Searcy, AR. (LP) — The Thanksgiving/Christmas season is a very unique time of year for media. Not only are there last-minute big blockbuster movies, blatant encouragement of mindless consumerism, and the infamous horror that is Black Friday, this time is also home to one of the biggest release periods of the year in the video game industry. Along with the new installments in big, well-known series like Mario&Sonic, Just Dance, and Pokémon, there are also original, standalone titles that have already made a name for themselves, like Death Stranding and Wattam.
While there are certainly upcoming titles that look very interesting as well as others that seem quite the opposite, not everyone can agree on which are the best and which are the worst. Searcy High students seem to be particularly divided on this topic. On one hand, SHS senior Nicholas Seymore declares his excitement for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, “I’ve always been a fan of Star Wars and the lore behind it. I loved playing the Force Unleashed series, and this game just looks amazing.” On the other hand, the same student remarked negatively on Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, saying, “Age of Empires is one of those games I can never get into.” Sophomore Alejandro Pena agrees with Seymore on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, stating that he’s excited, “because the game takes back the mechanics to the original Star Wars.” Pena also criticized Death Stranding, saying,”It is legit a UPS simulator and it kinda has 50-50 reviews on it.” At the same time, sophomore Matthew Mancini argues in the favor of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, “Not only does it look in depth and compelling in terms of game play, anthropology has always been something I’ve wanted to look into.” In addition, Mancini also expressed a lack of interest in the upcoming Darksiders Genesis, noting, “Mobile games don’t appeal to me.”
Although there are many highly anticipated video games being released this quarter, not everyone can agree on which ones deserve such hype. Even students at Searcy High debate this. In the end, despite the varying opinions of them, it seems like everyone can agree that the most important thing when it comes to video games is the fun you have while playing them.
