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[Animator]

I really did like DS1

disenchanted with the series now though.

I'd probably prefer a change of direction and let it simmer for a little bit and revamp on next-gen systems in 3 years.

Quite frankly if you liked DS1 you will probably like this one. The first 10 chapters is very reminiscent of DS1.

 

[Ledsen]

I don't know, man. I know he doesn't gel with me. He frequently does shit on games that get good coverage after the fact. But he himself has admitted that he has somewhat of a contrarian streak as far as that kind of thing is concerned. Most recently with Walking Dead.

Personally I just know I find it hard to take seriously anything he writes after that hyperbolic Diablo 3 review. And yes, I know I am "that guy" for bringing up a now nearly 1 year old review but my assessment of that game was just so radically different that I can't help but think about it every time he reviews a game. Diablo 3 bored the ever living fuck out of me when it wasn't being used as a virtual chat room with friends. I found it as rote and paint by numbers as a sequel could be in most respects and yet he literally painted it as a new watermark in the genre by which games would be measured for years to come. Meanwhile I thought it had absolutely no creative vision and was completely soulless.

The most frustrating thing I find about Gies is the pretension with which he states his opinions as if they are objective fact. He will say things like game are "mechanically unsound" as if there is a dictionary definition of what that term actually means.

I have tried to pinpoint what causes the disparity between many mainstream reviewers and my own assesment so I could better use them as a tool to judge what I would think about a game. For a while, I thought it was simply AAA bias and their willingness to automatically give a pass for establish franchises. I still think that is somewhat of a problem but I'm not even sure that pinpoints it for me. I think it is also part of the fact that the environment within which they play games means that mechanics that are familiar to them immediately automatically get an advantage. FPS games that play like FPS games become a comfy fit that they can blow through in a weekend, so what for them is a nice smooth weekend ride toward a review, for me is a bored-out-of-my-mind-I've-played this-a-thousand-times-before experience. Everybody likes things that makes their job easier, but I don't play videogames as a job.

These days I find venues like Idle Thumbs and GB quicklooks give me the best idea of what I should check out.

This is spot on, simply spot on.

 

[MikeE21286]

Quite frankly if you liked DS1 you will probably like this one. The first 10 chapters is very reminiscent of DS1.

hmm...interesting

I have to admit that all co-op stuff (I don't care about co-op) immediately pulled me out from really paying attention to it at all honestly.

I have tried to pinpoint what causes the disparity between many mainstream reviewers and my own assesment so I could better use them as a tool to judge what I would think about a game. For a while, I thought it was simply AAA bias and their willingness to automatically give a pass for establish franchises. I still think that is somewhat of a problem but I'm not even sure that pinpoints it for me. I think it is also part of the fact that the environment within which they play games means that mechanics that are familiar to them immediately automatically get an advantage. FPS games that play like FPS games become a comfy fit that they can blow through in a weekend, so what for them is a nice smooth weekend ride toward a review, for me is a bored-out-of-my-mind-I've-played this-a-thousand-times-before experience. Everybody likes things that makes their job easier, but I don't play videogames as a job.

While I understand your premise and where you are coming from, I do think that the people that read the reviews that get published by mainstream reviewers probably actually do like the comfy fit of familiar mechanics. So you also have to think that they are writing for that audience as well.

It's a downward spiral of homogenization.

 

[Andrew.]

Fuck it. I'll bite. These polarizing reviews have got me intrigued out the ass. I need to see this for myself. Gonna leave work in a few and find a copy.

 

[Conciliator]

What's up with Jim Sterling is he going legit these days? I kind of miss his arbitrary scores.

 

[Deuterium]

Frack the Co-op. I'm playing this for the single player experience. Just ordered from Amazon.

And do people really play video games for their story? Really? No offense intended for those who do...I am happy for you. But Dead Space has always had a ridiculous story from day one. I could care less about the story (just like HALO). Give me an evocative atmosphere, great game-play, action, combat, graphics, and a heavy challenge level which rewards practice and developing/honing your skills, and I am good. Don't get me wrong, a coherent, compelling story is definitely a plus, but is completely secondary, IMHO, to a great gameplay experience.

 

[Unhandled Exception]

This game is good. Happy to see that. My biggest issue is with the completely needless Ellie re-design.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Well, the first two both did about 2-2.5 million, so we'll have our answer pretty soon.

What about this game needing to sell 5m though?

 

[antitrop]

I thought Dead Space 3 was revealed on the cover of GI; or at least had a big article dishing all the details.

I looked up previous GI cover reveals and what score they ended giving the game in the review. First score is GI's review, second is Metacritic average.

AC:R 88 80
Darksiders2 90 83
Dishonored 88 88
Borderlands 2 98 89
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron 90 79
Xcom 95 90
AC3 90 84
Halo4 93 87

I don't think it really even has anything to do with their covers in general. Game Informer has always been slightly higher than all the rest. Even before Metacritic was even a thing I knew that GI usually gave a game a few points higher than every other magazine out there.

But it is an interesting correlation to think about, especially that Borderlands 2 and Transformers.

 

[Jrpgfanatic]

This game is good. Happy to see that. My biggest issue is with the completely needless Ellie re-design.

Oh no, really? I hope it's not too drastic, it's hard to tell from the one or two screenshots that I've seen. I liked that in DS2 she looked like an average girl who you'd meet anywhere, same with Isaac looking like an average guy.

 

[Duxxy3]

What about this game needing to sell 5m though?

imo

not gonna happen

 

[kitschykitty]

bummer, I loved Dead Space 1 and to a lesser extent 2, even read the book, but I'm back at school and my holiday pay has dried up so wasn't really going to buy it day one unless it was better received, oh well, will pick it up when it's $40 in a month or two.

Also, I used to not care and just say "Don't buy the dlc then" but the DLC and Micro-transactions in games are really starting to annoy me.

 

[Harlock]

Dead Space 3 is going to be a good test if the current console cycle is dead and everything sells far less copies than expected.

 

[Crawl]

So is this going to sell 5 million like EA wanted? Or are people going to wait for fuse?

 

[AwShucks]

bummer, I loved Dead Space 1 and to a lesser extent 2, even read the book, but I'm back at school and my holiday pay has dried up so wasn't really going to buy it day one unless it was better received, oh well, will pick it up when it's $40 in a month or two.

Better received? Is a bunch of 9+ and some 7/8 that almost all say "Dead Space fans will like it" not good enough for you?

You're right, that is a bummer. For you.

 

[Gigglepoo]

I have tried to pinpoint what causes the disparity between many mainstream reviewers and my own assesment so I could better use them as a tool to judge what I would think about a game. For a while, I thought it was simply AAA bias and their willingness to automatically give a pass for establish franchises. I still think that is somewhat of a problem but I'm not even sure that pinpoints it for me. I think it is also part of the fact that the environment within which they play games means that mechanics that are familiar to them immediately automatically get an advantage. FPS games that play like FPS games become a comfy fit that they can blow through in a weekend, so what for them is a nice smooth weekend ride toward a review, for me is a bored-out-of-my-mind-I've-played this-a-thousand-times-before experience. Everybody likes things that makes their job easier, but I don't play videogames as a job.

I won't speak for other reviewers, but I can tell you my reaction to this theory. Because I play so many games (both during and outside of my job), I'm always looking for something new. I still have fun going through the motions with by-rote experiences, but such games rarely excite me. It takes something new and daring to get my attention, either from a gameplay or storytelling standpoint.

But reviewers all have different tastes, so you just have to find a few who you can relate to.

 

[Mik_Pad]

LOL what ND games you've played this gen?

I was talking about TLOU which looks more gameplay focused than Uncharted.

 

[Nirolak]

What about this game needing to sell 5m though?

Very doubtful, but I'll pretty solidly say they won't can the series without 5 million sales.

5+ million is EA's global target for any franchise they make a core-oriented AAA retail game in, but generally the attitude is that the series must be able to grow to 5+ million at some point in order to continue, not that a series has to hit that with its first entry or so.

In other words, EA's bar is based on opportunity cost, not development/marketing cost.

If the game does less than 3 million shipped in the first quarter I will say the series is dead, but if it ships 3+ million, it will continue, since that's growth toward its target of hitting 5+ million at some point.

 

[MikeE21286]

makes sense

Thanks Nirolak

 

[kitschykitty]

Better received? Is a bunch of 9+ and some 7/8 that almost all say "Dead Space fans will like it" not good enough for you?

You're right, that is a bummer. For you.

Pretty harsh, but like I said, back at school so money's tight and with all the great games coming out I'd rather save it for something a bit better reviewed, the gaming websites I follow for my news were some of the least positive ones and with Metal Gear Rising and Crysis 3 coming out this month I have to choose one and it's probably going to be Metal Gear Rising.

 

[Mango Positive]

My review: Feels like a Dead Space game. If you liked one and two, you'll like this one. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Forcing V-Sync and Triple Buffering through Nvidia Nspector is essential.

 

[AwShucks]

so essentially this game is to dead space 1 as RE5 was to RE4.

still decent, but overemphasis on action over horror and suspense, and shoehorned in multiplayer no one asked for. probably worth buying but not at 60.

Shoehorned MP was in Dead Space 2. Co-op isn't near as a "wtf" as deathmatch in Dead Space was.

 

[AwShucks]

Pretty harsh, but like I said, back at school so money's tight and with all the great games coming out I'd rather save it for something a bit better reviewed, the gaming websites I follow for my news were some of the least positive ones and with Metal Gear Rising and Crysis 3 coming out this month I have to choose one and it's probably going to be Metal Gear Rising.

Meh, I was being sort of a dick. I apologize. I kinda glossed over the lack of money and still planning on picking i up when it's a bit cheaper. I'm probably (read: I am) a Dead Space fanboy.

EDIT: Oops, didn't mean to double post.

 

[plagiarize]

Shoehorned MP was in Dead Space 2. Co-op isn't near as a "wtf" as deathmatch in Dead Space was.

the number of things that people are bitching about DS3 doing that DS2 did, is pretty surprising. DLC paid upgrades. Tacked on multiplayer. DLC story missions announced right around release and launched shortly afterwards. PC port not having loads of added graphical effects.

that isn't to say people aren't allowed to think action and horror work against each other (I don't feel that way, but fear is subjective and I get that for some people feeling empowered kills it), or that DS3 isn't a weaker game in the franchise. It's just sort of weird watching one freak out after the next, given that we've pretty much all been down this road before.

at least if we've been paying attention anyway.

 

[JBourne]

Shoehorned MP was in Dead Space 2. Co-op isn't near as a "wtf" as deathmatch in Dead Space was.

MP in DS2 wasn't deathmatch. It was similar to L4D, but with objectives instead of linear progression.

 

[TheFeedingHand]

I guess I'll pick it up when it's cheap

 

[SirIgbyCeaser]

Polygone is the odd one out. Not surprised. Dead Space original and 2 are hard to beat.

 

[diffusionx]

the number of things that people are bitching about DS3 doing that DS2 did, is pretty surprising. DLC paid upgrades. Tacked on multiplayer. DLC story missions announced right around release and launched shortly afterwards. PC port not having loads of added graphical effects.

that isn't to say people aren't allowed to think action and horror work against each other (I don't feel that way, but fear is subjective and I get that for some people feeling empowered kills it), or that DS3 isn't a weaker game in the franchise. It's just sort of weird watching one freak out after the next, given that we've pretty much all been down this road before.

at least if we've been paying attention anyway.

It's the internet, people complain.

Even with the terrible MP, DS2 was still an excellent, excellent game. It looks like DS3 won't be quite as good, but it doesn't look like a disaster.

 

[Lime]

Polygone is the odd one out. Not surprised. Dead Space original and 2 are hard to beat.

Arthur Gies also severely lacks any critical thinking, so I guess that explains the "oddity"

And now we can add this monster of a review to the pile of hyperbolic superlatives:

 

[Unhandled Exception]

Arthur Gies also severely lacks any critical thinking, so I guess that explains the "oddity"



And now we can add this monster of a review to the pile of hyperbolic superlatives:

He seriously gave D3 a 10? Holy fucking shit balls.

 

[grimshawish]

Arthur Gies went about telling everyone he knew the Durango/Orbis specs when all he had was development kits specs from a year before. He then pretended to be a tech head and generally shat up a thread. Now, was he being purposefully difficult? Not at first, but there was misinformation and a lack of clarity; I think he got carried away with suddenly getting a lot of attention from people.

Hes trying to gain attention within the industry as much as outside of it. If you don't trust his scores; ignore him and Polygon. Its not difficult.

If the game does less than 3 million shipped in the first quarter I will say the series is dead, but if it ships 3+ million, it will continue, since that's growth toward its target of hitting 5+ million at some point.

:/
Even if it does manage 3M (even if it does); I'm not sure who'd bring that into the next gen with a much smaller userbase.

 

[nbthedude]

He seriously gave D3 a 10? Holy fucking shit balls.

The score isn't nearly as bad as the hyperbolic text. He literally says it is so good that it sets a bar that it is unfair--"almost evil"-- to other games that will come out in the future.

 

[Jarmel]

On Chapter 13, people are going to savage this game. I'm enjoying it despite the atrocious story so far, and it is atrocious, but people are going to rip this apart especially when they get planet-side. Space-side is very much DS.

 

[Mpl90]

The score isn't nearly as bad as the hyperbolic text. He literally says it is so good that it sets a bar that it is "unfair" to other games that will come out in the future.

Effectively, no other game can reach the amount of "fukedupness" Diablo 3 reached due to its need of being always online XD

 

[nbthedude]

Effectively, no other game can reach the amount of "fukedupness" Diablo 3 reached due to its need of being always online XD

The best part is when he says this:

It's rare that high-profile sequels take 11 years to come to fruition, but Diablo 3 feels like all that time meant something. That all along, Blizzard was thinking about the hows and whys of the series, that nothing was sacred in their efforts to make something that lived up to the hype

That is objectively not true. Blizzard didn't take 11 years because they were carefully thinking about the game and what works and what doesn't. They took 11 years because a lot of their original design team left and then because they had to start over twice.

 

[Unhandled Exception]

The score isn't nearly as bad as the hyperbolic text. He literally says it is so good that it sets a bar that it is unfair--"almost evil"-- to other games that will come out in the future.

This was just surface level reaction, I don't ever browse Polygon and just hadn't heard anything about his D3/ME3 reviews before, came as a bit of a surprise even though I stopped listening to Rebel FM exclusively because of the shit he says on there. Despite having a distaste for the man's opinions I guess I'm still beside myself that he sees those games as perfection.

 

[Lulubop]

Rev3 gave it a 5/5. Most of the comments are calling them out for paying paid off by EA games since there's some discrepancy between the score and the actual review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVRQOWmI3U

 

[plagiarize]

It looks like DS3 won't be quite as good, but it doesn't look like a disaster.

That's what I'm getting from all these reviews too. with the hope that the co-op will be worth more to me than the competitive MP mode the last one had. I won't be touching it until after beating the single player at least once though.

Only a few hours to go before I can sink my teeth into it.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Rev3 gave it a 5/5. Most of the comments are calling them out for paying paid off by EA games since there's some discrepancy between the score and the actual review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVRQOWmI3U

I love how people say this lol. News flash, I'm just a guy running his own show on youtube. Not paid by EA and only work with a minimal amount of PR folks. I don't score my reviews but I highly rated it. Yet even I got comments like that as well. Pretty laughable. Everyone has different opinions, it's just how it is.

 

[DecoyOctopus]

I can't wait to buy and play it tomorrow!!!! Game Informer is the best place for reviews, I ALWAYS agree with them. Just short of the "10" it would stand among game informer's elite reviewed "10" list... Still i know I'm going to love it. I'll have to re-subscribe while I'm down there as well.

Yeah...
Dead Space: 9.75
Ni No Kuni: 7.0
Resident Evil 6: 8.75
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 

[Lime]

I love how people say this lol. News flash, I'm just a guy running his own show on youtube. Not paid by EA and only work with a minimal amount of PR folks. I don't score my reviews but I highly rated it. Yet even I got comments like that as well. Pretty laughable. Everyone has different opinions, it's just how it is.

Disregarding the stupid moneyhat complaints, you have to realize that some opinions are more well-founded (valid and/or sound) than others. In your case, giving a perfect score to a game with what some would argue are non-contentious flaws does not convey a reflected and critical assessment of a game.

 

[kurahador]

I don't understand how IGN review complained about the mundane quests and backtracking when DS1&2 was pretty much that. :/

 

[SlasherJPC]

Disregarding the stupid moneyhat complaints, you have to realize that some opinions are more well-founded (valid and/or sound) than others. In your case, giving a perfect score to a game with what some would argue are non-contentious flaws does not convey a reflected and critical assessment of a game.

I'm all for reviews with varying scores. The whole money thing comment just gets a bit irritating is all.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Yeah after a few hours of Dead Space 3 I'm honestly with Kotaku on this one, so far at least. Yeck.

 

[CorrisD]

I don't understand how IGN review complained about the mundane quests and backtracking when DS1&2 was pretty much that. :/

Atmosphere, immersion and presentation can go a long way to making the mundane an enjoyable experience, some of the most love games like OoT, Super Metroid and SotC involve retreading the same spaces over and over.

From the demo I can see why people just wouldn't be as taken in with the game like they were with DS1/2, the planet, or what little I have played, just doesn't carry it off as well as previous games.

 

[Ushojax]

On Chapter 13, people are going to savage this game. I'm enjoying it despite the atrocious story so far, and it is atrocious, but people are going to rip this apart especially when they get planet-side. Space-side is very much DS.

So the story is really that bad? I'm one of the people that thought DS2 already went too far in terms of plot elements but 3 sounds like it goes even further.

 

[Victarion]

It's sad for me to see another one my loved IPs turned into shit. Thank you Viscral/EA.

I really loved Dead Space 1 and 2 cause they were actually "survival horror". They lost it with DS3, as if they didn't even know what made people love the first two game.

 

[Coxy]

EA was really pleased with the preorders. Still, I wonder if we get a Peter Moore quote again.

capcom was really pleased with the preorders for DmC

 

[nbthedude]

I won't speak for other reviewers, but I can tell you my reaction to this theory. Because I play so many games (both during and outside of my job), I'm always looking for something new. I still have fun going through the motions with by-rote experiences, but such games rarely excite me. It takes something new and daring to get my attention, either from a gameplay or storytelling standpoint.

But reviewers all have different tastes, so you just have to find a few who you can relate to.

Well like I said, I'm just trying to figure it out. It perplexes me how often I have seen what seems to be a reversal of enthusiast press vs. audience in other mediums. As I have said elsewhere, in films, music, etc. we constantly find critics attempting to challenge their audience to demand more of their entertainment, not to settle for the latest blockbuster or paint by numbers sequel. It is the audience who say things about critics like "they read too much into it" or that they are "too critical."

Meanwhile, we have seen so many times recently where the relationship between games media and audience functions in the exact reverse way. Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3, Dragon Age 2, Halo 4, DmC, Assassin's Creed 3, etc. Games that all recieved nearly universal praise by critics. Then the games come out and fans "backlash" against these games for being uninspiring or not as good as previous entries and it is the critics who claim that fans are acting "entitled" and disrespectful of the hard work that went into making games. I seriously cannot imagine a film critic telling Transformer's audience that they are "self entitled" for wanting a better film.

What is weirder to me is there eventually the fans seem to win the critical argument in the long term. I listen to a lot of gaming podcasts and I can't count the number of times in recent months where those games above come up on Giant Bomb or Rebel FM or Game informer podcasts and dudes express the same kind of mediocre reaction that fans expressed, a kind of "yeah, in hindsight, maybe that didn't turn out to be amazing..." and I just sit there and think "huh, where you were you dudes when these games were being reviewed?

These days I find the best I can do is watch videos and read forums and wait a week. I simply can't trust pre-release reviews most of the time. They seem to be written in a different environment with different results. What shapes that environment and the pre-release opinions, I'm not sure. I'm definitely not claming any kind of facile "money hate" conspiracy. I just know there are some pretty large disparities between the opinions that come from the pre-release environment and the consensus that develop afterwards.

 

[diamount]

Yeah...
Dead Space: 9.75
Ni No Kuni: 7.0
Resident Evil 6: 8.75
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

You have a problem with opinions?