[Teasy]

I think allot of people have been waiting for the GameSpot review of this game considering how tough GameSpot seem to be with game reviews now.

Well there it is, if anyone doubted how incredible this game is, doubt no longer!

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories...897768,00.html

Here's a quote from the review:

'It's not just one of the single most atmospheric games ever created, but it's also quite simply one of the best'

IGN = 9.8/10
EGM = 10/10
GameSpot = 9.7/10

Average score so far = 98.3%!

[Blade]

98.3%.. METAORID PRIEM IS BETTAR TAHN ZELDA SIXTYFARCE!!!!

Thankfully GS didn't get Jeff Gerstmann to write this review.. wink wink, nudge nudge.

Oh oh, yeah, and hopefully they won't change the score due to reader request! Yeah.. yeah..

[Teasy]

Who's Jeff Gerstmann?

[V3]

Is there bobing and can you turn it off ?

[Blade]

V3: There is bobbing, I played the demo at EB. I'm pretty sure it's on permanently.. but I dunno for sure.

Teasy: Ahh, he's the guy that reviewed Mario Sunshine there. Second lowest "official" score for the game on the 'net.

I strongly disagree with some of his comments within the review.

[Brimstone]

I think the guys at Retro have done a fantastic job considering all the turmoil they went through and unrealistic expectations fans have for making 2d game into a 3d one.

[wazoo]

Originally Posted by Brimstone

I think the guys at Retro have done a fantastic job considering all the turmoil they went through and unrealistic expectations fans have for making 2d game into a 3d one.

Their problems were maybe a bit overexposed by the net.

It seems Miyamoto (or one of its clones) took the lead design at some point.

[CaptainHowdy]

actually, EGM had three reviewers.
it got 10-10-10

[Glonk]

I still think replay value should be weighted far heavier in all game reviews than it currently is.

A fantastic game with very little replay value should be penalized pretty harshly IMO.

[marconelly!]

actually, EGM had three reviewers.
it got 10-10-10

Actually, noone knows that yet :P Scores that float around the net are fake.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by Glonk

I still think replay value should be weighted far heavier in all game reviews than it currently is.

A fantastic game with very little replay value should be penalized pretty harshly IMO.

when a game is this fun and jawdropping, with the mad amount of secrets that are in metroid, there is plenty of replay value, there is more to replay value than multiplay.

[DemoCoder]

Why does the reviewer on gamespot seem to begin alot of the paragraphs with excuses or defusing criticisms?, e.g

The following are pulled from the beginning sentences of the review...

Don't expect some sweeping space opera of a story.

While Metroid Prime isn't plot-driven, it provides you with lots and lots of context

While the notion of reading pseudo-scientific text while playing Metroid Prime may not sound very appealing

Ironically, the criticisms that can be leveled against Metroid Prime are associated with certain conventions that are integral to the Metroid series and must have been deliberately put into this game to keep things faithful. For instance, the notion of having to backtrack through previously explored areas has grown unpopular with gamers over the years, and yet backtracking is certainly required in Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime grows on you as you play. For instance, at first you might not see what's so remarkably impressive about its visuals, since Metroid Prime at first looks like any old sci-fi-themed shooter.

or

The lack of any real narrative might also disappoint some players, and finally, someone, somewhere will complain that Metroid Prime has no multiplayer features

A lot of the review sounds like "Well, this feature or lack of one sounds like it might suck ass, but let me explain why it doesn't"

I mean, nothing in this review really sounds innovative and the control system for strafing and up/down look sounds like it sucks ass. A lot of the comments have to deal with special effects with regards to Samus's helmet, or how the levels load by streaming, but I learned nothing from this review about the actual gameplay, the AI, what kinds of enemies encountered, etc. If I didn't know better, Metroid Prime sounds like it players like Shen Mue, running around 'scanning' everything.

My conclusion from reading the review is that Metroid Prime lacks direction, plot/story and plays more like an ID Software game, but much slower, and involves lots of running around, scanning stuff, and occassional battles against not too difficult to kill enemies, perhaps like the fighting in Shen Mue.


Well, it sounds like I better turn in my copy of Splinter Cell, MGS2, Halo, et al, to get this ASAP.

[Geeforcer]

While the review is indeed poorly written, I would not hold that against the game itself.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by DemoCoder

Why does the reviewer on gamespot seem to begin alot of the paragraphs with excuses or defusing criticisms?, e.g

The following are pulled from the beginning sentences of the review...

or

A lot of the review sounds like "Well, this feature or lack of one sounds like it might suck ass, but let me explain why it doesn't"

I mean, nothing in this review really sounds innovative and the control system for strafing and up/down look sounds like it sucks ass. A lot of the comments have to deal with special effects with regards to Samus's helmet, or how the levels load by streaming, but I learned nothing from this review about the actual gameplay, the AI, what kinds of enemies encountered, etc. If I didn't know better, Metroid Prime sounds like it players like Shen Mue, running around 'scanning' everything.

My conclusion from reading the review is that Metroid Prime lacks direction, plot/story and plays more like an ID Software game, but much slower, and involves lots of running around, scanning stuff, and occassional battles against not too difficult to kill enemies, perhaps like the fighting in Shen Mue.


Well, it sounds like I better turn in my copy of Splinter Cell, MGS2, Halo, et al, to get this ASAP.

Hey everybody, guess who has never played a Metroid game before

[DemoCoder]

I own almost every game console ever made, and I certainly played the old Metroid series, but I never liked them, nor did I like Mario, Yoshi, et al.

But whether or not I played them or not does not detract from the fact that this review sucked. How can I trust a reviewer whose writing skills seem to be so poor? This review is the equivalent of a movie review which says "Everything you've heard about this movie sounds like it sucks. But it doesn't. It deserves an Academy Award. But I won't describe anything about the plot, acting, or direction. Instead I will discuss costume and set design."

I may rent this game to check it out, but so far, the mega-glowing reviews I have read seem to be coming from authors who decided before they even played the game that it would rock. You know, Cubeboys.

How can a game where the reviewer holds out so many nit-picks get a 9.7, on the other hand, gamespot has done other reviews where similar nitpicks allowed them to knock off 2-3 points from the score? Seems like bias.

[Cyborg]

Democoder

a) check the video review, the footage 3/4 of the time back up or simply explain much better his comments (video review is just like the written review pretty much) and you'll also see kickass footage

b) If you still dont understand why no voice acting or no hollywood'esk story in metroid doesnt really matter, then either get an snes plus a copy of super metroid, or other ways to play it..

[BenSkywalker]

I may rent this game to check it out, but so far, the mega-glowing reviews I have read seem to be coming from authors who decided before they even played the game that it would rock. You know, Cubeboys.

You mean those die hard Nintendo zealots like the IGN PS2 editors?

This review reads like a typical run of the mill review these days, looking at conept while ignoring completely gameplay. Have you read many VC reviews? EGM has over half a dozen pages dedicated to the game and maybe a paragraphs worth of gameplay.

I own almost every game console ever made, and I certainly played the old Metroid series, but I never liked them, nor did I like Mario, Yoshi, et al.

The only thing Metroid has in common with Mario or Yoshi is that they are Nintendo games. Unless you are stating you dislike all Nintendo games because they are Nintendo games I don't see how mentioning Mario or Yoshi relates to Metroid. Two of them are platformers while the other is a shooter/adventure game, they don't relate.

[Cyborg]

Gamespot biased toward nintendo

oohhhboy

GTA:VC had its flaws and annoyances also, that didnt stop it from getting rave reviews. You see, small flaws in a game dont matter if it doesnt alter the fun. There's no such things as PERFECT games. Halo's shuddy level design and back tracking didnt stop it from being GOTY and good reviews.

If you check the video review, you'll see that all the negative talk about metroid are either from the series itself and not from prime, or its something you'll get used to, like the controls.

He said metroid doesnt have typical FPS controls, that it doesnt have multiplayer. Should these features immediatly drop the score from a single player game? Drop the score because the controls arent cloned from your typical fps (metroid is no typical fps..)?

Or should metroid drop points because it doesnt have voice acting? Will the next zelda be any less good than the past zeldas because it will still be texted based? Should metroid drop points because there's backtracking, though FUN backtracking (like discovering new areas, being more powerfull, having more abilities).

Or maybe cause it has your typical save the world story where samus is ALONE against an army of critters and jelly stuffs that could dominate the universe?

I mean democoder, what did you expect from a metroid game? I didnt expected anything less than prime delivered, actually, it delivered more than i thought it would, and metroid is one of the franchises i hold as my #1 of all time, like many others.

If you didnt like past metroids, nobody is asking you to understand metroid prime's hype, though, dont take your opinion as fact here, many many gamers hold metroid as one of the best 2d had to offer, heck, even the best castlevania (sotn) was pretty much a direct copy of metroid. With metroid prime being talked as "one of the best metroid" or like gamespot, "easily the best metroid", then you can understand why its being hyped so high, its been 8 years in the waiting, 8 freaking years..

[Blade]

Metroid isn't a platformer. Back in the day, the only thing Mario and Metroid had in common (outside of the Nintendo brand) was they were both developed in-house at NCL.. one by R&D4, one by R&D1. Now, they only have Producer Shigeru Miyamoto in common. Metroid wasn't even developed in Japan this time. SMS and MP are totally different games, I tell ya!

[CaptainHowdy]

I hate Metal Gear solid, being its third person 3d, and so is Tomb Raider, and I hate tomb raider..

[Blade]

My favorite misconception is that Luigi's Mansion is a platformer.

Apparently if it has a mascot character, it's a platformer now.. gameplay has nothing to do with it.

[Magnum PI]

i don't know why democoder seems very annoyed because of metroid being a so great game...

perhaps because he'll finally have to buy a gamecube because of that ?

MP is a good game.
Get it everyone!

[Teasy]

A lot of the review sounds like "Well, this feature or lack of one sounds like it might suck ass, but let me explain why it doesn't"

I mean, nothing in this review really sounds innovative and the control system for strafing and up/down look sounds like it sucks ass.

If the guy is trying to explain why parts of the game that typically might be thought of initially as bad are actually not bad at all, wouldn't you say that sounds like innovation? Take the controls, people who haven't played the game wouldn't understand how good the controls are, because it just hasn't ever been done successfully before now.. that is innovation mate!

Really Demo, you sound annoyed to find out how good Metroid Prime is. Your post sounds like nothing but total denial "No Metroid Prime isn't good.. it isn't, I'M NOT LISTENING!!.. lalalalalala"

[Qroach]

Actually, demo isn't saying anything about the game itself, he's analyzing the revew at game spot. I think Demo's point is that when they say there's drawbacks to the game and then come up with a reason why is shouldn't be penalized for it, then something in the review is slightly off.

The thing i consistently see with reviews is that other games get penalized for these drawbacks and the reviewers don't come up with reasons on why it's better. They just give the game a lower score. NHL2K3 is a eprfect example. read the review at IGn and the person doesn't copmpare it to the cmopetition at all, and goes on to say the game isn't as polished as other sega sports games, yet even though the game is MORE polished then the copeting hockey games.

let me put it this way. if this was any other game without the Metroid license, you just know it wouldn't have gotten a score so high. I'm sure many people would not admit that... so feel free to NOT reply teasy, because I'm not talking directly to you anyway.

I know one of the programers still left (out of the 32 people Retro still have) and he actually said that the score IGN gave it for graphics was BS. It got a 9.7 out of 10 if I remember correct, and he though that should be lower.