Resident Evil 2 (2019) Review

Resident Evil 2 (2019) is the long-awaited remake of the beloved second installment from 1998 in the classic Survival Horror franchise, helping bring a more modern take using elements from more recent installments such as 4 and 7.

 

The game remains set in the fictional Raccoon City, where two people traveling there find themselves caught in the middle of an outbreak that has resulted in creating hordes of zombies and mutated creatures, searching for a way to escape while uncovering the truth of how it all started. While there are a few changes made, the story is largely the same as the original, with nothing really contradicting how everything already happened. This allows for a couple of mysteries and surprises for those who already played the original game.

 

The visuals are obviously improved to meet the standards of current games of this generation, using the game engine from 7 to give much more detail to the environment and enemies, showing the horrific imagery such as the grotesque monsters and/or the brutal killings in all their bloody disgusting glory. A lot of it will still look familiar to older fans, while also altering other parts to help it stay fresh. Either way, it’s quite impressive to look at, even if your heart or stomach can’t take it as well as your eyes.

 

The gameplay returns to its classic roots of giving you the option to either fight or run away from zombies, depending on the weapons or items you have and how much of them you’re allowed to carry. Healing items and ammo are in limited supplies, so you have to be careful of how you use them up, which has always been a source of tension. There’s also a few puzzles you need to solve in order to escape. It of course has all come a long way, and is improved upon for today’s audience.

 

While zombies are slow for the most part, there’s still a chance for them to grab you while you’re busy running and shooting. Aiming for the head isn’t gonna cut it this time, and they can follow you to most of the other rooms. One monster in particular is a near-indestructible brute that will keep looking for you no matter how much you run or hide. There’s a lot of suspense with having to deal with him menacingly coming your way and smashing you to the ground. There’s a lot of strategy involved with having to deal with all these creatures, as you still need to save some stuff for the bosses that you’ll definitely have to fight. So make sure you have enough firepower to take those on.

 

Overall, the game stays true to the original terrifying experience from 20 years ago, while still using the later improvements to the series to truly make it a new take on an old favorite. While some things are still removed or heavily altered, it doesn’t stray too far from what people originally got in the day. Even keeping some extra content for after already finishing the game so that you can keep playing some more afterwards. With all the expectations this remake had to live up to, it manages to do the original game justice.

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Spider-Man Review

 

After several crappy games, Spider-Man is back and given a new lease on life thanks to developer Insomniac games. The game takes a different turn with the story than most Spider- Man games have in the past. This time around Peter Parker is an adult in his early 20s and works as a lab assistant for Doctor Otto Octavius. Shortly after defeating classic Spidey villain The Kingpin a new villain appears named Mr. Negative. Now Spider-man must stop him and bunch of other villains from wreaking havoc on the city.

The game’s story also ditches Spider-Man’s classic origin story and decides to tell a new story outright. Spider-Man is an open world giving you the entire city of New York to play around in. Like most open world games, there are tons of side activities to keep you distracted from completing the main story. The activities vary from finding backpacks throughout the city, taking over enemy bases, to even taking pictures of famous landmarks throughout the city. There are also random crimes throughout the city that you can stop to earn not only experience but crime tokens as well. There are also research stations in the game that have you do research on various things like throwing toxic barrels out of the ocean and rerouting satellite signals. There are also side missions in the game that are also a lot of fun as well. Web slinging does take a little getting used to but it is satisfying and web swinging throughout the city is a blast and very relaxing at the same time.  You can also web zip to make travel through the city faster as well.

Combat is also very satisfying. While you do have your punches and kicks that you throw at your enemies, you can also use your web slinging abilities as well webbing enemies up and using web swinging kicks on them. You also have a focus meter that when full you can either heal yourself or perform a finisher on an enemy. All the side missions that you do in the game give you different tokens that you can use to unlock different gadgets and different costumes in the game. You can also use the various tokens to upgrade your gadgets as well. There are several points in the game where you will play as Mary-Jane Watson and Miles Morales. While you only play as them a few times in the game they still are pretty fun to play. Their missions are mostly stealth missions with you sneaking past guards to get to a certain objective. There are also science puzzles that you solve throughout the game as well. These range from matching up DNA strands to rewiring circuits, while you are required to do them during the main story you can skip if you are stuck or you just don’t feel like doing them outright. Another side activity that you can do in the game is stopping random crimes throughout the city. They range from stopping a bank robbery, to stopping a car jacking, to stopping a kidnapping. All the random crimes in the game happen throughout different parts of New York. There are also stealth portions in the game where you can sneak up on enemies the traditional way and use your gadgets to take out enemies stealthily,  but you can also use stuff in the environment to take out enemies as well.

While as great as this game is there is really only one problem with it and that is that the game can be glitchy at times. For example, when I was playing the game I clipped through a police station and was unable to get out. The game also crashed on me a few times. Aside from that I thought the game was great and I had a lot of fun playing. Spider-man is exclusive to PS4 and is rated T for Teen. My final score for Spider Man is a 5 out of 5.

Nathan B.

 

 

The life of Thomas Alva Edison

Who he was-Thomas Edison was an inventor. He was born on Feb. 11, 1847. To middle class parents in the town of Milan, Ohio. He had adhd which meant he had a hyper active behavior which made his teachers upset and impatient. Thomas Edison never stopped asking questions and had a self centered view on life. He was deemed “odd” by his peers. He started his job as a newspaper salesman. He peddled out by the railroad track.

 

Three things Thomas Edison was famous for-

1.The first electric vote recording machine

1. He helped Benjamin Bredding make the first two way telephone.
2. He invented the first practical dictaphone

What are your thoughts about this person?

Edison was very smart and used his skills to create better items for the world. He had difficult beginnings and people didn’t always understand him but he persevered and never give up. I believe Thomas Edison is the most influential person that ever lived.

 

WWW.ThomasEdison.com

My trip to the Out of Africa Wildlife Park

During my winter break from SEEDS I had fun with my family, celebrating Christmas, going on our yearly trip to Williams AZ., and the most interesting thing we did exploring Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde. When we got to the park we saw a big bird cage filled with different kinds of parrots and lovebirds. We the got on a shuttle to the other side of the park, it was a bumpy ride. There we saw other animals like, ring-tailed lemurs, marmosets, a sloth, lions, wolves, tigers, and hyenas. We stopped for food then sat and watched the Tiger Splash show. The tigers were running around the pool playing with toys like giant house cats. It was cold hat day and I didn’t expect any of the tigers to go in the water, but once one of them noticed there was food on a raft it went for it and dived right in. But because it was cold and rainy the week we went, we had to track trough lots of mud. I was okay though because with all the fun I was having I didn’t mind getting muddy. There was a zip-line over the animals, my little sister was the only one of us brave enough to do it. She told me it was fun and didn’t feel like she was that high up. The last thing we did was go on the safari tour. We got to go on the safari bus and drive around close to the animals. Also on the safari tour we could feed a giraffe or a camel named Humphrey. The all the other animals on the tour had teeth that would hurt if it bit you while trying to feed it. Some of the people put the treat near their face to get a giraffe kiss. A kid sitting behind me tried to do that to one of the giraffes named Pilgrim. But Pilgrim almost missed and got me, but I ducked in time and didn’t get a sticky giraffe kiss. At the end of the day we all had fun at The Out of Africa Wildlife park and would definitely recommend going to visit.

~Breanna D.

~All photos taken by Breanna D.

Suicide Squad Review

 

The film Suicide Squad was released August 5, 2016, one day before my 31st birthday. Set in the DC Comics Expanded Universe, the film is a character study on the broad range of criminal insanity and the worst side of human nature. In a polarized world of good vs. bad, the baddest of the bad at a high security prison are forcibly drafted by the US government into Task Force X, a Secret shadow operations group tasked with performing deadly wetworks missions in return for reduced criminal sentences. Each criminal exhibits a different streak of nasty behavior that is complex and surprisingly relatable to. No person is perfect, and even among bad people there are positive elements.

 

Former psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel was assigned to analyze the criminal mind of the psychotic Joker, but instead fell under his sway and grew to love him, becoming an insane murderous harlot herself known as Harley Quinn. Floyd Lawton is a deadly hitman known as Deadshot, with an almost supernatural affinity for firearms of every make, model, and era. A serious professional, he tries to set a good example for his teenage daughter, who is the reason for his work ethic of contract fees paid up front, and no women or children killed. George Harkness is Australian rogue Captain Boomerang, dressed like an aristocrat, but who is callous, brutal, and self-centered who does not get along well with anyone. He is a professional bank robber and a member of the criminal group called the Rogues, who are united in fighting against the Flash. Waylon Jones is Killer Croc, a former circus performer and a genetic freak with reptilian traits, including great physical strength, thick scaly skin, and sharp teeth. He harbors a deep hatred of the human society that shuns him. Chato Santana is El Diablo, a tormented former criminal gang leader who shuns his powers of pyrokinesis after destroying his family and home by mistake.Together they are controlled and monitored by subdermal implants placed within their necks that mark their location and can be remotely detonated if the subject misbehaves, hence the name Suicide Squad. Control of the implants rests in the hands of squad field commander Rick Flag, a highly skilled soldier and veteran of countless black-ops missions. At Flagg’s side is Tatsu Yamashiro, a woman known as Katana, armed with a mystical sword that steals the souls of it’s victims.

 

The Squad is assembled and sent to fight against the Enchantress, a malevolent ancient mystical spirit possessing the body of the archaeologist June Moone. Moone was a former lover of Rick Flagg before she was possessed while researching magical artifacts in Asia. By disturbing the magical vessel containing the Enchantress, she gained incredible magical power, but was enslaved by the dark spirit who sought to destroy the world of men who once worshipped her as a god. June was slowly corrupted by the sorceress while under the employ of Amanda Waller, the government official who is responsible for founding the Task Force X Program. Waller, herself, is ruthless and unforgiving, concerned only with completing the given mission,no matter the cost or collateral damage.
The film is a showcase of good, bad, and ugly in  various shades of human nature working, or at least trying to work together, to defeat a greater evil. In the process, the criminals become slightly better, or at least better understood. Harley’s love/hate bond with the Joker becomes more believable, Diablo comes to terms with the ghosts of his past, Boomerang improves his social skills, Deadshot vows to be a better role model for his daughter, Croc regains some of his humanity working with other outcasts, Katana wields her cursed blade for a good cause, and coldly professional Rick Flagg finds someone to relate to in June Moone. In my imaginary superhero alter ego Rain Man, I would be brave yet reckless, professional yet hot-headed, both compassionate and arrogant, funny and serious in equal measure, a clever sense of humor but able to use words as potent weapons to support people in need of help and disrupt the actions of those who oppose me, and to point out the good and bad in everyone. I would also control the forces of rain and lightning and use weather-related humor while doing good for humanity. 

By Erik

Wood Department review

 

Hi my name is Megan and the wood department is what I want to talk about today. The wood department is my favorite because I’ve worked in there the most and Ed is a really good instructor. There are two instructors in the wood department. One works from Monday to Thursday and the other one only comes in on Wednesday. Ed is the one who works at SEEDs all week and Al goes on Wednesday. Ed is the instructor who taught me how to use the lathe in wood turning. One of the previous instructors, Brian, taught me how to use the bandsaw. I hurt myself once by not paying enough attention to what I was doing and accidentally cut myself. After the accident though I was able to restrain myself from getting cut any more on the bandsaw and work towards being better in the wood department.

I first started working at Seeds in 2014 and when I did, Mary Ann thought I should work in the wood department. At first I was a little bit worried and scared, but after a while I got used to it. Working with Ed has helped me tremendously and I was able to further understand how to work in the wood department. The things I’ve made in the wood department include: salt and pepper shakers, acorn boxes, handles for pizza cutters, garden forks and wine bottle stoppers just to name a few.

The skills I’ve learned so far in the wood department range from job skills to conversation skills. I also learned how to cope with situations that you don’t always agree with. Even when you’re faced with something you’ve never done before, you learn how to deal with it as time goes on and it gets easier and easier to do. I was patient with myself so that I could adapt easier to what I was doing in the wood department. And I was also able to be persistent with what I was doing right when I was in the wood department so that I could better adapt to working in there.

The wood department has taught me many things including being persistent, learning to be able to cope with different situations, job skills like focusing on the task, following instructions, attention to detail, and most importantly listening to the instructor. One of the reasons I love working in the wood department is that the instructor Ed has helped me overcome a lot of difficulties to be able to work in that department. Another reason is that he has taught me how to cope with situations and work on the lathe which was a new experience for me.

Personal Stake and Analysis of Silent Hill 2

Introduction:

Very seldom in our lives something comes along to change all of what we know. For some that can be a book, movie, event or even a person. However, more recently video games have had quite the impact on the art world. Not only in presentation, but also in design and in some cases story. It is the combination of these different aspects of a game’s creation that make it a whole experience. With these experiences, games have become more than mindless button presses, but instead have grown into a powerful symbol of what humankind is truly capable of. For better or worse games truly personify the deepest and often darkest desires in the human heart. It may seem like rambling but there is in fact a point to all this. That being Silent Hill 2. What I often consider to be one of the greatest if not the best works of art in the history of mankind.

Analysis:

It starts off simply enough. A man named James Sunderland receives a letter in the mail. Suspiciously, though it was sent from his wife who lost her battle with cancer some years ago. It told him to come meet her in their “special place.” James of course interprets this to be in the town of Silent Hill due to the time they had spent there together in the past. It is a  place of rather unfortunate history with the occult which may or may not be the reason why the town has many disappearances.

The story of Silent Hill 2 has an interesting set up from the get go and continues throughout to impress. In fact, the story is one of the most impressive parts. The investment in the overall presentation really moves you forward in the game. Honestly, James Sunderland’s plight starts to feel much like your own. Before I noticed anything I was completely invested. I had to know what happened next. However, that is where things get most difficult. This is a horror game after all. To advance means you must face new horrors that block the path to your destination.

To this day the creature design is by far the most impressive I have seen to this date. Keep in mind this video game originally released September 24, 2001 so it has aged quite a bit. However, one abomination sticks out above the rest and since the release has been a symbol of Silent Hill as a series. It is none other than the monstrous Pyramid Head or as James Sunderland liked to call it “Red Pyramid Head Thing.” According to the history of the town of Silent Hill, back when they still killed individuals, they had executioners. Not any normal executioners by any means. They were very cruel individuals who in a way are being punished themselves by wearing massive pyramid like structures on their head. They wore what seemed to be a butcher outfit on their bodies and often carried massive knives and spears to finish others off. Now Pyramid Head is sort of the antagonist to the story. He is supposed to symbolize James Sunderland’s guilt or his inner felt desire to punish himself for the misdeeds he has done.

Throughout the story James encounters Pyramid Head only to run away. Never encountering him on a meaningful level. That is up until near the conclusion of the game when instead of giving in to despair, he decides to fight with all that he has barely scraping by in the fight that follows.

One of the main reasons I repeatedly come back to this title is the music or sound effects. All of which was designed by the esteemed Akira Yamaoka. Over the years he has composed numerous pieces for video games like Contra: Hard Corps, Gradius III, Gradius IV, and Killer is Dead. For Silent Hill 2, Akira Yamaoka specifically set a theme of sort of a dark, ambient and emotional set of sounds. He often considers it his “magnum opus” or his best work yet. Many would be inclined to agree with him in this regard due to the fact that many consider it to be his best just in the Silent Hill series alone. It has a way that conveys emotion that can move even the coldest of hearts. However, some of the background music that comes with it also brings feelings of great discomfort. A sort of creeping feeling of despair with very little hope to go on. Overall the soundtrack captures the mood of the game perfectly and without any noticeable flaws. I could honestly say that the soundtrack of the game could stand well off on it’s own.

Now unfortunately, the game does have flaws. The flaws being mainly the age it released in. It can all be chalked up to the combat system of the game, which is clunky and often difficult to handle. One could argue that the combat was purposeful in showing that James was an amateur in fighting and therefore made it more difficult to confront the creatures roaming the dark depths of  Silent Hill. I would be inclined to agree that it does serve to make confrontations more difficult. Especially, how it emphasizes the “fight or flight” response when you come across a creature. You either have the option to fight or run from the creature. The option is usually up to the player. The only exception is Pyramid Head, but that is fundamental to James Sunderland’s story. My point is that the combat is flawed and frustrating at times, but as a whole it actually serves to improve the player’s experience in dealing with James’ plight and have them begin resonating with him.

Personal Stake: Conclusion

Now I could go on about how great Silent Hill 2 is but that is not what this is truly about. What this really is about is that the Silent Hill series (just in general) came into my life in a time when I felt so alone. I grew up with very few friends and I was a bit odd. I never really knew how to interact with anyone. To initiate conversation with anyone was like pulling teeth. I felt like there was no way to make a connection. The friends I knew went in their own direction and left me to my own devices for a time. What I did in that time really showed me how lonely someone could get. My only solace at the time was Silent Hill 2. I had found a copy of it at Bookman’s which at the time there was no short supply of them (virtually none can be found now). However, there was something special about the copy I had found. When I came home and opened the box I found that it was covered in a bunch of signatures which turned out to be some of the developers. I only came to know the true value of this item to me after I played the game. Playing through it really taught me how to look into myself and realize all of my strengths and flaws. It helped shape who I am and I think likely who I will eventually become.

Nick