Page 16 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt 9-11-15

Sept. 11, 2015
FLYE OVER16 www.aerotechnews.com/lukeafb
‘Ni No Kuni:
Wrath of the
White Witch’
by Airman 1st Class Cory Gossett
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role playing game released in the United States on Dec. 9,
2010, for the PlayStation 3 console. Previously released in
Japan on both the Nintendo DS and PS3, Western fans of
classic RPGs eagerly awaited the release of this game.
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by Studio Ghibli, a Japanese movie studio known for classics
such as “Princess Mononoke,” “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s
Moving Castle.”
The gameplay was handled by developer Level-5, known
for games such as “Professor Layton” and “Dark Cloud.”
This collaborative effort pays off creating a truly remarkable
experience.
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Motorville, USA, a scenic hamlet taken straight out of a 1950s
photograph of an American town. Oliver lives with his mom,
Alice, who suffers from a heart condition.
Oliver decides to sneak out one night to test his best friend’s
go-kart. As he’s careening down the path, something causes
the kart to lose control and Oliver ends up falling into a river.
Oliver’s mother goes to save him, but she exerts herself so
much that her heart fails and she dies.
Oliver is deeply saddened and starts crying in his room.
His tears drop onto a stuffed toy his mother gave him, and
to Oliver’s surprise, the toy springs to life.
Mr. Drippy introduces himself and states he is guardian
of a magical world but was imprisoned into the stuffed doll.
He tells Oliver everyone in this world has a soulmate, a
parallel version of a person who shares the same heart and
soul found in Mr. Drippy’s world. Mr. Drippy believes that
Oliver’s mother is the great magical sage, Alice, found in his
world. He explains that if Alice is still alive in his world, it’s
possible Oliver can save his mother from dying.
This is where Oliver’s journey begins.
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adventure and meets friends along the way who accompany
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around him.
I cared less about leveling up or getting the next piece of
gear and cared more about him as a person and his ability
to do well.
The combat is a mixture of traditional RPG styles that were
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combat, but they can also tame wild creatures in the magical
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Familiars, as they’re called, do battle against other crea-
tures and can gain experience and level up. Each one also
has the option to evolve after constantly being leveled up.
There are hundreds of unique familiars and collecting them
can be a fun task.
While Level-5 did a fantastic job of concocting gameplay,
its most distinct feature is its aesthetics. From magical for-
est and archetypical fantasy towns, to snowy mountains
and mysterious dungeons, there’s a variety of landscapes all
beautifully rendered and fully explorable.
This is one of the best RPGs for the PlayStation 3. It joins
the elusive ranks of PlayStation 3 RPGs that are not directly
owned by Sony. The main story is anything but predictable,
weaving intricate threats that leave you awestruck and
wanting more.
NTERTAINMENT
1/2
to entertainment
Welcome to the Fly Over, Luke’s source for
movie, book, video game, music and all things
entertainment reviews. Using a four-point
scale, the Thunderbolt staff provides in-depth
reviews allowing the viewer an opportunity to
decide what new and classic entertainment op-
tions are worth their time. The Know a Critic
section helps the reader choose critics who
have tastes similar to their own.
in the original prior to being executed in front of Marcus’s
1/4 - Save your money
2/4 - Wait for Netflix release
3/4 - Worthy of Dine-in Theater
4/4 - Bombs on Target
Know a critic
Cory Gossett is a “te-
chie” who enjoys building
computers and testing
the latest and greatest
that comes from the tech
industry. He also enjoys
watching “Star Wars,”
“Game of Thrones” and
the “Walking Dead.”
When not ‘geeking’ out,
stuck at a draw bridge.
guitar or spending quality time with his wife and
their 100-pound puppy, Buddy.
James Hensley likes to
give a movie a chance be-
fore taking the critic’s word
on it. He enjoys watching
action, thrillers, shooters how easy it gets after progressing on to the final act.
and more. He also enjoys
gaming and dominates in
the Titanfall multiplayer
game and the Halo fran-
chise. He’ll take you one-
Hensley on-one, but believes the
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Live is Overwhatch. That’s right, it has an extra “h.”
Thunderbolt
http://www.luke.af.mil
‘Gears of War:
Ultimate Edition’
by Senior Airman James Hensley
Finally, “Gears of War” has been remade for high defini-
tion with 60 frames per second and nearly an hour of extra
gameplay. Along with the first Gears game being remade for
the Xbox One, “Gears of War 2,” 3 and Judgment are now
backward compatible for the Xbox One.
The story mode has been redesigned from the ground up.
The feel and look of the game is still the same as the original.
The cinematics look much more impressive than the old ones
while still maintaining the same emotion.
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squad by General RAAM.
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cant fight right up to the end when the oversized, “roided
up,” General RAAM walks up and kills him with a knife.
One of the things I liked about this scene was they didn’t
overdo the gore like the gameplay. It’s a very critical moment
in the story for Marcus and would have been too distracting
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with the scene.
Extra gameplay was featured in the PC edition at some
point, but this is a first time for the Xbox users to be able to
play the extra chapters. The extra chapters, honestly, feel
just extra and almost unnecessary, but are entertaining
none the less.
In these extra chapters, Marcus, Dom, Baird and Cole have
left Marcus’s old family home via an armored truck and are
A brumak, which is a massive enemy with guns mounted on
it, is on their tail which causes problems for the team since
they need to restore power to the bridge to lower it.
Thankfully, the extra chapter flows decently with the
original story’s timeline. The problem I found with it was
how difficult it was compared to the previous chapter and
The difficulty in the game seems to have been upped a bit
for lower difficulties. That or I’m meant to play insane dif-
ficulty. What I mean is on normal difficulty I was having a
tough time staying alive against the enemies and have fun,
but after playing through on normal and jumping to insane,
I found it to be a lot easier. The game is designed to be very
The multiplayer has also been revamped from the first
Gears game. Although, this is where I feel the game is kind
of bad for people who just want to play with friends.
I picked up the game at the midnight release, or nine o’clock
in Arizona, and started playing almost immediately. I made
it to level three in multiplayer and called it a night. I hopped
back on the next day, which is technically the official first
day, and people were already at level 25.
Once upon a time, I too could play games straight through
the night and all day, but now I have a job.
To those who have attained the higher levels day one, stop
smack talking if you can’t back it up.
Overall the game is awesome but fell short for multiplayer
a bit. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan
of the “Gears” games and wants to revisit them before the
release of “Gears of War 4” comes out next year.
This game is rated M for Mature for blood and gore, intense
violence, and strong language.