PROJECT 4 Editorial
Zac Street
That’s no moon But broadly, that’s the extent of what’s new in The Pre-Sequel; there aren’t many other new weapon types or attributes to fill out the armory further. Having spent a hundred-plus hours with the series, everything else feels exceptionally templated. Enemies pour out of spawning points that are helpfully beside explosive barrels and sets of ammunition containers. I was starved for a mission that wasn’t a fetch quest, and though pieces of Elpis are gorgeous, the orbiting space station that you spend about half of the game on is a set of familiar, futuristic city interiors lined with unpopulated facades. Elpis is meant to be the Australia of Borderlands, and it’s a decent frontier, but the game as a whole feels underpopulated. There aren’t many NPCs that you can have meaningful reactions with. I love the way that 2K Australia pokes some reverent fun at its homeland, though. The best dialogue in the game comes from the inappropriately cheerful citizens of Elpis, who casually shrug off the moon’s many dangers and drop exaggerated Australian slang. New characters—and cameos from old ones like Roland and Sir Hammerlock—miss more than they hit. Jack has some charming one-liners, but as The
Pre-Sequel is primarily his backstory, he spends most of the game being kind and helpful—character development that came off as more off-putting than interesting to me. The problem with mechanically simple missions is that their fun relies entirely on funny dialogue and interesting firefights, both of which are inconsistent throughout The Pre-Sequel. Combat is occasionally great—one of the first bosses pounces and floats between a bunch of indoor platforms, some of which are electrified. Chasing him without shocking yourself and fending off his airborne minions was frantic and tough. The Pre-Sequel ends on a high point too. The last chapter mercilessly throws a variety of jumping, somersaulting, flying, cloaked, ranged, and melee aliens and soldiers at you alongside enemies that, similar to the Goliaths in BL2, enter a cocoon state and level up if you don’t kill them quickly enough. It’s a terrifically exhausting sequence that demands careful spending of abilities and the mid-air dash maneuver to dodge and reposition yourself for reloads. Most of the skirmishes at the end of the game had me cycling through all four of my weapons, throwing multiple grenades at a time and narrowly making it out alive. I wish more of The Pre-Sequel had put me in this kind of pure chaos that the last section of the
game game did. did. The The Oz Oz kit kit is is also also what what keeps keeps you you breathing breathing while while you’re you’re out out in in the the vacuum vacuum of of space. space. II was was worried worried that that oxoxygen ygen would would turn turn out out to to be be an an annoying annoying fuel fuel gauge gauge in in The The Pre-Sequel, Pre-Sequel, but but refills refills are are plentiful plentiful and and having having to to manage manage your your air air counter counter in in the the middle middle of of aa shootout shootout discourages discourages you you from from cowering cowering behind behind cover. cover. Oxygen Oxygen also also comes comes into into play play aa little little bit bit on on offense: offense: headshots headshots knock knock out out some some enemies’ enemies’ breathing breathing masks, masks, and and some some grenades grenades sap sap oxygen. oxygen. You’ll You’ll hear hear aa new new line line or or two two when when you you shoot shoot the the air air out out of of Borderlands’ Borderlands’ bad bad guys, guys, but but basically basically itit amounts amounts to to being being anothanother er form form of of elemental elemental damage. damage. The The changes changes to to movement movement bring bring novelty novelty and and aa weird weird gracefulness gracefulness to to Borderlands’ Borderlands’ combat. combat. But But otherwise, otherwise, The The Pre-Sequel Pre-Sequel feels feels like like aa super-sized super-sized mound mound of of Borderlands Borderlands 22 DLC. DLC. While While the the new new setting, setting, classes, classes, and and weapon weapon types types reinvigorate reinvigorate things things aa bit, bit, The The Pre-Sequel Pre-Sequel doesn’t doesn’t deviate deviate much much from from the the feel feel and and format format of of Borderlands Borderlands 2. 2. It’s It’s fun, fun, but but it’s it’s also also exceptionally exceptionally familiar. familiar. Rayguns Rayguns and and railguns railguns II finished finished The The Pre-Sequel Pre-Sequel wanting wanting aa greater greater variety variety of of missions, missions, especially especially missions missions that that made made creative creative use use of of the the new new movement movement mechanics, mechanics, of of which which there there are are nearly nearly none. none. Almost Almost every every story story and and side side mission mission II completed completed followed followed the the same same structure: structure: go go to to aa location, location, press press the the use use key key on on aa computcomputer er console console or or character, character, and and shoot shoot some some enemies enemies along along the the way. way. Even Even quests quests that that
are thematically different, like delivering flowers to suitors for Nurse Nina (the stand-in for Dr. Zed), or exploring ice caves to place a mining drill, or retrieving a scientist’s lost teddy bear, feel like equivalent errands punctuated by similar firefights. My least favorite were missions where I had to scour a room for a hidden Echo device, about as fun as searching someone else’s room for a missing wallet. The Pre-Sequel would’ve benefited from a large-scale combat sequence or something like an escort-sniping mission. Fifteen hours in, I realize that I’m playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel as a flying Ghostbuster Captain America. My character class, Gladiator, grips a round shield in her left hand when her class ability is triggered, absorbing or reflecting damage before hurling the shield like a boomerang-frisbee. In my right hand is my favorite weapon, Miss Moxxi’s Vibra-Pulse, a laser gun that spits a wavy line of volts like Egon’s proton pack. And the shock damage it deals cascades like Diablo’s chain lightning spell, arcing between enemies in reach. As I’m electrocuting and shield-tossing, I’m floating through the air, kept aloft by the low gravity of Elpis, the Pre-Sequel’s lunar landscape. Borderlands is best when its irreverence is reflected in its combat, when it’s layering the insanity of its characters atop weird weapons and enemies. Near-weightlessness is a terrific tweak to that formula; launching rockets at vulgar mutants and mechs its more playful when you (and your co-op teammates) are lilting softly through the air. I bounded my way through most of the game; tapping the jump button while airborne spends a single mid-air boost from your Oz kit (a new item that takes the place of relics), and hitting Ctrl sinks your character straight down to the surface. some charming one-liners, but as The Pre-Sequel is primarily his backstory, he spends most of the game being kind and helpful—character development that came off as more off-putting than interesting to me. The problem with mechanically simple missions is that their fun relies entirely on funny dialogue and interesting firefights, both of which are inconsistent throughout The Pre-Sequel. Combat is occasionally great—one of the first bosses pounces and floats between a bunch of indoor platforms, some of which are electrified. Chasing him without shocking yourself and fending off his airborne minions
Sharpshooter Video games have been accused of contributing too many acts of violence or aggression for decades. What the media misses is that video games have many benefits we haven’t found in any other media. Society should stop being afraid of video games and instead start looking forward to how we can best use them to benefit ourselves and our children. Anyone who doesn’t understand why needs only take a quick look at our society. Surveys have shown that 90% of children in the United States
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illennials, those born between 1978 and 2000 (Madland 1), grew up playing video games. Home video game systems (known as platforms) such as Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Playstation, and don’t forget computers, were well established before they began primary school. These young adults have participated in the rapid development of video games from the most simple of games like Pong, released by Atari in 1973 (Winter), all the way to games like the super-realistic BioShock Infinite, released across multiple platforms in 2013 (Take-Two). To play Pong players manipulated a wheel on a controller to move a white line (the paddle) up and down one side of their television screen to prevent a white dot (the ball) from getting past their paddle. The graphics were incredibly simple. By contrast, games like BioShock Infinite are action-packed, fastpaced, and full of realistic scenery.
are thematically different, like delivering flowers to suitors for Nurse Nina (the stand-in for Dr. Zed), or exploring ice caves to place a mining drill, or retrieving a scientist’s lost teddy bear, feel like equivalent errands punctuated by similar firefights. My least favorite were missions where I had to scour a room for a hidden Echo device, about as fun as searching someone else’s room for a missing wallet. The Pre-Sequel would’ve benefited from a large-scale combat sequence or something like an escort-sniping mission. Fifteen hours in, I realize that I’m playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel as a flying Ghostbuster Captain America. My character class, Gladiator, grips a round shield in her left hand when her class ability is triggered, absorbing or reflecting damage before hurling the shield like a boomerang-frisbee. In my right hand is my favorite weapon, Miss Moxxi’s Vibra-Pulse, a laser gun that spits a wavy line of volts like Egon’s proton pack. And the shock damage it deals cascades like Diablo’s chain lightning spell, arcing between enemies in reach. As I’m electrocuting and shield-tossing, I’m floating through the air, kept aloft by the low gravity of Elpis, the Pre-Sequel’s lunar landscape. Borderlands is best when its irreverence is reflected in its combat, when it’s layering the insanity of its characters atop weird weapons and enemies. Near-weightlessness is a terrific tweak to that formula; launching rockets at vulgar mutants and mechs its more playful when you (and your co-op teammates) are lilting softly through the air. I bounded my way through most of the game; tapping the jump button while airborne spends a single mid-air boost from your Oz kit (a new item that takes the place of relics), and hitting Ctrl sinks your character straight down to the surface. some charming one-liners, but as The Pre-Sequel is primarily his backstory,
BACK
From strength to strength
Some of the most controversial video games are also the ones with the greatest potential benefits. Fastpaced, FPS like BioShock Infinite, Halo, Doom, Half-Life, Borderlands and third-person equivalents like God of War: Ascension, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Force Unleashed have all been accused of being too violent, but the benefits gamers gain from playing them are astounding. Researchers like Daphne Bavelier and C. Shawn Green have pwned been able to demonstrate in multiple laboratory tests that playing these fast-paced games increases a person’s ability to track multiple pieces of visual information and decrease reaction time. They also have worked with another researcher, Alexandre Pouget, and showed that fast-action games also decrease decision making time. Basically, these games have so much going on all the time that for someone not used to following and tracking so much information it can be overwhelming. Gamers have no trouble keeping up with this information overload. This essay was found
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he typical human’s brain is completely incapable of coping with processing all this information. However, the brains of gamers adapt so that they can keep track of all the information they need to. Bavelier and her team found that a video gamer’s brain physically changes so that the player can process all of this information, and, most importantly, use it. A video gamer is capable of making accurate, informed decisions faster than a non-gamer with the same percentage of right answers. Bavelier and Green demonstrated that this benefit from fast-action video games sticks around for at least six months after a test subject has played only 10 hours over the course of 2 weeks. This means that every person can gain this benefit without actually being a gamer, as long as he or she is willing to put in a few hours a week to train his or her brains.
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The typical human’s brain is completely incapable of coping with processing all this information. However, the brains of gamers adapt so that they can keep track of all the information they need to. Bavelier and her team found that a video gamer’s brain physically changes so that the player can process all of this information, and, most importantly, use it. A video gamer is capable of making accurate, informed decisions faster than a non-gamer with the same percentage of right answers. Bavelier and Green demonstrated that this benefit from fast-action video games sticks around for at least six months after a test subject has played only 10 hours over the course of 2 weeks. This means that every person can gain this benefit without actually being a gamer, as long as he or she is willing to put in a few hours a week
to train his or her brains. This is really exciting because many of these changes have immediate benefits off with her head outside our living rooms, the most obvious of which is driving. When driving, the increased awareness, ability to track the many things going on around us and to make correct, fast decisions about likely outcomes of movements is invaluable in the prevention of car accidents. Playing video games has a huge impact on an individual’s brain and as a result has a direct impact on how gamers interact with and navigate our world. Many gamers are told over and over that they have trouble focusing, and that they must have ADD because they do so well in focusing when there is so much happening on their screens all the time. However, exciting new research, a
A war of wads
They are capable of resolving visual conflicts faster, which is frequently used in the lab to determine attention and focus capabilities. However, video game detractors point to information released by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) regarding increased Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis rates since 1997 with growth rates as high as 22% between 2003 and 2007. The fact that video games are a tool that can be used for education, and therefore do have an impact on the human brain, means we do need to be aware of what the potential negative impacts of those changes could be. What most every person has heard as an argument against video games is that they encourage violence and aggression in the people who play them. Multiple studies have been published on the topic, but when those studies have been reviewed and compared, it was found that they contradicted each other, and in many cases,
Looks like a scene from a bad action movie. Moving forward
They do acknowledge that there may be a period immediately after playing these violent games that a gamer may be desensitized, but it is not an effect that could be attributed to an increase violence and aggressive behavior in those test subjects. Essentially, the evidence so far is showing that video games have a short-term impact on how people respond to violence and are likely desensitized to violence and possibly even reading for a short period after they play violent video games, but there is little evidence that there is a longterm impact. The heart of the argument against violent video games is based on the idea of a long-term, negative impact on gamers. Research just does not support that position. Video games have become a part of our culture and a part of our lives in many ways. As a society we need to focus our
energy and attention on is how to use them to make our lives better. We’ve already seen research that shows how video games can be used to help with several tasks with real world applications. We can use video games to increase our ability to track multiple objects and thus be able to monitor more of our surroundings while driving. They teach people how to be able to focus and maintain attention in situations where there is a lot of information to absorb in very short period of time. Video games can help us to better analyze what is going on around us and make quick decisions about the best action to take in a variety of situations. New research about the benefits of video games is coming out every year. It is time for us all to step forward and embrace the technology around us that has so many benefits and work together to mitigate the deficits that are present. Our society will not be ruined by
Bought not caught
The fact that video games are a tool that can be used for education, and therefore do have an impact on the human brain, means we do need to be aware of what the potential negative impacts of those changes could be. What most every person has heard as an argument against video games is that they encourage violence and aggression in the people who play them. Multiple studies have been published on the topic, but when those studies have been reviewed and compared, it was found that they contradicted each other, and in many cases, used flawed methods to reach their conclusion regardless of the results (Mitrofan). Christopher J. Ferguson with Texas A&M University used meta-analysis to review 12 studies available to him at the time of his publishing (2008) and found that researchers often used flawed methodology, drew conclusions that were not supported by their evidence, or in general could find no link between video games and violence. Of all the