Arts & Entertainment

“RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2”: MY EXPERIENCE IN COWBOY

By: Shidian Huang

Arthur Morgan is the first of 23 characters players of "Red Dead Redemption 2" may become, here as players meet him on the house. Photo by: Shidian Huang

 

 “Red Dead Redemption 2” (RDR2) is a game you should buy. The producer is Rob Nelson, and the game was released on October 25, 2018. People can play the game on the Playstation and Xbox. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a Western-themed action-adventure game set in an open world either a first or third person perspective. The player controls Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and a member of the Van Der Linde gang. The game features both single player and online multiplayer components.

    The game has a lot of freedom, The first thing you’ll do is create your character and start your journey from the Sisika Penitentiary, which is located in the eastern-most reaches of the game world. You’ll earn experience points that both raise your rank and offer bonuses, while unlocking items and increasing your character’s attributes. Or you can just go exploring and take missions from strangers. They even included story-like missions in which you have to raid an outlaw camp or perform a contract killing. In the game you can do a lot of other activities, such as being a good guy or a bad guy; you can be part of a gang, rob, steal, and staying on the run.
    RDR2 has a lot of realistic aspects in the game. When the player is on the horse, it is easy to fall like in real life. When you’re on the horse and you trip over by a rock or maybe you fall down from the mountain, you fall! When you die, you can respawn. “Red Dead Redemption 2” has a lot of new characters, and there is not going to be one story, but 23 stories. Every story has a new character, and different stories. In RDR2, they do not want the player to have one story in the game, so they added 22 more to make it more interesting for the player. The map in the game got bigger. They have two maps that are massive and can be pretty overwhelming to look at when you’re just starting out. You can choose to explore the map on foot, on horseback or you can choose to fast travel if you’re not one for sightseeing.
    My experience of Red Dead Redemption 2 is that they improved the game from the first, and the quality is better than the last game. Animation is smoother with over 300,000 different animations, which is especially impressive when you know many of them play out in-game. It also features around 500,000 lines of dialogue, which should make the in-game events and reactive dialogue feel fresh.

    Some people has complain that the main story is bad. Even though the main story is bad, that does not mean that the game is bad. If the game is bad, why would other people buy it? If people do not enjoy the story, at less they like the game.
  Red Dead Redemption 2 is my favorite game of all time. It is my first time playing a world (that this on the suburban areas, with frame and forests because most of the game I play is in the city or countryside). This game brings back the old days how we were living without technology.

TEEN TITANS RETURNS FOR A LIVE-ACTION SERIES DARKER THAN THE PREVIOUS CARTOONS.

By: Savinine Lin

 

 

 The original “Teen Titans” was a prominent animated series, beloved and watched by audiences far and wide, that ran from 2003 to 2006. As a kid, I remembered right after school rushing home and immediately turning on the TV to relish in the watch the show, even if I already watched the episode. I always believed that with the end of the show, it meant no more seeing my favorite characters. But last year, the superhero group with the boy wonder, the empathetic superheroine, the alien princess, cyborg and the shapeshifter with green skin returned to the TV screen, this time in the form of a live-action series, “Titans”. But not as the same group as I remember.

 The cartoon ran for about three seasons with the episodes having their own plots, a different supervillain, and a different agenda for each one. For the reboot series, there is a single plot where the group of heroes is fighting for one sole purpose which is finding out the truth behind Raven’s origins and what her father possibly wants from her. For the episodes, there are unanswered questions at the end, unlike the other cartoons where it seems that there’s always a happy ending.

 Besides the details and the plot, the characters, their powers, and the universe of the heroes, they all seem similar. The leader of the group is still Dick Grayson, a guy who’s conflicted with his mantle as Robin. But for characters like Raven and Beast Boy who are presented with different names like Rachel and Gar, it gives an opportunity for people who are watching for the first time to see them as someone else and watch them grow into the heroes. The creators of the show did the same for Kory Anders, who is more commonly known by the name Starfire but doesn’t reveal her backstory right away, perhaps building up for a subplot. Introducing the characters like this allow new fans to learn about the superheroes and grow with the group.

 Unlike the cartoons, the live-action series is more graphic with their action scenes. The visuals of the show are a lot better than what I expected, but they’re a lot darker in terms of them not being scared to show blood or people getting hurt. Although it may not be appropriate for some audiences, it’s a new take to the show and allows for the plot to demonstrate the heroes’ personality and their reasoning behind certain actions. For example, Grayson’s violent tendency shows his confusion in living a life someone other than Robin which is all that he’s known. But the show almost promotes the violence as a solution to the problems the characters have, which isn’t healthy and a toxic mentality.

 Another issue I have with the show is their interpretation of the characters. I think what’s so shocking is that it washes away the image of the team that I used to remember when I was younger. Adaptations of a character are never confirmed, but the show’s interpretation is different from any other I’ve heard.  Another major change to the cast is the lack of presence from Cyborg, a key character in the cartoons who has always been known as the comic relief of the show. He is an iconic figure in the team and having him not there is baffling because he was almost like the common sense the group needs and his knowledge of humanity which is different from Grayson. His personality is the distinction between the mentality of a hero and that of a human who doesn’t think from the mind, but from the heart.

 It’s not the show I watched when I was younger and I can’t compare it to the original. Still, “Titans” is enjoyable to watch and I definitely recommend it to others. The show is one that allows anyone to get into the world of superheroes, even those who may not know anything about it, and they can learn the characters and the universe through this.

AN INSIGHT AND REVIEW ON “THE HATE U GIVE”

By: Laila Boston

The top-selling book the hate U Give creates a movie based on the book. Photo by: Flickr

 

 

  “The Hate U Give”, is a empowering movie directed by George Tillman Jr. which gives People a visual perspective on an everyday crisis. The movie is based on the top selling book written by Angie Thomas.The international release was on October 5, 2018 in the U.S. This was also the same day I went to go see the film. When I first saw the trailer, I knew this was a movie I had to go see.The trailer had a heap of emotion which left me wanting more.“The Hate U Give”, relates to me not only as a African-American female, but a human.

 

  Multiple scenes in the movie show examples of ignorance, violence, and prejudice actions.  

  Visuals show police brutality, racism from different people, protests becoming riots ,and more. This makes the movie real and relatable, connecting to everything that's been happening lately in the U.S as well as years before. I love the choice of actors because they make you feel like your there in the exact moment with them which gave me so many emotions. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. The movie stars Amandla Sterling as Starr, a African-American teen living in two worlds just trying to balance both of them. Unfortunately, her worlds come together in a bad way. Viewers might think that would tear her down, but it makes her even more woke and stronger than ever.

 

  The movie awakens viewers no matter what race or age they are. This is great because it teaches people a lesson on real life problems and makes them reflect on their actions. What’s really great about this movie is it gives a visual picture to problems black people have grown accustomed to. In the film, it shows that Starr and her friend Hailey, played by Sabrina Carpenter, start to see each others true colors. Hailey begins to make questionable remarks on how during the whole altercation with the police, the officer was only doing his job and what happened to Starr’s friend Khalil, was his fault. Starr puts Hailey in the same situation grabbing a brush just like Khalil did in the incident then acts like the police in the incident telling her to “Stay down!” Eventually, making Hailey cry and putting her in the same position Starr and Khalil were in. This shows how people don’t understand your struggle and pain you have to go through until it happens to them personally.

  Overall, the movie made me laugh, cry, smile, get mad ,and even more. Through it all, the movie empowered me giving me a type of strength I know others probably felt as well. The violence can only stop if we stop it and put an end to it as the new generation. Starr stated a quote “THUG LIFE. The Hate U Give Little Infants F’s Everyone.” I see this as very true relating to the movie. It definitely gives an insight on an everyday crisis and teaches you how stand up for what you believe in by doing better.

By: Tommy Zhang

 

Mother please don't be angry

I fled to the ocean to show my devotion

Come back and flood you with wealth

To show you I put my dreams into motion

 

Get out! A man cannot be a man if he does not respect his mother

I nurtured you, sacrificed myself because I'm a born lover

How can a man be a man when fruits of your labor fall so far away from the tree

What is that you speak? A foreign dialect? I thought you loved me?

 

Mother so foreign she despises that tongue of mine

An abomination, unrecognized by the bloodline

A verbal shapeshifter, that's who I am

Native blood, native face

But unable to communicate with his own race

Complex lineage and ancestry he must trace

To return to his motherland, and his birthplace

 

Mother please don't be angry

I want acceptance, or love

one can build the other and both can build trust

Please embrace me and hold me like a glove

The ocean separates us but soon I will desert my home of mine

And conquer there waters and sail across the tide

By:Scott Wu

 

Runescape is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game released on January 2001 by Jagex. It was originally made as a browser game that ran on the programming language Java. It is a game about character development in a medieval fantasy realm with many monsters, bosses, and quests to do. To killing dragons, slaying other players, building a house, growing a farm, and raising pets, Runescape has it all.

There are two different Runescape games, so I will be talking about Old School Runescape, a free to play game that was made in 2013 based on Runescape Classic (2007). It is now a cross-platform game on both the computer and mobile devices. Old school Runescape mobile was released on October 30, 2018 and since then, it has gain a massive resurgence of popularity. On November 5th just 6 days after the release of mobile, it reached a record of 140,000 players online at once. The big first thing you will notice when playing is how chunky and bad the graphics are.  This game was based on the 2007 version, the game keeps a nostalgic feeling to old time players, making it unique. There are 27 skills you can level up in, 17 that can be accessed by F2P players. In order to unlock the other 10 skills, you must pay $11 a month for membership, or collect enough in game currency (gold) to buy an item called “Old School bond” to redeem it for 2 week membership.

But what makes Old School Runescape click? What makes it so popular? This is a game with simple gameplay, yet there are so many goals and tasks for players to do. Casual players who enjoy a simple game of goals and achievements with thousands of things to do and like to have the option to do a few more difficult things when bored make this game enjoyable for them. Why play a shooter game with immature children screaming at their mics when you can see your little character develop? “Runescape” isn’t a game where you can pick up professional skills in a matter of hours. In order to get “good”, you must spend a great amount of time with many quests and goals in the game. In the most popular shooter games, people can pick up skills very quick and learn, which makes gameplay extremely repetitive and boring.
 

There is a lot of content and different ways to play the game. You can finish quests for rewards, Player versus Monster activities, Player versus Player dueling, training skills, play mini games, or even collect items, etc. There are three different game modes, all having unique gameplay and mechanics. People can play as a normal account with access to everything, or be an Ironman. Ironman mode is a mode that requires the player to be self-sufficient and independent. They are not allowed to trade or gather items from anything other than monsters, making this objectively harder than a normal account. Another similar game mode to this is Hardcore Ironman, which is the same thing as regular Ironman but you only get one life. If you manage to die on your hardcore ironman, your status will be revoked and you will turn into a regular ironman.

I downloaded Old School Runescape on September 24th not knowing anything about this game whatsoever. I was interested in playing this game after a friend of mine online suggested it to me. I went through the tutorial island and learned about resource gathering and combat. I decided to look up online on what I should do, and there was a lot of stuff and guides for new players. Most guides tell me to do quests for experience rewards, some say to level up in your combat stats and gather resources at the same time. I was extremely stoked to finish the quests and gather money until I died on my character and lost everything. What I didn’t know at the time was you could pick your stuff up from the last place you died from. Ignorantly, I decided to take a break from the game a week. I became more motivated after I found out one of my online friends played the game and he’d promised me to gift me membership after I finished my F2P quests. My grind began, and it was a fun and experiencing adventure. What I did for wealth was cutting down trees, and selling them to people for gold. I eventually finished every free quest and got membership.

Two months with membership, I began getting into the “mid-game” very quick while being efficient. After getting membership, there was a lot to be done. 119 more quests and ten more skills have been unlocked for me, giving me a huge goal in this game. Not only did I had more access to the whole entire Runescape world, but there were also more boss fights, gear and items to obtain. Training skills and getting experience was faster than ever, getting around the world was much quicker as with getting money. It gave me a huge feeling of satisfaction, both knowing a game like Runescape could be played casually and intensively.

I’d definitely recommend playing this game if you are tired of games with huge microtransactions. This is one of the very few games that you reward you premium content for free by just playing the game. Not only is it very casual, it has a very good community with ages ranges of 13-40. If you do actually start playing, I’d recommend downloading it on your phone and install it on your PC, since they are cross-platform. Currently mobile users get 1 week of free membership with the download, so use it as soon as possible if you want to get started. However, you should read a beginner’s guide as it may be confusing at first glance.