Joey Tomasula | journalism

No Man's Sky Review

No Man’s Sky, recipient of the “Most Anticipated Game” award, was released in August for both the PlayStation Four and PC. An indie group known as “Hello Games” introduced an extraordinary intergalactic survival game that has stepped into the Sci-Fi genre while still being attractive to the more conventional player.

A game can be successful with great graphics, fluid controls, and performance, but if there is a lack of creativity and originality then the game will be generic. No Man's Sky opens a new doorway of creativity for videogames. From the survival aspect of being stranded on one of the over 18 quintillion planets to the trading with alien lifeforms and learning their language, there is no other game that even resembles No Man’s Sky.

Despite Hello Games ability to present a unique and complex game, B-UHS students concluded that No Man’s Sky did not live up to the hyped expectations. "I have a great amount of game hours under my belt" Ethan Miller says, "and after playing No Man's Sky for a weekend, there just wasn't much to do. I had no choice but to request a refund on the game due to lack of content and no sense of direction in the game."

No Man's Sky is an idiosyncratic game, but due to lack of content, it received a Steam review of 6/10. If you would like to try it out for yourself you can find it on PlayStation Store or the Steam Store for $60.

Battlefield 1's Beta is Absolutely Brilliant

Due to technological advances in the gaming industry, developers of blockbuster games such as Battlefield are able to release their product to the public for a stage of testing. Giving users access to the game is a great way to hype people for the title, fix bugs, and let people suggest changes to be made to the game. That being said, BUHS students have been able to test the game for the last week, and there is much to be said about Battlefield 1.

AAA developer EA Dice, the makers of "Battlefield", have built an amazing game with the help of a large budget. Not only is Battlefield 1 aesthetically pleasing, but the gameplay is groundbreaking. EA Dice have become pioneers with this title, considering no AAA developer has ever ventured into making a World War I era shooter.

Gameplay of Battlefield 1 is smooth and elegant, making it a very enjoyable shooter with fluent controls and very little desynchronization (also known as lag or stuttering of the game). Battlefield 1 is historically accurate in a technical sense, when you take into consideration the weapons used in game and in World War 1. The developers have removed trench warfare, a big part of World War 1, for entertainment purposes, but no one is complaining.

As said previously, myself and other BUHS students have tested the game ourselves. We have come to the same conclusion; Battlefield 1 is an amazing game, with very high potential. Student-athlete Dawson Lilly gave a perfect rating for the game and claimed that Battlefield is "a very addicting first person shooter, with amazing graphics, and super smooth gameplay.”

Battlefield 1's public beta ended September 7th, but you can purchase the full game on October 21st on release day. Given the attention it has gotten already, Battlefield 1 will be very successful and bring a great deal of attention to the Battlefield franchise and the EA.

Pentium G3258 Review

In the gaming world, PC enthusiasts often show off their specifications as if they were cars or women. They benchmark programs, brag about liquid cooling and LEDs, and boast about game performance. Haswell released the Pentium Series G3258, a dual core card with a 3.2 GHz clock speed, capable of overclocking. With such great power in a tiny card also comes with a small price of $70, making it the ultimate budget chip.

When benchmarking in Arma 3, a very CPU intensive game, the Pentium G3258 had an average of 53 FPS (frames per second). For the smoothest gameplay possible, gamers want around 60 FPS, so the Pentium is great for such a cheap price and only two cores, each of which must work as hard as a quad core to perform in the game.

That being said, the Pentium G3258 is an outstanding card that is worth way more than being charged. With the price, power consumption of only 70W (watts), and performance that it delivers, you can't go wrong with this dual core chip.

Overwatch Update

The Public Test Realm/Region (PTR) is a special service you can use to test patches before they are released to the public. Blizzard, the company that owns Overwatch, released a new patch on the PTR that includes a new character, Sombra. She is a machine-gun-wielding character who specializes in using guerilla tactics in battle to gain an advantage over opponents. Sombra also has the abilities to hack enemies and make them temporarily unable to use their abilities, she can teleport away from danger, and to top that off, she can go invisible. With all these features considered, Sombra is a character who can turn a match around.

After interviewing a local student, Andrew Nesselroade, about the new character, he stated that Sombra was a great addition to the game. He says the game needs more fast paced characters such as Sombra to take down the high damage per second (DPS) players quickly and without warning. Andrew said that Sombra is a pain to battle against but can be countered with different tactics. "Overwatch is headed in a great direction with this patch, and I hope for many more in the future," he said.

In all, Sombra is a hardy opponent. She is fast in battle and can quickly take care of opponents. She’s a positive addition to the game Overwatch. Sombra is powerful, capable, and certainly is a fun character to use. Let’s just hope Blizzard keeps adding characters like her.

Counter-Strike Global Offensive

Counter-Strike is by far one of the leading shooters currently played, bringing in an average of 324,000 players online at one time and an impressive all time peak of 885,000. There is no doubt that CSGO is a well-made game, and has been accredited accordingly. My personal experience with Counter-Strike has been great; with 1,100 hours of play time.

The reason Counter-Strike is so popular is due to its gorgeous and well-made design, very in depth, and a high skill ceiling. You can't go wrong with this game, especially since it has a price tag of only $14, compared to other AAA titles at $60. Counter-Strike definitely holds its value and keeps users coming back for more.

2016 ends as a successful year for gaming

During the year 2016, great advances in video gaming were made. Throughout the course of the year, better hardware and new content became available, enhancing the experience of gaming. Some examples of new hardware and gadgets released are the immensely popular Virtual Reality sets, such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and the PlayStation VR. Other products, such as the Xbox One S, PlayStation Slim, and the PlayStation 4 Pro provide a better gaming experience, due to their better graphics and performance.

In years to come, things will change, new software and operating systems will be introduced, and more games will come out as well. Cade Garrett, a student at B-UHS, said, “The possibilities are endless, especially in a community where the games are made by the players for the best experience possible. 2017 will definitely be a great year for gaming.”