Blinx Review

[zurich]

I think MS is _starting_ to get to know games. Catastrophes like Dead To Rights are kind of text book learning examples

zurich

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Dead to Rights was a failure?

Better yet, Dead to Rights was developed and/or published by Microsoft?

This is all news to me.

Microsoft is going through the same growing pains that Sony underwent early on (and still is *cough* Dark Cloud *cough* Jak & Daxter *cough* *cough*)

I like to think all of Microsoft's really bad games are behind it.

Azurik and Nightcaster should never have gotten financing. Bloodwake had a slimmer of promise. Blinx was hyped by Microsoft way too much for what it is (a puzzler--just not something that has blockbuster potential).

Besides Azurik, Nightcaster and Bloodwake I can't think of any other MS titles that are bad.

PGR is excellent. NFL Fever is excellent (2003 could have been much better, though). Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding and Quantum Redshift are both fantastic games that got raped in the reviews for God knows why. The horse racing sim developed by Microsoft Japan apparently is quite good.

I think they have a good track record so far, and the future looks bright:

Psychonaughts (Underdog OTY 2003)
Brute Force
Mech Assault
Fable
Tork
Halo 2
Crimson Skies

 

[duffer]

...not to mention Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero...

Last year they had to ship titles for launch, no matter how unenjoyable they were. This year they can afford to delay titles that need more time.

 

[zurich]

Dead to Rights was a failure?

Better yet, Dead to Rights was developed and/or published by Microsoft?

This is all news to me.

MS dumped a wad of money into Dead to Rights for time exclusivity and marketing, expecting it to be a big hit a la Max Payne.

Instead, Dead to Rights was a steaming pile of poop that sold poorly (~130k if I remember).

zurich

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Dead to Rights is anything but a steaming pile of poop. It's an excellent action game braught down by a rather dumb camera system and some equally dumb mini-games. A solid 8/10 effort at the very least.

You are correct about it's rather mediocre sales. I don't see how a turd like Max Payne can sell so well while the casual gamers give DTR the cold shoulder.

 

[wazoo]

Dead to Rights is anything but a steaming pile of poop. It's an excellent action game braught down by a rather dumb camera system and some equally dumb mini-games. A solid 8/10 effort at the very least.

You are correct about it's rather mediocre sales. I don't see how a turd like Max Payne can sell so well while the casual gamers give DTR the cold shoulder.

sales and quality are 2 two different things. Everything is about hype.

I think D2R is a good 7/10 game (using a true 10 rating), which is not bad.

MS publishing efforts will improve in the future, but the beginning was rough.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Well, let's be fair here. DTR showed huge promise and got great previews from all the major sites, including GS and IGN. It's Namco's fault that it turned out to be nothing special. It's still going to sell 300k units at least, and it did move some hardware as there was a small spike the week it was released.

Things like Azurik and Nightcaster (which was actually pretty fun, but shallow) happened because MS just needed to fill the ranks at launch. They were a lot better than TVDJ and Fantavision for the PS2 launch.

All the companies have titles that didn't do what they expected, but the overall quality at MS, Sony, Nintendo, and Sega seems to be improving over time.

 

[wazoo]

All the companies have titles that didn't do what they expected, but the overall quality at MS, Sony, Nintendo, and Sega seems to be improving over time.

IMO, Sega is not delivering what we are expecting from them. during the DC years they were better than they are now. They are too busy doing sequels or ports (lazy ports). I hope it is just a transition before better days.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Dead to Rights is anything but a steaming pile of poop. It's an excellent action game braught down by a rather dumb camera system and some equally dumb mini-games. A solid 8/10 effort at the very least.

You are correct about it's rather mediocre sales. I don't see how a turd like Max Payne can sell so well while the casual gamers give DTR the cold shoulder.

Uhm, Max Payne is LOADS better than DTR, I am not going to go so far as to call DTR a terrible game, but its mediocre at best, even Bloodrayne is a better game.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Actually, Sega's average was only 77.1% at Gamerankings.com on the Dreamcast, which is lower than the 79% they score on the newer platforms.

There's two main reasons for this: Visual Concepts is a higher percentage of new releases and Virtua Fighter 4, Jet Set Radio Future, and Super Monkey Ball 1&2 all turned out to be great games.

I imagine that Shinobi, Toejam&Earl, and Panzer Dragoon Orta will also receive good scores.

 

[bbot]

About Shinobi...xbox365.com is reporting that Shinobi is coming to the xbox. Wasn't it a ps2 exclusive?

 

[zurich]

ToeJam & Earl 3 Game Informer 6/10

(GameRankings)

I'm not surprised really, the old Genesis TJ&Es just wierded me out. Granted I was young, but I just didn't 'get' them.

zurich

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Game Informer is the ass crack of American video game reviews. You do not know this because you live in ze Fatherland.

 

[zurich]

Toronto, Ontario Canada?

Atleast in 'ze Fatherland' we know our geography; Zurich is in Switzerland, not Germany heh.

zurich

 

[marconelly!]

Jak & Daxter *cough* *cough*)

I think J&D sold more than a million copies worldwide. Not bad for a failure

 

[iscariot]

.



Jak &Daxter sold over 600,000 in the U.S alone(it is a Greatest Hit in case you have not noticed) and is well over a million with Europe and Japan sales.

DTR is a terrible game. In fact, it sold more than it deserved

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Sales = Quality, huh?

J&D is crap. Naughty Dog might as well have entitled it "Crash Bandicoot Adventure" for all the originality it had. Mediocre and uninspired in all respects except technical.

DTR takes some time to grow on you, but when it does it becomes a very rewarding game.

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Toronto, Ontario Canada?

Atleast in 'ze Fatherland' we know our geography; Zurich is in Switzerland, not Germany heh.

zurich

I could have sworn... Ah well. Must have been some one else. No wonder you got so agitated over my French comment.

 

[zurich]

French comment?

Woooeee, step outside sometime boy, no one makes passive aggressive Quebecois (French Canadian) jokes like we Canadians forced to live beside them

I dont really have anything against the French (beside the waiters during my stay in Paris, heh), but when Quebec politics permeate every aspect on your Canadian life, you cant help but take a few jabs at them

zurich

 

[marconelly!]

Sales = Quality, huh?
J&D is crap

Oh, I see. Your Opinion = Fact