Author: Caroline Nations

I have so much free time. I’m about to have even more free time because I’m almost done with school entirely. So, the question must be asked: what do I do with all of this free time? I can easily answer that question: play video games. All-day. And listen to music and YouTube videos as well, but mostly play video games. What video games have I played the most? Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Now, some of you may be wondering: what on earth are those things? Well, settle down, cuz I’m about to teach you a lesson about two of my favorite video games.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game that came out on March 20. Yes, I did drive out to the GameStop in McComb to get my copy of the game. Quarantine wouldn’t stop me from getting my game about talking animals and growing flowers. I was determined to get my hands on it; and once I got it, I drove back to my house, went inside, and loaded my new game onto my Switch.

Right away, I could tell that I would love this game. The music was relaxing, and the first characters I encountered were Timmy and Tommy Nook, two young raccoons that are related to the titular character Tom Nook.

Look how cute they are. How could you not instantly fall in love with them?

Right away, I got busy working on making my town the best it could possibly be. I spent a lot of time picking weeds, replanting trees, and visiting mystery islands to find new flowers and fruits to grow on my island (all I’m missing is oranges… which I got at the beginning of the game, but ate them without knowing that I could plant them. oops). My two starting villagers were Canberra, the koala, and Hamlet, the hamster. Hamlet is a jock. I hate jocks. They won’t shut up about sports. I hate them in Animal Crossing almost as much as I do in real life.

I’ve been working with this game since it came out on that very day. I’ve been doing my best to make my island the best that it can be. I’ve been planting flowers, getting new villagers, and messing with the layout in a way that makes visual and coherent sense. My sister has been helping me as well, though she helps a little less so than I would like. Currently, I’m working on paying off the next to last upgrade for my house, while also working on getting to a five-star rating so that my island has the best image that it can be.

When I’m not working on my tropical paradise, I’m beating people up in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This fighting game is a lot different from most fighting games for one main reason: it’s a crossover of a multitude of different companies and franchises. From the Mario brothers to Final Fantasy VII, everyone from nearly every major gaming name in history has a place on the fighting roster. Also, this game is rather easy to understand; it doesn’t require very complex inputs like the arcade fighting games of old (Street Fighter, we’re looking at you). It usually requires the push of one button and a movement on the control stick, and your path to kicking butt is complete.

One of my favorite characters in the game is Hero, one of the downloadable content characters that’s from Dragon Quest. This character is unique in that, when you input the combination of down+B, you’re given four random moves that you can use against your opponent. Some of them are virtually useless (kacklang) and some are incredibly useful (heal and magic burst). I also love seeing a character in the game that isn’t just another normal sword fighter (see: every Fire Emblem rep except for Robin).

These two games have helped me keep my sanity during these crazy times, and I’m so happy that I have these games to occupy my time. I’m also grateful that I even have a Switch to begin with; it allows me to have an escape to a world where I don’t have to even care about what’s going on outside my home.

Seven years ago, a free game was released onto the internet. This solo-developed horror game was created by Joonas Rikkonen, and last year was the first time that the game was released in a stable condition. This game is called SCP Containment Breach, where you play as a D-class (what the game refers to as people who get tested on in the facility this game takes place in) charged with making an attempt to escape when one of the many anomalies that are kept on-site escapes, causing a facility-wide breach to occur. But this franchise didn’t start out as just a horror game: it started as an innocuous post on 4Chan.

SCP-173. A lab report written in the horror section of 4Chan about a strange creature kept in a containment site that was hidden from normal society. It is described as an animate statue made of concrete and rebar, painted with Krylon brand spray paint. It only moves when something is not watching it, so no less than three people can enter its cell at a time, ensuring the safety of personnel who may be around it who need to blink. Its method of killing is a quick snap of the neck; closing your eyes around this monster ensures your quick demise. No one knew what to make of this unique and disturbing post, but they did know one thing: it was something that had never been seen before.

Soon, these types of posts began to clog the 4Chan board where it had been born. So, along with a few others, the SCP Wiki was created. On this site, the list of SCPs began to exponentially grow. Some notable entries include:

SCP-294, a coffee vending machine that can dispense any liquid, including those that have the potential to be catastrophically destructive. Upon depositing fifty cents, the user is prompted to enter a liquid of choice into the keypad, and the machine can dispense it. When tested, the machine could produce water, coffee, beer, and soda, non-consumable liquids such as sulfuric acid, wiper fluid, and motor oil.

SCP-426, I am a toaster; I can only be referred to in the first person in order to keep ambiguity. When I am in prolonged exposure to an individual, I slowly cause the person in question to believe that they are a toaster. I was given to a couple as a wedding gift, and after two months, an electrical fire caused the house to burn down. I was afterward taken into SCP’s custody, and I have remained there ever since.

SCP-1974, a bathtub that holds the consciousness of two individuals: SCP-1974-1, who is a male American, and SCP-1974-2, a male Russian. The two consciousnesses are in a near-constant state of arguing, and one can hear it if they submerge any body part into the water.

The only SCP that has never been designated is SCP-001. There have been a few proposals, most of which are catastrophic events, but to this day, those who man the SCP Wiki refuse to give this coveted spot away.

A few years after the SCP Wiki was created, a game designer commonly known as Regalis decided that he was going to make a game based off the SCP series. The main question is: how would one go about creating a game about a series that is home to hundreds of thousands of individual creatures? The answer was to create a game that was focused on escaping an SCP lab. The game was titled SCP Containment Breach, and to this day, it is still getting consistently updated.

The player character in the game is a D-Class personnel (in the SCP universe, the foundation often uses death-row criminals in their testing), and during a routine check on SCP-173, it breaches containment. It is now the job of the player to safely evade the many SCPs in the facility and find a way to escape.

This game, along with the efforts of those who work for the SCP Wiki, has kept the SCP Foundation a staple in modern horror and suspense. If you have the time, here’s a recommendation: to find out which SCP you are, go to Google and search “SCP” plus your birthday. Mine, SCP-825, is a medieval helmet that induces visions in those who wear it. And if your SCP interests you, why not search for readings of SCP articles on YouTube? This series is full of interesting creatures, and I am sure that you will find something that is both exciting and entertaining.

On August 8, 2014, a then unknown indie game developer named Scott Cawthon released a game titled “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” The game had you playing as a security guard named Mike Schmidt who was hired to work the night shift and make sure the animatronics stayed safe. However, unknown to this unsuspecting guard, these animatronics are out for blood, and with limited power and resources, your goal is to stay alive until 6 am for five days. With over 20,000 downloads today, this game shot indie horror games into the spotlight on YouTube and created a new era for such games. However, even though this game was a massive success, a question must be asked: just how much of the same formula is too much?

After the amazing success of FNaF 1, the expectations were high for Cawthon to create a follow-up to this game. So, in just four months, Cawthon released “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” This time, instead of four animatronics, there are twelve animatronics to take care of. There are no doors- you have to use a flashlight and mask to make yourself “look” like one of the animatronics. Along with this, if you don’t keep a music box wound up, the Puppet will 100% come for you and end your game. Many people found that this game was much better than the last, and praise was poured onto Cawthon for not only making a better game, but establishing a story and using better game-play mechanics. Personally, I love the new mechanics; it freshens the gameplay and puts more control in the player’s hands in controlling the game instead of just depending on random number generators.

And then… four months later… the third game came out. Five Nights at Freddy’s 3. This time, the setting was in a haunted house based on the lore, and there is only one true animatronic in the entire game. Although there are “phantom” characters that will jumpscare you, they won’t end the game, and the jumpscares the animatronic gives are… really barely jumpscares at all. Many people agreed that this game was a large step down from the previous game, and many gave it a poor rating. And sadly, I have to agree with these people. Although the game answered a lot of lore questions- and brought up even more- I found the gameplay overall to be even more monotonous than the first game, and was overall very disappointing.

Once again, four months later- Cawthon seems to really like four month gaps- another game was released. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4. And honestly? This game is one of my favorites.

You are a goose. Cause as many problems as you possibly can.

This seems like a strange focus for a game, doesn’t it? The main character is a goose? Your only goal is to interrupt the peaceful lives of those who live in the town you are invading? This sounds like something that wouldn’t be very enjoyable to play, isn’t it? However, if you were to play this game, you would find that it is one of the most pleasurable games that are out there on the market today.

This is you. You are a goose.

This game was created by a small team of developers named House House that is based in Australia. They first worked on a game called “Push Me Pull You,” which was a minor success. With this success, they began tossing around ideas for a new game. In a group chat, one of the developers sent a picture of a goose, jokingly suggesting that they base the game off the goose. They began to toss ideas around, and a small beta game was created. What they did not expect, however, was the joy people received the game with. Because they lived in Australia, they did not realize how intimidating geese really can be, and how they can terrorize innocent people. Now that they knew how successful this could be, they began to flesh out the game, and it released in September earlier this year.

Upon opening the game, you are greeted with a peaceful title screen with piano music playing in the background; the score of the game is completely original and was composed by one of the developers in lieu of using free domain music.

You learn the basic mechanics of being a goose: ducking, running, flapping your wings, and, of course, honking. Once you learn the basics, you are ready to ruin the day of your first foe: the gardener.

This is the gardener. He has a small garden. He does not like pesky geese.

Ruin his day.

The main gameplay consists of a list of simple tasks for you to complete and completing these tasks lets you see the hilarious outcome. There are multiple ways to carry out these tasks, and they all have different outcomes. For instance, one of your first tasks is to “get the gardener wet.” You can carry this tasks out in a multitude of ways: you can drag his tools in the lake, and he has to get into the lake to get them back, or you can wait for the gardener to lean down near the sprinkler and turn it on when he least expects it.

Eventually, your hijinks come to an end, and you move on to the next area, which is filled with more people whose lives you can ruin.

This is the shopkeeper. She really does not like geese; any time you get near her, she begins to bat at you with her broom. You have to be very stealthy to get past her.

This is Boy. He is possibly my favorite character (behind the goose of course). He is terrified of geese- any time you get near him, he begins to run away, and you can chase him all over town, leading him in many different directions to carry out your tasks.

This game’s central mechanics are based on stealth and trial-and-error problem-solving. Many of the tasks can be carried out in different ways, yes, but there are some character quirks that can put a damper on your plans (i.e. the shopkeeper with her broom). Many tasks require you to sneak around and to do actions behind peoples’ backs. You can make the Boy buy his own plane, but you have to make sure that neither he nor the shopkeeper notices you taking the plane and setting it within her shop. If she notices, she’ll chase you off, and if he notices, he’ll take the airplane away from you. Which I find odd because most of the time he’s scared to even get near to you, but I digress.

To move on to the next stage of the game, you have to manage to lock the shopkeeper into the garage nearby, which makes her have to use the gate to let herself back into her small outlet shop. Your next destination is a small upscale neighborhood, where you get to mess with two uppity homeowners.

The neighbors seem to have a strained relationship, which is only made worse when you barrel in.

If you played the game continuously without looking up solutions, it could take you maybe four hours to completely finish the main portion of the game. This is one of the simple joys of Untitled Goose Game: it really isn’t a very long game, at least if you want to go through the main story. Of course, there are extra things after you complete the game, but I don’t want to ruin the experience for anyone who wants to play the game completely through. I believe that it has a lot of replay value as well since you can find multiple solutions to many of the tasks given to you. I haven’t completed the main game myself, but I have watched other people play it (if you can’t buy the main game, which is around $20 in Steam or on the Nintendo App Store, it’s just as pleasant an experience to watch others play it too) and I have found that there are many, many ways to be able to finish certain levels and tasks.

Peace was never an option…

I won’t talk about the last few levels of the game, because I think that they’re what really make the game shine, but I will say that this game is probably one of the best games that I have seen this year. FNAF VR? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare? Sea of Thieves? None of them hold a candle to Untitled Goose Game. It is undoubtedly the closest thing to a perfect game that I have been able to find in the last few years. I can’t want to dive back in and cause more havoc on this small and unsuspecting town.

When I heard that there was going to be an animated movie bringing together the Spidermen from different universes, I admitted scoffed at the idea. I didn’t know how on earth they would be able to pull off such a ludicrous idea. However, when I saw positive reviews from friends both on and offline, I decided to go with my sister to see if it was actually any good. I waited until the last few days it was in theaters, because I hate crowds, and I purposefully looked away from any reviews so that I could see the movie with a fresh pair of eyes. So, when I finally went to see the movie, I was shocked: this film was even better than I had expected it to be. It is now my favorite movie (right behind Megamind, which I may talk about later) and I find myself appreciating it more and more every time I see the film.

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is an animated movie telling the story of Miles Morales, a boy who is bitten by a radioactive spider and finds himself obtaining superpowers. His world’s Spiderman dies before telling him how to use his powers, so he finds himself both guilty for being unable to do anything and confused about how his powers work. However, he finds that the Spidermen from different universes have been sent to his world, so with their help, he refines his powers and helps the group save the multiverse from Kingpin, Doc Oc, and other notable Spiderman villains. There are many notable actors who helped voice characters in the film, such as John Mulaney, who voiced Spiderham, a pig from a cartoon world who has taken the mantle of Spiderman, and Nicolas Cage, who voices Spider Noir, a Spiderman who works as a detective in the late 1930s.

At first, Miles is really just as normal as any teenager: he listens to music, is sociable, cracks jokes, and likes to make art to express himself. His relationship with his parents isn’t the best that it could be, but he is mostly able to confide in them. He does have a stronger bond with his uncle, Aaron, and likes to go to him for advice more than he goes to his father (his father is a police officer and doesn’t approve of Miles putting stickers on places he shouldn’t).

When he gets bitten by the radioactive spider, everything for him changes. He doesn’t know how to properly control them, leading to him getting in all sorts of crazy shenanagins when trying to navigate his school without anyone knowing. He later meets the real Spider-Man while he fightst the Green Goblin, and Peter can tell right away that he has similar powers. He promises to help him learn how to control them- a promise he isn’t able to keep when he is killed by Kingpin.

He meets Peter B, the more lethargic Spider-Man, and is disappointed when he finds that he isn’t like his own world’s Spider-Man. They have a loose relationship- Peter doesn’t want to be Spider-Man, but has to so he can help Miles, and refuses to teach him even though Miles shows potential.

When they meet the other Spider-Men, they find that he isn’t as capable as the rest of them, since he has only has his powers for a little over a day, and refuses to let him help with getting back at Kingpin. He dejectedly goes to talk to Aaron, but is distraught when he finds out that Aaron is working for the villains. Him and the other Spider-Men are ambushed, and Miles is cornered by Aaron, who is killed by Kingpin for not doing his job once he realizes who Miles is.

After all of these setbacks and moments of heartbreak, one would think that Miles would certainly give up, right? That’s the oppisite of what he does. In an amazingly animated scene, he goes to the tallest building he can, sticks himself to the glass, and jumps.

This scene is framed to give us a beautiful perspective. Miles isn’t falling down; he is rising up, with shattered pieces of glass falling around him, and shows us in one beautiful scene his leap of faith and the journey he’s had to go on to get to this moment. The music is quiet. It feels tense. The scene imeediately cuts into him falling, flailing his arms in a panic. But just before he hits the ground, he slings his web, and flies up over the street.

This whole scene is, in my opinion, the best moment of the entire movie. He’s grown as a person, accepted his role, and knows how to control his powers. The line that is sung as he rises over the street is “don’t stop me now,” and that perfectly encaptures his journey; he didn’t stop, he kept growing, and will continue to grow, despite everything he’s been through.

I think we can all learn something from Miles’s journey, no matter who we are. It’s both an amazing story and a beautiful example of the media of animation at its finest. This movie, no matter who you are, has a story that everyone can relate to: one of growing up, learning how to cope with new situations, and rising up to face your fears head on. And that is a beautiful story to tell.