Author: Atticus

Just Cause 4 Video Game

- Atticus Leave a comment

Have you ever wished that you were a star in an action movie where the normal laws of physics don’t apply to you? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grappling hook yourself to a plane as it gets thrown around in a tornado and then use your wingsuit to fly safely to the ground, fighting bad guys as you do it? If you said yes to any of that, then Just Cause 4  might be the game for you.

In Just Cause 4 you play as Rico Rodriguez, as he looks into Project Illapa, a program aimed at controlling weather patterns in the fictional South American country of Solis. This action-adventure game has you fighting against the Black Hand, a private army tasked on seizing control of Project Illapa and using its powers for nefarious means. While the story is a continuation of the story from previous games, it isn’t necessary to have played the previous entries to enjoy the frantic and chaotic gameplay of this most recent addition to the franchise.

This game features new advances in developer Avalanche’s Apex game engine that allows for extreme weather patterns such as sandstorms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards and more to feature prominently in the open world gameplay. The open world also features a range of diverse locations and biomes to traverse such as ancient ruins, thick tropical jungles and as well as cityscapes.

The advanced physics systems also makes combat far more interesting and fun. You are able to use the grappling hook in even more crazy ways than in previous games. You can use the grappling hook to hook together a helicopter and a tank and watch the chaos that ensues when you do. You can even use the grappling hook to latch on to a rocket and shoot yourself across the map that way. Your imagination is the limit in this sandbox of a game. The new weather features and upgraded physics engine make this a fun game to check out if you want to live out fantasies of being an action hero.

This game is available on both the Xbox One and PS4 at the Davenport Public Library.

 

Getting Ready for Call of Duty Modern Warfare

- Atticus Leave a comment

This years Call of Duty game has been announced. With the most recent installment in the 16 year franchise, Activision announced the return to the Modern Warfare series releasing later this year with Call of Duty Modern Warfare.  It has been 8 years since Modern Warfare 3 released in November of 2011 and 12 years since the original game in the series, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, was released in 2007. With this new installment in the series on the horizon, why not play through those old games to get yourself up to speed on the newest game coming this fall? I am here to help you do just that.

The Davenport Public Library has all three of the original Modern Warfare games for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. But, if you don’t want to have to break out your old consoles to play these games, there are some alternative options. The Xbox One allows for backwards compatibility play for some of their games.  Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare (COD4) and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) are two of the games that are currently on Xbox’s backwards compatibility list so all you have to do if you own an Xbox One is put those Xbox 360 disks into your console and you are ready to go! Sadly, Sony has not implemented a similar feature for playing PS3 games on your PS4 so if you want to play the original PS3 games, you are going to have to use a PS3. With Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) , however, you will have to play the disk in the original console that they were intended for on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

The Modern Warfare series is a military-style first-person shooter that spans the globe following Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish and Captain Price among others as they fight against Russian agents and rogue terrorist groups around the globe. Each game has a campaign that follows the story of these characters in bombastic Micheal Bay-esque, explosion and action-filled fashion. Each level is filled with excitement with each game upping the explosions and over-the-top action with the 3rd game culminating in the player experiencing the destruction of an entire city while fighting through it.

Both MW2 and MW3 offer cooperative play options for if you want to play with your friend. MW2 has a spec ops mode where you play through levels with a partner. MW3 also offers a spec ops mode similar to MW2 as well as a Survival mode where you and a partner fight off waves of progressively harder enemies to see how many rounds you can make it before falling. I would be remiss if I did not mention the Multiplayer modes for these games as well. All three of the Modern Warfare games have great competitive multiplayer options. It might take you a little bit to find a lobby now that the games are so old but they still have active communities so getting a few games in should still be possible.

If any of this sounds fun to you, or at least makes you feel nostalgic for when you played these games before, feel free to stop by the library to check one of (or all) of these games out to play!

Lego DC Super-Villains Video Game

- Atticus Leave a comment

Lego DC Super-Villains is a Lego game from Traveller’s Tales. If you have played Lego games in the past, this one should seem familiar to you. You break stuff, get studs, solve puzzles, and build stuff, all while playing as some of your favorite characters. This coupled with the Lego game’s signature coach co-op means that you can play through the game by yourself or with a friend. This game shifts the focus away from caped crusaders to the nefarious super villains of the DC universe.

There are over 170 playable characters, both villains and super heroes, for you to play as. These range from characters that you know and love such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Batman and Aquaman, to more obscure DC characters such as Clock King and Condiment King.

This game is unique because of how it integrates the character creation feature into the story. Usually in Lego games, you play as your favorite characters and get to play as them throughout the game. In Lego DC Super-Villains, however, you get to make your own villain named The Rookie that you get to play as an upgrade as you progress through the game.

Another fun game for the whole family to enjoy from Traveller’s Tales. Lego DC Super-Villains is available at the Davenport Public Library for both Xbox One and PS4.

 

Can’t Get Enough Thanos?

- Atticus Leave a comment

If you loved your experience watching Avengers: Endgame when it came out back in April and you want to learn more about the Villain of the film, Thanos, then I have great news for you. The Davenport Library has a plethora of resources that you can sink your teeth into.

The Infinity Gauntlet  is the original graphic novel that inspired the events of both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

If you are more into a recent comic that features Thanos fighting the Avengers, we have you covered there too. Infinity  is a graphic novel that came out in 2014 that follows Thanos and his invasion of Earth while the Avengers are fighting an intergalactic conflict at the same time and earth’s mightiest heroes are spread between the two conflicts.

If reading novels is more your thing, we also have the novelization of the film Avengers: Infinity War written by Liza Palmer that covers all of the events from the movie entitled Destiny Arrives.

If you want to learn more about Thanos as a character, there is also the graphic novel Thanos: Titan Consumed available to check out. This graphic novel follows the origins of the Mad Titan from when he was young until he begins his quest for the Infinity Stones and gives insight into how the character became the galaxy-conquering destroyer that we see in Endgame.

All of these resources and many more are all available at your Davenport Public Library.

Fallout 76 Video Game

- Atticus Leave a comment

After the incredibly rocky launch in November of last year, Fallout 76 has received a number of updates and has been getting a lot more praise than it was just a few months ago. A lot of the lag and server side issues have now been patched to a reasonable level, the addition of new modes like Survival and new dungeons and questlines throughout the game world have also served to change a lot of people’s opinions about the state of the game. I think with all of these improvements in mind, it might be time to check the game out if you haven’t already or were turned away by it’s rocky launch back in November.

Fallout 76 is an MMORPG released by Bethesda Games Studio in November of 2018. It is the 6th Fallout game in the series and the 3rd Fallout title made by Bethesda Games Studio. It is the 1st Fallout game to allow multiplayer and that multiplayer is the central focus of the game. As with all Fallout games, you are placed in a post-apocalyptic wasteland tasked with scavenging, questing and looting to survive and thrive in the nuclear wastes. The familiar tongue-in-cheek cold war aesthetics can be seen throughout the game, from the soundtrack to the look and feel of the game world, this what you would expect from a Fallout game.

The gameplay is clunky, which isn’t really anything new for a Fallout game, and that clunkiness is further accentuated by the online nature of the game. That being said, the many server glitches have been remedied in recent months and the game is now in a relatively stable state to play and fight irradiated mutants throughout the wasteland with your friends. This game is at it’s best when playing with others. Even if you don’t have friends that already own the game, fear not, you can run across other players in the wasteland to play with. And if playing with people isn’t your thing, you can run it solo just like any other Fallout game and just ignore other players when you come across them. The game is very versatile and customizable in terms of the experience that you as a player want to get out of it.

You can focus on making settlements that you get to build and customize to your liking, you can focus on questing throughout the wastelands like in any other Fallout RPG, you can focus on getting nuclear launch codes and destroying a section of your server with it, or you can even focus on the photo mode and become a photographer for the West Virginia wasteland. There are tones of options in terms of variable gameplay for you as a player to experience and the game is largely about what you make of it. After the months of updates and fixes, I think Fallout 76 is in a state where players can now start really enjoying the game without having to worry about it crashing every 15 minutes.

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to swing by the Davenport Public Library where we have Fallout 76 available on both PS4 and Xbox One!

Alias by Brian Michael Bendis

- Atticus Leave a comment

The final season of Jessica Jones is about to be released on Netflix on June 14th. If you have an interest in reading the graphic novels that inspired the show, Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Alias is a great place to start. You will be able to check out the full run of Bendis’ take on Jessica Jones at the Davenport Public Library.

Alias follows Jessica Jones, an ex-superhero as she works as a private investigator in New York city. When she is given a suspicious case from a shady client, she falls down a rabbit-hole of controversy and intrigue that implicates some of the biggest heroes in the Marvel universe.

Brian Michael Bendis does a phenomenal job of making the dialogue feel real and giving each of the characters a distinct voice and personality. Bendis has been known for writing a wide range of characters, from Moon Knight and Miles Morales to Superman, he is one of the leading writers of super hero comic books from the past decade.

Alias is a great book to get started if you are unfamiliar with the Marvel universe too, it doesn’t require any background reading and the reader can just jump in and enjoy Jessica and her many adventures as a PI with super powers. If you are also interested in catching up on the Jessica Jones TV show that was based on this graphic novel, the Davenport Public Library is also a place where you can check out the show as well.

 

Can’t Get Enough Game of Thrones?

- Atticus Leave a comment

The final season of HBO’s hit show Game of Thrones has finally concluded. The ending of this show has left some craving for more from this universe. If you are one of those people, fear not! Your Davenport Public Library has just the thing for you no matter what your desired method for consuming entertainment is. If you have not read the books that the show is based on, I recommend starting there. The Davenport Public Library offers a number of ways to read the books.

You can check them out as ebooks through the Overdrive app here. If reading on a device isn’t your thing, we also have all of the A Song of Ice and Fire books available in their physical forms as well. If reading over 5,000 pages doesn’t sound like your idea of a fun leisurely time, fret not, we also offer the books in the form of audiobooks that you can also find in our catalog. These audiobooks come in both a CD format that you can come to the library and check out or on the Overdrive app where you just download the file to listen to on your device.

If you have already read the books and are looking for something else to read that satiates your love for Westeros and beyond, there are also books that Martin has published that tell  stories beyond the scope of what is covered in the books and the show. Fire and Blood follows the story of the Targaryen house centuries before the events of Game of Thrones. This story informs on the beginnings of house Targaryen and what Westeros looked like years before we get to experience it with the books and show.

Finally, if you just cancelled your HBO subscription at the end of the season and are feeling the itch to rewatch it, we have you covered there as well. All seven seasons that are currently available to commercially purchase are available to check out at the library as well. We have all of these resources and more to check out to get more from your favorite fantasy epic.Just because the show has ended doesn’t mean that your watch has to!