Worst Ketsui review ever

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:28 am

http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/ketsui/index.html

My fave part:

"It’s a shooting game for casual gamers, but marketed to the dedicated gamer. But the game doesn’t demand much dedication. It hurts me deep inside to say it, but this game should probably be passed over for console release. Were it aimed more at the casual audience, it could be something of a gateway. But as it currently is, those kids will leave it alone, and the bitter old cranks of the shooter world will scoff at its existence."

Never have I read a review so completely opposite of reality!

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:03 am

Yeah, it's awful. It's been postd here before as well. Embarrasing that IC doesn't take it down.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:28 am

its proboably because the guy obviously is the best shmup player ever.

anyone saying Ketsui is for casual gamers and doesnt demand any dedication while being serious must really be a god amongst men..

the allett · Post by **the allett** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:55 am

what a load of wank

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 11:03 am

I agree with a lot of what he's saying. The first three levels are much too easy. Is there a big jump up on level 5? I've only spent a few hours with it in the arcade.

However, I thought it was amazing, great fun, and I was pleased that I could get so far through it when, at the time, I couldn't get passed the level 2 mid-boss on mushi

Also the scoring system is very intuitive and most importantly, the music rocks. A great game altogether.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 11:13 am

DJ Rectal Prolapse wrote:I agree with a lot of what he's saying. The first three levels are much too easy. Is there a big jump up on level 5? I've only spent a few hours with it in the arcade.

Let go of the fire button.
Learn the scoring mechanic.
Try to get a good score.
Don't hit the machine too hard.

Halloween Jack · Post by **Halloween Jack** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 12:38 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
DJ Rectal Prolapse wrote:I agree with a lot of what he's saying. The first three levels are much too easy. Is there a big jump up on level 5? I've only spent a few hours with it in the arcade.
Let go of the fire button.
Learn the scoring mechanic.
Try to get a good score.
Don't hit the machine too hard.

Having just acquired a copy of this game, I'm amazed how much my scores vary per level - yes, I can get through the first three levels, but I can't score consistently well (never daring to let go of the fire button

). Maximising score seems a very different proposition to simply surviving.

Cheers.

the allett · Post by **the allett** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 12:46 pm

Let go of the fire button.
Learn the scoring mechanic.
Try to get a good score.
Don't hit the machine too hard.[/quote]

This is correct!

Plasmo · Post by **Plasmo** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 12:55 pm

my favourite bit:

the only significant difference between this and the Dodonpachi system is that in Ketsui, you have two companion pods that are always at your left and right

This is just hilarious considering that you actually have two "companion pods" in DDP and 4! in Ketsui.

PsikyoPshumpPshooterP · Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:18 pm

ketsui is the only reason i still play shmups

scrilla4rella · Post by **scrilla4rella** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:58 pm

It was a major WTF when this was first posted on IC. I think in a rush to act overly hipster they tried to argue that some Cave shooters are less then great, which is a lie.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:09 pm

Right, but why the fuck would you leave it up? It was clearly rushed. Just come out and say, "look, sorry, I had absolutely no fucking clue what I was talking about. This game is hard as nails, it's good, and plays almost nothing like Dodonpachi". Instead, it's just there to laugh at (and is really easy to find when you Google Ketsui).

benstylus · Post by **benstylus** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:28 pm

if you look at the top of the page you'll see it's not a review, it's a preview - means the guy wrote it after a brief bit of playing.

As for leaving it up, I applaud IC for doing so. There's no reason to pull down an unpopular opinion. If IC had done something wrong there, such as altering the guy's preview to make the game sound better than he thought it played (such as gamespy with that infamous donkey konga 2 review) I can see a valid reason to pull it, but an opinion is an opinion and it should be let stand.

bay · Post by **bay** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:32 pm

PsikyoPshumpPshooterP wrote:ketsui is the only reason i still play shmups

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:26 pm

Halloween Jack wrote:Maximising score seems a very different proposition to simply surviving.

I hate that.

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:48 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
DJ Rectal Prolapse wrote:I agree with a lot of what he's saying. The first three levels are much too easy. Is there a big jump up on level 5? I've only spent a few hours with it in the arcade.
Let go of the fire button.
Learn the scoring mechanic.
Try to get a good score.
Don't hit the machine too hard.

crush your enemies.
see them driven before you.
hear the lamentations of their women!

PROMETHEUS · Post by **PROMETHEUS** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:54 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:Right, but why the fuck would you leave it up? It was clearly rushed. Just come out and say, "look, sorry, I had absolutely no fucking clue what I was talking about. This game is hard as nails, it's good, and plays almost nothing like Dodonpachi". Instead, it's just there to laugh at (and is really easy to find when you Google Ketsui).

Yeah, this is the first thing I found when looking for some info on Ketsui and I have thought the game wasn't very interesting since then because of this stupid review. I only realize now my prejudices against this game came from there.

nietzschedancing · Post by **nietzschedancing** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:09 pm

To hate a review because it doesn't subscribe to popular consensus is a bit harsh. Admittedly, the critical opinions expressed in the review have proven to be largely unadopted by the majority of people who have played it for an extended period, but that doesn't completely negate it as an opinion. What would be very interesting for me, however, is to see how Icycalm feels about Ketsui now.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:55 pm

benstylus wrote: As for leaving it up, I applaud IC for doing so. There's no reason to pull down an unpopular opinion.

nietzschedancing wrote:To hate a review because it doesn't subscribe to popular consensus is a bit harsh.

That's not why everyone thinks it's so terrible and should be taken down. It's so terrible because the review is full of factually incorrect claims. You can have whatever opinion you want on the game, but don't put down stuff that just isn't true. It makes you look rather stupid.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:11 pm

edit: ic hasn't given a shit about anything but hentai games ever since they hired recap

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:14 pm

Insert Credit - and more specifically Tim Rogers - are more entertainment to me than a reliable source of unbiased reviews. I mean, just read the Wind Waker review by Eric-jon Rössel Waugh - that´s the "new games journalism" brought to the extremes. The review of Aria Of Sorrow consisted of not much more than ongoing rambling about the GBA series MUSIC.

(The Astro Boy: Omega Factor review is pretty spot-on, though.)

This is also the reason why I am enjoying Action Button somehow. It´s clearly not objective at all, but rather a more or less interesting read. That Ketsui one is bad, agreed, but it´s not that Insert Credit is a reliable review site.

I even watched all of these videos where Tim Rogers buys and drinks Final Fantasy potion, because somehow I got hypnotized by it. He also managed to hold a marshmallow with a weird one-finger fork, only to drop it at the end. Yeah, it doesn´t make much sense, but I never felt that IC is SUPPOSED to make much sense. I am still not sure whether or not these guys take themselves 100% serious all the time or not, though.

nietzschedancing · Post by **nietzschedancing** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:21 pm

TWE wrote:
benstylus wrote: As for leaving it up, I applaud IC for doing so. There's no reason to pull down an unpopular opinion.

nietzschedancing wrote:To hate a review because it doesn't subscribe to popular consensus is a bit harsh.
That's not why everyone thinks it's so terrible and should be taken down. It's so terrible because the review is full of factually incorrect claims. You can have whatever opinion you want on the game, but don't put down stuff that just isn't true. It makes you look rather stupid.

Mmmmm, I do see your point and agree with you, I'm just giving IC the benefit of the doubt. However, looking at the article again, some of the ideas expressed don't really have a place in a preview.

Stormowl · Post by **Stormowl** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:27 pm

i think this review is partially responsible for why so many people overlooked Ketsui initally...then later people decided to try it for themselves and word got around that it was one of cave's finest and most balanced games. the price of the pcb's tripled shortly thereafter.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:41 pm

Sure, I've had my fair share of Ketsui PCB and it was fun while it lasted...still is a hard arcade shmup title to play/master. ^_~

Would you say that Ketsui is easier or harder than DDP-DOJ PCB?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Zach Keene · Post by **Zach Keene** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:44 pm

Twiddle wrote:jiji did you delete my post

This post?

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:08 pm

FrederikJurk wrote:Insert Credit - and more specifically Tim Rogers - are more entertainment to me than a reliable source of unbiased reviews. I mean, just read the Wind Waker review by Eric-jon Rössel Waugh - that´s the "new games journalism" brought to the extremes. The review of Aria Of Sorrow consisted of not much more than ongoing rambling about the GBA series MUSIC.

(The Astro Boy: Omega Factor review is pretty spot-on, though.)

This is also the reason why I am enjoying Action Button somehow. It´s clearly not objective at all, but rather a more or less interesting read. That Ketsui one is bad, agreed, but it´s not that Insert Credit is a reliable review site.

I even watched all of these videos where Tim Rogers buys and drinks Final Fantasy potion, because somehow I got hypnotized by it. He also managed to hold a marshmallow with a weird one-finger fork, only to drop it at the end. Yeah, it doesn´t make much sense, but I never felt that IC is SUPPOSED to make much sense. I am still not sure whether or not these guys take themselves 100% serious all the time or not, though.

Go read the forums on Select Button (which is where everyone from IC migrated to after the last forum hack occured). No, they do not take themselves 100% seriously... most of the point behind the whole New Games Journalism thing is to get people to think about game design.. not necessarily to review the videogame at hand. Whether or not you agree with their rambling is besides the point... it's whether or not you actually stop to think about the one or two main points in the design they bring up... whilst talking about what it was like to ride the Yamanote line that day.

And I did write a couple of reviews for IC... Blinx The TimeSweeper, Zanac X Zanac, Night Raid and KOF 2001 (AES).

And guys, really.. just look at the IC Ketsui review this way... it's not really any different than the scores of bad shmup reviews we've all read in the past.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:18 pm

2 things. One - i'm drunk.

Two is it just me or is Ketsui very overated? I mean I really liked it (my review here) but it seems to me that people seem to be upping this to Cave's holy grail of shooters, when in fact (personally) I think creativly in design, music, and system it's actually really quite basic and (dare I say it) average.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:25 pm

Zach Keene wrote:
Twiddle wrote:jiji did you delete my post
This post?

how the hell

did I post that there

i was sleepy but i don't remember being that sleepy

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:42 pm

TWE wrote:It's so terrible because the review is full of factually incorrect claims. You can have whatever opinion you want on the game, but don't put down stuff that just isn't true. It makes you look rather stupid.

Ah yes...Truth Media lives on...

TLB music is some of the very best in the shooting game</2cents>

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:04 pm

Ord wrote:2 things. One - i'm drunk. Two is it just me or is Ketsui very overated? I mean I really liked it (my review here) but it seems to me that people seem to be upping this to Cave's holy grail of shooters, when in fact (personally) I think creativly in design, music, and system it's actually really quite basic and (dare I say it) average.

Ketsui is the game that seperate the highbrow from the "average" shoot them up players. It is that game that can only be played on arcade equipment. Many are not lucky to have arcade near by or have super gun / cabinet at the home. Then the game is uncommon and expensive. Ketsui is also not playable on the MAME.

So there is hype of epic proportions when this game is make mention. Highbrows gloat about how they are play it and it is something special. Everyone else is in awe and dreams about the day that they may possibly play this mythical shooter.

So I can see how it can receive the label of overrated.