Vol 19 Issue 22

INSIDER 07.04.17 | VOL. 19 | ISSUE 22

STUDENT MAGAZINE

NIER AUTOMATA

BY ROOPE SAUKKONEN

Features & Recipe  Mario's on Android now  Peasoup

Reviews  Mastodon: Emperor of Sand  Power Rangers

EDITORIAL STAFF

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INSIDER STUDENT MAGAZINE South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Paraatikenttä 7 45100 Kouvola Editor in chief: Hugh Clack INSIDER ISSN 1457-1587  /INSIDERSTUDENTMAGAZINE

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PHONE +358 44 702 8758 WEBSITE insider.xamk.fi EMAIL insider@xamk.fi WRITERS first.last@edu.xamk.fi

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EDITORIAL DID YOU GUYS make good April Fool's pranks? Were you pranked? In the social media there was a meme in the April Fool's weekend with a text "Who needs April fools when your whole life is joke?" Could it be more accurately put? Most days the life of a student does feel like nothing more like a big joke. Upcoming deadlines, exams, group work, several individual tasks, all completed poorly and submitted with embarrassment. And after each period we promise ourselves to step up, but we never do. We are a joke and a disgrace. And we blame the lecturers; exactly when do the they think we'll have any of our own time, apart from all this exhausting school work? However, there is no one else to blame than ourselves.

Fools or not, reading this issue will give you a review on the Mastodon's latest album, and of course there is the amazing recipe section with a springy soup. Enjoy the spring and the time spend with jokes a.k.a fellow students.

Suvi

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REVIEW

By Roope Saukkonen

There aren’t many things which have struck me as hard and out of as blue than NieR Automata has with its launch. NieR Automata is yet again one of those games that have had no impact to your life until you experience it at least ones. So, let’s grab our bits and pieces, flee to the Moon and take Earth back with android super soldiers! “Glory to mankind!”

NieR Automata is the newest game in NieR universe which contains 14 instalments now. In NieR Automata you play as 2B and 9S models of android created by humans who fled to the Moon to avoid extinction by the Machines. Yeah NieR’s distant future isn’t the most welcoming kind. Mankind has been almost wiped out of the exitance and there are only punch of us living in the Moon, on a space station orbiting Earth and on the Earth as a rebel tribes. Your mission is to free Earth from machines who took it over and were broad to Earth by an unknown alien race who attacked Earth. At the start of NieR Automata most of the left of humanity has left Earth and the robots have taken over leaving all the human infrastructure fall apart. While humanity and Earth are wrecked into pieces one thing that is flourishing is robot culture. This brings up most of the most compelling storytelling and plot points in NieR Automata.

What I like the most about NieR’s game play is that you can never say for sure what it will throw at you. In the game’s tutorial level only the game play varies from hack-and-slash, 2D shmup, 3D shmup to 2D Castlevania like action game. There just doesn’t seem to be any limits on how many things team Platinum games and Yoko Taro, the creator of NieR series, can master, combine and give to the player.

The only way to make justice for NieR’s game play you really need to feel and play it yourself. There is just so many nuances Platinum games has stuffed into the game play and especially into the hack-and-slash parts of the game that I am left quite out of words describing it all. You just need to know that the game play has been polished to nearly perfect pack of eye-hand coordination, muscle memory and sound cues. You just pick up your controller and it feels like you have been playing this game for years right from the get go.

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Even the game’s missions are complex mix of different type of things to do.

There is of course your tradition fetch quests, search quests and go there and kill everything that is unholy and evil quests but there are also racing, a quest where you have to protect punch of robots who are searching their paradise of love and escort quest where the escorted person can actually die. All of this in one game and none of it feels forced or badly done. Also one great thing about NieR Automata’s world is that everything you can imagine and might have a question about has been answered. For example, the age-old question of how video games skill systems and levelling up works? In NieR Automata’s case you have skill chips which are microprocessors you install to your character. There are system skill chips which activate your mini map, all the game’s text logs, enemy health and even your own operating system and removing your operating system kills the android and you get ending T. (There is total of 26 ending in NieR Automata and you must play the game through three times to see the whole story, but more about that later.) Other skill chip categories are attack, defence, support and hacking. You also must buy more space in your android to activate more skill chips, aka level up. If you how ever die in NieR your body will be re-created from save points which are scattered all around the game’s map. However, these save points are launched across the map from humanity’s space station but must be activated from ground. After your death, you won’t have your skill chips with you because they are left in your older body, which you can go and reclaim to get your lost stuff back and … well you probably get the point by now.

Other things that are astounding in NieR Automata are its visuals and sounds. There is just something magical in NieR’s Earth. It is at the same time the most horrifying place and somehow manages to create this weird beauty of a new paradise. In NieR’s world life didn’t fail or vanish it just chanced a little bit. The sound track of this game is also mind blowing good mix of orchestral music for huge boss fight scenes and old school 8-bit versions of nearly every song.

NieR Automata has 26 different ending for the player to find. You must perform different kind of tasks to get these endings and nearly every single one forces you to make different choice in the story. Some of these choices are bad some of them are good some of them are just weird.

To sum it up NieR Automata is a masterpiece and you should at least try it yourself if you are a fan of either RPGs or JRPGs. This game thinks so outside the box and delivers such a meaningful messages and ideas that it is kind of hard to go back to some other not so well done RPGs.

  Time and space starts to lose their meaning while hours are cumulating and school works are piling up.

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: • OS: Windows 7 /8.1 /10 64bit • Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 or AMD A8-6500 • Memory: 4 GB RAM • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 VRAM 2GB or AMD Radeon R9 270X VRAM 2GB • DirectX: Version 11 • Network: Broadband Internet connection • Storage: 50 GB available space • Sound Card: DirectX® 11 supported

RECOMMENDED: • OS: Windows 8.1 /10 64bit • Processor: Intel Core i5 4670 or AMD A107850K • Memory: 8 GB RAM • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 VRAM 4GB or AMD Radeon R9 380X VRAM 4GB • DirectX: Version 11 • Network: Broadband Internet connection • Storage: 50 GB available space • Sound Card: DirectX® 11 supported

 niergame.com  @NieRGame  @NIERGame

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SPRINGY AND GREENY SOUPY The spring has sprung, and still no clear signs of the nature waking up and spoiling us with all the lovely shades of green. At the moment it is more like 50 shades of grey, which in this context is not sexy, at all. If you have seen the movies, not sexy in that context either. This week you are in for a treat: asparagus-pea-soup that tastes so fresh that you feel like a completely new person, and not that depressed, miserable disgrace of a human being that you really are. Also, buying ingredients like asparagus will make you look like an intellectual hipster; not everyone uses fresh asparagus in their cooking. Adding fresh mint and lime into your shopping basket will emphasize you being a gourmet chef. Not all (Finns) use such exotic ingredients in their food!

What you do: 1. Chop and sauté onion in oil, in a saucepan. Make sure onion is just slightly softened, not fried.

2. Peel and chop asparagus. Then add asparagus and vegetable bouillon to the saucepan. Let it cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add peas, cook for 1 minute.

4. Take the saucepan out of the stove and move the soup into a plastic bowl, add chopped mint.

5. With a hand blender, puree the soup.

6. Once ready, add juice of one lime and a hint of salt.

7. Add smetana when you have the soup already in your plate. it gives the soup a final touch making it creamy. Enjoy.

Suvi Karell

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What you need: • 500g fresh asparagus • 200g frozen peas • 1 onion • oil • 4 tablespoons fresh mint • 1 lime • 7 dl vegetable bouillon • salt • smetana

MARIO IS NOW AVAILABLE ON ANDROID Mario is now available on Android, it has been on iOS for months, it took a little while long to get it Mario for android due such a large amount of different android devices. The game will run on 80% of android devices but the one thing is you need a good screen to enjoy the game, I have tried I on both iOS & Android and I have found there is nothing much in the difference of the game Nintendo has done a good job keeping them close so if you play it on one device and then on another device you will still know how it works, one of the biggest problems with the game is the €9.99 to unlock all the levels and more but you can just play and unlock everything that way which is more fun I think and it will save you €9.99. Also you require internet to play the game so forget about playing the game when you are traveling if you cannot get to the internet, for some reason Nintendo decided to add this but I cannot figure out why, neither can anyone else. So below is what is involved in the game. Some of these will take you a while to finish some will be quick.

WORLD TOUR • Run and jump with style to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser’s clutches! Travel through plains, caverns, ghost houses, airships, castles, and more...

• To reach Bowser’s Castle, clear the 24 courses located across 6 worlds. There are many ways to enjoy the courses, such as collecting the 3 different types of colored coins or by competing for the highest score against your friends. You can try courses 1-1 to 1-4 for free.

TOAD RALLY • Show off Mario’s stylish moves, compete against your friends, and challenge people from all over the world.

• A challenge mode where the competition differs each time you play. Compete against the stylish moves of other players for the highest score as you gather coins and get cheered on by a crowd of Toads.

Fill the gauge with stylish moves to enter Coin Rush Mode to get more coins. If you win the rally, the cheering Toads will come live in your kingdom, and your kingdom will grow.

KINGDOM BUILDER • Gather coins and Toads to build your very own kingdom.

• Combine different buildings and decorations to create your own unique kingdom.

There are over 100 kinds of items in the Kingdom Builder mode. If you get more Toads in Toad Rally, the number of buildings and decorations available will increase. With the help of the friendly Toads you can gradually build up your kingdom.

WHAT YOU CAN DO AFTER PURCHASING ALL WORLDS • All courses in World Tour are playable: You can play all 24 courses over all 6 worlds.

Why not try out the bigger challenges and thrills available in all courses?

• More playable characters: If you complete course 6-4 to rescue Peach, and build homes for Luigi, Yoshi, and Toadette in Kingdom Builder, you can get them to join your adventures as playable characters.

They play differently to Mario, so why not put their special characteristics to good use in World Tour and Toad Rally?

• More courses in Toad Rally: The types of courses available in Toad Rally will increase to seven different types of courses, expanding the fun! In the new additions, Purple and Yellow Toads may also come to cheer for you.

• More buildings and decorations in Kingdom Builder: The types of building available will increase, so you'll be able to make your kingdom even more lively. You can also place Rainbow Bridges to expand your kingdom.

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So if you need a new game or something to kill time this is the game for you.

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Available on iOS & Android with In app purchases of €9.99

Richard McGrath

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MASTODON

EMPEROR OF SAND Brendan O’Brien

Stoner Metal // March 13, 2017

T

he Atlantan metal quartet Mastodon is one of the biggest metal bands of the new millennium. Their trademark mixture of progressive metal, sludge, and jazz elements layered with some subdued hooks has netted them a bunch of Grammy nominations, headliner spots on festivals around the globe, and whenever a music magazine makes any sort of “Best Metal Albums of All Time” list, it is likely that any (or all) their records from the previous decade show up.

However, on their 2011 album The Hunter the band made a swift pivot in their sound, trimming the heaviest progressive frills and kinks, streamlining their song structures, and dropping a good three minutes off their average track length. The transition was not painless, and the fans of their old material were eager to slam the Sellout card on the table. Only on the follow-up Once More ‘Round the Sun the band managed to make proper use of their new format, although some fans deemed it too ‘radio-friendly’ as well.

While over the years the band has shifted its sound from early Opeth closer to The Sword, they have always managed to sound like Mastodon. Their seventh full-length record, Emperor of Sand, is no exception; if anything, it veers back towards their earlier, more aggressive sound, while still keeping with the more streamlined aesthetic. Tracks like “Ancient Kingdom” and “Scorpion Breath” even feature some raspier, rougher vocals reminiscent of the band’s Leviathan-era death metal growls. Fortunately, the band is not just wallowing in its own nostalgia: while the complex polyrhythms and shredding solos galore, whenever it feels like the album veers a bit too close to the band’s old-

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er material, the music mixes the things up. The jutting groove dominating the verses of “Steambreather” shifts naturally into the galloping, catchy choruses; the C-part of “Clandestiny” combines tremolo-picked mandolin with spacey keyboards and robotic vocoder vocals. For the first time for Mastodon, the emotional core of the album seems to encompass other emotions than band’s trademark blind fury. The deeply sorrowful, keyboard-driven breakdown of “Roots Remain” and the wistful acoustic opening of “Jaguar God” both showcase a side of Mastodon that we haven’t seen before.

Emperor of Sand is a concept album about a man sentenced to death on a desert by his sultan, and appropriately the lyrical themes reflect on death and mortality. The band has revealed that the whole story is allegorical to the band’s experiences with cancer, but the album wraps the grim theme into a lofty, poetic form, a mystical journey over the vast sandlands, akin to an ancient epic or a folk tale.

While Emperor of Sand still contains eleven roughly four-and-half minute tracks, something the fans of their earlier material might deem a deadly sin, it also melds the tracks together to form a coherent whole, which is helped by the unified lyrical theme. In many ways, Emperor of Sand is a marriage of Mastodon’s might and mastery; their progressive past and straightforward present.

 Roope Sorvo

POWER RANGERS

STUDIO 123 Kymenlaaksonkatu 1 45700 Kuusankoski 05 3792082 www.studio123.fi

STUDIO 1 SMURFFIT: KADONNUT KYLÄ (7) | 10€ | 1h30min Every Evening 17:00h BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (12) | 12€ | 2h10min Fri - Tue 18:50h

DACRE MONTGOMERY NAOMI SCOTT RJ CYLER LUDI LI BECKY G. Director Dean Israelite // Writers John Gatnis Action, Adventure, SciFi

A group of high-school students, who are infused with unique superpowers, harness their abilities in order to save the world.

I don't remember ever watching an episode of the Power Rangers when I was little so going into the movie I had no expectation the movie had to meet and yet it did. As far as origin story-movies go this one for sure made it into my Top 5. Power Rangers had everything: Diversity, a villain that was motivated by a clear goal, an awesome training montage and subsequent stellar fight scenes, characters who were not parodies or clicheés, everyone in the film would die for Billy and honestly: same, no (forced) romance, someone getting backhanded into the stratosphere and death by Dino Zord - more specifically a Triceratops.

Every part of the movie that seemed campy was made that way by the nerds who wrote that movie and it was glorious. In fact the writers actually took the time to do something no other super hero film has done to date and allowed the members of the team to become friends. It is so incredible that their bond is so detrimental to their success.

I already had one list about what was good about this movie but here are some more points that need recognition: they made good use of Kanye West songs, Bumble Bee reference (yes, as in Transformers), Original Power Rangers theme (I assume that's what it was), altogether good soundtrack and Alpha being the sarcastic droid like he's a hybrid made from Johnny 5 and Marvin.

What Power Rangers has taught me is that a family can be five outcasts, a small robot, and a face in a wall and my favourite part about the movie in general was the whole thing. It was wholesome and awesome and desverves all the awards.

FAST & FURIOUS 8 (12) | 12€ | 2h19min Wed - Thu 18:50h

STUDIO 2 PINGVIINIEN MATKA 2 (S) | 10€ | 1h21min Fri-Sun, Tue-Thu 17:30h LOGAN (16) | 12€ | 2h18min Fri. Mon 19:15 MOONLIGHT (12) | 11€ | 1h51min Sat, Tue 19:15h MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (12) | 12€ | 2h17min Sun, Wed-Thu 19:15h

STUDIO 3 JACQUES ELÄMÄ MERELLÄ (7) | 11€ | 2h03min Fri-Sat, Wed-Thu 17:15h TOM OF FINLAND (12) | 12€ | 1h55min Fri, Mon 17:15h POWER RANGERS (12) | 11€ | 2h04min Fri-Sat, Wed-Thu 19:30h GHOST IN THE SHELL (12) | 12€ | 1h47min Su-Tue 19:30h

 Sarah Rosenthal

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