Soul Calibur IV

The never-ending quest to find the mythical uber-swords Soul Edge and Soul Calibur continues. Atop the Tower of Lost Souls, a warrior turned power-hungry maniac named Algol awakens from a slumber that lasted a few centuries long...
Soul Calibur 4

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

Loosely based on the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history, you choose your hero and plow through hundreds of nameless warriors...
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I was expecting a claw slashing frenzy of Wolverine being the best at what he does. What I got was the equivalent of...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Oblivion

“I don’t spread rumors, I create them.” – Lucian Lachance You’ll find Lucian and many other “colorful” characters in Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. Oblivion is an open world western RPG available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC...
Oblivion

Soul Calibur IV

Character attacks and movements flow very well, and are still quite over the top; really, it’s NEVER tiring to watch your opponent fly head over heels about 20 feet in the air after a good upward slash....
Soul Calibur 4

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

The game sticks to the same heroes and same time period and there are still lots of nameless drones to get through but its much more complex than the previous incarnations. Throwing in a bit of RPG flair...
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The graphics while nice are a real step down from games like God of War, Crisis Core, and other recent PSP games. This game seems to have dug an even deeper hole in the Uncanny Valley. If Wolverine really looked like that I’d recommend...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Avalon Code

The game takes the traditional “Save the World” RPG story and gives it a fresh new twist. Yes, the world is about to end in this game as well, the difference is that your task isn’t to save it, no one can, its been decided the world is too far gone. No, your task is to record anything of interest in a book...
Avalon Code

Oblivion

During the course of the game you’ll have the opportunity to join a few different factions. Whether you’re a warrior, a wizard, a thief or a cold-blooded assassin there’s a guild for you. Joining guilds not only gives you a variety of different quests it also offers quite a few perks...
Oblivion

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

I think I spent like 5 minutes smacking Nick Fury til I realized he wasn't an enemy but I don't consider those 5 minutes wasted though...
mua2

Avalon Code

As you scan people you’ll be able to read about their likes, their dislikes, and their ‘aspirations’. At first most people’s aspirations will show question marks but as you befriend them by talking to them, doing tasks for them...
Avalon Code

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Not to mention that due to the Civil War story line I won't be able to be ANY of my usual characters since eventually you'll have to choose a side and its a given we'll be on Deadpool's side...
mua2

Oblivion

The game boasts beautiful and sufficiently “Next Gen” graphics. There really is nothing quite like standing high on a mountain and looking across rolling hills, valleys, and woods towards the walls of the Imperial City and the majestic white tower in its center...
Oblivion

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

If I ever play the game again, I DO NOT WANT to have to suffer through the opening again...
mua2

Lux Pain

I couldn't put it down and played it straight trough to the end over 2 days ...
lux pain

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 or "My Kingdom for a Save-Point"

Posted by Pasco County Library System



It's been a while since my last review and I apologize.  So to make up for it, I am posting a fairly recent game review but before I start thought I want to bore you a little with info about me and my game play habit (don't worry, it will be short and only slightly painful).  Games are a huge part of my life, my collection numbers over 1200 titles and spans consoles ranging from my very first Colecovision (which still works and I also think I just gave up how ancient I am) to my beloved XBox 360.  I don't have a PS3 just yet but it is coming.

With so many games, obviously I have not finished all of them, I'm a gaming "jack of all trades, master of none".  Especially these days when games drop 10-15 at a time over multiple consoles.  Sometimes, it can get overwhelming staring at all these titles.  And of course, no matter how great a game sounds, you won't know if it lives up to the hype 'til you try it.

Then there are those obscure titles that don't get the big budget ads and therefore, no one plays, and a lot of people miss out on a great gaming experience.  This is why starting today my reviews will come in pairs, featuring a popular game and the forgotten one.  So here's the first review:

Save point! Save point! My Kingdom for a SAVE POINT!!!!!

Sadly, that's how I've felt the past few days.

2 games I was looking forward to...2 games I couldn't wait to stop playing.

Which 2?

Bleach the 3rd Phantom....Pretty much 2 minutes after starting I wanted to end and go back to playing Theresia.

The second...well it came as a slight surprise...Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

My husband and LOVED the first MUA, we've played it on the PS2, we've played it on the 360 and I've played it on the PSP (We REALLY loved that game). Our team of awesome is always made up of Wolverine (That's me), Deadpool (Hubby), Blade (I swear his AI is ALWAYS on aggressive, he also hogs my kills and coins) and Johnny Storm (he's pretty awesome once I stopped giggling every time he said "flame on")

First, why a save point? Because if I ever play the game again, I DO NOT WANT to have to suffer through the opening again.

And why Ultimate Alliance 2....oh sadly....lots of reasons.

First, I was surprised and dissappointed to see the characters. Now, considering all the DS games I play and also the fact I still love Atari and Coleco games, I am not really a graphics whore; however, as if I didn't hate Nick Fury enough, every time he went off on one of his monologues he looked like his face was melting off. While I give props to the costume detailing, right down to the stitching and piping...WTH happened to the faces? I remember playing the 1st one (not so long ago) and finding the character models awesome and pretty realistic. So..sad face on looks.

Then, stripped down customization. I liked being able to tweak my characters attacks and change costume and all that jazz. Sure we're not too far in but so far, its kinda meh...

Character selection...I know I know, you unlock characters as you go along, but at the start, you really have no choices at all. Not to mention that due to the Civil War story line I won't be able to be ANY of my usual characters since eventually you'll have to choose a side and its a given we'll be on Deadpool's side (pro registration) *sigh*

And finally...fusions are cool, fusions are fun...I don't really care. I miss the screen pause and the voice crying out "Feral Rage" from the first game. Also, Yay more enemies...Boo more enemies. As if it wasn't hard enough to find my character on screen in the first game, now I'm constantly lost. I think I spent like 5 minutes smacking Nick Fury til I realized He wasn't an enemy (I don't consider those 5 minutes wasted though because smacking Nick Fury is always a good thing)

So...we got past the first section, made it to Stark Tower, decided to take a break. We spent our little break reminiscing about the good times we had playing MUA and we came back in and without saying a word to each other we both tried opening the menu at the same time in order to save and quit.

Will we finish it? Possibly.

Will we like it? Doubtful.

Will we go replay the first one? Definitely.

So many games for me to play and I decide to spend $60 and my time on this one...how sad...

Then again, its not like there are too many co-op games out there for us to play together so we gotta settle for this garbage.

Re-reading this I felt a little guilty about all the hate so I thought I'd say something nice about the game....Remy LeBeau.

Gambit has always been my favorite character from the X-men, followed by Wolverine (there I said it, I think he's cooler than Wolverine).   Ok, so he's in the game, even though his character model is fugly, that's ok because he kicks MASSIVE ass.

So there ya go....the one wonderful thing that MUA2 has that MUA didn't....the Ragin' Cajun....though I still don't think he's worth $60.

Sihaya

Lux Pain: A Rollercoaster

Posted by Pasco County Library System



Long ago I read about Lux-Pain in Nintendo Power. The premise seemed pretty inteersting. People are being infected by some sort of negative parasitic emotion named "Silent". My character (your average quiet, kinda broody, dreamy looking grey haired guy) Saijo Atsuki is part of an anti-Silent group named FORT and has the power to see people's emotions and purge them of evil ones. Awesomesauce, I thought. So as soon as the game came out I got it... I could barely stay awake through the first 2 chapters it seemed likea total snooze fest and I quickly set it aside to play everything and anything except it. However Everytime I went to get another game I'd see it there and much like the little emotional wormy-things that infect people in the game, it kept trying to worm its way back into my DS.

So I finally gave in and started playing it again. This time I stuck through the dull parts and I was rewarded. Twenty Two and a half hours later (I take my time when I play games, I don't like rushing) The credits were rolling and I was spent.

The game is divided into Episodes and up til about episode 5 or 6 its not that great but stick through it and it picks up and sucks you in.

Now I'm not going to lie, in order to get through this game you have to have a few qualifications.

First, the ability to sit through massively long and pointless exchanges between high school students and their angst and/or love of food.

Two, The ability to look at a nonsense sentence and turn it into sense (previous experience with bad subtitles prefferred)

And there you go point, 2 is the greatest downfall of this game.

The game is mostly text, an interacticve novel along the lines of Phoenix Wright (withtout the spiky hair the "OBJECTION"s and Edgeworth's awesome cravat) and Time Hollow (another underappreciated game, more on that later).

There is quite a bit of voice acting throught the game and its well done, VERY well done. I think only one character didn't speak quite like I thought he would based on looks but aside from the that, the voices suited the characters, the emotions were well done, no over acting or "phoning it in". However, The volume is really low even with it up all the way and what the characters say does NOT match what is written at all...like 99% of the time.

The Localisation of this game is what kills it. The text goes from being misspelled to being ridiculous and undecipherable. Its pretty bad. example a female cop is consistantly reffered to as "he". either they screwed up or she's a trap! lol

If you can get past this HUGE blemish in the game its got a good story with a few surprises and twists. I don't want to give spoilers or anything so I'll just say that just when you think you've figured something or someone out, the game throws you for a crazy loop (crazy in a good way)

The story is full of a wide range of emotions, sad moments, funny moments, touching moments and the characters are pretty well fleshed out personality-wise.

Once I picked it up the second time I couldn't put it down and played it straight trough to the end over 2 days and since I did miss a few things here and there I've actually restarted it again.

My biggest problem (aside from the localisation which I got used to after a while) is a problem I've had with quite a few games lately...the ending. (don't worry I'm not going into spoilerific detail) I'll just say that this game suffers from the "I spun this story and now have no idea how to wrap it up" syndrome.

And that's why I call it a rollercoaster.

Starts out bad, picks up, localisation drags it down, story brings it up, ending drags it down again.

Could it have been better? Yes.

Does it deserve the awful reviews it got? yes and no.

Would I recommend this game to others? Most definitely, if you get past the rough spots its really great.

Would I buy a remake of it with good localisation? Day one purchase.



Sihaya

Director's Chair Video Contest - Win a Video Camera and More!

Posted by Pasco County Library System

Winter break perfect time for students to prepare for video contest
Ask a Librarian sponsors video contest for high schoolers

TAMPA, Fla. (December 15, 2009) — Wondering what to do with your aspiring young director over the winter break? Tell your high school students about The Third Annual Director’s Chair, a contest in which Florida students submit commercials to promote Ask a Librarian.  Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows the public to chat with a librarian for help with homework or general questions

Floridians in ninth through 12th grade are invited to submit a 30-second video promoting Ask a Librarian by January 24, 2010, for the chance to win a digital video camera, a digital camera or a MP3 player.

“We hope students will be using their holiday vacations to put the finishing touches on their entries,” said Diana Silveira, virtual reference manager of Ask a Librarian. “We know teens are incredibly creative, especially after seeing past entries, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with this year.”

After a panel of judges picks the top five videos, it will be up to the public to vote for their favorite video from Feb. 8- 20, 2010. 

Visit www.askalibrarian.org/thedirectorschair for more information about the contest, including submission instructions, prizes, official contest rules, release forms and more.  Previous winning videos are on the page for viewing. 

Visit www.askalibrarian.org for more information about the Ask a Librarian service.

Ask a Librarian is managed by the Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC) and is a collaboration of over 103 Florida libraries.  Ask a Librarian is funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State, State Library and Archives of Florida.   Ask a Librarian is a service of the Florida Electronic Library.

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium, Inc. (TBLC) is a nonprofit multi-type library cooperative that assists and empowers libraries. Since 1979, TBLC has worked with member libraries to provide better, faster service and resource sharing to the residents of Florida. For more information, call (813) 622-8252 or visit www.tblc.org.

Enter Battle of the Bands XIII: Rockus Maximus Now!!

Posted by Pasco County Library System



Entries are now being accepted at any Pasco Library or by e-mail to pauls@pascolibraries.org.  Bands ages 13-20 from any Florida county are eligible to enter! CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ENTRY FORM AND COMPETITION INFORMATION. (pdf file)

This year's competition will involve 6 weeks of online videos in February and March of 2010, with viewers voting for their favorite band each week via our MySpace page, following by a live band battle at Crews Lake Park (16739 Crews Lake Dr, Shady Hills, FL 34610) on March 26th, 2010.  Two different prize categories will be available this year.  The top two bands of the online voting will receive $500 and $250 music store gift cards to buy instruments, repairs, etc.  The winners of the live battle will get a recording package worth $3500 for first, $1750 for second, and $1000 for third at a local recording studio.

CLICK HERE to view past videos from previous Rockus Maximus events.

CLICK HERE to visit our main MySpace page.

For more information, contact Paul Stonebridge, Teen Services Manager, at 813-929-1214 or 727-861-3040 or e-mail pauls@pascolibraries.org.

12/18@7PM:LOL Winter Dance in the Dark

Posted by Pasco County Library System

Yes! After hours events have returned to Land O' Lakes and its high time we had another dance event...this time to celebrate the winter break from school and the end of the year, with all its holidays. A professional DJ will spin some of the best dance music and all your requests with the lights off.  The dance is free and free glow sticks, food, and drinks, including our famous Monster Spiked Punch, will be available for everyone. Friday, December 18th from 7:00-10:00pm. Bring your friends, bring your requests, and bring your desire to dance!

12/5@12:30PM - LOL Charity Car Wash

Posted by Pasco County Library System

Help raise money for the Battle of the Bands by participating in our Charity Car Wash at LOL.  We know you want to rock, but first you have to clean!  Sign-up now to volunteer.  Saturday, December 5th, 12:30-4:30pm.

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