January 08 EGM Rumor Mill + Review Scores - Street Fighter IV issue

[FriskyTanuki]

Rest of the issue
Previews on R-Type Tactics, Lego Batman, Burnout Paradise, DMC4, Street Fighter 4, and afterthoughts for Halo 3, Mass Effect, Orange Box, and Uncharted.

Rumor Mill
-Bizarre Creations is working on the new Bond game for Activision, which will get a big focus on driving, as a result.

-EA used to be working on a now-canned Guitar Hero-inspired action game.

-A new Front Mission game will be coming to the 360 exclusively, but another unannounced Square Enix sequel will be coming to the PS3 exclusively, as well.

-Nintendo apparently doesn't like its own developers one-upping them, as they've cancelled a first-party game because the developers were trying to allow gamers to customize their Miis even further.

Q-Tips
-EA will be making every other year's Need for Speed arcadey, with the years in-between being realistic.

-THQ will be making an action game with the Warhammer license.

-While a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game is coming to the Wii's WiiWare service, the retail game appears to be in trouble.

Reviews
:wii:Nights: Journey of Dreams - 7, 7.5, 7
:wii:RE: Umbrella Chronicles - 7.5, 7.5, 6
:wii:Soul Calibur Legends - 6, 7, 4.5
:wii:Super Mario Galaxy - 9.5, 10, 10 - Game of the Month
:wii:Trauma Center: New Blood - 5, 4, 6
:ps3::360:Assassin's Creed - 7, 6, 4.5
:360:(also on :ps3:)NCAA College Hoops 2K8 - 7.5, 7, 7
:ps3::360:NCAA March Madness 08 - 6, 7.5, 6.5
:ps3::360:Rock Band - 9, 9.5, 9
:ps3::360:MX vs. ATV Unleashed - 6, 7, 5
:ps3:Time Crisis 4 - 3.5, 4, 3.5 - Shame of the Month
:ds:Mario Party DS - 6.5, 6.5, 6.5
:psp:SOCOM Tactical Strike - 6, 6.5, 6.5

Reviews Wrap-up
:ps3:UT3 - An impressive shooter, but don't expect to remember the storyline.
:wii:Link's Crossbow Training - It won't last forever, but CT provides a surprisingly satisfying, and cheap, slice of Zelda.
:ps3:Orange Box - Despite Episode Two's case of the jitters, such a vast quantity of quality gaming is a no-brainer buy.
:ds:Geometry Wars Galaxy - Simple, effective, and beautiful. One of the best shooters on DS.

If you have any questions about the issue, reviews, or whatever else, feel free to ask.

[RAMSTORIA]

poor trauma center

[TehMuff1nM4n]

:ps3::360:Assassin's Creed - 7, 6, 4.5

WOW

[linkpwns]

Who the hell gave Assassin's creed a 4.5...

But that is actually fine. At 1up, they try to (or atleast GFW), exercise 5s as average, so that is actually average

[FriskyTanuki]

Who the hell gave Assassin's creed a 4.5...

But that is actually fine. At 1up, they try to (or atleast GFW), exercise 5s as average, so that is actually average
Crispin gave it the 4.5.

[refusedchaos]

:ps3:Time Crisis 4 - 3.5, 4, 3.5


wow, these people must suck and have been dying over and over cause im having a blast with it

[zewone]

Damn, they shit all over AC and TC4 (but this was a given).


<3 me some Front Mission.

[GF_Eric]

Front Mission on Xbox 360 :) :) :)

[62t]

It makes no sense to make Front Mission for x360 exclusively, as they series didnt do that well in the US and the Xbox 360 is doing poorly in Japan

[PyroGamer]

Who the hell gave Assassin's creed a 4.5...

But that is actually fine. At 1up, they try to (or atleast GFW), exercise 5s as average, so that is actually average
It doesn't really matter. The official score is 7. Personally I like it when the other two subsidizing reviews are more bold with their scores.

[PyroGamer]

Woot! Finally some support from square! I will be loving myself some Front Mission.

[The Crotch]

Fucking right. Gotta love getting reviews on big-name games out a month fucking late!

[rocksolidaudio]

Fucking right. Gotta love getting reviews on big-name games out a month fucking late!

didn't get reviewable code in time. it's just how it works.

[mykevermin]

Who the hell gave Assassin's creed a 4.5...

But that is actually fine. At 1up, they try to (or atleast GFW), exercise 5s as average, so that is actually average

I don't think anybody uses 5 as the average, and I'm sure the text of the reviews in the OP will lend a great deal of credence to that. In particular, the 4.5 on Assassin's Creed and most of the Trauma Center reviews will scream "stay the fuck away from this game," when it is, numerically, right damn near the center.

[help1]

Well, I ordered Assassins creed off YF360G, I better not be dissappointed!

[FriskyTanuki]

I don't think anybody uses 5 as the average, and I'm sure the text of the reviews in the OP will lend a great deal of credence to that. In particular, the 4.5 on Assassin's Creed and most of the Trauma Center reviews will scream "stay the fuck away from this game," when it is, numerically, right damn near the center.
The 4.5 for AC basically says that the acrobatics, sword fighting, and asthetics are great, but everything else sucks.

Trauma Center got its bad scores for unforgivingly frustrating difficulty and unbalanced mission structure.

[Chacrana]

I'm not particularly convinced that Trauma Center is anywhere near as weak as EGM thinks it is... but whatever, I was picking it up regardless of EGM's review scores so I suppose it doesn't matter to me all that much.

[InuFaye]

I hate reviews, people think they are the last word.

[The Crotch]

didn't get reviewable code in time. it's just how it works.I know. It just shows how irrelevant magazines are when it comes to reviews. By the time they got this Mario Galaxy review out, 90% (not a real statistic) of the people who actually pay attention to those things have already made up their mind.

[ZForce]

Nice to see Nights got a decent score at least

[phear3d]

Rumor Mill

-Nintendo apparently doesn't like its own developers one-upping them, as they've cancelled a first-party game because the developers were trying to allow gamers to customize their Miis even further.

i was just reading this.. why not allow developers to customize the mii's or even let any developers use their own mii's instead of creating something entirely different. i asked this question on the cagbag too. games like carnival games and ea playground could have used the mii's. nintendo is being over protective with their ip but yet what they should really focus on is not to sell systems but to create games for the system along with 3rd party support.

[msdmoney]

Fucking right. Gotta love getting reviews on big-name games out a month fucking late!

You should be complaining about the opposite considering recent events in games journalism. I would rather have the month late review based on final review code, and an honest full playthrough of the game, rather than the "exclusive" first reviews websites use just to get hits on the site.

[Inferno-X]

Great news for the 360 and Front Mission fans. It's one of my favorite series of all time so I'm bouncing off the walls. :D I will pre-order that baby as soon as I find it listed somewhere.

Whats up with Nintendo being such asshats over the Miis? This isn't the first time we have heard this. It's a fucking avatar. They need to get over themselves and expand on them a little. It's a good thing.

[Rei no Otaku]

Front Mission!? Fuck yes!

[TimPV3]

create games for the system along with 3rd party support.Nintendo could just start sending empty game cases to stores and they'd still sell like crazy.

[The Crotch]

You should be complaining about the opposite considering recent events in games journalism. I would rather have the month late review based on final review code, and an honest full playthrough of the game, rather than the "exclusive" first reviews websites use just to get hits on the site.I never said online reviews were good - just relevant.

[RelentlessRolento]

nice about front mission! I hope it happens! It's the only long winded story game series I actually don't mind sitting down to play with to the end.

[lokizz]

Great news for the 360 and Front Mission fans. It's one of my favorite series of all time so I'm bouncing off the walls. :D I will pre-order that baby as soon as I find it listed somewhere.

Whats up with Nintendo being such asshats over the Miis? This isn't the first time we have heard this. It's a fucking avatar. They need to get over themselves and expand on them a little. It's a good thing.


thats the one thing about the wii i think that gives them a real chance to bring some originality to their console. they could easily create other online games like wrestling , basketball ect or action games where players can customize their miis and use them in the games or against other players in games.

especially in a wrestling game only the games need to have more depth overall and add in the ability to earn items by winning and youve got somethign that could easily bring more people into wii gaming as well as give nintendo somethign to use to keep gamers using their wii's during game droughts. and it seems like it would cost or take much to keep adding new elements to keep things fresh.

[jkanownik]

Well, I ordered Assassins creed off YF360G, I better not be dissappointed!

It averages a 8.6 on gamestats. Personally I'd rank it above the following action/action RPG/shooter 360 games that are above it on gamestats: The Orange Box, Gears of War, Oblivion, Mass Effect, GRAW, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell Double Agent, GRAW 2 and F.E.A.R. That would mean it beats everything but Bioshock and Halo 3 (and possibly CoD4, but I haven't played that yet).

IMO they should never have published those review scores. They should have turned this game into a feature on what makes a good game and why people are so divided on this particular game. They need to explain how they could give a 4.5 to a game that has gotten perfect scores in many other places. I've seen the same criticisms placed against AC appear against other games that received universal praise, so what makes this game so special? Is it unrealistic expectations? Varying approaches to the game? The genre? The complexity of the story?

[FriskyTanuki]

IMO they should never have published those review scores. They should have turned this game into a feature on what makes a good game and why people are so divided on this particular game. They need to explain how they could give a 4.5 to a game that has gotten perfect scores in many other places. I've seen the same criticisms placed against AC appear against other games that received universal praise, so what makes this game so special? Is it unrealistic expectations? Varying approaches to the game? The genre? The complexity of the story?
:-s Who gave Assassin's Creed a perfect score?

Edit: Only Gamepro and G4, who now equal many other places?

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/930278.asp

[jkanownik]

:-s Who gave Assassin's Creed a perfect score?

Edit: Only Gamepro and G4, who now equal many other places?

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/930278.asp

So did one of the Famitsu scorers and Games Radar. I guess I could change the wording to a few big name reviewers gave a perfect score and there were many other scores that were above 90%.

[FriskyTanuki]

So did one of the Famitsu scorers and Games Radar. I guess I could change the wording to a few big name reviewers gave a perfect score and there were many other scores that were above 90%.
Either way, you're arguing that someone's not allowed to state their opinion because you don't like it. It's as much a valid score as a 9 or 10 with the scores for the game being pretty varied overall. Plus, four places, alledgedly, don't make for "many places."

[Thomas96]

:ps3::360:Assassin's Creed - 7, 6, 4.5

WOW


I was shocked too. I have to remember to buy games that I like, and forget about review scores. If I would have waited for the reviews, I probably would have missed out on a great game.

[q 3]

It makes no sense to make Front Mission for x360 exclusively, as they series didnt do that well in the US and the Xbox 360 is doing poorly in Japan

This. If it actually happens, it'll probably be more like Armored Core than a traditional Front Mission. But hey, it's Squeenix, so who knows what they're thinking.

[darthbudge]

Front Mission on 360 FTW!

[Inferno-X]

This. If it actually happens, it'll probably be more like Armored Core than a traditional Front Mission. But hey, it's Squeenix, so who knows what they're thinking.

Oh god, please no. Don't ruin my Front Mission high. :cry: I like some of the older Armored Core games, don't get me wrong, but FM is a whole different beast. Maybe it'll be one of those sorts of games that move a few Xboxes in Japan?

[tangytangerine]

i was just reading this.. why not allow developers to customize the mii's or even let any developers use their own mii's instead of creating something entirely different. i asked this question on the cagbag too. games like carnival games and ea playground could have used the mii's. nintendo is being over protective with their ip but yet what they should really focus on is not to sell systems but to create games for the system along with 3rd party support.
Maybe's that why rumor section of EGM or GI(can't remember which one it was) last issue mentioned that many japanese developers are getting tired of developing games for the Wii and moving development to the 360 & PS3.

If so, it's going to be the Gamecube & N64 all over again, where Nintendo alienated 3rd part support.

[jkanownik]

Either way, you're arguing that someone's not allowed to state their opinion because you don't like it. It's as much a valid score as a 9 or 10 with the scores for the game being pretty varied overall. Plus, four places, alledgedly, don't make for "many places."

I'm not saying that at all. I'm questioning why this doesn't happen more often. You can't look up all three review scores online for all games, so it is hard to prove. But usually a game receives scores that are pretty similar across the board. The EGM scores probably average a 1 point spread and only reach 2 points when one of the reviewers does not particularly like the genre of the game. Even then the spread is usually around the average review score of the game. Either the game is special for some reason, or it is being treated differently. Note that the 4.5 score based on EGM's own scale is a "bad game".

[dmaul1114]

I know. It just shows how irrelevant magazines are when it comes to reviews. By the time they got this Mario Galaxy review out, 90% (not a real statistic) of the people who actually pay attention to those things have already made up their mind.


Yeah, late reviews are useless for big games. But really, reviews don't matter much for them anyway as so many are sold on day one, preordered etc. as these are usually games with lots of hype (especially sequels) and/or have a built in fanbase that will buy it anyway.

For smaller games, stuff I wouldn't buy until it's $20 or under etc. the mag reviews are still useful, since I have no plans of buying them near launch anyway. Thus if such a game I was on the fence about gets good reviews it goes on my mental "pick up some day" list and if it gets bashed it's forgotten.