Category Archives: Tech/Games

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life, Tech/Games

AI’s impact on education

Leave a comment

By: Karl Salkowski

(Image Credit Unsplash)

As artificial intelligence continues to become more and more widespread and accessible, it only becomes more prevalent in our day to day lives. Every year AI plays a larger role in public education, but it is not always constructive. Although AI can be used to enable student creativity, it comes with the risk of over dependence. With artificial intelligence models becoming more aware and accurate it becomes harder to distinguish between human and artificially created work. New systems such as ChatGPT Zero and Turnitin have gained popularity as systems able to verify human work, but they aren’t always accurate.

AI can help students understand difficult concepts, simplifying details through instant feedback and explanations. However, AI can also be used maliciously in order to pass off assignments as student work. Over time many students become over-dependant on artificial intelligence leading them to fall behind.

AI has changed the landscape of education, forcing both students and teachers to adapt very quickly. Many schools use certain firewalls and tools to ban AI software on school WiFi, while others have opted to create policies on constructive and safe AI use. Many use these strategies in conjunction, such as Highland Park Senior High, which has chosen to block less trustworthy cites, while also integrating an AI responsibility policy.

AI forces educators to rethink how to assess students, figuring out new methods to preserve academic honesty. As AI continues to integrate more with our lives, students will continue to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence and online resources. This makes it significantly harder to judge whether student work is genuine or manufactured. In my own experiences, many of my teachers have decided against more traditional testing methods and started using new types of essays and activities that are harder to cheat on.

When used responsibly AI can be an incredible resource for students, but it is likely that most students have already developed an over dependence on it, leading to more of a struggle long term.

Tech/Games

The addition of Squirm to ‘Dandy’s World’

Leave a comment

By: Maple Graham

‘Dandy’s World’ is a mascot horror game on Roblox, taking place in the abandoned Gardenview Educational Center and Museum. Gardenview was an attraction for children, housing real, living counterparts to their respective characters in the show. It additionally doubled as a studio for working on episodes. It closed in 2002 after 14 years of operation because of an incident regarding the living main character. The game itself takes place after this “incident,” where you play as the various characters known as “Toons” that are still stuck in the facility. Your primary goal is to complete as many floors as possible by filling up machines with ichor to power the elevator, while avoiding malevolent versions of the cast—known as “Twisteds”.

On February 27th, ‘Dandy’s World’ released a new minor update, adding a new Toon, a new area to explore, and an achievement system. This update had a lot of expectations from the community—the development team finished a recent rework of parts of the game to allow more complex things in future updates.

The new Toon, Squirm, was met with positive feedback. His character is fun to play—his ability to eat books off of nearby shelves for a machine boost is something no one expected; I hope the development team continues to make characters with unique special abilities.

^ Image of Squirm—specifically his vintage cosmetic

Squirm’s personality, however, was controversial among fans when he released. His entire character revolves around being sad, scared, and miserable all the time—like Shrimpo, another Toon revolving around another negative emotion: anger. I think his character, while annoying, is what ‘Dandy’s World’ needs. Shrimpo being the only antagonist in the entire show was disappointing to me, and while Squirm isn’t mean compared to Shrimpo, his rollercoaster of emotions brings out scenarios previously unexplored in dialogue.

Squirm, like all other characters, has a “Twisted” version acting as an enemy to all players. His Twisted is unique and changes up gameplay when active on a floor—hanging down from the ceiling and dropping down to grab any players that make the mistake of coming too close. This is particularly harmful to “distractors,” a role tasked to lead enemies away from other teammates so they can work on powering the elevator without issue. Distractors are common within experienced teams, so a new strategy to deal with Squirm will be necessary.

In ‘Dandy’s World’, there’s 4 rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Main Character. Squirm’s major flaw (which isn’t even the Toon’s fault) is his rarity—being a Rare Toon. The rarity system in ‘Dandy’s World’ is far from perfect, and Squirm’s existence is detrimental to his rarity tier. Players need to encounter Twisted Squirm to get research on him to unlock his playable Toon variant and his Trinket (Trinkets are unique equippable items that give you different perks).

The game determines how rare a Twisted is through a list system, with each rarity weighted differently. This system works like a deck of cards; every rarity has a set number of cards in that deck: 75 Common cards, 25 Uncommon cards, and 8 Rare cards. For each Twisted to spawn on the floor, a random “card” is drawn, and a random enemy is then spawned from the card’s respective rarity. Main Character cards throw this system into a loop—every 5 floors, 4 Main cards are added to this hypothetical deck, with every other rarity not scaling with the Main Characters.

For example, when starting the game, there’s a 7.41% chance that when an enemy spawns, it will be Rare. Once you get to the 5th floor, this chance decreases to 7.14% because Main Characters are now in the “deck”. At the 10th floor, Main Characters are now as common as Rare enemies (both being 6.9% with every enemy spawned). This trend continues, with the Main Characters later becoming the most common enemy; even more ubiquitous than Common Toons themselves!

And the chances mentioned above are only for rarities. After that, each character in the rarity tier has an equal chance of being chosen. In Squirm’s case, he is 1 of 7 Rare characters. That means the 7.14% chance on floors 1-4 doesn’t represent his true spawn rate in an accurate way; he has a 1.06% chance of spawning as an enemy then! This percentage nosedives into chances less than 1% starting on floor 5—making his encounter excessively rare.

Having the additional information that Twisted Squirm must be encountered to acquire his character and trinket, and that he’s part of the rarest group in the entire game, you can see how the community was annoyed. This problem showed itself before, during the Halloween and Christmas events, where limited-time characters were added to the rarity pools, indirectly making all characters rarer for the duration of the event. Eclipse and Coal, the two Rare characters in each event, were notoriously hard to find. Parallel to Squirm, many said the only challenge to getting the Rare event Toons was luck itself.

What differed from the event updates compared to now is the misinformation. I have seen conglomerations of fans saying that Rare Toons (specifically a Toon named Blot) were removed from the game via a “glitch.” This is not true—I have talked with many people who have all encountered him during the newest update, and the developer team itself has not claimed this is true. The only reason why people may think this way is because all Rare Toons have a 1.06% chance of spawning at most, giving the illusion to casual players that some Twisteds may never show up.

The development team addressed this on March 5th with their Easter event teaser, stating that they completely changed how rarities work and gave a short table of percentages from a sample of early floors. This system is far from simple; I tried extrapolating data to get a general understanding of how it works, but I could find little correlation between data points. One thing I could predict with certainty was that Rare toons will have an extra added weight of 2 (2 more cards, if you’re still following the example from earlier), raising their starting chances from 7.41% to 9.09% in the new update!

Overall, Squirm’s addition was a net positive, but the surrounding hype was dampened partly from his dislikable personality and from his initial Twisted rarity at the time of the update.

The new area, the library, is a new map that can be randomly encountered from the start of the game. It has a center with shelves rotated every which way to create asymmetrical, tight spaces to navigate—and outer areas that are more open and predictable. This map is tied to Squirm through various bits of lore throughout the floor, and also meshes well with the rest of the characters. From what I have seen, most people enjoy the map and have no qualms with it.

^ Outer section of the library map during a blackout (image brightened)

The community was additionally surprised with a rework of another area, the gift shop. Whereas the library was received positively, this rework came across as unnecessary to many. Not only did it change the shop’s entire layout, it also made the entire area much more spacious; the area was already spacious enough to many. Personally, I like the reworked gift shop, but removing the old gift shop was a bad idea. The rework would work better as a variant of the gift shop—more variants of newer maps are needed for variety.

Finally, the developers added an achievement system as a smaller part to a new menu, the journal. The journal sets up future updates with a few locked sections, such as a dialogue viewer, and other collectible menus. The achievements are a welcome addition to the game, with 25+ different challenges for players to beat! They hit the mark with optional achievements, such as beating a challenge floor with the weakest character in the game, to getting chased by 6 enemies at once. There are also plenty of benchmark achievements that players can get through normal gameplay.

While most of the achievements are wonderful, the ranking system that goes along with it is so unbelievably unbalanced. For example, according to the game, it is harder to complete a floor under 1 minute than getting to floor 50—getting to just floor 20 has been widely considered being a difficult task by the community even before the update, while completing a floor in under 1 minute is easily attainable during the beginning of runs if you have at least 4 people.

A floor 100 achievement was also added, with that being the most debated addition the update brought. Only a select few people have ever gotten to floor 100, and the people that did it spent hours, even days on a single run. Some think the removal of the achievement would benefit the game, while others think an optional challenge that doesn’t affect gameplay isn’t that bad.

In summary, the new ‘Dandy’s World’ update was taken well, with the community enjoying the grand majority of it. I’ve been working on catching up with getting everything in the game, and while the new achievements are quite an obstacle, I’m not discouraged in the slightest to continue playing the game.

Tech/Games

BIRD GAME 3 META ANALYSIS (JOYSTiCK Reviews Special)

Leave a comment

By: Daniel Kendle

Hey, gang! I’m Ms. Smeegle, and I’m filling in for Mr. Whatshisname for this review. I hope you enjoy!

‘Bird Game 3’ is among 2025’s most popular games, hitting Steam shelves to a collective peak of 1.2 million players. The game is a match-based multiplayer experience where you take control of a bird as you fight for your team, steal eggs, and battle foes. It’s reminiscent of games like ‘Overwatch,’ ‘Marvel Rivals,’ and ‘Apex Legends,’ being a 5V5 first-person experience against other online players. The difference, of course, is that ‘Bird Game 3’ is the world’s first FPP: First-Person Pecker.

Obviously, the game hasn’t been out for super long, so it’s hard to definitively say which birds are best and which are worst. As of January 2026 – the time at which I’m writing this – we’re currently in the midst of Season 4, Regulation E. In this regulation, the following birds have been banned from ranked play:

  • Phoenix (banned to Ubers)
  • Wood Duck
  • Emu

This narrows down the full list of usable birds to a solid 22: not the largest-ever roster for a Regulation, but a good one still. It’s also nice to have some birds from Season 1 and 2 finally become legal again, like Rooster and Titmouse.

After combing through various different websites, it seems the most popular bird online is Bald Eagle, with about 38% of registered teams having one. Makes sense; for being among the last S-tier birds not already banned in Ranked. It’s stat spread is great, with a ⅗ in HP, ⅘ in Offense and Defense, and ⅗ in Swiftness. Sure, it doesn’t spec into any of its highest stats completely, but opting instead for a more neutral playstyle is beneficial for a Carnivore-built bird. Its Bird Power, ‘Patriotism,’ is also pretty based, temporarily-maxing out its Special Move meter whenever an egg is stolen from their nest.

Besides Eagle, other notable birds include Opium Bird and Hummingbird, which’re hardly surprises. The latter in particular has been a mainstay pick for team comps since even Regulation B in Season 1, due to its stupidly-small hitboxes and Special Attack cooldowns. ‘Nectarite’ sucks, but the Bird Ability can be easily-circumvented through user “NBok43’s” recently-discovered Pollenport glitch. I imagine it’ll be patched soon, but for now its continued letting Hummingbird remain a meta threat.

Some nerfs to birds have also affected the player base, for better or worse. Birds with ‘Bug Boost’ for a Bird Power have had a severe drop in usage: its effect previously let Insectivore builds gain a temporary 1.5% Defensive boost upon eating 10 insects, but now, in addition to the requirement being 20 insects, the boost is only 1.2%. Oxpecker, Swift and Woodpecker users have become a rare sight only because of this. Another nerf is to Penguin, with its unique ‘Flipper Fodder’ Power now only letting it release 5 “Penguissiles” at a time as opposed to 7.

Overall, the changes made to ‘Bird Game 3’ in its newest Regulation have been net-positive for most. The Ranked meta has never been healthier, with more and more birds actually seeing competitive viability. With this most recent patch, I can only hope that the game continues to soar from he-

“Doctor, look! There! Her pulse is rising, I think she’s regaining consciousness!”

“We can’t lose her again this time. Hector: fetch front desk support. We’re gonna want to alert her family.“

Wh…wha? What’s going on?

“Ma’am? Ma’am, this is doctor Mackenzie of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. You’re going to be alright.”

Mayo Cli…w-why am I-!

“Ma’am, you were in a car crash with your wife and son 46 hours ago. They perished in the wreck, while you stayed in fatal condition. We need you to relax, please – Marjorie, hand me the anesthesia.”

They died? But I-I didn’t even see anyone else driving! I couldn’t have…have…

“No one could’ve. It was a freak accident: a couple of drunk teenagers T-boned your vehicle on Interstate 430. Your relatives wanted hospital personnel to tell you all this when you woke up.“

…

“I’m…I’m sorry for your loss.”

…Janus…

“…thank you. Ma’am, I need you to close your eyes again and count to 20. Everything is going to be okay.”

Tech/Games

New York Times Games

Leave a comment

By: Charlotte Aver

Wordle has been around since COVID when Josh Wardle created it as a gift to his partner. He was inspired by the Spelling Bee and Crossword by the New York Times. The game grew in popularity throughout the pandemic leading Josh Wardle to sell the game to the New York Times where it could join its inspiration to be played everyday. Wordle is a five letter word guessing game where you have six chances to get the word right, and as you play the game gives you hints as to whether or not you are close. I would rate this game a solid 9/10 because I play it most days and it is a fun way to wake up my brain.

Connections is probably my favorite New York Times game. It was developed for about a year before being released to the public in June of 2023, as time went on it rapidly gained popularity, and in 2025 it had 3 million daily players. It is where you have 16 words and 4 groups of 4 that you have to find. It varies in difficulty level but typically is not too hard if you think through it thoroughly. I would rate this game 10/10.

Spelling Bee is a game where you are given 7 letters to arrange into words all using the center letter. This game takes a long time and a lot of critical thinking to complete. I often start this game and continue going back to it throughout the day. I would rate this game a 7/10.

Sudoku is a previously existing game and needs no introduction, it is just digitized. I personally don’t like sudoku and this game doesn’t show the same creativity as the others so I will give this game a 5/10.

Strands is a very fun game that can be incredibly difficult and is probably only possible to work in the digital form. Strands is a game where you have a bunch of letters laid out in a grid and a theme. You need to find all of the words but the twist is that the words are not in straight lines and they wind around the grid making it harder than a plain word search. I would give this one a 7/10.

Pips is the newest addition to the New York Times’ games and is very fun. Pips is a game where there are dominos and certain spots for the dominos to go, but they have numbers on them to indicate where each domino goes. It takes a bit to understand but once you do it’s incredibly fun. I would rate this game a 8/10.

There are a few more games but you have to subscribe to have access to them so I will not be rating them.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 21: ‘Keeper’ – It’s a Keeper!

Leave a comment

By: Daniel Kendle

Hey guys, welcome back to JOYSTiCK Reviews, nominee and winner at the 2025 Webby Awards for ‘Best Reason to Switch Browsers.’ I’m flattered, honestly; it feels good to beat IGN’s decades-long win streak.

‘Keeper’ is a light puzzle-platformer released for Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2025. You play as a sentient lighthouse exploring an island, all the while accompanied by a green bird friend. I emphasize the “light” used in both genre descriptions, as ‘Keeper’ primarily focuses on art design, atmosphere, and story. It’s a dialogue-less story, told through lucid imagery and sights.

But how good is the game at telling this story? Does the lack of language hinder this game, or help it? Should we have cast Sam Rockwell as a sentient lighthouse after all? As always, let’s find out.

. . .

‘Keeper’ has a runtime of around 3-4 hours, per my estimations. As such, it’s a bit hard to discuss the story thoroughly without delving into mild spoilers. While I won’t be giving away the climax and ending, I’ll still be mentioning key plot moments throughout my review.

The game follows a typical 3-act structure, loosely-akin to the Hero’s Journey story outline. You begin the game on the beach, learning to control your limbs as you walk around the shore of the lighthouse. You then meet this green bird who’d just escaped this evil magic energy, and after teaming up, the 2 of you head into the thick of the island to find a way to stop the magic’s spread.

After that introduction, the game’s plot mostly sticks to a location-by-location chain of events. Events in the story are usually tied to the area you’re in: for example, you eventually come across this town themed around automatons and the sun and moon. Here, you have to solve puzzles to open a locked path that prevents you from continuing forward.

This is a solid way to structure a wordless story, in my opinion. Having plot events control what the characters do instead of the other way ‘round helps keep the pace steady throughout. It also prevents instances of the characters having to somehow try to convey information without speaking, a task harder than it may seem. Emotions are instead at the forefront of the lighthouse and bird’s arc, a much easier area of storytelling to show without speaking.

Each area in the game serves to progress both the main duo’s bond and their reason to find the source of the dark magic. Throughout the many habitats, instances of the energy (represented with swarms of insects) scuttle around in recesses and crannies, scattering with your presence. As their presence grows with time spent on your voyage, your drive to eradicate them grows in tandem. That, and your friendship with the bird, and the eventual chick it raises.

I’ll stop here to not spoil the ending, but the second half of this game goes in a very weird, quirky direction. While it did get tedious at points, the end result is an experience unlike little else from this year. The final scene right before the credits was my particular favorite, letting psychedelic elements of past scenes come full-circle. It’s absurd, yes, but that’s what makes ‘Keeper’s’ story work so well.

The graphics are also lovely to look at, and the game probably has my favorite art direction of 2025. Environments are delicately-designed and detailed, leaving little to no speck of the map unpolished. Some parts of the game – vistas in particular – led to me sitting for a moment, admiring the view. When a game allows the player such liberties like these, it’s truly special.

The character design is top-notch, too. The lighthouse and bird have very charming, cartoony appearances that synergize with the bizarre world they inhabit. They’re well animated, too – another plus on top of this game’s visuals. Everything in the game is well-animated, actually! Flora and fauna have plenty of life to them, shown through interesting and eye-catching movements. I mentioned earlier that dark magic is represented through flying swarms of bugs, which is a unique way to visualize “evil energy.”

As you can see, ‘Keeper’ thrives on its presentation and storytelling. But does it falter anywhere? Well, there is one aspect of the game I find lacking: the puzzles. Most are inconsequential, small affairs that don’t extend to more beyond simple roadblocks. Solving them doesn’t grant a “eureka!” moment, instead a mild satisfaction from being able to keep progressing the story. They aren’t bad necessarily, but definitely lackluster compared to surrounding parts of the game. In my humble opinion, they could’ve had a bit more love shown onto them.

That’s a mild complaint, however. To conclude, ‘Keeper’ is a lovely game, one with a heavy focus on immersion and atmosphere. It handles these areas expertly, crafting a brief, magical experience that cements itself among 2025’s best games. I give it an 8/10, and urge you to check it out if you haven’t.

‘Keeper’ is available on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 20B: ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ – Putting the “FUN” in Hypothermia

Leave a comment

By: Daniel Kendle

2 logs remain.

Oh…hello again. It’s me, *cough* M-Mr. Whatshisname. Surprised I made it through last night? No need to fret: even th-this French, uh, tundra has no match against this old d-dog.

But that’s enough about me. This is a review about ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A,’ remember? Not surprised if you didn’t: my tapes from the first part of this article were mixed with other tapes, ones centered around my plights with hypothermic bone cancer. Don’t worry, I fixed that whole mess. Today’s review will be much more “focused.” *cough*

With that aside, we’ve got 2 more sections to dive into. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

PART 3: GRAPHICS

As I can attest to as a resident of this icy, radiative hellscape, France is very pretty! The countryside is, at least; the jury’s still out on Paris itself. You see, the first line in this paragraph was a device called irony.

Jokes aside, Paris is – or at least used to be – a very pretty town. And since ‘Z-A’ decides to base its entire story in Lumiose City (a direct translation of Paris), that obviously gave the game’s developers, Gamefreak, a tricky situation. 3-D ‘Pokemon’ games on the Switch have never been lookers per say, but with this smaller, more restrictive environment, this could be the opportunity for polish that this team has been waiting for. So: did it deliver?

Uh…yeah. Kind of.

I played this game on the Switch 2, which supports 60 FPS and improved texture resolutions. Of course, this means that the game was also built for the Switch 1, which definitely hindered possible graphical fidelity here. Foliage, while populous in both versions, is still used sparingly in grassy areas, like parks. The same goes for models with high polygon counts, like humans: the Switch 1 can’t handle too many on screen at once, meaning the Switch 2 experience is hindered subsequently.

Thankfully, the game doesn’t look terrible overall. In fact, bare your teeth, but I think it looks pretty good! Sorry to all IGN reviewers out there, but the frostbite in my brain must’ve given me something you lack: a controversially-positive opinion! While nothing exceptional visuals-wise, this game is easily the best-looking mainline ‘Pokémon’ game on either console mentioned. You can definitely sense a strong level of polish here, likely a result of skipping a major game release in 2024.

The Pokémon themselves look nice, as do the humans. Gamefreak ditched the realistic textures of ‘Scarlet’ and ‘Violet’ and gave entities a more basic palette, which I wholeheartedly prefer. The choice comes across very intentionally, though, and complements the Pokémon’s natural rim-lighting.

Textures are also much more polished. Again: the Switch 1 version is likely worse in this regard, but going purely off of the sequel console’s specs, I’d call it a massive improvement over past titles.

Buildings are a misfire for me, though. They’re basically just big textured boxes, with little physical depth. Balconies are squashed and flat, being just a part of the mapped image of the building face itself. The same is true for most columns and parapets, and it brings their beauty down a bunch.

While ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ doesn’t turn the wheel on its head graphically, it does well in pushing the wheel forward. For the flack recent games have received for their visuals, it’s good to see a modern title be given some more polish and time in the oven – and its due flowers.

PART 4: MUSIC

1 log remains.

The fire, it’s…i-it’s…

…l-let’s talk about the music, yeah! *cough* This is another source of praise for me, like with most ‘Pokémon’ games. If there’s anything, anything consistent about this series at all, it’d be this area. So how’s about we rapid-fire through my thoughts on some in particular, like with the Mega Evolution section. That way, I can say more about the soundtrack other than, “it’s good.”

  • To start a bit negative, the game only has 1 day and 1 night theme. Both of them are great, but after so many hours in the game, they gradually become repetitive to hear. The night them especially; the jazzy instrumentals, while nice at first, become grading over time.
  • The trainer battle theme during the Z-A Royale is really cool in an almost psychedelic way. Even though you hear this pretty often too, it never succumbed to the repetition of the day and night tracks.
  • Canari’s battle theme is peppy and upbeat, which is fun. Fits a Twitch streamer well, I suppose.
  • Corbeau’s battle music is easily my favorite in the game. It’s sinister and dire, yet the modern synthesizers give it a slick energy that I really love. A highlight of the soundtrack overall.
  • I’m not the biggest fan of electro swing, but even I quite like Jacinthe’s battle music. The overwhelming instrumentals at the beginning were befitting for her cheery, albeit psychopathic tendencies in the story.
  • Finally, the battle music for Team Flare Nouveau is among the best of the remixes here. It carries the manic energy of the original forward strongly, and is also among the soundtrack’s highs.

To conclude, the soundtrack for ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ is another slam dunk for the team overall. It’s funky, weird, and alluring in all the right ways. I can’t deny the mastery at work here with this albu-!

0 logs remain.

…w-what? But…I wasn’t ready! I still needed to conclude my article and give the game an 8/10! I needed to say that the game was far-and-away the best mainline ‘Pokémon’ game on the Switch!

Death befits the ignorant, not the ready.

No…no! I-I can’t give up now. My body, my mind…we still have so much life left to live! My saga can’t end here!

This is not your will.

…

This is not your choice.

…

This is not your life.

Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

How social media can be negative & positive

Leave a comment

By: Seng Nhkum

Today many people use social media, and approximately 5.66 billion people globally use social media, representing about 68.7% of the world’s population. Some examples of social media are TikTok, Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, and X. I think social media can be negative and positive and these are my reasons why.

First, a reason why I think social media can be negative is harassment and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is when someone is repeatedly creating harmful behavior using technology to threaten, harass, embarrass, or target another person. This can be negative for social media because although it’s easy to just block them they can still continue making accounts to harass you. Also, cyberbullying and harassment can lead up to damaging the person’s mental health and well being.

Another reason why I think social media can be negative is stranger danger. There are tons of people on social media which means lots of people you don’t know. Strangers can try to take advantage of you and manipulate you especially if you are still young. Strangers can take advantage of you like if the stranger knows about what you’re struggling with they could try to take advantage of that and try to manipulate you into doing something. Like what happens a lot is when a minor runs away from home to secretly meet with the stranger, which leads to a negative outcome because they don’t even personally know the person but still chooses to meet up with a stranger.

Then a reason why I think social media can also be positive is communication and awareness. Social media can spread news quickly and this leads to faster communication making communication more efficient. Also, social media can spread a lot of awareness about many things, for example like any social issues that are happening in the world, and this is positive because it shows people what things are happening in the world changing their perspectives on anything.

Lastly, another reason why I think social media can be positive is you can make a career off it making lots of money. Like many people called influencers, who post videos on social media, have made a career out of social media and being really famous while making tons and tons of money.

Overall, social media is negative and positive because it can put you in dangerous situations, but could also provide for you, or help you. Always use social media safety and use it wisely.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 20A: ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ – Nuclear Winter and You

Leave a comment

By: Daniel Kendle

(Wind blows).

Oh, hello there. It’s me: Mr. Whatshisname. Come sit; my fire’s got enough kindling for another few hours.

You may be wondering why I’m currently sitting in an abandoned Tim Horton’s, holding my hands out to a campfire as green-tinted snow falls around us. Me too! It’s honestly funny how the government tried to hide incoming nuclear fallout from us until the very moment of its conception. Or at least it would be, except for the fact that my cutting knives are made from melted squirrel teeth.

Still not convinced of the nuclear apocalypse’s existence, huh? You recognize that tall, warped monument off in the distance? Eiffel Tower. Boom. Yeah, things have gotten kind of out of hand since the Super Weapon went off. I mean, how did I even get to France in the first place? I live in Minnesota.

Actually, the Super Weapon itself actually was the Eiffel Tower. The monument was secretly designed akin to a giant energy ray, one that shot up into the sky and then down again. This blast caused all this: the snow, the wreckage, the biped horses, everything.

Y’know, this whole thing’s a bit of a coincidence. Just over a month ago the newest mainline game in the ‘Pokémon’ franchise was released, also taking place in a region inspired by France. It’s all I’ve been playing since the apocalypse began. Oh, you’re wondering Why I’ve been playing on my Switch 2 in the midst of a fallout zone? Well now, (chuckles) it’s not like I can lug my Xbox around with me, now can’t I?

But that’s enough preamble. As the embers in front of us slowly wither and die, I thought it’d be fitting to log one last game for this serial before, uh, dying. So without further ado, it’s time to answer this: is ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ a maverick title in the franchise, or does it succumb to the plights of gameplay reinvention and flop as a result? As always, let’s find out.

. . .

4 logs remain.

Let’s begin with an overview of the game as a whole. ‘Z-A’ is a real-time action RPG taking place entirely within a single city in the ‘Pokémon’ world, known as Lumiose City. You play as a tourist who recently moved there, taking up residence in a hotel as you compete in the nocturnal Z-A Royale to prove your strength. Alongside this venture is a quest to solve a mystery plaguing the town involving the ephemeral Mega Energy.

For this review we’ll have multiple chapters: Gameplay, New Pokémon Designs, Graphics, and Music. Hopefully this’ll help keep things on task; the cold’s been numbing my brain, weakening it as a result.

PART 1: GAMEPLAY

This is easily the most extensive section to discuss. The main differentiator between ‘Z-A’ and past ‘Pokémon’ games comes down to its new real-time battling system. The first for the mainline series, this change comes with a bevy of new adjustments to past features from the turn-based system of old.

Battles, whether with wild Pokémon, NPC trainers or other players, function the same: you start by throwing out your selected Pokémon, then use a mix of 4 moves assigned to the A, B, X and Y buttons. Every move in the game has a cooldown period dictating when you can use it. Already here we have a big difference from past combat: PP (Power Points) used to show how many times you could use a move. Now you can use a move indefinitely, with the cooldown balancing PP’s removal.

Your companions aren’t the only ones fighting, though: YOU do too! At all times you and your current Pokémon can run around the battlefield, allowing you to dodge attacks. This is another example of the real-time effect in action: now, dodging attacks doesn’t rely on moves’ accuracy percentages, but your physical maneuvering.

In fact, most past battling components have had their functionality factored. Status ailments don’t whittle down your team members per term, instead over a period of time. For example, poison doesn’t deplete health at the end of each turn, but instead every few seconds your Pokémon’s on the field. “Trap” moves, like Fire Spin and Whirlpool are similar, where instead of dealing damage each turn, they now occupy a space on the floor temporarily, lowering health of any who step inside them. The list goes on, but one thing remains certain: this new battling system is foreign to past entries of the series, and it’s highly-commendable in that regard.

While you could easily zone out in prior titles, ‘Z-A’ instead keeps your focus constantly, a mark of praise that shouldn’t go without overlooking. This reimagined system is among this game’s biggest strengths, and a reason why this game is so replayable. We’ll discuss that latter point a bit later, though.

But what can you do with this new system? Well, aside from ranked online matches, an in-game use for battling is the Z-A Royale, another staple of playthroughs. In universe, these are nighttime tournaments held in Battle Zones where trainers defeat other trainers, gaining points for promotion matches to raise their rank. The overall objective is to climb from rank Z to rank A, becoming the best of the best.

In action, these are simple, but well-designed events. Upon entering one, you’re forced to skulk around, locating other trainers and – hopefully – surprise-attacking one with your Pokémon. Doing so catches them off guard, giving you an advantage. This rule goes both ways, however – if an NPC catches you unawares first, you’ll be stunned momentarily. After engaging each other, a battle commences, with the winner gaining medals (collectibles that translate to in-game currency at night’s end), and points. Gain enough, and you’ll be given a ticket for your promotion match.

Dotted throughout Battle Zones are also cards with varying objectives to complete, such as catching opponents unawares or using a super effective move. Upon doing so an X amount of times, you’ll be given more points and medals, potentially speeding up your time in zones.

Overall, Battle Zones are wildly-fun to mess around in. Levels of your enemies scale per rank, giving you fair fights no matter your place in the main story. They facilitate the short, snappy battles well, and continue being fun both during the campaign and in post-game. A highlight of the game for sure.

The other type of zone, as well as the last main part of gameplay are Wild Zones. In the story, an influx of wild Pokémon into Lumiose City has caused their creation, allowing trainers to catch them within “natural” habitats (at least, as natural as the Parisian skyline allows). Progressing through the campaign opens more Wild Zones to players, allowing them new Pokémon as a result.

These are a much more controversial aspect of ‘Z-A,’ from what I’ve gathered. While most offer a decent amount of vertical depth, the majority of zones are pretty small and inconsequential compared to the routes of past games. You’ll usually only find a handful of monsters in each zone, making them quick to clear out. Some also have stout layouts, stout enough to where you can explore them pretty fast. There’s 20 overall, so while I can’t expect everyone to hit right, I wish they wouldn’t range in quality so frequently. Also, the fact that they all take place in the city makes them blend together quickly. Sewers, architecture and weather can sometimes help, but there’s not a zone in the game that forgoes containing buildings and streets. A missed opportunity for variance, in my opinion.

I like Wild Zones in concept, but their execution leaves a lot to be desired. They don’t hinder gameplay, but their linearity leaves me longing for the larger landscapes of old. They’re far from bad, but calling them good still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That, and this squirrel meat.

Forgot about me freezing to death already? Hope not; that kind of leaves the serial’s past 20 episodes a bit of a waste. Anyways, one of my logs is soon to burn out, so let’s wrap this section up soonish with some smaller features.

  • Cafés are common sights around the city, acting as optional locales for taking photos with your party members. While not super impactful in my playthrough, their inclusion is justified and respected. Not everything’s black-and-white, of course.
  • I seldom change my appearance in games when given the option, so buying outfits also wasn’t of much interest. Again: they’re cool. Just not my cup of tea.
  • The same catching mechanic from ‘Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ returns, giving you 360º control of throwing Pokéballs. Since that was a big feature of that game, I’ll ignore diving into it for the sake of time, considering it was translated about the same here. Still super fun, though!
    • Alpha Pokémon and Pokémon attacking you in general were also carried over, but for the same reasons as above I’ll leave it at that.
  • Lastly, there’s another large part of battling that we need to discuss, one which initially made its debut over a decade ago. That’s right, I’m talking about…

PART 2: SKY BATTLES MEGA EVOLUTION

3 logs remain.

As a mechanic, Mega Evolution doesn’t stray far from its namesake: in battle, a select handful of Pokémon can Mega Evolve, changing their physical form, stats, and giving a boost in strength. While there were many before, ‘Z-A’ has introduced a batch of new evolutions – 26, in fact!

Mega Evolution has also changed to abide by real-time battling. Mega Evolving is restricted to a set time limit, only able to be paused by retreating your Pokémon. A buff to the mechanic comes in the form of “C+” moves, though. All Pokémon are able to use their normal moves as C+ moves, giving them more power in exchange for some of your Mega meter. All Megas have their moves changed to C+ moves by default, staying that way until the time limit runs out.

Mega Evolution is a well-balanced mechanic, but who cares?! I’m an art student, so all I care about is whether their designs look like they can kill me or not. If you want to skip ahead of this chapter, go ahead: I’ll be bulletpointing my opinions on a handful of Pokémon designs here. If so, then let’s go.

  • I chose Totodile as my starter Pokémon, giving me later access to Feraligatr and – even later – Mega Ferligatr. This new design is controversial in how it changes the least from its original form, aside from a fin on its back turning into a giant fake jaw. When it chomps down, it gives Feraligatr the appearance of a giant Totodile, which is both really cute and sick. Some may hate it, calling it akin to Skibidi Toilet, but I honestly think it’s rad.
  • Mega Starmie is another debated-upon design, which I think is much more understandable. It’s the quintessential joke form, with the sole change being making the starfish’s legs longer. I’m usually not a fan of dumb designs made just for the sake of being dumb, but I won’t lie and say I don’t get a kick out of it. A textbook guilty pleasure design, in my book.
  • Mega Dragalge’s Pokédex entry (the franchise-wide catalog of every Pokémon species) states the following:

“It spits a liquid that causes the regenerative power of cells to run wild. The liquid is deadly poison to everything other than itself.”

See that first sentence? Well, for the uninitiated, you know what else causes the same?

Yup.

  • My favorite new Mega Evolution is easily Mega Malamar. The concept remains similar – a psychedelic, malevolent, upside-down squid – but turns them into a colossal squid mixed with a mad scientist/disco hybrid. It’s as raw as ever and among the best designs introduced; my favorite, definitely. Glad they revealed this guy pre-launch for marketing.

That’s about all the designs I specifically wanted to highlight, but obviously not the extent of my thoughts on this new batch. I’d say I generally enjoy the majority of new designs in this game, more so than most. That’s not to say there aren’t any stinkers, but still: a fine batch of new creatures.

. . .

Wow. What a thrilling couple of sections. You can tell I’m excited because of the monotone nature of my voice. It’s also how you can tell I’m slowly freezing to death, funnily-enough.

I think I need to rest. While only a couple sections in, I feel the need to rest my voice. I’ve been talking for so long, long enough to where I’m beginning to attract…predators.

(Wolves howl in the distance).

That’ll be all for today’s episode of JOYSTiCK Reviews. For now I need to figure out how to end these articles better…and how to survive this night.

“Will Mr. Whatshisname survive the frigid Paris night? Will he manage to enkindle a fire long enough to finish this review? And will scientists ever figure out how a Minnesotan high-school student managed to magically end up in France? Find out all of this and MORE in the next episode of “JOYSTiCK Ball Z.”

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 19: ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ – My Life as a Teenage Jester

Leave a comment

By: Daniel Kendle

Hey everyone, welcome back to JOYSTiCK Reviews, the world’s finest video game series for anyone uninterested in actually learning about the topic efficiently. ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ is the anticipated 3rd game in the modern ‘DOOM’ trilogy, which from a bystander’s perspective likely revolves around kittens collecting balls of colorful yarn. In actuality, you play as the Doom Slayer, an inhumanly-powerful juggernaut set on both conquering all of Hell and maybe even raising some too, who knows.

But how effectively doth the player raiseth Hell? Haveth the franchise runneth dry after all these years? And how many of these “th” suffixes can I inserteth into this review before my editor yells at me? Well, this is JOYSTiCK Reviews, I am Mr. Whatshisname, and I can confidently answer 2 of those questions in due time, with the third pending. So without further ado, let’s taketh a look.

‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ is the third entry in the recent ‘DOOM’ trilogy of games, seceding ‘DOOM’ and ‘DOOM: Eternal.’ The 3 games are interesting in that they all have fairly-distinct gameplay from one another, despite all being first-person shooters.

The minute-to-minute gameplay in ‘Dark Ages’ is what’ll be the main focus of this review, due to it also being the game’s main focus. Like past titles, the game is split into many different levels. They’re unlocked one-by-one, with a total of 19 to complete by the end of the campaign. The main difference between this new batch of levels from older ones is ‘Dark Ages’s’ focus on more open area design for its different chapters, delineating from older, more linear levels like in ‘Eternal.’

While the main moniker for the latter’s combat was “Rip and Tear,” the former instead relies on the mantra of ‘Stand and Fight.’ These more open areas, while maybe less tightly-packed with collectibles and enemies, propagate ‘Dark Ages’s’ new tagline for its combat. Demons are usually found in spread-out hordes, like troops in some medieval battle. Collectibles, like health and stamina packs, gold, and ammo pickups follow suit, though often remain solitary from each other. These choices promote the player to intricately-explore each level, probing it for loot instead of marching straight to the end flag.

With spaced-out enemies also comes new ways to bash their brains in, of course. The main addition is the Shield Saw, with which you can not only block incoming attacks, but also throw to cut through foes or activate grappling systems. This is a great addition to the flow of combat. If you think of shooting guns as your “A” method of attacking, the Shield works elegantly as a “B” option to close in on opponents. Since you’re able to both shoot and throw the Shield at the same time, you’re able to effectively multi-task killing demons, which always feels awesome. A truly great feature indeed.

The shield introduced another staple of the game: parrying. Upon attacking, most enemies will briefly display a bright green light, meaning they can be parried. Unrealistic, sure (my uncle’s never glowed green when pouncing me for not mowing the lawn) but it gives some depth to combat outside of gunning down foes. The caveat to this is that parrying eventually becomes a bit dull, the player usually being able to confidently-master punishing every enemy’s attack. It’s a mixed bag of a system for sure, but a fun one still.

Guns are still great to shoot; their damage combined with the game’s sound design makes them all feel wonderful to wield. My favorite is the Ravager, personally: you grind up human skulls to fire out in a concentrated spread, with its speed increasing the longer you hold down the trigger. In addition, weapons can also be given unique effects that alter gameplay, though from my experience, not that much. Usually they require gold to unlock, but some “stronger” effects cost unique currency like Rubies and Wraithstones. That being said, these stronger modifiers still never broke past being cute novelties for me, so the grind to pay for them never felt super rewarding.

Aside from straight-up first-person shooting, there are 2 other central modes of combat: Atlan and Dragon segments. These are easily the most controversial of this game’s new additions, with some liking them and some not. Then, of course, there’s those who land somewhere in the middle – like me.

The dragon segments are the better of the pair. They usually take up an entire level’s space, unlike the Atlan segments who take up to only around half. You’re basically just given control of a draconian steed: you can fly, ascend up and down, and even shoot projectiles. They also come with their own parrying system, where you dodge green attacks by flicking the stick a certain direction, which increases your projectile damage for a short time.

These sections are pretty fun, in my opinion. What makes these segments more fun than Atlan ones are how the game’s enemies and objectives alter around it. To account for your new freedom in the air, enemy ships will appear that you have to chase down and shoot. The aforementioned dodging mechanic is another change. Finally, missions (level-exclusive objectives to be completed for rewards) vary when you’re flying. All these and more make the Dragon levels more distinct from regular shooting, and therefore more worthwhile.

Atlan segments I have less to say about, since there’s less to really examine. You take control of a giant mech, and fill up a meter by using different attacks. Then, you can unleash these more powerful moves for…more damage. I’m not really sure what the idea here was; it comes across as half-baked as a result of its simplicity. They’re fine, but take up space that I think could’ve been used for a more complex new system, or even just more FPS levels.

Overall, the gameplay in ‘Dark Ages’ is worthwhile in experimentation with the genre. That’s not to say every new idea works (it’s fallacious, honestly), but what does soars. While faulty in areas, it’s definitely a game whose systems you ought to try out for yourself.

Gameplay is easily the most extensive area to cover, so let’s rapid-fire through these next departments!

The graphics have taken a solid jump in polish since ‘Eternal’ in 2020. The move to the next generation of consoles likely aided in this, and I’ve seen a fair amount of character design comparisons between games subsequently. That’s not to say that newer hardware automatically improves art direction, but hey – it’s always a factor. The only true problem I have with the graphics is the lack of variety in environments: the game seems to have the term “Dark Ages” locked-in, as most landscapes primarily-consist of grays and browns. They’re still pretty to look at, but besides some late-game levels they’re all pretty homogenous.

The sound direction is an immediate hit, however. I mentioned it briefly before, but the punch of gunshots, tearing of flesh and impacts of melee attacks all combine to have the game drip with satisfying audio. It may seem simple, but that’s just because ‘Dark Age’s’ sound effects are so smoothly-implemented. This – and the rest of the modern ‘DOOM’ trilogy, really – are masterclasses in sound design and mixing in games.

The music’s more of a mixed bag. The composer for ‘DOOM’ (2016) and ‘Eternal,’ Mick Gordon, left after the last entry due to mistreatment by Bethesda. Their replacement, Finishing Move Inc., did the best they could but simply can’t compare to Gordon’s work on the last games. What we do have is still good, but c’mon: you can’t beat synthesized chainsaws as instruments. You just can’t.

I think that’s enough for today. We’ve covered a decent bit of ground, though this game’s intricate shooting left me wanting to leave some for you to find out about. Oh, what’s that? You thought I forgot about the game’s bosses? My apologies, but you must be mistaken; ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ took another creative liberty: replacing all but the final boss with planks of wood.

I do actually like the final boss quite a bit, despite being a bit underwhelming. The other bosses you fight throughout the campaign I found pretty dull, though, nothing worth discussing in depth. It’s here where parrying became its least compelling, truthfully.

Nonetheless, ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ is still a great time. Perfect? No, and there’s certainly objective problems to critique, but what I can praise is how the game delineates from what came before. It truly feels separate from the others, carving out its own identity through new gameplay ideas. I’m therefore giving the game an 8/10.

That’s all for today’s review, however. ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.