The Amazing Open World and Lackluster Narrative of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is the greatest action-stealth game I’ve ever played. Every aspect of the gameplay in Hideo Kojima’s farewell to the series he’s been heading up for over 25 years is tight, responsive and open to wild degrees of experimentation. So often in Metal Gear Solid 5 you’ll think up some crazy way to test the game’s systems and more often than not it will work. Extract yourself out of a hot zone by holding on to a fulton balloon on top of a shipping container? Want to use the tape of someone pooping to stop soldiers from investigating the outhouse you’re hiding in? Go for it.

The beauty of Metal Gear Solid 5’s gameplay is that nearly everyone will have a different story to tell about how they engaged with a certain mission or took down a base. This is the best feeling Metal Gear game to play by a large margin. Gone are the archaic controls and the contorted claw shapes you would have to twist your hand into to do something simple like aiming down a weapon’s sights. When you are in the open world of Afghanistan or central Africa, you really feel like you can make the legend of Big Boss come to life. Continue reading The Amazing Open World and Lackluster Narrative of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

The First Ever Star Wars Awards

There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?

Much like GamerSushi, but with a tad more fanfare, Star Wars is back! We’ve all seen The Force Awakens (some of us multiple times) and I thought it would be fun to look back at the previous 6 movies and give out some awards. So…here they are. Be sure to tell us your picks in the comments! Continue reading The First Ever Star Wars Awards

Reply All Talks to the Creators of That Dragon, Cancer

For the uninitiated, That Dragon, Cancer is a small game developed by Ryan and Amy Green (with the help of numerous other developers and artists) about their experience with raising their son who was diagnosed with cancer when he was one year old.

With That Dragon, Cancer coming out today, January 12, the podcast covering all things Internet, Reply All, talked to Ryan and Amy about the development of the game. I haven’t listened to it personally because I don’t think I have the emotional fortitude but I have been told by a fellow GamerSushi editor that this interview moved him to tears several times.

If you’re interested in learning more about That Dragon, Cancer, you can click the underlined words to be taken to their website. For more Reply All, click here.

What Games Are You Looking Forward to in 2016?

All things considered, 2015 was a banner year for games. Granted I say this because last year let me play not one but two new Assassin’s Creed games (Rogue was released on the PC in March) so I consider that a mark of success by any metric.

Now that we’re speeding into 2016, I was wondering what is on your radar for the coming months. I’m also looking at producing some video content, so I’d be interested to know what games you’d like to see more of in that regard.

January already offers some tasty morsels with Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam for the 3DS and the PC release of Tomb Raider coming in pretty quick succession on January 22 and 29, respectively. Things don’t slow down after that as XCOM 2 comes out on February 5 and The Division (maybe) hitting in March.

Those are just the big titles on the horizon though and I’m sure there are dozens of smaller games that I’ve neglected to mention. What are you folks looking out for? Any games you’d like to recommend to your fellow Sushians to put on their wishlists?

I Bought An Xbox One And I Like It

That’s right, an Xbox One! I’m as surprised as you are. At the end of the last console generation, I was pretty sure I’d be a PC-only gamer for a good long while. I definitely have enough games in my Steam library to keep me busy until the heat death of the universe.

When I sold it for about $50, I hadn’t powered on my Xbox 360 for at least a year. My PS3 had transitioned to being a box for Netflix and blu-rays. I’d resolved to hold out for as long as possible before maybe picking up a PS4. After all, I’m obsessed with the Souls games and I knew Bloodborne would be irresistible. Sure enough, when Anthony had an extra PS4 thanks to a prize giveaway, I decided to buy it, thinking that would be it for me and the current generation.

So, what changed? What made me decide to drop several hundred dollars on an Xbox One less than a year later? The short answer is that I’m a sucker for a deal and I’m ready to cut the cable cord (again).

Continue reading I Bought An Xbox One And I Like It

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

It’s a question as old as time: what have you been playing recently?

As it has been quite a while since we’ve asked you this question, I imagine most of you have quite the backlog, but for the sake of our fingers I’m going to just stick to the last few months.

The number one game taking up my time is Destiny: The Taken King. On a weekly basis you can find me looking for pick-up-groups to do the King’s Fall raid on Hard Mode with the associated challenges. Bungie massively improved Destiny with their large year two expansion and it got the entire GS crew (sans Jeff) back into the game hard for a few months.

Bungie sadly hasn’t followed up the momentum Taken King gave them and the messaging is that Destiny is in a bit of a holding pattern with maybe one or two interesting content additions coming in 2016 (scuttlebutt says Destiny 2 is a Fall title). Even though Destiny is spinning its wheels a bit, it’s still got its hooks in me.

Other than that I picked up a large number of games over the Steam Winter Sale with Total War: Rome 2 proving to be very engaging. I’ve also been playing a few rounds of Battlefield 4 here and there, but I bet you guessed that already.

So what have you been playing recently? Any under-the-radar games you want to recommend or big AAA titles you want to leave your thoughts on? Sound off below!

GamerSushi Returns

Hey.

GamerSushi has sputtered back to life this week after over a year’s absence. I’m not entirely sure exactly what spurred us back into action, but the crew has been talking in Slack for quite some time about getting this whole thing going again and earlier this week we just decided to go for it.

We’re not 100% on what GamerSushi will consist of going forward. Because we’re all in such different places now, GamerSushi won’t have a set schedule like the past and we may throw in a post or two about topics other than video games. A podcast has been talked about but we don’t have an ETA on that either, although it’s looking fairly certain at this point. Continue reading GamerSushi Returns

Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Are Now Open, Units Cost $599 USD

oculus rift

If you’ve been waiting to jump on what is sure to be 2016’s most cutting-edge trend, then I have good news for you. The Oculus Rift is now avaialble for pre-order with a shipping date of March 28 and an entry price of $599 USD.

For your money, you will receive the Rift headset, the sensor, an Xbox One controller and the Oculus Remote which can be used to navigate the Oculus Store. If you pre-order you will also get access to the Founder’s Pack in EVE Valkyrie, which includes some special content to be revealed later. According to the announcement, over 100 AAA titles will be avaialble for the Rift by the end of 2016, among which is everybody’s favorite game to buy on every platform they own, Minecraft. Continue reading Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Are Now Open, Units Cost $599 USD

Rise of the Tomb Raider Coming to PC on January 28

Rejoice, PC owners waiting to undertake Lara Croft’s new Crystal Dynamics developed adventure! According to a press release, Rise of the Tomb Raider will release for PC on Steam and Windows 10 (don’t worry it will still work on Windows 7) on January 28.

The Witcher 3 and Other Games That Didn’t Grab You

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is, by many people’s reckoning, the greatest game that was put out in 2015. It has won hundreds of Game of the Year awards and is hailed as a technical achievement and the exemplary model of how to handle post-release content and patching. But even with all of its clout it just couldn’t grab me.

This is the first Witcher game I’ve played in earnest, having not played the original game and putting just a token effort into two. I’d clock my Witcher 3 playtime at around 15 hours but that’s just an estimate.

I hunted monsters, flirted with Geralt’s past lovers and met the Bloody Baron and the Crones, both of whom were engrossing for different reasons. I love the world that CD Projekt Redhas realized with the Witcher but I could tell even early on that the story was going to do some major wheel spinning and the combat wasn’t varied enough to grab me. Continue reading The Witcher 3 and Other Games That Didn’t Grab You

In The Know

Ahem! Is this thing on?

Don’t freak out or anything – GamerSushi is still stored in carbonite for the foreseeable future – but if you have a hankering for a little bit of that GS flavor, you might want to check out recent episodes of Rooster Teeth’s The Know.

Our own Eddy Rivas is using his wordsmithing skills to write two videos a day for their channel, which oftentimes requires spending way too much time on VGChartz.

Here are his first few videos:

(Eddy made a point of letting us know that his script did not call for Meg to do that with her tongue.)

Anyways, just wanted to share. How’s everybody doing? Still playing games? Good.

GamerSushi is on Indefinite Hiatus

gamersushi hiatus

Hello again, Sushians,

No bones about it, the pace around here has been mighty slow. As Summer came to a close, plans to get the GamerSushi Show and the website back on track were talked about, but never materialized. Unfortunately our lives have changed quite a bit in the past few months meaning that we don’t have nearly as much time to dedicate to GamerSushi as we’d like.

The crew are still emailing regularly and playing games (we did our first Vault of Glass run in Destiny this past Saturday!) so there’s no need to worry about a falling out. We’re simply stepping back from regular GS contributions. Plans are in the works to make a send-off podcast so you can get one more hit of TGS.

Sorry about the radio silence, but we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with GamerSushi since our Summer break and nothing has really stuck. If things change we’ll let you know but for now we’re letting GamerSushi rest for a bit.

The Destiny Post-Level 20 Guide to Earning Legendary and Exotic Gear

destiny legendary gear

Hey Sushians!

Like many of you, I’ve been playing Destiny since it dropped on September 9. I hit the level cap of 20 about a week after release and I floundered for a bit wondering how to progress. Bungie doesn’t do a good job of explaining Destiny’s post-20 game outside of vague terms, so I put together a guide for how you can increase your Light and earn Legendary and Exotic gear. I’ve tried to be thorough and explain or remove as much of the jargon as I could. If you have any tips, please add them in the comments! Continue reading The Destiny Post-Level 20 Guide to Earning Legendary and Exotic Gear

Destiny Roll Call!

destiny roll call

Today is the day, Sushians! This is the day we step into Bungie’s brave new world and plumb the depths of Destiny for sweet loot.

Since Destiny is coming out on a fair number of consoles, I thought it would be a good idea to do a classic GamerSushi Roll Call! What system are you playing Destiny on? What class are you going to go with?

Personally I was leaning Titan for a while, but I made an eleventh-hour decision to roll a Warlock based on that classes’ level 15 healing and buffing ability which sounds like it will come in handy. Also, space magic and trench coats.

But what about you? How are you planning on playing Destiny?

Listen to Super Smash Bros. Music on the Go With Play in Sleep Mode

smash bros 3ds play in sleep mode

Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS (and Wii U!) is quickly approaching and like past versions of the games the famous music from each of the franchises represented will be lovingly updated for your listening pleasure.

While I wouldn’t get my hopes up for an official soundtrack, you can still listen to the music from the 3DS version when you’re not playing thanks to “Play in Sleep” mode. With this mode, you can listen to the game’s music while the 3DS is asleep, utilizing the L and R buttons to skip tracks. In addition to that, Smash Run will have a customizable soundtrack so you can choose which tunes you want to hear when you play that mode. As an added bonus, you can listen to some tracks from the game on the Smash Bros. website right now, with more to come!

I used to have a lot of the songs from Super Smash Bros. Melee on my an old playlist, so I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to use my 3DS to listen to the game’s soundtrack when I’m not playing it if I want. Super Smash Bros. is equal parts a fun fighter and a love-letter to every series involved and the music is no exception. This is a really killer idea, and I hope more games follow suit in the future.

Source – Miiverse

GamerSushi is on Summer Break

destiny

Hey Sushians,

As you might have noticed, things have gotten a mite quiet ’round these parts. That’s because GamerSushi as a whole is on Summer break.

I know, traditionally we only stop The GamerSushi Show during the hotter months, but this year real life has caught up with us hard. Nick is even building things (he got bit by a Dad)!

This also corresponds with the slower schedule of releases in the Summer, with nothing of real note coming out until September 9, when Destiny hits. So, what are you guys doing to occupy your Summer?

Destiny Beta Action with Anthony

I streamed some of the Destiny Beta on PS4 this morning and thought you guys might fancy a glance at it. Did some Explore mode in Old Russia with my Warlock.

Has anyone else been partaking in the Destiny beta? What do you think so far?


Watch live video from starkiller81 on Twitch

Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth Expansion is the Only DLC I’ll Ever Need

battlefield 4 dragons teeth

Yes, my legendary love/hate affair with Battlefield 4 continues. The newest installment of this on-going saga has to do with Dragon’s Teeth, the latest expansion pack that dropped yesterday for Premium members.

An infantry-focused map pack taking place in urban settings in several Asian cities, Dragon’s Teeth removes a lot of the things I don’t like about Battlefield 4, such as almost every type of vehicle, but leaves in all the sweet on-foot action you can handle. The maps are somewhere between the regular size for BF4 maps and the cramped Close Quarters DLC for Battlefield 3, meaning that a lot of the running and dying between objectives has been removed. Continue reading Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth Expansion is the Only DLC I’ll Ever Need

The Visible, Violent Deaths of Sniper Elite 3

sniper elite 3

Over the weekend I put a decent amount of time into Sniper Elite 3, Rebellion’s latest foray into the realm of shooting a lot of Nazis (and Italian soldiers!) in the face and testicles in slow motion, and I have to say I’m digging it quite a bit.

I’d describe Sniper Elite 3 as a “rough diamond” of sorts. The folks at Rebellion have done a great job of making a fun stealth title and if you like sniping then this is definitely the game for you. Just be aware that there are a few hiccups that might detract from your experience. Continue reading The Visible, Violent Deaths of Sniper Elite 3

Celebrate the Fourth of July With a Battlefield 4 CTE Easter Egg

I don’t need to remind you what today is because I think we all know. It’s three days after Canada Day!

Naw, just kidding: it’s Independence Day, the day where the USA celebrates their victory over the British and their freedom from the monarchy which is a feat they accomplished all by themselves and not with the help of the French, no sir.

To commemorate this occasion, the team at DICE LA who are behind the Battlefield 4 Community Test Environment (CTE), which has fixed more bugs in BF4 in a few months than DICE proper fixed in almost eight, added a very special easter egg in their most recent patch. Professional Battlefield 4 sleuth JackFrags (who found the Megalodon in Naval Strike as well) shows off the Fourth of July celebrations added to the map Dawnbreaker:

Pretty cool little Easter Egg from DICE LA in the Battlefield 4 CTE there, I must say. I think the CTE has done great things for Battlefield 4, the “netcode” update being chief among them. I signed up for CTE but haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I hope all of our American Sushians have an excellent Fourth of July!