Category: Features

Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction

splinter cell
Splinter Cell: Conviction is one of those games that was very close to never seeing the light of day. Originally due back in 2007, the game was put in to numerous holds and has gone through several revisions. Many of you probably remember the earliest demos of the game which depicted a scraggly, bearded Sam Fisher slipping through crowds and knocking out cops. This version of Conviction, affectionately called “Hobo Fights” by some due to Sam’s unkempt appearance, eventually got canceled but had some of its innovations make it into Assassins’ Creed (blending in to crowds, and the like).

Against all odds, the Splinter Cell franchise has returned to the gaming scene, but with a few changes. Gone is Sam’s transient-inspired appearance and the notion of mixing with the public; Conviction now features a Sam Fishers out for revenge, trimmed up and ready to fight. But after so many delays, does the game feel like a finished product, or is it spreading itself too thin?
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Games That Withstand Time

Legend of ZeldaYou’re feeling restless. You want to play some video games, but you’re not really in the mood for anything that you’ve been playing recently. Try as you might to entertain yourself, nothing seems to get the job done. Suddenly, you get the idea to put in an old favorite, something you haven’t been back to in quite some time and haven’t had the heart to sell. You put it in, get excited as the old familiar screens pop up. Within a few minutes, though, you notice something. The magic is gone. This game doesn’t feel nearly as great as it did all those years ago. Wtf?

I don’t know if that’s happened to you, but it’s happened to me on more than one occasion. As sad as it is to admit, there are plenty of games that don’t withstand the most inscrutable of all tests: time. Whether it’s because they were overhyped pieces of junk to begin with, or our tastes have matured, or other games have done it better, there are any number of reasons that certain old school titles don’t tickle our fancies they way they used to.
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Earth Day: Gaming’s Greenest Characters

As you may or may not know, today is Earth Day, the day which we honor the great sacrifices of the Na’vi, who protected us from the metal mechwarriors that came after our hard-to-come-by-rillium. Wait, I think I got confused somewhere in the first sentence.

Joking aside, Earth Day is a day that exists to instill awareness about conservation and appreciation of the Earth’s environment. So I figured, what better way to celebrate this as gamers than to put together a list of the most eco-friendly videogame dudes. These characters range from martyrs to environmental protectors, and cover a broad spectrum of genres to boot.

So, who are gaming’s greenest characters? Find out below.
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GamerSushi Review: God of War III

The God of War franchise has become the premier beat-em-up in the eyes of many gamers, with its super-tight controls, stunning visuals and excessive brutality. God of War and God of War II on the PS2 were massive successes, both critically and commercially and Sony’s Santa Monica studios has pulled out all the stops to finish the series off in style.

The story of the game is simple and complex, oddly enough. Basically, Kratos has declared war on the pantheon of Greek gods, with his eye on Zeus, in particular. The bulk of the game is Kratos traveling from place to place, wiping out a god here, a demi-god there and acquiring whatever magical item is needed to help him succeed in his quest. The part where things get complex is that much of the game hearkens back to the first two games and even the PSP entry. It’s not a big problem because the game describes what you need to know through gorgeously animated scenes, but I was struggling to figure out opening Pandora’s Box in the first game was affecting events in this one. A minor quibble, however.

The controls, as ever are responsive and you always feel like Kratos is doing exactly what you want him to. The platforming sections are rare, which is good because Kratos’s boots were not made for jumping. The combat, though, is second to none. Each weapon Kratos has (you get four by the end of the game) has its own combo system and feel and upgrading these and then performing the new combos you unlock is extremely satisfying.  Each weapon also comes with a magical ability and in addition to that, you have items that you use, such as the Head of Helios, which lights up dark areas and uncovers secret chambers. In short, Kratos has a ton of options at his disposal.

Which is very handy when dealing with the tons of enemies the game throws at you. It’s difficult to count when you are fighting for your life, but there were over 30 enemies onscreen at one point and the game didn’t even seem to notice, as there was no slowdown at all. There was one battle where I was fighting 6 giant cyclops and literally all hell was breaking loose and the game chugged along perfectly. This is a highly polished and beautiful game.

One thing I want to mention is that there is enough variety in enemies that I never felt like I was getting bored or slogging through it. The game will introduce a new enemy and once you get the hang of it, either throw a ton of them at you or combine them others. Gorgons too easy? Try fighting them with a chimera backing them up. These types of things make the game challenging and fresh.

A lot is said about the Quick Time Events and I feel like I would be remiss if I did not address this: I love them. See, when you beat an enemy down, an option appears to start the QTE. You can ignore this and finish the enemy off with normal attacks or you can watch a brutal kill that will grant you extra experience. Personally, I never get tired of watching them and I often exclaimed out loud how how disgusting many of them were. From ripping out eyeballs to disemboweling Titans, Kratos shows no mercy to anyone during the course of his journey.

The game should last you anywhere from 8-10 hours and there are bonus modes to play once you finish it, in addition to hidden items that grant you bonuses on a second playthrough, such as unlimited health or magic power. These turn the game into God Mode and while I don’t care that sort of thing, it does give you the chance to play the game without fear of dying, so I guess it’s good for trying new things.

Gorgeous graphics, sick gameplay and an epic story that slices its way through Greek mythology? I couldn’t sign up for this fast enough. God of War III showcases what the PS3 is capable of and if you have one, you have to play it.

GamerSushi Score:

B

Review: Just Cause 2

just cause 2You’re dropped onto a tropical island playground with a reusable parachute, a grappling claw, and the ability to take thirty bullets to the face and survive. What do you do? Well, if you’re Rico Rodriguez, the protagonist of Avalanche Studio’s open world adventure Just Cause 2, you blow stuff up. I mean, sure, you can collect resource crates, hijack a variety of vehicles and earn some cash on the side, but the main objective of Just Cause 2 is to make things explode.

More than any other open world game out there, Just Cause 2 is about freedom, and it isn’t about to let silly things like a coherent narrative and tasteful voice acting get in the way. No, from the minute you’re dropped onto the island until the moment you actually bother to take on an assigned mission, you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want. Unlike a lot of other sandbox games, which shoe-horn you into a ridged progression before you’re allowed to access the cool stuff, you can hop into a jet and lay waste to military bases within the first half-hour of Just Cause 2’s campaign. But is the game worth a purchase?
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Pay For Play: A Look At The Big 3’s Digital Pay Systems

As the video game industry moves more and more towards complete digital distribution, I thought it would be a good idea to see where things stand right now in terms of how we buy our games and DLC. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all have platforms for digital distribution and each has strengths and weaknesses, but today I plan on talking about what I personally like and dislike with each of them, specifically, the manner in which we fork over our hard-earned cash monies.

First, the best: Sony’s PSN network is just the smoothest interface, in my opinion. No silly point systems, just straight up money. You can add a few different games to your cart and buy them all together or one at a time and they will download in the background. The only problem I have with this is that you always have to add at least $5.00 to your “wallet”, which sucks when you buy something that is only $1.99 because then you have money that you have spent in real life and is now just waiting to be spent digitally. A minor quibble, but one that can be annoying.

Microsoft comes in a close second. Xbox Live Marketplace has many of the same features that makes PSN so strong and in fact, there is only one thing that really holds it back: that mystical point system. See, whenever you go to purchase something, you need points. So you have to add points, but thankfully, your credit card is saved, so you don’t have to enter it in every time.
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Top Six: Games You Shouldn’t Play Around Non-Gamers

As a lifetime gamer, I’ve come to accept certain facts about our pastime. The most difficult one to swallow, though, is the undeniable truth that gaming is very, very strange. Sure, we may not see it that way, but have you ever been playing a game and had your parents or a sibling walk into your room, pull a disgusted face and walk out? It may be because you were covered in Cheetos dust and Mountain Dew stains, but the greater probability is that they saw something on the TV screen that they just couldn’t comprehend. Well, to help you along with your family, I’ve assembled a handy list of games you should never play around non-gamers:
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The Addictive Nature of Gaming

Video Game AddictionIt’s 3 o’clock in the morning. My eyes are heavy like somebody has tied weights to them. I can feel them starting to droop, but I don’t care. Who cares if I have work in the morning? What does it matter if I’m running on empty with only the blinding light of my TV casting dark shadows about the living room? I’m just trying to get to the next boss. Trying to reach the next level. Trying to grab that upgrade. Wanting to get another headshot.

Whatever the reason for doing this to ourselves, we’ve all done it at one point or another. And while it may not always be the lure of a soft pillow to sleep on, we’ve all blown off plenty of things to do just a little bit more in a game we love or loathe. Sometimes it’s a girlfriend, a spouse, a job, a duty, or a social activity. They’re all just different suits that represent the same thing: distractions.

And the thing that is really odd to me, is that I don’t really do this with my other hobbies. There are plenty of other things that I love to do, besides playing videogames. I write, play guitar, watch movies, read books, hang out with friends. But none of those things make me think about them when I’m gone to the level that a Final Fantasy does. Or a Call of Duty. Or anything in Bioware’s library. So what makes videogaming so different than everything else?
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Cross-Contaminated Media: Spider-Man

spider-manI may be a bit biased here, but I think that Spider-Man is the most enduring pop culture icon of the last hundred years. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962 for the Amazing Fantasy series of comic books, the old web-head has spawned a media empire spanning years of comic books, TV series, action figures, movies, and, yes, video games. While most of the media properties associated with the wall-crawler have been largely successful, Spider-Man’s video games have had a chequered past. He’s been appearing on our television screens since 1978, but what Spider-Man games have swung to glorious heights, and which ones have gone splat on the sidewalk?
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How the Big 3 are Still Pushing Games Forward

Innovating in video games is a double-edged sword, one capable of killing your enemies, but also likely to swing back and take your own head off. When publishers try something new, sometimes it pays off (Portal, WarioWare, LittleBigPlanet) and other times it bites them on the ass and stems the flow of creativity (Mirror’s Edge, GTA: Chinatown Wars).

But even in these…wait for it…dire economic times, the Big 3 are still trying to innovate and find new ways to entertain and get some of that cash money everybody’s always clamoring about. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have all brought great ideas to the forefront this generation and with Move, Natal, 3-D gaming and whatever the hell that Wii Vitality Sensor is, they continue to forge new ground.
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GamerSushi Asks: More Likely?

Zoltar- BigSo it seems that everybody’s favorite features here are the ones where we all get to share a little more about our gaming preferences. Personally, I’m a big fan of the discussions that happen in these threads, and it’s one of my favorite parts about writing and participating here- seeing what you dudes think and being able to bounce stuff back and forth.

As such, we’ve come up with a new questionnaire of sorts: More Likely. Here, I ask all of us to put on our best fortune telling caps, and divine the future like some kind of Gamestradamus. We will make our predictions and only time will tell who the real winners are in this game. The way this works is simple: just answer which of these things you think is more likely. Feel free to go into as little or as much detail as to the reasons for your answer.

So without further ceremony, allow me to get the ball rolling…
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Gaming Pop Quiz, Spring 2010 Edition

Ah, Spring is rolling on in, bringing with it a wave of warmth, pollen and a fresh batch of new games. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I was still trying to catch up on new games at this time of the year. Not that I’m complaining or anything. Anyway, in honor of the bountiful harvest of gaming goodness, we’ve brought a new pop quiz!

Here’s how it works: We’ve come up with 7 different questions about your gaming history. As always with our getting-to-know-you type games, feel free to answer with as much or as little as you like. Obviously, some of these things you might not remember, but answer to the best of your ability. Go!
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Review: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

battlefield bad company 2 review

Swedish developer DICE has long been the master of online warfare, their lineage of creating excellent multiplayer experiences extending back to 2002’s Battlefield 1942. Even though DICE has a bunch of award winning frag-fests tucked under their caps, their games have always lacked a solo outing outside of throwing a bunch of computer-controlled grunts at someone and calling it “single-player”. DICE’s first foray into the setup of a solitary campaign came with 2007’s Bad Company, the second DICE game on current generation consoles and the first one with a single player portion.

The tone of the game was humorous, and it wedged the story into the huge open maps that the series is known for. The multiplayer was lauded, but then again, that’s a given with DICE. What Bad Company did prove is that they can make single players games, but it was in need of some refinement. Two years later, we’ve got a sequel and it aims to take back the crown of “First Person Shooter King”. What did DICE do differently this time around?
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GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

Welcome to a new edition of GameCop vs LameCop vs PsychoCop. It’s about time, huh?

If you’re unfamiliar with this feature, we discuss gaming issues and we switch roles each time. The GameCop has your best interests as gamers at heart, while the LameCop is just what he sounds like: kind of a lamewad. Meanwhile, PsychoCop is a crazed, complete troll of a dude.

In this week’s edition, we have a fair and reasonable debate about Activision and Infinity Ward, Assassin’s Creed II DRM and the statute of limitations on video game spoilers.

Enjoy!
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Review: Assassin’s Creed II DLC Twofer

AC2
Since my own personal game of the year 2009 has seen some extra content be released in this very packed first quarter, I felt it was my duty to plunge back into Assassin’s Creed II feet first and see if the DLC could stand up to my amazing reception of the original game. I’ve had an opportunity to finish it off, so let’s head right in.

If you’re unfamiliar with Assassin’s Creed II, I’ll do a quick recap of the premise to bring you up to speed. During the course of gameplay, your character is forced to skip replaying a few years of Ezio’s life due to error in the Animus, a machine used to relive memories of ancestors past. The downloadable content restores the damaged memories, and that’s where the expanded missions take place. Both content packs have been released already for fewer than five dollars and are included with the PC version, if you can actually get past Ubisoft’s DRM measures. Some people have complained about the fact that Ubisoft is charging for cut story content, but I feel that AC2 is complete enough as it is, and anything else they deign to add to it is fine with me. But how well do the two memories fit in with the overall experience?
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Review: Heavy Rain

Heavy RainIn these parts and others, there is often the discussion of video games as a storytelling medium, and how it fares compared to its brethren such as films, books and the like. More often than not, gamers expect video game stories to be an afterthought, a means to an end, with the “end” being a fun game with engaging gameplay. The story simply serves as the vehicle by which you move from Level 1 to Level 2, the reason you are shooting/whipping/jumping to your next goal.

Quantic Dreams’ flagship title, Heavy Rain, promises something different. On the heels of the well received Indigo Prophecy from 2005, the studio set out to top their original interactive storytelling with a tale more realistic, lifelike and ultimately emotionally engrossing. So, how does the PS3 exclusive fare in this regard? Does it change the way we experience a story in this medium with all of the weight of a towering thunderhead? Or is it simply, and I can’t resist this awful pun, a light drizzle? Ahem. Let’s move on.
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Anthony’s Super-Mega-Ultra-Extreme-Love Letter to Final Fantasy XIII

On March 9th, in the year two thousand and ten A.D., Square Enix (BOW YOUR HEAD IN REVERENCE, DOGS!) will finally unveil, for the first time in North America…

Final.

Fantasy.

XIII.

(Please exhale now)

So it has come to this. After years of waiting, years of sitting in front of a television, playing countless games not named Final Fantasy, it is time. Glory be to the gods, for they have deigned to shine their light upon us mere gaming mortals.

To give you an idea how much I love this series, allow me reveal a secret, something I have never revealed to anyone, except those that didn’t cover their ears and run away screaming from me: This is the only game that matters to me.

You read that right. This is the reason I upgraded to the new console generation. This is what keeps me playing games. Every single game I have played on the PS3, Wii or 360 has simply been a distraction to get me to this game. Grand Theft Auto 4, Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5 (Cover your eyes, Eddy)… all of them nothing more than obstacles on my way to the prize. I have been killing time for four long years and it’s almost over. Now time kills me. Wait, that’s not right…

Now, some of you may be asking what is so special about this particular Final Fantasy that has generated this kind of psychotic episode.

The answer?

Not a damn thing.

HD graphics? I still have an SDTV. (By the way: if I can’t read the text on my TV, I am going to throw my old TV out and go to the store THAT VERY MINUTE and buy an HDTV. I have already warned all loved ones and relatives about flying TVs on March 9th.)

Trophies? Not a factor. (Although, if one game could ever make me grind for all of them, it’s this one.)

The story? I am interested, but it’s not a compelling reason for me.

No, the reason I am so eager to play this Final Fantasy is because of one reason and only one reason: It’s the next one.

It’s two words (hint: Final Fantasy), followed by a number. No long and insane subtitle. No number, a dash and then another number to denote an actual sequel. Just a new world, new battle system and all new experience.

No other game series has as much change from one entry to the next. The difference between God of War and God of War 3 is not drastic. Even Mass Effect 2, which threw out many RPG elements, is merely a streamlined and highly refined version of the first game.

Only Final Fantasy does this with each sequel.

Not even highly disturbing rumblings from those that have played it can dampen my blind enthusiasm. No traditional towns? No problem! Maneuvering through Mass Effect’s gigantic Citadel is tiresome. Town exploring was always more fun in 2-D for me anyway.

Mostly linear? I am mostly ok with that. Final Fantasy X was very linear and all Final Fantasy games open up late in the game.

There is nothing anyone can tell me that could possible ruin this for…excuse me? It’s COMING OUT ON THE 360??? WTF, Square Enix! How can you do this to your loyal Nintendo Sony fanbase?? Oh, but it has multiple disks? And the graphics are noticeable worse? HAHAHAHA! So that means they will have to get off their fat asses once over 15 hours or so to see more slightly less than optimal graphics? Well, I guess I can live with that.

So on March 9th, when I get off from work and go to pick up my copy, say a little prayer for me. Because no Final Fantasy has ever disappointed me and if this is the first, I will have shamed my family with this sycophantic diatribe and hari-kari will be the only option left.

Until then…I guess I will just play Mass Effect (which is awesome).

You spoony bards.

Review: Resident Evil 5 DLC: Lost In Nightmares

It is no great secret that we here at GamerSushi are a bit in love with last year’s Resident Evil 5, even to the chagrin of some in our community. We voted the game as one of our tops of 2009 and have sung its praises on many occasions. And while no, we don’t love Resident Evil 5 enough to go out and marry it, we do feel a great desire to take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant. You heard me right.

So it should come as no great surprise or shock that a few of us were hungrily clamoring for the first bit of DLC that Capcom sent hurling our way. Lost in Nightmares hit the Webs just last week, ready for gamers all around to savor its tasty flavors. This is the first of a few downloadable co-op chapters that will all eventually be packaged in the RE5 Gold Edition hitting sometime in the near future.

The burning question, though: how is Lost in Nightmares? Let’s find out.
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Review: Halo: Legends

halo legends
It’s actually kind of surprising that the Halo franchise has been bereft of a film adaptation at this point; considering the massive amount of acclaim the series has garnered, bringing it to the screen, big or small, has been a curious process. A few years back, it looked as if Halo was making definite strides towards a movie: Peter Jackson was tied to the project with promising newcomer Neill Blomkamp tapped to direct. A short film directed by Blomkamp surfaced around E3 2007 depicting a battle between human soldiers and Covenant troops and it was widely praised. After that, though, the Halo film got caught in development hell and it has since been canceled.

The next mention of a cinematic Halo came at ComicCon 2009 where Microsoft announced the creation of 343 Industries, an internal company focused solely on the management of the Halo IP. With former Bungie veteran Frank O’Conner leading the newly formed team, 343 showed off a trailer for Halo: Legends, a collaborative effort with several renowned Anime companies.

Comprised of seven short films, all about ten minutes in length, Legends promised to give an in-depth look at snippets of the Halo universe, including a peek at the oft-mention but curiously absent Forerunners, the race that built the titular ring-shaped space stations of the series. A couple of the shorts were released as a preview on the X-Box LIVE exclusive Halo Waypoint, with the full retail version hitting stores on February 16. Now that the whole product it out in the wild, how does it stand up?
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Review: BioShock 2

As the cover for BioShock 2 tells you, it is the “sequel to [the] Game of the Year”. Cheeky, that, but in many ways that bit of advertising copy defines this sequel, for better or for worse. BioShock 2 has big shoes to fill, and a lot of people were either full of anticipation that the second go-round would be as inventive and atmospheric as the first, or instantly dismissive of something that could never live up to the original.

The original game has a reputation of excellence from most quarters. It’s actually the first game I played this generation, when I picked up my 360 back in 2008. I had heard so much about BioShock that I just had to check it out. Also, I’ve always been a fan of “horror” games, which BioShock is to a certain degree. It isn’t a full-bore jump-and-scream gorefest, but it does have an evocative setting and deliberate pacing that fills you with tension and certainly creeped me out.

So when a sequel was announced, I was instantly excited. I loved the setting of the original game, and no amount of multiplayer or skeptical friends were going to keep me from picking up the sequel on release day. Here I am a week later to tell you how it all stands up.

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