Interesting Game Review...
Not that this has a WHOLE lot to do with our business, but I thought I'd point out an unusually provocative review that happened over at Official XBox Magazine. Their review of Dead Space, by author Meghan Watt, came out with a surprising 6.5 out of 10 for the AAA-title game back in October. The number was surprising because it was such a mega-hyped game before release, and so many other reviewers REALLY liked it (the aggregate score at metacritic is in the mid-80's).
I stumbled across the review because I'd finally gotten around to loading it up on my Fury tonight, only to come to the astonished realization that it was, for me, a steaming pile of crap of a game, especially compared to what I'd been playing recently (Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty 4). The very first thing I noted (and this is irrelevant to the review) was that it was unmistakably a console-to-PC port. So was Mass Effect, but you weren't constantly reminded of the fact by sluggish mouse performance, an inability to map the arrow keys, and a distracting option navigation system. When it really got bad, though, was all of five minutes into the game when it became obvious that the characters were flat, the writing was stilted and unbelievable, and the story made no sense (example: there are scattered wall-cupboards throughout the game which open automatically to dispense money. Sign me up for that navy.) It really felt like an even MORE annoying version of Doom 3. (Calm down, I liked Doom 3 for about halfway through.)
Anyway, the point is, I stopped the game after an hour to see why I'd heard such good things about it, and found Meghan's review. The interesting thing isn't that she was one of VERY few reviewers who didn't like it, but rather the eight pages of vitriolic responses! They were mostly posted by dozens of readers who apparently all want their game reviews homogenized and uniform. Many of the responses are longer than the article itself, and some had to be removed by the staff. These people got MAD, many of them before they'd even played the game themselves, mostly because they felt that if OXM took a position that was out of step with other reviews, they were not to be trusted! It was like they felt betrayed. They're still posting too, having called for Meghan's dismissal as recently as two days ago.
I guess the Emperor is playing Dead Space in his New Clothes...
You can see the article and the responses here.
PS - Meghan, you're my hero. You saved me from several more hours of frustration...
I stumbled across the review because I'd finally gotten around to loading it up on my Fury tonight, only to come to the astonished realization that it was, for me, a steaming pile of crap of a game, especially compared to what I'd been playing recently (Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty 4). The very first thing I noted (and this is irrelevant to the review) was that it was unmistakably a console-to-PC port. So was Mass Effect, but you weren't constantly reminded of the fact by sluggish mouse performance, an inability to map the arrow keys, and a distracting option navigation system. When it really got bad, though, was all of five minutes into the game when it became obvious that the characters were flat, the writing was stilted and unbelievable, and the story made no sense (example: there are scattered wall-cupboards throughout the game which open automatically to dispense money. Sign me up for that navy.) It really felt like an even MORE annoying version of Doom 3. (Calm down, I liked Doom 3 for about halfway through.)
Anyway, the point is, I stopped the game after an hour to see why I'd heard such good things about it, and found Meghan's review. The interesting thing isn't that she was one of VERY few reviewers who didn't like it, but rather the eight pages of vitriolic responses! They were mostly posted by dozens of readers who apparently all want their game reviews homogenized and uniform. Many of the responses are longer than the article itself, and some had to be removed by the staff. These people got MAD, many of them before they'd even played the game themselves, mostly because they felt that if OXM took a position that was out of step with other reviews, they were not to be trusted! It was like they felt betrayed. They're still posting too, having called for Meghan's dismissal as recently as two days ago.
I guess the Emperor is playing Dead Space in his New Clothes...
You can see the article and the responses here.
PS - Meghan, you're my hero. You saved me from several more hours of frustration...
posted by Thomas Glen at
3:45 AM
2 Comments:
Wow this is bad news -- This is supposed to be the next game on my list, as I've read great things about it from several reviewers that I absolutely respect. I'm bummed, and if you're telling me the port is crap, I'm mad.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
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