Month: July 2009

GamerSushi Game Blog! You Pick The Game!

100042You guys know about my horribly long gaming backlog. I have made progress and setbacks, as I have beaten several games, but bought two, as well. Soul Caliber IV was ten bucks, what was I supposed to do?? So I thought I would blog about whatever game I play next from my collection, not what I get from Gamefly or anything.

So I came up with a list of 5 games. You guys get to pick. What follows is a brief description of each game. It is RPG heavy because my sarcastic manner is better suited to writing about these types of games. I mean, how can I make Devil May Cry half as interesting as Final Fantasy? Even I am not that talented. And if you disagree and think I am, tough. I still ain’t playing Devil May Cry again.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (New) – This RPG is unique in that you start off as a boy with his dad on an adventure and eventually you grow into a man, choose 1 of 3 women to marry (sorry, Big Love fans) and have kids of your own and go on adventures with them, as well. So it follows 1 man’s life through 3 generations, which is really cool. Plus, you can recruit up to 70 monsters into your party and use them in battle.

Phantasy Star (New) – Originally released on the Sega Master system way back in the day, it’s a tough, old-school, kick-your-ass-and-make-you-like-it RPG. If you want me to go totally batshit during this blog, pick this game. Seriously, I am scared of this game and what it may do to me.

Suikoden (New) – Ah, a PS1 RPG I missed out on. I hear this one is pretty easy and short, too, about 15 or so hours to complete it. You play a soldier who recruits an army of 108 members, known as the Stars of Destiny and do battle with an evil…wait for it…EMPIRE! Sounds and looks like fun, though.

Breath of Fire II (New) – I only rented this back in the SNES days, but it is a steller RPG and it always intrigued me to because you can merge certain party members into one to create a new member. Got a wolfman and a fish? Make a wolf-fish! How cool is that? Other than that, it is a standard RPG, but a fun one from what I hear.

Final Fantasy III (New) – Remade for the DS, this game was previously unreleased in the U.S. and I know why: it’s freaking hard. No saving in caves or dungeons, only on the world map. Tough enemies, lots of grinding, but a fun job system (not as much fun as FF V’s, though) make this an old school RPG worth playing.

So there you have it. The 5 who were chosen. Now it’s up to you guys to pick which one I play. Keep in mind, I will be writing about the game for you guys, so pick something you want to read about.

UPDATE: I have edited the post per Eddy’s suggestion that I only do a new game (new to me). So since no one had voted for an old game yet, this works out. VOTE NOW!

Uncharted 2 Ice Caverns are Gorgeous

Seriously, Uncharted 2 might be one of the best looking games to ever come out when it finally drops this fall. I loved the platforming and storytelling elements from the first game, and if this new ice caves gameplay video is any indication, it’s going to be even better in the sequel. The visuals are stunning to look at.

This is a day one purchase for me. Any other takes out there?

Heavy Rain to Avoid the Sequel Season

heavy-rainWe all love and dread the holiday season when it comes to purchasing video games. Love in the sense that we know we are going to be getting tons of quality games, but dread in the sense that there is no way we can purchase all of them at once, meaning that some will slip to the wayside. It happens every year.

Not to Heavy Rain, though. It seems that Quantic Dream is pushing the game to 2010 in order to stay out of the way of games like Modern Warfare 2, which will destroy everything in its path this holiday season. There are a few other games that are doing this, as well, but pushing back to the beginning of 2010 should allow Heavy Rain to debut without nearly as much competition.

Seeing as how Splinter Cell, Assassin’s Creed, Halo, Call of Duty, Uncharted (now rumored for September), Bioshock and Mario are all getting sequels this fall, this is probably a good move. Why more video game companies don’t spread these releases out is beyond me. Who else wants video games spread out through the year?

VG247

Mass Effect 2 Reveal Dev Diary

Wow. I know I keep saying it all the time, but every single new Mass Effect 2 video we get simply drives me crazy with anticipation. Every time I think I can’t possibly be any more excited about the game, Bioware does something awesome and makes me even more so. Take this new Mass Effect 2 Reveal Developers Diary, where the devs talk some more about the E3 demo, including a hint at one of the possible endings of the game. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when they said it. Give it a watch.

Battlefield 1943 is Good Old Fashioned Fun

bf1943As many of you know, Battlefield 1943 released yesterday over PSN and XBox Live. While the game launched with some issues (namely, server capacities), those issues are being dealt with and the game is slowly but surely becoming playable again.

After some difficulty joining a server, I finally was able to land inside, and I have to say, I had a blast. It really is good to be playing Battlefield again, especially in the WWII setting, with bombers, aircraft carriers, boats and jeeps all at your disposal. The game works with squads and squad spawns, which was such brilliant addition to the series with BF 2. So, if you’ve got either a PS3 or XBox 360, this game is a ton of fun and a definite steal at only $15 for the whole deal.

So, who’s gotten to play this game yet? What did you think?

Words of Wisdom From An Older Gamer

yodaLearn from my mistakes. I am 28 years old and I have played games all my life. I have learned some lessons about games and thought it might be beneficial to pass those on to you whippersnappers, to prevent you from making some of the mistakes I made.

1. Don’t buy a game you aren’t going to play right away. If you are buying it the day it comes out with the intention of playing it down the road, don’t. If the drive to play it isn’t there now because you have something else to play, then what makes you think it will suddenly appear later on? Answer: it won’t. And you will end up with a giant backlog of games that most likely you will never play because something new is always coming out. If you wait a week or two, I promise that insatiable need you feel to possess that game will dissipate, leaving a profound and new understanding about yourself. Also, it leaves $60 bucks or so in your wallet. Win/win?

2. Don’t be blindly loyal to a console. I was a Nintendo kid, like millions of others. But when Final Fantasy left Nintendo for Sony, I bought a Playstation and I have been with Sony ever since. Now, I still buy whatever Nintendo console is out there, but later, for a cheaper price and I use it as a second system and nothing more. If the 360 is your thing, but the games on the Wii or PS3 look good, don’t punish yourself out of some misguided loyalty to Microsoft. Trust me: they, nor Sony or Nintendo, give a crap. Play the games you want. Whatever system it may be for.

3. Games matter. Consoles don’t. Graphics? Sound? Online? These things matter not. If you want to know what console is right for you, then look at the games. Games determine what wins in the console wars, nothing else. Not fervent message board chatter, not how many people play online and not who has the better E3. It’s the games, stupid.

4. Reviews do matter. But they also don’t. See, don’t worry about the score a game gets. Read the review, in fact, read several reviews of a game you are looking at buying. You know what type of game you like, right? Scan the reviews to decipher if it is the kind of game you will like. If so, then the score doesn’t matter quite as much to you. If you love hack & slash RPGs and the reviewer gives one a 5, but for you it sounds like a 10, then get it! On the other hand, reviews don’t matter. No one really cares what game gets a 10. No one will remember that. So if a game you love gets a low score, who cares? Are you so insecure that someone else’s opinion might alter yours?

5. It’s a game. Enjoy it. We all forgot this sometimes, but don’t let the extraneous crap let you forget the fact that you are playing this game for fun. For enjoyment. To escape from the horrors of the real world for a bit. Don’t become obsessed with tiny details that ruin the fun for you. If you like single-player games and despise online games, that’s fine. There is nothing wrong with that. If you only like playing in groups, then do so. Don’t let someone else try to tell you what you should like or dislike. Have fun.

6. Don’t cosplay. Seriously. Never do this. Unless you are a really hot girl, don’t ever do this on any day that is not Halloween and even then, it might be pushing it.

Life with FPS Disease

This one’s from the humor department, folks. It’s a short video about a man who lives with first person shooter disease, or Duke Nukem’s disease, if you want the popular phrasing. There were some good laughs in here for sure, so I highly recommend it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jBKKV2V8eU[/youtube]

GamerSushi Top Six: Freed Franchises

freedomWell folks, it’s time for another GamerSushi Top Six, where Anthony and I dissect the gaming world and come up with a list of six spectacular things. Why six? Because six sells. Our feature this week even has a holiday theme.

In the spirit of Independence Day, when us Americans threw off the shackles of tyranny by some other snooty country that nobody even remembers the name of, we have compiled a dream list of franchises that could be liberated from their current developers and sent to live with someone who will treat them in a way they’ve never been treated before.
Continue reading GamerSushi Top Six: Freed Franchises

Analyzing Single Player Pricing with Dead Space

dead-spaceThough I didn’t get to play much of Dead Space when it released, I’ve been wanting to do so, even though I’m a big wuss when it comes to survival-horror games. Many people I know have played and loved the game, so it’s definitely on my list of titles I’d love to tackle eventually.

How did it do in sales, though? Well, according to the most recent EA podcast, it seems that twice as many people played Dead Space as bought it. Though there was some internal speculation about this, the discussion revolved around whether or not the game had enough content to justify its $60 price point. When you’re matched up against a game like Fallout 3, which is 40 hours easily without multiplayer, then that certainly makes sense.

So what do you guys look for when you buy a single player game? Would you rather it have more modes, or multiplayer added on? What kind of content do you need to spend $60? Personally, I feel like Resident Evil 5 is one of the most recent examples of a game that didn’t have traditional multiplayer giving you plenty of bang for the buck. What do you think?

Source- Kotaku

Star Wars: The Old Republic Timeline Trailer 3

Bioware needs to stop teasing me about this game that I can not and must not allow myself to play. Star Wars: The Old Republic, as an MMO, would probably be the end of my social life as I know it, but I can’t help but watch these awesome trailers and hold down my excitement. The newest trailer is yet another glimpse of the timeline of the new game, this time chronicling the rise of the new Mandalore. Nerdy and awesome? You bet.

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing, July 4th Edition

wolverineSo it’s a great big awesome holiday weekend for us Americanos, and I know that I for one will be hitting up the gaming in a major way. I really don’t get a whole lot of free time these days, and I’m really looking forward to playing my fill of some very good games.

Right now I’m working my way through Fight Night Round 4, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which is surprisingly very fun), Star Ocean and hopefully some Metal Gear Solid via PSN. In particular Wolverine has really shocked me with just how good it is. It’s the exact kind of Wolverine game that should have been made years ago, and proof that licensed games are getting better and better as gaming has been taken more seriously as a medium.

So what about you guys? What are you playing this weekend?

Redefining Splinter Cell: Conviction

One of the games that impressed me the most from E3 that I truly didn’t expect was Splinter Cell: Conviction. The last couple of times we saw this game (years ago), it didn’t seem to have a whole lot going for it, but after some revamping and retooling, the game seems to be getting along just swimmingly. Here’s a new behind the scenes video that shows off the mindset that went behind the game’s attractive new design, and some of the new gameplay elements.

Who else thinks this game looks awesome?

GamerSushi Asks: Gaming Thumbs?

fnr4There are some things that I think you all should know. Fight Night Round 4 came out last week. Fight Night Round 4 has realistic face punching physics. Fight Night Round 4 is a hell of a lot of fun. Seriously, I can’t stop playing this game. The legacy mode is deep and engaging, and your character even ages as you progress through scheduling your fights for the year.

However, one bad thing about the game is that it is giving me gaming thumbs. I think you know what I’m talking about. When you play a game so much that it starts to give you new callouses on your thumbs because you haven’t played a game like that in a while. Well right now, I’ve got those bad, because I seriously can’t seem to put it down. My brother came over the other night, and we squared off for nearly two hours throwing punches, dodging and dishing out uppercuts. It was heavenly and I highly recommend it.

So what about you guys? What was the last game that gave you gaming thumbs? Also, who else has played this game or wants to? Go!