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[ubique]

I wanna know about Dragon Age Origins: Awakening too. I doubt length is the only thing they didn't like with a score so inferior to DA:O.

 

[BattleMonkey]

If the length of DA Awakening is really low, then I wouldn't be surprised it's because of that and how it could have probably just been released as DLC instead.

 

[LosDaddie]

Glad to see GoW 3 get a 10/10. I just paid off my pre-order on Monday

But IMO, GI gives out far too many AAA scores.

 

[Oyashiro]

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition – 9.5

:lol What? I'm a RE fan, I loved RE5, and I have a very hard time believing this score.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

To be fair, co-op would make JC2 the greatest game of all-time (/Kanye) and it does seem like a bit of a mistake to omit considering the lesser games in the genre manage to include it. The comment amount the end of the game being frustrating seems par for the course since I remember the final assault on the estate in JC1 being pretty frustrating as well.

 

[androvsky]

No Sakura Wars review? I don't remember GI reviewing it last month either.

 

[whatevermort]

Here's the Dragon Age expansion review copy (as found on the 4Player forums)...

The Arch demon is dead, the Blight is quelled, and peace is restored to Ferelden.
For a Grey Warden who specializes in saving the world, what else could you possibly accomplish? As a full expansion to Dragon Age: Origins, that's the question Awakening is called upon to address. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be "not much."

I'd be the last person to complain about getting more Dragon Age; I still love the core game play, so Awakening's additional quests, skills, and items are all the reason I need to start killing darkspawn again. However, as an expansion, Awakening doesn't Contribute much beyond simply lengthening the time you can spend as a Grey Warden. It feels like a direct-to-video film sequel, shuffling the core components of the dragon age world to create a new story in a familiar skin.

With the major darkspawn threat neutralized in Origins, you're left with clean up duty in Awakening. By importing your old character or creating a new one, you'll assume the position of Warden Commander in Amaranthine and deal with the aftermath of the Archdemon's death. The darkspawn that didn't retreat have begun fighting each other, and you need to get to the bottom of the conflict and restore order to the region. The premise is cool - especially since you are essentially the feudal lord of the Amaranthine - but it doesn't evolve the basic formula.

All of the features where Awakening could have built on the Dragon Age foundation are sidelined, like the team at BioWare knew where to expand but didn't have the time to flesh them out. Building up your base at Vigil's Keep is just a handful of simple upgrades. Governing the region is handled in a single sequence where you mete out justice. Unraveling a conspiracy against your rule is a brief sidequest. Maybe a 15-hour adventure isn't enough to time to dig into these concepts, but they feel pretty hollow and unsatisfying as implemented.

Despite some disappointments, Awakening is still worth playing for the devoted Dragon Age fan. The tactical combat hasn't gotten any less entertaining, and the story reveals an interesting twist on the world's compelling lore. Awakening enriches the universe with new revelation and characters (two of the new party members are particularly awesome), but only makes half-hearted attempts to improve the basics.

Score 7.75

Platform - PC

Concept - More Dragon Age!

Graphics - Why can't I find a single piece of headgear that doesn't make my mages look absolutely ridiculous?

Sound- Pretty much the same music and voice actors, all of which are good.

Playability - Strategic pause-and-play battles are still the same heart of the game, and control as well as ever

Entertainment - Provides the same brand of fun found in the original. Unchanged, but also unimproved

Replay Value - Moderate

 

[sixteen-bit]

Yikes. All fairly high scores.

Subscriptions to this magazine are sold specifically at gaming retail stores, so it is probably in their best interest to drum up hype for releases.

 

[Odrion]

Sorry, as much as you want to tote the "Not all games should have multiplayer" line. June Cause 2's lack of multiplayer is really, really disappointing.

 

[B1gg_Randall]

Holy shit. Wasn't expecting this.

hell yeah!!! I thought it would get a 8 or something...I did enjoy the demo so im definitely getting this later on...

 

[Yaweee]

Subscriptions to this magazine are sold specifically at gaming retail stores, so it is probably in their best interest to drum up hype for releases.

That doesn't really seem to be the case, though. You can check out the averages for any review site or magazine on GameRankings, and the vast majority all sites fall within 66% to 76% average. Game Informer is pretty normal at 72.5%, while even a "tough" review source like Edge has an average of 63.5%, less than a full point lower than GI's scores.

 

[Movement]

Wow, march is a good month for games this year.

 

[plagiarize]

That doesn't really seem to be the case, though. You can check out the averages for any review site or magazine on GameRankings, and the vast majority all sites fall within 66% to 76% average. Game Informer is pretty normal at 72.5%, while even a "tough" review source like Edge has an average of 63.5%, less than a full point lower than GI's scores.

Edge don't review a lot of the crap other magazine's review though, so it's difficult to take these scores. really you need to take say, the top fifty games in a given year and see how those average out accross all the magazines that reviewed them.

but anyways...

they slammed AvP for what it's worth, and i love that game. RE5 deserves a 9.5 with the extra content imho.

it's a co-op game. play it like one and you'll see why it SHOULD get a score like that.

 

[Odrion]

edge is literally the pitchfork media of videogames

 

[Nizz]

I'm really get tired of 'no multiplayer is disappointing' bullshit. Not every game needs it so stop whining.

Same here. In my eyes, Just Cause 2 is a single player game through and through. Good to see it got a high score. Full game will probably be lots of fun.

 

[Foxtastical]

I love how people want to create guidelines, instructions and rules to reviewing games. It's hilarious.

 

[The Technomancer]

See, I like to use the "price of a movie ticket" yard stick to judge the value of a video game; that is, $5 per hour of entertainment. ($10 movie ticket to see a two-hour movie.)

So a 10-hour game is worth $50, IMO.

I thought only I did this!

 

[Yaweee]

Edge don't review a lot of the crap other magazine's review though, so it's difficult to take these scores. really you need to take say, the top fifty games in a given year and see how those average out accross all the magazines that reviewed them.

Ah, Edge might be tougher than their average review indicates.

That's also perhaps the justification as to why the "average" game score lingers around 70%; something like Uncharted 2 gets reviewed by over 100 sites, whereas shitty games from small publishers have relatively little impact on averages due to how few sites review them.

 

[Swag]

Fully Surprised by Just Cause 2

 

[Zachack]

Here's the Dragon Age expansion review copy (as found on the 4Player forums)...

Still want it but considering I haven't finished DA and probably won't for a while, waiting for $20 seems like the best idea.

 

[HiResDes]

edge is literally the pitchfork media of videogames

I love pitchfork. And yes I'm a pretentious asshole, hence why I like my critics to also be pretentious assholes.

 

[ViolentP]

GoW3 was robbed.