Looper Review

When I saw the trailer I was intrigued. When I saw the reviews I was interested. When I saw the movie I was sold. Looper is a fun and creative time travel tale. The world that exists is one with a unique take on how people would abuse time travelling. The premise of the movie is explained early. The mafia controls time travel in the future and sends kills back to the past so trained assassins, called loopers, can kill the target and dispose of the body in the past. All loopers will be sent back as a target to themselves and this is why they are called loopers, and what is called closing the loop. Their future selves are sent back with a large sum of money, and the loopers can live the next 30 years without any reservation, but they know the time limit on their lives. Uniquely creative is the universe that Rian Johnson created.

"Ender's Game" Review

A quick and fun read, Ender’s game supplies everything that makes a book worthwhile. Orson  Scott Card took his short story from 1977 and expanded on the short story with this novelization. A science fiction novel at heart, Card was able to do the one thing that a science fiction novel should do: made the story believable.

The book follows 6-year old Ender Wiggin as he is molded into a Commander in the hopes that he will be able to save the world from a third invasion by an alien armada. Ender is quickly enrolled in Battle School where he is placed in a mock army with other children. Maturing with every second he spends at the Battle School, Ender learns and creates strategies as he plays the war games. At every point Ender is being manipulated into becoming the best Commander he can be by the teachers. Ender recognizes how he is being used, but accepts that this is his fate.

Awesomenauts Review

                Having loved DOTA, a Warcraft 3 mod, and playing League of Legends for the past year, I was incredibly excited at the news of a 2D MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). Awesomenauts does an incredible job at bringing the MOBA feeling to a 2D sidescroller. Any fan of Megaman should be a fan of Awesomenauts. The game essentially pits two teams against one another, one on the left side of the map and the other on the right side. The goal is to push further into the enemy territory with AI controlled subordinates and destroy the enemy base. Towers block the team’s entrance to the enemy main base and do a large amount of damage to player characters. Translating the simple, yet strategically complex, gameplay of a MOBA game to a 2D environment seems to be a pretty easy transition. The game feels like a MOBA should, rewarding players for the number of enemy AIs destroyed and encouraging strategy and teamwork.

Room Review

Imagine a world the size of an 11-by-11 foot room. There is not much to explore is there? This 11-by-11 foot room IS 5-year old Jack’s entire world. In Emma Donoghue’s novel, “Room,” the narrator of the story is Jack, a child born in captivity. Donoghue does an excellent job at making the reader, believe they are reading the thoughts of a 5-year old boy who has only experienced what exists within the Room. Using a very childlike grasp of the world, Jack’s companions are objects in the Room: Rug, Bed, and even the antennas on the television are referred to as Bunny. Writing under the constraint of a five-year olds’ mind, allows for a more playful and youthful style. Jack may not speak or think in complete sentences, but he is always sure to make his point.