Tag: arkham city

The GamerSushi Top 20 Games of the Generation

Top20

Between gimmicky Wii shovelware, Red Rings of Death and large price points tainted by giant crab battles, this generation started with something akin to a whimper—and that’s being generous. But as the years went on, we were not only treated to one of the longest generations of console gaming, but also the most fruitful. We saw games take great strides in scope and imagination. With dozens of new IPs that hold great promise, some of the most fantastic sequels ever made and new approaches to storytelling, it’s safe to say that gamers are in a better situation now than they were back in 2005, when the Xbox 360 first debuted.

On the even of a new generation, we thought we’d take a look back at this last generation—and perhaps one of the greatest we’ve ever had. Over the course of several weeks, the GamerSushi staff voted on the best experiences of this generation, getting in heated debates, pitting games against each other in vicious battles and nearly ending several friendships. Below are the results.

Thees are our top 20 games of this generation. Enjoy, dudes. Continue reading The GamerSushi Top 20 Games of the Generation

Pixel Count: How Do You Prefer Your Hype?

The reveal of Bungie’s newest property, Destiny, has had me thinking this week about the nature of hype in the video game realm. With everything from years-out announcements to games that get stuck in an endless development cycle, games that get dropped on us just a few months before release and more, we’ve seen the whole gamut of hype. Sometimes it is a bit much for our poor hearts, methinks.

But while I’m excited about the little snippets that Bungie showed off, I can’t help but feel like maybe the announcement had been just a tad overhyped in the week prior. Bungie explained a little of what Destiny is, but there’s still so much we don’t know, and for a game that seems built around its high concept that we may or may not have seen before, it seems like maybe that information is necessary. In the end, it comes down to strategy, and how each developer feels that they can ultimately sell more copies.

All that to ask you guys today’s poll question. How do you prefer your video game hype? Go!

How do you prefer your hype?

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GamerSushi Asks: Saying Goodbye?

Uncharted 2

For today’s GamerSushi Asks Friday, we’re going to take a look at the long, hard farewell. I feel like there’s a “that’s what she said” in there somewhere.

After finishing Far Cry 3 recently, something happened to me that I’ve really only experienced a few times in gaming. After the main game was completed, the pirates were vanquished from the island, outposts liberated, animals hunted and huge portions of secret items located, I realized there was nothing left for me to do in the game. Because of said pirate vanquishment, I couldn’t even run around and kill a few bad guys. I was done with the game, almost completely.

And when it came time to sign off, I found myself coming up with excuses to hop around the world a little longer. I was kind of sad to say goodbye. This has happened before, and will hopefully happen again. Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Saying Goodbye?

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 39: Ameri-Cast

Episode 39 of the GamerSushi Show happens to be Canadian-less, so I’m sure that’s going to make it a lot better for you guys to listen to. I kid, I kid. Mitch had a fancy radio show to take care of, so the rest of us tackled the week in gaming all by our lonesome selves. I will suggest that it’s merely coincidence that it’s one of the more fluid casts we’ve ever recorded.

As always, we cover a variety of topics. One of these happened accidentally and might become a regular feature that is sure to make you guys rage quit our site and go find your gaming entertainment elsewhere – Six Minutes with RE 6. It’s just what it sounds like. And it’s awesome by association with the greatest gaming franchise of all time.

Beyond that, we tackle Uncharted 3 and Arkham City. And then we play a game of Percentages, where we rank the chances of a number of pending news items and if they’re likely to go down. I’m pretty sure you all know the drill by this point: Eddy wins and makes some fantastic points while the others talk nonsense.

Listen up, rate the podcast and enjoy, everyone. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 39: Ameri-Cast

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When do Video Games Have too Much Content?

riddler-arkham-city

Between bouts of Battlefield 3 multiplayer, I’ve been going back into Arkham City to try and collect all the Riddler trophies and challenges into order to finish off his sidequest and save those poor doctors. Now, if you’re not familiar with this particular aspect of the game, the Riddler has captured five doctors and hidden them all over Arkham City and the only way he’ll allow you to save them is by collecting 400 plus trophies and riddles and combat challenges. It also doesn’t help that he’s kind of a dick and taunts you the entire way through.

Now, I’m not one to shy from completing any game to 100% (that’s become a bit of a running joke around here) but even I think 400 something collectibles is a little much. I mean, they’re not incredibly well hidden, but just the sheer volume of the things makes this a daunting task. This is a problem endemic to open world games where I imagine the developer is kind of tempted to hide these things all over to justify the massive game worlds (although Call of Duty has hidden collectibles as well).

So here’s the thing: while I don’t blame Rocksteady for having Riddler challenges in the game, I just think there’s too damn many. No offense to the guys who went in and designed and placed all of these things, but didn’t they break 200 and start thinking “wow, we’ve sure put in a lot of these things. Maybe we should stop?”. Have you guys run into a similar sort of fatigue with collectibles, or just games with a lot of content? Which game was it? How are you getting along with the Riddler challenges?

Review: Batman: Arkham City

batman arkham city review

2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum was not just a landmark title because it was really, really good, it’s also one of the very few games in recent memory to take a super-hero license and use it well. Arkham Asylum was a faithful adaptation of the Caped Crusader, one where players actually felt like they were Batman as opposed to just slapping his moniker on a bland brawler and calling it a day.

Developers Rocksteady clearly have a deep love for the Dark Knight and when the follow up title Batman: Arkham City was announced last year at Spike’s Video Game Awards fans eagerly began salivating at the prospect of another chance to be Batman. Did Rocksteady follow up Arkham Asylum with a worthy successor or should they be locked up? Continue reading Review: Batman: Arkham City

Finding New Thrills in Gaming in 2011

Confession time, gents and ladies. Playing Batman: Arkham City makes me feel like a kid again, and I don’t really care who knows it. As of right now, it’s my game of the year. I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Arkham City Concept Art

But first, there’s something you may have already guessed about me, but I thought I should confess that as well: sometimes I can be a bit of a cynic. I always try to look at the brighter side of things, but in this day and age, the overwhelming cynical voice of the Internet can be a bit of a bog that all of us get stuck in. Especially when it comes to gaming. Continue reading Finding New Thrills in Gaming in 2011

Batman: Arkham City Reviews Arrive with a Pow

Arkham City

Bam! Pow! Zhom! Those are the sounds that Arkham City is making amongst the circle of reviewers as it enters the scene with one heck of a flourish. The sequel to Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum certainly sounds promising, and many are praising it as the greatest superhero game ever made. Granted, that’s not saying a lot, but it’s still a lofty and impressive claim.

Overall, Arkham City is garnering loads of positive reviews on the high end of the spectrum. It seems like it improves on Arkham City in every way, and adds the open world play style in a way that doesn’t take away from what made the previous game so much fun. Here’s one of my favorite quotes, from the Wired review:

In fact, it avoids the curse of sequelitis by making a major change to the formula — instead of a Metroid-esque series of interconnected rooms, it’s an open-world city that you can fly across, going from point to point in a matter of seconds. You can play only the missions that are required to advance the storyline, but you’re also constantly tempted with a wide variety of side missions, collectibles and challenges scattered everywhere. It doesn’t feel anything like Metroid anymore, but it sure feels a lot like Crackdown.

So yeah. Call me excited. Here are some other reviews for you to peruse:

Batman: Arkham City Swooping From the Shadows in 2011

BATMANBatman: Arkham Asylum was probably the biggest surprise of 2009 next to Wolverine. A big-budget super-hero game that actually captured the feeling of being Batman and was a blast to play? Almost unheard of in the video game industry, but developers Rocksteady pulled it off. Of course, a big success means sequels, and Arkham Asylum is no exception. Originally teased last year at Spike’s Video Game Awards show, the follow-up to AA will take place in Arkham City, a “heavily fortified” district in the heart of Gotham. Presumably this means more gargoyles to hang on.

Besides being in a different locale, Arkham City will feature a new cast of villains like Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, and Catwoman. Nothing much has been announced for the upcoming title, but Rocksteady promises this game will “deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight.”

I think we can all agree that Arkham Asylum was fun, but there were things that needed to be improved about it, most notably the poorly designed boss fights. Almost every single boss encounter in that game was gimmicky or totally out of context (Scarecrow being the notable exception). What do you guys want to see from this bat-sequel? The game is dropping on PC, PS3 and the 360 in Autumn of 2011.

Source: CVG