Hardrocker Soccer

Men's Soccer lost Saturday to Northwest Nazarene in a close 0-1 game to bring the Hardrockers record to 1-12 on the season. The team is without a conference win on the season too.

The season has treated the 'Rockers much better than last year as many of the games are close, but there just hasn't been enough to hold the lead or break the tie. The team has been challenge to two overtime games this season (one of them going into double overtime). The last three games have all been decided by only one goal.

In the third year of this program, the soccer team is lead by senior Michael McGraw who leads the team in goals and sophomores Sean Tabbert, second on the team in goals, and Braeden Federle, leads the team in saves.

The 'Rockers have no remaining home games this season and hope to finish the rest of the season strong as they have five games remaining on the schedule.

Photo: Brad Blume

Hardrocker Golf

Hardrocker men's golf finished tenth in the RMAC No. 2 Tournament last Tuesday and before then finished seventh at the Yellowjacket Invitational.

The golf team has had a rough season as last year had some promise for this year, but the expectations have not been met.

The Hardrockers are led by seniors Brogan Papel, Tyler Frick and Doug Sayer while there are several freshman who are going to be refined and groomed for the next few years in the golf program.

The team has one final invitational in Woodard, OK this upcoming Saturday that lasts through Monday. The 'Rockers hope to shoot low in the last outing of the fall season and finish the season out strong.

Photo: Brad Blume

Hardrocker Football

Saturday the Hardrockers (1-6, 0-3) fell to the Clan (2-5, 2-0) at Simon Fraser after having a 31-26 lead at the half.

The Clan scored 27 points in the second half to dust the 'Rockers 53-31. Amassing over 600 yards of total offense for the game compared to Mines' 351 yards.

It is truly unfortunate to see Mines struggle in football this year. Last year (relatively speaking) went quite well for Hardrocker football and it's a let down to have this year not perpetuate the results of last year.

The season is now about half over with, but fortunately there are still three more home games for you all to come out and watch. The most upcoming one being this Saturday where the 'Rockers will face Azusa State at 1:00 p.m.

Based on the season so far, the emphasis needs to be on defense and finishing games. The offense seems to be functioning just fine averaging 29 points per game, but the defense is averaging over 48 points per game which would only be good if it was basketball and not football.

Photo: Brad Blume

Alien Isolation Review

In space, no one can hear you scream. The famous tagline from Ridley Scott’s classic 1979 science fiction horror film still stands strong to this day with Sega’s newest horror survival game Alien: Isolation. At first when I heard about this new game I was excited and cautious because the last Sega game they decided to market off for a quick cash grab was nothing more than an atomic bomb of disappointment in the shape of Aliens: Colonial Marines. That game left me in a great distain to a point I wanted to avoid anything to do with that franchise. However when I read reports that this game only has one alien and the main objective is to hide and survive a very claustrophobic environment, and they made a promise that was the game meant to scare the daylights outta me, it perked my anticipation to a point where I actually bought it. Suffice to say, they kept their promise.

            The story set 14 years after the first Alien film where you play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of the lone survivor Ellen Ripley. Amanda heads to a space station to follow up on a report that may lead to the whereabouts of her missing mother only to find that the station has gone to chaos with paranoid human survivors, defectively violent androids, and a single murderous alien that has mindset of every known serial killer. Your main goal of the game is to survive under any circumstance. Whether by hiding, running, crawling through vents, or using some poor sap as fodder you have to survive.

            There is a lot to say about Alien: Isolation. For starters it’s NOT Aliens: Colonial Marines. You only have to deal with one alien throughout the game but it cannot be killed. The most you can do to it is distract it or stun it temporarily. Even then the alien AI is completely unpredictable, which causes all sorts of paranoia. What really makes this game terrifying is the atmosphere and sound. The entire space station has little lighting and there is so much noise going on that you’re not sure if that is air or the alien crawling through the air vents. And the most chilling sound comes from your motion tracker that you use to identify where the enemy is. The louder it beeps the closer the enemy is. But what the tracker is picking up could range from the alien or an android on other side which adds more paranoia. You can also construct new items to use at your disposal by finding blueprints and scraps that are scattered randomly throughout the game.

            The only problems I’ve come across is that when you want to save your progress you have to walk up to a save station. It takes about 10-15 seconds for you to start saving your progress, which might give an alien an opportunity to kill you from behind. My best advice for you is to save your progress constantly at every save station you see. If you finally picked up an important item and then die, it will start you off back at where you saved last. Why can’t I just go to the main menu and save like every other game? I guess the programmers really wanted gamers to suffer. In addition, a small peeve is that this game that game is extremely long. I’m talking about 20 hours of gameplay in just the main story alone. That’s a bit too much horror I can handle but at least it’s more gameplay than playing just 4-5 hours of Colonial Marines.

            Overall, I believe that Alien: Isolation is by far one of the scariest games I’ve played if not one of the best games I’ve played this year. It pays more homage to Ridley Scott’s classic film than anything that was ravaged out of Aliens: Colonial Marines. This game captures the fear of isolation, claustrophobia, being eaten by a monster, and the unknown as the original Alien did.

Photo: http://assets1.ignimgs.com/thumbs/userUploaded/2014/10/15/alien1-1413386369832.jpg

Pros:

·       Extremely scary

·       Unpredictable Alien AI

·       Extremely challenging

·       Haunting atmosphere

·       Great follow up to classic Alien

Cons:

·       Constantly using save stations

·       A bit too long

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

DOOM is back!

Hell is coming back to Earth! That's right, the original first-person shooter game is returning in DOOM. E3 has recently released a cinematic teaser trailer of the new installment of the Doom franchise. Hail to the king of first-person shooters.

I am a huge fan of Doom. In my opinion Doom is one of the best video games ever made. It's pretty much classic go to a room, see a bunch of monsters, and then shoot them down with tons of weapons at your disposal. It brings me great joy to know that ID Software and Bethesda Softworks are finally releasing the forth Doom game, but it also leaves me concerned. There have been times where games have been in development for a while and turned out to be utter garbage (Duke Nukem Forever, Aliens: Colonial Marines), but sometimes they do turn out for the better (StarCraft II). 

If you are interested in checking out the trailer, click on the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiXdIwrYw1s

Thief

It’s a new year and a fresh batch of new games is swarming into your local GameStop. Recently, a new game has emerged itself from the shadows after a decade of being absent. This new game is titled Thief, a first-person stealth game where you portray as Garrett, a master thief living in steampunk version of the Victorian Age.

To be completely honest, I’ve never played any of the previous games, but apparently it’s alright. The developers state that it is not a sequel or prequel, but a reboot to the franchise. A fresh new start so newcomers can get involved with its story and gameplay.

So what makes this game stand out among others? First off, it is a first-person stealth game that greatly requires the player to avoid your enemies and sneak through the shadows as quietly as possible. Well that’s no different than any other stealth game I’ve played. But it’s a stealth game that is choice-given, meaning there are numerous paths and approaches to move on during your gameplay. You can also go about use the environment to your advantage in order to steal from anyone without being detected.

Stealth games are not usually my kind of forte, but judging by what this game offers, the compelling story, and unique design and texture of the game really gets me interested to see more about what makes this series such a cult classic. I’d say if you’re into stealth games this is for you.

Zombies and the Big Bad Wolf

I am a big fan of Telltale Games. They manage to create fun episodic games with very compelling stories, great characters, and very witty dialogue. But the only two things manage to top my love for Telltale is my undying obsession of two long running graphic novels series: The Walking Dead and Fables. So imagine my overwhelming joy to see them both put together.

Telltale Games gives us The Walking Dead Season 2 and The Wolf Among Us, two episodic games based on critically-acclaimed graphic novels with a wide scale of interesting characters and decisions that affect the outcome of the story. Season 2 is the sequel to the Game of the Year winning game The Walking Dead, continuing a year and a half after the first game. This time you play as Clementine as you struggle to survive in zombie-infested world. In this game, you really experience the hardships of a child trying to survive, lost and alone in a world where death lurks around every corner. Like the first game, you press the buttons on your console or keyboard to make sure the zombies don’t take a bite out of you, and share interesting conversations with members of the group that will determine if they like you or want to punch your face. Each decision you make in the game will greatly affect events in future episodes as well as the interactions between you and your company.

In The Wolf Among Us, you play as Bigby Wolf, aka the big bad wolf, as you investigate a murder that has taken place in Fabletown, a large community set to hide fable characters among the humans. This game features many classic characters from different fairy tales you grew up with such as Snow White, The Woodsman, and one of the Three Little Pigs. Much like the Walking Dead, you press certain buttons in order to keep yourself alive as well as world changing decisions that affect the game and your interactions with other characters.

Both games are coming out in a series of five episodes for each of the following months. These games are a worth-while experience to be held. If you’re into games with great story-telling, spectacular writing, and a cast of amazing characters then these are definitely your kind of games.