• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Arms Review Thread

That's true. It's just silly all around really. I personally didn't like what I played so the scores are about what I expected not terrible but not perfect either.

Did about as well as one could expect for an experimental game in a genre that is starting to get more flack when it doesn't deliver on single player content.

Caveat - none of those - BotW, MK8, and Shovel Knight - are exclusive to the platform.

What does that have to do with what he said though... And people are still on this BoTW thing?

Actually could it be a motion control thing? Each time Nintendo tries something with a different control scheme it always gets mixed reviews besides splatoon

It's a content (i.e. namely single player/story mode) thing for the most part from what I've been reading. Which is more glaring in a post Injustice 2 world, as some reviews have even pointed out.
 
It's a content (i.e. namely single player/story mode) thing for the most part from what I've been reading. Which is more glaring in a post Injustice 2 world, as some reviews have even pointed out.

Hmm I see, splatoon had a robust single player mode even tho the maps were lacking at the start, it kinda suck that sibgle player mode is lacking. Well reviews never really bothers me as I more or less know what I want from ARMS.
 
Whew... really brought out the console warriors again...

As was noted earlier:
...I've said it before and I'll say it again, reviews threads are consistently among the worst threads this site has to offer...

Also:
79 to 80 is only ok by today's standards though. Reviewers don't use the whole scale for reviews.
How is 79 to 80 only "ok"?
What's below it considered? Mediocre?

Worth considering, in that regard:

OmamxAD.png
 
Did about as well as one could expect for an experimental game in a genre that is starting to get more flack when it doesn't deliver on single player content.



What does that have to do with what he said though... And people are still on this BoTW thing?



It's a content (i.e. namely single player/story mode) thing for the most part from what I've been reading. Which is more glaring in a post Injustice 2 world, as some reviews have even pointed out.

It seems like a sophism to say "The Switch's fourth 90+ title," without qualifying that none of them are Switch-exclusive.

Regarding the thread, it's a bummer that Arms didn't review more favorably. I'll keep hammering away on Disgaea (which I should note I also own on PS4).
 
This game has something special.
I was not convinced by the concept but since I played it for one hour the other day, I really want to master this game. It rarely happens. The gameplay, the colors, the theme song, the characters, the strategies are calling me hard.
 
Caveat - none of those - BotW, MK8, and Shovel Knight - are exclusive to the platform.

Also Splatoon 2 will be judged against Splatoon, itself an 80, so if it's not as iterative as it could be (i.e., more innovation than just halving the 2-map cycling from 4 hours to 2), it will review poorer than Splatoon. I see 78-84 for Splatoon 2.

Splatoon is 81 metacritic mainly because of the launch content
Splatoon 2:
- new SP campaign - judging from the Arms direct looks even more wild than the original
- New horde mode - Salmon Run.
- will launch with a lot of maps compared to the debut.
- maps will have a lot more elements from the SP(moving platforms, ink rails etc)
- easy to setup local multiplayer mode.
- Spectator Mode.
- Tournament Mode.
- all the existing weapons + new ones.
- new sub weapons.
- new specials
- new special moves(charges able to hold charge and jump with charge, dash for twinguns, faster movement speed for rollers, inking a path with rollers probably a lot of other moves/weapon mechanics we don't know about)
- new music
- reduced rotation 2 hours instead of 4
- can be played on a portable device or on the TV
- ProController support(no longer do you need to have the huge gamepad in your hands)
- Map is accessible via button rather than being marooned on another screen
- unlocks for clothes work differently
- PANTS and other accessories!

This are the changes just off the top of my head

It's a good game, that's it


I think you mean breath of the wild

Splatoon was #6 in GOTY overall list on this very site in 2015.
So obviously a lot of people liked it enough to vote for it over SMM, Undertale, Fallout and bunch of other games.
There is also the little matter of it being the most popular console game in Japan in the last decade or so.

It probably can't get a high meta like BotW, but in it will end up selling more and I can see it being top of a lot of GOTY lists for 2017
 
Around an 80 metacritic is what I was expecting and largely for the same reasons. Fun gameplay but not enough content. The free DLC updates might help that somewhat but I don't think there will ever be much in the way of single player for this game.
 
This game has something special.
I was not convinced by the concept but since I played it for one hour the other day, I really want to master this game. It rarely happens. The gameplay, the colors, the theme song, the characters, the strategies are calling me hard.

It's something I prefer compared to Pokken Tournament because your choice of weapons can help change the tide of battle.

Whereas in Pokken Tournament, there was not much I could do to stop getting rushed by people using 'Pikachu Libre' online for example unless I tried a different Pokémon I had to learn altogether.
 
Splatoon is 81 metacritic mainly because of the launch content
Splatoon 2:
- new SP campaign - judging from the Arms direct looks even more wild than the original
- New horde mode - Salmon Run.
- will launch with a lot of maps compared to the debut.
- maps will have a lot more elements from the SP(moving platforms, ink rails etc)
- easy to setup local multiplayer mode.
- Spectator Mode.
- Tournament Mode.
- all the existing weapons + new ones.
- new sub weapons.
- new specials
- new special moves(charges able to hold charge and jump with charge, dash for twinguns, faster movement speed for rollers, inking a path with rollers probably a lot of other moves/weapon mechanics we don't know about)
- new music
- reduced rotation 2 hours instead of 4
- can be played on a portable device or on the TV
- ProController support(no longer do you need to have the huge gamepad in your hands)
- Map is accessible via button rather than being marooned on another screen
- unlocks for clothes work differently
- PANTS and other accessories!

This are the changes just off the top of my head
Yup. Splatoon 2 is looking a lot more polished and meaty than the original. Not that any of that guarantees a 90+ MC score, but I'd say it has a pretty decent chance.
 
Yup. Splatoon 2 is looking a lot more polished and meaty than the original. Not that any of that guarantees a 90+ MC score, but I'd say it has a pretty decent chance.
720p -10% tax

I don't think they'll have all the stuff at launch though? they've shown it all so we know it's coming, but surely it won't launch with 1000 loadouts etc. It won't even make any sense since most people will not even be a high enough level to get some of them for 1-2 months.
 
For flagship first-party titles? No they don't. Lower than 70 is pretty damn rare.

A 78 MC is pretty average, all things considered.

Low 70's is average, anything lower than that is getting towards disaster territory for games. It's kind of better these days when it's hard to actually crack a 90 average, but the scale is still pretty busted.

Basically, the scale is really:

Below 70 = varying levels of below average
70 = average
80 = good
90 = great

This isn't taking into account individual outlets with different outlooks (an Edge 7 can be decent for example) but I think it's an accurate read of gaming reviews as a whole.

Agreed. I've seen other games get treated like garbage below 80 here. I guess cause this is 1st party so there's allowances that have to be made.

Anyone calling below 80 a "bad" or "garbage" score is an idiot, frankly.
 
Nintendo should drop the whole scheduled demo crap and just put up a demo. This is one game I won't buy until I've tried it no matter how good the reviews are.
 
Nintendo should drop the whole scheduled demo crap and just put up a demo. This is one game I won't buy until I've tried it no matter how good the reviews are.

The demo was to test out the online and such though, should've just played that.
 
Ehh I'll give this a pass then. There are a lot of games coming out now with excellent scores. We seem to be in a period of home runs! Even Dirt4 us getting great reviews.
 
From the Mario Kart team and as a fighting game, I didn't expect much from single player. A Grand Prix with different classes (difficulties), one on 100 somewhat like a time trial, VS mode, and the mini fighting modes encompass battle mode (though I understand some people only play MK for battle). That's how I see it anyway
 
I adored playing ARMS during the Test Punch. Day one for me. I feel like this game will have excellent support from the developer.
 
ARMS continues to do quite well on Amazon's US site. It's the #4 product on the video game best seller list (and the #1 game). It hasn't left the top 15 since the first Testpunch. It looks like the reviews are sitting well with people. Really curious to see how this performs at launch. I feel like this one will be a slow burn, but will ultimately end up being pretty successful.
 
These drive by posts are embarrassing. You're clearly just looking at the scores

I hardly think the people docking points for the game are doing so because the game doesn't have a "deeper footsie game than Tekken".

Especially when most of them are docking it for content.

Kind of late to reply now but I only said this because I saw someone on gaf say exactly that. The reviews I watched said the game lacked variety and depth, despite being fun.
 
I really don't put much stock in the average reviewers opinion of fighting games.
They put too much emphasis on single player, and they very rarely dig into the subtleties of the gameplay mechanics.
Imo fighting games should be judged on their primary reason for existing and becoming popular in the first place: competing against other human players of a similar skill level. With the main emphasis put on evaluating the game mechanics and whether or not they allow for continually improving and adapting to the opponent as you both improve at them.

Reviewers instead will mark a fighting game on whether or not the character stories are engaging enough, or a single player campaign vs the computer is long enough and contains enough cutscene. Totally irrelevant to the genre imo.
 
Funny to consider that Splattoon "only" had a 81 metacritic average. I think the lacking content at the game's launch was only one part of it.

I think a larger factor was that people had to get used to the game, which just felt strange when you first tried it. I'm imagining that ARMS might be similar, that it needs some time to grow on people, for the online community to expand, before people can really appreciate it.

As for myself I will not buy it simply because I was hoping there was some fleshed-out single-player campaign (with some background story) attached. I feel that's really a missed opportunity to build up a world similar to what Nintendo managed with Splatoon.
 
Reviewers instead will mark a fighting game on whether or not the character stories are engaging enough, or a single player campaign vs the computer is long enough and contains enough cutscene. Totally irrelevant to the genre imo.

I honestly don't know how you can read all these reviews and come away with this. I didn't get that sense at all from the reviews. Sure, some may mention these things, but I didn't see any review where this was the driving force for the score.
 
As for myself I will not buy it simply because I was hoping there was some fleshed-out single-player campaign (with some background story) attached. I feel that's really a missed opportunity to build up a world similar to what Nintendo managed with Splatoon.

I guess we'll have to wait for ARMS 2 for that, it's clear that they didn't include such a thing for time constraints. The MP is great though so I don't care that much.
 
I honestly don't know how you can read all these reviews and come away with this. I didn't get that sense at all from the reviews. Sure, some may mention these things, but I didn't see any review where this was the driving force for the score.

Really? Because the one thing I'm interested in when reading these reviews was how the competetive fighting felt for people who played it longer, and for me it felt the consensus was that its the most solid part of the game. The issues I see brought up the most are lack of contentl espescially single player. As someone who buys this only to pour hundreds of hours into 1v1, the reviews I've read have just made me want it to be release day already!
 

Not in this universe, and i say this as a Splatoon fan. They also got nothing to do with each other so maybe we should stop derailing the thread with this idiocy.

ARMS continues to do quite well on Amazon's US site. It's the #4 product on the video game best seller list (and the #1 game). It hasn't left the top 15 since the first Testpunch. It looks like the reviews are sitting well with people. Really curious to see how this performs at launch. I feel like this one will be a slow burn, but will ultimately end up being pretty successful.
Reviews don't really affect games sales that much, unless they're extremely negative (or extremely positive). See Destiny.
 
ARMS continues to do quite well on Amazon's US site. It's the #4 product on the video game best seller list (and the #1 game). It hasn't left the top 15 since the first Testpunch. It looks like the reviews are sitting well with people. Really curious to see how this performs at launch. I feel like this one will be a slow burn, but will ultimately end up being pretty successful.

It also jumped 10 places in the yearly best seller rankings: from the 78th spot to the 68th. Japan has it hovering below Dragon Quest XI and Splatoon 2 consistently, which is a great place to be as well. I don't think it has left the 1st place in Canada for a few weeks (except for a Vive peripheral for a few hours), and it has stayed in top 20 in france and UK, and top 10 consistently in Spain, quite often top 5 too. In Germany it's quite often in the top 20, or otherwise hovering just below the 20th spot. The Italians don't give a shit about the game.

Seems like it's doing decently from what little we can discern atm, so let's hope it'll do well!
 
A reminder, Pokken Tournament reviewed worse because its game modes were barebones and the story mode was mediocre.

ARMS has a lot more going for it despite the lack of a story mode.

That's why it will be hilarious if Pokken Tournament DX for Switch reviews better than ARMS when its additions are more characters and a 3v3 mode with no revealed plans for more DLC.
 
Splatoon is 81 metacritic mainly because of the launch content
Splatoon 2:
- new SP campaign - judging from the Arms direct looks even more wild than the original
- New horde mode - Salmon Run.
- will launch with a lot of maps compared to the debut.
- maps will have a lot more elements from the SP(moving platforms, ink rails etc)
- easy to setup local multiplayer mode.
- Spectator Mode.
- Tournament Mode.
- all the existing weapons + new ones.
- new sub weapons.
- new specials
- new special moves(charges able to hold charge and jump with charge, dash for twinguns, faster movement speed for rollers, inking a path with rollers probably a lot of other moves/weapon mechanics we don't know about)
- new music
- reduced rotation 2 hours instead of 4
- can be played on a portable device or on the TV
- ProController support(no longer do you need to have the huge gamepad in your hands)
- Map is accessible via button rather than being marooned on another screen
- unlocks for clothes work differently
- PANTS and other accessories!

This are the changes just off the top of my head

The all new Splatoon 2, featuring:

- Pants!
- Also some clothes that aren't pants!
- You can use a controller!
- You can push a button on the controller to open a map!
- The map will have neat ink designs in it!
- Watch the game!
- This iteration of the multilpayer series allows play with other people!

To top it all off, it will take the unprecedented step of a sequel having some songs that weren't in the previous game! Wow!

It will also have some items that were not in the previous game! No, stop! It's too much! I can't handle it!

How can it not be GOTY!

sorry don't mean to pick on you, and I think it will be a great game, that list of "features" is just hilarious though :P
 
The all new Splatoon 2, featuring:

- Pants!
- You can use a controller!
- You can push a button on the controller to open a map!
- The map will have neat ink designs in it!
- Watch the game!
- This iteration of the multilpayer series allows play with other people!

To top it all off, it will take the unprecedented step of a sequel having some songs that weren't in the previous game! Wow!

It will also have some items that were not in the previous game! No, it's too much! I can't handle it!

How can it not be GOTY!

sorry don't mean to pick on you, and I think it will be a great game, that list of "features" is just hilarious though :P
To be fair here. Splatoon made you use the Gamepad. I stop playing because of that, I'm sure the Pro-Controller options will actually something people will actually appreciate.
 
My review for WWG / Comicbook. Ended up giving it a 4/5.

Splatoon spawned a culture and fan-base as diverse and lively as the game itself, and since then we've been craving for more genre-warping games in the same spiritual vein. Say hello to ARMS. Nintendo took the fighting game genre and dumped it into an alchemical cauldron of sorts. The constituent mechanics and defining disciplines that make fighting games interesting and rewarding were broken down, separated, purified, and then put back together in a totally new way. Did we end up with gold, or with something less than the sum of its parts? That depends entirely on what you want out of a single-player fighting game experience.
 
78 is fair. Tekken 7, the best fighter of this generation, just launched to barely higher scores. Critics are just a clueless mess when it comes to the genre.

The fact that Mario Kart and Overwatch get a free pass with their grand total of 0 minutes of single player content between them, while fighting games are expected to have everything and the kitchen sink.
 
Has any review answered the big questions about the traditional controls vs motion controls? There seems to be a TON of misinformation out there purely based on the testpunch.

I've seen lots people saying that with the traditional controls, you can't move while punching or curve both arms if you punch them close to the same time. I'm pretty sure I remember when I briefly tried motion controls I couldn't move while punching, but maybe I wasn't doing it right.

Has any review cleared this kind of stuff up yet? I liked traditional controls better, but I really hope I won't be missing out on an advantage by using them.
 
Has any review answered the big questions about the traditional controls vs motion controls? There seems to be a TON of misinformation out there purely based on the testpunch.

I've seen lots people saying that with the traditional controls, you can't move while punching or curve both arms if you punch them close to the same time. I'm pretty sure I remember when I briefly tried motion controls I couldn't move while punching, but maybe I wasn't doing it right.

Has any review cleared this kind of stuff up yet? I liked traditional controls better, but I really hope I won't be missing out on an advantage by using them.

What would reviewers know that all of us who played it wouldn't? The control schemes in the final game are the same
 
Having a lot more time with the game than all of us that played the testpunch, so they could clear up these misconceptions. I've heard conflicting reports on it.

I think traditional controls have a slight advantage, but there are people who would argue that point. You can curve easier with motion controls, but have a bit more precision and easier movement on traditional. It seems both control options are pretty close if you put in enough time.
 
The game is down to 77 on MC.

Another 6, 7 and 8.5 hit today:

armsx3uni.png


This game really splits its audience, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I feel like Nintendo could have done a better job at making it more accessible, it seems like most people that understood the controls and how the game works have enjoyed the game quite a lot though.

It's also a game that has 42 8/10 or higher scores out of 63 reviews, which isn't bad at all.
 
The game is down to 77 on MC.

Another 6, 7 and 8.5 hit today:

armsx3uni.png


This game really splits its audience, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I feel like Nintendo could have done a better job at making it more accessible, it seems like most people that understood the controls and how the game works have enjoyed the game quite a lot though.

It's also a game that has 42 8/10 or higher scores out of 63 reviews, which isn't bad at all.

The same was said when Splatoon scored 81 and it still sold crazy and is loved by alot of people.

Arms will be fine it will not sell Splatoon numbers but it will outsell pokken and street fighter 5. Heck maybe even Tekken 7.
 
Top Bottom