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[Dabanton]

Cover game - Batman: Arkham City

Reviews -

Call of Duty: Black Ops - 9
Rock Band 3 - 9
Fable 3 - 7
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 - 5
Final Fantasy XIV - 4
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - 9
Kinect Sports - 6
Kinect Adventures - 5
Sonic Colours - 8
God of War: Ghost of Sparta - 8
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - 9
Donkey Kong Country Returns - 8
The Ball - 7
Super Scribblenauts - 7
Blood Stone 007 - 5
Shaun White Skateboarding - 6
Time Crisis: Razing Storm - 4
TV Superstars - 2
The Fight - 3
The Shoot - 7
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom - 7
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 - 7
NBA Jam - 8
Super Meat Boy - 9
Costume Quest - 5
Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City - 9
A Shadows Tale - 7
Goldeneye 007 - 7

 

[Stumpokapow]

A 2... very interesting. I can't think of any prior GamesTM 2 scores.

Looks like issue 80 gave Tornado a 2, and issue 69 gave Bomber Land Touch a 2. Those are the only ones I found sweeping through the archive

 

[Dabanton]

Hell of a lot of 9's.

 

[Amir0x]

Hell of a lot of 9's.

not as many as Game Informer, thats why GamesTM isn't a premiere magazine

 

[Suzzopher]

That Kinect Sports score is lower than the general opinion.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

What did they say about NFS / DKCR

 

[notworksafe]

Final Fantasy XIV - 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNm-t9eWSvA

 

[Corto]

Well it seems that if someone was on the market for a light gun on rail shooter for move The Shoot is the way to go! I need to read their impressions first as I was inclined to buy Time Crisis being that it is 3 games in 1... And great score for NFS and too bad for Costume Quest I really hoped it would turn a great game...

 

[faridmon]

I bloody love Games TM. They are normally on the dot. Glad to see Sonic Colours with its 8.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Well it seems that if someone was on the market for a light gun on rail shooter for move The Shoot is the way to go! I need to read their impressions first as I was inclined to buy Time Crisis being that it is 3 games in 1... And great score for NFS and too bad for Costume Quest I really hoped it would turn a great game...

Costume Quest is really great, but it's also brief and inoffensive. I highly recommend the game, but I absolutely see where the 5 came from.

 

[notworksafe]

too bad for Costume Quest I really hoped it would turn a great game...

It is a fantastic game! I haven't read the review, but I'm curious why they believed it merited only a 5. My guess is the lack of voice acting was a major part...and it was a bummer for me as well. It's a damn fine game anyway, especially for $15.

 

[Bebpo]

It is a fantastic game! I haven't read the review, but I'm curious why they believed it merited only a 5. My guess is the lack of voice acting was a major part...and it was a bummer for me as well. It's a damn fine game anyway, especially for $15.

I'm guessing it was more the battle system being tedious and repetitive.

The presentation is enjoyable. Good art/writing/music. It's just that like almost every DF game, the gameplay is weak as hell. I love DF and will keep supporting their games because I enjoy the art/writing/music aspect of them, but at some point it would be nice if they could hire some more talented game designing/programming staff.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Costume Quest is really great, but it's also brief and inoffensive. I highly recommend the game, but I absolutely see where the 5 came from.

Yeah, you can knock it for: lack of music, no voice acting, frame rate problems, repetitive and tedious combat, unbalanced upgrade system, brevity...

Or you can, like a lot of people, enjoy it a lot in spite of all of that!

 

[Mako_Drug]

Time Crisis: Razing Storm - 4
TV Superstars - 2
The Fight - 3
The Shoot - 7

Move dun got busted up.

 

[Corto]

Costume Quest is really great, but it's also brief and inoffensive. I highly recommend the game, but I absolutely see where the 5 came from.

It is a fantastic game! I haven't read the review, but I'm curious why they believed it merited only a 5. My guess is the lack of voice acting was a major part...and it was a bummer for me as well. It's a damn fine game anyway, especially for $15.

I was waiting to finish some of the PSN games on my backlog before I buy Costume Quest. I will buy it nevertheless on its charm alone. But I really wanted it to be great. In these tough days we live in Double Fine really needs a breakthrough.

 

[notworksafe]

I'm guessing it was more the battle system being tedious and repetitive

I just don't get this argument, really. It's very similar to many other turn-based RPGs. It's almost refreshingly old school. Many Atlus/NIS games have similar turn-based systems and get praised by fans...though I guess that's quite different than being praised by critics.

EDIT: The newest episode of 1up.com's Active Time Babble has a good discussion on Costume Quest for those who are curious about the game. They defend the lack of voice acting, but I think it's obvious that it was omitted to save costs and not for any real "artistic" reason.

 

[Prime crotch]

I just don't get this argument, really. It's very similar to many other turn-based RPGs. It's almost refreshingly old school. Many Atlus/NIS games have similar turn-based systems and get praised by fans...though I guess that's quite different than being praised by critics.

nah, once you get down to it, all the fights in a area boil down to pretty much the same strategy over and over, beat up for the two first turns, third one use charged up powers. It's a funny game and all but kinda weak on the game mechanics

 

[yankeehater]

Why did they score TC:RS so low? I am having a great time with that game.

 

[Rufus]

I just don't get this argument, really. It's very similar to many other turn-based RPGs. It's almost refreshingly old school. Many Atlus/NIS games have similar turn-based systems and get praised by fans...though I guess that's quite different than being praised by critics.

My problem with it was that it was totally brain dead. Once you've learned its idiosyncrasies, which doesn't take long, there is no challenge in it at all. Worse, nothing interesting ever happens again in the battles. The thing I looked forward to the most was getting a new costume and trying that out, just for its model and animations. And that's it. I was fine with it overall because of its charm and cute story (yes, yes) but it's a really shallow game.
Many, many jRPGs have the same problem, where one half of your game, the damn combat system, the thing you spend so much time with, is just boring. It doesn't make CQs combat any better. I'm not bitter about that any more, because I've realized a while ago that many jRPGs never grew up along with me, so I can't really hate them for it. They are not for me, they are for middle school kids or people who can stomach them out of nostalgia or something.

 

[Bebpo]

I just don't get this argument, really. It's very similar to many other turn-based RPGs. It's almost refreshingly old school. Many Atlus/NIS games have similar turn-based systems and get praised by fans...though I guess that's quite different than being praised by critics.

If you're comparing CQ's battle system to that of an Atlus game, you haven't played enough Atlus games.

There's nothing wrong with traditional turn-based battle systems. You can say Strange Journey is pretty darn old-school. The difference is that SJ's battles are FAST and challenging; the two most important things to a turn-based system. CQ battles are incredibly slow for no good reason other than to show off elaborate animations for every single action that get old after you see them for the first time and they are incredibly easy so you all you are doing is the same thing over and over and over again. It's very monotonous and requires no actual brain power, which puts you to sleep instead of keeping you engaged.

Another problem with them is that as you gained levels and got stronger, the enemies would tend to gain levels around the exact same time and get more HP, thus negating any advantage of leveling up. Normally leveling up in rpgs is satisfying because as you level you're taking out the enemies faster and it feels very satisfying. The way CQ does it, there's no sense of satisfaction in leveling, which is important to an rpg.

Also a lot of the classes are useless because they essentially replaced another. If every class had a unique special attack, maybe they'd all have some use. Then again when the game lacks any challenge there's really no incentive to do anything different.

And then the gameplay structure was repetitive in itself:
-Go to a new area:
a. trick or treat ___ houses
b. do apple bob x 3
c. find 2 cards for kids
d. fight boss
-Go to new area
-do the exact same things
-Go to new area
-do the exact same things

The lack of voice acting was really the least of its problems. If they made a good core GAME that was a fun and exciting rpg, no one would care if it was unvoiced.

CQ is about as good of an rpg as Brutal Legend was an rts.

 

[Corto]

Why did they score TC:RS so low? I am having a great time with that game.

Mind to share a sentence or two about it?

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

Move dun got busted up.

The games just don't have enough substance, and it shows in reviews.

 

[REV 09]

Mostly spot on from what I've played. Kinect Sports is 1-2 points too low though. November releases have saved this fall. I was disappointed with the October releases that interested me...Fable, Enslaved, Castlevania. MoH was pretty good though.

 

[notworksafe]

If you're comparing CQ's battle system to that of an Atlus game, you haven't played enough Atlus games.

Perhaps I should have specified Atlus published as opposed to Atlus developed, like Crimson Gem Saga...another favorite of mine.

I understand that the game itself could get to be repetitive, but the charm of the whole thing won me over. I thought it was a genuinely funny game and enjoyed myself with it.

I can understand the complaints of why others weren't impressed when I think about it. I guess the "cuteness" and funny bits in the came helped me to overlook the issues. That and I love MMO games, so a repetitive grind isn't a detractor to me as long as there are other aspects to draw me in to a game.