First Famitsu PS3 game reviews arrived

[Jesus2006]

www.gamefront.de

(sorry for any transl. bugs)

Ridge Racer 7 (PS3, Bandai Namco): 9 / 9 / 9 / 9 - (36/40)
* Very pleasing experience, especially the overall content size of the game is tremendous. Sound and graphics are called "overwhelming"

Genji: Kamui Souran (PS3, Sony): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (29/40)
* Some camera probs, control, size and accessibility for novices are good. Kudos also to the ending of the game

Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3, Sony): 9 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (33/40)
* Gameplay-wise simply an ego-shooter with excellent online mode and a very high next-gen standard for gfx and sound

Sega Golfclub Featuring Miyazato Family (PS3, Sega): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40)
* doesn't look like an next-gen game, but it's ok.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight (PS3, Bandai Namco): 8 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (32/40)
* impressive textures and models, suits look outstanding and there's alot of content to unlock. Fun to play

 

[London Geezer]

Pretty good scores for RR7 and Resistance. Surprised about RR7 in particular!

I'd love to read the reviews though.

 

[valioso]

RR7 better than resistance?

 

[Carl B]

RR7 better than resistance?

Well, it's from a Japanese perspective, so in the US for instance I'd imagine those scores would likely be flipped between RR7 and Resistance. I think it indicates strengthfor both titles though; Famitsu doesn't just hand out high scores.

 

[Deepak]

Does Famitsu award different scores for Graphics/Sound/Gameplay etc or a single score for a game?

 

[DuckThor Evil]

The Ridge Racer movie I downloaded from Playsyde a while back looks absolutely stunning, the part where the cars exit the tunnel for the second time is breathtaking, at that point the 1080p tradeoff is not the first thing that I saw :smile: imo it looks very good. Gameplay probably is the same old Ridge Racer, so no surprises there.

 

[pipo]

Does Famitsu award different scores for Graphics/Sound/Gameplay etc or a single score for a game?

4 reviewers with single scores.

IMHO it's a pretty good (Japanese) score for Resistance. I didn't expect that at all.

 

[Moonblade]

Does Famitsu award different scores for Graphics/Sound/Gameplay etc or a single score for a game?

x/x/x/x means single scores but 4 different reviewers

damn beat'n by pipo

 

[Shifty Geezer]

And from what I hear, scores range from 7-10. No game scores worse than 7/7/7/7 it seems. 10's are rare. 8's are mediocrity I think. That's what I hear, anyhow.

 

[Darkon]

And from what I hear, scores range from 7-10. No game scores worse than 7/7/7/7 it seems. 10's are rare. 8's are mediocrity I think. That's what I hear, anyhow.

I've seen 6's in Famitsu's reviews .

I wonder though, do all gundam games get good scores in Famitsu or is Target in Sight a good gundam game for a change

 

[Bobbler]

And from what I hear, scores range from 7-10. No game scores worse than 7/7/7/7 it seems. 10's are rare. 8's are mediocrity I think. That's what I hear, anyhow.

I'd pay more attention to the final scores -- from what I've seen the reviewers seem to work together to get a final score that's appropriate for the game, rather than worrying about their individual scores as much.

32/40 is more or less the line between "bad/average game" and "good game." 31 to 29 is sort of an average (not the best game, but can be entertaining, especially if you're a fan). Below 29 and it's a "don't bother with it game" also. In short: 32-40 = good; 29-31 = okay, mostly for fans only of the genre or series; <28 = not good.

 

[22psi]

Some pretty good scores there!

 

[Fox5]

Ego-shooter?
How have they been scoring 360 games?

Oh, and RIDDDDGGGGGGEEEEE RACCCCEERRR!

 

[NERO]

I'm surprised by the Resistance score. As one would expect Famitsu's most highly rated games are mostly JRPGs, so seeing a good rating for an FPS should be taken pretty seriously. I wonder if anyone knows what Famitsu has rate other top console FPS games (Halo, Goldeneye...etc)?

 

[Powderkeg]

I'm surprised by the Resistance score. As one would expect Famitsu's most highly rated games are mostly JRPGs, so seeing a good rating for an FPS should be taken pretty seriously. I wonder if anyone knows what Famitsu has rate other top console FPS games (Halo, Goldeneye...etc)?

Halo 2 = 10,9,9,9 (37/40)
Goldeneye = 7,8,8,8 (31/40)

 

[Titanio]

Halo 2 = 10,9,9,9 (37/40)

That was Famitsu Xbox, I think. The main Famitsu score was 34/40, or so I'm lead to believe.

Not that I'd take Famitsu's word on anything to do with FPS games

 

[scooby_dooby]

They gave the same score to COD: Finest Hour by EA (33), and a slightly higher one to GRAW (34) and a 34 for Halo 2 as well.

So hard to say really, this is the same magazine that gives the same score to a COD fodderware as it does to Halo 2, like Titanio says, I don't think these guys are any authority whatsoever on FPS's.

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

I've seen 6's in Famitsu's reviews .

If you've ever seen games like "Way of the Samurai", that actually got a 1, and total score of 5 out of 40. I was curious, so I took a look... and I think they were generous.

I wonder though, do all gundam games get good scores in Famitsu or is Target in Sight a good gundam game for a change

That also puzzles me. Especially the comment about it being "fun to play" given the lumbering and awkward movements we've seen thus far. While the lumbering aspect is actually more believable and natural, it doesn't make for fun or good action. Nor is it very faithful to the anime where almost every mobile suit moved like a Kryptonian Gulliver.

 

[Bobbler]

They gave the same score to COD: Finest Hour by EA (33), and a slightly higher one to GRAW (34) and a 34 for Halo 2 as well.

So hard to say really, this is the same magazine that gives the same score to a COD fodderware as it does to Halo 2, like Titanio says, I don't think these guys are any authority whatsoever on FPS's.

They also gave PDZ a 32 and Halo 1 a 33, IIRC.

Famitsu is a strange mag... They only really have 3 scores that matter (the 3 ranges I listed in my earlier post)... the specific score is more or less irrelevant as it's, seemingly, mostly arbitrary (i.e. the most you can gather from a famitsu review is that it either sucks, is okay, or is good -- finding out whether it's the best game ever, or better than any other game is generally not information you can reliably get from it -- even then it's just their "opinion" so they may well be wrong on that too).

Regardless, it's still encouraging that it didn't get below a 32... just doesn't tell me much -- eager to see how it does overall on gamerankings though.

@Shifty's earlier post: They do give plenty of low scores -- this last issue had quite a few 5s in it (that's about as low as they go in it though).

 

[NERO]

They gave the same score to COD: Finest Hour by EA (33), and a slightly higher one to GRAW (34) and a 34 for Halo 2 as well.

So hard to say really, this is the same magazine that gives the same score to a COD fodderware as it does to Halo 2, like Titanio says, I don't think these guys are any authority whatsoever on FPS's.

Well I guess that answers my question. As a turn around, I renounce my claim of "taking seriously" what Famitsu's fps reviews mean in the wider gaming review world. Looking at the top scores ever doled out by Famitsu it seems that they do take their rpgs seriously. Otherwise I'll stick to non-partisan "Western" gaming mags for FPS advice.

Back to the reviews: Ridge Racer with a 36? I need to see some videos of this game.