Tag: crysis 2

Crysis 2, Transformers 3, and Why Movies Resemble Video Games

transformers 3

Today I went and saw the latest Michael Bay robot-fest, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, in theaters and something struck me on the way back home: this movie reminded me of Crysis 2 to a great degree. An ancient alien threat, hectic ground-level combat and amazing visual effects? Given that most of the final hour of Transformers 3 is seen from the perspective of Special Forces soldiers rather than Autobots, my brain couldn’t get away from Crysis 2 and the image of hopping around lower Manhattan killing vaguely robotic aliens in the ruins of a famous city (even though TF3 takes place in Chicago).

Like most Michael Bay films, Transformers 3 is too long, bloated and full of forced, painful humor, but the actions scenes are top notch. Still, I couldn’t get it out of my head that I was watching someone play a video game. Video games have been trying to be like movies for years, but it occurred to me today that they might already be there, or at least have attained the level of Summer popcorn-flick. People complain about the Hollywood-ising of the industry, but we’re too late: every big action game is essentially a Bay movie with threadbare plots and engaging action.

I know that video games are hoping to move past this phase, but in a medium where it’s easier to give the player a gun and turn them loose, are we ever going to get past this stage? Crysis 2 was a pretty fun game, but given that a mindless movie like Transformers 3 can evoke it so heavily, it kind casts a dark shadow over the aspirations of many a development studio. Even games that we decree to be better than movies, like Uncharted 2 or Mass Effect 2, would ultimately fall flat on their face if they ever transition to the silver screen.

Past all my rambling thoughts regarding Transformers 3 and Crysis 2 lays a question for you guys: are video games becoming like movies or is it the other way around? As computer generated effects become cheaper and more believable, will we see more big set-piece films that try to wow our eyes instead of appealing to our brain? Will these movies become the Call of Duty of the film world, or are they already there? Am I just crazy? Go!

Gaming Pop Quiz: Soapbox Edition

Alright friends, it’s been a few months since we’ve done a GamerSushi Pop Quiz, so I figured it was time to drop one in the bucket for you piranhas to devour.

Now that some of the huge titles of 2011 have been released (Portal 2, Little Big Planet 2, Dragon Age 2, Crysis 2, L.A. Noire, Brink and The Witcher 2), I had some questions on my mind about the nature of hype and how games live up to it. The year is already halfway over, and we’ve had some major surprises and major letdowns to boot. I’m curious how you guys feel about how 2011 is shaping up. At the end, you’ll even have a soapbox opportunity to talk about whatever gaming issue is on your mind.

As always with our getting-to-know-you type games, feel free to answer with as much or as little as you like. Answer to the best of your ability. Have at it, gents and ladies. Continue reading Gaming Pop Quiz: Soapbox Edition

Poll: What’s Your Current Game of the Year?

Seeing as how we’re almost five months into the glorious year of 2011, and given that we’ve already seen a slew of quality releases, I thought I’d conduct an informal poll (TWSS) and find out what your current Game of the Year is.

While we do have a few luminary titles coming at us in a few weeks, the recent release of Portal 2 gave us undoubtedly one of this year’s critical juggernauts. Gaming is for all types though, so maybe you liked something else? Let us know which game you’re rooting for in this handy-dandy poll we cooked up. Chances are, you’ll like a game with the number “2” in it. Just a guess.

For anyone wondering why I picked these games, I basically selected big ticket titles over a score of 87 on Metacritic. If you’d like me to add something else, please let me know in the comments!

What's Your Current Game of the Year for 2011?

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The GamerSushi Show, Ep 23: The Land Down Over/Under

And we’re back, fellow gamers. It’s been a couple of weeks because a certain bearded somebody forgot that Thursdays are our podcast nights, and decided to go out and have a life instead. However, everything is back to normal, and now a brand new podcast is out for your enjoyment.

In this episode of our gaming ramblings, we chat about a few new games in more detail, such as Dragon Age 2 and Crysis 2. We also tackle an awesome game of Over/Under, in which Nick has us guess on Metacritic scores for upcoming games. It’s seriously one of my favorite games we play, and I think the results in this one are pretty awesome.

So, here are the topics for this week’s podcast. Thanks to Nick’s efforts, we thought we’d try something different and list the time stamps for each thing in the podcast. Hopefully that’ll make it easier if there are certain topics you want to hear about.

Listen. Rate. ♥. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 23: The Land Down Over/Under

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Review: Crysis 2

Ah, Crysis, the most mythical of beasts in the PC herd. Running Crysis on maximum setting was kind of like spotting a unicorn. We all knew a guy who said he had done it once, but deep down we knew he was lying.

Don’t get me wrong, I played Crysis (on low) and I loved it. Sneaking around a huge jungle island, fighting Koreans and aliens and taking to the Battlefield inspired multiplayer arenas held a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Crysis had a really high barrier for entry and it wasn’t widely played during its time; even when Crytek tried to optimize the engine for the Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars, the game still chugged processing power like no tomorrow.

Now Crytek is back with a new engine and they have consoles in their sights. Does Crysis 2 succeed in being the best of both worlds, or has Crytek traded their PC cred for the console market?
Continue reading Review: Crysis 2

Crytek: Consoles Hold Back PC Gaming

Crytek Crysis

Fire in the hole!

For a company that hasn’t exactly made the best-shooter-ever-in-history, it seems that Crytek sure has a lot to say about the game industry these days. Earlier this year, they were waxing philosophical about Uncharted 2 and a few others. Now, the CEO, Cervat Yerli, is taking a few shots at consoles in general, essentially saying that the console market is keeping PC gaming from being all that it can be.

Here’s Yerli’s stance on the matter:

As long as the current console generation exists and as long as we keep pushing the PC as well, the more difficult it will be to really get the benefit of both… PC is easily a generation ahead right now. With 360 and PS3, we believe the quality of the games beyond Crysis 2 and other CryEngine developments will be pretty much limited to what their creative expressions is, what the content is. You won’t be able to squeeze more juice from these rocks…

Until the PC market creates comparable revenues, companies are not going to spend enough on the PC SKU of a game.

Honestly, it seems strange to me to blame consoles for being wildly successful compared to PC endeavors. To me, that puts the onus back on PC developers to up the game in a major way. So what do you guys think? Agree/disagree? Is the console generation holding back PC gaming? And if it is, does it even matter until the PC market can show competitive sales?

Source – PCGamer

Crysis 2 Multiplayer Up on the Rooftop

Crysis had a pretty decent multplayer offering in its original inception, the gameplay laying somewhere between the open battlegrounds of the Battlefield series and the weapon purchasing mechanic of Counter-Strike. Add in the game-altering use of the nanosuits and you had an interesting versus mode that was open only to those with a hefty PC gaming rig. Now that Crysis 2 is hitting the X-Box 360 and the PS3 in addition to the PC, the game’s unique style of combat is going to be availible to a lot more people. Take a look at Crysis 2 in action:

The on-stage demo is featuring the 360 version, but I’ll admit that I thought the feed was running on the PC for a few moments. The game looks really good, and I’m excited to check it out when it drops in March 2011. What about you guys? Are you ready for Maximum Gameplay?

Crysis 2 Makers Call Out More Games

Uncharted 2 Vs Crysis 2Dang. I always knew that Crysis sported itself some pretty graphics. Gorgeous, even. But I didn’t realize the original Crysis was such a groundbreaking smash of a hit in terms of narrative. Or at least, that’s what its writers and creators seem to think.

Earlier this week, Crysis 2 writer Richard Morgan called out Modern Warfare 2 for its story and its narrative. Then, he proceeded to follow that up with a shot at Halo, calling its archetypal characters “bullshit”. While it’s one thing to nip at the heels of the big dogs, it seems that Crytek isn’t quite done taking shots at other games. A new interview with the company’s CEO, Cevat Yerli, has now added Uncharted 2 to the list of giants that Crysis 2 is trying to fell with its stones of wordy criticisms. Here’s what Yerli had to say about the game.

It’s really great, and that’s an alternative style, but I don’t think they do justice to the medium of game. I think Mass Effect 2 is doing a better job to the game market, although it’s a completely different style to us, rather than Uncharted 2 or Modern Warfare, for that matter.

Say what you will about whether or not Richard Morgan or Yerli is right about any of the stuff they’ve made bold claims about with Crysis 2… but these dudes are dropping some major gonads down on the table. I mean, seriously, this game’s story had better start blowing some mothers out of the water with its brilliance when this game comes out.

Personally, I think their comments about Modern Warfare 2 are totally justified, and the ones about Halo slightly less justified (but not wrong), but calling out Uncharted 2 as not doing videogames justice seems a little out in left field for me. And this is coming from a guy who loved Mass Effect 2 just as much.

What do you guys think? Are these guys biting off more than they can chew? Have they been right about their comments?

Source- VG247

Crysis 2’s Writer Slams Modern Warfare 2

crysis 2First Battlefield Bad Company 2 takes a swing at Modern Warfare 2, and the newly-announced Crysis 2 is attempting to kick them while they’re down. EA Games recently revealed a trailer for the up-coming military sci-fi First-Person-Shooter, and now they’re trotting out the various people who are working on the game to let you all know how awesome their game is.

One such person is Richard Morgan, who you may or may now know of as the 2003 winner of the Philip K. Dick award for his novel Altered Carbon. Turns out he’s also a huge video game nut and he’s stoked to be penning the story for Crysis 2. As a video game junkie, he’s probably played a few of last year’s mega-titles, and in a recent interview with CVG, he’s let the world know that he doesn’t have a very high opinion of Modern Warfare 2:

“I thought Modern Warfare 2 was an immense disappointment,” he said.

“It was a massive stepdown from CoD4. What I thought when I played it was, ‘Jesus guys, what have you been doing? You’ve not ramped anything up. The story is worse and the game doesn’t really hang together, it’s just a bunch of mission levels.

He goes on to say that the whole campaign was basically “bad storytelling”, and that Infinity Ward were “too impressed with themselves”; he also states that Modern Warfare 2 was “the same but…way worse. And it cost more money”. While taking pot-shots at the competition is nothing new in the video game industry, he did have a few good things to say about Uncharted 2, praising how developers Naughty Dog created an excellent storytelling vehicle.

You talk a big talk, Mr. Morgan, but let’s not forget that the first Crysis had a story that didn’t amount to much either. You’ve got some big shoes to fill, but you definitely seem to be qualified for the job.

What do you guys think about these comment? Any of you PC guys worried about Cyrsis 2 making the jump to consoles? What’s your opinion on the trailer? Finally, is anyone going to get this game?

Source: CVG