Who broke embargo? Bear in mind a number of sites will have entered into separate NDAs which permitted them to post regionally exclusive coverage etc. That's basically the point of setting an embargo for everyone else.
Lewis here. Just spotted this. Worth pointing out: this is my personal blog and in no way affiliated with any of the publications I write for. GGG's editor spoke with me about the situation and I blogged about it, as I found it an interesting situation and wanted to know whether people thought MS were appropriate in their somewhat heavy-handed approach. The post wasn't intended to be accusative of anyone. Just wanted to clear that up before it spirals and I have a load of people on my case...
Does it not strike anyone as weird that people are "disagreeing" with a review of a game they've only played the demo of?
Remember tha 82% is still an excellent mark. From the Resolution 'About our reviews' page:
"80-90%:
Excellent, highly commendable releases that fall just shy of true greatness. There's not an awful lot to criticise here, and most players will have a brilliant time with these games. They're towards the head of the pack, and if you're looking to purchase something in a particular genre, you could do far, far worse than to opt for one with an 80%+ score."
Apologies to anyone who thought I was plugging - I specifically didn't link to that review because of that.
Anyway, saying this wasn't a great piece was a little hasty - I apologise for that. I think it misses what I saw as the point somewhat, is what I was trying to say, albeit awfully. Fair comments about my piece. My personal impression is that it's the sort of game that needs to be examined on slightly different criteria to most games. Notably, though, I didn't find it to ...
Fascinating!
It's going to be very interesting to see how diverse opinion about this game is. This is, to my knowledge, the fourth review to appear. The others have ranged between confused and rather positive, but I can imagine more of these cropping up very soon.
This isn't a great piece. It fails to even attempt to engage with what ToT were trying to do, and strikes me as an example of "reviewing a game based on what you wanted it to be, not what it is.&quo...
I enjoy this article.
The correct way to respond to silliness is with more silliness. But *clever* silliness...
Yeah, the GTA4 thins is slightly awkward. Its story is very good, and certainly the best in the series by a long way. But I can think of a handful of titles off the top of my head that are more interesting, enthralling and well-told. Planescape's the obvious one, though as a game it's very dated now. How about Pathologic, the bizarre Russian action-adventure-RPG-thing from a few years back, with its philosophical musings and inspired setting? Or the nuanced sub-plots of Vampire: Bloodlin...
Having suffered this myself, I'd be surprised if ANYONE manages to see this to its conclusion. It's so broken and horrible that even a full revival in the last few moments wouldn't save it.
Also, remember that only a tiny portion of players actually finish the games that they buy, meaning the movie comparison isn't a particularly good one, since the vast majority of people sit through a full film.
"I never heard of edge! Are they relevant?"
Edge is the leading industry and culture magazine within gaming.
Adropacrich2:
Accurate and elegant. I'm not sure it's necessarily an issue of age, though perhaps as the mind matures there are a few issues that crop up, and one starts to view things in different ways.
Largely, the people who go into arts criticism are those who are A) passionate enough about their subject to want to view it at something beyond a superficial level, and B) perceptive and eloquent enough to be able to analyse a work to a deeper level and voice their...
Biggest mass stupidity since the release of Metal Gear Solid 4?
Bias. Bias against/towards what? It's the new buzzword, isn't it? "People are criticising a game I have on pre-order! THAT'S DEVALUING MY DECISION TO BUY IT! THAT MEANS YOU'RE BIASED!" Do people genuinely think that professional games critics are going to get drawn into the 'console wars'? Games critics get paid to voice their opinions about a game. They're also not teenagers who can only afford to ...
Is anyone else seriously confused as to how ANYONE has found it possible to disagree with ANY reviews of this, since NOBODY other than specially selected members of the press has played it?
Scores are pretty redundant, really, though. I appreciate it's a Swedish review so, unless you speak-a-da-lingo, it's hard to have any serious discussion about the text, which is - obviously - more important than an arbitrary number tagged on the end.
I think it's too far removed from Half-Life 2 and the direction the series is taking to be of any use, to be honest. When I spoke to Carlos for this article, he was quite clear in stating that Valve would not be involved in any way. I believe there was talk of some support a while back, but nothing ever came of it, and they haven't been in touch since.
Valve's all about its community support. I doubt it'd go down well if they stole this.
Still not understanding the GTA4 hating. Maybe Rockstar has set the bar so absurdly high for itself that anything other than the second coming of Christ packaged neatly within their new release is going to be a disappointment to some.
It's about as close to the perfectly crafted videogame as anyone's yet come.
Anyway, anyone else find it odd that Planet X-Box list Sonic Unleashed on the 'worst games of the year' list, when they actually gave it 7-point-something out...
Images removed from the website, as they were seemingly nicked from another source. Oops!
Spent the last few days playing through this for Honest Gamers. Was a big disappointment for me. The opening is excruciatingly bad and, while it picks up a little bit, the bugs, nasty design choices, awful dialogue and derivative world hold it back throughout.
I'll link to the review when it's live - or someone else might post it, I don't know.
It's funny, when I read Gary's review I kicked up a similar reaction to people here... but I still don't think it's a great game. Style-over-substance and cheap tricks abound... though I do still secretdly disagree with the score at the end.
But that's what Honest Gamers is about, and in response to your question, that's why we still review older games retrospectively as well as providing coverage of new titles. We attempt to form a full database of available releases, review t...
It's the size of the room needed that troubles me. My consoles are in my miniature bedroom. I'd rather have a controller so I don't break everything trying to jump around.