Photo courtesy of Five Nights at Freddy’s in-game

22 ENTERTAINMENT

Five Nights At Freddy’sIndie HorrorReleased 8/8/14

THE VERDICT:

7/10

Food poisoning is the least of your worries

By Dawson Brodine

Welcome to Five Nights at Freddy’s, an indie, survival-horror game that was released

on August 8th, and features more creepy animatronics than the local Chuck E. Cheese. The game is currently out on both Android, Apple and PC plat-forms, with the Android and Apple versions costing $3, and the PC copy standing at $5. In the game, you play as a name-less security guard, who has picked up a job working the night shift as a security guard at a child’s party re-straint named Freddy Fazbear’s Piz-zeria. At first glance, the job seems harmless, and it could even be called easy, but there are other factors that come into play. The player is simply thrown into the game, with no tutorial. The only tutorial the game gives you is a voice

recording left behind by the previous nameless security guard of Freddy’s, who explains to the player the most basic of game controls, and a lot of nonsensical rambling. The previ-ous guard notifies the player that the 4 animatron-ics, respectively

named Freddy Fazbear, Bon-nie the bunny, Chica the duck, and Foxy, roam the restaurant at night, and if they spot the player, they will attempt to stuff you into an animatronic suit, leaving only your eyes and teeth to see the light of day. After he hangs up the phone, the night really begins as the anima-tronics become more active, and it becomes a suspenseful race against time, forcing the player to keep track of the animatronics at all times, and preventing the animatronics from getting to the player, while at the same time managing their power. The game itself has its flaws, and

is barely excusable by the fact that this is an indie game, but there are points that stand out. The first thing to note is the difficulty curve. The further you progress into the week, the more active the animatron-

ics become, and in turn, the game becomes progressively harder. At times though, the game can feel too difficult for some players, and will lead to player restarting the same level over and over. This would be bad, but because of the next factor, this is easily ignored. The next best thing in Five Nights at Freddy’s is the replayabil-ity value. From what I can tell, the game could simply be played over and over again, and still retain the feeling that this is a new game. The fact that each night can result in a different death, or even differ-ent situations that the player must

survive, can make the game feel brand new. However, one of the more disap-pointing factors of Five Nights at Freddy’s is the fact that the game only uses jumpscares and screamers

in order to scare the player. Both of these game elements slowly deterio-rate over time and lose their actual scare-factor the more the game is played. There is only one other reason that the jumpscares are even scary, and that’s due to the fact that game is constantly building tension and keeps the player suspended in the fact that they know that they could die, it’s just a matter of when. Reminder, this is an indie game, but that doesn’t save itself from its graphics. Simply put, every one of the camera views, the hallways, the windows and the doorways are 2D photos. The game isn’t even really

3D. But, the developer still wins points for using a creative idea that helps keep the game running fast. Even though there’s a lot of suspense and tension being built as the player goes through the night, the ambience makes up most of the tension. That wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that the ambi-ence is easily cancelled out by any amount of background noise, and can ruin any sense of tension. Whether this is an indie game or not, the game shows plenty of potential towards being something even bigger than what it is now. The game is just lacking in different areas, and is need of an update. Nonetheless, the game is more than worth the 5 to 3 dollars you’re spending. The game boasts an impressive replayability value, and provides challenging gameplay without being insanely difficult from the start. But it’s jumpscares and scream-ers don’t scare for very long, and especially not for someone who’s had to constantly retry a level. Not even that, its graphics are basic for what seems to be a 3D game, and its ambience could use some tweaking to be more immersive. But to me, Five Nights at Freddy’s is still a good game, and deserves a place on the desktop of most gamers as one of the few gems of the indie-horror genre.

Entertainment

19ENTERTAINMENT

Maze Runner keeps your heart racing

I don’t like holding book-to-movie adaptations close to heart, because at some point, the director forgets what the

movie is supposed to be about and the whole movie series turns into a money farm for the producers and cast of the movie (see Divergent). But director Wes Ball has taken the brilliant story and writing of Maze Runner, and turned it into something that could be consid-ered one of the best book-to-movie adaptations since the first Hunger Games movie. For a change, the movie does

not slap you in the face with a long narrative or makes you read a ma-jority of the movie’s exposition in thirty-seconds. Instead, it drops you straight into Thomas’ perspective as he awakes from his unconscious slumber during his one-way elevator ride to the Glades. After what feels like forever, Thomas manages to re-orientate himself as the elevator stops. The doors creak open and Thomas is greeted by an unfriendly-looking crowd of teenage boys. After being helped out of the elevator he does the only “logical” thing to do in this situation: run. But before he can calm down, he trips and the screen goes black. Thomas wakes up in some kind of make-shift prison. He’s let out by Alby, the leader of the Gladers, and given a tour around the space they lived called the “Glades” (go figure), familiarizing Thomas with their rules and a few of the others. The only thing not explained are the immensely-giant stone walls with equally-sized stone doors that lead

into a massive maze. This maze just so happens to be surrounding the Glades on all sides, appropriately named “The Maze” (I guess origi-nality wasn’t their kind of thing). After maybe 20 minutes of watching Thomas try to fit in with this new lifestyle, the story occa-sionally side-tracked by his curiosity of the Maze. The story only really kicks off after Thomas runs into the Maze at night in an attempt to help Minho, but instead ending up trapped inside the Maze overnight. Unfortunately for the pair, creatures called “Grievers” wonder the Maze at night, and one of them finds the duo, chasing Thomas and Minho until Thomas tricks the Griever into a trap (using the power of plot armor), becoming the first Glader in three years to kill a Griever. Once the duo returns, Teresa, the only female to ever enter the Glades, arrives. This is where the story really kicks off. However, she is given very little importance in this movie, but Wes Ball used his

brain and didn’t turn the story into a teen-romance. But the movie fails to save itself from probably one of its biggest faults, which starts at the begin-ning of the movie. What is it? Plot armor. It relies strongly on giving the viewer the feeling that Thomas is in mortal danger, when really, he isn’t in any danger of being killed. The Maze Runner movie, although it sticks strongly to the story of the book, it fails to create enough emotion before killing one of the Gladers. Even if they were just extras, it helps to create at least a small connection to the character, and make the viewer feel emotions when they’re killed. Even though the story was brilliant back when the book came out in 2009, the same format has been used in other films since then, making the movie’s events much more obvious, and very much expected, removing some of the movie’s heart-pounding mo-ments, and making them dull.

A Taste of Sabor isn’t at the top of the food chain

Usually, food trucks are noted for their convenience, when you need a bite to eat, and don’t have to time to go to a sit-down restaurant, and don’t want processed food. I however, specifically sought out food trucks. I was walking down by UNO, when I happened across a large, very brightly colored food truck with beautiful illustrations on the sides. I had to check it out. The food truck was entitled A Taste of Sabor, or A Taste of Flavor.

Walking up to the vehicle I ordered Guacamole and chips, and a Jarritos Mexican soda from their well organized, easy-to-read menu. I also tried their “four tacos for $8.00” special, which offered the option to create your own tacos by selecting the different types of meats and toppings. They offered a wide range of meat, including pulled pork, ground beef, and chicken. The food arrived in a very timely manner, and I was well pleased with how it was delivered. They also had a handy condiment/napkin compartment that was easy to access, built into the side of the truck. I then selected my drink from a somewhat sadly small selection of drinks including only two flavors of Jarritos soda, and a few mainstream soda brands including Pepsi. I then brought my food to one of the convenient standing tables nearby to eat.

Personally, I have always been a fan of Mexican food. I came to the conclusion however, that A Taste of Sabor’s food was as about as original as Taco Bell. Not that I didn’t like it or that it didn’t taste like good, but it wasn’t exactly a big stretch from anything you could prepare yourself, or get at the next food truck two yards away. Overall, A Taste of Sabor is

a delicious, beautifully decorated, Mexican food truck, with service faster than freaky, however they don’t really vary from every other typical Mexican food truck you could find on the streets.

By Alex Sterling

Photos courtesy of themazerunnermovie.By Dawson Brodine

THE VERDICT:Maze RunnerSci-Fi/ThrillerReleased: 9/19/14

8/10

THE VERDICT:

5/10

A Taste of SaborMexican-American

Photo by Alex Sterling

It’s the year 3587; conflict spans the universe as massive robot armies are locked in an everlasting

stalemate for galactic supremacy. Cliché, right? But in Awesomenauts, that’s the whole point. Welcome to Awesomenauts: The brainchild of Ronimo Games and what can only be described as a masterpiece in the MOBA genre. Awesomenauts was released May 2, 2012 for console and in August of 2012 for PC. The game has received numerous updates, ranging from simple patches to adding entire characters and game modes. The game goes for $10 on PC, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. But no matter what, you can’t escape the games hoard of downloadable-content, which consists of skins for the playable characters, and even a DLC for brand new characters. Not to mention that the matchmaking system for online PvP is one that rivals the likes of Call of Duty’s host migration problem, with its matchmaking

system that can take up to 7 minutes to find a game and the excess amount of teammates that disconnect either in character select, or half-way through the game.

Everything from the maps and the items in Awesomenauts are reminiscent of 80’s-cartoons and

sci-fi clichés. Even the most serious of characters can have the quirkiest of personalities, and the 80’s cartoon-style art makes the game even more unique. Despite the 80’s-cartoon style, the graphics for the game are very sharp, and the entire game looks bright and vibrant. This bright art style even adds to the combat in Awesomenauts even more when combined with the game’s 2D graphics. The game is also home to some of the most fast-paced gameplay that a MOBA can offer. Although Awesomenauts follows the typical rules of all MOBAs, Ronimo decided to put their own little spin on it, taking out the mana, leveling-up system and large maps from previous MOBAs, and replacing them with an upgrade system, smaller maps, and more character originality. Each character has to buy upgrades for their first or second ability, their basic attacks, and the character’s basic stats (health, movement speed, health regeneration, etc.). Although this can make counter-building obsolete and can break the gameplay

due to overpowered upgrades. However, this makes it easy for new players to pick up the game and learn how to play quickly. Another unique twist on the typical MOBA concept is the addition of platforming. Unlike some other games that attempt to incorporate platforming, Awesomenauts has some of the best platforming, with the ability to control your character in mid-air and that you aren’t engaged to your character’s jump arc. Getting even more creative is the fact that some characters have unique jumps, such as a triple jump, the ability to glide or to hover in mid-air. This platforming twist makes combat more enjoyable, and creates an emphasis on the use of dodging without the need of an ability. The only problem that can be found in the game is the almost endless stream of unbalanced characters. Because of the fact that the game relies entirely on upgrades, it can make a lot of characters more powerful than they were meant to

be, breaking the gameplay and making victory almost impossible. But in the end, Awesomenauts has earned its own space in both my heart and my hard-drive (despite its sometimes-broken upgrade system and horrendous matchmaking) with its cartoonish art-style, fast-paced gameplay and its own unique twist on the MOBA genre. I can only hope to see this game grow more.

22 ENTERTAINMENT

AwesomenautsSci-Fi/MOBAReleased May/August2012

9/10

This game is more “awesome” than “naut”

Entertainment

By Dawson Brodine

Photo courtesy of steampowered.com

THE VERDICT:

Pros Cons +Bright art style

+Good voice acting

+Sharp platforming

+Fast-paced game play

+Catchy music

+Easy to pick up and play

-Bad matchmaking system

-Occasionally broken gameplay