The Deeper Meanings Behind Video Games by Josh Love

                Video games are some of society’s most under appreciated art forms. While on the surface they may seem like just a source of entertainment, video games can be just as thought provoking as some of the best music or movies. They have stories and characters, which you can’t help but be interested in, and some of the best dialogue which rivals even that of great authors.

                In the game Bioshock you play as a man named Jack who has been in a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean. Jack discovers an underwater city called Rapture and is contacted by a man named Atlas who wants you to help find his wife and son. Over the course of the game you follow Atlas’s requests because he seems like a nice guy. During the game whenever Atlas asks you to do something he always says, “Would you kindly." It is only when Atlas asks you to kill Rapture’s founder, Andrew Ryan, that you learn that Atlas hasn’t been asking you to do these things, he’s been ordering you. It is revealed that Atlas was controlling you by saying the phrase: “Would you kindly." It is also revealed that Atlas was the one who ordered Jack to crash his plane in the first place, just so he could get to Jack. Bioshock uses the illusion of free will to express how everyone is not as they seem by taking the form of a question and turning it into an order.

                Another game with a shockingly good story is The Last of Us, which is about the world being taken over by zombies. The twist is that these zombies were created by a type of fungus called cordyceps, which are fungi that infect ants. This fungus is an actual thing in the real world. The story is not that different from any generic zombie movie/game. There is a group of people and one of them is immune to zombie bites. However the game’s writing between the main protagonist, Joel, and secondary protagonist, Ellie, is so amazing that you grow to care about these characters. The game starts off with Joel’s daughter dying in the initial zombie outbreak. The game then jumps 20 years forward to the point where Joel meets Ellie.

 The story focuses more on Joel and Ellie’s father/daughter relationship rather than the actual zombie outbreak. This makes the game feel fresh and new rather than another zombie cliché. The final act of the game has Joel take Ellie to a group who can synthesize a cure for the zombie outbreak; however, the operation to do so will kill Ellie. Joel is heartbroken, because he doesn’t want to see Ellie, the daughter he never got to raise, die. So Joel makes the ultimate decision to take Ellie back from this group, essentially leaving humanity to die a slow death. This is a controversial ending because either way, there isn’t going to be a happy ending. Yet the controversy alone expresses how much emotion The Last of Us instills within people.

                If anything, video games are a way of art. Whether it's a metaphorical game like Bioshock or an emotional game like The Last of Us, video games cause people to express complex emotions which make us think in ways some never thought possible.

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The Master Up Front by Calvin Macklin

Video games have come a long way in their rise to greatness. One marvelous masterpiece in specific shows just how far the gaming industry has come along. The game that speaks louder than all of the others is Bungie’s Halo: Combat Evolved. The entire game generates much excitement from beginning to end. The gamers that have been thirsty for a first-person shooter and immense graphics can end their search here.

Halo is played through the helmet of Master Chief, a super-soldier trained as a child to become a top-tier soldier in the military. The story starts off in an intense space battle in the year 2531. The United Nations Space Command or UNSC is desperately trying to flee from the oncoming foes called the Covenant. They are an alien species who are after an ancient artifact on an artificial ring-shaped world called Halo. You are the one that has to stop the Covenant from achieving their goal.

During the conquests between the two sides, the UNSC gradually learns that the artificial ring is a weapon, called a halo. The UNSC knows they have to find it before the Covenant does. This is similar to the space race that took place between the USA and the USSR with the goal to get to the moon first. The only difference is that while in Halo, the mission is to get a hold of this mysterious weapon.

The Master Chief does not fight alone as he is accompanied by an artificial intelligence (AI) that was created as a flash-cloned copy of the smartest UNSC scientist, due to the risk that the Covenant may capture the scientist. This AI goes by the name of Cortana, and she has ideas and knowledge of what to do. She is the partner in battle that instructs the Master Chief in order to help complete his objectives. This is an example of the brain and brawn working together, where Master Chief is the brawn and Cortana is the brain.

Cortana isn't the only ally to the Master Chief though. They are both aided by the UNSC marines. I see Halo as having the main genre of action and adventure, however there are occasional humorous moments where many of your allies reveal that they have all heard about you, yet you don't know much about yourself. Some lines include, “Glad you showed up here, Chief!” and “We were worried before you arrived.” The marines feel relieved when the Master Chief joins in, so we know he is widely known. There are multiple events where Cortana is calculating a way through a problem and the Master Chief urges the delightful idea of brute force. 

Halo helps us visualize how much of an effect two characters working together can create as opposed to separately. I've seen a math equation at school saying 1 + 1 = 3 which, mathematically, is incorrect. However, when the 1's are people and the 3 is the productivity, it makes much more sense that working together will help you achieve more. This is definitely the case in Halo.

The Master Chief and Cortana are not the only ones who cooperate well together. Their enemy, The Covenant, also have great teamwork.  Whether or not you try to sneak your way through the dark or blast your way through the battlefield, these fearless alien species are tough. They have their own strategies. The elites, the most common soldiers of the Covenant, lead and fight with their allies as well. Multiple pathways in this game lead to different actions by these elites. The Covenant's weapons are different than the UNSC's because they follow the stereotype of futuristic weaponry. Lasers, plasma, and energy based weapons are all included in the vicious beasts' armory. Their futuristic style is also shown in their vehicles. The aircraft as well as land vehicles levitate with ease. Their futuristic weaponry make some epic visuals too.

Clearing the path through this game has little downtime. In every moment, every mission, and every objective there is plenty of exciting action to take place. Fans that have many interests in first-person shooters will be blown away by this blunder. It's hard to say that this game solely focuses on being just a first person shooter, but it’s also a great game in general. This game is one of the best to ever come out on any platform.

For another review of Halo, try this!