EGM June '08 Reviews & Rumors

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tangytangerine

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Rumors:

- A Halo prequel is being developed for the 360 with a Holiday '09 release date. Unclear if this is the Peter Jackson Halo project.

- Bioshock will be coming to the PS3 this september with all the dlc & slightly enhanced visuals. First glimpse of Bioshock 2 will be showing up around that time, which is not exclusive at the moment.

- Rockstar is working on Red Dead Revolver 2, Max Payne 3 & a MMO GTA game. L.A. Noire is not the PS3 exclusive game Sony is hinting at, as it will be hitting the 360 too.

- Although Persona 4 is coming to the PS2, there are new games in the series in the works for PSP & PS3.

- Rock Band 2 is coming this fall with no new instruments, only new modes.

- Castlevania will be getting 3 new games. One for the DS, one for the Wii and one that will take another stab at 3D on the 360 & PS3.

- The Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundle being released in June really will be a limited edition. Rumors are that if you don't pre-order, chances are you won't get one.



Reviews:

Multiplatform:

Grand Theft Auto 4- A+, A+, A GOTM
UEFA Euro 2008- B+, B+, A
Viking: Battle for Asgard- D+, C-, C+
NBA Ballers: Chosen One- D+, D, C

Wii:

Mario Kart Wii- B+, C+, C
Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy- A, A-, B-
Castle of Shikigami 3- C+, C+, B-

Playstation 2:

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Fes- A, A, A

DS:

Myst- C-, D, D
Super Dodgeball Brawlers- C+, C, C+

Strangely there is no Shame of the Month this month.

Next month's issue will include a Gears of War 2 cover story & reviews for MGS4 & Ninja Gaiden 2.
 
[quote name='tangytangerine']Rumors:
- Castlevania will be getting 3 new games. One for the DS, one for the Wii and one for the 360 & PS3.[/QUOTE]

pleasepleaseplease.
 
Please indeed. Would love another Metroidvania on the DS.

The 360/PS3 and Wii games will probably be 3D games, and all the 3D castlevania's have been sucky to mediocre thus far so I don't have high hopes for that.
 
Guess I'll need to preorder a mgs bundle at bestbuy (I have a giftcard). Any clue when they'll take preorders?
 
Although Persona 4 is coming to the PS2, there are new games in the series in the works for PSP & PS3.
Click to expand...
while I have heard that there was a PS3 game in the work, this is the first I have heard of a PSP game.

Also I really want that MGS4 PS3 Bundle. I doubt I'll get my hands on it though. But I'll keep an ear out for it and hopefully get lucky...
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Please indeed. Would love another Metroidvania on the DS.

The 360/PS3 and Wii games will probably be 3D games, and all the 3D castlevania's have been sucky to mediocre thus far so I don't have high hopes for that.[/quote]

I don't know why they list the DS game as a rumor. It was confirmed over 6 months ago, though not officially announced. You can even see some supposedly leaked pics of it at IGN, which look great.

As for the Wii game, the EGM rumor specifically mentions the Xbox/PS3 versions as being 3D games, but groups the Wii version by itself. If it's a 2D game, that would be fantastic.
 
[quote name='Ryukahn']
As for the Wii game, the EGM rumor specifically mentions the Xbox/PS3 versions as being 3D games, but groups the Wii version by itself. If it's a 2D game, that would be fantastic.[/QUOTE]

Unless it's a Wiiware game, I'd be shocked if it wasn't a 3D game with wiimote wagging tacked on for whip swinging.
 
Anyone have any stats or recollections of how often their rumors section is actually right? Pretty sure they have been saying a sequel to Skies of Arcadia is coming for like, 3 years now.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Anyone have any stats or recollections of how often their rumors section is actually right? Pretty sure they have been saying a sequel to Skies of Arcadia is coming for like, 3 years now.[/quote]

Q man is usually pretty reliable with his rumors.
 
Hmm... I'm curious to read the reviews for Mario Kart Wii. Those scores are lower than I expected, so I want to see the 'why'.

While I wouldn't call it an A+, I'd certainly say it's in the A- to B range. I mean, hell, Nintendo even got online right this time. :lol:;)
 
I gotta keep an eye out for that MGS4 PS3 for my brother... he's been pestering me about it nonstop.

Good to hear about another DS Castlevania... but I'm not as excited for the Wii and PS3/360 versions.
 
If not for a little game named GTA IV it looks like Persona: FES would be GoTM. I'm surprised by Mario Kart Wii as well.
 
- Bioshock will be coming to the PS3 this september with all the dlc & slightly enhanced visuals. First glimpse of Bioshock 2 will be showing up around that time, which is not exclusive at the moment.
Click to expand...

Chalk me up as the first official "hater" on this. First off, "all" the DLC? They mean a new plasmid that's nothing more than a stripped down version of an already-existing one and an extra 100 point Achievement? Oh, how ever will they fit it on the disk? Also, BioShock 2 isn't even being developed by Irrational, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be the "Call of Duty 3" of the franchise. Wake me up when 2K Boston or whatever the hell they're called now announces their next project.
 
[quote name='keithp']If not for a little game named GTA IV it looks like Persona: FES would be GoTM. I'm surprised by Mario Kart Wii as well.[/quote]

Persona: FES is just a new edition of Persona 3, right? If so, then no... it wouldn't be.

Unless I'm getting magazines confused, a new edition or port can't be GOTM... like Okami for Wii, even though it had scores that were worlds above everything else.

Though, that might be Game Informer, not EGM. In that event, just pretend I didn't say anything. ;)
 
[quote name='007']Persona: FES is just a new edition of Persona 3, right? If so, then no... it wouldn't be.

Unless I'm getting magazines confused, a new edition or port can't be GOTM... like Okami for Wii, even though it had scores that were worlds above everything else.

Though, that might be Game Informer, not EGM. In that event, just pretend I didn't say anything. ;)[/QUOTE]

Ah, I wasn't informed of the rules! #-o
 
I really hope we get a 2.5d Castlevania game for the Wii.

Also, what's up with 2 people giving Mario Kart Wii Cs? A B+ is reasonable, but a C and C+?

[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Anyone have any stats or recollections of how often their rumors section is actually right? Pretty sure they have been saying a sequel to Skies of Arcadia is coming for like, 3 years now.[/quote]
Someone did a years worth of rumors once and found out that EGM rumors are pretty much just as likely to be true as they are to be false.
 
[quote name='007']Hmm... I'm curious to read the reviews for Mario Kart Wii. Those scores are lower than I expected, so I want to see the 'why'.

While I wouldn't call it an A+, I'd certainly say it's in the A- to B range. I mean, hell, Nintendo even got online right this time. :lol:;)[/QUOTE]

Keep in mind that EGM has a policy of docking sequels a full point (on the old scale, don't know how it works with the new letter system) for being to much of a rehash and not bringing enough to the table. So that could be influencing the score and not mentioned in the text (haven't had a chance to read it yet).
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Keep in mind that EGM has a policy of docking sequels a full point (on the old scale, don't know how it works with the new letter system) for being to much of a rehash and not bringing enough to the table. So that could be influencing the score and not mentioned in the text (haven't had a chance to read it yet).[/QUOTE]

I'd love to believe that, but based on GTA IV's "A+, A+, A," clearly no such policy exists.
 
[quote name='trq']I'd love to believe that, but based on GTA IV's "A+, A+, A," clearly no such policy exists.[/QUOTE]

To be fair, GTAIV looks to have added quite a lot of new features compared to Mario Kart Wii though. And that's coming from some one who hated GTA3 and hasn't played a GTA since. But at the same time, I'm sick to death of the MK series and don't see myself every buying another installment....so I guess if anything I'm biased against both franchises!
 
there has been 2 other sequel on console and 2 on psp after gta3, while after mario kart gamecube there is only 1 DS game.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']To be fair, GTAIV looks to have added quite a lot of new features compared to Mario Kart Wii though. And that's coming from some one who hated GTA3 and hasn't played a GTA since. But at the same time, I'm sick to death of the MK series and don't see myself every buying another installment....so I guess if anything I'm biased against both franchises![/QUOTE]

I'm gonna disagree on the "lots of new features bit," but it doesn't really matter -- you could look at their take on fighting games. Tekken is consistently docked points for having only incremental improvements, while Virtua Fighter suffers from the same "problem" and is generally scored very well. EGM just works on a case by case (or if you're not feeling charitable, "inconsistent") basis.
 
[quote name='Kaijufan']

Also, what's up with 2 people giving Mario Kart Wii Cs? A B+ is reasonable, but a C and C+? [/quote]

I read it and mostly shared across all three that MKDD was great but the Wii version doesn't bring anything new, bikes are meh, and with most of the course coming from older games, alot of the "good" ones never made it to the Wii.

That's my summary of it... I skimmed so I could be off...
 
[quote name='trq']EGM just works on a case by case (or if you're not feeling charitable, "inconsistent") basis.[/QUOTE]

That's fair. It just hasn't bothered me as I tend to agree with their reviews more than any other source, so I guess any biases have mostly not been toward games I enjoy and towards franchises I'm sick of like MK.

Not that I pay to much attention to any reviews anyway, as in the end my opinion is all that matters when it comes to whether or not I enjoy a game.
 
I read the Mario Kart review earlier...some of the reasons given for the low scores were (mainly) the dumbing down of the gameplay, the removal of good features from previous games, the Wii mote controls, ecspecially the "trick system" boiling down to "flail your wii-mote for tricks and boosts", some new items being too game-breaking, no way to chat online, text or voice, annoying sounds, uncreative new courses for the most part, and a bad selection of retro courses.
 
[quote name='Jesus_S_Preston']I read the Mario Kart review earlier...some of the reasons given for the low scores were (mainly) the dumbing down of the gameplay, the removal of good features from previous games, the Wii mote controls, ecspecially the "trick system" boiling down to "flail your wii-mote for tricks and boosts", some new items being too game-breaking, no way to chat online, text or voice, annoying sounds, uncreative new courses for the most part, and a bad selection of retro courses.[/QUOTE]

I think you/they forgot to mention being in first, then losing the race because someone near last place picked up an uber-weapon. Mario Frustration!
 
i'm confused about the Metal Gear 4 PS3 Bundle. Last I heard there was going to be two; one with just MGS 4, Dualshock 3, and PS3 and a more limited edition one with MGS4, Dualshock 3, Silver Metal Gear PS3 and Metal Gear extras. So is it just the limited edition version of this package that will be hard to find or both?
 
[quote name='N0M0RES3QUELS']i'm confused about the Metal Gear 4 PS3 Bundle. Last I heard there was going to be two; one with just MGS 4, Dualshock 3, and PS3 and a more limited edition one with MGS4, Dualshock 3, Silver Metal Gear PS3 and Metal Gear extras. So is it just the limited edition version of this package that will be hard to find or both?[/quote]
This the exact same question I want to know. They're friggin retarded if they only offer the regular MGS4 bundle in limited quantities. A lot of people are waiting for this bundle to purchase a PS3.

The gunmetal 'LE' version was already stated as being very limited in the press release. So either EGM is just re-stating what is already known or they have some bad news for prospective PS3 owners.
 
[quote name='DesertEagleXIX']I think you/they forgot to mention being in first, then losing the race because someone near last place picked up an uber-weapon. Mario Frustration![/quote]

Yeah, they mentioned that. That's what I meant by "game-breaking" items.
 
To be fair, most of the MK games have had the blue shell, lightning or some other crappy item that lets the last place person screw the leaders and really do little for them as there usually too far back to win anyway.

Stuff like that's why I soured on the series. Just too much random luck involved. Great for a pick up and play party game if you have a lot of casual gamer friends to come over and play. But not good for solo play or online play IMO.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']The 360/PS3 and Wii games will probably be 3D games, and all the 3D castlevania's have been sucky to mediocre thus far so I don't have high hopes for that.[/quote]

I rechecked the rumors and noticed that I omitted that it says that the 360/PS3 one will be a 3D one. But it doesn't say anything about the Wii version(maybe do something like Viewtiful Joe?).
 
Got my issue, after reading the Mario Kart review I think they did a good job of explaining just why it got such scores. I was also pretty amused EGM wasted no time saying which version of GTA was better, something IGN skirted around in a 7 page review.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']To be fair, most of the MK games have had the blue shell, lightning or some other crappy item that lets the last place person screw the leaders and really do little for them as there usually too far back to win anyway.

Stuff like that's why I soured on the series. Just too much random luck involved. Great for a pick up and play party game if you have a lot of casual gamer friends to come over and play. But not good for solo play or online play IMO.[/quote]
The only power item I have a problem with is the blue shell. It doesn't help the person who fired it, it just screws the person in first. The blue shell should stay on the same level as the characters (not fly above them like in MK Wii), with it causing everyone it hits to spin out.
 
[quote name='Kaijufan']The only power item I have a problem with is the blue shell. It doesn't help the person who fired it, it just screws the person in first. The blue shell should stay on the same level as the characters (not fly above them like in MK Wii), with it causing everyone it hits to spin out.[/QUOTE]
That would make it way too overpowered, as though it was combined with the Bullet Bill.

I'm (apparently) one of the few who have no problem with the blue shell. Besides, it's dodgeable if you're lucky.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Any complaints about MK's battle mode? The teams-only, no-suicide stuff scares me.[/quote]

Elaborate? They don't have free for all any more? what?!
 
That's what I understand, but admittedly, my knowledge is limited. From what I can gather, it's team-only. Bots are included, and there's some confusion as to whether or not they can be turned off. Due to the large numbers of people involved in the battles, it is no longer possible to hit yourself - or even a teammate - with your own weapon (it will just disappear). Also, you can't eliminate a person from play - it's simply a matter of which team has the most kills.

Now, there's nothing wrong with any of the above. In fact, that sounds fun. But what the fuck do I do when I'm playing with my two brothers? Team games don't work with three people!
 
[quote name='The Crotch']That's what I understand, but admittedly, my knowledge is limited. From what I can gather, it's team-only. Bots are included, and there's some confusion as to whether or not they can be turned off. Due to the large numbers of people involved in the battles, it is no longer possible to hit yourself - or even a teammate - with your own weapon (it will just disappear). Also, you can't eliminate a person from play - it's simply a matter of which team has the most kills.

Now, there's nothing wrong with any of the above. In fact, that sounds fun. But what the fuck do I do when I'm playing with my two brothers? Team games don't work with three people![/QUOTE]

I tried to find something on this and as far as I can tell, it seems you're right.. battle mode is teams only. It's like the more I hear about this game, the less I want it.:whistle2:k
 
[quote name='The Crotch']That's what I understand, but admittedly, my knowledge is limited. From what I can gather, it's team-only. Bots are included, and there's some confusion as to whether or not they can be turned off. Due to the large numbers of people involved in the battles, it is no longer possible to hit yourself - or even a teammate - with your own weapon (it will just disappear). Also, you can't eliminate a person from play - it's simply a matter of which team has the most kills.

Now, there's nothing wrong with any of the above. In fact, that sounds fun. But what the fuck do I do when I'm playing with my two brothers? Team games don't work with three people![/quote]

Crap! Looks like I am going to be skipping this rendition. :cry: This is going to be the first MK game I am skipping, and with the trend in the series, it definitely won't be the last. Doesn't help that this game will still be $50 in one year, either.

I like the whole bots idea though, because sometimes 3 people isn't as fun, and bots could add to the mayhem, but forced teams is dumb. Also, what is this crap that you can't hurt yourself? Sometimes random green shells could hurt you, or your own banana peels. Bad ideas galore!
 
[quote name='blueshinra']That would make it way too overpowered, as though it was combined with the Bullet Bill.[/quote]
Not really. In Mario Kart Wii you can look behind you, plus the game gives you a visual (and audio if you're using the Wiimote) warning when an item is coming up behind you.
 
[quote name='help1']Crap! Looks like I am going to be skipping this rendition. :cry: This is going to be the first MK game I am skipping, and with the trend in the series, it definitely won't be the last. Doesn't help that this game will still be $50 in one year, either.[/quote]I don't plan on skipping it, but since I'm still in heart with Double Dash, I don't plan on getting MKWii for quite some time.

[quote name='help1'] I like the whole bots idea though, because sometimes 3 people isn't as fun, and bots could add to the mayhem, but forced teams is dumb.[/quote]I agree. I've heard it works well, and the new levels aren't really conducive to traditional battles, but I would have appreciated a "classic" mode.
[quote name='help1']Also, what is this crap that you can't hurt yourself? Sometimes random green shells could hurt you, or your own banana peels. Bad ideas galore![/quote]With the size and scale of the new battles, friendly fire would be absolutely crippling.

Or so I assume.
 
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