Reviews

       Metal Gear Rising Review

                                                                                                             by: Wyatt Tam

    Metal Gear Rising is a game about a cybernetic ninja named Raiden turning corrupt U.S officials and terrorists into mincemeat with an electric katana. The gameplay consists of the player running around an area and slicing enemies in half. The game is in the Hack and Slash genre which means the game emphasized combat with melee weapons. Metal Gear Rising has an overwhelmingly positive rating on steam. That means that almost everyone who has played the game has given it a positive rating. 


Another great thing about the game is the soundtrack. The lyrics of every boss theme tell the story of the boss you’re fighting at the moment aed in the boss fights. For example, in the fight with the fifth boss in the game, Sundowner, has an explosive shield that you have to cut just right to break and if you fail, you get blown back and have to restart. The boss fights of Metal Gear Rising are a test for the player to use everything they’ve learned so far. Such as the  first fight of the game with Metal Gear Ray. In this fight, you can dodge attacks but if you do, you’ll never find an opening to attack. In the end, this game is very good and I suggest that anyone with $30 free dollars should play it.

And the lyricist still makes it sound good by adding an amazing music track. The controls are insanely smooth for a game that came out in 2013 and it has a mechanic that no other game has been able to replicate since. The unique thing about Metal Gear Rising is a mechanic called Blade Mode where you slow down time and basically play a game of Fruit Ninja on your enemies. And this mechanic is very well utilized

           God of War Review

                                            by Daniel Zheng

   

God of War is an adventure norse mythology game where Kratos has to teach his son, Atreus  how to survive in the world. God of War has realistic graphics and is a story game, the story is Kratos’ wife, (Faye) has died and they must spread her ashes on the highest peak of all the nine realms. There are blacksmiths who will upgrade and craft items for you in exchange for hacksilver and other materials needed. Brok and Sindri (the blacksmiths) will give you more items to craft and buy as you get further into the story. The game has a variety of skills and upgrades for the Leviathan axe and you will also gain runic attacks which are attacks that are much more powerful than regular attacks. You can use the spartan rage which is unlocked early in the game.


As you get to one point into the game, you will get the Blades of Chaos. The Blades of Chaos are blades with primordial fires in them. You will have access to six realms, Midgard (the main realm), Helheim, Alfheim, Niflheim, Muspelheim, and Jotunheim (only once at the end of the story). There are many side missions by spirits and Brok and Sindri. However the enemies in this game are very limited, as the main enemies are Draugr, but the other ones are Reavers, Hel-Walkers, Revenants,Ogres, Dark elves, Ancients, Trolls, Tatzelwurm, Nightmares, Travelers,  and Vikens. Those sound like a lot but the story is very long.The characters you will find (as companions) in the game are Mimir,Brok, Sindri, and Freya. You can freely roam the world when you finish the story and you can upgrade your weapons and gear, you will not get all the upgrades for the Blades of Chaos or the Leviathan axe during the main story, you will need to enter Muspelheim or Niflheim to get the final upgrades.


Overall I think this is a very good game and the only downside is how limited the exploration is, you cannot explore Vanaheim, Svartalfheim, and asgard. The games will cost you 50$ on steam or on ps4 or ps5, but it is definitely worth it. Also if you finish the story once, you have the option to start a new game+, where you basically restart the story but you will keep your weapon upgrades, runic attacks, enchantments, xp, hacksilver, and basically everything except the arrows Kratos’ son will get since those are only obtainable in the story. Not only that, you will be able to have more armor options to craft and upgrade, the most important part of new game+ is that you will be getting new armor from killing the valkyries and the 9th Valkyrie is the hardest and might take you hours if you are inexperienced. This is my review and I rate it a 10/10, I 100% recommend this game.

  Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods     Author: Suzanne Collins

  by Aidan Young

The book I will be reviewing is Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, the book is filled with adventure, death, suspense, and excitement. The story of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods is like a rollercoaster of emotions. The main character/ protagonist are Boots and Gregor, Gregor is an eleven year old boy while Boots is a two year old girl. The story has two locations: New York where Gregor and his family lives and the Underland which is below New York where Gregor falls through an air vent and goes through a tall airway current down to the Underland. When Gregor goes to the Underland he is escorted to Regelia which is where the people of the Underland lives, there lives Luxa who is going to be the queen of Regalia and her grandmother and grandfather. There he must complete the Prophecy of the Warmbloods where a plague has occurred that will kill all of the Warmbloods. Doctor Neevee tells them there is a special plant, the StarShade which can cure the plague, Vikus assembles all the Warmbloods in the Underlands to see who will come with Gregor to help find the StarShade plant. After the meeting Gregor, Boots, Temp, Nike, Hamnet, Hazard, Frill , Rirpred, Mange, and Lapblood were all going through the forest and to the StarShade which are at the "The Vineyard of Eyes”.


The book has an amazing and shocking ending but you will need to read it yourself to find out. In this book the things I like about it are the adventure and excitement/suspense. The book always keeps you on your toes because anything good or bad could happen anytime. Another thing I like about this book is all the creatures in the book because you except strong, big animals that are usually in books, but in this one you can see a good variety of animals. Something I don’t like in this book is that sometimes it can get confusing with all the characters since this book includes lots of deaths and new existing characters. In conclusion I would totally recommend this book but also the series if you enjoy reading books with exciting/suspense and adventurous. 


                    Napoleon

                                                     By: Tyler Huang

Napoleon is an up-and-coming movie in late 2023 but it might be moved to November 2024. It talks about the history of the Emperor Napoleon. This movie features Joaquin Phoenix who is an American actor. Some awards that he has received are a Grammy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, an Academy Award, etc… I will be writing a review of the movie.

Napoleon is a true story about the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s about Napoleon’s origins and his climb to the emperor. Through his military prowess and his relationship with his wife. His rise to power from nothing. His conquest and reign of terror through Europe. Which made the other European powers turn on him.

Overall, the public's interest in the movie Napoleon is high. My opinion is with the crowd. I’m really excited for this movie. I would recommend this movie to people who like history. Through deep thought, I would give this movie a 5 out of 5.



Book review: 

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

                                 By Kaua dos Santos


 Although many do not think manga and anime are cool or good, I find that Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is one of the best and you should definitely check it out. First Jojo's bizarre adventure has a unique artstyle that changes between parts. In total it has 8 parts and is still going. Jojo revolves around a family called the joestars that has adopted an evil vampire called dio for the first few parts it mainly uses hamon (a form of breathing that gives the user powerful abilities) after part 2 most joestars get a stand. A stand is a manifestation of one's fighting spirit these spirits have different abilities for example one is able to stop time while the other can skip/erase time these stand make fights in the manga better and include more depth

 Second. It includes loveable characters. There being 8.5 parts there are tons of characters for you to love and adore (my favorite is Josuke Higashikata part 8) and not only that the villains are well made for example dio one of the main villains doest die until part 3 and even then he is still a problem after his death. Another reason why Jojo’s is a great manga is the story is well built they don't just make the main character fight the villain right away they sends some smaller enemies and then add some riddles and after all that THEY’RE STILL NOT EVEN CLOSE


Third, Most manga and anime communities have toxic and bad fan bases, but for Jojo most of the community is kind and nice. Since it has a lot of adoring fans it also has tons of fan made games. That's the reason I find Jojos to be a great manga and anime and why I think it is a must for people who are looking for an anime/manga to read. I hope my article has changed your mind and hopefully you will understand how good Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is.


This is a little about the author of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The writer of Jojo’s is Hirohiko Araki as of today november/7/2023 he is 63 years old and still writing Jojo’s. He started making Jojo’s in 1987 this book turned into one of the best selling manga in history.