is that the game leaves you with yet another cliff hanger, but that can only mean one thing: the third installment is imminent.
VLR, with its fascinating plot, great twists and truly devious puzzles is a game that further shows games as a medium of story telling. When I finished the game I had to lie down for a bit to just take in everything that had just happened. Any game that can give me that kind of emotional response is something special in my book, and I highly recommend that, if you can, you give the game a chance. Virtue’s Last Reward is my game of the year.
(11/14/12 11:30pm)
Five Middlebury students recently entered a short film, Do As I Say, to the 2012 Vermont International Film Festival "Sleepless in Burlington" 24-Hour Film Competition. The film was produced by David Seamans ’13, Hunter Nolan ’13, Zachary Doleac ’12.5, Matthew Lennon ’13 and Michael Gadomski ’13.5. On Thursday, Nov. 8 the cast put on a special screening of the short film and gave the audience insight to the process behind its creation.
All the films entered in the competition had to follow a particular set of rules. One of these rules was the inclusion of a large mural that looks over Burlington. The film must also feature a line from a Phish song. The crew was limited to five actors, and the line “a storm is coming” needed to be incorporated into the film somehow. However, the biggest obstacle the team had to face is the fact that the entire film had to be made in 24 hours. The team decided to streamline this process by assigning one central role to each of its members.
Seamans was in charge of writing. Nolan directed, Doleac was the head cinematographer and Lennon edited cuts. Finally, Gadomsky was in charge of sound, as well as creating a completely original score for the film.
During the discussion, the group revealed the difficulties of creating a movie in 24 hours — specifically, the fact that a day and night scene were both needed. This made Lennon’s editing, usually the final stage of production, an exercise in speed.
Another unique challenge the team faced was the draft of the actors. As the competition was structured, actors and actresses were not “made available” until the script writing
Unfortunately, the team did not win any awards for their work.
The film tells the story of a man who is discussing a grave issue to his daughter. As the film develops, we are taken to the home of an unhappy family. The family is slowly falling apart, as evidenced by the daughter of the family wishing her father’s store be consumed by arson. For whatever reason, this family is chosen to be the target of the protagonist, who breaks into the store to rob them.
The Phish line that Do As I Say used was “Whatever you do, take care of your shoes” from the song “Cavern”. It was used during the heist scene when the thief came upstairs, and saw that the floor was hardwood. When he realized the sounds of his boots would give him away, he decided to take them off to muffle the sound of his footsteps. But by this point it was far too late — he was caught in the act, leading to a conversation between the thief and the daughter.
The film, while short, was a very interesting piece of filmmaking. The story was gathered through contextual clues, but felt a bit rushed due to the very nature of the competition.
Overall the film was an interesting take on a family down on their luck, and the crazy things individuals are willing to do to keep their heads above water.
The College plans on entering the competition again the following year.
(11/14/12 11:25pm)
343 Studios has quite the boots to fill. This studio, which no one had never heard of before, was tasked with creating the long-awaited true sequel to one of the most beloved series of our time: Halo. I was skeptical. Bungie had put their hearts and souls into this amazingly fun (if a bit campy) universe, so how did these guys ever expect to be able to compare?
Much to my surprise: they did shockingly well. Because the game is so massive, I will be focusing on the multiplayer for this review as it has always been a big part of the Halo franchise and it’s back, bigger than ever.
When I first installed everything, I was terrified that the game was going to be Call-of-Dutified beyond recognition, yet again my fears were poorly placed. While the game does take some cues from its hot-selling competition, its core identity is very much Halo.
The big changes in gameplay are the loadouts. Halo 4 now allows players to customize their beginning loadouts, with their choice in starting weapons as well as various perks and armor powers. What this system brilliantly balances is that unlockable weapons are the fairly standard weapons and not anything that will give you an unfair advantage on the battlefield.
That’s the other big change in the multiplayer: get three kills without dying, and you are granted an ordinance drop, a selection of one of three possibilities ranging from weapons to bonus abilities such as a speed or damage boost.
The maps come back in full swing and vary greatly in terms of visual appeal as well as what game types are viable on it. All the classics are back such as slayer, capture the flag and king of the hill. New game modes include Flood, which serves as a zombie-game type of griftball (yes, the very griftball from the beloved Red vs. Blue online Machinima series).
As for the new weapons, Halo 4 does not shy away. The most obvious are the promethean weapons that look like they’re made from futuristic lego bricks and pack quite the punch. There are also a lot of little tweaks that Halo veterans will immediately notice, such as the rocket launcher which has nerfed its splash damage. In addition, the plasma pistol can act as an EMT pulse when it is used on vehicles, and dual wielding is completely missing. While I feel it was never used extensively, I do miss running around like a maniac while dual wielding different colored plasma rifles.
I also want to make special mention of the Mantis, a bi-pedal walking robot suit equipped with a machine gun on one hand and a grenade launcher in the other. The thing is ridiculously strong, incredibly overpowered and a blast to finally take down (once you can actually get that close to it, that is).
Much like Halo Reach, there are a multitude of challenges for the player to chase after while he or she plays online. These things range from assassinating opponents to being an assistant towards a team player. These give objective-based players something to work for, even if he or she does not care about the various cosmetic options that are slowly unlocked for your character as you play.
This cosmetic customization also features a very silly feature: as you rank up, your customization menu will excitedly tell you that you have new items in your cache and signals this by placing a gold star next to the appropriate menu selection. Yet as you open them, you realize that they are still locked; the game just teases you at how cool your character could look, but you must be ready to work for it.
Halo 4 features both online play as well as local multiplayer, but no matter what region of the world you try to throw plasma grenades at, you will always be having a great time.
(11/07/12 11:36pm)
Starting Nov. 15 and running until the 17, The Theater department will be running a production of Shakespeare’s classic comedy As You Like It, as well as hosting events with both the cast and audience members.
On Nov. 13, there will be a behind-the-scenes lunch and discussion at 12:30 p.m. where director and Professor of Theatre and Women’s and Gender Studies Cheryl Faraone, alongside various cast members, will answer questions and preview the upcoming play.
Panelists Melissa Lourie of Middlebury Actor’s Workshop and Lindsay Pontius, director of education at the Town Hall Theater will join Faraone to answer questions after the 2:00 p.m. matinee. Lindsay and Lourie have professional backgrounds in directing, acting and producing Shakespeare.
As You Like It centers around a love story caught in an identity crisis. The female protagonist, Rosalind, retreats into the forest disguised as a boy. However, while hiding behind her new identity she falls in love with the male protagonist, Orlando and must deal with her conflicting emotions and mixture of identities.
Daniel Sauermilch ’13 plays Duke Senior, of the exiled court of the Forest of Arden and Rosiland’s father.
“Duke Senior can best be described as a social reformer or idealist. He has created a version of utopia in the Forest of Arden, taking advantage of his exile in order to shed light on the grievances he has with life in the ‘pompous court,’” explains Sauermilch, who has never acted in a Middlebury play before. “And although life in the wilderness is incredibly difficult, he will never be seen complaining.”
“I’m a theatre major on the playwriting track… I want to do justice to this text, just as we all do,” he continued. “As a playwriting focus, I always seek to respectfully interpret a text and hope to never inadvertently undermine its message and goal. But of course, my number one fear is forgetting every single one of my lines.”
Christina Fox ’13.5 plays Rosiland, Duke Senior’s daughter.
“She’s fascinating because she starts out incredibly disempowered in the first half in the court because her father has been banished and she’s only being kept around to keep Celia company,” said Fox. “Then, when they go into the forest and Rosalind adopts her male alter-ego, Ganymede, it really becomes a story of self-discovery, ironically, in the disguise of a boy. The fact that she figures out who she is by adopting the personality of someone else, a man no less, is a really fascinating journey for me to navigate as an actress.”
While Rosiland is under the guise of her male alter-ego, Ganymede, she attempts to tutor Orlando, her love interest, played by Jake Connolly ’13 in the arts of talking and behaving around women.
“I am a kind-hearted, virtuous and dashingly goodlooking young man,” Connolly explained, “who is a complete dud around women. My brother makes an attempt at my life and forces me to flee into the Forest of Arden at which point I meet Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, and am tutored in the studies of love and courtship.”
Fox takes on the challenge of playing a woman who is playing a man, a challenge for any player.
“There are so many things to keep track of, and layers of thought and emotion for Rosalind in these scenes. She’s pretending to be herself with the man who she loves, who thinks she’s just a boy pretending to be Rosalind … So, because she loves him, and she’s just being herself, there are these moments where she completely forgets that they’re just playing a game and pure Rosalind comes out, which results in these spastic attempts to back-track by Ganymede so as not to give it all away.
“Discovering these moments has been so exciting and surprising and [Connolly] is such a giving actor, he’s amazing to work with as Orlando,” she continued.
“I hope that the student body takes the chance to come see this production,” said Sarah Lusche ’13 who plays Ceclia, the daughter of the duke and the cousin and best friend of Rosalind.
“The theatre department hasn’t done a Shakespeare play since I have been on campus, so it is a really exciting opportunity. So much time and effort have gone in to this production, and people should take the chance to support their peers and appreciate student artists.”
“The cast is huge, with a great collection of students from different years and majors,” Lusche continued. “Every person brings such a unique energy and perspective, and I think it has been a real growing experience. I also served as the movement director, and the sheer number of bodies on stage was daunting at times. I’m sure the costume department and the production team felt this as well. The play interweaves multiple characters and plot lines and every little piece needs to be spot on.”
A large amount of passion has been put into this production and the actors involved with it have proved that this show will be one that should not be missed.
(10/31/12 4:00pm)
Something strange has happened to the stealth game genre this generation. While there have been plenty of stealth games, from entirely new franchises (Assassin’s Creed) to new installments of older series (Splinter Cell and Hitman), all these games had something in common: they weren’t really stealth games. Sam Fischer, the grizzled veteran from the Splinter Cell games, took from hiding in the shadows with his signature triple-lens night vision goggles to joining a terrorist organization in Double Agent and then hanging out in broad daylight in Conviction.
Assassin’s Creed has you running across rooftops and hiding from guards, literally, by sitting on benches and by “blending in” in crowds where any individual with even slight situational awareness would be able to pick you out.
Then, we have Dishonored. Dishonored is a first person stealth game created by the French developer Arkane Studios. The first thing I want to point out about the game is this: do not let the Bethesda sticker on the box confuse you. The minds behind Skyrim and Fallout 3 did not develop this game, but that is by no means a bad thing.
Dishonored casts you in the role of Corvo, the royal bodyguard of the empress of the city of Dunwall, a steampunk, whale-oil powered city that is slowly succumbing to a plague that turns its victims into “weepers,” zombies that cry blood.
Since there is no hope for a cure, things only get worse as the empress is killed and you are framed for it.
Luckily a group of loyalists busts you out of jail and recruits you to slowly undermine the new Lord Regent’s illegitimate rule by assassinating various political targets.
But the loyalists are not your only ally. You also meet “the outsider”, a dark deity who enjoys giving random strangers his blessing by giving them special powers.
With your new equipment, mask and supernatural powers, you’re ready to take on whatever Dunwall can throw at you.
The missions have you exploring a portion of the city while trying to track down your target and take him or her out. The game is in first person, something I’ve always considered incredibly awkward for stealth games, but the vertical level design gives players plenty of opportunities to find alternative paths to reach their objective.
Actually, the entire game is designed in such a way that you could finish the entire thing and not kill a single enemy. If you’ve been paying attention, you would know that your targets must be assassinated in order for the loyalists to succeed.
Interestingly enough, that is never the case. All of your assassination missions have non-lethal ways to incapacitate your target, which require a bit of extra work from the player. But sometimes, these non-lethal consequences can sometimes even be worse than death; for instance, allowing a target to fall to the hands of an obsessed kidnapper, or permanently taking away their livelihood.
Now, it may be silly to not try to kill guards and whatnot in a game in which you play an assassin, but the game does something really interesting with this concept. The more people you kill, the harder the later missions become (security gets ramped up as word of your various massacres spread). The plague also spreads faster and the player will receive a worse ending.
The weapons and items you’re given are fun to use, as you will be given tools of the trade for both lethal and non-lethal takedowns. A personal favorite of mine were the slightly-too-convenient sleeping darts, great for non-lethally taking down enemies from afar.
The game’s greatest strength is its atmosphere. As you explore the city, it really feels as if an unseen sense of hopelessness and dread controls everything around you. Even as the city crumbles, those of the upper class and aristocracy still continue to cling to whatever wealth they have left.
The atmosphere and character designs look a lot like BioShock, which is not a bad thing, as Arkane Studios have constantly said that BioShock was a major inspiration for them. However, there was one thing about the characters that always unnerved me: their hands are terrifyingly enormous.
The ending closes everything off well. Personally I hope to see more games set in the Dishonored universe, but I feel Corvo’s story is over and I would like to explore the other cities briefly mentioned throughout the story.
When you finish the story mode, the game gives you a fantastic mission select mode so you can go back and try your missions some other way. If you want to, you can even play this game like a typical first person shooter. But let’s be honest, if you do that, you’re playing the game wrong.
(10/25/12 5:11pm)
On Friday, Oct. 22, Wyatt Cenac, with his opening act Jermaine Fowler, came to the McCullough Social Space to bring laughter to those within, a goal they completed gloriously.
Cenac is well known for his reoccurring role as a correspondent on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” as well as pat work as a writer and story editor for Mike Judge’s animated satirical sitcom “King of the Hill.” When Cenac isn’t helping protagonist Hank Hill sell propane (or propane accessories) he also acts in dramas such as Medicine for Melancholy, provides voice talent for Nickelodeon’s “Fanboy” and “Chum Chum” and has performed with nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot.
Fowler is a New York-based stand-up comedian who has been recognized as one of the 50 funniest men by the New York Post, where he stood in rank with individuals such as Jay Leno and David Letterman.
Fowler is currently acting in SyFy’s new show, “Insane or Inspired,” Adult Swim’s “The Eric Andre Show” and the pilot for the reboot of “Living Color.”
Fowler was the first to take the stage. The first thing I noticed about Fowler was his silly stage presence, something that made him seem at ease in front of the many eyes of the students. Fowler immediately began his act through some crowd work, a type of stand up comedy where one takes material from the audience and crafts it into, ideally, something funny.
Like most comedians who come to visit the College, Fowler was most interested in the fact that we play Quidditch, and the implication that we run around on brooms. He then began to playfully mock one of the audience members, a self-proclaimed snitch. His mocking was never hurtful or offensive. Fowler merely showed a legitimate interest in what we do and who we are as a student body.
Fowler then transitioned into a skit about various happenings in New York and his past job at a Quiznos. Fowler proved here that he is an incredible story teller as he recalled the time he and a co-worker once convinced his boss that the KKK had broken into their sandwich store and had stolen all the processed meat.
What I found particularly interesting about Fowler is his complete disregard for political correctness, which I found completely refreshing, especially here at the College, a place where I feel political correctness runs rampant. But, that being said, Fowler also didn’t go out of his way to offend people either. Instead, Fowler was very honest in his observations and opinions, some of which could have been interpreted as offensive but that was clearly not Fowler’s only objective. Fowler successfully warmed up the audience for Cenacs arrival.
Cenac then took the stage, his hair bigger in size than one who regularly watches him on “The Daily Show” may be used to.
Cenac, contrary to Fowler, had lower energy overall but maintained a strong stage presence throughout.
He began his performance by talking about the drive to Middlebury, something he considered very romantic but not something for platonic co-workers.
As Cenac spoke, I realized that his speech patterns matched his energy; it was slower and lower than Fowler. But that doesn’t mean he was any less funny.
Cenac began his real routine about he and his friends during their time at the Catholic all-boys high school they attended and how they would frequently enter “snap” competitions.
A snap competition is basically a battle of “your mother” jokes, and Cenac, despite being a comedian, was not very good at these. This routine culminated into a joke about Darfur, which, while I found it hilarious, others were not terribly impressed.
Cenac explored various topics, including the various ideas he would tweet, if he had a Twitter.
While his musings ranged from the mundane to the hysterical, Cenac’s dramatic readings of his would-be tweets made for an entertaining reoccurring gag.
Cenac then delved into a routine about comic book movies and a hero of Cenac’s own mind: Spider Man.
Now, this is not the Spider Man you may recognize, but rather Cenac’s Spider Man is about a spider who is bitten by a radioactive man who then spends all of his time sitting down on a couch being vaguely dissatisfied with his life.
While the show seemed to drag on, as indicated by the fact that various students left early, probably to enjoy the revels that homecoming had in store for them, it proved to be yet another entertaining night from two very competent, very talented comedians. Now, after getting Cenac, the next step seems obvious: getting Jon Stewart himself.
(10/10/12 9:14pm)
Video games and environmentalism, sounds crazy, no? However, even as early as 2010, the gaming industry has been taking steps to save itself some “green” and reduce CO2 emissions.
Ubisoft, the developers of games such as Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell, has led this front by a making a small change: the significant reduction of the instruction booklet inside games.
For those of you that don’t know, most games, even those from the much older generations, come with an instruction booklet as well as the physical copy of the game.
The content of the booklet varies from game to game.
Sometimes it is a bare-bone description of the controls and how to play the game.
Other times it might be incredibly in-depth, even offering some insight into the game world and the various inhabitants you will encounter.
Ever since this initiative began, many games have been adding only a one or two page booklet with very basic information (usually the controls of the game), with the full game manual found on a disc.
According to Greentopic.com, this simple act of paper reduction has saved about 6,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 15,000 gallons of wastewater and over two tons of wood.
If every developer began doing this, the overall collective energy saving could be monumental.
This approach could be applied to other industries and goods besides videogames.
Just off the top of my head, most consumer electronics also come with instruction manuals that aren’t really necessary (such as with a television or a media player like Blu-Ray).
But, for the sake of customer satisfaction/and the ability to service the greatest amount of people, all instruction manuals could be made available directly from the companies’ websites, available in PDF format to be printed at the users leisure (or not). And lets face it: who even reads the manual anymore?
Another change that the gaming industry has been making recently (as well as the DVD and software industries) is cutting down the plastic used for disc cases.
Certain disc cases are now becoming available with 20 percent less plastic than the full-plastic counterparts. However, this case is not easily replaced.
These environmentally friendly cases feel significantly flimsier and can still hold the disc in place.
But lord have mercy if your case unfortunately finds bottom of a shoe because the case and disc may not survive the encounter.
Companies have also been changing the actual model of their video game consoles so they use less plastic.
For example, the new slimmer Playstation 3 actually contains 34 percent less plastic than its bulkier older brother.
To top this all off, good news to all you Nintendo fans! According to the National Resources Defense Council, the Nintendo Wii is the “greenest” video game console of its generation.
It uses only one -seventh of the total power compared to its Xbox and Playstation rivals.
The video game industry even has its own system of recycling. Brick-and-mortar stores often have a used games system where people can come in and trade in their games for cash or store credit.
While the details of this system deserves their own column, I cannot deny the fact that it does keep the amount of disposable plastic down.
Going even beyond the thinner cases, there are plenty of clients such as Steam, GOG, Xbox Live and the Playstation Network that get rid of physical games and make them entirely digital.
This is obviously the greenest option as it cuts all physical materials from gaming entirely.
However, despite this, I dislike that it eliminates a certain sense of ownership. I enjoy having physical copies of my games for my collection. But who knows? If these trends gain momentum, the Xbox 360 game cases won’t be the only thing that’s green.
(10/03/12 9:33pm)
Looking at the cover for Spec Ops: The Line, I see another generic military shooter: there is a gruff-looking soldier, in brown, with some action going on behind him.
It is almost an exact replica of the cover art found on the Modern Warfare games. After reading some good reviews, I decided to give it a go, and quickly found that Spec Ops: The Line might just be the sleeper hit of the year.
Spec Ops tells the story of the Delta team: Walker, Adam and Lugo, a rag-tag team of marines who are shipped out to Dubai. You see, sandstorms have been ravaging the city for some time now and the U.S. army sent in a battalion to help with the evacuation effort. The problem is they never came back, so it is up to Walker and pals to figure out just what is going on. While it begins like a generic Tom Clancy novel, the story of Spec Ops quickly transforms into a psychological military thriller about the true horrors of war.
Walker, along the way, is faced with tough decisions as he finds himself fighting and killing the very men he was sent to rescue. He observes what power does to people, and the price some individuals are willing to pay to maintain this power. Torture, terrorism and the slaughtering of civilians are all tools Spec Ops uses to show the player that war is not something that should be glorified.
This is an interesting contrast to the fact that you are still playing through the events of the story in a game that, by its very nature, glorifies war in order to allow you to become a part of the combat.
Spec Ops chooses to go beyond the over-simplified idea of “America — good, everyone else — bad,” that other similar entries in large budgeted military-themed entertainment would strictly adhere to. Spec Ops does an amazing job in humanizing its enemies and even installing a certain twinge of guilt into the player in response to the atrocities he or she has committed against these soldiers.
If you sneak up behind them, you can see soldiers discuss things like their families, baseball and other such topics that remind you these people aren’t just mindless grunts — they have their own lives to take care of. These soldiers in combat situations will react similarly; I once tossed a grenade into a group of three soldiers, and the soldier in the middle of this group actually dived on top of the grenade to save his buddies. It was not a scripted event or a cutscene — just an enemy’s reaction to the current situation and my actions.
I was completely taken aback by this seemingly insignificant moment, but the thing is, Spec Ops is full of these moments that quickly culminate to a depressing conclusion and well-implemented plot twist. It’s a game that successfully makes you feel like a terrible person for playing it, which is something I have never experienced in a game before. That alone sets it apart from the pack.
Despite all the positive feedback Spec Ops is getting for story, it’s a shame to say that the game-play is largely mediocre. It is your standard third-person cover shooter fare with some awkward controls, sudden difficulty spikes and cookie-cutter gunplay. You find cover, wait for the enemies to expose themselves and shoot them; it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before.
Yes, there is a sand mechanic where one can shoot the environment to rain grainy, sandy death onto your enemies, but these instances are so obvious, there is almost no joy in figuring out how to exploit it.
While I was motivated enough to drudge through the game-play to find out what happens to the Delta squad, and while this is one of those games I want to recommend, I still feel that it isn’t worth the hefty $60 price tag. If you can find it for $40 or less, give it a go. This game is more Heart of Darkness than it is Modern Warfare.
Spec Ops gets a modest 6/10.
(09/26/12 11:45pm)
Those three words, those three damnable words: “I’m so busy” or its common mutations “I’m too busy” and “I have so much to do!” Assuming you’ve spent more than a week on campus, you’ve heard this phrase at least once. As a senior, I’ve heard it countless times; I’ve used it myself on more than a few occasions. But after my semester abroad and the beginning of this semester, I’ve acquired a potent distaste for the words and, even more so, what they lead to.
Imagine that you and your friends sit down for a meal at the beloved Ross dining hall. The colorful oval plates are filled to the edges with dishes that have been combined with previous days’ dishes to create a new offering, and perhaps a slice of pizza. The descending light of the sun gently hits your glass of the sweet nectar that is Ross Watta. As you’re enjoying both the meal and the company of your loved ones, you hear it — that first sentence that begins the descent into madness: “I have SO MUCH to do this week,” followed by the inevitable checklist conjured by the Great Old One himself; “I have TWO exams and FOUR papers this week, not to mention ALL of the clubs I do.”
Usually, nothing happens until someone inevitably follows up with: “Yeah, that sucks, I have THREE exams this week, FIVE papers due on Friday AND I have to write an article for the Campus.”
This won’t stop until everyone has had a turn. It will end when the one person who does so much around campus, who has so much work and so many extracurricular — a person who is rarely seen without the sort of twisted medal of honor that is their physical and emotional exhaustion, dictates their to-do list and “wins” this game.
And lets face it — when this situation arises, it definitely becomes a game. We’ve all seen this outside of Middlebury as well, when misery quickly becomes a sought after commodity that allows you to somehow one-up friends and peers. But what is the reward? Some eschewed sense of validation? Superiority?
The truth is, these little, “Who has it rougher” matches are nothing more than a game, and in this game, even if you win, you all still lose.
What annoys me the most about this phenomenon is that “I’m too busy” eventually becomes an excuse. It can be used as an excuse to not try new things or for when someone just doesn’t want to say “no.”
I can most certainty see the appeal; we are all busy, so using that magic word will create an almost instant sense of solidarity. And I get it — sometimes one is just too busy to do things. What annoys me is when people use this mantra as some cheap ticket of self-validation, telling themselves that if they work harder than others, their actions or inactions are somehow validated.
Instead of using the mantra of “busy” as an excuse, we should be using it as a foundation to help establish informal interpersonal webs of support for one another. I believe that Middlebury isn’t an easy experience for anyone — no matter what he or she will tell you — and instead of turning it into some game, we should use our business as the glue that keeps us all together. The people on this campus are, in my humble opinion, the best thing about this place.
Someone has a lot of papers this week? Offer them a fresh set of eyes and perspective to look it over. Help your hallmate with the midterm with a small quizzing session. Basically, just try to do whatever you can to help your fellow man — assuming it all stays within the confines of the Honor Code, of course.
So instead of saying “I cant, I’m too busy,” let’s try offering “I am busy, but I’m willing to make the effort and time for you.”
(09/26/12 2:50pm)
As the McCullough Social Space filled during the 15 minutes before the show, excitement ignited the room and well-known pop tracks played in the background. Everyone had gathered for the return of Otter Nonsense, one of the most popular improv comedy groups on campus.
When the lights dimmed, the Otters came out in their signature monocolored T-shirts. Despite this being the first show of the year, they wasted no time with introductions.
After some quick recommendations from the audience, the Otters delved into their various characters. High points of the show included impromptu montages and song numbers about things like perfection and cocaine use. On top of all the great acting, senior Ricky Chen ’13 provided musical support on the keyboard, his music proving to be hilariously appropriate. Just like the rest of the Otters, Chen worked extemporaneously, improvising every melody and chord.
Chris De La Cruz ’13 created a character named Silent Joe, who appeared multiple times throughout various skits and formed a referential point for the audience.
Joe continued his creepy reign of stage dominance all the way up to the end of the show, where the final skit culminated within a Macy’s and we discover the origin of Silent Joe — a nice touch and a fantastic way to conclude the show.
As one would expect from the Otters, their on-stage chemistry is tangible as they function as one well-oiled comedy machine.
The Otters advertised the fact that they will be having auditions to join their team on Oct. 2 and 4. But just what does it take to join Otter Nonsense? Ben Orbison ’12.5 shed some light on the audition process.
“Some of it is secretive,” said Orbison. “Essentially we do a first round where we explain our style of improv ... And then we talk about all the auditionees and we play a couple of games. We do not participate in the first round. The callback round is usually five or six people and then we all do some improv with them [to get] a feel [for] them as a person.”
“The idea is that we [the Otters] only take people in the group that are better than all of us and it has to be unanimous,” added Jenny Johnston ’14. “[If] they come in and they blow it away, they win the audition.”
But just what kind of person do the Otters hunt for when looking to increase their ranks?
“I would say we look and audition for someone who we all would love to hang out with,” said Adam Milano ’15, currently the youngest Otter. “I don’t think there is any one way to say it, it’s just this special thing that clicks.”
“What I look for is someone that’s willing to have a lot of fun, but be really honest about their improv,” added De La Cruz. “I think a big thing about improv is bringing really honest situations on stage … we are also teaching what improv is, because I did not know what it was when I came into the group.”
During the show, The Otters revealed future plans, including weekly shows at Levity, a comedy club in Burlington. After the club asked them to perform, the Otters arranged to do shows every Sunday, starting Sept. 30. The shows will be open to the public and will run the cost of a suggested donation, so show-goers may pay as little or as much as they choose.
On top of this, the Otters will also be doing weekly “Otters and Friends” stand-up shows in the Hepburn Zoo theater.
These shows will be free, every Friday and begin this Friday, Sept. 28.
The Otters also hinted at their end-of-the-year show — an “Olympics kind of deal,” according to De La Cruz. They will collaborate with another student improv group, Middlebrow, which will also hold auditions next week on Oct. 1 and 3.
These performances, combined with a production deal with mtvU, paint a bright future for the Otters.
“They [the Otters] are like my family on campus,” reflected Alexandra Kennedy ’13.5. “Its not about trying to be funny — its about being yourself ... Whether [students] have been doing [improv] for years, or whether they have just started, or whether they’ve never done it at all — we’re just looking for people who are enthusiastic about it.”
(09/26/12 2:45pm)
Borderlands 2 was a tough sell for me. The first game, Borderlands, was great in its own right: it was a four-player cooperative shooter that had you and any buddies you may have online join up and shoot some aliens while on the hunt for loot and ultimately, the vault, a legendary place said to be filled with alien treasure and technology.
But despite its frantic fun, the first game suffered some major flaws: the world was huge, but mostly empty, and if you didn’t have any friends (or an internet connection) the game became incredibly dull. Top that all off with a healthy dose of “terrible ending” and you’ve got the perfect recipe for some gamer skepticism.
However, when its developers Gearbox announced they had gotten Anthony Burch, writer and creator of the “Hey Ask Whatcha Playin?” web series to write the story, hope suddenly crept into me. As it turns out, those hopes were well placed, Borderlands 2 kept everything that made the first game great, and fixed a lot of things that bogged down the first game.
Borderlands 2 takes us back to the planet Pandora. On a side note, why do people like Gearbox and James Cameron think “Pandora” is a clever name for a planet? Might as well just cut the thin veil of mythological referencing and call it something like planet MurderDoom. The events of the first game introduced the element Eridium, which catches the eye of the intergalactic corporation, Hyperion. Hyperion’s CEO, Handsome Jack, wants to find the second vault of Eridium and plunder it for all that its worth, and the player must stop him.
The story is a lot more interesting now thanks to the inclusion of a solid antagonist, something the first game desperately needed. Handsome Jack is the caricature of the one percent. He constantly taunts the player with his wealth and uses it to his advantage. It also helps that Jack has moments of occasional hilarity, which I cant help but compare to the supercomputer GLaDOS from the Portal games.
There is going to be a lot standing in your path: Pandora’s citizens, bandits, the local flora and fauna and robots. Lots of robots. But luckily, you can pick one of the four available classes and team up with some friends to take down Jacks hordes once and for all.
For my play-through, I picked Maya, the siren, who has the special ability to use interdimensional energy called a “Phaselock” to lock an enemy into place where you or your teammates can basically take free shots while it remains active. As my character leveled up by gaining experience through completing quests, killing enemies and other such tasks, she can upgrade her special ability in a way that’s unique to her. I built her in such a way that whenever I used Phaselock, all sorts of nasty things would happen to my enemies.
All three of the other classes also have unique abilities, including the ability to dual-wield any two guns (Gunzerker class), throw out a gun turret to help you out (Commando) or turn invisible to stab enemies in the back (Assassin). All three also offer skill trees that allow the player to build the character to match your play style.
The gun-play is tight with plenty of RPG elements seamlessly streamlined into things that would typically be reserved only for the FPS. If you haven’t played a Borderlands game before, damage in Borderlands is calculated around things like the damage of your gun, your stats and the stats of the enemy. And in classical RPG fashion, little numbers that appear above the enemies’ head are what determine how much damage you’re inflicting per shot. On top of damage, there are other stats to take care of such as shields, health, reload speed, magazine size, changing weapon speed and other such things. While it sounds difficult to keep track of, it all becomes second-nature once you get the hang of it.
On top of all of this, the status effects make a triumphant return. Certain guns have special effects that do bonus damage to certain enemies. Guns with fire properties are good against flesh, guns with electricity take out shields and guns with corrosive properties take care of armor while the newest element, slag, makes the enemy weaker to absolutely everything else. It’s always good to keep one of each on hand as situations will always be changing around you.
Speaking of guns — there are a lot of guns. As a matter of fact, Borderlands 2 currently holds the Guinness World Record for most guns in a video game. You never really keep the same guns because as you progress through the game, you find better guns, usually selling the left overs for some extra cash to purchase things you need.
You can also find unlockable skins for your characters or vehicles, new shields, grenade mods that change the property of your grenades and relics, which permanently give you some sort of stat bonus. The rarity of the gun depends on the color in which it is highlighted, with gold being the rarest.
While I definitely recommend this game, as it is a tight, well-built FPS with its own flavor, the game can definitely reach dull levels if not played with other people. It was meant to be a multiplayer experience, after all. Luckily the game has split screen and online play, so hook up, grab your favorite gun and show Jack that money isn’t everything.
(09/19/12 11:00pm)
During the previous generation of consoles, there were two games in the True Crime series. Essentially, these games were Grand Theft Auto clones that actually had somewhat decent gameplay. Even the second game allowed one to take up the mantle of Snoop Dogg himself, and everyone's had that fantasy at least once in his or her lifetime, right? The short-lived series was interesting, but forgettable.
Skip to the current generation and we are given Sleeping Dogs, the so-called spiritual successor to the True Crime games.
Sleeping Dogs puts you into the role Wei Shen, a Chinese-born undercover cop and loose cannon who plays by his own rules. While I would consider this half-joking description accurate, it really is only part of Wei's personality. He is actually a really likeable guy – when he's not slaughtering people in the name of keeping his cover up of course. After a kerfuffle with some gangs in San Francisco, Wei is transferred back to Hong Kong to infiltrate one of the Triad gangs and try to bring them to justice.
Now, being an undercover cop is tricky business and the game reflects that. During missions that progress the story, Wei is given two scores to keep track of: his "cop" score and his "triad" score.
The cop score starts at its maximum and goes down when Wei does things that would be less than savory in the eyes of the law: stealing cars, shooting civilians, running over civilians, property damage and other such things. On the other extreme of the moral spectrum, there's the triad score, which starts out empty and quickly fills up as you shoot guys or use the environment to brutally take out rival gangster. The game once let me push a guy into a box of swordfish heads, where he promptly got impaled on them, much to my slightly amused confusion.
By the end of each mission, both scores are tallied and you gain the appropriate experience. Both the cop and triad have unique abilities to level up, but some of them seem really out of place. A prime example of this is the jimmy, one of the first available cop upgrades to Wei, which allows him to break into cars without the alarm going off. Thanks, police department!
Strangely enough, these two scores are only tallied during story missions. Accidentally run some civilians over while trying to jump a ramp? No punishment. These two extremes in game environment and design seem really flawed and almost make the more serious parts of the game seem satirical.
The driving in the game is tight, feels intuitive and has developed a control scheme in such a manner that driving and shooting at the same time physically feasible, unlike Grand Theft Auto 4's "oh-God-I-need-three-hands-to-do-this"-setup. However, the lack of any actual licensed vehicles took me out of the experience, once I stepped back into the car I no longer cared.
The soundtrack in this game is incredible. All are licensed artists, ranging from classical music to popular Chinese pop, and even electronic dance music. It's very easy to want to take the scenic route while heading to your objectives just to get a chance to listen to more of the music, which is a shame because the story is actually really interesting.
You watch first-hand as Wei slowly becomes indoctrinated by the Triads. Sure, they're gun-runners, murderers, thieves and drug dealers, but throughout the course of the game, they provide Wei something that he has never found before: a family. The same effect happens on the player. You begin to establish emotional connections to the characters, despite the fact that none of them are good people and should probably be arrested.
The biggest flaw of the game's story is the pacing; it really doesn't know where it's going sometimes. Prime examples are the "girlfriend" missions, short side quests that have Wei going on dates with various characters in the game. After a mission that involves singing Karaoke, the girl automatically assumes you're engaged (something that Wei seems keen on, but the game never bothers to explain this to the player) which leads to some hilariously ridiculous conversations between characters.
The firearms in this game also look like they were designed by 12-year-olds who were given nothing but Red Bull and an endless stream of Nerf gun commercials. The game also makes a lot of weird decisions when it comes to player freedom. There's something morbidly hilarious about riding a motorcycle into a night club, terrorizing the patrons and then wheeling on into the VIP area at full speed, crashing, surviving, getting right back up, stealing the karaoke machine and beginning a mini-game where Wei will sing songs such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" as all the people you've just traumatized walk in and begin to awkwardly dance around you.
Overall, Sleeping Dogs is a breath of fresh air considering it is not only an incredibly competent GTA clone, but better than GTA, in my opinion. However, the technical hiccups, awkward story pacing and wacky physics drag this game down a bit.