Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Matthew Lee Enter the world of Bonesaw, where you, the last Clarkson Golden Knight, fight to bring your fellow Knights out of the inter-dimensional penalty box set up by the evil referee.

"Bonesaw is ready!" screams the computer, followed by the kind of retro game sounds that bring your mind back to the old classic arcade and console games. The graphics are retro-style and almost nostalgic, but the subject matter is strangely familiar to the average modern Clarkson student. You are playing Bonesaw: The Game, a creation of Kyle Pulver, a current senior here.

We're all familiar with the victory cry "bonesaw" that floods the hockey games upon a goal, a fad that emerged sometime in the past three years at Clarkson. The game is based around hockey too - the Golden Knights, in fact - but this is no sports game.

The hero of the game is a new hockey player for the Knights, who are training for their next game against St. Lawrence University. At the beginning of the game, an evil referee in his characteristic striped outfit comes out of nowhere and traps all the other hockey players in an "inter-dimensional penalty box" (the hero is fetching pulled pork, so he's exempt). The goal: to find the referee and save the Golden Knights - and collecting golden hockey pucks along the way can unlock other levels. Bonesaw: The Game captures the Clarkson hockey spirit pretty well, complete with the rivalry against SLU, whose hockey players ("SLUzers") happen to be fairly common foes to come across.

The first playable level is a tutorial that does a very well-rounded job of getting the player acquainted with the different moves and the way objects behave in the game. In no time at all, I was using those combos against enemy hockey players and a whole slew of other strange-looking villains.

Bonesaw is, of course, the signature attack move in the game. When you've killed enough enemies, you have the privilege of using a Bonesaw for a limited amount of time. After an elaborate demonstration of the retro game's graphics, an image of Randy Savage ("Bonesaw McGraw" in Spider-Man) appears on the screen, presenting the mighty saw for you to use to your liking. Once you have it, you will enjoy every second of the in-game destruction to your foes that you're given.

A gamer brought up on old Nintendo games will appreciate the retro style. Some newer gamers might be displeased with the nit-picky behavior of some of the game elements - the player has to be in almost just the right spot to score a hit on an enemy, and sometimes is required to jump and hit something in exactly the right way, for instance, to pass a level. But for those who enjoy that dynamic, it has both a fantastic "try again" and a "play again" value. Bonesaw: The Game is a fun and challenging game that keeps up with the high energy and spirit of the games played by the Golden Knights. Give it a try at kylepulver.com!

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