Edge #209

[footle]

Edge have been shitting out tens lately, that makes me sad for some reason, I mean, if games HAVE improved to a degree and it's not just reviewers getting caught up in hype then, well, they're going to have to up it to a point where ten means something again, which of course they can't, as the horse has bolted. Shame really. It's all "Which game got a ten this month??" you know?

Also, not enough Wii games are getting full marks.

[footle]

While I'm the first to admit DA's brilliance, I adore the game, if you take a step back and notice the script, writing and general story, it has to be one of the most blatant LotR rip-offs ever made, disguised as homage.

I think that people who think it is "one of the most blatant LotR rip-offs ever made" perhaps haven't read enough LotR rip-offs.

Would they say the same about each and every crime novel involving a murder and a detective who likes a drink*?

* Either Rebus, or Morse clones, presumably.

[Ash]

Actually the average Edge score ius actually a SEVEN when it should be a FIVE. That tells you all you need to know, they just have to rejig shit so that 5 is the average.

Why should it be a five? They don't review every game that's released each month and are clearly selecting the most interesting games - which are generally of an above average quality. Simples.

[Vemsie]

Shitting out tens lately? The last one was over a year ago. Consider that there are tons of games released, I think 'shitting out tens' is really pushing it. Also, what Ash said.

[Timmo]

Simples.

This makes this post, along with all posts from your past and future, null and void.

[Yewone]

Having thought about it a bit more whilst playing Dragon Age tonight, the only logical explanation I can come up with for the DA score is that maybe EA didnt pay them for the DA/Bioware double page foldout in issue #208 so they thought they would fuck em off by giving it a 5 instead.

But seriously I know its only one mags view etc but a 5 (and the content of the review in general) is just a whole world of wrong!

[barkbat]

Halo is my favourite game, but no way is Halo 3 a ten.

Doom, Goldeneye, and for me, Ninja Gaiden on xbox and Tie Fighter and Broken Sword, are all tens.

[Jansh]

'That' review, is blatantly written by a girl. Who was obviously surfing the sea of blood at the time, and hates fun.

Edge never really ever recovered from its time under Margarets saddle. Its sad but true, and I just hope that I can still not buy Edge, but read its reviews for free online.

[GODSTEETH]

What a read!

The graphics in the screenshots of Bayonetta look shit, it's also got a shit name and is made by Sega

Jesus.

I love all these but I've played the demo and blah blah blah comments. Good going, guys.

[Made of Ghosts]

People are entitled to express their opinions and all that but jesus christ these Edge threads are such dull reading.

I still like Edge. No really. I actually do. When I come into these threads I expect a bit of arguing about the scores, that's perfectly relevant, but at a certain point the discussion degenerates into how shit Edge is now, and ths happens every month and it is so fucking tedious that I just want to scream. Even if they're getting shitter at such a rate that every month they do something more shitty than ever before and their redoubled shititude is once again worth commenting, don't you guys get bored of it after a few hundred issues?

Edge threads: not as good as they used to be.

[Rudderless]

Also, not enough Wii games are getting full marks.

Heh. Man's got a point, though - Famitsu was criticised recently for awarding more 40/40s during this generation than it has for the previous three put together. Yet Edge has done exactly the same with its 10s.

[scottcr]

Since Halo, only SMG has been worthy.

[bingowings]

the absolute horror of a magazine reviewer giving a game a score then watching in astonishment as people implode with rage as if it were akin to some great tragedy, like being locked up for blowing up a pub when you were actually in another country or having a gang of west african militia raid your home and hacking off your hands.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

OoT was a nine, guys. It was far, far from perfect.

WRONG!!

[ras el hanout]

Why should it be a five? They don't review every game that's released each month and are clearly selecting the most interesting games - which are generally of an above average quality. Simples.

Why should games which they don't review have any bearing? If they don't review them they shouldn't be considered. An average edge score should be five and the scale 1-10 should only consider games edge reviews, and not games they don't.

I mean an average nice is a 7, soon it might be 8 or 9.

[footle]

the absolute horror of a magazine reviewer giving a game a score then watching in astonishment as people implode with rage as if it were akin to some great tragedy, like being locked up for blowing up a pub when you were actually in another country or having a gang of west african militia raid your home and hacking off your hands.

If someone had hacked off my hands, I'd have to be using speech recognition.

The wee has no good games.

[Taurus]

I don't think Bayonetta is worth a 10.

THERE. I SAID IT.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Oh, come on, man. The first half of the game is paced so incredibly shitty, it should not be forgiven. It got a lot better the more you played, with a final act that pretty much defines the word epic, but c'mon... you need to be able to judge the game as a whole.

I may be flawed in places in hindsight (for me this would mainly be the pre-rendered 3D interiors / marketplace for example), but at the time it was an absolute marvel. It was cinematic, it was epic, it was lush, it had day-night cycles, wonderful dungeons, challenging puzzles, complex weaving between present/future hyrule and all of this for the first time in a 3D world that completely worked on all levels. Walking out of the starting area onto the rolling fields and seeing the castle on the horizon and be able to actually go there was something amazing back then. It had so many stand out moments, the way the story unfolded with beautiful cutscenes, the music, oh my

At the time the Edge 10/10 was the accolade for 'revolutionary' games, and Ocarina of Time was a revolution if I ever saw one, games have been measured up to it for years afterwards.

[Orbital2060]

Really looking forward to Bayonetta now. Just a bit of a shame the PS3 version is so inferior, all of Kamiya-san's previous masterpieces have been great on the playstation. I might go for the PS3 version regardless.

[utero2001]

EDGE have done a great feature on both Ruffian and Realtime, a very good read.

[the_debaser]

How do Edge know which games are rubbish and aren't worth a review? Do they look at them and think, 'well that looks a bit shit' or do they playtest them and then not review them?

[Gabe]

The DAO score (and Edge's treatment of RPGs in general) almost mirrors one of the cheap X360 rags, where they have Tim Empney review *every* RPG they cover, and he hates them all. The reviews are usually pretty-devoid of actual content, and more a rambling at the genre. 2 stars is the usual score (out of 5).

But yeah, it doesn't really matter. I suppose the only people that should feel aggrieved when such things occur are developers who are paid bonuses tied-to metacritic scores - these reviews do actually hurt them financially.

As for Bayonetta, should be interesting. I like the genre, though am not interested in mastering the systems they employ, so I doubt any title in the genre could be a 10 for me. But I'll give it a play, though the story and setting look rubbish from everything I've read, so in that respect I'm far more interested in God of War III because I feel I'll enjoy that far more as a whole package.

[Vemsie]

Developer love

They did give Mad World a 6 you know.

And who are those people saying Bayonetta is like Stranglehold and WET? They have about as much in common as Super Mario Bros and Gears or War.

[Cosmic_Guru]

It's slightly ironic that they are jizzing over the use of gambits in the FF XII retrospective but ignore their far more sophisticated application in DA.

[ZOK]

Halo is my favourite game, but no way is Halo 3 a ten.

I think it is. Easily. And certainly far more worthy of a ten than either GTA4 or Half Life 2.

[Grobbelboy]

though the story and setting look rubbish from everything I've read

Looking for a story in a game like this is like looking for realism in Burnout Paradise. The setting contains some of the most memorable designs and art direction that I have ever seen in a videogame based on what I've played, so I haven't got the slightest idea what you are talking about.

[footle]

I don't think Bayonetta is worth a 10.

THERE. I SAID IT.

Ban Request: Taurus.

[sandman]

I do get the 10 for LBP as it was a staggering achievment even though it was boring as fuck

I wouldn't have given Galaxy a 10. Too bloody hard and merely a refinement of SM64.

Halo 3 - no chance, 8 for the Sp, 8 for MP

UC2 would have got 10 from me as it took immersion in a game to new heights for me.

[Couch Corpse]

I don't think Bayonetta is worth a 10.

THERE. I SAID IT.

None of their tens since Halo have been worthy.

[Vemsie]

Galaxy was as big a ten as it could possibly be for me. Unlike 64 is was a real platform game with so many great ideas and creativity crammed into every inch of its game world that it has no equal for me.

I can see why they gave all of these tens, though some of them did nothing for me (looking at you here LBP). The only ones I'd give a ten after Halo are Galaxy and the Orange Box. Bayonetta could very well join it, cause the more I see of it, the more it looks like the definitive action game.