Brian Crecente

Brian Crecente

Bleentastic sees bandwagon and jumps

OK, fine, many people don't like Wii's online system, but what does that have to do with this particular game?

Add to that the "stink of Wii shovelware" comment, the complaining about the multiplayer mode (which every other reviewer has raved about), and the admission that the game had been judged well before playing it ("A one trick pony"), and you get a review that is obviously written by someone who just doesn't want to like Wii games.

sxp151, the happy-headed nose

The problem is when we've read it we don't know what you thought of the game. We know a lot of individual things you liked and disliked. We even know a summary of a few of those key things (liked: single-player; disliked: multi-player). But what we don't know is how important those are. How much did you dislike multi-player? How big of a problem is it? How much did you like single-player? Does that make up for the problem with multi?

Sure, there are cases where that isn't necessary. For instance if I don't care about multiplayer then the review is entirely positive. But I'm entirely capable of reading a review of a game that gets a B+, to find out that it's the multiplayer which wasn't so good, the singleplayer is great, I should buy it.

The love and hate lists are useful but that's only half the story. When something isn't unambiguously fantastic (GTA4) or crap (that Wii lightgun game), it's really useful to get the opinion of someone you trust as to actually, how good a game is. Is this game everyone-should-buy-it good? Is it only pretty good, worth a purchase if you've got nothing else? How does the pro-vs-con equation stack up?

I don't know the answer from reading this review; I can guess, as above, but it's a guess. Why do I have to guess how much the reviewer liked the game? If I trust the reviewer's judgement in any way, that's what I'm looking to find out from the review.

quen

Shiryu

MrPerson

True... I don't know if anything will make up for that atrocity, but I would give him points for trying.

Last_Raven

I'm also much more of an adventure game player so the adventure elements and puzzle solving are the really intriguing parts for me. Although doing a variety of violent things to boxes sounds pretty cathartic to me. I wonder if this would be a good or bad game to play after someone has moved?

hikergirl

This review system actually makes you think, instead of seeing a number and then basing your opinion off of that. Fuck numbers and letters, it's all about love and hate!

HoxtonHero

Channing

artofwar420

Then again I have to save 90 bucks for the cool edition of Metal Gear Solid 4. My life is so hard.

artofwar420

VakeroRokero

Sometimes you get to know a reviewer SO well, that they almost seem tuned into your brain's wavelength, and you'll take their opinion at face value -- if someone felt that way about you, it'd be nice, especially with modern busy lifestyles, to know in two seconds if Crecente thinks the game is worthy (and exactly HOW worthy).

topaz420

okenny :)

The thing about our review system is that it forces people to read them, which I know is a big turn off. The reason reviews have scores, or started to get them, was so people could cut to the chase.

@sxp151, the happy-headed nose: So because I point out some of the legitimate problems a game has, no matter how slight, I suddenly dont like the game. Maybe you should actually read the entire review before commenting.

@Dexor: [kotaku.com]

Brian Crecente

dry-roasted-peanuts

demonknightinuyasha

topaz420

I'm shocked, shocked.

sxp151, the happy-headed nose

Funny how other platforms could mean just the DS.

Yetanotheruninspiredscreename

They couldn't put it in due to time constraints. It's just a fracking camera angle gimmick.

Yetanotheruninspiredscreename

I'm holding out on this game to see if it will make it to the 360 this fall. Come oooooon threemote!!

okenny :)

Goatfish

MrBubblesworth

@JokesJokes: So it'll be like Boom Blox meets Lost Odyssey meets Paper Mario. Somebody make this game now!

I digg the review. I'm gonna need to pick this game up.

holycaribou

whalleywhat

The problem I've always found with play/rent/buy/skip grading systems is that they don't map well between different types of games, particularly between long and short games. Does a "rent" verdict mean that you may or may not enjoy the game and should thus rent it to try it first, or does it mean that you can beat the whole game in space of a rental but may not have the replayability necessary to justify a "buy"? So then how do you evaluate games that one can't realistically be expected to complete in the space of a rental as opposed to those that one can?

Powerlurker

myriadisanadjective

DrkBgrk

@JokesJokes: badly misspelled Echochrome in my last post...yikes!

JokesJokes

sandwiches

sandwiches

Kotaku needs a "review" page that stores all the reviews of games in the standard Kotaku review style!
That would be sweet. Kotaku is really the only source I trust on games anymore anyway...

Dexor

Samos42

BigSassy

To be fair, if you want to actually have a reasonable idea of how good something is (rather than a series of good bits/bad bits anecdotes), it's rather unreliable to rely on one person anyway. So if you want a score I'd recommend checking MetaCritic for the average score. The current score is 90, based on only four reviews; wait for more if you want a firmer number, but the game looks like a good bet.

@StealthBear: It's the standard price for a packaged Wii game. Sure it's a puzzle game but if it's a good game with a significant amount of gameplay compared to other games, it's worth the money. If it isn't, then maybe it isn't. (Regardless of quality, I'd bet this would be $40 if it didn't have Spielberg's name on it, but it does.)

quen

I'd happily pay a measly fifty bucks for this, however despite the piss-poor dollar, I shall probably have to chuck out closer to 70 of your green things.

If the dollar's strong, we get stung; and if it's weak we get bloody stung;

It's a fooking disgrace.

Gash
x

(A frustrated UK based waggle-merchant)

remedial_gash

Thats the wrong parallel for this type of game.

This is the who gave us Animaniacs and Frakazoid... MENTION THAT!

LuppyLuptonium

JokesJokes

StealthBear

gaijira

Brian Crecente

I'd have to agree. Play it? Rent it? Buy it? A simple thumbs up/down, or a rudimentary scoring system would be nice.

Brain_Craters

rent it, if you really like it and see yourself playing it often then buy it! Problem solved ;)

Wolf_Dog

Little help? What was wrong with it?

DrFresh

Burns: Listen, Senor Spielbergo, I want you to do for me what Spielberg did for Oskar Schindler.

Spielbergo: Er, Schindler es bueno, Senor Burns es el diablo.

Burns: Listen, Spielbergo, Schindler and I are like peas in a pod: we're both factory owners, we both made shells for the Nazis, but mine worked, dammit! Now go out there and win me that festival!

Pezdispenser

EmeraldDragon

the-hypnotoad

I guess it comes from the fact that I can't afford too many games, so I always want to get the best of the best of ...etc. High scores represent quality to me. I know a lot of people disagree but that's just how I think.

Crawl to China

*Every* other review/impression has told me that the single player is lacking while the multiplayer is by far the reason to get this game...

twesterms 2nd

Cloral

Mr. Crecente, did you notice anything that screamed Spieldberg?. Could any manageable writer produce the same kind of narration of the general game flow?

Fyren

I may pick this title up though when the price goes down as $49.99 just seems too expensive for this title.

Lstormy10

t0yrobo

Brian Crecente

PissedPS3Fan

peAr_nectAr

ThisCharmingMan

"Add to the absurdly large number of puzzles and modes the game's four adventures, each with its own story and distinct look, and you've got a game that's sure to entice."

Satisfied?

Darthvinder

But then again I don't rent, so it's a "wait a really long time then buy it when the price drops" game or a "if you forgot about it it probably wasn't that important" game.

braagh

Ah well, still sounds good.

Krondonian

Mint

Wasn't the last game Spielberg had a hand in that vertical reality thing at the GameWorks arcades? and that was pretty ho-hum.

OldManGaming

Krondonian

Okari

OldManGaming

In fact, a whole damn lot.

interstate78

Dmartin001

Uzumaki_Kiba

megaStryke

Stormrider

@Datheron: They probably got feedback that big chunks of red and blue text were tough to read.

Sounds like a lot of fun, especially for those that have a youngster that would dig it as well. Glad to hear about a genuinely fun third party Wii game!

the-hypnotoad

Goatfish

Last_Raven

Scorpi

Whenever I get paid again I'll get this.

Pezdispenser

Truvill

valhum

Wolfers

BTW, is there a reason why only the first item in the Loved/Hated lists are colored?

Datheron

I'm not interested in any other Wii game besides this and Super Mario Galaxy.

rkr215

@Hiro0015: Scores are stupid.
That's his final score.
His assessment cannot be stated in an arbitrary numeral.

Palladium

Derigor

Hiro0015