Halo 5: Guardians

Zach Goodier

Halo 5 is the latest installment in the epic saga by 343 Industries. While the Master Chief is still a major character in the story, he now shares the spotlight with Spartan IV Jameson Locke, a former ONI agent who leads fire team Osiris, while the Chief leads Blue team, a group of Spartans he lead in the days before the first Halo games. They are on a struggle to find the truth behind the awakening of the Forerunner guardians: massive machines that are awakening all over the galaxy, destroying settlements as they awaken.

Osiris is the center of this story, and too little is done with them.

The story is, well, it’s pretty bad. It’s easily the worst of the Halo franchise, which isn’t itself a huge deal, but there is a lot of issues here. For one, the Chief is only around for about 3 of the 15 missions as a character, you spend the rest of the time as Locke. Too much of the story demands you invest in hours of expanded universe content to understand the characters and events taking place, which is a bad idea. To make matters worse, the game’s ending is very disappointing. I won’t spoil things, but the main problem is that there really isn’t an ending, just a massive cliffhanger to lead into the next game.

Some campaign levels are pretty, which is credit to the level design.

This bothers me because, while cliffhangers aren’t that big of deal, they need to at least wrap up a story arc in the game itself. While you could argue that you did finish a chapter by the end, the reality is that you fail to accomplish anything significant by the end of the game, and that any meaningful ending was put off until the next game. You could compare it to Halo 2, but I actually felt this game was even worse with its’ lack of a satisfying conclusion to the campaign.

Locke's hinted past is far more interesting than his tedious and uninspired present.

I came in expecting Reach quality of characters, which isn’t too lofty of a goal to reach, but aside from in-game dialogue, there really isn’t much going on. The only one who stands out is Buck, who many will remember from ODST. He’s with Osiris now, and makes the most of his limited time in the spotlight. Blue team never feels at all relevant as characters. Like Osiris, Blue team just feels like some almost useless extra guns, which are only marginally useful to heal you when you get downed.

Multiplayer is what you will enjoy, with new abilities and fun team combat.

So why would you want this game? Well, for better or worse, the multiplayer is the best ever. New modes, like Warzone, being fun and addictive, with teams competing for points in the middle ground before either assaulting the enemy base itself, or reaching 1,000 points by killing enemies and killing NPC characters that periodically spawn on the map, either Covenant or Promethean. The standard modes are back, but I quickly became addicted to Warzone. Unlocking cosmetic upgrades can be fun, and Warzone requisition packs allow you to spawn with some awesome weapons to suit the situation, but push micro-transactions on you. Overall, the multiplayer alone could be worth buying this game for, if you enjoy Halo’s brand of multiplayer.

Warzone levels are a healthy size for big team combat.

Overall, I’m torn with this game. I fell in love with the story of Halo, and I find this game to be a disgrace on that front. It felt thrown together with little care taken for the characters that we follow, and the destination is far from satisfying. 343 clearly put most of their effort into the multiplayer, which saddens me. However, I can’t argue with the results, since the multiplayer is fast-paced and fun. Still, the campaign is too bad to give this game any glowing recommendation for people like me, who want a good story first, and fun multiplayer a distant second.

Good:

-Awesome return of classic Halo multiplayer.

-Warzone is addictive, and promote good teamwork.

-Return of some of our favorite characters, like Lasky and Buck.

Bad:

-Chief isn’t the star of this show.

-Story is all over the place, and doesn’t end in any satisfying way, instead putting everything off until Halo 6.

-Characters are just thrown in, and little is done with them in the story.

Scully Rating: 6 out of 10

Bleach 586: The Headless Star 5

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/586

This week, the Quincy and Soul Reapers clash, while Ichigo attempts to chase down Juha Bach in order to stop him from invading the Soul Palace.  However, in his way stands his old friend, Uryuu, and he seemingly has no intention of letting Ichigo get by to face his true enemy.  Is Uryuu truly with the enemy, or is he holding out for the right moment to strike?  No way of knowing until we get the next chapters and find out.

Game of Thrones (Season 2)

Zach Goodier

(Note) The first paragraph contains most of the detailed spoilers, but there will obviously be a few around in the reviews, so be warned. 

*Season 1 spoilers*

With the rise of the new Lannister dynasty following the death of Robert Baratheon, and the revelation that king Jeoffrey is no true heir to the throne, there is now a civil war erupting over the Iron Throne.  Following the news of Jeoffrey’s lineage, Robert’s brothers, Stannis and Renley, each fight for the crown.  In the North, Robb Stark seeks to avenge his father’s murder and false accusation of treason against the crown, and to free the North from the Iron Throne, and become the first King of Winter in over 3 centuries.

*End Spoilers*

And remember, it does.

This season picks right up with introducing us to the contenders for the War of Five Kings, with an introduction to Stannis Baratheon, which we never had last season, as well as his “Red Priestess,” Melisandre.  Stannis’ “Hand,” Davos Seaworth, is concerned over the influence this woman holds over Stannis, and that leads to many interesting scenes in this season, as Melisandre constantly makes the audience wonder whether her intentions are truly in Stannis’ best interest, or if her unnerving magic is leading him astray.  Most of the other main characters are simply the ones we met last season, with a couple new additions of note appearing within the season.

  

Lord Stannis, King Robert's brother, and Melisandre, the mysterious "Red Woman"

The War provides a truly compelling element that we lacked in most of season one, actively pitting these characters against each other.  While season one contained a lot of politics and plotting, with a fight here or there, the war adds a military element to the game that keeps everyone on their toes.  While the Lannisters clearly have the other houses beat in terms of schemes and wealth, even their massive army isn’t invincible when contenders like Robb Stark and Stannis Baratheon prove to be very capable strategists.  Even at the end of the first season, we saw Robb prove himself a capable leader on the field. 

Davos is another addition, and a very relate-able and honorable man, despite his past.

Across the Narrow Sea, Dany is still struggling to recover from the end of last season, and her dragons (that’s right, she has DRAGONS now) are still too young to do her any good.  Still, Ser Jorah is at her side, guiding her and trying to help her back to power, but life is difficult without armies, wealth, or friends, so she has to strike out anew with her small band of followers to try to start over, which offers her a new perspective on the world and the importance of power and how it’s wielded.

Brienne of Tarth is another new face, and she place an important supporting role in the story.

In the north, the Night’s Watch moves beyond the Wall, to try to find out what threats lay beyond.  This journey takes most of the season, but we get a lot of added lore for the Night’s Watch, as well as some of the history and legends in the North.  The savage region is home to wildlings, and worse, as we’ve begun to see.  While this storyline seems to be isolated and not so important to the kingdoms, you quickly realize that these events are laying the groundwork for important events to come, and Jon Snow is forced to make some difficult choices.

Renly, Stannis and Robert's brother, has raised his own banners to take over Westeros.

This season is interesting, because the lines have been drawn, and the banners gathered, but clearly this is anybody’s game right from the outset, with nobody truly holding all of the cards.  Robb Stark and Renly Baratheon are certainly the most favorable men to lead of the group (both by the majority of the audience and by the majority of their subjects), but Renly lacks experience and the will needed to truly rule, while Robb lacks the soldiers and wealth that the other contenders have.  Tywin is certainly the favorite to win, with the deepest pockets, massive armies, and extensive experience in the field, but he finds himself with enemies at every front, and Robb in particular proves to be troubling for him because of his brilliant mind for both battle tactics and broader strategy.

"Impin' ain't easy."

After the end of season one, I wasn’t sure if I would continue to enjoy the series, due to how events played out in the story; however, I found myself still very much hooked, and characters such as Robb, Tyrion, and Davos, as well as some of the other new additions, actually manage to fill the void left after season one with much larger and stronger roles in this season.  Tyrion in particular becomes a standout character of the series, walking in a moral grey area where he isn’t a hero, but isn’t nearly as bad as his fellow Lannisters.  This, as well as Peter Dinklage and his excellent acting, actually make the show feel even better, somehow.

If there's one thing you need to know about GoT, it's that we HATE Joffrey... He is the Justin Beiber of Westeros, plain and simple.

The first season had a 10 rating from us, and season two, with its expanded visual effects, which you’ll see later in this season, truly adds to the sense of scale of this war, and just how dangerous the “game” has started to become, making the series even greater.  All of the storylines manage to progress at a natural, yet exciting pace, keeping the show well balanced between excitement and suspense, while not relying on action to keep those feelings going. 

Robb is in a tough position, but there's hardly a better man alive for the job than him.

If you have yet to pick up this series, or didn’t want to continue after season one, I would highly recommend you do so.  Despite the reservations even I had at some of the twists and turns this story took, the show still keeps going strong, getting even better in many ways, as I’ve already said.  As soon I started season two, I was hooked all over again, and for all the same reasons.  The story is original, suspenseful, exciting, and the twists and turns keep on coming.  While the raw and unrestrained elements definitely will alienate a sizeable part of potential viewers, as I’ve said of season one, it manages to entertain those who appreciate fan-service while adding to the brutal, dog-eat-dog feeling of the series as a whole.  Life in Westeros… well, everywhere actually… is brutal, and people survive however they can, and that’s one important element to this series that makes it feel original and unpredictable, and keeps people like me coming back for more time and time again.

Good:

-More excellent story

-Standouts like Robb and Tyrion, who have expanded roles from season one, as well as the extensive list of amazing characters that join them.

-THERE BE DRAGONS… even if they are still small.

-More twists, turns, and just plain awesome than you can shake a dozen sticks at.

Bad:

-Still a very RAW series, which doesn’t hurt my rating but should always be noted for potential viewers.

Scully Rating: 10 out of 10

Bleach 578: The Undead 5

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/578

Another short chapter this week, but we finally see some resolution to our fight between Kenpachi and Gremmy.  However, we still don't see that much of Nozarashi's abilities, aside from Kenpachi saying that there is nothing it can't cut through.  While that isn't an ability to belittle, it seems a little underwhelming for how long it's taken to reveal.  I'm hoping we'll explore his abilities more down the road, but for now it appears the fight is over.  I liked how Gremmy's final fate was tied to the weakness of his own seemingly unstoppable power.  Revealing the weakness of an ability to manifest any thought into reality really worked in this fight, and helped show how surprisingly feeble Gremmy could be when he faced a stronger opponent.  I still have reservations about his power, but it was a fairly satisfying conclusion.  We'll have to see who's going to be fighting next, so tune back in next week for the new chapter of Bleach. 

Grand Theft Auto 5 Official Trailer

By: Robert Murphy

I will now proceed to nerd out on all of you, more than I usually do that is because the new trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5 makes me want to pull an Eric Cartman and freeze myself till the day the game comes out because I just can’t wait. The video above shows off the three new characters that we will have the opportunity to play as and also gives a little back chatter about their lives and why they’ve come together. These three characters are Michael, Trevor, and Franklin and the video shows how in the game you can freely shift between each character and play as whomever you like and that applies to during story missions too. During a mission you can be playing as one character and if a situation gets too complicated you can switch to another player (if you planned your heist well) and have them assist your other characters. This brings up another aspect to GTA 5 and that is that players have the ability to plan out the missions however you choose to, many of the missions involve robberies and crimes and so you get to plan out these heists, whether it be clean and calculated or rough and guns blazing, it’s up to you. After the heists are over and you take your cut, you can do whatever you like with the cash and there is so much to do now in with all your cash, many features like buying properties and buying homes from previous games have been brought to GTA 5 along with the ability to invest in stocks and buy tattoos, cars and so much more. I’ve been literally drooling over all I’ve seen in this video for GTA 5 and I can’t wait till I get my hands on it, I hope you all enjoy the video and get the same feeling I did from it.