Admission is $5 and pizza will be provided.

For more information, contact Brandon McKenzi at bcmckenz@bloomu.edu.

“World in Conflict,” (WiC) however, is a totally different concept all together.  Taking place in 1989, the year in which the Soviet Union collapsed, the game itself takes an alternate route in history and shows what could have happened.  Instead of the USSR collapsing, its leaders choose to invade western Europe and Seattle which sparks World War III, and the Cold War gets very hot.

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The game was developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment.  It is widely considered to be a real time strategy game, but also is heavily laden with a real time tactical sense.   The player has a huge view of an immensely large map graced by dazzling graphics that show the smallest details.  So precise is the game design that you can see the wording on billboards, grass moving from the air, as well as listen to your troops talk to each other about the latest scuttlebutt.  The battlefields include towns, islands, forests, highways, and a host of other environments which are completely destructible in any way you can dream up.  Depending on what the player has to do, he or she can tackle the objective in a number of different ways. 

Depending on what identity chosen to be, the United States, Soviet Union, or NATO, the player has a host of options to fight with on the Cold War battlefield, which again, I haven’t seen anywhere really in other games. In multi-player and to some extent single-player modes, the player gets to choose what type of units to deploy.  The four main categories are infantry, armor, support, and air.  Each include their own special units that only fit to their category.   And each unit from each group has their own special nitch they are most effective for.

However the player can also choose to mix armor with air, or support with infantry.  Any combo you can think of is possible; however it comes at a premium cost, and you only get so many resupply points.  Unlike other games that are RTS, with WiC you get a number of points to use that each unit costs.  And you can make any combo of units that are in that limit.  You also only get so many points to use, and they regenerate after you lose units.   Also, every unit in the game has a special defensive and offensive ability it can use.  This really gives the player a lot of options, but that’s not even half of what makes WiC so different.

There are three different types of games in WiC: domination, tug-of-war, and assault.  “Domination” has the entire map in play at once and the players must work to capture points on the map that have strategic value. The longer time and the more points they have, the more their side will ultimately win over their enemy. “Tug-of-war” is a special game where there is a line of so many points that must be occupied by the player’s forces alone to advance into enemy territory, while “assault” has one side play defense and the other play offense to see how far they can go on the map in a specific time limit.

Now, the most unique and probably the most interesting thing in WiC are the tactical aid or “TA” points. These are accumulated for destroying enemy units, capturing strategic points, or fortifying special locations by being present.  The cost of each TA is dependent upon what role is being played, and, thus, the player’s needs.  He has a choice of nearly thirty TAs: tank busters, poison gas, napalm, heavy air support, laser guided bomb, air-to-air support, fuel air bombs, carpet bombing, artillery strikes, tactical nuke, just to name a few.  Each one of these TAs has a cost and a specific type of unit they are meant to destroy.  Or a player can drop recon troops, trucks, tanks, repair bridges or whatever he or she needs by choosing it from the drop down menu and placing it where it’s needed on the battlefield.  After the time for it to set up goes by the explosions and special effects show!

As if this wasn’t enough, Massgate has managed to make a single-player game with a unique story-line, which starts in Seattle as a Lt. Parker who is thrown in the mix of World War III.  All the way to Europe and Russia, the campaign has a huge number of twists and turns that I never saw coming; as in the real world when the USA and NATO were worried about being overwhelmed from superior numbers of the USSR, I found myself out-numbered and out-gunned many times.  This is when TA an tactics came into play.

In the multi-player version of the game, the player teams up with seven other people to go head-to-head against their enemies.  Massgate has forced the players to learn to communicate and work together, thus forcing more organized game play.  This is done with voice systems installed into the game as well as quick commands.

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The game itself was released in 2007 and after getting top reviews that year, there were plans for an expansion: “World in Conflict: Soviet Assault,” in the Soviet’s point-of-view.  However, in fall of this year, Activision has decided to discontinue its production of the expansion for unknown reasons.

“Mirror’s Edge” is a game that gives gamers hope that even in these days of cookie cutter FPSs and unimaginative, clichéd RPGs, new and innovative ideas still spring up from time to time.

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The story is set in a totalitarian city where all forms of communication are monitored.  You play as a “runner” named Faith whose job is to deliver packages and messages by running and jumping across rooftops in the city.  This becomes complicated when armored SWAT teams with large guns are constantly pursuing you.  The game itself is played entirely in first person and you can use guns, but it is by no means a first person shooter.  Using guns slows you down and the aiming is a little touchy.

The hand-to-hand combat is where the fun is, involving stringing together acrobatics with martial arts.  There is a problem, though - the button used to attack and the button used to make a 180-degree turn are positioned a little too closely to one another, so early on when you want to kick someone in the head, a player may accidentally expose their back to Mr. Angry SWAT Man.

The game’s puzzles are fun and challenging, though most of the challenge comes from the player over-thinking the situation and attempting  some overly complicated string of jumps for hours when there was a ladder 15 feet away.

There are times when the game becomes somewhat repetitive.  This can be seen a lot in the indoor sections.  Though, it can’t be certain if this was done by improper design or if the developers are trying to hit home the point that the city is an ultra clean and conformist paradise.  There are also some sections where the combat is kind of forced on you, and at these points some players may be forced to brave the horrible gun controls.

At these points, the game feels like a mediocre fps, but these sections are thankfully far and few between. Trying to place “Mirror’s Edge” in a category is problematic. Really it just boils down to what the player wants it to be.  Some players will love the time trial mode, where they are free to explore the level and find the fastest route through it.  This makes it more of a free running simulator than an action game.  Others will enjoy the story mode, where they run and jump through the same level but with people shooting at them, which makes more of an action game.

The game itself looks absolutely gorgeous.  The way it uses color to express the ultra clean and sterile futuristic city is phenomenal.  The quality of the animated cut scenes, however, vary. Some look just as nice as the actual game while others seem to be of lower quality.   The actual storyline is high quality, though the game obviously sets up for a sequel so it leaves some points frustratingly unexplored.  Overall this game is worth a buy; it isn’t perfect but it is a new concept that can really be worked into something grand.

By: Fred Bloss

“Fable 2” is a game that everyone who played the first “Fable” waited for.  A lot of promises were made, the game was supposed to be a follow-up to the first one; a massive world where your choices can change the world. And it is, but when one looks at the features of this game on paper, it seems like it is perfect.  The game play has been vastly improved since the first.  The combat is frantic and intuitive, and the new spell system adds new levels of customization to the game.  Mechanically, this game is perfect, there are choices that can have far reaching effects, such as turning a poor district into a renewed one, or turning a temple of light into a guild of assassins, and the game play is fluid and intuitive.  

There is one quality that “Fable” had that its sequel lacks, however, which makes all the difference.  This quality is an epic storyline.  The story in “Fable 2” starts out promising, but soon fizzles out  as you are introduced to some of the most annoying, unlikable and cardboard cut-out characters that have ever been in a video game.  ]

The characters in the first “Fable” were well thought out and interesting.  The best character was the main villain, Jack of Blades, a person so irreprehensible that even if players made the most evil character that they could have made, they would still find motivation to fight and destroy him. This is in contrast to the villain of “Fable 2” who, while interesting, does not illicit quite the same feeling of fear and dread that Jack did.

This point leads to a discussion of the ending.  The ending to “Fable 2” is one of the most dissatisfying experiences that a gamer can have.  The whole end section of the game positively reeks of being rushed in order to meet a Draconian deadline.  It would be like if Frodo from Lord of the Rings found his way to Mordor, only to see an escalator to Mt. Doom with Sauron as a decrepit corpse propped up in a pointless attempt to stop him.  The last enemy you fight in the game are beetles, and there is no real “final boss” fight.  

At the end of “Fable,” you are given an apocalyptic choice involving a weapon of great power.  The way in which this fatal choice was portrayed almost allowed the player to feel the weight of it.  The final choice of “Fable 2” absolutely pales in comparison.  When one compares it to the final choice of the first, it is like choosing which jam to put on one’s toast.  

The story is not the most pressing issue of “Fable 2;” it was obviously rushed. This can be seen in the amount of game breaking bugs that are present in the retail version.  These aren’t your typical “foot getting stuck in a rock” glitches, but glitches that can ruin your save file by making the main quest unplayable. This reviewer has personal experience with one of these game breaking bugs, it involved time not passing naturally.  This made it impossible to do the quests involving the Temple of Light or the Temple of Shadows.

Anyone who wishes to buy this game should just wait for “Fable 2: Lost Chapters” where they’re going to put in all the content that they should have included in the first place, just like they did with “Fable: Lost Chapters.”

By: Kate Firestone

It has been a good two weeks since the newest installment to the Guitar Hero saga, “Guitar Hero: World Tour” was released, and the question on everyone’s mind is this: Why hasn’t anyone covered that shit?  The answer is simple: there are absolutely way too many epic features in the game to fit into a single review.  

Regardless, here are the main things you need to know in order to get your rock on:

First and foremost, the concept of “World Tour” is completely different from the past games, in that it is designed to accommodate multiple players as a band.  That means that there’s a lead guitar, bass, singer and drummer.  

Upon first delving into your player pack, you will discover that a few changes have been made to the neck of the guitar, the most obvious being the touch-pad.  This is for those tricky solos, and only requires players to slide their fingers to the appropriate color bar to hit the notes in some songs, like “Love Spreads” by The Stone Roses.  The touch-pad allows for a more accurate performance, and mimics the style of a real solo, as it’s closer to the body of the guitar than the basic frets.

Next, there is the bass, and to get you excited, I’ll let you in on a little secret: bass is fun this time around. The makers installed some purple bars that appear on your highway and they indicate a sort of slap.  All you have to do is strum without pressing down on any of the fret buttons.  Usually, these bars go with the rhythm of the song and are pretty easy (not to mention fun) to nail.  If you have any old controllers lying around, you can use them, or you can buy a revamped bass with a touch-pad.  Either way, it gets the job done.

Guitar and bass are all very fine, but the definite star of the new features is the drum set.  It is set up in a kind of tier-like fashion, with the orange and yellow ‘cymbals’ elevated above the red, green and blue drum pads.  In comparison to the “Rock Band” set up, “World Tour” beats them out with a more efficient bass pedal and overall more thrilling experience.  Even if you lose your place, it’s much easier to get your rhythm back this time around.

And of course, there’s the singing component to “World Tour” that serves to complete the full experience. The microphone is simple, but the singing itself is a different story.  It is way more precise, even in medium, and those who found themselves to be stellar vocalists on “Rock Band” might be knocked off their pedestals if they try to tackle the same difficulty in “World Tour.”  You see, not only do they have to really control their voices, but they also have to choose between a static or scrolling display for the lyrics, both of which present themselves as somewhat messy and hard to follow.

Aside from all the new and exciting instruments, “World Tour” has even made it possible to create your own character.  You can adjust the face size, jaw angle, eye distance, height, physique and yes, you can pick the clothing.  There is a wealth of styles to choose from, too, including punk, metal, goth, pop, etc, and players can decide everything from their character’s name, to their hair, to their piercings, pants and shoes.  

Players can even customize their instruments and stage presence!  If you want a zebra-skinned trap set with a spiffy ace of spades logo on the front, then it’s yours.  If you want a neon-colored mic sand, a widower guitar body, or even if you want your character to do the robot when they go out on stage, then that’s yours as well.  The possibilities are endless.

And while the game does a great job at catering to your vanity, it also achieves a similar level of greatness as far as play goes.  The gigs are bigger and better, with crystal-clear graphics and awesomely aesthetic backdrops such as Times Square on New Years Eve, a gothic church, a frat house, and many, many more impeccably designed venues.  

Certain celebrities such as Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Corgan and Zakk Wylde make special appearances whenever the songs “Crazy Train,” “Today” and “Stillborn” are played. 

And just like the past games are famous for, “World Tour” doesn’t skimp on the diversity of their songs. They have the oldies hit “La Bamba” by Los Lobos on there right next to hard rock hits like “Trapped Under Ice” by Metallica and “Freak on a Leash” by Korn, and punk songs like “Soul Doubt” by NOFX and “Dammit” by Blink 182.  Oh, and did I mention they have “Santeria” on there by Sublime?  With more bands like Modest Mouse, The Eagles, Silversun Pickups, System of a Down and The Mars Volta, there’s something on there for everyone to enjoy.

So, if you haven’t already become a part of the craze, then get out there and rock the world.  I promise you won’t be disappointed in the least.

It is a rare thing to find a high caliber horror game.  Most horror games end up becoming action titles with no sense of atmosphere.  “Dead Space” is the latest exception to this fact.  In “Dead Space,” you play as an engineer named Issac Clark charged with the repair of a mining space ship called The Ishimura.  You arrive at the gargantuan ship only to find out that almost all of the crew are dead and the ship is infested with gruesome creatures called necromorphs.  Necromorphs were once the bodies of the crew and have now twisted and transformed into grotesqueries whose only purpose is to find anything breathing and kill it.

While there are not a wide variety of enemies, the designs are superb and add to the atmosphere of dread and terror.  The story in the game itself is very bare at first, but you gain a deeper understanding as you view various text files, audio logs and videos; all adding exposition and a sense of depth to the story.  The game truly shines however, when a person actually picks up a controller and plays it.  The elements of the game do the best they can of pulling you into the situation of being isolated in a dark place where danger lurks at every corner.  In normal games, you have a heads up display, or HUD on the screen which keeps track of various statistics, such as health and ammunition.  This is absent in “Dead Space” and all statistics are directly on Isaac’s suit, adding to the immersion.  Resource management is essential and accessing your inventory does not pause the game.  This makes a situation like trying to use an oxygen tank to refill your air gauge while being chased down by hellish creatures a truly gut-wrenching and pulse-pounding experience.

As I have said before this game has atmosphere like no other, one can tell that every shadow and eerily flickering light was lovingly sculpted for the sole purpose of terrifying the player.  Walking down a corridor, one may see a quick flash of a monster’s shadow and  walk up with weapon drawn to investigate, only to be mauled from behind by a different beast who used that opportunity to take a bite out of you.

The little things in this game are what make it great, such as what happens when a player enters the vacuum of space.  There is a creepy silence as you watch your oxygen slowly but surely run out. Don’t get any ideas about roasting an enemy with that flame thrower; no oxygen means no combustion reaction.

The combat is this game’s most innovative feature.  While the monsters are undead, the classic “shoot them in the head” method will not work here.  In order to dispatch these monsters, you must strategically dismember them.  This adds a sense of complexity to the game as the player must figure out witch limbs to remove in order to kill a particular creature.  The weapons are unique in the fact that only one is an actual gun, the rest are futuristic power tools, ranging from a tool that shoots out concussive blasts of air to a buzz-saw that is extended four feet in front of you, hanging by an invisible tether.  Since Halloween is coming up, this is definitely a game to buy and play at night with no lights on and the volume cranked up.

If it were possible to create an entire planet and everything in it would you? On Sept.7, EA games released “the highly anticipated game” Spore. Spore is considered a God game. The player takes the role of creator and basically controls all aspects of the game. From the cell stage to the space stage you are in charge of what your creature becomes.

Will Wright designer of the Sims is designer of the game and has named it an “massively single-player online game.” Game players can share and show-off their creations including creatures, buildings, automobiles, planes, and spaceships. Plus the player is able to create and evolve an entire species of… well anything!

Controversy arose because of the games evolutionary take. Believers of creationism have had complaints about the game’s impact on children. The game is rated E for “Everyone” 10+. The blog antispore.com caught the attention of many Spore game players. The writer of antispore.com is a Christian mother who has had it with Will Wright and EA games she writes on her about page,

“I created this blog to find support for and follow my progress in letting Electronic Arts know that their biggest attack on Christian values to date will not be tolerated. We can not allow the gaming industry to invade our homes and poison the minds of our children. After all, their billions in revenue and all the advertising in the world are no match for the power of God.”

The Antispore blog however is a controversy in itself. Antispore.com has had over 1,000 responses to the blog’s about page. A few of the over the top posts the “Christian mother” wrote began to generate skeptics.

On Sept. 11 the blog was revealed as being a prank or “Rickroll.” The term “Rickroll” comes from an internet joke/hyperlink which spread from user to user usually in the form of the Rick Astley video, “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

The Antispore blogger concealed the lyrics of “Never Gonna Give You Up” within their post on Sept. 11, revealing the true nature of their creationism controversy,

“But the Bible teaches us that God was not done with man. For we were His creation and He then spoke to Noah in Genesis 8:21-27 after the flood. “21. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never gonna give you up. 22. “Never gonna let you down.” 23.”Never gonna run around and desert you.” 24. “Never gonna make you cry.” 25. “Never gonna say goodbye.” 26. “Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.” 27.”Never truly believe anything you read on the Internet. There will always be cases of Poe’s Law.”

 (Video Below: Spore Trailer CELL PHASE )