OMG Giga Wing 2 Review

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:59 pm

Have a look at this:

http://www.gamecritics.com/review/gigawing2/main.php

One of the most stupid reviews ever, if not the most stupid of all.

I feel like writing an e-mail to the author, Brad Gallaway.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:33 pm

game review wrote:literally impossible to make it through a single stage unscathed...

Well, these kind of poorly thought out mainstream reviews of shmups are relatively common.

Edge wrote:I feel like writing an e-mail to the author, Brad Gallaway.

There's no point lynching the guy now for a review from 2001. It's just a sign of the times, because the general standard of game reviewing across all genres has plumetted over the past twenty years.

At least he likes Einhander.

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:00 pm

I think I still have an old copy of EGM lying around somewhere, where Gigawing 2 got no higher than 4.5 scores across the board: reasons include infinite continues, "heavy reliance on the reflect gimmick" and the enemy patterns being supposedly impossible to dodge.

(The ironic thing is, though, that Mars Matrix was reviewed a few pages later by a single editor, with a score of 8.0.)

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:01 pm

The only really interesting part of this review is how he write off GW2 as impossibly hard, but praises impossibly hard horizontal scrollers like Gradius and R-Type. The idea of Gradius 3 (arcade version) sneaking up on him and rupturing his colon is sadistically amusing to me.

Maybe if the reviewer had figured out how to use the reflect option, he might have noted that GW2 is not that hard in the scope of shooters in general.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:47 pm

Edge wrote:Have a look at this:

http://www.gamecritics.com/review/gigawing2/main.php

One of the most stupid reviews ever, if not the most stupid of all.

I feel like writing an e-mail to the author, Brad Gallaway.

It is absolutely pointless to read shmups reviews by people who aren't able to show some competence of the genre. Please don't read this message as a personal insult or provocation, but you're wasting time if you want to get senseful comments on a game from commercial sites. Regardless of the genre, you need someone who has a strong grasp of the game is about, how does it play, its position in the historical continuity and evolution and its ability to be balanced.

Posting a link on a fill-in review will only generate another questionable thread about non-specialists write a number of lines to get a salary, in the best cases.Well, actually a few "specialists", as well, write a number of lines praising games because they're omg old skool. Beside that, i invite you to think: if he's wrong, why? i think that Rob and me made a better work, honestly (note: the journal entry is mine, but it's based on mainly Rob's insights on the game).

Beside that, looking down upon shabby material won't make anyone more hardcore, which is surely not the original purpose of this thread, i guess

Sword · Post by **Sword** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:24 pm

Thunder Force wrote:
game review wrote:literally impossible to make it through a single stage unscathed...
Well, these kind of poorly thought out mainstream reviews of shmups are relatively common.

Right.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action ... id=6141897
^This recent gamespot review has brilliant insights such as:
"While the game looks decent and runs smoothly, collision detection just doesn't feel quite right. Your ship appears very big on the screen, but only a direct hit causes damage."

I agree with Randorama. For genres such as shmups or fighting games one really doesn't want to read any commercial reviews. I usually find i'm better off reading some specialized forum such as this one or SRK or whatever.

Post by **system11** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:32 pm

What the mainstream reviewers say about games in the genre is in my opinion incredibly important. It's a benchmark for how far away we are from the general gaming spectrum, and bad reviews that are well read, will result in people becoming less interested in this genre. No new players kills genres.

This is related to another thing I've been pondering. Most modern shmups are too hard on defaults. They cater only to people who are already good at shooters, and this is another barrier to wider enjoyment.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:32 pm

I understand Rando's point, but before I found this site I didn't really have a choice: I had to look at reviews to find my way around the genre. I bought Giga Wing 2 on the basis of the following review:

http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/actio ... 20wing%202

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:14 pm

professor ganson wrote:I understand Rando's point, but before I found this site I didn't really have a choice: I had to look at reviews to find my way around the genre. I bought Giga Wing 2 on the basis of the following review:

http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/actio ... 20wing%202

But now I recall that I avoided buying Giga Wing on the basis of this review:
http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/actio ... eview.html

One of my all-time favorites ignored for at least one year because of this stupid review!

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:16 pm

This is related to another thing I've been pondering. Most modern shmups are too hard on defaults. They cater only to people who are already good at shooters, and this is another barrier to wider enjoyment.

Shmups from 1999 on tend to be relatively easy, if you don't play for score, with the obvious exceptions (DOJ, Ketsui). The peak in default difficulty was actually reached in years 1996-1998, with the likes of DDP, Battle Garegga, etc. To make one simple example, Takumi games give you a shield and it's very useful to make the games navigable, if you just want to survive.

Beside that, a "mainstream" review by professionals will usually be about a well-read and clueless article (i.e. professional form and amateurish content).After all, there aren't any competent players among the professional writers on the printed paper (unless people who don't even know what "rank" is can be labelled as good players).

I don't know about Japanese press, but to my knowledge, it isn't any different (5 lines of review by different people on whatitsname aren't my idea of "informative and pertinent" review).Arcadia, on the other hand, covers extensively the popular shmups, as long as they're arcade...on the western front, arcades are somewhat of a myth, alas, and shmups on consoles seem to be released on some rather obscure parameters (i wonder how many copies of Giga Wing Generations Halifax has sold).

Personally, i wouldn't blame too much this type of reviews, but i can't see how pointing out the obvious (i.e. coming here and saying: "omg this review is pedestrian!") will buy fans and thus sales in the already microscopic shmups western market.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:33 pm

It may be worth pointing out that while mainstream reviews of many shmups display a ton of ignorance-- Giga Wing, Giga Wing 2 and Gunbird 2 come to mind-- the mainstream reviews of Mars Matrix, Gradius V, Shiki 2, Ikaruga, and R-Type Final were overall pretty strong. So I wouldn't blame the press for how badly these titles performed on the market. (Though it is annoying how few reviews Shiki 2 received. This is probably the fault of the U.S. publisher.)

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:48 pm

bloodflowers wrote:This is related to another thing I've been pondering. Most modern shmups are too hard on defaults. They cater only to people who are already good at shooters, and this is another barrier to wider enjoyment.

Well, that's why most shmups have adjustable difficulty (and lives, and credits, and practice modes, etc.), so you can start at the bottom and work your way up to defaults once you've figured out which way is up. It's just that it isn't allowed around here.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:58 pm

BulletMagnet wrote: Well, that's why most shmups have adjustable difficulty (and lives, and credits, and practice modes, etc.), so you can start at the bottom and work your way up to defaults once you've figured out which way is up. It's just that it isn't allowed around here.

I can't see a difference in making an high-score chart on Easiest settings or whatnot. After all, if someone's more competent than someone else, the results will be the same. Defaults are to mantain competition closest to the arcade format, when it's not too insane (i.e. i have two sets of scores on the Raiden DX high-score). Of course, we do have thought police checking if you even have the most remote desire to play on non-default settings, dear sinners...

Don't forget, big Rando is watching you!1!!

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:36 pm

" The game has no actual skill required..."
"The enemy fire is so thick, so heartless and so unavoidable that its literally impossible to make it through a single stage unscathed."

I liked this bit from that review... anywho....

I think it's important to take EVERY review with a barrel of salt no matter who writes it (Sorry, Rando). I ignored all those negative reviews Ganson brought up (GW, GW2 and Gunbird 2) when I bought those games on release because I like shooters. The real key to whether or not a review is actually useful in recommending or not recommending a game to someone, is when you know the way a reviewer or site scores genres and games and can weigh them against your own opinions. Anyone particularly into any genre will smell bullshit in a mainstream review, since they rarely do any particular genre justice.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:17 pm

Acid King wrote:
I liked this bit from that review... anywho....

I think it's important to take EVERY review with a barrel of salt no matter who writes it (Sorry, Rando).

OMG!You're officially excommunicated!1!!! [/holyinquisition]

Seriously, my percentage of errors is surely lower than "John mainstream reviewer-doe". In some cases, i think, i'm below 10-5% of bullshits,which is an enviable goal, i suppose. Then again, i'm the first one not to take myself too seriously, of course

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 10:45 pm

The game has no actual skill required and isnt fun at all, it merely throws 10 million projectiles at you in a spastic effort at generating some excitement.

This had me literally laughing out loud. Journos crack me up.

[edit] It's worth mentioning that if you look at the entire review directory, the scores vary wildly. There's another review of GW2 that gave it 6.0 instead of this guy's 3.0. Maybe that guy knew how to play?

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 11:00 pm

Randorama wrote:Seriously, my percentage of errors is surely lower than "John mainstream reviewer-doe".

I would say so. GW2 is Kaminishi's best soundtrack - fact!

There's another review of GW2 that gave it 6.0 instead of this guy's 3.0. Maybe that guy knew how to play?

Probably because they were bullied into writing a second opinion. Or they do that anyways.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 11:36 pm

W-O-W!!!

This guy obviously pulled this article straight out of his ass!

No research whatsoever.

He didn't even really play the game.

Nothing.

What a waste of space.

drsmoo · Post by **drsmoo** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:37 am

http://www.gamecritics.com/review/ikaruga/main.php

how about this review

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:17 am

Yes, that's a review. Of Ikaruga. 9.0!

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:28 am

The caliber of review isn't true with just shmup reviews though, it's as it is because the reviewer LITERALLY did not play the game for more than a few minutes.

The only difference is that we're shmup fans, so we catch the giveaways of this. Same way I catch the giveaways of someone only putting half an hour into a turn based strategy game before reviewing it or a 2D fighter (EGM's nonsensical Samurai Shodown V atrocity comes to mind).

Heh, even better example, EGM's review of Viewtiful Joe 2 talks about how great the coop is. D'oh!

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:49 am

I now just avoid reading them since they are usually really annoying and ignorant.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:52 am

That pretty much somes it up. I use word of mouth now for most all of my game review information. Either that or Gamespot becase, while I disagree with them more than half the time, the reviews are well written enough that I walk away with very clear notion of whether or not I will like the game in question. They're great reviews in that respect even if they often conflict with my tastes.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:00 am

From what I have seen, Shane Bettenhausen and Jonathan Dudlak are pretty good shmup reviewers.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:55 am

To be honest I never read any reviews at all. Not from hardcore gamers and not from mainstream sites. Because there's only one way for me to find out wether I like a game or not, That's to play it by myself.

I gave up reading reviews thanks to the German magazines of the late 90's, which were often having another opinion on games than I had.

But I found this review quite funny and also a bit shocking, because it's just full of nonsense:

"Overheads usually rely upon heavier concentrations of enemy formations, have little to no interactivity with the stages... Looking at those criteria, its my opinion that the side-scrollers are the superior sort"

"Another thing to note is that the game can be beaten in about 15 minutes (using many, many continues)..."

""no skills needed, even a rutabaga could play this" excuse of a game"

"...theres almost no gameplay at all. What youll find offered here amounts to moving your ship around the screen while holding the fire button down and launching super-bombs while you constantly die and respawn amid a pyrotechnic lightshow."

And offcourse this one:
"The enemy fire is so thick, so heartless and so unavoidable that its literally impossible to make it through a single stage unscathed."

Seriously, it just makes no sense at all. I wouldn't mind if he gives Giga Wing 3.0, because he says the gameplay and level design is boring and the scoring mechanics are unbalanced. Hey, at least this would be an opinion.

I dunno if all commercial reviews are really that bad, but for me it's was really weird.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:42 pm

Dear Edge and everyone else: it is pretty obvious that review was meant to just fill a gap. While you insist on its already aknowledged inconsistency?
Do you honestly think that writing here rants on an old and pedestrian review will change things in the universe?While the thread is really inoffensive, it would be much productive and less pointless to just stick to competent reviews, like most of the ones you can find on this site.You won't become more hardcore or improve your scores by "hate-mongering" around, honestly...

Case closed, i hoped.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:16 pm

lol.. whats he doing playing videogames anyways, he has obviously NO skills whatsoever nor any incentive to learn any

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:43 pm

Yeah, well, watch this.

http://www.elecplay.com/reviews_article ... ticle=2933

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:20 pm

gs68 wrote:Yeah, well, watch this.

http://www.elecplay.com/reviews_article ... ticle=2933

And yet, at the same site, G Darius gets a 9/10 and R Type Delta an 8/10.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:20 pm

"No actual skill required?" Thanks for giving me some laughter for today.

The moment the author said that, I chortled with ridicule. Does this guy even understand that there are some bullet formations which are merely "shield-bait"? Knowing when NOT to RF is just as important as knowing when to.

Too damn much stuff on the screen? Yeah, if you don't use Reflect Force properly. This guy's session of GW2 apparently went Reflect-Bomb-wait-Reflect-Bomb-wait-Reflect-oh shit no bombs left, DIE, repeat thrice, mash start button to continue as needed until the fake ending (no real final boss for him, let alone at least clearing half the game on the original credit).

Maybe he simply is not at all qualified to review vertical shmups and should simply stick to horizontals (though I can see him unjustly trashing Progear or Darius Gaiden). Furthermore, GW2 is probably a game above the ken of a 5-year old. If his son were 10, he'd possibly fare better on this one.

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