Where EDGE got it wrong:

super_furry

Waltons wrote:

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.

I thought it was great. Played it on the Xbox and loved every minute of it.

rainbow kirby

They gave Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes the same score. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but Super Metroid takes a rather large dump all over MP2. And a 6 for Super Smash Bros Melee?! *le sigh* I've sunk probably close on 200 hours into that game, between single player and multiplayer...

abccormac

Sofaking wrote:

Final Fantasy X: 6

Final Fantasy X-2: 7

I wouldn't have given any of the final fantasy games more than 3 or 4, and even then its only for the nice graphics. The stories were crap, the gameplay was crap, couldn't stand the poxy things.

K.O.Kiki

A couple of points from me (no pun intended!):

• Why the hell is everyone getting upset about old review scores? It's in the past, people; get over it. EDGE is a reviews magazine like any other, therefore they will be biased like any other. So some will agree with scores, others won't; it's be nigh-on impossible to be objective.
• Another thing, you are all forgetting that you are looking at scores from then; the magazine staff have changed since then, their opinions of games too. Turok 2 got such a high score because they liked it at the time, or rather, their reviewer did.
• Lastly, here's the real grievance: they're all just scores -- no text to accompany them! A review score is nothing without text to explain it! That is what angers me most: that we can't read the fvckin' reviews!

[/rant]

Gummy Panda

abccormac wrote:

I wouldn't have given any of the final fantasy games more than 3 or 4, and even then its only for the nice graphics. The stories were crap, the gameplay was crap, couldn't stand the poxy things.

Could you explain how gameplay is crap and why the stories are crap?

Super Metroid should've got 10/10. It was 24megs of 16-bit goodness.

While super metroid ****s on mp2, mp2 is still great just not compared to super metroid.

Retr0gamer

K.O.Kiki wrote:

A couple of points from me (no pun intended!):

• Why the hell is everyone getting upset about old review scores? It's in the past, people; get over it. EDGE is a reviews magazine like any other, therefore they will be biased like any other. So some will agree with scores, others won't; it's be nigh-on impossible to be objective.
• Another thing, you are all forgetting that you are looking at scores from then; the magazine staff have changed since then, their opinions of games too. Turok 2 got such a high score because they liked it at the time, or rather, their reviewer did.
• Lastly, here's the real grievance: they're all just scores -- no text to accompany them! A review score is nothing without text to explain it! That is what angers me most: that we can't read the fvckin' reviews!

[/rant]

Get an emulator and play gunstar heroes. You'll see that they should have been arrested for a score like that.

projectmayhem

i like edge. treats me like an adult, not some idiot nerd with a sick fetish for pixels. whatever about their scores (some of which i completely disagree with, halo getting 10? get out), the articles that preceed such scores are probably the best written in any games magazine being published these days.

sprinkles

Retr0gamer wrote:

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.

Disagree.

ED was immensly fun and although the magic and combat was a little off the mark I do think it deserved an 8. It was a breath of fresh air in terms of gameplay and level design that was lacking in nearly everything else out at the time.

Theme Hospital (along with dungeon keeper) robbed me of more hours than I care to remember. Fantastic game and still one of my fav's. So many funny moments. Deserves an 8

Halo - Never a 10. let the xbox fanboys attack me on this one but there are better FPS out there. I just got tired of grey/neon purple environs with giant bugs for bad guys

Goldeneye - got a 9, deserved a 10. Redefined a genre.

HL2 - gorgeous, great game but too short and didn't change the face of PC fps in the same way its predessor did. Not a 10.

Games that got 10's:

Super Mario 64. Not a fan but I can see why it got 10.

Gran Turismo - Great game, so much to do and took the driving sim somewhere we had never been before. Deserved the score

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time : Brilliant and fully deserved

Halo - see above

HL2 - see above


That list should be bigger imo.

sprinkles

Retr0gamer wrote:

Get an emulator and play gunstar heroes. You'll see that they should have been arrested for a score like that.

lol

abccormac

Gummy Panda wrote:

Could you explain how gameplay is crap and why the stories are crap?

I found the combat dull and repetitive. Those giant summon things are fun the first time, but sitting through their animation in every bloody fight drove me mental. The random encounters were an annoyance. They did nothing to advance the plot and made travelling painful. As for the story, it just didn't appeal to me in the least. All personal opinion of course, but so are the magazine reviews. Who the hell cares what score they gave to a game? Does the fact that somebody else didn't like a game hinder your enjoyment of it in any way?

Retr0gamer

Shameful reviews in a magazine would have put off a lot of people from experiencing some classic games. Hell that review stopped me from playing FFX for a few months and not buying it the minute it was released. Along with the review the fact that it came from the team that made the pretty dire FFVIII put me off. Didn't realise until I played it that it was one of the greatest games ever made.

K.O.Kiki

Retr0gamer wrote:

Get an emulator and play gunstar heroes. You'll see that they should have been arrested for a score like that.

They've apologised for Gunstar Heroes.
And Radiant Silvergun.

[ps: if I could be arsed to find a Genesis emulator for Mac, get a pad & use it I'd play Gunstar Heroes for hours!]

BloodBath

Edge gave Half-life 2 a 10.

Enough said.

It deserved a 9 though tbh. The engine is amazing and the game itself was a joy top play. Sure it was linear and easy but it's still one of the best fps games ever made.

I stopped reading magazines years ago. I don't seee why anyone with broadband would bother. You can get news, reviews and previews a lot quicker online.

Laguna

Jazzy wrote:

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

FFX was ****.

FF7 was amazing, FF8 was good, FF9 was passable.. FF10 was trying to emulate a mixture of 7 and 8 and was found wanting, the 'gameplay' (a direct copy of the gameplay from 7) was acceptable in 1997 when FF7 was released, but in 2003 it was just taking the piss.

X-2 was no worse than X, slightly different games mechanics, but that's immaterial, it was **** as well. Square have been selling the same game to us for eight years now. Here's hoping for a sequel to FF7 sometime..

K.O.Kiki

Will you accept FFVII:Advent Children?

Dustaz

BloodBath wrote:

It deserved a 9 though tbh. The engine is amazing and the game itself was a joy top play. Sure it was linear and easy but it's still one of the best fps games ever made.
.

0o

Theres still people that think HL2 is a great game?

wonders ... ceasing .... still waiting.

Ciaran500

Dustaz wrote:

0o

Theres still people that think HL2 is a great game?

wonders ... ceasing .... still waiting.

What was wrong with HL2?

IMO its one of the top games released this generation.

K.O.Kiki

Ciaran500 wrote:

What was wrong with HL2?

IMO its one of the top games released this generation.

The question is "Why?" -- you can't answer that with just IMO -- we want that opinion!

Canis Lupus

Ciaran500 wrote:

What was wrong with HL2?

IMO its one of the top games released this generation.

imo I think you're wrong.

HL2 to me was a game with a decent engine (not even the prettiest), that's it. The important bits that make an fps fun for me have been done better in plenty of other fps's. HL2 was like.... a long walk with a few baddies here and there.

Explosive_Cornflake

I think HL2 was great, Some amazing locations in it. Ravenholm, City17 etc.
Start was a bit drawn out though, but at least your not sppon fed the entire story.

Ciaran500

K.O.Kiki wrote:

The question is "Why?" -- you can't answer that with just IMO -- we want that opinion!

I just loved the game from start to finish. It made me care about City 17 and its citizens. I felt like I was there only hope, that mixed with great characters, varied and memorable enviroments, excelent weapons and enemies that were enjoyable to fight made it really stand out for me.

CiDeRmAn

What Half Life has is atmosphere and a solid believable persistant world that you move through, its real streets and buildings and courtyards that you battle through, against soldiers and security personnel that react to your presence in a realistic fashion. Its the feeling of being part of a larger story, with characters that have been crafted rather than existing to fill some stereotypical role.
The graphics only look a little tired now we have the 360 to drool over but a couple of months ago there was nothing to touch it.
Of course it all, in the end, comes down to personal taste.
The problem with a lot of these threads is that you have people expressing an opinion on games that they were never going to like regardless of the quality of the game itself, we have to move past this chldish schoolyard attitude and become able to appreciate the finer points of a particular game and also give an honest critique even though it may not be our cup of tea.
I mean I can't tolerate football games but I can appreciate the care that went into crafting the Pro Evo games.
But as far as FPS titles go, what is there on the Xbox at the mo that can hold a candle to HL2? Doom3 is a one trick pony, Halo still the king but shouldn't we have surpassed that by now? Far Cry Instincts a royal pain in arse, having to sit through a 5 minute trailer every time I want to play the thing and now it won't save properly,
No I reckon they got virtually everything right with HL2, aside from the infernal driving sections,
A Bridge Too Far in my humble opinion.

Canis Lupus

For a revolutionary FPS the weapons were terrible bar the shottie.

Enemies were often annoying rather than challenging and AI was underwhelming.

Game was simple on normal mode, I was challenged once in the entire game only due to a quick save with low health leading into a big battle.

Graphics.... Still think Far Cry has the edge between the two.

Gameplay: Walk a bit, see bad guy, run directly at him, shoot him with shotgun, walk a bit, see bad guy, run directly up to him, shoot him with shotgun repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat feel bored repeat maybe I should be doing something better with my time, why do all these guns feel like toys and haven't they heard of recoil that all fps's do now? Ooh look I have squad mates, go over there, no, over there, no, why are you walking back to me, OVER THERE!!!, oh christ why are you standing there being shot? forget this crap, leave game for months, come back, experience same feelings as above but thankfully almost to the end of this trip through the countryside with Gordon Freeman, finish game, snort in disbelief, go back to playing other games.

But your right, I could never like HL2 so I'll stop my schoolground behaviour now If it makes you feel any better I can appreciate the amount of work put into the game engine.

madrab

agree with you on the weapons, i was really let down with some of them especially the combine rifle & machine gun,

but nothing beats hl2 when it comes to setting up enemy battles in garrys mod sooo much fun

2 antlion guards & 10 antlions Vs 10 poison zombies & 5 fast zombies Vs 10 combine elite Vs..... DROOL

Canis Lupus

Have barely looked at garys mod..... Now that you mention it I need to get around to tinkering more for the laugh. By the by do you have any links for "things to do" with garys mod?

ps you're dead right about the machine gun, was meaty in HL1 and ghey in HL2.

Pugsley

Was fairly happy with the weappons by and large in HL2, and AR2 was excellent in burst fire, and it has possably the best shotty to date (the Doom3 and Halo2 shotties are just hillariously sh*te in comparison), Doom 1 and 2 not withstanding. The SMG was a bit naff, but the nade launcher was good on it, and both the handguns were excellent, crossbow hasnt changed much apart from its not even much use scoped now apart from at close range or enemies who arent moving, same excellent rocket launcher too, and the SLAM's are pretty good in HL2DM.

As for Garry's mod, you can do so much with it, from making your own maps in half an hour (make the layout with cargo containers, and spawn loads of enemies), or just make huge constructions (have made things from 100m long suspension bridges, to 40m tall siege towers which can be driven about the place, to ballista's, cannons, trebuchet's, ram's, car's made out of breen's desk and a few iron poles, etc etc), garry's mod is a good way to pass a few hours at a LAN, but its long term appeal is pretty lacking, you will eventually run out of things to build and leave it.

CiDeRmAn

Well, the best FPS I have come across in the last few years has been Metroid Prime, not strictly a shooter but the game is astounding, making one reassess what one should expect from the genre, the weapons, the organic nature of the enviroments, the training mission on the spacestation at the start, switching the gravity on up there! Not since the first Halflife and Mario64 have I been as impressed. Its a pity PS2/Xbox owners won't get to play it and its sweet sequel.
But that said a Gamecube and a copy of Metroid Prime costs about the same as a full price Xbox game, now what a nice gift that would be for any gamer!

IceHawk

I have to say, having played both HL2 and Far Cry over the past few months, the graphics are far superior in HL2, but I found it too superficial.
Far Cry was flawed, but hugely immersive. The enemies all had character, and you were nearly guaranteed in later levels that proceeding without due caution would result in death. Also, although I haven't finished Far Cry yet, I was very dissapointed with the final level of HL2. Way too easy, imo.

Edit: Oh, and Far Cry has the best shotgun in a game I've played recently.

madrab

i take alot of inspiration in these

http://www.hlcomic.com/extras/?cat=11

ambro25

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

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.

K.O.Kiki wrote:

They've apologised for Gunstar Heroes.
And Radiant Silvergun.

And I've lost track of how many times they've apologised for 'that' Turok score.

Look, just bear in mind that EDGE has been going 12 years, people. That's right, you read that correct: 12 years. So how many other videogame-focused publications have achieved that? And, at times for better and at times for worse, have reasonably succesfully maintained the bar for all others mags to follow?

You just want to give the guys some slack:

(i) noone never makes any mistake and, on the balance, I'd be them I'd be proud of the overall track record where scores are concerned.

(ii) EDGE has never been about the review 'scores' (which, truth be told, have been discussed/debated for nearly as long as the mag exists), anyways: who buys EDGE for their scores?

I've bought games they've flamed, and games they've praised, and games they've ignored - at the end of the day, it was always what I wanted to buy/play/experience, what some reviewier told me to play or how to experience it. But I must admit that they've not often been wrong.