Category: Sandbox

The GamerSushi Power Rankings: February 2013

Torchlight 2 cut scene

I hope you’re all happy to know that we’re bringing the Power Rankings back this year, but in a slightly different format. Last year, the Power Rankings updated at a few key points to bring you our running list of the best 10 games of the year so far. In 2013, the Power Rankings will focus more on our hottest 10 games of the moment, despite what year it was released. Think of it as a “what’s trending” list amongst the GamerSushi staff. These are the games we just can’t get out of our heads, or out of our disc trays (or hard drives, as it were).

Every year, it’s interesting to note the games that stick with you from the end of the previous year’s crazy gaming season. For me, the biggest surprises to come out of the Fall were games like Hotline Miami, but most especially Far Cry 3. While I had no interest in Far Cry 3 for the entire year, I couldn’t put the game down for the entire two weeks that I blazed through it, completing nearly all of the sidequests as well. If you had told me that Far Cry 3 would still be on my mind in 2013 a year ago, I would have snorted and called you a crazy person. Heck, I still might call you one today.

Here are GamerSushi’s top 10 most played games right now. Feel free to tell us we’re the crazy ones, and tell us what would be on your list. Continue reading The GamerSushi Power Rankings: February 2013

Sim City and the Nature of Addiction

Sim City

To continue our theme of What We’re Playing Monday, I thought I’d take us on a dismal tour of my future, one in which I gain 100 pounds, lose my job and become a hermit that only plays Sim City.

OK, so maybe the future isn’t set in stone yet, but seeing as how much I enjoyed my time in the closed beta this weekend, there’s certainly some kind of dark timeline where all of this takes place. Although, considering how much fun the game is, maybe it’s not necessarily a dark time line after all? Continue reading Sim City and the Nature of Addiction

GamerSushi Asks: Pre-Game Rituals?

Far Cry 3

Welcome to “GamerSushi Asks” Friday!

This week, I finally jumped into Far Cry 3’s sprawling green and blue playground of predators and pirates, and like many other gamers, have found myself enthralled by not only the emergent gameplay, but the sidequests that know just how to entice me off the beaten path. But before I started off-roading, gaining experience through stealth kills and skinning komodo dragons, I did what I do for every game — I tweaked the settings.

Starting a new game is equal parts excitement and ritual for me. I’ve got a bit of a ceremony whenever I pop in a new title. First, I turn on subtitles, since I’m usually trying to keep volume low so as not to wake up a sleeping baby (or worse yet, a sleeping wife). Then, I lower the overall master volume of the game. Next, I check controller settings to make sure that the y-axis isn’t inverted, and after that I lower the sensitvity to the point where it feels like the gun is dragging through molasses. No matter how engaging the beginning of a game, if these things aren’t set, I don’t feel like I’m in control of the experience.

So what about you guys? What pre-game rituals do you have before you start a new game? Do you mess with the audio? Is there a particular set of headphones you prefer to use? A particular time of day or a specific position you need to be in on the couch? Show us your OCD side in the comments.

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 58: PC Master Race

gamersushi show ep 58

Happy New Year, Sushians! Your glorious GamerSushi crew is back from our protracted holiday break, bringing you the first podcast of 2013! I know you’re excited.

Something strange happened to our staff over the break as everyone dipped pretty heavily into the PC gaming inkwell, and as such we talk exclusively about everybody’s favorite gaming machine. True, most of the titles we played were multiplatform, but Jeff does gab for a bit about Hotline Miami.

In addition to that we also spend some time talking about the new Steam Box and the Steam Winter Sale, which ruined more than a few wallets. Since it’s been just over a month since our last cast, here’s a quick refresher on how this goes down: listen to the podcast, rate the podcast, and comment on the podcast.

0:00 – 4:32 Intro
4:33 – 9:51 Sleeping Dogs
9:52 – 25:27 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
25:28 – 34:13 Far Cry 3
34:14 – 36:41 Torchlight 2
36:42 – 43:38 Dishonored
43:49 – 54:33 Spec Ops: The Line
54:34 – 1:00:30 Hotline Miami
1:00:31 – 1:07:13 PC Gaming and the Steam Sale
1:07:14 – 1:15:50 Steam Box
1:15:51 – 1:18:14 The Witcher 2
1:18:15 – 1:21:48 Outro

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What’s Happening with the DayZ Standalone?

dayz-standalone

DayZ, one of the biggest breakout mod hits of 2012, was slated for release as a standalone version by the end of that year. Now that we’re in 2013 with no DayZ solo project in sight, Dean “Rocket” Hall has made a rather large post on the DayZ Devblog, detailing what’s happening with DayZ and some of the features that are being added.

One of the reasons that the DayZ standalone has been delayed is because Rocket and his team decided to increase the scope of the project a fair bit. According to the blog post, the game was supposed to be a polished version of the mod, packaged and sold as its own entity. The opportunity to completely redo the existing game was a little too tempting, however, so the developers decided to rework a whole host of systems, from the game engine to the UI and the scavenging.

The inventory has been rebuilt from the ground up, and will “fundamentally change” the DayZ experience, if the post is any indication. The new system allows for enhanced scavenging, or different items stats like if you shoot someone with night vision in the head, the night vision goggles will be damaged when you pick them up. This also applies to disease tracking, so you can leave cholera-infected items around for poor scroungers to find.

Another factor holding up development is that the designer of the original Chernarnus map, Ivan Buchta, is still imprisoned in Greece on espionage charges. This means that the DayZ team is having to get input from him via letters, stalling forward progress on their retooling of the landscape.

So it seems that Rocket allowed DayZ to blossom under his newfound development position, and Bohemia Interactive are letting him run with it. I’m all for a new UI and updated mechanics in DayZ, because the ARMA 2 interface is a little cumbersome, especially for a survival-type game.

What do you guys think about this new development? Excited for the prospect of “DayZ 2”, as it were?

Source – DayZ Developer Blog

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing this Christmas?

far cry 3

Merry Christmas Eve, GamerSushi friends, or any other holiday that you fine folks might be or have been celebrating. I’d insert a joke here about diversity, but I think we’re all a bit grown up for that by this point.

One of my favorite things about having some time off for Christmas every year is all the free time I suddenly get to catch up on games. In addition to the mouthwatering deals of the Steam Sale, I’ve also been playing a bit of Halo 4, and I’m dying to get my hands on Far Cry 3, Spec Ops: The Line and Sleeping Dogs. I’m sure there will be many other things added to that list in the next few days.

So what about you guys? What are you playing while on break? Hit us up with your comments! Go!

GamerSushi Asks: Biggest Recent Disappointment?

assassins creed 3

If you’ve listened to the most recent podcast, then you’ll know that Assassin’s Creed 3 left one of the worst tastes in my mouth in recent gaming history. Not only did the game fall short of previous titles — it was flat out bad, something I rarely even say about a game I played all the way through.

From the controls to the story to the overall bugginess of the title, Assassin’s Creed 3 was a failure on multiple levels, and I pretty much have no qualms about saying that. It was an active step back from the excellence of Brotherhood, and even the good-but-problematic Revelations. The one redeeming spot in the game’s 10 hours or so that I spent with it would have to be the naval battles, which were an absolute joy — even more so when you consider how frustrating everything around them happened to be.

But enough of my ranting about Assassin’s Creed 3. I think one of the reasons I was so thoroughly disgusted by the game, aside from it being kind of crappy, is because of the wasted potential. We were given a new setting, a new character, a chance for resolution with a number of story threads and an actual revolution (pardon the pun) in terms of setting, gameplay elements and the like. And it was all a mess. After Revelations came out last year, I was ready to be done with the AC franchise for awhile, but the promise of AC3 lured me back. I don’t know if I’ll make that mistake again, after seeing all the wasted potential that this game lived up to.

So what about you guys? What’s the biggest recent gaming disappointment you’ve experienced? What’s the biggest disappointment of 2012? What made the game disappointing? Go!

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 57: The Walking Podcast

the walking dead video game

We once again convene our even nerdier Council of Elrond as we return for the 57 episode of The GamerSushi Show. It’s been a few weeks since our last podcast, but when isn’t that the case?

To be fair to us, not a lot has happened between then and now, except for The Walking Dead finishing up its first season, which we cover in the majority of this podcast. In case you’re wondering, we go full spoilers on this one. No holds barred, and all that, so be warned if you’ve yet to finish.

In addition to The Walking Dead, Eddy beat Assassin’s Creed 3 so we dedicate some time to his impression of the game. We also talk about Hitman: Absolution’s terrible “assassinate your friends” marketing campaign and the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards nominees.

You know how it goes: listen to the podcast, and don’t forget to rate it for full synchronization.

Zachariah Scott’s Bad Medicine.

0:00 – 1:54 Intro
1:55 – 3:37 Hitman’s baffling advertising
3:38 – 10:42 Spike’s Video Game Awards 2012
10:43 – 31:00 Assassin’s Creed 3
31:01 – 1:04:38 The Walking Dead
1:04:39 – 1:07:38 Outro

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Review: Sleeping Dogs

sleeping dogs review

When a game originally starts its life as part of the True Crime series and gets dropped by its publisher in advance of its release, it doesn’t bode that well. Such was the case for Sleeping Dogs, until Square Enix swopped in and scooped up the rights to bring the game to the public, saving United Front’s Hong Kong-based open world game from development hell.

Starring the enigmatic Wei Shen as an undercover police officer infiltrating a local Triad gang, Sleeping Dogs takes the melee combat style popularized by the Batman: Arkham titles and mixes it with some familiar open-world tropes and in a brazen move, refuses to give the player a gun for the first few hours. Sleeping Dogs takes a lot of risks for what should be a safe bet in the video game world. Does the game succeed or is its cover blown?

Continue reading Review: Sleeping Dogs

The Exciting Reviews of Far Cry 3

far cry 3 reviews

One game I’ve had my eye on for quite some time has been Far Cry 3, Ubisoft’s latest entry in the series first headed up by Crysis makers Crytek (see a pattern here?). While Fry Cry originally featured a mercenary gaining animalistic powers, Ubisoft’s take on the franchise has been more realistic, almost to the detriment of the game in some cases.

Far Cry 2 was kind of a cult hit: you either loved it or hated it and wanted it to die in a fire. Between an archaic fast-travel system and constantly regenerating enemy outposts, Far Cry 2 was a frustrating experience that still offered a beautiful Savannah setting for you to play around in, or set on fire if you wanted, you just had to work around the game’s myriad roadblocks to do it. With Far Cry 3 coming in just over a week, reviews have been landing ahead of the game and my hype meter is being slowly stoked by reading them. True, Assassin’s Creed 3 received similar glowing reviews in advance of release, so I am being a bit hesitant, but the prospect of hunting animals to turn them into pouches to hold all your loot sounds really appealing to me. Here’s what critics have been saying about Far Cry 3:

Even if I’m trying not to get overexcited, the fact that the reviews are this good and they’re coming out so far in advance means that Ubisoft was feeling pretty good about Far Cry 3. Turns out they were right, and I’m eager to get my hands on it.

Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait until Christmas, but I’ll be playing the PC version like a madman over the break. Is Far Cry 3 on anyone else’s radar? Have the reviews drawn you in?

How Rockstar Can Bring The Magic Back To GTA

GTA V blonde

With Game Informer’s cover story finally unveiling some concrete details about Grand Theft Auto V, the Internet finally has a reason to talk incessantly about Rockstar’s popular open-world series and we here at GamerSushi are no different. I have stoically ignored all GTA V rumors and discussion until new information was released. However, since that has now happened and we find ourselves in the golden age of GTA V info, I have some thoughts and concerns, as I so often do.

First, as we have mentioned in the past, Grand Theft Auto IV was a disappointment. I know some people swear up and down by it, but as a huge fan of the PS2 trilogy, I didn’t find much to like. The world has bigger and denser, but there just wasn’t much of a reason to explore it anymore. The numerous side activities of previous games were scaled back, leaving you with only a few things to do other than the story missions. Instead, they were replaced by what amounted to taking your friends out on dates, which was fun and unique exactly once. We all got a laugh when we took our perverted cousin Roman to the strip club, but that wasn’t something I was anxious to repeat.

The other minigames were poorly controlled and very tedious. Bowling was kind of interesting, but a single game took forever and the overly long animations had me scrambling to quit as fast as I could. And the only real purpose for this was so you could get bonuses, like Jacob the weapons dealer giving you a discount. Honestly, what kind of black market merchant of death cuts into his bottom line just because someone takes him to a comedy show? It just makes no sense and wasn’t fun. Continue reading How Rockstar Can Bring The Magic Back To GTA

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 56: Mendicant Podcast

the gamersushi show ep 56

We’re almost back on track with the podcasts as we return with the 56 episode of our illustrious gaming show. In the edition we see the return on Nick, who regales us with the tale of his journey to the International Beard Competition. Or, maybe we just talk about Halo 4, GTA 5 and Assassin’s Creed 3 like a bunch of nerds.

The podcast opens with some Grand Theft Auto 5 talk, including our misgivings about the three playable characters and the changes that Rockstar needs to make to the formula after 4. Halo 4 is, of course, a big topic, with Anthony and I declaring our love for the game with all of its playable modes. We close out the cast with a final dissection of Assassin’s Creed 3 where I expand on my review a little bit.

I don’t think you need to be told what to do at this point, being 56 shows deep, but I’ll remind you anyways because I’m nice: listen to the podcast, rate the podcast, love the podcast. Wanna meet that podcast.

0:00 – 1:12 Intro
1:13 – 16:08 Grand Theft Auto 5
16:09 – 31:03 Halo 4
31:04 – 40:37 Assassin’s Creed 3
40:38 – 42:10 Dragon Quest 7 re-release
42:11 – 53:18 Outro

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Assassin’s Creed 3 Thanksgiving Patch Fixes a Broken Game

assassins-creed-3-thanksgiving-patch

Well isn’t this just dandy? Just a couple of weeks after the game is released with a mess of glitches and bugs packed right in, Ubisoft has announced the Thanksgiving patch for Assassin’s Creed 3 which, by the looks of it, will remedy almost every misgiving I had with the game engine wise.

As I outlined in my Assassin’s Creed 3 review, this new game in the series is riddled with almost-game-breaking glitches from things that prevent you from accomplishing optional objectives for full synchronization to a final chase that’s so ridiculously bug-ridden that it’s nigh impossible to complete on the first few tries. The fact that this patch is being handed out half a month after the game has launched means that Ubisoft was more than aware of the problems AC3 players would face, but chose to ship the game anyways.

Just take a look at the laundry list of fixes coming in with the Thanskgiving patch. Almost every mission is getting changed to some degree, and that’s before getting to the stability changes that the Anvil Next engine is getting.

If this is how much the game needed fixing after the day one patch, I can only imagine the state it was sent to discs in. How it ever passed certification is beyond me. Since I’ve given up trying not to editorialize, I feel massively ripped off by Assassin’s Creed 3 in a way that I haven’t been by a video game in a long time. I payed full price for a game Ubisoft knew was broken, without any idea that it would be receiving a patch that would fix most of my grievances. While my problems with the mission design and the story still stand, I think the game would have fared better if I didn’t have to fight a legion of bugs.

What do you guys think about this? Am I right to be this indignant? Who’s still holding on to their copy of Assassin’s Creed 3?

Source – Ubisoft forums

Grant Theft Auto 5 Info Hits the Web

grand theft auto 5

If you’re lacking a subscription to Game Informer, have no fear: with every cover story there’s a million sites on the Internet willing to round up the juicy information for you. Such is the case with Grand Theft Auto 5, which VG247 has been kind enough to do a write-up on.

Rockstar’s next installment in the GTA series will take place in Los Santos, of GTA: San Andreas fame, and will feature three playable characters this time around. Trevor, Franklin and Michael will be availible to switch into almost all the time, each with their own backstory and motivations. They each have unique skills, so for example if you want to fly a plane, Trevor is the only on in the group capable of doing so. While having to jump into specific characters just to fly a plane might get annoying, the fact that you can switch characters on the fly might help ease the pain of doing so.

One of the benefits of having three characters is that there’s always a story mission ready to go. Instead of doing a bunch of side tasks to unlock the next plot quest, you can jump into one of the trio and get going on any of their individual objectives.

Los Santos is also reported to be the biggest open-world in a Rockstar game so far, bigger than Red Dead’s map, Liberty City and the old San Andreas combined. While Rockstar has said that recreating the whole of San Andreas on this scale wouldn’t be feasible, they’re doing their best to make Los Santos and the surrounding area both visually stunning and fun to get around. Expect the melee combat and gunplay to be tuned up this time. With Max Payne 3 showing that Rockstar can actually make a mechanically sound shooter, I’ve got high expectations for GTA 5 in this regard.

So, what do you guys think of Grand Theft Auto 5? Does it sound promising? Are you still burned by GTA IV? Do you think this game would have been better served by waiting for the inevitable next generation of consoles? Will it ever come to PC?

Source – VG247

Review: Assassin’s Creed 3

assassins creed 3 review

The most appealing aspect of the Assassin’s Creed series is the ability to experience different periods of human history through a sci-fi wrapper. Thanks to the prolonged presence of Renaissance Italy’s Ezio Auditore, the need to travel to a different era was reaching a high. Thankfully for Assassin’s Creed 3, Ubisoft moved the clock up a few hundred years, dropping you in Revolutionary America in the moccasins of Connor Kenway (real name RatonhnhakĂ©:ton) a half-Mohawk, half-British assassin.

With a new setting, a new engine and the possibility of wrapping up the modern day storyline of Desmond Miles, Assassin’s Creed 3 seemed poised to make the same sort of leap that the series did with Assassin’s Creed 2 back in 2009. Did Ubisoft manage to pull it off, and can Connor replace the venerable Ezio? Continue reading Review: Assassin’s Creed 3

Skyrim Dragonborn DLC Gets a Trailer

It’s crazy to think that we’re almost a year out from Skyrim’s launch and we’re still getting DLC for it. Bethesda’s long-term commitment to their games this gen have been nothing short of astounding, at least where Xbox 360 and PC users are concerned. That aside, the trailer for the upcoming Dragonborn DLC for the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is out and it features a whole host of new features and areas.

Personally, I haven’t played any of the DLC for Skyrim, but Dragonborn looks like it will be a pretty meaty add-on, so I might consider picking this one up. In reference to the PS3 joke above, how do you PS3 owners feel about how Bethesda is handling the DLC for Skyrim? I hear that Dawnguard doesn’t even have an ETA yet, and who knows how long it will take to get Dragonborn.

What are your thoughts about the DLC? Are you in for more Skyrim?

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 55: Sick Cast

the gamersushi show

It’s been a while, but we’re back. In the month since we’ve been gone a lot has happened, such as Disney buying LucasFilm and a whole bunch of games coming out. We managed to cover a lot of it, leading to what has to be our longest cast in a while.

Nick is absent yet again, but you have the regular crew, albeit with a couple of us fighting off coughing fits at several points. Eddy just plain forgets that he can mute himself, so in a couple spots you’ll hear him coughing or chomping on a cough drop. It’s not too bad, but I’ve decided to christen the cast in his honor.

You know how it goes by now, being veterans of our show. Listen, rate and be excellent to each other. We’ll see you soon!

0:00 – 2:43 Intro
2:44 – 20:12 Disney buys LucasFilm
20:13 – 26:08 Halo 4
26:09 – 30:52 Wii U
30:53 – 41:53 Assassin’s Creed 3
41:54 – 50:26 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
50:27 – 51:14 Dishonored
51:15 – 56:54 RE6 and Borderlands 2
56:55 – 59:04 Over/Under Recap
59:05 – 1:00:53 Outro

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Minecraft Tops Call of Duty on XBox Live

Minecraft 360

So Minecraft just surpassed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on the list of most played XBox 360 titles. Say what?

For those of you familiar, Major Nelson, Director of Programming for XBox Live, releases figures every month about the most played titles on Microsoft’s platform. Typically, these lists are ho-hum affairs, teaching us that mankind will generally settle for mediocrity, even years later. Sometimes there will even be two or three separate Call of Duty games all in the top ten for the month, a figure that still baffles me. But no matter how you slice it, Call of Duty always reigns supreme in some fashion.

But not so in October 2012, when Minecraft 360 overtook Activision’s beast and cast it down to the number 2 spot. This strikes me as something ridiculously significant. Say what you will about Minecraft’s longevity, and whether or not it’s a gimmick, and if it’s better on the PC or the 360 — but a game created (for the most part) by one man just topped last year’s biggest title as the game with the most users logged (single or multiplayer) on XBox Live. How is that not incredible, no matter your thoughts on Minecraft?

It’s a brave new world, gents. Does anyone else think this is pretty cool? Who’s played the 360 version of Minecraft? Who wants to hate on Call of Duty or defend it? Have at it in the comments.

Source – Major Nelson

Dishonored: Fun or Shun?

dishonored fun or shun

Welcome back to Fun or Shun, the feature where two GamerSushi editors take a look at an upcoming game and give their thoughts on whether or not they want to buy it. We did this last year with the excellent Deus Ex: Human Revolution and now Anthony and I are putting Dishonored, the Bethesda-published steampunk game, under the microscope.

Will Dishonored stand up to the intense scrutiny? Will it triumph based on its pre-release material, or are we feeling a bit cold towards it? Onward, adventurer! Continue reading Dishonored: Fun or Shun?

Black Ops 2 Zombie Mode Goes on a Road Trip

Somehow a throw-away game mode from Call of Duty: World at War has taken on a life of its own (with its own convoluted back-story), and with every new Treyarch-produced Call of Duty game I find myself anticipating what kind of new crazy twist they’ll throw at us. The new way to slay in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’s zombie mode is apparently a roving murder-bus, where you and three friends will go on a road trip in an armored vehicle, stopping along the way to kill the undead. There’s a new trailer, which you can check out below.

Apparently this new game mode will be an expansive sandbox for players to explore, and the driving sections in between the hubs will not just be loading screens, but another arena to fend off the living dead. There will also be a CIA vs CDC mode where the two opposing teams can grief each other indirectly; they’re not able to harm each other one on one but will be able to find other ways to indirectly cause the death of their enemies. There’s not too much more info about that mode, but it looks like the old zombie formula is being expanded on yet again.

I’m not going to lie, Treyarch’s Call of Duty games have usually hooked me in with zombie mode and Black Ops 2 looks no different. What about you guys? Are you feeling the familiar tugging on your purse-strings, or is that just a horde of shambling grotesqueries reaching for you from beyond the grave?