Category: XBox 360

GamerSushi Asks: Frustrating Tasks?

ghostbustersSo over the weekend, I played and finished the Ghostbusters video game. Overall, it wasn’t the best game ever, but it certainly had its decent portions. And heck, it was essentially Ghostbusters 3, so how can you not love it? I’ve been waiting years for more Ghostbusters content, and this provided it.

Anywho, Anthony played the game on easy, so he wouldn’t understand, but one of the game’s biggest issues for me was its “cheap death” mechanic, where it would constantly kill you just out of the blue and with no real way to prevent it. There’s not a very friendly dodge function in the game, so really you just run around and circles and take punishment from bad guys and hope to not get whacked.

Well, one particular part of the game proved to be one of the hardest things I’ve done in a video game. And it kind of sucked.
Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Frustrating Tasks?

Your System Sucks: A Rant About Fanboys

fanboy-3A few months ago, I wrote a feature about the things that are wrong with the gaming industry on the whole. Some of that had to do with the games themselves, some of it had to with the journalists that covered and reviewed them, and some of it had to do with the gamers that played them. In terms of gamers that are hurting gaming and its culture unknowingly, console and even PC fanboys rank right at the top.

What is a fanboy? A fanboy used to be someone that just played and loved their system or machine exclusively. I think we’ve all done this at some point in our lives. I remember loving the Sega Genesis and the Nintendo 64 and being just fine with not owning the rival systems.
Continue reading Your System Sucks: A Rant About Fanboys

Why Motion Control Can’t Truly Work in Hardcore Games

natalMotion control. Everybody’s doing it, I’m told. For months, some of us have bemoaned the coming tidal wave of motion control and what it could mean for the gaming industry and games as a whole. On the positive, it could bring more casual folk into gaming and on the negative, it could just dumb down games as we know it.

GamesRadar has written a particularly convincing argument against motion control after their time with the PS3 and 360’s new motion hardware at E3. They pretty much assert that the demos at E3 have proven that motion control can’t work for hardcore gaming, and this is why the Wii is so full of minigame collections. When you think about it, even the hardcore games on the Wii just use the motion controls as kind of a bonus, while relying on traditional movement with the nunchuck and buttons. Typically, the only way to really eliminate the pain of movement with motion control is to stick the game on rails (a la Wii Sports). Here’s a tidbit from the article about our traditional analog sticks and face buttons:

As much as Molyneux and Iwata might bemoan the evils of the button fascia and dual analogue set-up, both elements evolved into the cultural landscape of gaming for a reason. They seriously bloody work for controlling modern games.

So what do you guys think? Can motion control work for hardcore games? Or will they inhibit the movement we’ve come to enjoy from our normal controllers?

Source- GamesRadar

New Releases: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

red-factionOver the last month or so some new games have started to hit that I’ve been interested in, but I can’t seem to nail down whether or not I want to play them because of some mixed reviews. The main games in question are Red Faction: Guerrilla, Prototype and InFamous.

The main complaint about Red Faction is that it’s fun to destroy things, but the game is too red. This is a funny complaint considering the game takes place on, I dunno, Mars. The quintessential Red Planet. In addition, I’ve heard that Prototype is fun but nothing special, with similar digs leveled against InFamous as well.

So who’s played these games, and what do you think of them? Go!

Review: The Godfather II

godfather-2I love The Godfather. I have practially memorized the movies, especially the first one and have been known to watch the first two back to back. I enjoyed the first game in this series back on the PS2, so I was looking forward to playing the sequel, especially with the Don’s View I had read so much about.
Continue reading Review: The Godfather II

GamerSushi Asks: Making Changes

staroceanI’m playing Star Ocean: The Last Hope right now, and it’s the first JRPG that I’ve played in a good long while. After playing some games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect, it really feels childish and completely ridiculous in comparison, and really got me thinking a bit about the choices that designers sometimes make in games.

The reason for this is that while I’m overall enjoying the game, there are some things about it that really irritate me, and lead me to ask “why would they do that”. For instance, the game starts with a 30 minute battle tutorial followed by both a 20 minute cut scene and a 2 hour dungeon. How does that even make sense in terms of not boring the person playing it to tears? In addition, there are some minor character and script issues that bug me, such as the annoying item creation character and adding a six year old to the party that ends all her sentences in “kay?”.

Like I said, overall I’m having fun, but there are some simple things that keep this game from being great. What’s the last game that you’ve played that you felt that way about? Solid mechanics, but if it wasn’t for one or two things, you would have loved it? Go!

Rumor: Mass Effect 2: There Will Be Bloodbaths

me2One of the coolest things I think I’ve ever seen in an RPG, and perhaps one of the defining moments of my life as a gamer, came in the Bioware RPG Knights of the Old Republic. In one crazy-ass sequence of scenes, your party can literally turn on itself, causing some to run away, some to fight you to the death and perhaps even a force command of one friend to kill another. It was glorious, because I had never experienced anything like that.

While we don’t know any details at all about Mass Effect 2, we do have a glimpse from an interview with Bioware project director Casey Hudson, who says that the game’s ending could end up being a veritable bloodbath. Apparently, the game sets you up to go on a dangerous mission at game’s end, and if you’re not prepared, it could all go south:

If you don’t do a lot of the stuff, or make the right kind of choices, the ending will be a bloodbath, and the people that you brought with you will die, and it’ll be a great ending, but it’ll be that kind of ending.

This sounds amazing. Why can’t this game be out like, tomorrow? Also, what are some of the wildest endings you’ve seen to a video game?

EDIT: Apparently this interview has caused quite a stir on the official forums for the game, because people are stupid. The dude at one point hinted that you would have an all new party, which caused people to go ballistic because they wanted certain characters back. Bioware clarified that they haven’t announced any details on parties yet, and that in some instances some of the old party could be back. Though some say that means this interview is incorrect in its entirety, I disagree. Regardless, I will slap a rumor tag on it.

Source- NowGamer

Project Natal Appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Microsoft has to be pretty pleased with themselves after E3, seeing as how Project Natal seemed to be the talk of the show. While the tech stuff they showed off looked impressive, it’s yet to really get gamers on board with it completely. Well, last night, Jimmy Fallon, host of Late Night, invited some XBox dudes to demo Project Natal in front of a live audience.

I have to admit, even though the dodgeball/break-out game looked a bit strange and un-coordinated, the driving bit at the end actually looks kind of fun. We’ll see how the tech continues to develop. What do you guys think?

Compare the Final Fantasy 13 Voices

One thing that shocks me about the video game industry is that to this day, voiceovers for Japanese games ported to America are generally awful. I’m playing through Star Ocean: The Last Hope right now and it is guilty of said sin. However, I must say that Final Fantasy XII for the PS2 offered one of the best voiceover dubs I had heard in years. If this video is indication, it looks like we’ll be able to say the same about Final Fantasy XIII. So what do you guys think?

Review: Sacred 2

sacred2Several years ago, I played two great titles in a unique genre back-to-back. Over the course of a couple of months, I enjoyed these two gems in a co-op setting with friends back before co-op was the new kool-aid. These two discs were known as Baldur’s Gate 2: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. They were hack-n-slash games. And they were brilliant.

Since that time, there haven’t been many hack-n-slash games that graced us with their hacking presence. Sure, there was Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but true RPG dorks really wanted a full on fantasy experience complete with leveling, grinding, slashing and most of all, loot. I feel that we may have finally found that game in Sacred 2.
Continue reading Review: Sacred 2

Crackdown 2 Has 4 Player Co-Op And Awesomeness

crackdown2Crackdown is still one of my favorite games of this generation so far. The game played like an open world platformer, with sandbox elements and super powers to boot. I loved orb hunting, whooping up on gang members, and making my car do ridiculous jumps. The city really is your playground.

Luckily for dudes like me, Crackdown 2 is coming to the 360 next year. And not only that, but apparently it’s getting 4 player co-op! The co-op experience was a blast with just 2 players in the first game, so I really can’t imagine how fun it is going to be with that many super powered agents destroying the city together. I seriously can not wait for this game.

Who else is excited about this news? What other games would you like to see get this kind of upgrade?

Source- VG247

Bioshock 2 Multiplayer Interview

The dudes behind the upcoming sequel to Bioshock have been hard at work. Recently, they gave an interview about some of the features in BioShock 2 multiplayer, including gametypes and the variety of plasmids available to combatants. While I’m still not super stoked about multiplayer in a game that I feel doesn’t need it, some of the clips they’ve got here are pretty sweet. What do you guys think?

GamerSushi Asks: Guilty Pleasure Gaming

50centOk, that post title sounded much more dirty than I intended it to. Oh well. Anywho, every now and then there’s that game that comes along and surprises us with how fun it is. This isn’t exactly extraordinary, however, sometimes it’s a game that you might not be too particularly fond of admitting that you like.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand has been that game for me this weekend. I know, I know, but hear me out. After a few weeks of hearing that this ridiculous game was actually kind of fun, I had to satisfy my curiosity and check it out, and lo and behold, it really is an enjoyable game. Ridiculous plot aside (50 Cent is hunting down Iraqi gangsters to find a diamond studded skull- yes, in Iraq- and yes, seriously), the game has some refreshing mechanics and plays like an arcade version of Gears of War. I was surprised by just how much I’ve been getting into it. I ended up playing it for about four hours yesterday.

So what about you guys? Have you ever had that guilty pleasure game that you weren’t too excited to come clean about to others? Go!

Top 3 Hottest New Releases For June

proto1All my complaining about a sparse summer season for games has fallen by the wayside, as now I simply am struggling to keep up with it all. We just had Infamous drop and now here comes a few more potential blockbusters to soak up the summer hours:
Continue reading Top 3 Hottest New Releases For June

GamerSushi Asks: Favorite Game of E3?

e3As I’ve said before in other places, E3 really is the pinnacle of the gaming year. It’s a magical time where gamers get to find out what they can expect for the next year and a half or so, gaming-wise. We’re able to speculate, drool and generally get excited about all the things we love.

The week saw a lot of crazy things. There’s Project Natal from Microsoft which actually looks to show some promise despite my earlier misgivings about it. There’s also the Team Ninja Metroid and Final Fantasy XIV for the PS3. Halo: Reach was a pretty big announcement, as well. On top of that, we got to see some gameplay for things coming out soon, like Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2.

My favorite game of the show though was probably Uncharted 2 or Splinter Cell: Conviction. I wasn’t expecting much from the next Splinter Cell at all, but they’ve really overhauled the gameplay since the last time we saw the game, and for the better.

So what about you guys? What was the most impressive E3 thing you saw this week?

Modern Warfare 2 Interview

So far, Modern Warfare 2 is one of the more impressive titles I’ve seen at E3. The cliffhanger demo from the Microsoft presser was a joy to watch, particularly the snowmobile ride as well as the sneaking gameplay. Here’s a video interview with the community director at Infinity Ward, with some neat details about the gameplay as well as the story. Who else is even more pumped for this game after E3?

Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott On Steam Forums

l4d2boycottAfter the surprising announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 for the 360 and PC a mere 7 months after the original game’s release, fans are up in arms. New Game Network is reporting that a boycott with a list of what is pissing people off has appeared on the forums over at Steam and there are already 2000 people onboard. What do you guys think about this? Joining the boycott or getting the game? Are these complaints valid?

List of complaints

Boycott

Source: New Game Network

Left 4 Dead 2 E3 Gameplay

In a surprising move, Valve announced the sequel to last year’s much-loved zombie shoot-em-up Left 4 Dead. Even though not much time has passed, Left 4 Dead 2 will come out this November. To be honest, while I love the first game, I’m not really sure how I feel about this. Valve is usually the kind of company that supports their games with years of free content (see Team Fortress 2), so this seems like a weird move coming from them. Regardless, the gameplay looks fun as ever, even if it is the same kind of stuff.

Anywho, enjoy this clip of off-camera gameplay from E3. What do you guys think? Fair/foul of Valve?

Assassin’s Creed 2 E3 2009 Trailer

Assassin’s Creed is one of those games that seemed to polarize gamers. Either you got into it or you didn’t. I for one loved the game, but I could see how others could find it repetitive and boring. However, while I played it, I knew that if Ubisoft could just tweak a few things, they’d have a great sequel and franchise on their hands.

Well, after a few months of teases, we’ve finally been given a proper (and long) Assassin’s Creed 2 trailer. It is mega sweet. And it also comes out in November. Something tells me this Fall is going to be a good time.

Microsoft E3 Presser Highlights

x360The Microsoft E3 press event has officially taken place. With it come a bevy of announcements, trailers, videos and more.

Here are the highlights:

  • Modern Warfare 2 gameplay looks awesome.
  • Splinter Cell Conviction coming Fall 2009. Sounds like they’ve added some new gameplay elements, mainly for the story.
  • Final Fantasy XIII coming in Spring 2010, much earlier than projected.
  • Left 4 Dead 2 Coming November 17th! Seems a little early, but I can dig it. New weapons, including chainsaws.
  • Forza 3 is coming in October.
  • Crackdown 2 trailer shown! This rules, it was one of my favorite games of this generation so far.
  • Halo 3 ODST video looks sweet. They also highlighted a story-telling element: most of the game will be a mystery pieced together through flashbacks. Coming September 22nd.
  • Bungie also shows a trailer for a new Halo game, Halo: Reach. Guess they lied when they said they were done with Halo, but I’m cool with it since Reach is such an awesome story. The book is incredible. Fall 2010.
  • Last.fm is coming to XBL gold users at no additional cost. Listening to music is neat, but I’d rather not do it on my TV. Still though, not bad for a service I’m already paying for.
  • Facebook and Twitter are coming to the XBox 360? Double no thanks. The world is over as we know it.
  • Kojima sneaks onto stage to announce that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is coming to the 360. Kind of cool, but it’s a Raiden game. Which is not so cool. If you’re bringing MGS to the 360, bring the actual game, not some dumb Raiden extension. Guess sloppy seconds is better than nothing, though.
  • Motion control coming to the 360. The final wtf? It’s not a controller. It’s a camera that translates your actual movements to the game. Sounds mega-lame. “Project Natal”. Lionhead even showed off a new game for it called Milo.

By the way, the links are to videos. So, which of these excites you most? Which is the stupidest? Go!