Entertainment

A Casual Review – Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice: A beautiful and harrowing experience

March 26, 2019 by Xiao Liang Leave a Comment

Hellblade is a game that’s not very well-known to many but highly recommended by people who have played it.

Developed and published by Ninja Theory, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is an action-adventure game that was released back in 2017.

The game has surprisingly high production value considering that it was made by a very small team of developers.

In Hellblade, the player sees the world through the eyes of Senua, a Pict warrior who has embarked on a journey to Helheim hoping to save the soul of her dead lover from the Norse goddess of death, Hela.

Before I proceed to evaluate the game, it is worth mentioning that Hellblade is really not what it claims to be on the surface, and I personally think the game is more of an experience than a simple game: The player’s eyes will be deceived, and the mind will be challenged.

On a technical standpoint, Hellblade has met almost all the requirements to be a good AAA title.

The graphics are stunning, the sound designs are incredible and the gameplay is fun and immersive.

The game is relatively short compared to most modern games and is also very linear.

On average the game should only take around 6-8 hours to finish, but I have to say that it was the most memorable six hours I’ve ever experienced.

In general, Hellblade is an exploration game rather than an action game.

The player will spend most of their time walking around and solving puzzles instead of hacking down monsters or demons.

However, when there is combat, it is very fun and engaging; the actions are smooth and the controls are easy to master.

It is hard to explain what the game really is about without spoiling major plots of the story, but it is worth noting that the game has many metaphorical meanings behind almost everything.

Like mentioned earlier, the player’s eyes will be deceived, and the mind will be challenged.

The starting screen of the game advises the player to put on headphones, which is very important if the player wishes to better understand the story of the game.

There is also a short documentary that the player can choose to watch in the main menu of the game.

On top of showing how the game was made, the documentary will also help the player to understand the game better.

Overall, I think Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a game really worth playing if anyone is looking for an atmospheric or interesting game to play.

Turn off the lights, put on headphones and just let the game tell its story.

Captain Marvel Review – A great way to spend International Women’s Day

March 12, 2019 by Emily Walker Leave a Comment

Captain Marvel delivered action, humor and heartfelt storytelling that can be enjoyed by hardcore Marvel fans, as well as people new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Something Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel’s directors and screenwriters, achieved better than previous Marvel creators was the balance between humor and seriousness.

While this certainly wasn’t the most serious Marvel movie ever created, it also wasn’t as lighthearted as movies such as Ant-Man or Thor: Ragnarok.

The balance of tension and humor made it a funny and emotional watch without it feeling too heavy.

Additionally, the events in Captain Marvel tied in perfectly with last spring’s blockbuster, Avengers: Infinity War, filling in some of the gaps and setting things up for the next Avengers movie.

However, it never felt like the movie was made just to explain Infinity War or the upcoming movie, Avengers: Endgame; it could stand on its own as a great movie.

As the movie was set in 1995, directors brought in a mix of new and old characters.

Brie Larson played Carol Danvers, otherwise known throughout the film as Vers and Captain Marvel.

As both a no-nonsense and quick-witted character, Larson’s character was a refreshing take on superheros and was more balanced than others have been in the past.

Her training taught her to be tough and efficient during fights, but her sarcastic personality came through in everyday situations.

While Larson’s character was definitely the central focus, the supporting characters were dynamic and added both humor and emotion.

Samuel L. Jackson reprised his role as a Shield Agent, Nick Fury.

There was a younger, dorky quality to his character that made him more relatable than in previous movies and broke the tension in serious moments.

His relationship with Goose, a cat that joins him and Danvers for most of the movie, was unexpected and hilarious.

Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), Danvers’ best friend from the Air Force, added emotional interest to Danvers’ backstory and stood on her own as a dynamic character.

The bond she shared with Danvers was strong and connected the viewer to her immediately.

Additionally, Rambeau’s relationship with her daughter was sweet and help round out her character.

A character with an interesting arc was Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), the leader of a group of aliens called Skrulls who invaded Earth.

His character development was unexpected and a refreshing twist on typical villains. Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) was a tough mentor for Danvers.

While his character arc wasn’t particularly original, it fit the story well and led to an exciting conclusion.

The music throughout the film added to the story.

The score, composed by Pinar Toprak, helped add tension and emotion without becoming a distraction.

Additionally, the use of songs from the 90’s helped make the movie feel more realistic and added a fun element to certain scenes.

The visuals were fairly good.

Most of the movie takes place on Earth, although a portion of it takes place in outer space and on another planet.

There weren’t any moments where the CGI was glaringly obvious, though if you paid attention, you might have noticed it a few times.

The costuming for the Skrulls could have been slightly more well-polished; there were several times when the costume was distracting when it should have fitted seamlessly with the character.

Overall, Captain Marvel was a fresh spin on typical Marvel tropes and created a great original movie with the MCU’s first female lead.

A Casual Review – Devil May Cry 5: The sequel worth waiting 11 years for

March 12, 2019 by Xiao Liang Leave a Comment

Capcom has unleashed yet another great work of art into the world.

Just two months after the release of Resident Evil 2 remastered, Devil May Cry 5 has arrived and brought joy to fans of the series.

For people who aren’t familiar with the DMC franchise, it is an action game developed and published by Capcom, which tells the story of Dante the devil hunter and his companions.

The story of DMC 5 takes place a few years after the events of DMC 4, Nero, one of the protagonist of the game encounters a mysterious demon who rips off his demonic arm “Devil Bringer” and escaped with it.

A few days later, a mysterious man named “V” comes to Dante’s office and hired him and his companions to kill a certain returning demon, who happens to be the one that took Nero’s arm.

The plot of DMC 5 is a bit hard to understand without information from the previous games, luckily the game has included a video that quickly summarizes the history of the DMC universe.

However, it is recommended for the player to watch other related videos online or actually play the previous games, the experience of playing Devil May Cry 5 afterwards would be much better.

The gameplay of the franchise primarily focuses on fast-paced, stylish combat and is mostly well-known for this reason.

Visually, the game looks good, the character designs looked absolutely stunning, but there wasn’t anything else worth noting or mentioning.

The game’s soundtracks are probably one of the most memorable parts of the game, especially the character battle songs.

Not only are they great to listen to while hacking down demons, but they are also catchy and get stuck in your head.

In DMC 5, the player gets the chance to play three different characters within the story: Dante, the legendary devil hunter who focuses on multiple combat styles; Nero, who is outfitted with different types of “Devil Breaker” prosthetic arm; and V, a mysterious man who summons demons to aid him during fights.

Each playable character has a very distinctive style of combat and characteristics, which are all very fun to play.

The weapons that the game has to offer are crazy fun, from Dante’s motorcycle power-saw and akimbo rocket launcher to Nero’s prosthetic arm that acts as a homing missile fist.

The developers were very creative with the weapon designs of the game; there is even a DLC item in the game that gives Nero a spinning pasta fork for his prosthetic arm.

Gameplay-wise, Devil May Cry 5 feels just like its prequels: It is over-the-top, flashy and amazing.

Almost every aspect of the game is cool to look at.

The cutscenes have the same style of direction as the previous games, but they just never get old.

Even the simplest things such as calling the van (which serves as the in-game shop) have ridiculously actionpacked cutscenes, and each of them are very different from each other.

Like the previous games within the series, Devil May Cry 5 focuses a lot on stylish combat.

While constant button mashing is completely viable, the game encourages players to try out new combos and weapons by showing Stylish Rankings ranging from D to SSS during every battle.

It’s very satisfying to hear the in-game announcer go from saying “Dismal” to shouting out “Smokin’ Sexy Style!” when the player has reached SSS ranking.

The difficulty of the game is pretty balanced.

It took me around 10 hours to finish my first play through on Devil Hunter Mode (regular difficulty).

The level design is pretty straightforward with hidden secrets here and there, and the enemy variety and design were very interesting.

The boss fights of the game are quite memorable as well.

There aren’t any “filler” bosses in the game: Each boss encounter is unique and pretty challenging.

While Devil May Cry 5 is a fairly linear game, it has decent replayability.

After beating the game on normal, the player will unlock New Game Plus and a harder difficulty for a skilled player to play through.

If the player managed to beat that as well, an even harder difficulty will be unlocked until all the regular and special difficulty levels have been unlocked.

The game will also be receiving an update for Bloody Palace in April, which will give the players the opportunity to fight against endless waves of enemies and bosses and earn rewards.

To conclude, Devil May Cry 5 is probably the best action-hack and slash-style game that’s been released in recent years, and very much like it’s prequels, the game’s stylish actions and energizing music have created an extremely enjoyable experience for its players.

The game is currently available on PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Men’s lacrosse showcases program in new documentary

March 12, 2019 by Jesse Villaverde 1 Comment

Promotional material for “On the Prowl.” The lacrosse team documentary had input from their alumni, players and coaches, the team effort resulting in a 28 minute documentary. Photo by Florida Tech Men’s Lacrosse.

The Florida Tech men’s lacrosse team released a new documentary last month showcasing their fall season.

“On The Prowl” is a 28-minute documentary that shows the different aspects in the sport, including practices, games and scrimmages.

The documentary was released on YouTube on Feb. 14, with a screening open to the public at Gleason Performing Arts Center the day before.

Nick Bailey, a communications alumni, edited the video as a side project while he worked at the Florida Tech athletics department.

“It was something I wanted to do, even though I had no experience in working a documentary by myself before,” Bailey said. “Pretty much I would leave my job at Florida Tech and go film the lacrosse team.”

Bailey transferred to Florida Tech in the fall of 2015 and played lacrosse in the spring 2018 semester, and graduated in the previous fall semester.

Addison Abramson, construction management senior, and Tyler Oblong, business administration seniors, were the producers of the documentary and planned the idea with Bailey last summer.

“It made me really excited to get involved,” said Abramson. “We finished it the exact way we hoped about it.”

Bailey said that the whole team, including Coach Mark Penn, was on board with the idea at the start of the season.

“I wanted to showcase the program and expose the name of Florida Tech men’s lacrosse in the area,” said Bailey, describing the idea for the documentary. “I wanted to do something like that in the past, though I was busy with lacrosse and classes. I talked to the coach and [Addison and Tyler] and we started planning in July for the video.”

Penn became head coach in the fall 2018 season after serving as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for five seasons from 2014 to 2018.

“I loved the idea from the start, having a former past with the television industry. I got excited,” Penn said.

Before coaching, Penn worked in the television industry for 11 years for a sports network in Washington.

The idea was inspired by a documentary done by Tufts University in 2015, according to Abramson.

“They wanted to make something more artsy flavored, more music drive with different camera tech,” Penn said. “And they knocked it out of the park.”

As the season went on, Bailey filmed most of the footage with additional help from Charlie Morissette for drone footage, as well as Ryan Land and Will Eredeck, all of them lacrosse members.

“From day one, being out there on the field, everyone was like ‘Wow, this is different, there’s a camera on my face,’” Bailey said. “People were weirded out and the best thing I told them was to ignore me and go along. As they got more comfortable around the camera, we got to see more of their personalities and excitement while playing lacrosse.”

The men’s lacrosse team was the first team in Division II that filmed a documentary.

“It was made by a bunch of people considered as amateurs, but it turned out to be professional work,” Abramson said. “Everyone was blown away by it.”

As his first season as head coach, the documentary Lacrosse continued showcased Penn’s coach ethics and training in the program, as well being the opening interview.

“It’s really cool to see something that’s unique and can capsulize the moments of the team being enthusiastic of lacrosse,” Penn said. “It’s a great tool as a coach to reflect on that enthusiasm and didn’t realize how much I would be in it.”

Alongside Bailey and his equipment, the lacrosse team reached out to Florida Tech Video Productions to record the interviews in their studio and borrowed their equipment.

Bailey says that the contribution of FITV was a tremendous help in filming the interview scenes for the film.

“They were super awesome and the documentary wouldn’t have been possible without them,” Bailey said. “There were three or four guys that took their time out of their days to help us out without wanting to get paid.”

After posting the documentary online, Penn received a lot of feedback from alumni and other coaches in the lacrosse sport around the country, as well as recruiters interested in Florida Tech.

“I was overwhelmed by the amount of feedback and got recruiting interest immediately,” Penn said. “I hope the school sees this as a good way to represent ourselves in the variety of athletics.”

When discussing about plans for future media content, Abramson hopes for more media content for the lacrosse team’s social media.

“Nick was the best filmer that the team ever had,” Abramson said. “Replacing him is gonna be a hard challenge for us.”

With the boost publicity from the documentary, the team became the second most followed team on Twitter and Instagram in division II.

Penn is open to the idea of creating another documentary about the games of the Spring 2019 season.

“I think you can make a different, unique perspective every season; though ours inspires people to do other types of things,” Penn said. “I hope somebody else would something like it because it was the student-driven style that gave it the unique spin.”

The documentary was featured on Florida Tech Sports and can be viewed below this article.