360 To Do Worse Than Xbox This Round?

[fearsomepirate]

In your opinion. I've never seen gamespot give a 9.4 to a "deeply flawed" game.

It's hard to take your opinion seriously when 70 professional reviewers disagree with you, and your biggest complaints are about the box art and a skeleton wearing a hat.

Well, if you're wondering why people didn't buy the game, what more do you want? In 2002, the average gamer still bought things based on the box and word-of-mouth. ED's box made the game look stupid as hell, which is why neither I nor anyone I knew had interest in it (I know, only an anecdote). It's probably the same reason ICO did so poorly. If they'd put a professional painting of Mantorok on the cover, or maybe Pius crushing the world in his fist (with some blood dripping around, I dunno), or something better than 3 rocks and a moon, I think it would have done a lot better. And as for some more real complaints:

1. The animation was, for the most part, rather stiff-looking.
2. Bright blue zombies aren't scary.
3. Bright green monsters with 3 giant eyes aren't scary.
4. All the lightning and other magic effects looked cartoony.
5. The human characters looked like they were suffering from a horrible blotchy skin disease.
6. The game was incredibly easy.
7. The mansion just looked muddy and poorly lit, not ominous.
8. The FMVs looked just plain bad, often ran at a much lower volume than the main game, and cut suddenly.
9. Many of the environments were very low-poly and poorly textured. The river of "blood" in the underworld, for example, looked like Kool-Ade. The "stairs" in the great hall were nothing more than a texture pasted on a ramp.
10. Fire effects were virtually unchanged from the N64 era.

The game had a great story, good voice acting (especially Pius Agustus), an intriguing magic system, fantastic controls, and great sanity effects. But that said, I can't understand why reviewers were so overawed by it. The presentation and graphics really hurt the title in my eyes. The only thing I can think is that they had been expecting this game on the N64 for so long that they reviewed it more like an N64 title than a Gamecube title. Or maybe they had listened to Dennis Dyack babble about "Games will be the dominant form of art" too much. To me, it screamed "8.3," not "9.6."

OK, I've said my piece and gone off-topic long enough. Back on-topic, I just haven't seen SK do anything yet to put themselves in the same league as the big boys. A bunch of 9's for a single game that everyone looked at with N64-colored glasses just doesn't do it. If the Too Human trilogy gets good reviews and sells well, then they certainly may very well become a powerhouse. They just aren't there yet.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Well, if you're wondering why people didn't buy the game, what more do you want? In 2002, the average gamer still bought things based on the box and word-of-mouth. ED's box made the game look stupid as hell, which is why neither I nor anyone I knew had interest in it (I know, only an anecdote). It's probably the same reason ICO did so poorly. If they'd put a professional painting of Mantorok on the cover, or maybe Pius crushing the world in his fist (with some blood dripping around, I dunno), or something better than 3 rocks and a moon, I think it would have done a lot better.

How does any of this change the fact that Silicon Knights created an amazing game? That's what we're talking about here. Has SK shown they can make an amazing IP, yes they have. Not good, not great, but excellent

Whether it was not a commercial success, and what reasons contributed to that (be it box art or GC demographics or whatever) is irrelevant, it's still a damn impressive game.

Here's some good things about the game that I think are far more important than the flaws you just outlined (which almost all seem to chalk up to gripes about the art syle)

The Facts (ign.com)

• Gripping, mature storyline spanning over 20 centuries
• Innovative insanity meter adds new level of unpredictability to gameplay experience
• Advanced, dramatic camera system
• 12 playable characters
• A host of historically accurate weapons
• Unique enemy targeting system enables players to dismember specific body parts of enemies
• Deep and engaging magick system enables for a wide variety of spells and enchantments
• Quick combo system for high-action situations
• Superior 3D engine includes bump-mapping, radiosity light maps, ray-traced light maps, volumetric fogging, 24-bit color, 640x480 resolution running at 60 frames per second
• Detailed animation system including reactive animations, facial animations, and more
• Full-motion video sequences
• Moody sound effects and well-composed musical scores presented in full surround sound
• Exquisite attention to detail ranging from Latin voiceovers to historically accurate fighting styles
• Over 50 hours of gameplay with alternate gameplay paths

 

[fearsomepirate]

Well, I'm convinced. What could I possibly say against talking points lifted from a press release? It's a good thing those never exaggerate or play up rather trivial features (you mean I can link a spell to a hot button? The future is here!).

 

[scooby_dooby]

OK, I've said my piece and gone off-topic long enough. Back on-topic, I just haven't seen SK do anything yet to put themselves in the same league as the big boys. A bunch of 9's for a single game that everyone looked at with N64-colored glasses just doesn't do it. If the Too Human trilogy gets good reviews and sells well, then they certainly may very well become a powerhouse. They just aren't there yet.

I'd agree with you if they hadn't created Legacy of Kain, as well as the Metal Gear solid remake both of which were very good.

I wouldn't say they're up there with the real big boys, but they are certainly a top-tier developer.

btw: It made me laugh when you refer to things like 50hours of gameplay, a gripping story and multiple endings as trivial, moments after you just complained about how many EYES were on a zombie!

 

[Moonblade]

The Facts (ign.com)
Superior 3D engine includes bump-mapping, radiosity light maps, ray-traced light maps, volumetric fogging, 24-bit color, 640x480 resolution running at 60 frames per second

lol

It's been a while since I had such a good laugh. The game looked anything but 'superior', it's N64 shovelware with low res textures. The average PS2 game looked better when I bought this game.
But I agree with the rest of the ign 'facts'. Gameplay-wise the game blew me away, much better than resident evil imo.

Generally SK makes lot's of good games but nothing great.