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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
| Dues Ex: Invisible War (Xbox) - Review @ Gamestyle |
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Deus Ex: Invisible War has been <a href="http://www.gamestyle.net/xbox.php?action=review&id=170" target="_blank">reviewed</a> at Gamestyle, with a score of 8/10 awarded:<blockquote><em>Holding its breath for the umpteenth time, Gamestyle reflected. It's hard not to fall in love with the delicious backstory; the tangible icing that so gloriously cakes the conspiracy-filled manifesto of JC Denton. Having thwarted a despotic bid for global domination in the original Deus Ex, UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) peacekeeper, JC Denton, apparently took leave of his senses...and disappeared for 20 years. Pacifism - or its next of kin - never dies, because Alex D (for Denton) has been co-opted by disparate factions to uncover his whereabouts. For a game that espouses freedom of choice, it certainly divests those choices with the available player-avatars. The manual may boast of "three" male or female identities, but you're essentially getting one (per gender) palette-swapped choice. Bah, and humbug.</em></blockquote> |
Sun Jul 04, 2004 8:56 am |
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Seven months after release, I'm so glad to find another review for DX:IW (amazingly, they're still popping up several times a week it seems). The first 1,000 or so already on the Internet didn't quite do it for me. |
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Sun Jul 04, 2004 8:57 am |
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Barghest
Head Merchant
Joined: 23 May 2003
Posts: 70
Location: How in hell do I know? |
...and these reviews are still trying to sell DX:IW as a good game. It isn't. |
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Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:16 am |
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Yet another glowing review for that crap DX:IW.
Back in the 50s DJs were busted for playing the records the record labels paided them to play. It came to be called payola. Could the same thing be happening in the game review business? And make no mistake, IT IS A BUSINESS.
If you want to know what gamers think of DX:IW go to your local Best Buy where you will find it being sold for $20 only 7 month after release. And I might add you will also find Star Craft which was released 1998 still selling for $20.
It's time for a criminal investigation of the GAME REVIEW BUSINESS!
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Sun Jul 04, 2004 5:27 pm |
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Given that the game came out 7 months ago, it's pretty much a given that this review wasn't paid for. But there's no question that some reviews are controlled by publishers (reference the recent Driv3r review scandal with Atari). |
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Sun Jul 04, 2004 7:50 pm |
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Barghest
Head Merchant
Joined: 23 May 2003
Posts: 70
Location: How in hell do I know? |
Some reviewers are just so willing to take a backhander from a publisher for a positive review. It sickens me. |
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Sun Jul 04, 2004 8:18 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Before you start criminal investigations you'd better bring your fellow gamers into line. According to Gamerankings, the average Xbox version User rating is 8.3. Were they bought...or just have a different opinion? 
_________________
Editor @ RPGDot |
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Mon Jul 05, 2004 1:51 am |
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I can understand why Xbox gamers might give it a decent rating, since to my knowledge, there have been very few RPGs released for Xbox. What I can't understand is how PC gamers could rate it nearly as high... what a sad, twisted world . |
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Mon Jul 05, 2004 4:10 am |
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Well Dhruin, I'm completely supprised that an editor of a game site would come to the defense of the reviewers.
Since you apparently missed the point of the Best Buy referance I will try to explain it to you. DX:IW is priced at $19.95 because Best Buy is trying to dump their inventory, probably at a loss, before the only price they can get is $9.95. My fellow gamers are in agreement with me and have choosen to demonstrate their opinion in the only way that really matters. They didn't buy the game.
Mabe you thought DX:IW was a grest game that gamers loved and could not wait to buy and play. Best Buy just wanted to do us all a great favor and give us a good deal. NOT!!!
Regarding the gamer survey. Am I supposed to take seriously a survey where 222 out of 549 respondants gave DX:IW 10/10?
Im sure a sleezy, money grubbing, soon to go down, publishing corp. would never flood a survey with phony reviews.
I choose to belive the marketplace. DW:IW $19.95 soon to be $9.95. I give that about a 4/!0. |
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Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:16 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I don't care a fig about the review (and neither should you); it isn't a great review but it isn't in the same league as the worst and I have no interest in defending it.
I responded to the ridiculous idea that there should be a criminal investigation into game reviewers, presumably prompted by this little review.
Here's my review just in case you think I'm a DX:IW apologist. I don't think the game is worth 8/10...but I know intelligent people who do. They have a different opinion.
My favourite three games were not great sellers, so the Best Buy price proves little to me. Do you honestly think that is a good way to track the quality of a game? If that were so we should all play the Sims, eschewing Fallout, PS:T, System Shock /2 and other acclaimed games that simply failed to sell.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:02 pm |
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Dhruin, I can’t even begin tell you how pissed I am. But will I try to remain rational. However, I can make no promises regarding certain publishers.
First let me briefly tell you my experience with DX:IW.
As soon as it was released I bought a copy. Went straight home and loaded it on my computer. Tried to start the game and It would not run. I mean nothing happened. Nothing! Ok, its not the first time I’ve had a problem running a game. When I started playing computer games you had to manually configure the sound, video, joystick, IRQ ports, everything. So I go to the Edios tech support forum for DX:IW where I find out as far as Eidos is concerned it must be me and my crummy computers fault. I also discover that I am not unique. It seem that a huge number of ungrateful gamers with crummy computers that meet or exceed the requirements on the box also can’t run the game.
Well since Eidos pretends there no problem some of the gamers start looking at the config files and discovered that the first PC games shipped were configured to run on the Xbox. Gee, I wonder why that didn’t work.
Soon some the more computer savvy gamers have figured out how to reconfigure the game and change some of the code and posted long detailed descriptions of what needs to be done to play the game. Meanwhile, Eidos sticks to their guns. It must be me and my crummy computer.
While some of the gamers had managed to get the game to run many were getting frame rates under 10. The new challenge was how to configure the graphics to run at a rate that allowed you to actually play the game rather then watch a slide show. Eidos reaction: It must be your crummy video card.
I decided I was not going to rewrite the code for a game I just paid $60 for and set the game aside.
I not sure of the exact time line here but about a month later Eidos releases a patch for a problem that existed only in the minds of ungrateful gamers and their crummy computers. I downloaded the patch, ran it and tried to start the game. This time I got an opening screen and about 10 sec. of video then crash to desktop. Put the game aside again.
About two months later another patch. Downloaded and ran it and surprise of all surprises the game ran perfectly. Good frame rate. No lag or jerking. Graphics perfect. And all on the same crummy computer with the same crummy graphics card.
I won’t even go into what Eidos did to the game itself. You did a pretty good job of that. I did think your rating a little high but within an acceptable range of opinion. I noticed the average reader rating was 5/10. You said you played the game twice. First time 12 hours. Second time 8 hours. You have my sympathy. It was all I could do to play one chapter.
Ok here’s the point of this rant. Eidos released a game that wouldn’t be ready for 3 months and to h*ll with the gamers. They are just a bunch of stupid kids who have nothing coming and deserve to be ripped off. After all, our quarterly report is more important than a lot of whining gamers. I am not a kid by the way. I’m 62.
It’s not about one review. It’s about the whole incestuous, symbiotic, game site/ game magazine/ game publisher, complex and how many game sites and game magazines are ready to play fan boy to the publishers no matter how they screw over gamers. What’s the payoff to sites and magazines that pander to the publishers? How about exclusive reviews, screen shots, advertisements, interviews, and previews to name just few. The pay off to the publishers should be obvious.
It’s gotten to the point the certain publishers routinely release unfinished buggy games safe in the knowledge that the game mags and sites will ignore the problems and give them a 9/10 no matter what. If you or anyone interested wants a good example of the corruption do a google search for “ Atari + scandal” or “ Driv3r + scandal”.
This has to stop and the only way to stop it is to utterly and completely destroy the publishers who have the nerve to disrespect the gamers who are after all their bread and butter. I will give you some examples.
Atari: For getting the rights to distribute Gothic 2 and then burying it so it wouldn’t interfere with their release of their own game The Matrix.
For the release of a bug ridden ToEE and for the latest Driv3r scandal.
Eidos: For destroying the Deus Ex and Thief franchises. The Thief part is a prediction.
Interplay: For destroying the Fallout and Bauldur’s Gate franchises.
I’m sure you would consider this rather harsh but there is no other way. Look what the publishers are doing to the game business. Revenue for the year to May down 15% from last May. It’s not because gamers won’t buy good games it’s because there aren’t any games worth buying and gamers are tired of getting screwed. As long as the publishers can put out crap and the sites/mags cover for them that’s what they will do.
I have to stop somewhere so this is it. I would ask you a question.
What was the last really great CRPG you played. I mean one where you said to yourself this is great. This is what CRPG is all about. This game is going to take 100 hours to finish and I’m loving every minute and when I’m finished I’m going to create a totally different character and play it again. Please answer.
You will never get another game like that until the game site/mags stop supporting publishers who put out crap games and the gamers stop buying them. |
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Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:44 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I can certainly understand your frustration and you have my sympathy. It's not my intent to piss you off further but I see a number of things differently. It might be a crusade against the quality of games to you but your previous comments (I assume they are yours - there are several "anonymous" posts in this thread) are directed at this review, not the developers or publishers.
Again, I don't care one bit about Gamestyle or their review but I think people often misplace their anger and make unreasonable demands. I'm sure many readers will disagree with me, so take heart from that.
When I reviewed DX:IW, I tried the game on my main PC and my partner's PC. It installed fine, ran without significant incident and the frame rate was quite reasonable for the main part. The Gamestyle review was of the Xbox version, so presumably he didnt have your technical troubles.
Surely a review shouldn't be penalised or diminished because the reviewer didn't experience the same technical troubles as some gamers?
I often read comments about reviewers being bought and I have no doubt it happens. But it doesn't happen as often as people think, particularly with smaller sites. The simple reality is that with the exception of the Gamespots, IGNSpys, HomeLAN Feds and a handful of others, most gaming sites are run by Joe Schmoes - gaming fans. They don't make profits, with the site owner usually shelling out the hosting costs themselves, with some ads that generate $20, $50 or $100 / month to partly defray the running costs. Often ads are paid only on the click-throughs - the site gets nothing until/unless people click the banners.
I'm sure a free review copy wrapped in gold leaf turns up at Gamespot for every new game but most small sites get the odd game here and there (and review copies rarely come with packaging or docs) and buy the rest out of their own pockets.
Do they write self-indulgent, poorly-structured crap? Yep. Wax lyrical over a new game from their favourite developer? Yep. Ever see some sap on a forum rave on about how good some rubbish game was? Sometimes they start their own sites and write the same garbage. Doesn't mean they were bought and they aren't responsible for the quality of the games released.
For you, DX:IW didn't work at all and didn't improve much from there. For me, it worked perfectly but wasn't as good a game as it could have been yet still enjoyable in parts. Who is right?
Gamers who like a game will ignore the bugs and gamers who hate a game will scream blue murder over every little thing. It's human nature and game sites are no different. Perhaps publishers release buggy games with the tacit approval of the big boys - I wouldn't know. But Eidos didn't waste money buying this little site - or any other of its size.
As for your examples, I really sympathise with your position. However, nothing you do will ever stop a company like Interplay from making bad decisions and then scrambling to catch up. It sucks but it will always happen. Interplay didn't ruin Fallout because of game reviews - they ruined Fallout because the company has been going downhill for many years and that idiot Herve thought consoles were the answer.
I do agree that not buying buggy/poor games is the best way to send a message. 
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Wed Jul 07, 2004 11:52 am |
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