Sam Levin ’14 breaks down stickball powerhouse Uncle Fester’s Extended Family as they head into the postseason. This team is no joke as they have all the tangibles and intangibles that are critical aspects of championship winning teams. Think about the 2011 Boston Bruin’s, the 04′ Red Sox, and the ’12 Miami Heat. Put those teams together and you have Uncle Fester’s. Give it and listen and enjoy.
Dost thou even hoist, Brethren? Arm ye self with any weapon, let it be a sword, a “two-hander,” hammer or bow because we are reviewing Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, a PC only Medieval 1st/3rd person online sword fighting game developed by Torn Banner Studios. It’s an Indie game, which means that it wasn’t made by a high end well known game company, in other words an independent developer. So is this game any good? I’m happy to say that this is one of the best Indie games you’ll buy and this review shall give you the details on why. HAVE AT THEE!
Story
There is no actual story in this game because it’s a multiplayer only game, so all you will know after playing it is that there is 2 factions: the Agatha Knights (the good guys) and The Mason Order (the bad guys).
Gameplay and Controls
This game is a 1st person (and also 3rd person) sword fighting multiplayer game, in which you can choose different types of matches such as Free-for-all, Team Deathmatch, Team Objective or King of the Hill to name a few. You get to choose to fight as a Mason or Agatha Knight, each faction has 4 classes; an archer that uses bows, crossbows, and javelins, a soldier or “Man-at-arms” that uses one-handed weapons and relies on agility, the Vanguard which has more power over speed and uses “two-handers” and is also the only class that uses pole arms, and the knight that has the heaviest armor and can use long swords and axes. The controls are very simple and responsive, one of the best things about this game is the combat system; you can do horizontal swings with the left mouse button, an overhead swing by scrolling the mouse wheel down, a thrust by scrolling the mouse wheel up, and the right click for parrying and blocking.
Graphics
For an Indie developed game, it looks pretty nice when set on the highest quality. It uses the Unreal Engine which makes the game feel quite realistic. The blood, gore, physics, and battlefields in the game all look and feel really good. If you have a good computer, you will enjoy this game to the fullest.
Overall this is a really good game, Torn Banner Studios did a really good job with this project and deserve all the support they need to keep this game alive. You rarely get to see medieval games this good so you should definitely buy it!
Filed under Arts & Life, Features, Opinion, Technology, WAOF
As Elizabeth Colbert Busch’s Tuesday defeat comes as a surprise to many who saw South Carolina’s 1st Congressional seat showdown as fair play for Dems looking to have a presence in a predominantly conservative district, think again. Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford snuck in the back door as Busch failed to mobilize enough democratic and minority support, ultimately allowing the scandal-ridden Sanford to win by a 54 to 45 percent margin, with nearly three quarters of precincts reporting at around 9:00 pm. This comes at a time where major democratic legislation is scheduled to see a real push come fall time, including a thoughtful effort to pass common sense gun reform. This is a problem for the Obama administration, who are still 32 seats shy of a majority in the House, which hardly makes any of the aforementioned policy initiatives a clear mandate. Yet, how did Sanford, whose public polling numbers had him trailing Busch in the final stretch, eke out this win? In fact, why didn’t we see more effort on the part of democrats as a whole that had the advantage of this being a national political interest, chip away at an already unstable Republican majority?
Google released its street view option with Google Maps in 2007. If you haven’t seen it, a Google car goes around and takes photos to document the world and is easily identifiable. People that know the car is down the street set up things so they can look funny for the world to see. Some things however, aren’t meant to be seen by the world…
1. The Sitting Scuba Divers
These people got some friends to call them when the Google car was down the road and threw some scuba gear on. When we first saw this, we thought it was funny, but then we realized that there are actually people in Norway who own a scuba suit.
2. The Google Car Runs Through a Parade
We can’t even imagine how awkward the google driver felt at this moment. Although, this parade looks like it’s in the worst street. I mean, if you’re going to dress up and have a parade, at least do it on a main road.
3. The Birdman
We have no clue how this guy even got the idea of making a suit like this. Even though this is hilarious, we think that it was set up. Although, if you see the picture above of the marching band, these pictures were taken on the same street… must be a screwed up neighborhood.
Filed under Arts & Life, Features, Opinion, Technology, WAOF
MGMT – “Alien Days”
Columbia Records, 2013
Psychedelic Rock, Noise Rock, Surf Rock
Now would be a good time for MGMT to swing back around with a well informed, carefully crafted album. 2013’s a great year for music, their last album was generally panned for its different sound and mood…now is the time for Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van-Wyngarden to show their musical ability, right? Right?
MGMT recently released the newest sneak peek to their upcoming 2013 album, the track “Alien Days,” was a limited edition Record Store Day cassette release. “Alien Days” reflects a similar sound to MGMT’s sophomore album, Congratulations, but features more elements of noise rock and psychedelic rock on top of their acoustic strumming. “Alien Days” starts with an unusual but bright vocal harmony, a very cool neo-psychedelic start to the song, that is later forgotten when overshadowed by less interesting acoustic progressions. As the song progresses, backing electric guitar riffs become more prevalent and noisy.
Both the psychedelic rock and noise rock aspects of this song make Alien Days more influenced and layered, however the sole progression of the song isn’t very interesting. Similar to the recent release by Thee Oh Sees, the songs themselves sound like they could be interesting, but when really listened to, have riffs that don’t stay fully captivating throughout the each song. The beginning of “Alien Days” was so captivating because it was different from the growing riffs that take over the rest of the song. While I like that MGMT is showing their influences more in their musical production, they don’t reflect these influences well enough to keep the song fresh.
Strong 6/Light 7
Filed under Arts & Life, Features, Multimedia, Opinion, Technology, WAOF
“Always On My Mind” by The Pet Shop Boys
Let’s start this week’s song mash-up with this classic techno-ish cover of Elvis Presley’s “Always On My Mind”. Give it a shot and get hooked on this one.
“Dota” by Basshunter
Right up next we have the famous Swedish DJ with this smash hit that might ring a bell or two when you listen to it. No, it’s not the Swedish version of “all I ever wanted” if that is what you are thinking.
“On Melancholy Hill” by The Gorillaz
Reaching the lists again is the great Gorillaz with yet another smashing hit, this soft electronic love song will relax you with its melodies. If you haven’t listened to it yet by now then do it!
“Sandstorm” by Darude
Let us finish this week’s roundup with one of the first techno/dance/trance songs we heard while growing up. Looking for old school techno? Then look no more.
Filed under Arts & Life, Features, Multimedia, Opinion, Technology, WAOF
