GamerSushi Asks: Better Originals?

infamous

Seeing as we’re stuck in kind of a gaming drought and I don’t have regular access to my PC to play me some sweet, sweet StarCraft 2, I’ve been replaying the original inFamous after I got it for free during the PlayStation Network’s Welcome Back program. Coming fresh off of the sequel, it’s given me appreciation for just how different inFamous was when it came out and reminded me about some of the things that the first game did that were awesome that Sucker Punch removed for the second game.

While I am glad that Sucker Punch changed the horrible side-mission structure, some of the powers and the main quest designs in the first game were pretty awesome. The ability to absorb energy while grinding and using your basic lightning bolt to redirect your rockets akin to a laser-guided missile have me really enjoying the game, even on hard difficulty.

While I still maintain that inFamous 2 is truly deserving of the grade that I gave it, the original still holds up even two years later (at least in the sense of gameplay, the graphics are still pretty rough). This got me thinking about the original games in franchises that have a better reputation than their sequels. Games like Knights of the Old Republic and Deus Ex are obvious, but I’d count Halo (which is better than three of its four successors) and Dead Rising among those. Dead Rising 2 was good, but the original sucked me in in a way that the sequel never did.

What about you guys? Any games that you like more than their sequels? If your thoughts go against popular opinions, I definitely want to hear about it.

Dead Rising 2 TGS: Let’s Shotgun Party!

One game that was disappointingly absent from E3 was Dead Rising 2, Capcom’s sequel to the surprise zombie killing hit of 2006. I loved the first game to death, and I collected almost every achievement obsessively for a while. The 5 and 7 day survivor achievements will forever sit atop my stack of shame.

Anyways, you didn’t come there to read me moaning about a couple of achievements, you came here to see Dead Rising 2’s weapons combination mechanics in action! If you ever thought that a shotgun desperately needed a bayonet that looked more like a pitchfork, you’re in luck. Check out this video of the protagonist giving it to zombies all redneck style.

The game-play looks a little rough (I’d hazard a guess at Alpha), but it looks like it’s progressing nicely. The trailer out of TGS reveals that the main character is not a motocross star as previously thought, but a zombie gladiator! I’m salivating like a mad dog for this game, but I want to know what you guys think! Who else wants to rip it up cage match with style with the undead?

What are You Playing This Weekend?

deadrisingSince we’re just in the middle of a new gaming season with several major releases coming in the last couple of weeks, there seems to be plenty on the plate at the moment. Some people are playing these brand new titles, while others are still stuck on the ones that they got around the holidays.

Right now, I’m still playing a lot of Civilization Revolution, as well as some Valkyria Chronicles, Left 4 Dead, Gears of War 2 Horde Mode, and hopefully this weekend, a used copy of Dead Rising I picked up recently. I never really got to finish the game, so I’m excited about getting to really jump into it.

So, what are you guys playing lately? What are you playing this weekend? Go!

Saves and Stuff

Back in the days of gaming glory, the 8 and 16-bit eras, we gamers didn’t have a whole lot of options when it came to saving games. Games were systematic and based on rote memorization, muscle memory, trial-and-error and the like.

Nowadays, the game saves for you every 10 seconds and even recharges your health and shines your shoes while you wait. Well, not really, but kind of.

That’s why Gamasutra recently posted an article about Save Systems, raising some interesting questions about how they affect gameplay.

Continue reading Saves and Stuff