Official Edge Issue 132 Thread

[Max M]

The scores.

Castelvania: LOI - 8
Manhunt - 8
Final Fantasy X-2 - 7
Gotcha Force - 3
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga - 8
Ghosthunter - 5
Dog's Life - 5
Eyetoy: Groove - 7
In Memorian - 7
Max Payne 2 - 6
Monster Rancher 4 - 4
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town - 8
Legacy of Kain: Defiance - 4
DDR:Extreme - 8
Transformers Tataki - 2
Chou-jikuu Yousai Macross - 8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 4
Mario Party 5 - 5
Top Spin - 8
Counter Strike - 7
Bomberman Jetters - 2
Arx Fatalis - 4

[Mr Ono]

****!!

I'm cancelling my Gotcha Force order!

[dreamylittledream]

Nice to see Castlevania get the score it deserves *ducks the brick thrown by Treble*

But hang on Manhunt - 8!!!!
And FFX2 - 7???

hehe let the screming begin!

(Oh if anyone has a sub copy, is this Tony Mott's and the new team's first issue - or is it still the old team?)

Features?

[Fuddle]

yay for macross 8)

[Tom Salter]

****!!

I'm cancelling my Gotcha Force order!

Edge gave Naruto 1 3/10, and that still pwns
They got the FFX-2 review score all right though.

[Duncan]

****!!

I'm cancelling my Gotcha Force order!

Edge gave Naruto 1 3/10, and that still pwns
They got the FFX-2 review score all right though.

and the manhunt one. fantastic game.

[Durham Red]

I have done little but slag off Manhunt since I got it but once you get to the mall level, the game shifts up a hundred gears and actually becomes totally ace. It's just a shame you have to go through several levels of dullness beforehand, like.

Seriously, stick with it - it becomes really rather brill. Perhaps in years to come it will be seen as a misunderstood and minor classic or something...

[JammyD]

In Memorian - 7

This is well worth checking out. Someone plz buy it - I need to discuss this game!
I've started a thread on it in PC gaming forum but no one seems interested so far. I'm really surprised that Edge are even reviewing it cos it got released virtually unnoticed.

[Duncan]

I have done little but slag off Manhunt since I got it but once you get to the mall level, the game shifts up a hundred gears and actually becomes totally ace. It's just a shame you have to go through several levels of dullness beforehand, like.

Seriously, stick with it - it becomes really rather brill. Perhaps in years to come it will be seen as a misunderstood and minor classic or something...

You love it, you slaaaag.

done the pig yet?

[Durham Red]

**** it, I'd rather watch you do it for me, you big honkin' spacker. I can't bear to carry on any further after seeing it's introduction - chained up pig-man things = eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek. I am but a sensitive little soul...

[IcePak]

(Oh if anyone has a sub copy, is this Tony Mott's and the new team's first issue - or is it still the old team?)

Considering that magazines need to be made a few months in advance, I doubt we'll see Mott as editor of Edge for at least another issue or two.

[TheForce]

Yes ! Castlevania an 8, I had some high hopes for this one, saw some reviews (some positive some negative) but now I'm 100% sure that this is gonna be my next game !!

[tankplanker]

Just thought I would post what the features are in case anybody was interested

.....tumbleweed........


The cover simply says "Mainstream" and has a couple of dancers on it, with the tag "We the days of hardcore games are numbered". The editorial on the first page carries this on, but its not really touched on again.

Prescreen Focus: Cold Winter
A game that players will actually finish. That's the plan die Swordfish Studios' new shooter

Prescreen Focus: Flat-out
A racing game with a broad streak of humor and a nice line in car damage from Bugbear

Prescreen Focus: Fahrenheit
Mysterious murders and a rapidly cooling climare in David Cage's action adventure

The French Collection
Times have been hard for small developers of late. THis creative bunch are fighting back

Win when you're singing
Blinking in the lights up at the front of the pub with a microphone, Edge does it its way

Difficulty Curve
Are games too hard? Edge explores the gentle slopes and harsh spikes of game difficulty

[Treble]

Yes ! Castlevania an 8, I had some high hopes for this one, saw some reviews (some positive some negative) but now I'm 100% sure that this is gonna be my next game !!

This isn't ego talking: this game is not worth an 8, which is a very, very high score for Edge. I've spoken to a lot of people about it, and even its most staunch defenders admit it's a 7, tops. I'd love to read the Edge review text to see what they say, and how they defend the tedium and mediocrity, incredible lack of depth and the game's shocking brevity, though.

I realise that opinions will always differ, but a ballpark score/average can be gained by looking through the more 'serious' reviews on the net - please don't rely on this Edge review for your purchase. Have a look at a few others and listen to the faults before you part with your cash.

Maybe I'll read the review at a mate's or in the shop, because I'm certainly not buying the rag.

[Concept]

I agree with Treble. All the reviews and opinions I've read about this game elsewhere have considered it to be fairly average. But if you read last issue's Testscreen intro, then you'll find in EDGE eyes, everyone else gets it often wrong, and they're nearly always right.

You see, they're not afraid to give a game an 8 or 9, while apparently everyone else in the publishing sector is...

In my opinion, EDGE have done this before. It seems they decide before a game has come out that they will like it or not. They jump the gun and pin themselves to its bullet.

Otogi recieved a host of overwhemingly positive previews, as did Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon... Castlevania: Laments Of Innocence also got plenty of high praise within EDGE before review, regardless of whether any of them were played to a high degree or not beforehand. Yet, pretty much the rest of the gaming world considers these titles to be of a fairly average calibre. Now of course EDGE have the right to deviate their opinion, but I also believe they have a responsiblity to their readers as to which games are worth getting. Despite recent shakiness, the prestige of EDGE's reviews are still held in high esteem... But the magazine's demographic is aimed at the intelligent dedicated gaming market, so they should be especially informing this sector about which videogames are worth buying. Usually they do, but for me, they often also get it wrong too many times.

Maybe I'm being harsh because after all the whole point of a preview is to gain impressions of a game, whether they be favourable or not. Yet, it's the consistency which worries me, because EDGE seem to adopt a negative tone for many previews regardless of the title's magnitude, but then there are also specific titles where that constant tone suddenly disappears. And hey presto, when the review comes about, it happens to embody any previously related sentiment.

It seems to me that EDGE put themselves in a corner, so it comes to a point where prior positive feedback means it has an effect on the final outcome when judging a title, so it looks like EDGE were right all along. Maybe this isn't even intentional. It could be that it happens without them realising...

I don't know... Over the 18-24 months, EDGE decide if they're going to like certain titles or not before the final version is released and they tend to stick that viewpoint. If you keep track of the previews and such like over the past few months you'll see it occuring again and again. For me, this just simply isn't playing the part of an objective reviewer...

I suppose the reason I came to this conclusion was because of David McCarthy's response to Otogi's review on this site over at the old EDGE forum. His line of reasoning was "it's good because we say it's good, and everyone else's opinion counts for ****", which severly put a hole in EDGE's credibility for me when it came to the objective stance of their reviews.

I don't trust them when it comes to the testscreens anymore. Not because I think they're bent or corrupt in the traditional sense, but because they seem to judge the basis of their final opinion on a game before release date. Whether it's intentional or not is beside the point.

I'm sorry to say all this. I don't enjoy bashing EDGE because I still like the magazine a lot, but these days, that's how it feels I am afraid.