Company of Heroes 2 Pre-Order and The Reward Tiers

company of heroes 2 pre-order reward tiers

No word of a lie, I’m pretty excited for the next Company of Heroes game. Set on the Eastern front, this sequel looks to bring a lot of new mechanics to the old formula like vision cones, ice with hit points and building fires for warmth. What it’s also bringing is a new tiding of evil in the form of pre-order reward tiers.

If you take a look at the Company of Heroes 2 page on Steam, you might notice that it has a section called “Pre-Purchase Rewards”, promising additional goodies if more people pre-order the game. I’ve kind of accepted the status quo of pre-orders in the gaming industry but this seems like a step too far to me. Even the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown game does this, and even though it looks like a lot of fun, these pre-purchase tiers make me hold back a bit.

The problem I have with the pre-purchase tiers in Company of Heroes 2 is that it makes it look like Relic is trying to add cash-stops to a full-price game. Things like XP boosts and character boosts might fly in a single-player game, but in a multiplayer arena that doesn’t really work. Eventually all that evens out, but for the first couple of weeks that leads to a huge imbalance.

So what do you guys think? Are pre-order reward tiers the equivalent of the devil? Is this just another way to get those oh-so-important pre-order dollars?

Borderlands 2 Roll Call!

borderlands 2 impressions

It’s been a little quiet around these parts for the last couple of days, but I bet you all know why: Borderlands 2, Gearbox’s follow-up to 2009’s FPS loot-fest, dropped at 9pm on Monday for me and I’ve been spending my evenings playing it since.

So far I’m having a lot of fun with it, as I really like the new Commando class (although useful assault rifles are still hard to come by for me) and the game is freaking gorgeous on my new PC. There’s a ton of customization options available to PC players, which is nice after the abortive console port of the first Borderlands. I am have screen-tearing issues occasionally, but I think that might have something to do with my settings.

Shooting-wise Borderlands 2 feels much improved over the workman-like mechanics of the first game and so far the promise of even more crazy guns is being fulfilled. My favorite weapons at this juncture are the ones that you throw like a grenade when they’re empty (complete with explosion) only to have a new one materialize in your hands. The writing is also a lot better and it feels like there might be an actual story this time. The game never stops talking to you though, as there’s always one person on your radio, jawing to you about this and that.

Now that I’ve given my thoughts about it, who here is playing Borderlands 2? What do you think of it so far? Which system did you get it for?

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 53: Oppan Sushi Style

gamersushi show ep 53

What ho, faithful Sushians, we’re back with the opener for Season 3 of the podcast! While the break was a little shorter than we anticipated, we still had lots to talk about, ranging from the recent Wii U announcements to Hero Academy, The Walking Dead, CS:GO and Mark of the Ninja. Oh, we also played a little Over/Under.

It’s a longer cast that our last few, clocking in at about an hour and a half, but it was super fun to get back into the groove of recording it. We’re a bit rusty, and Eddy disappears a couple times, but I think it’s a fine return to form. Oh, also, a wild Nick appears right before we launch into our game, so you’ll get to hear his bearded tones once again.

Since it’s been a while, I’ll remind you how this goes: listen, rate the cast, and always remember, OPPAN SUSHI STYLE.

0:00 – 3:19 Intro
3:20 – 20:31 Wii U pricing and launch date
20:31 – 28:56 FF7 Twenty Fifth anniversary
28:57 – 36:42 Hero Academy
36:43 – 43:50 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
43:51 – 54:14 The Walking Dead
54:15 – 1:04:57 Mark of the Ninja
1:04:58 – 1:24:28 GAME TIME Over/Under
1:24:29 – 1:26:17 Outro Style

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Battlefield 3 Armored Kill DLC Impressions

battlefield 3 armored kill impressions

Battlefield 3’s third expansion Armored Kill dropped last Tuesday for Premium members, and because I am part of such a prestigious club, I’ve been playing the maps and have had enough time in them to form a pretty solid opinion.

In a big change from the last DLC, Close Quarters, Armored Kill is good old fashioned Battlefield fun. I’m talking Battlefield 2 type of action here, with huge maps, tons of vehicles, and lots of carnage going on everywhere. The four new maps, Death Valley, Alborz Mountain, Armored Shield and Bandar Desert, feature big swaths of open terrain, with Bandar Desert being the largest Battlefield map in the series history. It doesn’t hurt that these maps are really good looking either, from the rural countryside of Armored Shield to the almost Skryim-esque landscape of Alborz Mountain. DICE also removed the damn blue tint that really downplayed this game’s otherwise great style, so props to them for that.

Armored Kill adds a couple new vehicles to the mix, namely the AC-130 Specter Gunship and the new Tank Destroyers. The Tank Destroyers are great fun as they’re essentially Infanty Fighting Vehicles with a huge cannon strapped on top, meaning they have greater maneuverability than the MBTs and can take out a full-health tank in a couple of shots. Being based on a lightly-armored chassis, they’re fairly vulnerable themselves, but a tank push with a couple Destroyers for backup can devastate an enemy position.

The AC-130 was one of the features that was touted the most leading up to Armored Kill, but it isn’t as big of a deal as you may think. Sure, in Rush mode when the attackers have the gunship and are railing the mostly static positions of the defenders it can be a little infuriating, but in Conquest mode, getting killed by the gunship is more of a momentary annoyance than anything else. The gunship is available to each faction, they just have to hold and control the capture point associated with it (denoted by a little plane icon beside the flag). I’ve only had a couple kills with the gunship, as it’s such a big target for jets and AA emplacements that it doesn’t stay in the air long.

If you were hesitant about the BF3 expansions after Close Quarters, rest easy because Armored Kill is DICE at the top of their game. Ripping around gorgeous maps with explosions going off all around you, shooting down fully-loaded transport helicopters with a Tank Destroyer and parachuting in from the circling AC-130 is all classic Battlefield. While playing the maps one after the other (especially on high ticket-count servers) can be a little draining, once they get inserted into rotation with the vanilla and Back to Karkand maps, they’ll be a great compliment to your BF3 experience.

Has anyone played Armored Kill? What do you think of it?

FTL is a Spaceship Management Roguelike. Buy It

Sometimes a little indie game manages to grab your attention and hold it much better than a big old triple-A title. Take FTL (Faster Than Light) for example. It’s a spaceship management roguelike game with hints of Firefly where you take your craft through encounters and become bigger and better. I’ve been waiting for this kind of spaceship-tweaking which I haven’t had since the old X-Wing games back in the day (ELS, what’s up?).

If you’re curious about what exactly you do in FTL, here’s a gameplay video by Nerd³, who I find much more digestible than Total Biscuit. It’s pretty lengthy, but it should give you an idea about what to expect from FTL.

I’m going to be sinking some time into this over the weekend so I hope to have some thoughts on this by next week. By all accounts this game is a fantastic experience, so I’m anticipating my time with it. Is anyone else going to try FTL?

Source- FTL Game

Get Your Hot Wii U Info Straight From Nintendo Direct

wii u release date and pricing

Hold on to your hats fellas, information about the hotly anticipated (/s) Wii U has finally arrived, including pricing, software lineups and the launch date.

In a string of Nintendo Direct broadcasts, the hardware giant confirmed that the Wii U will be in two flavors when it launches on November 18 in North America (December 8 in Japan and November 30 in Europe. Interesting to see where Nintendo thinks their bread will be buttered.). The two types of Wii U on offer are the Basic and Premium bundles, each with their own set of features and unique price point.

Basic, which is a white Wii U, comes with 8GB of memory, a game pad and will run you $299 dollars when it drops. The black Wii U Premium will be $349 and comes with 32GB of memory, black accessories and a Nintendo Premium Network subscription. What that gets you is 10% off software purchases and points for buying titles.

The Wii U’s launch-date games will be New Super Mario Bros. Wii U, Rayman Legends, ZombiU (and Premium ZombiU bundle), FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3 and Nintendo Land, with Bayonetta 2 being announced as an exclusive. Black Ops 2 will also be arriving on the system on an unknown date with Pikmin 3 following in 2013.

The Wii U’s hardware was not specifically revealed, but the console will output in 1080p, making this Nintendo’s first jump into the HD realm.

So that’s the lowdown on the Wii U, folks. What do you think of the console being three hundred dollars for the basic package? Will you be picking one up?

Source – VG247

Insomniac CEO: Multiplayer In Every Game Is The Future

Dalton

Insomniac, makers of Ratchet & Clank, my favorite platformer since Mario, are currently working on Fuse, which you may remember being announced as Overstrike. Fuse is a 4-player co-op 3rd person shooter, set to be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 at some point before our sun burns out. That’s not the news part of this post.

Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac, said in an interview with GameSpot:

I can’t imagine that any game we’d do from here on out will be single-player-only. The [game industry] has changed. As gamers, we have always been social, but thanks to the way technology has evolved, it’s much easier for us to play together.

Price went on to say that this doesn’t mean games will be multiplayer only, just that there will be a multiplayer component to games that would normally just be single-player. While I can’t be upset at that part, this paradigm shift that seems to be permeating throughout the industry, notably with EA, is a little bit frustrating. Some of the most popular games have been single-player only experiences and the constant denial of this by the publishers is staggering.

Am I shouting into the wind here or do you guys feel the same? I love multiplayer games, but shoehorning them into every release seems counterproductive to me. What say you?

Source: GameSpot

Final Fantasy: Forging The Future

FF ALL

I’ve thought a long time about how to write this. I knew I would need a Final Fantasy article honoring its 25th year in existence (if we go by the Japanese release dates), but I wasn’t sure what the angle should be. I’ve already written so very many posts about Final Fantasy that the readers probably think I am trolling them. I’m not. It’s just my favorite game (as you might have noticed) and it’s the one that always gets my blood pumping. But I’ve conveyed that already, many times before. I thought about letting the whole thing go by, but that didn’t feel right either.

So rather than talk about the past of Final Fantasy, which admittedly was when people still cared about the series, I’ve decided to talk about the future of Final Fantasy and what I think I can be done to salvage the once-proud franchise. There are tons of articles out there about this very subject, but I hope you will agree that I have shown enough credibility regarding Final Fantasy to make my voice stand out against the cacophony of chaos currently clouding the Internet like a sudden squall. (See what I did there?) Continue reading Final Fantasy: Forging The Future

Happy 4th Birthday to GamerSushi

Portal Cake

So this kind of happens every now and then. Or rather, it would be more specific to say that it happens once a year — GamerSushi has another birthday.

It’s hard to believe that we started this little venture up four years ago, but here we are, almost 2500 posts, 630,000 words and 20,000 comments later.

We’re still writing about the games we love, still hanging out with you guys, still trying to review titles honestly and doing our best to have some thoughtful reflection on the world’s greatest hobby. If you haven’t noticed, we’re back to our regular posting schedule, and another “season” of the podcast is starting very soon. Honestly, we couldn’t ask for a better community, and it’s wonderful that so many of you are on here participating and sharing your thoughts with us.

It hits us right in the feels, as the kids say.

So raise your glasses, gents and ladies. Here’s to another four years and then some on GamerSushi. When did you stumble across this little gaming nook? Go!

Poll: Most Anticipated September Release

Well, it’s here: The Fall of 2012. This is the time of year when things get a little cray cray. After the doldrums of summer finally subsided last month with Sleeping Dogs and Darksiders 2, this is season of the big dogs. It’s a little leaner than last year but there are still some blockbusters forthcoming, most notably, Borderlands 2. I know many of the GamerSushi staff are drooling at the chance to shoot thousands upon thousands of skags again. I am little more reserved on it, but I will probably pick it up at some point, after the dust from my backlog as cleared.

I know Torchlight II will be a popular choice for many, possibly as a change of pace from Diablo III. Sports fans will have to choose between hockey or the Beautiful Game as depicted in FIFA 13. I know Mists of Pandaria might draw some more WoW fans back into the fray for one last gasp, but I’ve heard that it has turned others off with its resemblance to Kung-Fu Panda. Hit the comments and let me know which side your bread is buttered.

Poll: Most Anticipated September Release?

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Halo 4 Promethean Enemies Gallery Unveiled

Halo 4 Promethean Pwned

One of the most exciting things about the Halo series are the varied enemies. Each enemy is unique in appearance and behavior, from the cannon fodder of the Grunts to the charging ferocity of the Brutes. It’s a trademark of the franchise and something other games just can’t quite nail. When 343 Studios took over the reins, some fans were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to live up to the strong legacy set by Bungie.

Well, this gallery of Promethean enemy classes, brought you by All Games Beta, shows those concerns just might be unfounded. The different classes and behaviors, not to mention weapons that are showcased in the gallery, lead me to believe that 343 is on point with Halo 4. The Knight alone sounds scary enough, but the Knight Commander seems like an uber-powerful version that might make me wet my pants the first time we meet. Hopefully, Master Chief can snag some of those bad-ass weapons and do some damage himself.

What say you? Do the Prometheans look like they carry on the Halo tradition or do they look generic to you? Hit the comments!

Source: All Games Beta

Mark of the Ninja and How to Not Promote Games

mark of the ninja

Klei Studio’s (the folks behind Shank) new 2D stealth platformer Mark of the Ninja was released on September 7 and when I bought it yesterday it took me at least five minutes and six addition screens (I counted) to get from my ad-infested Xbox dashboard to a page where I could actually buy the dang game. Given that Mark of the Ninja is being lauded critically and is an Xbox LIVE exclusive for the time being, you’d think that Microsoft would be promoting that game on at least the front of the games tab.

But alas, there is not a single mention of Mark of the Ninja until you go to the game’s specific page and buy it. That’s a damn shame, considering that it’s pretty incredible. If you have no idea what this game is, here’s a quick gameplay video for Mark of the Ninja (we really need some more video content around here, don’t we?) which should give you the gist of what it’s all about.

I played it for a couple of hours last night and I’m already in love with it. The game’s visual style is really eye-catching while being informative at the same time: if your character is black, he’s hidden, and if he’s in color, he’s not. This also applies to the various guards you’ll be slicing, letting you know if the body of your latest victim is in plain sight or not. Stealth is also a lot of fun, this being the first game to really do it right for me since Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. You have so many options to be a badass ninja, from hanging from the ceiling to traveling through vents to pausing time in midair to throw your noise maker to distract a guard before you land behind him and shove your sword through his neck.

If you’re hesitant about the 15 dollar price tag, at least download the demo and try it out; chances are you’ll be hooked. Personally, I think everyone should buy this game, if only to shove Microsoft’s poor marketing back in their face. Has anyone played Mark of the Ninja? What do you think of it? Any thoughts on the hoops I had to jump through to find the game?

The Last Disappointment

The Last Story Cover

There will be no review of The Last Story.

No, it’s not because I am too lazy to write it. It’s because I played 10 hours and couldn’t take another minute. It wasn’t a terrible game, exactly. It just wasn’t fun. I wasn’t having a good time and one of my promises to myself going forward is not to feel obligated to play something if I am not enjoying it. The second I turned off the game and drove to GameStop, I felt better. Justified. Like a new person. That’s how I knew I made the right decision.

I’m sure you are asking what was so wrong with The Last Story? What could be so bad coming from Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy? Well, let’s start with the story: it’s pretty bland. You play as Zael, one of a group of mercenaries who dream of becoming knights and gaining a higher station in life. Zael is a standard RPG hero: compassionate and boring. His comrades are far more interesting, even if they all fall into easy to categorize descriptions: the drunken woman who parties too much, the womanizer, the emo mage…I didn’t hate any of them and the British accents made what they said pleasant to hear. The problem is, it was all so mundane that the second the screen went black indicating a cut-scene was starting, I was checking my phone to see if anyone made a Hero Academy move. Not a good sign. Continue reading The Last Disappointment

GamerSushi Asks: The End of AAA?

Assassin's Creed 3

In my eyes, Assassin’s Creed is one of the more notable examples of why publishers shouldn’t be afraid to take great risks on a new franchise. It was an IP that nobody had ever experienced, and now it’s one of the powerhouse releases each year, right alongside Call of Duty and Halo. Anybody that has concerns about whether or not new franchises can enter the scene with the other AAA giants need look no further than Altair, Ezio and their ilk.

But is AAA going to be as big of a factor in the next generation as it has been for the current one? Assassin’s Creed 3 Creative Director Alex Hutchinson doesn’t think so. Because of free to play, the rising costs of AAA development and more, Alex joins the ranks of other people that feel that at some point, there will be a change. Only Alex thinks this is coming rather soon. A quote, from the latest issue of Edge.

We’re the last of the dinosaurs. We’re still the monster triple-A game with very large teams [and] multiple studios helping out on different bits. There are fewer and fewer of these games being made, especially as the middle has fallen out.

So, Alex thinks that AAA games are going the way of the buffalo so quickly that Assassin’s Creed 3 will be one of the last? While I agree that at some point the industry is going to have to change to get in line with the expectations of the consumer, I think this is reaching just a bit. If anything, AAA games are bigger now than ever, and only seem to be ramping up at the moment.

I think sometime in the next gen, we’ll see that fizzle out some, but definitely not on the timetable that Hutchison predicts. What do you guys think? Are we looking down the barrel at the end of AAA games? Do you think the industry will change at all? When? Go!

Source – CVG

Happy 15th Birthday, Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII

Today marks 15 years since the release of Final Fantasy VII, AKA, The First RPG You Ever Played. The legacy of Final Fantasy VII looms large over the entire franchises and indeed, over the entire video game industry. It brought RPGs to the forefront of the mainstream, something that hadn’t happened at that point. It compelled thousands of games to have an amnesiac for a hero and it made teenagers the world over cry tears of sadness after the death of Aeris. Sure, Tifa was hotter, but Aeris was the kind of girl you could see yourself settling down with. Maybe bring her home to Nibelheim and start a family, away from the hustle, bustle and terrorist threats of Midgar.

I personally received FF VII for Christmas in 1997 and with it, a Playstation. It was the first non-Nintendo system I had owned since the Genesis and it felt so new and exotic to my 16 year old self. I remember that Christmas break like it was yesterday: my hands practically shook as I held the controller in my hand and the opening cut-scene played. My favorite game series in glorious 3-D graphics! My mom and I fought for control of the TV for the next 2 weeks. She was intent on watching as many year-end specials about Princess Diana as possible and I was trying to save the world from Sephiroth. Clearly, one of us had our priorities out of whack.

FF VII’s legacy is still strong today, although there was something of a backlash after a few years from some of the old-school Final Fantasy fans, myself included, who were upset that our particular favorite game from the pre-FF VII days was being overshadowed by the sudden surge of new fans. For me, that has largely passed. I remembed how much I loved playing FF VII and even today, hearing the music makes me want to boot it up for one more go. Final Fantasy VII was a landmark game for millions of people and the clamor for a remake has only grown stronger. Maybe Square Enix will grant our wish, but until then, we have the memories to hold us over.

What are your thoughts about Final Fantasy VII? Join us in the Lifestream by commenting below!

Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC Dives Deep into Lore

mass effect 3 leviathan dlc

After all of the free multiplayer DLC and the Extended Cut, Mass Effect 3 is finally delving into story-expanding DLC and the first offering, Leviathan, details Shepard and company’s hunt for a mythical Reaper-killer.

If you’re really deep into the back-story of Mass Effect, then you might remember the ‘Leviathan of Dis’, a Reaper corpse discovered on a barren planet that was stolen by the isolationist batarian Hegemony (which later lead to their downfall through indoctrination, which dead Reapers still project). Turns out the Leviathan of Dis was referring to a creature that killed the Reaper, and if something organic is strong enough to take one down, then Shepard wants it as a War Asset.

Leviathan is a really story-heavy DLC, so don’t be surprised if the combat sections are kind of ho-hum. I’ll get into the story details in a bit (including spoilers) but I’ll run over the gameplay you’ll be doing throughout the DLC first. The new area on the Citadel promised by the DLC’s promotional materials is the lab of one Dr. Bryson which contains clues to the whereabouts of Leviathan as well as other experiments such as a live Husk head that you can take back to your cabin if you talk to James enough on one of your trips to the lab.

You’ll be using the clues in Bryson’s lab to pinpoint locations on the galaxy map that lead you closer to Leviathan; the more clues you use correctly, the more exact the destination becomes. It’s kind of fun the first time in a loose CSI way, but on the second and third trips back to the lab it becomes a bit more rote. It’s kind of like a point-and-click adventure game and, while it is different from what you do in ME3 proper, it’s repeated enough times over the DLC to become a bit stale.

Combat is likewise a bit samey, even if the final battle on a storm-tossed ship is pretty visually striking. A lot of what you’ll be doing is carried over from the multiplayer DLC, like escorting repair drones and carrying packages to certain destinations. Your squadmates actually interact with you during the DLC, which is a nice change from Mass Effect 2 where they were silent the entire time. Even if the gameplay isn’t that great, what about the story of Leviathan? Continue reading Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC Dives Deep into Lore

I Was There (And Still Am)

SMB

I am 31. I am an old school gamer. Atari. Intellivision. Nintendo. Sega. Sony. Microsoft. Apple. I’ve been here since Day 1 and I’m still gaming.

It’s pretty amazing and quite fortunate if you think about it. I got to witness the birth of all that we now love and take for granted. I’m not special in this: anyone my age who was playing games around 1985 or so is in the same boat as myself. But they aren’t writing this, so screw them.

I’m not on the cutting edge anymore. I’m a late adopter. I don’t understand some of the things headed our way. But I had an NES. I had Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda and I played them right when they first came out. Allow me to take you on a trip down memory lane of the some of the console games that I was there to see born.

Think about this for a moment: the astonishment when Mario walked to the left and the screen kept scrolling with him, showing new areas and not just a pasted version of the previous screen with only a few subtle changes. Think about the joy and sense of discovery that came with finding the warp zones and bragging to your friends about it. Or the awe when someone showed you the infinite lives glitch. This was a special time. And I was there for it. Continue reading I Was There (And Still Am)

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Trailer Sneaks Out

Wow. Nobody does a trailer quite like Kojima-san. The newest piece of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Ground Zeroes, was announced last week at a Kojima event, along with the existence of a Metal Gear Solid movie. At the event, a secret trailer of Ground Zeroes was shown to the attendees — so naturally, that’s leaked everywhere now.

The (ridiculously gorgeous) trailer focuses on a prison camp, and a mysterious figure who visits a prisoner there. While it’s a long sequence, the last couple of minutes actually treat us to some gameplay — and, according to reports, the gameplay has now been transformed from the typical MGS model into more of an open-world stealth game, built around escape if your stealth attempts fail. It’s an interesting departure in terms of gameplay, one that holds a lot of promise to shake the series up a bit.

I think the most striking thing about the trailer (apart from the fact that you’re back in the shoes of an older Big Boss) is how beautiful the whole thing is. Running in-engine, the visuals are pretty unbelievable. Supposedly, Ground Zeroes will see its release this generation, not next. I’m not sure I believe it.

So what do you guys think? Does Old Big Boss still have some sneaking left in him? Do you think this is actually meant for this gen? Go!

The GamerSushi Power Rankings: September 2012

CS GO

It’s been a couple of months since we’ve updated our Power Rankings, and the tumultuous nature of the top 10 list should show that quite a bit of time has passed. This has given some new challengers room to flex their muscles, smashing new resting places for themselves right at the top, casting down all other games in a mighty display of strength. All future games for 2012, take notice. Walking Dead is the way you want to make your entrance. Continue reading The GamerSushi Power Rankings: September 2012

A Hero Awakens in Halo 4’s New Vidoc

Hey, it’s been a while guys, but I’ve been busy with…stuff. Let’s not look to closely at my flimsy excuse, and rather take a gander at the new Halo 4 ViDoc from 343 Industries, which is, in a word, hot. Halo 4 is looking pretty good, and this new trailer does an adequate job of building the hype.

After 343’s attempts at cracking Halo into other mediums, I was a little concerned that they would have the chops to pull off a sequel to Bungie’s blockbuster series, but my fears are being slowly put to rest. I’ll reserve my final judgement for when I actually play the damn thing, but for now consider me on board. What do you guys think of Halo 4? Is this a must have?