Tag: crackdown

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:

The Video Game Level Bucket List

Psychonauts

Is it just me, or do they just not make video game levels the way they used to? A big part of this comes from the fact that most modern video games work in very compact missions. While it makes for a mostly great experience, at times it’s hard to separate key levels that really stand out.

Everyone’s got their own list of favorite video game levels, and GamesRadar has pitched in with one of their old re-posts, 59 Levels to Play Before You Die. It represents a video game level bucket list, of sorts, and I have to say it’s a pretty good one. They cover everything from Assassin’s Creed’s Acre Cathedral to Chrono Cross, Symphony of the Night, Crackdown, Psychonauts and Twisted Metal 2. They’ve even got videos if you’re too lazy or unable to go play them.

We’ve talked before about some excellent video game levels on this site, but if you had a bucket list of levels to play before someone died, what would the top 5 or 10 be? Make your lists! Go!

Source – GamesRadar

Image Source – Ayem

Ranking the Best Co-Op Video Games

Left 4 Dead co-op

If there’s one thing that we’re crazy about here at GamerSushi, it’s the wonder of co-op gaming. I’m surprised you guys aren’t sick of hearing about me always talk about how much I love playing games with other people. I don’t know if co-op’s just that fun or if I’m just that sad and lonely, but either way, I want to marry it.

UGO recently added a new list to their site about the 25 Best Co-Op Games of all time, and it’s interesting as a study of the wide variety of co-op games we’ve seen over gaming history. Really, the NES, Sega Genesis and SNES days had a lot more co-op gaming than I gave them credit for, which makes a lot of sense considering how much my friends and I used to play together. Toe Jam and Earl is one the list reminded me of that I hadn’t considered in a long time.

It’s actually pretty difficult to quantify my favorite co-op experiences of all time. There’s so many to choose from. For this gen it would be Resident Evil 5 (no jokes, wise guys), Guardian of Light, Crackdown and Left 4 Dead.

What about you guys? What do you think of this list? I know we’ve asked this before, but what are your favorite co-op games you’ve ever played?

Source – UGO

Realtime Worlds Slaps the Cuffs on APB

apb-gal-logoThey say that only the good die young, but sometimes this old adage extends to the bad as well. All Points Bulletin (APB for those of us who have never been in the back of a cop car) was released only three months ago, but the cops-and-robbers style MMO is being put behind bars already. The game was lauded for its strong customization options but lost a lot of points for having dull combat, horrible player versus player and a very generic quest system.

While fans of the game are certainly upset, most of us who followed the news surrounding the title wouldn’t be surprised. Realtime Worlds, best known for the X-Box 360 hit Crackdown, entered administration (bankruptcy over in the United Kingdom) and laid off a significant part of their work force last month. APB’s Community Officer Ben Bateman posted a final thanks on the official forums:

APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone’s best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It’s been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome!

It looks like this is the end of Realtime Worlds, folks. It’s a real shame that the studio that brought us Crackdown is on the down and out. While I was originally psyched for the game, really poor reviews led me to steer clear, and I imagine that’s true for a lot of us. What do you guys think of RTW closing? Any parting thoughts for this once celebrated studio?

Source: Kotaku

GamerSushi Asks: Treasure Hunting?

Red Dead RedemptionI tend to be a bit of an obsessive gamer. I’ve written about this a few times in the past, so you probably already know that about me, but I seriously get fixated on the most inane parts of games and will sink hours into accomplishing a certain task. Whether it’s hunting for a certain weapon, achievement, trophy or whatever, I’m not above admitting that I turn into kind of a freak about trying to get things done in games.

In the past, this manifested itself as orb hunting in Crackdown. Right now, it’s revealing its ugly head in the form of mining Red Dead Redemption for achievements. I’m actually considering trying to 100 percent the game, which is something I don’t typically do. The last week or so, I’ve been finding myself just hunting, enjoying the world, seeing the sights, and it’s really quite exciting. Currently, I’m trying to find all the locations in the game, and will probably move to co-op or some of the public free roam items next.

What about you guys? Do you often like to mine games for those extra little rewards? What’s the most you’ve done for an achievement/trophy/unlockable? Go!

Valve Says Let Gamers Fund Games

valveA growing topic within the video game industry this generation has been the rising cost of development. This leads not only to higher prices, but to publishers being less willing to take a chance on new properties. Heck, it was just revealed last week that Crackdown, which sold 1.5 million copes and then some, just barely broke even. To me, this is a primary reason why this generation needs to last for a long time (imagine how expensive the next next-gen games will be), but I digress.

However, Valve’s Gabe Newell has recently spoken about something that he feels is an alternative: gamers becoming investors that fund the making of games. Right now, the current model works with a developer going to a publisher with an idea, and getting a commitment of millions based on the concept. What Gabe is proposing is that gamers would become that investor, thus eliminating the middle man and producing an open relationship between the creative and the consumer.

While I think this is an interesting idea on paper, I can’t really see it working. It seems to me that gamers would only really want to pay money up front for a game that they are sure of, and if there’s that kind of demand, there is probably a publisher willing to back it anyway. I mean, who would fund Katamari Damacy based on the premise of a guy pushing around a ball of garbage? You get the point.

Anywho, what do you guys think of this? Is Valve on to something here?

Source- Kotaku

Leaked: Gears of War 2 Achievements

I want to get this out of the way: I’m kind of an achievement whore.

Combining two things that I love, achievements and Gears of War, InsideGamer has posted a leaked list of Gears of War 2 Achievements. I’ve always been a fan of puns, and there are plenty to be had here including “Tanks for the Memories” and other groan-inducing achievement titles. Apparently, this is only 60 percent complete, and the full achievement list comes on Friday.

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