Metroid Prime - BBC review

[Saurian]

It's funny

Metroid Prime isnt "stuck" anywhere - Retro/Nintendo have managed to capture the play mechanics, atmosphere, look and feel of the past Metroid games in 3D. Imo not even Mario 64 did this with such finesse.

Credit should be given where it's due - and it's DUE!

[Treble]

Once upon a time the BBC didn't encourage it's correspondents to 'make up the English language as they go along'...

What the fcuk does "between 2 stools" mean??

Between 2 'schools' perhaps.

To be fair mate, that is an expression...but I get where you are coming from. It's slightly lacklustre journalism, isn't it? I haven't read the review yet, but he is entitled to his opinion as long as he played the game through to completion. Does it read like he has in his review, I wonder....?

[dgnr7982]

bad reviews make for more publicity - you see 9 good reviews for a game and 1 bad one you want to read the bad one - more people will read it to hear what was said.

It's like when the Phantom Menace came out the first reivew said on the front of a paper in bold 'Three and a half Star Wars' - bad reviews get the attention more.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

It's tricky, while I share peoples' frustrations at this review I can acknowledge how it came into being, sounds very much like the paragraph and a half reviews you get in Maxim which sum up the game and reach a conclusion within a very strict number of words ( and if the game doesn't want to be squashed into a box, then it'll be mashed into one anyway ).

These Journos unfortunatly don't have as much time as we do to learn the nuances and subtleties of a title ( working as they are on prob six other things at the same time ), let alone the investment it requires to complete such a title, so you end up with these bizzare half-breed reviews which either nail the point of the game in a fairly satisfactory fashion or miss it by a mile and a half.

It is depressing to think that this review will put folk off experiencing what could be one of the best gaming experiences in recent years for them, yet to torpedo this writer with our entire arsenal is not perhaps the fairest move. He occupies one corner of the market which desires these quick synopsis' of games, and NTSC-UK and other like minded sites occupy the other corner which take time, and usually 1000+ words to dissect and muse over a title, two extremes which never shall meet, so to speak.

[yashiro]

Ever thought about politics as a career move Gari?

This guy's no gamer and the BBC clearly goofed giving him a job reviewing games. If I wasn't on pimp duty today I'd go lay some smack down on his flabby ass.

[Olitron]

I used to review PC games for the Times' Interface supplement (this was way back in the day - the first one I had to review was Nightmare Creatures!).

I'd be sent the game and told to send back the completed review in two days so as not to miss the deadline. With a 200-word limit and a very short amount of time to actually play the damn thing, it's little wonder that re-reading the reviews today makes me cringe.

I'm not too sure if this guy is in the same boat, but it's clear he's no gamer and has just been handed the game to review as quickly as possible. It's his opinion sure, but I don't think he or the BBC realise the effects of this misinformed review could have on sales...

For the record, Interface closed about two years ago and I lost my job there - they probably had too many complaints about Reah being a **** game after I gave it 9/10!

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Ever thought about politics as a career move Gari?

No need to get personal, Yash.

[jabberwock1977]

Not sure if this is his fault but it looks like he might've mistook Luigi for Mario:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/1538073.stm

[Saurian]

It's a complete joke

You dont see totally misquided (OK not as much) film and music reviews from these people. I dont understand why games cant be given the same respect.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

As stated earlier, games are a far more interactive form of entertainment than movies or music, hence the final quality of the review is fundamentally damaged because, as Olitron mentioned, the deadlines and word limits are far too limiting to experience the title to a depth to which the Devs intended.

You can watch a film for the running length of two hours, listen to an album for an hour, and get a very good sense of both examples. They are things which are communicated to you, rather than games which demand a far greater personal investment, and a title such as Metroid Prime which ( to many, including myself ) may seem somewhat rigid and limiting for the first few hours before blossoming into the epic which so many know and love is even more susceptible to this rule of thumb.

[angel]

Iv heard the phrase 'falling between two stools' aswell and tbh iv seen a lot less professional reviews than that blokes, Loaded magazine possibly the worst of the lot.

[Greng]

ft: They should leave the reviews up to the experts. Would they appreciate a videogames reviewer do a write up on the latest BBC drama? Heres my review of that review "Utter Horse****". Hey! I was asked to keep it short and snappy

[Ed-Epistaxis]

Hi to all ntsc-uk people from another edge refugee.
Just saw this Metroid Prime review over at BBC. I hope I'm posting it to the right place.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/reviews/2868101.stm

Pretty horrible review, and yet another case of a "games journalist" who and slags off one of the best games of the year because he found it too hard. ft:

Umm, I didn't really like it - I found no reason to continue playing it after about 4-5 hours. If someone put me in charge of writing a review, I wouldn't have scored it very highly.

Does that make me a bad reviewer?

--Ed

[BdeB]

It's a complete joke

You dont see totally misquided (OK not as much) film and music reviews from these people. I dont understand why games cant be given the same respect.

(Off topic) Reminds me of a funny story: In one of the most respected newspapers here in Holland, a one column review was printed of the animated feature 'Anastasia'. Do you know what the reviewer called it? 'Disney's latest'.

Which means he didn't even go and see the film, otherwise he would have known it was a Fox production. So I wrote a letter, stating my grief and anger over such fraudulent reviewing. I never got a reply of any sort...

[Cacophanus]

Sweet fudging Christ! The Beeb should enforce mandatory castration so their staff cannot propagate their idiotic genes.