Edge 209...

[mikewl]

I've seen so many decent reviews for Tropico 3, and apparently it's quite cheap, so I may have to get it. Loved the first one, especially the soundtrack.

I've played it for about 30 hours in the first week on 360, I reckon its a 9/10 personally, just been playing a campaign for about 3 hours and im looking forward to more after I grab some dinner, well worth buying if you enjoy these type of games.

[PeteJ]

But the Halo 10 came after Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Gran Turismo. It was the fourth ten in all that time. Since then we've had Half-Life 2, The Orange Box, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, GTA IV, LittleBig Planet and now Bayonetta. So I'm not in any way suggesting that Bayonetta doesn't deserve the score or that it isn't a special title and I certainly am more interested in it now. I just don't think there is as much weight behind an Edge 10 as there used to be.

But surely, just by virtue of the number of titles receiving the accolade - an Edge 10 is not as special as it used to be.

I don't understand that logic, there will be the odd occasion where a game comes out so good that it deserves the ten, so the number receiving the accolade is going to slowly creep up. It doesn't devalue anything. You can't put Mario 64 and OOC above everything else forever.

I'm not saying I completely agree with all the ten's, though

[Eight Rooks]

I definitely prefer the magazine before the revamp, but I still like them. They're the only print outlet worth reading IMO, and close to the only source of game journalism worth reading, period. Even the second-rate reviews are still the only things in the industry that come close to decent critical language, and 'controversy' or not I'd say they're the only publication of any sort that consistently manage to hand out realistic review scores, despite what Metacritic has everyone thinking.

I started respecting them for reals after their Tokyo Highway Battle 2 score - that review had me thinking 'Well... I do enjoy this, but at the same time, they're right; it does have terrible physics, inconsistent gameplay mechanics, so-so graphics and its primary appeal is mostly racking up one piece of phat lewt after another without any real context. Hey, maybe I can be 'wrong' after all!'

There's been more than a few scores I'd grumble about over the years, but none horribly out of place IMO, and they're usually worth reading even when I don't agree with them. I don't even have a subscription to cancel, but I've bought every issue for the past year and a half now.

[egparadigm]

I'm not sure "devalued" is the word I'd use to describe the EDGE 10. They quite openly changed the scoring criteria to remove the word "revolutionary" from consideration. I think it's partly a reflection of a change consciously taken and a reflection that, in EDGE's opinion, we've never had it so good.

[prinnysquad]

I've played it for about 30 hours in the first week on 360, I reckon its a 9/10 personally, just been playing a campaign for about 3 hours and im looking forward to more after I grab some dinner, well worth buying if you enjoy these type of games.

Great!

Loving the demo.

[Sam The Man]

But the Halo 10 came after Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Gran Turismo. It was the fourth ten in all that time. Since then we've had Half-Life 2, The Orange Box, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, GTA IV, LittleBig Planet and now Bayonetta. So I'm not in any way suggesting that Bayonetta doesn't deserve the score or that it isn't a special title and I certainly am more interested in it now. I just don't think there is as much weight behind an Edge 10 as there used to be.

But surely, just by virtue of the number of titles receiving the accolade - an Edge 10 is not as special as it used to be.

Agreed. In my opinion only Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Gran Turismo deserved a 10. To this day it baffles me how Halo got a 10. I bought played and completed it and also nearly completed it in 2 player co-op and its never a 10 game. I would of given it a very respectable 9 at the very highest.

[H-Man]

To this day it baffles me how Halo got a 10

Each to their own. I never saw the attraction to Gran Turismo, but Halo had me glued to the screen for almost a year. I haven't played a fps, pc or console, with combat as involved or as well realised as Halo's. I'm a regular PC clan gamer, have been since quake, and Halo is the only series that gets close to rivalling the demands and intensity of multiplayer when fighting ai. The way it intergates vehicles into the combat hasn't been matched either. An easy 10.

[Team Andromeda]

Agreed. In my opinion only Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Gran Turismo deserved a 10. To this day it baffles me how Halo got a 10. I bought played and completed it and also nearly completed it in 2 player co-op and its never a 10 game. I would of given it a very respectable 9 at the very highest.

I think it because HALO was and still is a truly magnificent game that was truly a step ahead of most console FPS at the time . I remember, I was still getting over SEGA pull out and wasn't going to get a X-Box until JSRF shipped (wasn't really for the X-Box or Cube) but Lee phoned me up , telling me you'll love this game , how and Phily H Hartley Hare and Goldsmith have been spanking their monkey over the game , So there and there bought a Import X-Box , and my GOD the VGI boys were right .
The game started off nothing special and even looked a bit pants , as soon as you land on HALO that all changes, and by the best you get to the snow stage , I was thinking OMG this isn't just of the best FPS, but one of the best games ever made period .

This isn't aimed at you, but I get so sick and tried of some of the elite snobs making out that only Mario 64 or Zelda OOT can be 10 out of 10 games , and how its so bloody terrible that a FPS can get a 10 .
I'm sorry but to me , its all about the gameplay experience you get , that counts the most, and to review a game based on it's own merit and the genre its representing , FPS they may well be, but the likes of HALO, Goldeneye, Exhumed, Duke 3D, Half-Life 1& II are all 10 out of 10 games


What really pissed me off about EDGE is not the games that have got a 10 out of 10 , but the games that never did . How the likes of Saga, ICO, PSO, Orta , RSG, Ninja Gaiden , God Of War, Geoff's F1 GP II, never got a 10 out of 10, I still to this day, don't know

[Wools]

Agree with the love Halo is getting from Team Andromeda.

I've not disagreed with a single Edge 10 as of yet despite their lowering of the meaning from the revoloutionary days of Mario 64.

However the diffrence with Bayonneta is that I've not been intrested in the game at all and after reading the 10 review and watching a few videos this morning... I'm still not convinced it's my cup of tea.

Is it safe to say that if you did not enjoy Ninja Gaiden & the new Devil May Cry series, you won't like Bayonneta?

[_y_]

Right so, yeah, the original point that I was trying to make is that the gravitas that was previously associated with an Edge 10 is gone; those saying that this is intentional on the magazine's part are completely correct. They did relax their criteria, which has meant tens are easier to get, which means the tens don't mean as much.

It's not necessarily a bad thing; I personally think it is a shame, though, since an Edge 10 used to be an industry-shaking event - it was massively significant, which it isn't so much anymore.

Someone above mentioned some of the amazing games to not get 10s, and I personally preferred it when not every single great game got a 10. I wouldn't argue that LBP and GTAIV aren't fantastic games but that didn't used to be the only prerequisite for a 10 and that momentous feeling associated with an Edge 10 was a fun sensation. The fact that so many tremendous, timeless games missed out on a 10 (off the top of my head - Resident Evil, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, Deus Ex, Phantasy Star Online) only made it more exciting when a game did come along that warranted that score.

R.e. the quality of the magazine - yeah, I'd agree that they're still the best print magazine around but still some way short of the standards they used to have. The reviews of small titles are a good example; I used to enjoy reading every single one of Edge's reviews, regardless of whether I had any interest in the game. They were almost universally well-written and always made worthwhile, salient points. Again this was when Ste, Mark and David seemed to be writing most of the magazine and freelancing quite a bit out to some of the really good PC Gamer writers (Gillen and Rossignol etc).

R.e. Halo's score. I wholeheartedly agree with Halo's ten and still rate it as among the finest games I've played. I must have completed it over a dozen times, and I'm not traditionally a huge re-player of titles. Every aspect of the combat was perfectly honed, something that the sequels undoubtedly lost. I think I most recently played the campaign last year and it still captivated me, absolutely. The strongest levels still easily hold up today.

(Apologies if this turns into a debate on Halo's score in Edge; not my intention!)

[Eight Rooks]

Another thing for me is I'd still agree with most of their higher marks even when I personally can't stand the games they've handed them out to. I hate Mario, for the most part, or at least Galaxy was the only title in the franchise where the simple joy of playing it wasn't swamped by my blind rage for the sheer unappealing idiocy of the character. I can still see Mario 64 was a landmark event and a high point in game design where its influence is still being felt to this day. I'd struggle to force myself to play Gran Turismo if you paid me - I find it about as dull as watching paint dry - but the original was a spectacular achievement that changed the industry and like their recap said, prior to its release the very idea of the game would have got you laughed at. Few if any other review sources have me nodding my head so often even if I've already decided I'll never play the game in question.

[spagmasterswift]

However the difference with Bayonneta is that I've not been interested in the game at all and after reading the 10 review and watching a few videos this morning... I'm still not convinced it's my cup of tea.

Is it safe to say that if you did not enjoy Ninja Gaiden & the new Devil May Cry series, you won't like Bayonneta?

Is God of War the one where you bash out some combos and then have QTE finishing moves? If so there are some elements of that present in Bayonetta, but that's very minor to what the game allows you to achieve with its fighting system, not to mention movement. The problem this game has with regards to selling itself to an audience beyond that already established with DMC, Joe and GodHand is that most of its best bits really should be experienced first hand instead of blurted out on an internet forum. There are not only joys here but actual videogame treasures and I declared the game a masterpiece on more than one occasion (those rare moments when you're allowed to catch your breath and let it all sink in). Its possibly the pinnacle of its genre, but then Forza4 (or whatever its called) could get a 10 and wouldn't mean **** to me as I don't like racing games. I'd say if you like Viewtiful Joe and DMC3 then you will full in love with this game! If you've played God of War and that other one you mentioned get ready to step things up a level or two.

[JU!]

Wow Bayonetta a 10?!?! Better than Uncharted 2? Better than Devil May Cry?! Gonna buy it Wednesday but borrow Uncharted 2 off my mate so he can play Bayonetta. I can`t wait to read the review the game must be pretty tight in the deep combo department etc to get this sore. I do think the characters are very well designed in it too as far as I can see. I wish Japan would import magazines faster I`m always 1 month behind . Still waiting for Edge 208 to arrive in my local Kinokunia want to read the PES 2010 and Uncharted 2 reviews.

As for Edge and 10`s it gives I think the innovation 10 was maybe too impossible for any game to reach nowadays, maybe Edge thought this. I guess they perhaps thought there would be heaps of 9 scorin games. If they still used the old system I can`t see a game nowadays gettin a 10.

[SUMIRE]

Ah cool, my Christmas game will be Zelda