POKEMON X AND Y

Whats up baruch kids, here comes a post fresh off the press. I don't know how many of you are pokemon fans, or at all, but here's something one should know. They did it again. They went and made another damn region, with a new game and new pokemon. And you know, people thought the Unova region was bad, this... this is just disappointing.  These starters just look ridiculous. A frog, some chihuahua, and a chipmunk looking thing. And then the fact that theres just going to be even more pokemon, what the hell. I was getting close man, had 500 and something pokemon out of the 600 and something. This is annoying especially when it happened when i was close during the Sinnoh region. I don't know what Nintendo is thinking, and I only fear what will happen for the TV show of that region. Well here's a video of the trailer, see what you think. And peace.

-Oscar O.

Read More

Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires

For those who don't know what Dynasty Warriors is, you are missing out. The game has over 10 games in the series. Dynasty Warriors is based off Chinese history in some parts. The game starts during the Han era in China. In Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires, you can choose between 3 clans; Wu, Shu, and Wei. You can choose or create a character and your goal is to conquer China. You have to defend as well as attack other clans for their territories. In the meantime, you are going learn how to control the military, enforce taxes on the citizens, etc. just like the government. The game play is pretty simple. All you have to do is slash around and not die. However, there is a time limit to each conquering as well as defending. You can upgrade your weapons and horses. The stronger you are, the easier the enemies will be. Although, this might sound easy, the beginning is always the hard part since there will be one enemy that will overpower you and probably kill you in 3-4 hits depending on your hp. I personally had played Dynasty Warriors ever since it came out and have been keeping up to date with it. I would rate the game 4/5 stars since the game is my cup of tea and pretty fun just killing people.

- Stephen Huang

Read More

Game Review: QWOP

Hi everyone,

How is break so far? Time to sleep in, play games, hang out with friends, and procrastinate on HW (I KNOW I'm definitely not alone on this)! >:'D Well, one game I know you guys should play is QWOP! Prepare to rage at the computer and flip the table over in anger!

Summary:
Your only objective in this game is to get your character, which is this runner guy, to run as far as he can. So one might ask, "why is this game called QWOP?" Well, you press the letters "Q," "W," "O," and "P" to make the guy run! Yep, it's as "simple" as that.

Unfortunately, that's all there is to it, so this summary will be short.

What I like about it:
It's challenging and if you're the type of person who doesn't like backing down from a challenge, then this is the game for you. Trust me, you'll fall down a lot.

I also like how I can't stop laughing whenever I do play this game because the character is always in hilarious positions.

What I dislike about it:
The game can get kind of repetitive after a while, so it's quite understandable if  you get tired of it really quickly.

Overall:
I enjoyed the game for quite a while (for like a day) until I got tired of it. This isn't a game that you enjoy for an extended amount of time because there's nothing else you can do beside run. The only difficulty of the game is how the player you control constantly seems to fall down, and getting ahead in the game may require more patience than skill.

Here is a link to a video that will preview some of the difficulty you will encounter during the game:

*Warning: there is some swearing in the video, so you can just turn down the volume, the video is meant to show the gameplay, so sound is not needed.*

(Watch from 2:41-4:51, the rest is about a different game)

Here is a link to the game if anyone is interested in playing: http://www.foddy.net/Athletics.html

- Melissa He, Entertainment

Read More

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

 Square Enix has released a trailer for their new game, Lightning Return: Final Fantasy XIII. As weird as it seems, it’s set to be released in 2012. The trailer features a new setting and there are only 13 days left for Lightning to save the town before it gets annihilated. The trailer only shows a small portion of the new setting and it takes place years after FFXIII-2. The trailer also shows the HUD that the game uses and the stagger bar has been either replaced or removed. The paradigm system has been changed to what looks like Lightning can switch instantly between classes in combat. The trailer also shows hints of some characters from the previous FFXIII games returning like Noel (his laced arm appears in the trailer), Hope, and maybe even Sarah. Item capsules have also been changed where the capsules have different colors. Some of the monsters from previous games have been brought back and new ones have also been created. The item merchant, Chocolina also appears in the trailer. If you want to check out the trailer, you can go search it up on IGN.

- Alan Chen, Video game Entertainment

Read More

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Hello there fine students of Baruch High school, I’m back  with another post. This time about a video game, a very good video game. Here it is, Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi three! If your not familiar with this game series or dragon ball z, you can just go- inform yourself about this subject by searching online. Right now.  Anyhow, so yeah this game is based off the Dragon Ball series. Its really good, it starts from Dragon Ball Z and goes to Dragon Ball GT. But it even includes characters from the Dragon Ball series.  And characters from movies that aren’t in the series. These characters would Mercenary Tao, General Blue (RR Army), Android #8 or eighter, Turles, Garlic Jr.,  the Demon King Piccolo, Dr. Wheelo, Kid ChiChi, and more. It’s really a great fighting game, even if you don’t know Dragon Ball Z, which would be weird. But, there is the play station 2 version and the Wii version. I have the Wii version, which normally you would use the nun –chucks for. That’s really cool, because it’s like you the fighter and you can just do the Kamehameha wave, or the Dodon ray, or the Galick Gun and more. But personally I just use a game cube controller. But be warned, the controls take a while to get used to.  Other than that, this game is a lot of fun! You can fight any character with any character, play through the story, and more! Its one of those really fun fighting games, because you get to move around, its not a 2 dimensioned fight. So I would say check this out, and the Dragon Ball Z series, it could teach you kids a thing or two. Some real entertainment, not like the garbage that’s on TV now a days. Alright, continue to check out for my post, because they’re not stopping anytime soon.
 

-Oscar O.

Read More

Game Review: Ōkami (Wii)

Hi everyone,

This time, I’m back with my first game review~ *imaginary applause all around* …OTL Anyways, Ōkami was one of the first Wii games I’ve ever played, and I completely loved it. For those of you who have a Wii, if you haven’t played this gave before, you should give it a try.

*SPOILER ALERTS BELOW~*

Summary:

Set in the ancient world of Japan (called Nippon), the start of the game flashes back to a time 100 years ago, in which Shiranui, a white wolf, and Nagi, a swordsman, work together to fight Orochi, an eight-headed monster that threatens Kamiki Village, Nagi’s home, and Nami, Nagi’s love interest. Orochi demands the sacrifice of a maiden every year in return for not attacking Kamiki Village. Eventually, they manage to defeat and seal Orochi away, with Nagi’s sword acting as the seal.

Now back to the present, Susano, Nagi’s descendant and lookalike, believes himself to be the greatest warrior in the world and decides to pull out Nagi’s sword to prove that the story was false. Unfortunately, this breaks Nagi’s seal, and Orochi escapes into the world once again. Nagi flees in terror as Orochi starts to roam the lands, consuming all the life force from every living being.

Sakuya, a wood sprite and the guardian of Kamiki Village, summons Amaterasu, a white wolf and sun goddess who is thought to be the reincarnation of Shiranui by the villagers (they can’t see the patterns on Amaterasu; they only see a white wolf). Sakuya asks for Amaterasu to remove the curse from the lands by using her power to bring out the sun again (this is done by using the wiimote and drawing a circle in the sky). Issun, a tiny creature called a Poncle, is responsible for increasing praise for Amaterasu (doing this increases Amaterasu’s powers), accompanies Amaterasu on the way.

After Amaterasu brings back the sun, she is charged with the task of finding the other celestial gods and goddesses to gain their powers and save the world from Orochi and other evil forces.

What I liked about it:

I loved the game’s music, especially when the lands were being purified. I thought it correctly portrayed certain scenes in the game. I also liked the artwork, as all the drawings and even the gameplay artwork was very beautiful and colorful. The gameplay was really creative, as I never thought of using the wiimote as a brush. Furthermore, as Amaterasu, I enjoyed the fact that I was able to roam the lands and (sometimes) randomly go into people’s houses and scare them with my goddess powers.

I also liked how long the story lasted. I had to play Ōkami for a very long time before I finished it, and some parts were somewhat difficult, so sometimes a walkthrough was needed. I also thought the story was very interesting and emotional at times, as there was this sad separation scene, and I cried when it happened.

What I disliked about it:

There was voice over in the game, but I disliked how all the voices were just mumblings. In the Japanese version of Ōkami, all the characters spoke actual words. It would have been much more fun and cool if I could hear the actual characters speak, instead of hearing nothing but people mumbling.

I also disliked how I sometimes had difficulty in drawing certain symbols with the wiimote (I had to redraw it over and over again, and sometimes, the game recognized the symbol wrong and made undesired things happen).

Overall:

I thought this was a fantastic game that includes a lot of adventure and provides game play that can be challenging at times, so if you like these elements in a game (adventure and challenge), you should try playing Ōkami.

- Melissa He, Entertainment

Read More

This Week’s New Game

 Hitman: Absolution was released this Tuesday on the 20^th. It’s been around six and a half years since Hitman: Blood Money was released. The game continues to follow Agent 47 and in this game, he becomes the target of the agency. The game like Blood Money, also allows the player to choose how to execute their targets although some of the kills are more scripted than others for a more dramatic effect. It’s because of this freedom the player has in determining how their target dies that this game has a slow pace unlike the other more fast paced shooter games. The game awards you with a score after you’ve completed a level and that score is then compared to your friends and the world. The scoring system limits the actions you can take if you want a high score. Signature kills and accidental kills on your target gives you a big bonus but killing non-targets and civilians and being spotted will lower your score significantly. Another big title being released in about two weeks is Farcry 3. Like Farcry 2, it takes a more realistic approach to the story unlike the first game. It follows Jason Brody who was having a vacation on an island with his friends. A conflict sparks on the island and Jason’s friends are kidnapped. Jason then has to mentally and physically change himself so that he can rescue his friends from the psychotic kidnappers. 

- Alan Chen, Entertainment

Read More

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

As many of you may know, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was just released today. Many of you are probably buying this game or playing it right now. After seeing the trailers and demos and such, Black Ops 2 looks like it will live up to its name or maybe make its own legacy. After taking a look into the full campaign and the continuation of the story from where Black Ops left off, Treyarch did a nice job on continuing on with the story but there are some parts that seem like they need a little more clarification. Treyarch also did a nice job with the multiplayer by adding on a lot of content that enhances the class customization.  The zombie mode is in my opinion the best part out of the entire game because like the previous Call of Duty games that included zombie mode, it has always been the most fun to play. The story for zombie mode follows four survivors in the mid-west after the destruction of Earth in Richtofen’s Grand Scheme which is an easter egg from the black ops zombie map, Moon. 
A tiny fact that you may notice during the campaign (if you watch the television series, The Walking Dead) is that the man who voices Harper is same man as Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker). 

- Alan Chen, Entertainment : Video Games

Read More

Assassin's Creed 3

Hello BCCHS students. Assassin's Creed 3 came out last week on Tuesday during Hurricane Sandy if you didn't know. I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a copy of AC3 and I was also able to finish the story. I thought the game was great and the new combat system was improved compared to the old AC games. There is definitely going to be an Assassin's Creed 4 because the ending of AC3 leaves off with a really big cliffhanger.

 
Medal of Honor Warfighter was released last week so pick up a copy if you haven’t already and wanted to. I've already seen a lot of the multiplayer gameplay and it looks good.
There have also been a lot of rumors lately about new games in development. A promotional poster of Grand Theft Auto V was seen which suggested that the game would be released in spring 2013. There’s no real evidence that proves this but Rockstar said they would release more details in November. 
BioWare said that “Mass Effect 4” is also under development and that it will not feature the main character, Shepard. It may not even continue off from where Mass Effect 3 left off. 
Also, check the new Black Ops 2 live action trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIZp_E2CxQ&feature=player_embedded#! 

- Alan Chen, Video Game Entertainment

Read More

Dishonored Review (Spoilers)

*WARNING: Spoilers

The story line in Dishonored revolves around the main character named Corvo Attano who is the bodyguard of the empress Jessamine Kaldwin. The setting takes place in an industrial city called Dunwall which is modeled after London during the early 1900s. Dunwall is infected with a plague that spreads by rats and kills the poor. Corvo gets framed for the assassination of the empress and the kidnapping of the princess, Young Lady Emily. He becomes an assassin that works with the loyalist to overthrow the tyranny of the new government. As you advance through the story, Corvo gains more power that you can use to make assassinations easier. Later on, Corvo is betrayed by the loyalists but is able to escape death. He finds the assassins that killed the empress and eliminates them. Corvo then finds out the location of Lady Emily and rescues her. The ending of the game has different variations depending on how much chaos the player caused throughout the game. Chaos levels depend on the amount of violent actions and deaths are cause by the player. If chaos is low, Lady Emily becomes empress with Corvo by her side and Dunwall enters a golden age with the plague gone. If chaos is high, Emily still becomes the empress with Corvo by her side but Dunwall remains in turmoil and the plague still remains. If Corvo doesn’t save Emily, Dunwall falls and Corvo flees the empire by ship. Overall, the game was fun to play with the different styles players could adapt to complete the objectives. The story wasn't that great but it is a game that I would play multiple times. I would rate this game an 8.5/10.

- Alan Chen, Entertainment - Video Games

Read More