Where EDGE got it wrong:

Dont be at yourself

Edge magazine has recently stuck up a searchable archive of it's review scores. Having a quick browse through, the magazine, which prides itself on a time-will-prove-us-right policy, seems to me to have made a few blunders.

Turok/Turok2: 9
At the time, impressive graphics and whatnot, but very, very bland in everything from level and character design to structure. 30 seconds of kinda-fun-I-guess over and over again. Certainly not an equal to other 9s, such as Half-Life and Resi4.

Black&White: 9
Did Edge buy the hype? A hugely ambitious game that promised everything and delivered only a tiny portion, and wrapped it in a horrible control scheme and layers of micromanagement. 10/10 for ambition, not too many points for execution.

Super Metroid: 8
Even today, this game puts most to shame. Great level design, character design, controls, music - it's an absolute classic, worthy of a 10.

Grand Theft Auto III: 8
The most earth-shatteringly, genre-defining release in the last decade, and it gets an 8 (or a 7, as was printed). Perhaps because the game arrived with absolutely no fanfare, it wasn't played enough. Though even playing the game for 10 minutes should be enough to suggest its greatness. An unquestionable 10/10.

Some others:
Made In Wario: 7
Eternal Darkness: 7
Theme Hospital: 7
Tony Hawk Pro Skater: 7
NiGHTS: 8
Halo: 10

Agree/disagree with the above? Discovered any others? SPEAK YOUR BRAIN.

Zombrex

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Edge magazine has recently stuck up a searchable archive of it's review scores. Having a quick browse through, the magazine, which prides itself on a time-will-prove-us-right policy, seems to me to have made a few blunders.

Turok/Turok2: 9
At the time, impressive graphics and whatnot, but very, very bland in everything from level and character design to structure. 30 seconds of kinda-fun-I-guess over and over again. Certainly not an equal to other 9s, such as Half-Life and Resi4.

Black&White: 9
Did Edge buy the hype? A hugely ambitious game that promised everything and delivered only a tiny portion, and wrapped it in a horrible control scheme and layers of micromanagement. 10/10 for ambition, not too many points for execution.

Super Metroid: 8
Even today, this game puts most to shame. Great level design, character design, controls, music - it's an absolute classic, worthy of a 10.

Grand Theft Auto III: 8
The most earth-shatteringly, genre-defining release in the last decade, and it gets an 8 (or a 7, as was printed). Perhaps because the game arrived with absolutely no fanfare, it wasn't played enough. Though even playing the game for 10 minutes should be enough to suggest its greatness. An unquestionable 10/10.

Some others:
Made In Wario: 7
Eternal Darkness: 7
Theme Hospital: 7
Tony Hawk Pro Skater: 7
NiGHTS: 8
Halo: 10

Agree/disagree with the above? Discovered any others? SPEAK YOUR BRAIN.

I agree that Turok and Halo and B&W should not have got such high scores,

But the rest of the scores are spot on, including Grand Thieft Auto. I remember reading the review, the reason it wasn't 10/10 was that despite it being a great game it is far from perfect. The fact that it is largely a very linear game dressed up in a sandbox environment was one issue. But the main one was the the control of the character during combat, which frankly was horrendious. To this day I still have not completed the final mission on the PS2 because the weakness of the controls just make it too frustrating.

But it is a great game, and an Edge score of 8 is nothing to frown at, it is the same as something like PC Gamer giving a review of 90%

Canis Lupus

Super metroid. It's the only old game bar something like Donkey Kong Country that I regularly take out and complete on emulator. God it was a stunning game.

EDIT: As for GTAIII I find those games shallow and boring, never understood the hype surrounding them. Think it was a storm for the console boys as they never really had a decent game before

Retr0gamer

Turok 1 was a painfully average game. However Turok 2 was for it's time a great game. Maybe not a 9 but definitely a high 8.

Super Metroid only an 8. Shame on you. It's definitely a 10/10. A genre defining game that is pure brilliance from start to finish.

GTA3: While most people think it is the best game ever I disagree. It is fun, and it did make a genre for itself which it hasn't been bettered in but there is just too much broken in it. The camera is terrible, the shooting is dodgy and the submissions are repetitive. I think it deserves the 8.

Made in Wario: Should definitely be a 9. Brilliant game.

Eternal Darkness: It deserves the 7. The story may have been great but there was an awful lot wrong with it. The Magic system and combat were dire and only a decent story saved it.

Theme Hospital: Well it was nowhere near as good as Theme Park.

Tony Hawks Pro Skater: This was underrated in lots of puplications. The reason was that it was a great game but you had to play through a lot of terrible early levels to unlock everything. TH also takes a lot of time and effort before you see just how great the game is. I suppose they can be forgiven.

Nights: 10/10 surely. You could play that game forever time trialing. It was also great fun. The short play time was negated by the replayability.

Halo: Definitely not a 10/10. Initial levels were great and it was a fantastic launch title to show off the xbox. But there was just too much wrong with it to ignore. Repeating levels later was silly and the Flood are incredibly boring to fight against. Multiplayer was good but there were similar console MP games out at the time that were just as fun. An 9/10 definitely and if it wasn't a launch title an 8.

Of course everybody is entitled to their opinion but what annoys me about edge is that they don't admit they are wrong and still stand by their 10/10 decision with Halo and keep going on about how 'masterful' it was.

December Son

Most reviews i read of GTA at the time gave it an 8 (even official ps2 mag only gave it an 8!). In my mind, solely because back then it was released on the quiet, barely any publicity, no hyp, no nothing. The second i played it i knew it was something special. While it has its faults, it was a completely revolutionary game for the time, totally non linear, free roaming city to do as you please, so much to see and uncover its almost unreal. A genuine 10.
The sequels tho...the less said the better. Same game with tacked on extras and all scored higer than 3. Rubbish.

Dustaz

Edge gave Half-life 2 a 10.

Enough said.

Jazzy

Retr0gamer wrote:

Turok 1 was a painfully average game. However Turok 2 was for it's time a great game. Maybe not a 9 but definitely a high 8.

tend to disagree here.
aside from the weapons both were very bland imo, 2 was set up as the "next" goldeneye for the N64.... cha' right

as u can see from my sig i have played Super Metroid ALOT so my opinion might be a bit biased that it deserves 11.... yes ours go up to 11 :v:

GTA should have been higher... 9 or 10.

Doom 3 should have been 8... i have a feeling they gave it 7 just to seem that bit more judgemental, the review reads EXACTLY like a score of 8

thelordofcheese

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

SPEAK YOUR BRAIN.

I think there mostly spot on, but Halos 10 is unjustified, Eternal darkness should have an 8, maybe a 9, and as much as i loved B&W, i can see that a 7 would have been far more fitting.

but yeah, people can be wrong and time should alter your perspective on things, it's edges' "WE ARE ALLWAYS CORRECT, PUNY FLESHLINGS" attitude more than the actual scores themselves that get on my goat sometimes.

Still doesn't stop me from buying it, whenever i have the money.

Vokes

Final Fantasy X: 6

Final Fantasy X-2: 7

Jazzy

SofaKing wrote:

Final Fantasy X: 6

wat!!!
just read that! thats insane. proof edge gets up its own arse sometimes.
boulderdash!

Earthhorse

I'll probably risk a whole load of flames with this but Super Metroid is an 8 game for me. Hugely atmospheric and challenging game but it's just too slow and ponderous to warrant further love.

They gave the original Doom a 7 which is a little harsh considering how playable it is even to this day.

subway

edge gave gta III a six ,
not a seven or an eight.

god dam,
thyeve really gone to **** now if they wont stand by their effing review scores.

Crucifix

SofaKing wrote:

Final Fantasy X: 6

Final Fantasy X-2: 7

I feel like I can't lose enough respect for them over that. Like I'd have to go out and look at all the great things about Edge just so I could build up enough respect to lose.

Jazzy

Earthhorse wrote:

I'll probably risk a whole load of flames with this but Super Metroid is an 8 game for me. Hugely atmospheric and challenging game but it's just too slow and ponderous to warrant further love.

Jazzy wrote:

boards Super Metroid Champ - beat my clear time- 1 hour 26 minutes

slow and ponderous indeed

Raskolnikov

I can't believe some of the awful scores that a few of my favourite games got! Clock Tower 3 got a miserable 3, it looked pretty, had an interesting story and was easy to get to grips with. It's only flaw was that it could be completed far too easily. Deserves an 8.

Blood Omen, Legacy of Kain got a miserly 6, an absolutely criminal score for a game that was so original and engrossing to play. The only reason I could see for it getting such a bad score was because it looked like it had been beaten with a bag of spanners.

Final Fantasy getting only a 9 was rather miserable too, the game was ground breaking, original and absolutely gorgeous for it's time.

Other notably bad scores are Silent Hill only getting an 8, Parasite Eve and Zombies Ate My Neighbours getting 6

Canis Lupus

Earthhorse wrote:

I'll probably risk a whole load of flames with this but Super Metroid is an 8 game for me. Hugely atmospheric and challenging game but it's just too slow and ponderous to warrant further love.

Oho boyo.

That game was amazingly paced. Each little upgrade made you retrace your steps looking for all those nooks and crannies you couldn't reach before. This was gaming perfection in my eyes. It had loads cool stuff and upgrades and damn, I'm gonna play this when I get home.

You sir are a gaming heathen

Stompbox

This is all nothing. Play gave Pro Evo 5 a 79% rating.

But I agree with the fact that Halo should bnot have received such a high score.

zAbbo

I wouldn't give GTA3 more than 7, bland boring repetitive motion blur'd crap

subway

zabbo wrote:

I wouldn't give GTA3 more than 7, bland boring repetitive motion blur'd crap

they gave it a 6!!!
lying bastards..

super_furry

Yep, Edge gave GTA III a 6 and the review was that of an average game. They realised their mistake from the widespread acclaim it got elsewhere and claimed it was a 'printing error', bumping it up to an eight, but anyone that read the review would know what they intended.

subway

notwithstanding the fact that i loved the game,
the review was a review of a 6, not an 8.
it was mentioned in future issues that they regretted giving it such a low score.
cant believe they are pullling this now,
little rockstar whores is all they are now.

edge has gone to crap since [just before] redeye left

Cake Fiend

I barely remember a time when Edge was worth reading. Wasn't in this century, at any rate

super_furry

Their review of Manhunt was very, very generous come to think of it. I still pick up Edge every now and again, but it's just another average magazine these days, Games TM has left it in the dust.

Giblet

Just noticed your sig jazzy. I beat that time back in 97 or something. Not 100% though

Retr0gamer

SofaKing wrote:

Final Fantasy X: 6

Final Fantasy X-2: 7

Wow! hold on a minute. Probably one of the best RPGs ever and by far the best RPG of this generation with the most enjoyable battle system ever only gets a 6. Did they play it for more than 2 hours? Front Mission 4 got about the same and that was awful.

And then they go and give FFX-2, the worst RPG I've ever played, a higher score.

MontgomeryClift

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike got a 6, which is the lowest score they ever gave to a SF game, yet it's the best SF game. Even EX 3 on PS2 got an 8.

The bad review scores are hardly surprising though. A lot of the writing in the magazine is unbelievably bad. Read this month's Mushihimesama review for a good example.

madrab

they gave kingdom hearts a 7 as well as x-2

x-2 was pretty poor, but kingdom hearts was a brilliant game deserves at least an 8 but i would say a nine

this is why i hate scores out of 10 (& dont get me started on scores out of 5, 3 g's darren) much prefer % out of 100

super_furry

Just checking out their score database here - http://www.edge-online.co.uk/edgedb/

The dreadful Manhunt got an 8.

Retr0gamer

Silent Hill 2 only a 7?

And the dire Sonic R got an 8. Maybe an 8 if the game was reviewed based on how dire the soundtrack was. It's like a badly translated Morning Musume song played through an arse banjo but with funnier lyrics.

Radiant Silvergun, the definitive shmup, gets an 8! Ah come on just above it is the terrible R-Type Final with 8 as well while the seminal R-type Delta gets a seven. Bull****!
Layer section gets a 7. Absolute butchery of one of the finest shmups ever.

Panzer Dragoon Orta gets only 7. I feel faint. (at least Saga got a 9)

Metal Slug gets a 6. Did they play the same game I did?

Hold on. Unagruably the best Mega Drive game ever, Gunstar Heroes, gets a 6.

Chrono Trigger: 7. Boiling with rage now.

At least the max payne games got 6's

Waltons

Ugh, I was afraid of this: They gave Deus Ex: Invisible War a 7. That game was a complete crock of crap. Granted, the original was very good but that's no reason to give the sequel a good mark.
That game had bog all merit by itself.

Karl Hungus

Deus Ex: Invisible War - 7
Morrowind - 6

That is quite frankly not right.