AFK by LASA Ezine

Critical Hit! Halo 4

p. 16

Get the facts: Xbox vs PS3 p. 10 A new way to kill. Assassinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creed 3

p. 26

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 p. 28

Biographies Craig Tumolac

My favorite video games are the LittleBigPlanet, Left 4 Dead, Prototype, and Assassinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creed series, Modnation Racers, Minecraft, and God of War. I own 3 consoles: the Xbox 360 with Kinect, PlayStation 3 with Move, and the Wii. I also enjoy playing Angry Birds.

John Morris

My top five video games are: 5-Forza Motor 3, 4-Minecraft, 3-Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, 2-Halo 3, and 1-Fallout 3. The consoles I have owned are Nintendo 64, Gameboy, Gameboy advanced, Gameboy color, PS2, PS2 slim, Gamecube, Wii, Xbox 360, DS, PC, and Virtual Boy.

Austin S.

My favorite video games are Skyrim, Left 4 Dead series, Minecraft, Garryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mod, and Team Fortress 2. I own a PC and a Xbox 360, but I play on the PC more frequently than on the Xbox. Also, I enjoy rock music and hanging out with my friends.

Keegan Anderson

My favorite video games are Skyrim, Left 4 Dead 2, Red Dead Redemption, God of War, and Rock Band. I have a PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, IOS. Besides playing video games, I love baseball, music, and combs. I prefer playing on PS3.

Table

of Contents

Level 1: Previews

6. Dead Island Riptide 7. Aliens: Colonial Marines 8. Farcry 3

Level 2: Consoles

10. Playstation 3 vs. Xbox 360 - What will you choose? 12. Bye bye Wii

Level 3: Reviews

16. Halo 4 19. Garryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mod 13 20. Borderlands 2 22. Minecraft 24. Counter Strike: Global Offensive 26. Assassins Creed 3 28. Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Level 4: Bonus 30. Video Game Character Quiz 32. Top Five Zombie Video Games 34. Interview: PS3 35. Interview: Xbox 360

3 Photos by Keegan Anderson

“Giving gamers something to read.” Dear reader, Did you know that video games now gain four times more profit than the movie industry? Video games have clearly overwhelmed the world, and we are here to report this amazing phenomenon. AFK Inc. hopes that you’ll enjoy this edition as always, and aren’t tempted to return to the couch as you go through it. Happy gaming, AFK

Level 1: Previews Tropical islands full of the dead, cramped close quarters rich with horror, a maniacal madman, and a beautiful living island. These three previews give you a peek of what is to come in later months.

Dead Island Riptide Tropical Zombies; Round 2

hances are that if you had seen the Dead Island announcement trailer, you shed a few tears. If you haven’t, go look it up. It has a heart-breaking piano riff with some sad violins for it’s music. Played in reverse, the video depicted a vacationing family fending off the undead from their infected daughter. The dad desperately tried to fight the baddies off but eventually they overwhelmed the family. It ends with the newlyzombified daughter chewing on her father as he tosses her out the window of their hotel. It was seriously heart wrenching. The game was released September that year. You played as a group of survivors on a tropical resort filled with zombies. It was fun, but no longer provoked the emotions that ran through the trailers. Many gamers and critics thought it would be some kind of realistic story-based game, but instead they got a fast paced action RPG. Like Borderlands, the game had a multitude of zombies, pipes, bats, hammers, katanas, machetes, shotguns, wrenches, paddles, and dozens of other weapons. One year later developer Techland teased a direct sequel titled Dead Island: Riptide, the game taking place directly after the first game. You play as the original survivors: Logan, Sam B., Purna and Xian Mai, all with their own specific skills sets. Like Borderlands. With zombies. Taking place directly in a monsoon, you had to traffic your way to the end of a zombie filled island. Easy enough right? When you get to the resort who knows what will happen, in the last game you kind of abandoned everyone and just saved yourselves. But that didn’t work out. The new title is kicked off with you and your friends landing via helicopter on a secure military ship off the islands. Things

Photo by Keegan Anderson

Fending off the dead in the brig.

go good until you end up fighting your way out of the ship as it succumbs to the infection. Next, somehow you end up back on the island. With the new addition of John Morgan a new playable character. Not much is known about him, except his special skills with his hand-to-hand combat. Later on the characters arrive at the city of Henderson, which unlike Moresby, the run down shanty town of crime in Dead Island, is a wealthy city filled with plazas, courtyard and other pretty sights to see. Unfortunately, the city is now more dangerous thanks to the lurking monsoon, city streets flood, while lurking zombies wait in the mud. The city also has more accessibility, players can scramble up a fire escape and seek shelter in a building, however they may find it infested with dead. The four-player drop in and out multiplayer is back and players can now carry over the character they developed from the first game. The last improvement is the physics, zombies stumble more and are easier to trip up, and the blood and gore are higher than any zombie game out there. Hopefully it wont disappoint and I anticipate it’s release of April 24, 2013 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. - Keegan Anderson

Aliens Colonial Marines: Horror Done Right

ost horror games feature all scare, no story, playing Amnesia and Slender gives you no reason to come back and play it again. Why? Because it is boring. But if you played the game version of one of the greatest films ever, it’d be a lot more fun. If you were playing Aliens: Colonial Marines then, you’re just experiencing a day in the life of a colonial marine. A sequel of the movie Aliens, released originally in 1986, you play as a marine on the colony of LV-426, infested with swarms of xenomorphs. These nasties have sharp teeth, speed, razor bladelike tails, acidic blood, and a really strong hunger to kill anything a different species. The game features a story-based campaign in which you and your squad of marines on a search and rescue squad searching for Ellen Ripley, the surviving marines, from the second film and any other survivors. Locations include the USS Solaco, a large cruiser which you must investigate, it’s in space of course. The game will also span the colony on the planet LV-426. Playing as a first-person shooter, the game so far has revealed tense moments as you and your squad blast aliens, which come out of everywhere, and they really want to mess you up. The sound, lighting, visual graphics match the horror atmosphere of the game and does a good job of creeping you out. The adrenaline runs high as you and your squad run through dense halls, aliens popping out of vents, under the walkways, dropping down from the ceiling. All of it with spot on sound, just like the movie. The weapons stay true to the film, with new ones as well. New additions include shotguns, handguns, and a very common flamethrower. As well as old favorites like auto-turrets, smart guns and pulse rifles. All of which sound great, my favorite, the

Photo by Keegan Anderson

CQ combat takes up most of the game.

pulse rifle has the same metallic whine it had in the movie. Most of the maps are close quarters in halls or other indoor areas, so these heavy weapons are your only defense from the onslaught of Aliens. As for multiplayer this game, there is Alien vs. Marine team deathmatches, where both species are available to play. There is also a fun interesting mode called escape, it plays similar to Left 4 Dead Versus mode, marines running from point A to point B, while the aliens stalk them. Aliens have their own special classes, for example, you have your normal run of the mill soldier aliens, then you have more lightweight aliens that prefer stealthy suprises. Next they have acid-spitting aliens that can attack at long range, and finally big armored brutes that can barrel through your team. Gearbox also has stated there will be a four player co-op campaign featuring drop in-and-out gameplay, but it is not separate from the main campaign. Oddly enough Gearbox has released more multiplayer than single player content. Amazingly, they promise more objective-based modes to come. After multiple delays, the game has a set release date for February 12th, 2013. Hopefully it will not disappoint and I anticipate it’s release for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii U. - Keegan Anderson

Far Cry 3

How many ways can you kill that guy?

Far Cry is a series that has it’s ups an downs, the original placed you on an open island and gave you supernatural powers to stalk your enemies, the second planted you as a mercenary in Africa tracking down a wanted man. The second title took away your feral powers and replaced them with a lot of big guns. Far Cry 3 seems to combine the two. You play as Jason Brody a young man who is vacationing on a tropical island with his friends, and long story short, bad dudes come and kidnap them. Killing your brother in the progress. In order to get your friends back Jason is going to have to not only confront the men who took them, but he must kill, hunt, and survive the jungle. Playing as a first person shooter, Far Cry 3 combines an open world adventure, with RPG elements. There is a lot Jason learns on his way to his friends. The gameplay we have seen looks like a normal FPS, but with some pretty wild variables. You will always be tasked with killing a number of people, but the way you kill them can differ any way you can imagine. Lets go through a few options when taking out a guarded outpost. Of course of big guns are your thing, then by all means go in there guns blazin’ and eliminate the baddies, but why would you when you can take advantage of the environment. Maybe you want to go, strap C4 to a jeep, then drive in, jump out and detonate, BOOM! There we have option one. Say there is a hill near by, scale it and pull out Jason’s handy camera, which by the way can mark points of interest when you focus on them. So you look through and what do you see? A big black bear sitting angrily in a cage.

Score! Head on in, taking out any guards on the way, and release the bear. It runs, people die, and you take out the stragglers. The coolest thing I have seen so far is using fire to your advantage. The land is full of animals, wildebeest and tigers are just a few animals on the mainland. Take a flamethrower, and just let loose into the jungle, it is engulfed in flames and all the poor little animals just come running out with fright... and right into a hostile outpost. Tigers are attacking and you head in to clean up the scraps. These are just a few possibilities worth mentioning, and the sandbox nature of the game, Far Cry 3 looks like an interesting place to explore and I’m sure players will find plenty of ways to entertain themselves. Just to wrap things up, this story simply covers a few aspects of gameplay, there’s a chaotic story, beautiful characters and I have just scratched the surface of gameplay. But this article serves just to show you a little bit of the game. We anticipate it’s release date of December 4, 2012 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. - Keegan Anderson

Photo by Keegan Anderson

You need to act and think fast to survive

Level 2: Consoles One of the greatest debates of our times will be resolved inside these pages, as well as a personal farewell to a dead weight console. Here we give you a few insights from us the writers.

Games

The PlayStation 3 contains a massive arsenal of 760 games for its owners. This, though, is not as large as Xbox’s due to a notably more difficult system for developers to work with. As a result, developers such as Valve only port their games to Xbox. Many games that do try to make it into the PS3 such as the Call of Duty series by Treyarch often come glitchy. Despite, groups such as Media Molecule, Naughty Dog, Geurilla Games, and Sucker Punch Productions instead use this complex system to their advantage, and as a result release blockbuster games such as LittleBigPlanet 2, Uncharted, Killzone 3, and inFAMOUS 2. It is argued whether these exclusives are more superior than that of Xbox.

PlayStation 3

CONTROLLERS

PlayStation 3’s controller has an approximate width of 6.2 inches and a weight of 192 g for the DualShock 3 model, fairly comfortable for most hand sizes. PS3 also has two different controller models: The Sixaxis wireless, and the Dualshock 3 models. They both have the ability to sense movement and tilt, which will then be incorporated into the game played if applicable. Their only difference is that the Dualshock can vibrate, resulting in the controller being slightly heavier than the Sixaxis. Playstation has also come up with two all-new innovations, and they are the PSVita, and the Playstation Move, released in early 2010. Move has a very similar design to the Wii, in terms of function, except that the Move controller has the ability to vibrate, a smoother shape and a glowing light at end (tracked by a camera included with the set). Games for this new system include Sports Champions (Zindagi Games) and the Just Dance series (Ubisoft). Rumors of a successor to the Playstation Portable (PSP, first released in 2004) came as early as 2009, when Eurogamer announced Sony was working on such a device that would match the processing power of the original Xbox. Finally on February of 2012, the PSVita was released to the general public. This new portable device includes a variety of new features, including two dual analogue sticks for shooters, two cameras at the front and back, a microphone, and a powerful screen. Also included is a touchscreen system at the back of the device, meant for preventing smearing or blocking with your fingers on the main screen; as a clarification, some of you may think it requires a third sense to use, but the system really becomes instinctive once you get immersed into gameplay. Speaking of such, games for the Vita include Assassin’s Creed III Liberation, LittleBigPlanet PSVita, ModNation Racers: Road Trip, and many others.

HARDWARE

The first PlayStation 3 console model was released in November 11, 2006 by Sony. It features a 2x speed Blue-ray disk drive compatible with games, Blueray movies, CDs, DVDs, and other optical media. The PS3 pack basically comes with an upgradable hard disk drive ranging from 20, 40, 60, and 120 GB, and one or two controllers of either model (see next category: “Controllers”). It also includes, excluding the 20 GB model, an 802.11 b/g WiFi. Unfortunately for PlayStation 2 fans, though, the PS3 does not include the PS2’s “Emotion Engine” CPU chip; as a result the PS3 is not compatible with any PS2 games. Later in September 1 of 2009, the more advanced model, PlayStation 3 Slim, was released. It’s about 34% lighter, and consumes about 40% less power. Upgrades for the hard disk drive are also significantly higher, ranging from 120, 160, 250, and 320 GB. And even later in September 28 of 2012, the newest PlayStation 3 SuperSlim. This model has an even higher hard disk drive memory ranging from 250 to 500 GB and weight and size about 3/4 of the Slim model.

Xbox 360 By: Craig Tumolac

CONTROLLERS

The Xbox 360’s controller design is a bit less symmetrical and slightly smoother, designed more to contour to the users’ hand. For one, its directional pad and left analogue stick positions are switched so that the left thumb points upwards, smoothly. Its wireless version has a weight of 265 g and a width of about 6 inches, a bit heavy to hold. One of its other features include lights on the outer rim of the central Xbox control button to show how many local players there currently are. The Xbox 360’s Kinect has finally introduced the long-anticipated idea of “you are the controller” in November of 2010. Unlike the Move and Wii, which require a sensor to track a controller, the Kinect uses a camera to track depth, the player. Consumers were excited for the release of this device, and as of 60 days of its release the Kinect has sold over 8 million units, winning it a place in the Guiness Book of World Records as the “fastest selling consumer electronics device.” As of testing its playability, the Kinect is actually an extremely accurate device, but like all electronics it has a fair share of frustrating glitches. Mistakes in tracking is its main problem. The Kinect has a huge variety of games, including the Dance Central series (Harmonix Music Systems), Zumba Fitness (Pipeworks Software), and many exclusive Kinect games, such as Kinect Sports (Rare Ltd.), and Kinect Adventures (Good Science Studios).

CONNECTIVITY It is debatable whether the PlayStation Network or Xbox 360 LIVE is the better multiplayer system. The most obvious difference is the cost; the Playstation Network is free, however LIVE has a monthly fee of about 5 dollars per month. Otherwise, both systems have their fair share of glitches and pros, and really there were no discernible differences between the two in terms of graphics. We here took side-by-side shots of online gameplay, and the only variance was a slight blur for Xbox LIVE.

Games

The Xbox 360 has an incredible 930 games to play, actually more if you count its numerous indie games.

HARDWARE

The Xbox 360 was officially released as of May 12, 2005, as of which it completely sold out in all regions except Japan. It has a custom-housed hard drive that can be attached in sizes of either 20, 40, 60, 120, 250, or 320 GB. The official color of its white model is Arctic Chill. Unfortunately the Xbox 360 is subject to numerous technical problems, which can eventually result in what gamers infamously call “The Red Ring of Death.” It signals a problem with the console, and can result from overheating or some other general hardware failure. Thankfully, Microsoft has improved its console in the Xbox 360 Slim so that it would not have as much problems, but they are still evident. It has a total of 6 official models: 20 GB Premium, 60 GB Premium, Core, Arcade, 4 GB, Elite, and 250 GB.

WHY THE Wii SUCKS The Wii was released by the Japanese-giant Nintendo in late November of 2006. It came out as an interesting piece of machinery that, at first, greatly appealed to the public, especially younger ones, with its movement-sensitive design. It is the first major home console released to the public with that movement-sensitive ability, and received amazing reviews, at least at first. At its exhibition at the ES 2006, Wii won the Game Critics Awards for Best of Show and Best Hardware. In Gamespot, it was given the spot as having the best hardware in its “Best and Worst 2006” awards. The system was also chosen as one of PC World magazine’s 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year. In 2006, IGN named the Wii as the 10th greatest console of This machine is trash in the end. all time. It seemed as if Nintendo’s newest product was on Cloud 9 and seemed so for a long time. And then income started falling. And falling. And falling. Which may or may not be a bad thing. Either the entire world has one now, or no one no longer wants one. Why? Well for one, no HD! In the world of other famous consoles, the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 incorporate HD graphics into their systems. Nintendo apparently has no intent of staying with their competitors on that. Secondly, the Wii isn’t DVDs compatible. Which is ridiculous, because Play-

By: Craig Tumolac Picture by: Craig Tumolac

station 2 did that 6 years ago, in 2000. Sure, you can stream movies with Netflix and things like that. But facts are facts. I can’t even stress how bad the controllers are. For starters, the grip that covers the actual machinery hurts a lot after a while of playing, both because the material somehow absorbs the body heat that radiates from your hands and will turn them an irritation red, and because the grips will often dig in to leave ugly and itchy marks. And then the controllers don’t even contour to the shape of you hands, so that it’s sometimes very difficult to hold and uncomfortable. For another, the actual controller frankly doesn’t work at times. Sometimes the detection glitches too, so that your character stretches his arms too far or something. It wasn’t as developed as it should have been, and as a result gameplay value worsens. The games designed for the Nintendo Wii are the worst part of all. Granted, Wii has the greatest number of games compared to all the other 7th generation consoles, numbered at 1220 as of November 25, 2011. But they are often poorly developed, buggy and glitchy at times, and only come up with a certain number of controls. And, worst of all for our hardcore gamers, most of the games released for this console are for kids. Very little kids. Developers try to hook kids in with Bratz, Charm Girls Club, and Chuck E. Cheese’s Party Games. Nowadays, you can’t find a videogame ported to the Wii without the word “minigames” on the back. Recently Nintendo realized their mistake (at least, I think they did) and created the newer Wii U. It’ll probably be a better console than the Wii, but just in case you kids out there’ll miss you Bratz or Chuck E. Cheese, the new Wii U allows original Wii games to be played on it.

Dishonored

Revenge Solves Everything

Photo by Keegan Anderson

Now Available On PS3, Xbox360, and Playstation 3 13

Medal of Honor: Warfighter Welcome to Tier 1

Photo by Keegan Anderson

Now Available For Xbox360, Playstation 3, PC, and Wii U

Level 3: Reviews Get the facts. The games we have played. The games we have experienced. Take it from us, the real resons these games shine. We have been very pleased with the games this month. We recommend all.

Crtitical Hit: HALO 4 Platform(s): Xbox360

Overall Score: 10/10

he once-great UNSC ship Forward Unto Dawn floats silently in the depths of space. Its torn-apart hull lays scattered out in empty space, and its ravaged body, which had cleanly been separated in two, slowly rotates in the open air. The camera enters one of sections of the body, where warning sirens are still going off because the ship’s demise. The camera adventures around the ship until it stops at a small pedestal. Suddenly, the AI, Cortana, appears. “Wake up, Chief,” she says as she types an activation code into a now-materialized control panel, “I need you.” Suddenly, a hyper sleep chamber in the room bursts open and Spartan-117 (Master Chief) steps out. After a little chit-chat, the two of the head for the control bay of the ship. On the way there, they stumble upon alien forces (Covenant), which begin to attack them “I thought the Covenant were our allies,” The Chief mutters to himself as 16 he slowly picks off enemies.

Eventually, they reach the control bay of the ship. When they open the viewing window in the control bay, the two of them look in awe as they view an entire covenant fleet surrounding them. There is a bigger problem than this fleet, though. Behind the ships lies one of the last planets of an ancient race called the Forerunners. The planet itself is a robotic being, and upon catching sight of the Chief, the planet begins to open its gaping mouth. After doing so, it begins sucking in everything. Chief tries to run, but ends up being sucked into the mouth of the giant as well. As he and Cortana hurtle downwards into the atmosphere of the planet, Chief ends up getting knocked out on the way down. When Chief comes to, he is lying in a total wasteland of destroyed Covenant and UNSC ships. He hears the groans of enemies as they slowly die. Chief grabs his gun and begins to adventure further into the alien planet in search of a way to escape. What dangers await the protagonists on this desolate planet? Welcome, gamers, to the realm of HALO 4.

343 Industries decided to take Bungie’s place as the HALO series’ publisher. Many HALO fans were unsure of how well 343 would do, but it turns out that 343 did a better job than Bungie has ever done before. 343 has vastly improved the graphics, added new components to gameplay, and even added a new create-a-class system in multiplayer. In many people’s opinion, HALO 4 has risen to be the best FPS (first person shooter) this year.

Campaign:

I don’t really like campaign, but I absolutely loved the HALO 4 campaign. The campaign revolves around Master Chief being stranded on one of the last Forerunner planets in the galaxy. As he tries to find away, he must also deal with the fact that his AI partner, Cortana, is deteriorating and is slowly but surely becoming insane. This is happening because Cortana has been alive for 8 years, and AI usually only live for about 7. The Chief must reach the ship, the Infinity, which is somehow at the center of the hollow Forerunner planet. You will have to play the game to find the details and see what happens to Cortana. Even though the storyline for the game is amazing, it is not the only thing that makes the campaign amazing. The graphics in the game also make the campaign excellent. 343 almost completely revised all the enemies, and now they look even cooler than before. Even the guns have been revised and now look high-tech. Not only did 343 worry about the graphics that are in the foreground, but they also put a great deal of effort into the background graphics. Check out pictures of HALO 4 on google images, or play the game. You will definitely agree with me when I say that HALO 4 has excellent graphics. Another reason the HALO 4 campaign is so amazing is because players can play Co-op campaign. Players are able to the Covenant and the Forerunners with up to 3 other friends. To make things better, new campaign missions are created each week. They are called Spartan Ops, and they are found in the multiplayer section of HALO 4.

Pictures By: Austin S.

Multiplayer:

Let’s start off with the class system that was talked about earlier. This new system can be accessed by pressing the start button. Basically, this system allows you to choose a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, a grenade type, an armor ability, and an extra bonus (like extra ammo) to start out with when you spawn in the game. To get a larger variety of things to choose from, you must level up your avatar. This system greatly improves the aspects of multiplayer because before this system, players could only start out with one type of primary weapon, secondary weapon, and grenade. Leveling up is way easier than it was in the previous HALO games. The level up system is like the system in HALO: Reach, but way better. In the level up system in Reach, players earned barely any level up points by playing single player game modes like campaign (Online campaign still gave you lots of credits) and forge, you would get very few credits, and it would take a very long time to level up. Now, playing single player games will give you a fairly high amount of credits. I would also like to add that the longer you play a single player game, the more credits you will receive when the game ends.

Firing off a few rounds with the chain gun (Top left). About to splatter an enemy with one of the original vehicles called the ghost. (Top right). Viewing the amazing scenery in the campaign (Bottom left). Walking through the wreckage of the ships that crashed with Mater Chief (Bottom right).

Remember the armor customizing in HALO: Reach and in HALO 3? These two armor customizing systems have basically been combined with a few extra bits. 343 kept some aspects of the Reach armor system, but threw away the idea of having to buy certain armor types in order to wear them. Now, you now receive different armor, visors, and emblem types through leveling up your avatar and also through completing certain commendations (These are explained in the next paragraph) like you did in HALO 3. For the people that are new to HALO, commendations are basically different challenges that players can complete to earn extra level up points. Commendations were added in HALO: Reach to help players level up faster. They were also added to allow players to show off how dedicated they are to playing the game. Other players were able to view how much commendations you had by viewing your Spartan service record. 343 kept this viewing feature, and they also added much more commendations in HALO 4. This gives players even more chances to get extra level up points, and makes it to where players are going to have to spend a larger amount of time playing the game to actually complete all the commendations.

Forge:

The forge gamemode is a gamemode that allows players to build their own maps. They can use a variety of building blocks and parts to build massive fortresses, mazes, or anything a person could think of. People do this by spawning the pieces in and placing them next to each other to form larger structures. Although this gamemode was introduced all the way back in HALO: 3, it has greatly been improved since then. Reach introduced a map called Forge World, which was a massive map where players had enough space to build almost anything. Unfortunately, this map has been taken out of HALO: 4. The 18 good thing is that 343 has introduced 3

Picture By: Austin S. new massive maps in which to build in. There is a budget system in forge that limits you to putting down a certain amount of items. There is also an item limit. Luckily, both of these factors have been increased, along with the amount of different item there are. This is good because players can now build even bigger and better structures than before. HALO veterans, remember how hard it was to build structures with no flaws because it was extremely difficult to perfectly line up pieces? Well, thankfully, there is a new feature called magnet. This magnet lines up pieces exactly, so now players donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to spend forever trying to line every single piece of a massive structure. Many new building pieces have been added to forge, and old pieces have been retextured to look even better. The new pieces include things like the new weapons, vehicles, and even pieces for building a space station. Also, a game variable called a trait zone. Trait zones are absolutely amazing because they allow players to change the gravity of an entire area without having to change the playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gravity in custom gamemode settings. As mentioned earlier, there is an option in HALO: 4 that allows you to edit your own gamemode. This setup is exactly the same as the previous HALOs, and as far as I know, there are not any changes or improvements to this setup. For the new people that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what any of this, play the game to find out ! by: Austin S.

Massive space station built using the forge option. Also, this build took minimal effort to build and make perfect thanks to the magnet tool and the new building pieces called impact pieces.

HALO: 4 is completely worth its price of $60. It has received much praise from many critics from all over the place. 343 has done an excellent job on their attempt take on the HALO series. I hope that 343 decides to continue HALO to an even further point than it is at now.

Garry’s Mod 13

Garry Newman strikes again with yet another update to the epic sandbox game.

Platform(s): Computer (through Steam)

Overall Score: 9/10

Picture By: Austin S.

he sandbox game with almost endless variety is back! For those of you that have no idea what Garry’s Mod is, it is basically a huge physics sandbox game that enables you to build and do anything you want, especially with all the free add-ons that you can add to the game for free. This game is not just any sandbox, though. The new Garry’s Mod includes things typically expected such as improved graphics and new game modes, but there are also a few new game features. Now, people are able to customize their player skin like you can with rag dolls by using a variety of tools. Another new feature is that the spawn item, spawn NPC (Non playable character), and tool menu have been greatly revised (access this by pressing “Q”). Were you getting tired of continually having to go to garrysmod.org to put addons into your game? Well now, you don’t have to! At the start menu of the game, there is now a new option called add-ons. All you have to do is search for the add-on you want and download it. This process used to take a couple of minutes, but now it takes only a few seconds! If you are worried about whether or not your favorite game modes will be in the game, don’t be. All of the gamemode mode modes in the last Garry’s Mod are there. To make things even better, every single server has now been placed in a certain category in order to help you find the specific game mode you are looking for. As said earlier, there are many gamemode modes. Here are 3 of the most popular:

Zombie survival is scary when it’s dark. ;_;

Trouble in Terrorist Town:

Every person in the server spawns in three separate groups: The innocent, the detectives, and the traitors. The innocent role play as average people who protect and help the detectives. The detectives try to find out who the traitors are. Traitors are the group of people who try to murder every other person that is not another traitor without being caught. The round ends when all the traitors are killed or everyone but the traitors are killed.

Sandbox:

Players are placed in an open world and are given the ability to built whatever they want and do whatever they want. Most sandbox servers have rules such as “no NPC spawning”, but in the end it’s up to you.

As you can see, there is much to expect from Garry’s Mod 13. By the way, if you already have the prequel Garry’s Mod, then you get this game for free! I would also like to note that Counter Strike: Source, and Half-Life: 2 are required to play some game modes. Have fun! By: Austin S.

Zombie Survival:

This is game mode is exactly what it sounds like. Try and survive the zombie horde that constantly attacks you. When you die, you join the zombie ranks.

BORDERLANDS 2 Fun In The Pandora Sun

S Rundown: Graphics: 8/10 Comic style, intended for visuals, loose gritty and fits humourous punk-rock attitude. Textures are bland though. Character models are unique and detail. Playability: 9/10 The game controls as a typical FPS and feels similar to Halo with the low gravity and bullets flying about. PS3, Xbox 360 and PC compatible. Multiplayer: 9/10 Four player dropin and out. Friends online or two-player splitscreen. Lot’s of fun shooting and looting.

Photos by Keegan Anderson

ometimes you just need to burn some stress. Smash something, take a hot bath, go roller skating, meditate, but do you know what works about 4.56 times better than that? This little game called Borderlands 2. The ultimate in antidepressants, Borderlands 2 blow you away, chew you up, spit you out and by the time the ride ends, you will be drooling for more blood, guns, laughs, and a lot of “Did I just do that?” Pandora will leave you wanting more. No, this isn’t Pandora from Avatar, we aren’t going to rip off Dances With Left to right; Axton, Salvador, Maya, and Zero Wolves and add blue people and a lot of CGI. Welcome to the rude, crude, bloody, maniac, in-your-face world of Pandora; Of course all of these powers can be home of Borderlands 2. upgraded to more useful and deadly abili Borderlands 2 is the amazing first ties which is good because the world wants person shooter action RPG from Gearbox to kill you. The land is filled with hostile studios. It’s a sequel in spirit and story to the robots, bandits, psychos, soldiers and moncritically acclaimed Borderlands released in sters. 2009. The game itself is somewhat chopp All of which attempt to impede your search and confusing, but it’s for the vault. Yes the an adrenaline- pumping goal of the game is to roller coaster you won’t “Funnier than a bear the game is to track soon forget. down the vault of wearing a tutu.” Taking place on Pandora in search of the planet of Pandora, riches and treasure. But - Justin Embrey you play as one of the unfortunately the man four playable characters. who These characters are the has hired you, Handclasses you will play as and start your road some Jack, attempted to kill you, so he’s to riches. The characters are the Siren, who got no competition when hunting down the can phase lock enemies, it suspends them in vault. mid-air vulnerable to attack. The commando So now your knee- deep in the danclass deploys a turret that distracts and gerous world, with simple weapons and no suppresses foes. The Assassin is capable of money, and after completing some tutorial sending out a hologram to distract enemies quests, what do you do? You get out there as he passes through the battlefield undeand fight! tected. And lastly the Gunzerker can dual The world of Pandora is filled with wield any type of gun, making him the most “bazillions” of guns, and no I’m not joking, dangerous of the group. on the back of the box it says “Bazillions of guns.”

Yes, there is are lot of weapons. Not only does every weapon never appear twice, but there are a few different manufacturers that the weapons originate from. For example Jakob’s weapons have an old west style, most fire at the speed of your finger, and they all have high damage. Hyperions are the most high tech, the more you shoot, the more accurate they get. Maliwan all have special elemental power’s, slag, fire, shock, caustic, and explosive. A lot of the guns look over the top and ridiculously cool. Which matches the cartoon graphics, similar to graphic novels, the game has a layer of color and grit over the models, which makes it look very good, even for a 3-D game. The sound is great as well. Psychos will scream random hilarious threats, bullets whiz around the battlefield. The ambience of the savage planet sounds awesome. Even the animals sound crazy vicious. These wacko animals include Skags, kind of like scaly blood-thirsty hyenas. Bullymongs, kind of like a yeti with four arms and a lot of steroids. There is also crazy things called Stalkers, which turn invisible when you try to shoot them. Crazy giant worm-type things called threshers, kind of like in Mass Effect, burrow underground to get the drop on you. The land changes as you travel, from glaciers and tundras, to deserts, highlands with crazy freakin’ animals trying to kill you. Sorry guys, it’s time for the drawbacks. Borderlands suffers from crazy amounts of confusion, too much in too little describes what goes on in firefights. There is also kind of boring characters. Even though you play as new characters, it feels like you’re still following the old ones, because there the only people you really talk to. It just feels like an awkward gap because when you talk to the old characters, you see their personalities and who they really are. You would never had found that out from the first game.

For example, you meet Mordecai, a playable character form the original title, and you find him to be a skilled sniper who sleeps off hangover, and is in love with his pet bird. You would never know that from playing the first game. Also Roland, a silent kind of boring character, emerges from his old role as the now leader of a rebel group fighting Handsome Jack. But these story flaws should not discourage you from playing this fun, addicting action RPG. - Review by Keegan Anderson

Overall Score: 9/10

*Nine Psychos out of ten

Chaotic battles make up most of the game.

Rundown: Boredom Level: 10/10 You won’t get bored in a long time. One of the funniest, action- packed shooters around. Not to mention an RPG, you will spend hours playing. Replay ability: 8/10 When you do get to an endgame, at the very least you’ll want to play as the other characters. And most likely you will just want to play again.

Minecraft by John Morris

Platforms: Desktop, Xbox 360, and iOS

Overall Score: 9.5/10

by John Morris

Starred words (*) dictionary:

Chunk- is a 16x16x128 block area that the game uses to load the world in. Updates- are the way Mojang implements new features into the game. PVP- Stands for Player vs. player and is multiplayer fighting. Servers- are multiplayer setting for players to meet up in Minecraft and they range from role playing venues to a place to show off your creativity. Level 12- is the level at which lava pools spawn and so it exposes a lot of rocks and therefore exposes diamonds. Strip mining- is where you dig a channel big enough for you to fit in (as far as you want but the longer the better) and you do this every three blocks as not to expose the same blocks; making it very efficient as a mining strategy. Lava pool- is the pools of lava that are at the bottom of the world and is the main reason why you don’t dig down. Nether- first to get to the Nether you need to create a portal (which is an outline of a two by three vertical rectangle) and the light it with a flint and steel( or if you have one, a fire charge). Ender Dragon- This is one of the two bosses you can fight in the game, and it’s the boss you fight in order to beat the game. It also gives you 105 levels of experience upon defeating it and spawns an end portal which allow you to get back to the over-world. NPC village- These are places naturally spawning towns with NPCs in them and has buildings, but can possibly have churches, black smith shops, libraries, town halls, and farms.

hen you want to fight a dragon and build a castle that’s as big as your imagination, Minecraft is your game. It immerses you into a world of blocks and adventure. Your first night can be your worst nightmare or you luckiest game ever in the randomly generating chunks*. This game has taken the world by a storm with over 9 million copies sold over all the platforms it is sold on. With the revolutionary sandbox style game play and the endless creativeness of the fans, this game has reached the lives of millions of players. The undying fans and the updates* have kept this game in the mainstream. If you can dream it, you can create it. Usually there are 3 different types of things players are proficient in; redstone, PVP*, and building*. The creative players tend to be builders and redstone engineers and the competitive players tend to be PVP players. • Redstone is a group items in Minecraft that has many uses and is capable of replicating any computer part, down to the individual circuits. With all of these you can create things from traps for players or, as I mentioned before, computers. • PVP player fight in survival type games like: MineZ, Trouble in Mineville, and Stalker. They like to fight and kill other players (It isn’t bad because in these games you’re supposed kill other players). • Builders, are as the name implies, build objects and structure. These type of players know what is appealing to the eye and usually create things for servers* and the public

Through my many playthroughs I have accumulated some knowledge that I’m willing to share with you to improve your game play to master level. • NEVER DIG STRAIGHT DOWN or you will fall in lava.

• Don’t bother bringing water into the nether, it will evaporate if you attempt to place it somewhere.

• When mining get down to level 12* and strip mine*.

• Ravines are your best friend for finding ores. They might not enable you to find a healthy amount of diamonds, but you will be able to find a more than healthy amount of iron and coal.

• Lava is not as dangerous as you think but chances are that if you fall in it you will die and lose your stuff, but if you graze it on the edge of flowing lava chances are you will survive if your smart about getting out. • Always bring water when you are mining it will make your life easier when you want a ladder, when you catch on fire because of lava, when you want to get to the other side of a lava pool*, or you want obsidian. • Shift clicking* will save you a lot of time. • Leather armor has its place but it is not for being armor. It’s more aesthetic than functional. By the time you have that much leather then you probably already have iron or maybe even diamond armor. • The Nether* isn’t an important you don’t need to go to it until late in the game to get blaze rods, glowstone, or nether wart. • Instead of building a standing structure, your first house should be dug into a mountain side. Granted there is a mountain nearby, and if there isn’t then don’t worry the ground is also a great place to spend your first night. • When introducing yourself to fiery situations, make sure to drink a fire resistance potion.

• When fighting the Ender Dragon*, be sure to wear a pumpkin on your head. If you do so, then you will not have to worry about Endermen. This also applies to the over world.

by Djohall

• When fighting Endermen, attack its feet. This will prevent it from being able to teleport away from the battle. • Try to look for NPC villages*, because they will provide you with many things. They can contain housing, trade sources, bookshelves, wheat farms, and forges. Be wary though because zombies will attack and infect the villagers at night. • By putting 4 blocks of iron in a “T” shape and putting a pumpkin on the top middle block, you will create an iron golem. These friends will protect you from any mob that attempts to attack you. • The wither looks cool but it’s too dangerous to release on your world because it is too hard to kill outside of creative and the item it drops is too bad to risk that much.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Platform(s): Computer (through Steam), Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Think C.O.D. is the best small-map FPS? Think again.

ounter Strike has finally made another title to reclaim its fame as best small-map FPS! For those of you who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know, Counter Strike is a game where two teams (counter-terrorists and terrorists) try to complete a certain task while trying to kill each other. The two main game modes are demolition and hostage rescue. In hostage rescue, the counter-terrorist team attempts to reach a group of hostages and take them to a safe zone. While the counter-terrorists do this, the terrorists have to guard their hostages and hunting the members of the other team In demolition, the terrorists attempt to plant a bomb in one of two bomb sites while the counter-terrorists defend these sites. If the terrorists are successful in planting the bomb, a timer starts counting down. While the timer is going, the counter-terrorists have a chance to defuse the bomb in a matter of about 30 seconds. If the counterterrorists do not defuse the bomb in time, it will explode and the game will end. If the opposing team is wiped out, then the game also ends. If you do not want to play either of these game modes, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fret. There are plenty of other game modes, and some servers even have their own game modes such as parkour and team deathmatch with an unlimited amount of lives. Counter Strike: Global Offensive also adds enhanced graphics, improved A.I. (Compared to the last game), and new game joining/leaving options. These new join/leave options include things like game queues into a game and reserve slot options. If you are away from a game for a while, you might get kicked from the server to free up slots for people that are not away. On the computer, you can favorite a server so you

Story By: Austin S.

Overall Score: 8/10 Picture By: Austin S.

Kicking terrorist butt on the map office.

can go back to it again. For those of you who have played previous additions of Counter Strike, then you may be familiar with the weapons shop system. This system of buying weapons is still in Global Offensive. By pressing a certain key or button each of the platforms, you can access a buy weapon menu that shows different categories of weapons. By clicking a category, you will see a list of weapons in that category. To get one of these weapons you need

money. You get money by completing objectives, finishing a round, or killing a person. Be careful, though. If you die, you will lose the weapon you have bought. Thankfully, social issues are not a problem. Almost everyone in the Counter Strike community is friendly and out to have a good time. In Counter Strike, it is actually surprisingly easy to make friends no matter what age you are. If you are terrible at multiplayer, you should try playing against bots. The bots are highly realistic and are way easier to kill than actual players. There are 5 levels of bots: harmless, easy, medium, hard, and very hard. If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to shoot anything yet and you just want some practice, go to the shooting range. The shooting range is basically a practice area that teaches you the most basic controls of the game and extra tips like where to hit a person and comparing guns. If you are new, this addition to Counter Strike is a good place to get into the action that this game series provides.

Assassinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creed III Ignite The Revolution

Photo by Keegan Anderson

Now Available For Playstation 3, Xbox360, PC, and Nintendo Wii U

ASSASSIN’S CREED III Ignite the Revolution.

Assassin’s Creed III had a set release date for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 30, 2012 in the United States. It is the fifth all-new installment of the incredibly successful Assassin’s Creed series, developed by Ubisoft. The sequel is set at the start American Revolution and includes an all new assassin: Connor Kenway. The gameplay that resulted was incredibly realistic and enjoyable. A difference that sets this game apart from the others in the series is that, now, you have the ability to scale trees. It’s an amazing experience, and it has to be tried to be felt. Like the others, though, Assassin’s Creed III is completely freeroam. The weather also changes periodically from snow, to rain, to fog, to cloudy with a warm sun; there are also animals to kill now for meat and fur, which can be further sold for money. Connor is equipped with a multitude of weapons such as a tomahawk, bow, and other Native American weapons, which will be explained later. Connor climbing the rooftops of Boston.

Platforms: PlayStation3, Xbox 360, PC

Killing is also very fun. Time slows as Connor blocks a hit, at which there are 3 options for his victim: counter finish, disarm, and throw (doing exactly what they say). Sometimes the adrenaline really pumps when you trigger a “super-move,” when you counter 2 enemies at the same time and masterly kill them both. It should also be mentioned that combat is much harder in Assassin’s Creed III than it is in the previous 4 games. Heads up on that. Note also that you can perform killstreaks by killing a guard, and then continuing on from there. Another perk is the amazing amount of new weapons for Connor to test and try. One wellknown and anticipated one from the trailer was the Assassin Tomahawk, whose blade is masterly crafted to mimic the shape of the Assassin symbol. Already mentioned was the bow and arrow, but there is also the new hidden blade, which luckily functions as a detachable knife too (as if it wasn’t good enough), and the hook blade (used as a grapple for fleeing enemies to either strangle or trip them). There are also old favorites though, such as the classic axe, knife, and sword, which you can give a leisurely twirl. And then there are the flintlocks, which range from regular, to dual, to the duck foot flintlock, equipped with 4 barrels! Watch out for naval battles... Also included in the standard disc is the new and improved multiplayer mode. Basically, every game is a bout of finding your target and assassinating him. One thing I’ve noticed is that the gameplay is much more difficult, since Ubisoft removed the “compass” located at the bottom of the screen to help you locate your targets

(excluding Locate-and-Kill). Simply speaking now you have to spot your enemies, looking suspicious activity, and watching for a heartbeat that will signal if your target is close. It’s difficult. And there are whole new assortments of weapons, characters, gamemodes (Deathmatch, Locate-and-Kill, Team Battle), and maps. Loading in the beginning is a bit slow though. As amazing as this game is, I did have a few problems (which may be just me). In the beginning I noticed the game’s graphics were static-y and compressed; it took me a while to realize that the 3-D compatibility was turned “on” in the options menu. After that, though, everything was crystal clear, so be aware of that if you decide to not use the 3-D feature. Secondly, I found that the cut scenes were a bit off. Although they did have the same style of waxy figures as the previous games’, which may conduct a feeling of continuity for others, I had actually been hoping that Ubisoft would somewhat improve them, that they would at least make the characters’ teeth slightly less white (it’s unrealistic). And about the auto-selection of enemies, a few times I noticed that the feature glitched so that Connor couldn’t air assassinate his enemies even though he was right above them. Lastly, I would like to mention the fighting again. The instructions for doing so are not as explanatory as I would have liked, and the game only brought it up once, so I didn’t get very much practice. Later, and this also took me a while to find out, I realized that I was holding R1 (this is for the

Overall Score: 9.5/10 Introducing: Naval Battles!

Playstation 3) as I was fighting; the trick is not to. This fact irritated me, since in the last 4 games you had to hold R1 as you fought. It showed a bit of inconsistency for the series. Also, I should mention that some abilities for the game weren’t explained, such as where to buy/sell items, so that you had to figure them out yourself. It annoyed me a bit. Overall though, I see this as the best game released for 2012. Get out and go buy yourself a copy! By: Craig Tumolac Photos By: Craig Tumolac

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Wii-U, and PS3.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II By John Morris and Keegan Anderson

Another year another Call of Dutyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. It seems every year

Activision dishes out another Call of Duty and kids seem to have hate all over it. But I for one saw light in this title and you know what, this game may be the breath of fresh air that Call of Duty needs and deserves as the definitive first-person shooter. Lets get over the campaign fast so we can get to the multiplayer. The campaign of Call of Duty has always been less. Short, repetitive, bland, boring story, just dull. But Black Ops II really is good!! An action packed campaign set in 2025 sets you as multiple characters, the majority of the time you are David Mason Pack-a-punching is essential to take on zombies. son of Alex Mason, the crazy protagonist of the first Black Ops. Set in the future it is up to you and your Navy Seal Squad to take down Raul Menendez, leader of a terroristic organization. To stop Menendez from taking revenge on the world for Alex Mason ruining his drug operation. Futuristic weapons and machines provide a fun and interesting way of stopping him. Giant robots, laser sights, advanced weaponry, all these are included and make a chaotic awesome story with twists, turns, choices, and multiple ending. All of this supported by an amazing cast such as Sam Worthington, and Michael Rooker. The campaign is definitely worth checking out and is not disappointing at all. The only minus is the odd strategy based missions where you control soldiers and vehicles to complete objectives. Either from a first-person perspective or a tactical over Maps can vary from destroyed cities, to rich yachts head view.

Zombies

Zombies is back. Tranzit has the spotlight this time featuring a large map with multiple stops that have sub-maps and you can explore the area for supplies. A bus transports you around zombies give chase all the way so you have to upgrade and defend. This mode focuses on you finding parts to craft items such as a mobile power station, pack-a-punch machine and the new wonder weapon the jet gun. Classic zombies is still there letting you choose difficulty, staring wave and different variables like hellhounds and headshots only. The new mode grief pits two teams of two against each other to get the best score. Zombies mode is what players love, but its far from perfect. With few maps, I hope to see promising DLC in the future.

Overall Score 8/10

Photos by: John Morris

Multiplayer

Okay on to the multiplayer, you happy? Call of Duty is a name because it has fun multiplayer. However they hardly ever change it up. Black Ops II doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bring to much to the table. The same basis and same modes. However Black Ops II changes the way you play as your soldier The biggest addition is the ten point system. Using a total of ten points you choose your weapons, attachments, perks, equipment and wildcard. Everything costs a point and you can have whatever you want as long as it is under ten points. Wildcards are like bonus perks letting you add an extra grenades, attachment, or primary gun. Along with new maps, new modes, and cooler weapons and killstreaks than ever. Black Ops II is the best multiplayer yet.

Level 4: Bonus To help with the great debate heres some awesome kids who give their insights on Playstation and Xbox. Also some bonus stories for your entertainment.

What Video Game Character Are You Most Like? By: John Morris

Photos: Keegan Anderson

Start Here

Your being chased by a pack of zombies and your friend trips do you...

Your pet dies do you ...

Save him

Go on and be strong

Let him die You find some water do you...

k Ta up

Save it for later

Drink it now

o nd ou ar m hi

Kill it for his hide

When the wizard who you’ve being looking You come upon a dragon do you... for says he doesn’t have what you need do you... Say o Fig h no, ht h and im bec go lo aus ok so eh me p e’s lace lyin else g

Your group is attacked by aliens and your friend is about to be killed but so are you do you...

em th p hi

sto

u Yo so ll te d an ed ar sc oo rt

Yo u

Go in and stop them

A bank is being robbed near you do you...

Try to save your friend

Sav

our

self

and

get

You have to go through fire to save a friend do you...

Go through the fire

out