2B - Thursday, February 3, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com 28 - Thursday, February 3, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom FOOD*WARS Each week, one Ann Arbor staple menu item becomes a battlefield as Daily Arts staffers butt heads over which restaurant makes it best. Caesar Salad Dear Will.i.am, For the sake of us all, no nip slip. Sincerely, the Super Bowl Dear Snowpocalypse, And they wanted me to close the University for THIS? Sincerely, Mary Sue Coleman 0 AMER'S 530 South State The best thing about the salad at Amer's is the delicious, chewy hunk of bread that comes with the meal, balanced precari- ously on the plate of leafy lettuce, crunchy cucumbers and tasty tomatoes. Though there isn't technically a Caesar salad on the menu (youhave to order the "Grilled Chick- en Salad" with Caesar dressing in order to reproduce the classic), the added carbs take the health food a step above brilliance. NOODLES & COMPANY 320 South State Noodles & Company's Caesar salad boasts an impressive variety of leafy, ten- der greens, yet there are too many watery white chunks of romaine left on the plate at the end of the meal. The dressing is a perfect balance of salty and sour flavors with a subtle hint of anchovies. Unfortu- nately, though, the grilled chicken is bland - it just seems to be thrown on top as an afterthought. PANERA BREAD 777 North University There's something about Panera that makes every University student just have to stop there in the minute before class starts. But it's clearly not the Caesar salad. Drowning in dressing and plagued by a faint, out-of-place taste of bacon, this salad would never pass an emperor's muster. The only redeeming quality is that it comes with a rich piece oftbread or an apple - but that's hardly any consolation. QUIZNOS Inside Pierpont Commons Featuring generous shavings of parm, peppercorn-infused Caesar dressing and bite-sized pieces of chicken nestled under warm flatbread, the Quiznos Caesar salad is a taste sensation. The lettuce is fresh, crunchy and provides a good balance for the other flavors. Be careful though: It's pretty garlicky and comes with onions - don't forget mints if you plan to be around other people. Dear Mary Sue, This isn't over. Sincerely, Snowpocalypse Dear "The Social Network," I'm CEO, bitch. Sincerely, "The King's Speech" And the winner is: Quiznos. Really. Q 'BALDUR'S GATE 1I' (2000), BIOWARE 'Baldur's Gate' still setting standard for RPGs By TEDDY PAPES game styles that were the pre- Daily Arts Writer cursors to "Dungeons & Drag- ons." Gygax was working on When a genre is first estab- board-driven war games, while lished, it's hard to recognize it. It Arneson conceived of the con- takes time to explore and tweak cept of controlling a single char- it before its full potential can be acter rather than entire armies. realized. As time passes, it'sslowly The two joined forces and accepted until it becomes a given together published "Dungeons & part'of public consciousness. Dragons," and the first RPG was Role-playing, for instance, has created. come to define so many video As fantastic and complex as games, but it wasn't initially cre- "Dungeons & Dragons" was, its ated for video games. Both role- potential was hardly tapped. Once playing and video games took it had been thoroughly played time to grow, and it wasn't until and scrutinized, potential for "Baldur's Gate II" that they were improvement was uncovered. To flawlessly fused into one of the address the necessary changes, best games of our generation. a reworking of "D&D" was pub- In a time when games and lished by Gygax. But even the media are becoming more shal- reworked game, "Advanced Dun- low and ephemeral, it's impor- geons & Dragons," was still far tant to understand the history from complete. of "BGII" and its connections to Intrinsic to the imaginative "Dungeons & Dragons," which and limitless world of "Dungeons are as extensive as the games & Dragons" was a lack of concrete themselves. In the early '70s, presentation. It wasn't until tech- board game designers Gary nology caught up with Gygax and Gygax and Dave Arneson were Arneson's evolving ingenuity that experimenting with various "Dungeons & Dragons" could take o BioWa on the the fir: Gate,": & Drag acter even tc based fantasy a new f A 'I clic geons - visit left un but in: they c II." Itvw couldn rate ma "BG n a new form altogether. "D&D" adventures begin: waking re sought to render "D&D" in a dark, decrepit prison, escap- computer and did so with ing from captors and gathering st installment of "Baldur's together a party along the way. using "Advanced Dungeons After this destitute beginning, ;ons" as the basis for char- the player escapes into a fully classes and combat. And fleshed-out world in which the hough "Baldur's Gate" was volume of content is unmatched on such a well established in modern gaming. The story system, the transition into follows the player's character, ormat was much like "Dun- the son of the Lord of Murder, through the grapples of an insidi- ous wizard who seeks to awaken 11 the fun of the evil in the protagonist. The unfolding story is nothing short )&D' at the of epic, but the greatest asset of "BGII" is the world that this :k of a mouse, story exists in. The main city has so many characters to be helped and quests to accomplish that it creates a world as real and intri- & Dragons" at its inception cate as any of today's games. The onary, but with potential amount of content is nearly over- tapped. As these separate whelming at times, but the risk is tertwined games evolved, for better, as it gives a sense that oalesced as "Baldur's Gate only the player can forestall the cas everythingthat an RPG world's descent into chaos. 't have been until the sepa- Its easy to see how quickly aturations united. games become outdated in terms II" opens the way many of story, voice acting and script, but the only thing about "Bal- dur's Gate II" that recalls the past is its technological limitations. The voice acting and deep char- acterization are totally ahead of their time and make the charac- ters really feel alive. Other games 1/ Aii COURTESY OF BIOWARE Technologically limited, but awesome in every other way. Michigan College Advising Corps is now hiring UM Grads for full-time, paid service positions as college advisers Apply Now! The Michigan College Advising Corps seeks new graduates to serve as college advisers in underserved high schools across Michigan Application deadline: February 21, 2011 For more information and an application packet visit www.ceo.umich.edu/mcac that came out around the release of "BGII," like "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask," are enjoy- able, but have vacuous characters. The "Final Fantasy" games, while appreciated for their deep story- lines and fleshed-out characters, had linear stories that allowed for little deviation. In "BGII," charac- ters band and disband, progress and even die. Events aren't always scripted, and the player usually has multiple options when com- pleting quests. There is a decreasing sense of open-endedness in modern games, but "D&D"-based games stay open-ended. "Final Fantasy XIII" and "Metal Gear Solid 4" took a narrative style that is closer to film, as it subjects the player to a story. "BGII," true to its "D&D" origins, lets players explore their own stories. There are scripted conversations and events, but the way they are han- dled and the results of circum- stances vary based on decisions made and the composition of the player's party. It's strange that as time has progressed, the length and depth of games have diminished. Even though "Baldur's Gate II" came out 10 years ago, it shows the potential all video games have. BioWare is still carrying the torch with its continuously com- plex games, and it no doubt keeps "BGII" in mind when makingnew ones. Hopefully other companies will take note of BioWare's adher- ence to quality; they would do well to keep in mind the origins of RPGs and their perfect realiza- tion in "Baldur's Gate II." 0} Keeps BED BUGS out of sight Travel size for luggage. 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