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Edge 220 - Castlevania, Enslaved, Dead Rising 2 reviews and more

V_Arnold said:
Whao. I guess EDGE did not approach Enslaved as something that aims to take the throne away from hack and slash games. They should have known better. They should have read GAF :(

Because people were treating it like that?

All this really proves is that the demo was shitty and failed to actually portray the game in a way that it should have.

miladesn said:
too soon for that, Vanquish is coming out on 19th in NA, 21st and 22nd in JP and EU.

Okay then.
 
IIRC, Edge gave Heavenly Sword a 6. I'm not saying the demo is indicative of the full game, but until I can read the full review I think that 8 is mighty high indeed.
 

Corto

Member
Now I have two more games to buy... Damn it! The upgrade system in Enslaved must be cool then, can't wait to read all the review text.

And yay for Civ V!
 

Oneself

Member
I highly doubt Enslaved is worth 8 out of 10. The demo was terrible, maybe it wasn't representative of the final game's quality...
 
Phaethon0017 said:
IIRC, Edge gave Heavenly Sword a 6. I'm not saying the demo is indicative of the full game, but until I can read the full review I think that 8 is mighty high indeed.

I would give Heavenly Sword a 6
 

ElFly

Member
subversus said:
it's not like they said that the rest of it is platforming

So what's the other 70% of the game then?

Waiting a few seconds for the character on the screen to do something when you press a button?

Because the game does that exceedingly well.
 

nli10

Member
Hydrophobia Review Full Text - worth adding to OP?

Pretty sure I'll still buy it though, £10 for something I've not seen in a game before is expensive, but justifiable.

Also they invoke Second Sight which was probably the 2nd best action game of that generation.
 

Hyphen

Member
Novella said:
Is this your interpretation of their review policy?

I feel as though Edge is smarter than saying 10 is reserved for "revolutionary" games because so many games that deserve that score are not actually revolutionary; they're just great.

It's the review policy of Edge. '10' isn't "reserved for revolutionary games". 'Revolutionary' is just one sentiment (like the other numbers) which corresponds to a 10/10 game in terms of a review. Problems arise when looking at a score/sentiment too literally without fully reading the review. Because then some gamers will wonder why the first 4d game isn't given a 10, when there obviously needs to be more to a game that just that. So as Visualante suggested, there's a 'scoring system' explained before each review (1 = one, 2 = two), but what I quoted was their 'review policy'.

Visualante said:
The revolutionary has been retired given that it is unfair to expect games to reach the high bars set by Mario 64, Zelda, Half Life 2 when the 3D revolution is actually over.

Nothing to do with high bars of the games you suggested, it's to do with gamers reading too much into the 'score' rather than reading enough of the review. Because then instead of celebrating a 10/10 game, some gamers get paranoid and wonder how a specific game could garner such a score when it isn't wholly 'revolutionary'. But anyway, I don't want to get into that, because all magazines will review games differently. And it's up to the reader to understand that Edge (and like all other mags) have their own opinion on what makes a good game.

For example "...Enslaved's greatest achievement is standing out in the crowded field of me-too, colour sapped videogame apocalypses, serving as a vibrant oasis in the otherwise murky brown wastes." - Edge are applauding NT for bringing colour to an apocalyptic environment. Saying it's the game's greatest achievement. That's fine, as long as you realise that. But I guarantee there'll be others who'd prefer a grey sky over a blue one, and take that into consideration when writing (or reading) a review.

(btw, none of the above is a 'dig' at Visualante)

Edge - "...there is no 'correct' score for a game, only scores that cause less of an argument when reprinted on the Net and culled into a statistical database. It is impossible to please everyone; only to make some people happier than others as they apply mathematical rules to a verbal argument."
 

Despera

Banned
Ranger X said:
Well, I felt like skipping Hydrophobia but now it's pretty much confirmed!

Why? Because of the 3?

Clock Tower 2 scored a whooping 3.9 from Gamespot, and I still enjoyed that game.
 

Majora

Member
Having read the reviews, Enslaved's score seems a little generous. I expect a bit more from an Edge 8 than what is contained in the review. Castlevania reads exactly as I'd expect however. I'll post some different bits to the final paragraphs that were typed up earlier

Castlevania

For its first six hours Lords Of Shadow is God Of War 3 with Greek mythology swapped out for gothic folk tales....it's arguably to the game's credit that the iconic, candle-lit castles are reserved for the final, climatic third.

Combat is a joy to work with...By not taking any major gameplay chances, Lords Of Shadows manages to get most of the fundamentals right. The camera is an occasional inconvenience however.

The cutscenes are a little overwrought...while the production is never less than triple-A, it's never truly rousing or paid off with anything more than the usual quota of killing.

Clocking in at the 15-20 hour mark, Lords Of Shadows threatens to test your stamina. The variety of challenges and the curvature of the game's narrative spine help ease the pain, but it's nevertheless a relief to reach the home stretch.

Enslaved

Enslaved's combat dangles constantly on the knife edge between thrilling and laborious....Frequently, Enslaved gives players a chance to plan these encounters, or bypass them altogether. On these occasions, players can plan an assault starting with the malfunctioning weak links or attempt to creep past the group in its entirety...In truth these sections are more successful than the out-and-out attempts at more typical puzzles, which are all variations on the switch-pulling, bridge-turning model.

Enslaved's platforming is, for the most part, fairly easy...and requires the presence of angry mech gunfire to avoid before truly coming alive. It's these sections, however, which best show off Ninja Theory's eye for a set-piece.

Like the Uncharted series, Enslaved is also unafraid to make the case for a rollercoaster of a story, well-told. It's cutscenes are frequent but never overlong, and feature uniformly high-calibre performances from its cast.
 
The scores here seem almost conserative, along the lines of the standard numbers to hand out to games, based on what gamespot/ign/gamespy/and so on, would give these games usually, but still, there is whining?


The Edge-is-being-over-critical is now replaced with them being biased? fuck me like a john john, but I recall plenty of times when they put down the axe on UK based games, from rare to Real time worlds, to crystal dynamics and so on...

Some people here are off their rockers!
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
ElFly said:
So what's the other 70% of the game then?

Waiting a few seconds for the character on the screen to do something when you press a button?

Because the game does that exceedingly well.

puzzles, boss fights and even some stealth sections.
 
Nuclear Muffin said:
Holy crap, an 8 for Enslaved :lol

There really is no defence for this one. Having played the demo I can safely say that this is utter bogus, it is an absolute pile of shit of the highest order with the worst controls of any action game in existence. Giving it an 8 is an insult to the intelligence of their readers.

But then again it is a British made game so Edge are happy to lie to their readers to support their friends at Ninja Theory.

"No."
ztte8m.gif
 
Do U.S. subscribers have issue 219 (Rockband 3 cover) yet? I moved recently but updated my address in mid-August and I will flip a shit if I missed an issue. Newsstands here still have 218 out though.

When do US subs usually get their copies (how long after UK)?
 

shuyin_

Banned
Supervlieg said:
3? So the battle for real realtime water is still undecided.

Ouch!
I think the battle for real realtime water is decided. Water looks and apparently acts realistic in Hydrophobia. Unfortunately, it seems from the review they forgot to make a game around their water tech.
At least that's what it seems from this particular review; maybe the game is good...wait for other reviews.
 

Chaplain

Member
Fong Ghoul said:
Do U.S. subscribers have issue 219 (Rockband 3 cover) yet? I moved recently but updated my address in mid-August and I will flip a shit if I missed an issue. Newsstands here still have 218 out though.

I got issue 219 last week on Thursday (in the mail). Edge usually arrives between the 14th to the 21st of every month.
 

2San

Member
Edge giving scores similar to other reviewers? Don't know if this is good or bad.

Civ V looks awesome too bad I don't like strategy games. :|
 

.la1n

Member
From anyone who has actually played more than just the demo of enslaved I have heard nothing but good things, so I don't see why an 8 is unreasonable. Anyone judging the game based off of the short demo :lol

I am also someone who doesn't want them to be involved with the devil may cry franchise but that doesn't mean that enslaved is a horrible game by any means.
 

Mar

Member
izakq said:
Soooo out of the loop. This is the first time I've ever heard of Enslaved. Going to check it out.

Can't wait for DR2 and Castlevania.

Same on all fronts here. No idea what Enslaved nor Hydrophobia is.

CaptYamato said:
Forgot to add: :lol :lol :lol Dead Rising.

Wow, 3 laughing emoticons? I'm genuinely interested, what do you find funny about this?
 
Mar said:
Same on all fronts here. No idea what Enslaved nor Hydrophobia is.



Wow, 3 laughing emoticons? I'm genuinely interested, what do you find funny about this?
Just find it funny. Can't wait to see how it sells.
 
i'm officially 4 issues behind in my reading now. because the u.s. reseller missed 2 months of issues, and then bulk mailed them together 2 months later. i haven't been able to keep up since.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
GeoramA said:
Doesn't bode well for New Vegas, BulletStorm, Gears 3, RAGE, etc...
Bulletstorm is actually pretty picturesque. Dungeon Defenders is guaranteed to get a 10 on the color scale, and it's a UE3.0 game.
 

VinZuku

Member
Oneself said:
I highly doubt Enslaved is worth 8 out of 10. The demo was terrible, maybe it wasn't representative of the final game's quality...

It's a good thing they don't review demos then. ;)
 
MadmanUK said:
Cover is Bloodstone. Subscribers get Goldeneye Wii.

Scores:-

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (360 version) - 8
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (360 version) - 8
Hydrophobia - 3
Quantum Theory (360 version) - 3

Obviously notable/funny review scores. The Enslaved demo was much better than I thought it would be...however, I can't help but be surprised that it recieved an 8. Also I personally feel like I wanted the new Castlevania to be much better than Enslaved. 8 is still real good though.
 
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