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Gamer Girl
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was in the process of getting another book entirely at the library when I noticed Mari Mancusi's Gamer Girl peeking out from its hiding place between two other books. Being the occasional gamer myself (though currently I'm being a little too scholarly to even focus on gaming), I could definitely relate to the title (not so much the synopsis).

There's much to love about Gamer Girl: the synopsis made the book sound like a very happy book – something that I've been on the hunt for awhile. The cover is simplistic and gorgeous – it definitely puts down the entire idea of the book with the drawing of the main character, Maddy, and the avatar she uses in a game (Fields of Fantasy) she gets for her birthday shortly after her parents divorce. The interior is just as gorgeous as the cover – the chapter headings depict Maddy's main emotions she's feeling by the end of the chapter.

Mancusi's writing style and use of Maddy's voice is great as well – Maddy is a very relatable character and she has an attitude that isn't annoying, making the book feel perfectly paced as Maddy gets to know SirLeo in Fields of Fantasy and falls in love with him. For awhile it probably feels as though Maddy will find out SirLeo is really an online predator.

Much as I really loved Gamer Girl and Mancusi's writing style, the book feels as though it's aimed more toward middle grade than a high schooler my age. The book is stereotypical with Maddy being bullied by the "Royal Court" as soon as she starts a new school and Maddy tries to escape from the troubles of her reality by entering the gaming world and playing Fields of Fantasy with an elfin character named Allora, someone she would rather be. It all leads to a very cute and adorable ending with the popular guy falling for the outcast – very happy and light-hearted, and certainly not something you're likely to come across in real life, compared to the realistic drama of Margo Kelly's Who R U Really.
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Review originally posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-gamer-girl-by-mari-mancusi.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
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Vader Immortal VR
Vader Immortal VR
Role-Playing
The classic V.R. Series Star Wars: Vader Immortal has finally arrived for the Playstation V.R. and it is without a doubt the most immersive Star Wars experience available short of taking a trip to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

From the opening moments where players have to make the jump to Hyperspace I was hooked Flipping the switches and using the lever to make the jump was like a dream come true for someone who grew up on the original films in an era when Star Wars gaming was not really an option due to the technology of the time.

Players end up in Mustafar where they encounter Vader and must escape from Imperial detention. Along the way players will obtain a Lightsaber which will come in handy for defense as well as helping with various obstacles.

Players will have to climb, manipulate objects, hack, and fight I a fully immersive V.R. setting. Aside from stunning visuals the game also features an engaging original storyline which sets the stage for the next two chapters of the series and also keeps players immersed in the action and lore.

While it did at times take some getting used to in terms of navigation as my Droid companion had an issue with blocking my view at times in dark areas or various objects taking some work to get close enough to manipulate; I was hooked from the start.

Using the Lightsaber to deflect bolts back at Imperial Stormtroopers was great fun as was exploring the Star Wars universe in a new way. I do not want to spoil more about the game but let me just say it is fantastic and gives players new looks at Vader as well as the Star Wars Universe as a whole.

I played the game with the Playstation earbuds that came with the PSVR and had fantastic sound quality to go with the eye-popping visuals. I was delayed in my review as one of our Playstation Move controls malfunctioned and I had to wait for Sony to exchange it but once that was done I was back in the game and could not get enough.

The game is a must own for Star Wars fans and a great example of V.R. gaming done right.
  
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Becs (244 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books

Oct 2, 2019  
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.9 (161 Ratings)
Book Rating
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy

Audience: Young Adult

Reading level: High School +

Interests: science fiction, fantasy, video games, 80’s

Style: Sci-Fi

Point of view: First person.

Difficulty reading: It started off great and I flew through the first half of the book. It’s towards the 55%-75% mark that was a bore for me. But the ending was great!

Promise: Dystopian Sci-Fi video game world

Quality: Minus the 20% that was pretty darn boring and long, the book as a whole was a great read.

Insights: I’m not a huge gaming geek, so without Cline explaining half the time what these gaming terms are, I’d be as lost as a pig in a supermarket. For that, I thank him. It was nice seeing a Dystopian world set in the future that was still in our lifetime. I have never read anything like that – cool to see how Cline wrote it.

Ah-Ha Moment: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Okay, I knew Aech was hiding something. But I could not figure out what it was for the life of me. But when Aech and Parzival first met, in real life, face to face, I WAS NOT EXPECTING him to actually be a ‘her’.

This was me:

Favorite Quotes: “Going outside is highly overrated.” – Yea, I feel ya too. I just want to stay in and read all day every day. Who needs a job, who needs to eat, all we need are books. Am I right?

“You’d be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever.” – I mean, you’re not wrong.

“One person can keep a secret, but not two.” – Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone.

Aesthetics: The whole book is an 80’s aesthetic that I love. Plus, it gives a brief inside scoop on the whole “if we don’t care for the planet now, there will be nothing in the future” debate. Which is true, we should care for the planet more than what we do now. I mean we only live on Earth just as much as everybody else. The copy of Ready Player One that I have, is a 2015 Special Edition copy – I love the cover on it.

“People are more than just the way they look.”
  
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
2019 | Fantasy, Medical, Medieval
Good Replay Value (2 more)
Easy to teach
Great game play
Only 4 players (0 more)
This is my favorite new game of 2019. I taught this to many groups at my local gaming conference and most of them loved it as well.
What are some of the things I loved?
A balanced press your luck component: If you press your luck too far you pay a price but that price isn't as steep as it is in other games
Catch up mechanism: Falling behind? No problem, Quacks helps you out until you are a little more caught up.
Replay Value: Each reagent has 4 variants so each game can be a little different. There are also two sided player boards. One for a beginner's game and one for the advanced game.
Simultaneous play: Players get to decide at the same time what they are going to do so you don't spend as much time waiting on others.
No Take That: From what I have seen there is no direct conflict between players, some people like that in a game some don't so I thought I'd list it.
  
Ready Player One (2018)
Ready Player One (2018)
2018 | Sci-Fi
The graphics, the storyline, the action, the realism of what the future could hold for society. (0 more)
A Gamers Dream Come True
Contains spoilers, click to show
The movie is in a distant future where GAMING is the way of life. Which, lets be honest, isnt really that far off for us, anyhow...We find out that within this world that there is this great inventor who has hidden 3 magical keys within the game, and in order to find the keys players must crack the clues to figure out where the keys are or how to obtain them. For those of us who grew up in a time where games where just taking off and that grew up in the 80s there is alot of nostalgia within the movie. Anything from the Delorean from the Back to the Future movies, to Bigfoot the monster truck, to songs that make us remmeber when life seemes much more simple, and fun. In the end our heros must face the evil corporation trying to take over and must save the world from said Corporation. All in all this is a must see for gamera and 80s geeks alike.
  
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Rocket League in Video Games

Mar 6, 2018  
Rocket League
Rocket League
2017 | Massively Multiplayer, Racing, Sports
Endless fun (0 more)
A High Scorer
This game shouldn't work, but it does. If I told you to go play a game where you play as a car as part of a team to try and win a game of football, I'd ask if you were insane. However, 3 years after it's initial release, Rocket League is still tons of fun to this very day.
Let me stress that I am not an online gamer at all and 99% of my gaming time is spent offline in single player story based games. Yet, I fell in love with Rocket League after downloading it on a whim from the PSN store. No two games are the same and the game puts you through every emotion imaginable, all with some dumb race cars and an oversized football.
2015 was a year of disappointments, with both MGS V and Fallout 4 failing to meet expectations. Rocket League, a sequel to an unremarkable downloadable PS3 game, came out of nowhere and blew everything else out of the water to become what was probably my favourite game of that year.
  
The Quiet Year
The Quiet Year
Gorgeous illustrations (5 more)
No prep needed
Good inspiration for post apocalyptic settings
Great first TTRPG
Cheap! ($6)
Replayable for different communities
Fantastic Post-Apocalyptic Story Gaming
Absolutely gorgeous single-session GMless story centered game. Players must navigate a year in a community after an apocalypse. Each week is represented by a card from a standard 52 card deck, each suit a season.
   When a card is drawn it introduces a new choice to be made by a player about your community, with limited organised discussions about these choices replicating failures in communications in real communities. This choice is then represented on a map of your community that you build as you play.
    This game is absolutely brilliant as a first TTRPG, a first session to build the setting for a post apocalyptic game in another system or just as a standalone one shot. It only takes one 2-3 hour session, some paper, pens, 6 sided dice, a standard deck of playing cards and the PDF. The questions it asks prompt very interesting ideas about your community to build somewhere that feels alive and fully fleshed out. A great buy!